|
 |
Study languages you are bound to fail in | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5128 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 96 11 March 2014 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Do you ever study a language you know you have no chance whatsoever to become functional in? I ask
because after a couple of more years focusing on Russian, I assume that I will move on to another language, and I have an urge to learn Mandarin, but I know that I have no chance to ever speak it. If I have learned one thing with Russian it is that where I am in life, learning a language takes a loooong time. I might be able to do Greek or Turkish, and I could most certainly do Dutch or Portuguese, but I could not do Mandarin. To different, too difficult. Do you ever do a language just because you think it is fun, without having any ambitions in it whatsoever, or do you only start languages you intend to "finish". And for the record, the question is not "Do you ever dabble". Most of us do. The thing is that I always have the intention of becoming somewhat functional. With Mandarin it would be more of a " Oh, what a nice shiny language, let's look at some of the letters" sort of thing. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5560 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 2 of 96 11 March 2014 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I did take Latin, didn't I? Edited by Bao on 11 March 2014 at 2:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5128 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 96 11 March 2014 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Well, I guess if I studied it on my own for a couple of years until I reached an A1, and then when I retired
moved to China and hooked up with some really cute Chinese guy who had also retired and who did not speak any of my current languages I might have a shot :-) And I have no idea whether my dyslexia would be a problem in Mandarin. Could I be so lucky that it did not operate on sign languages? How about the rest of you - do you do languages you do not expect to be functional in? Oops. Bao's post was edited so I have now answered a comment which is no longer there :-) Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 11 March 2014 at 2:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6391 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 4 of 96 11 March 2014 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | ||
|
That's how I felt about Finnish as a 12 year-old who wasn't even fluent in English and also wanted to learn German.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Chris Ford Groupie United States Joined 4537 days ago 65 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese | Message 5 of 96 11 March 2014 at 2:40pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Learning a language to a professionally proficient level is a noble goal, but it's difficult to accomplish with even
the most related of languages. I find the more I learn in a language the more I discover that I don't know - subtle differences in grammar and meaning, regional differences, cultural references, etc. I've never really understood the concept of "finishing" a language, except for accomplishing goals you've set for your self. And that's a noble thing to do! But it's still an arbitrary standard to set. I think with a difficult language you just have to accept that it will take you more time and effort and your progress towards the same level will be slower. Consequently you can still set goals, but if you make them as ambitious as with a easier (and by that I mean, closer related to your own) language, you'll be more likely to set yourself up for a disappointment. I have dabbled a tiny bit in Mandarin, and I did enjoy the fact that everything was completely different in every way. It's enough to keep my interest up in it, compared to another romance language. Although learning a bunch of those would be the most efficient way to speak a ton of languages, at some point I think I'd start to lose it after learning the umpteenth conjugation of a common verb. A totally different language has that freshness to keep you interested, and if you're just doing this for yourself, isn't that the key to "successful" recreational learning? 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 5855 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 6 of 96 11 March 2014 at 2:48pm | IP Logged | ||
My two last endeavours fall something in between: I know they are hard, but I also know I'll be investing a lot in them, so it's what it's commonly referred to as irresistible force (my resolve) versus immovable object (the languages). By the way, these tasks are not all that difficult: we just don't approach them with the seriousness of other times (how many people would persevere and achieve what you have done with your roses?). As a kid, I remember reading a lot, as there were no videogames to speak of. Today, we have many resources (too many?) and we tend to disperse ourselves. I found this book interesting. One last thing: I remember reading that some of humankind's greatest accomplishments were only possible due to the combination of great minds and complete concentration. The example they give is Summa Theologica, by Thomas Aquinas: it's a work of impressive breadth and depth, and the contention is that it was only possible by combining a great mind with unwavering dedication. I know some people will say it's not all that useful nowadays, but that's besides the point. I didn't want to hijack your thread. I hope this was not boring. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6391 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 7 of 96 11 March 2014 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Very interesting about choice. I've thought of this a lot. Any specific conclusions etc? (If it's too offtopic, I'd be happy to discuss by PM)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4152 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 8 of 96 11 March 2014 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | ||
How true. Fail is a strong word and I don't think there are languages we are bound to fail. Rather languages that we'll never really get to use, making things very difficult as we learn them. To answer the question, I may dream about such languages but lately I have chosen to stay away from them. Maybe they don't interest me that much because I enjoy communicating with other people, so if I can't use them... In the Briggs Myers test I am constantly an extrovert. :) 3 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
