Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Studying and speaking in your profile

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
23 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
Ogrim
Heptaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 4449 days ago

991 posts - 1896 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian

 
 Message 1 of 23
13 March 2014 at 5:14pm | IP Logged 
First I thought about creating this post in the Technical Room, but then I realised that the subject is more general than that, so here it goes:

In our profiles we indicate the languages that we "speak" and the languages that we "study". For me that poses a problem, namely at which point I should consider that I do not "study" the language any longer but am actually "speaking" it. Here I should say that I find the word "speak" a bit unsatisfactory, because there are a couple of languages that I know passively, but I do not speak them and I do not study them, so I have simply not included them in my list.

With regard to two languages I have on my "study" list, Catalan and Romansh, I have a very good grasp of them passively, but I only study them insofar as I read them, listen to radio in them and write the occasional entry in my log in them. I can also speak them but at a pretty basic level, making many mistakes, but I do not have the ambition to be a proficient speaker in them. So should I keep them as languages I study, or could I claim that I "speak" them?

I'd be interested to hear on what basis you decide in which category to put a language in your profile. Is it only when you can literally speak the language at an advanced level (e.g. B2)? Or do you think that advanced passive knowledge is sufficient to claim that you "speak" it for the purpose of how you present yourselves in this forum?

1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4517 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 2 of 23
13 March 2014 at 5:28pm | IP Logged 
I speak it when I am conversant enough to hold conversations without strain for either
party.

B2.

Otherwise it's "studies". Study doesn't exclude speak.
4 persons have voted this message useful



ElComadreja
Senior Member
Philippines
bibletranslatio
Joined 7048 days ago

683 posts - 757 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog

 
 Message 3 of 23
13 March 2014 at 5:41pm | IP Logged 
Yeah I used to mark a language as "speaks" when there's really nothing left to study, and I can speak with a patient native. The consensus for that I was told is B2 passive B1 active. This poses a problem, because I'm done "studying" French, but I'm not using it. Maybe there would be less confusion if those ABC levels were what you had to choose from.

Edited by ElComadreja on 13 March 2014 at 5:42pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



sillygoose1
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4446 days ago

566 posts - 814 votes 
Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French
Studies: German, Latin

 
 Message 4 of 23
13 March 2014 at 5:44pm | IP Logged 
I think passive knowledge is sufficient, at least for me. I don't aim to speak fluently in whatever I study. I've only ever worked on passive skills extensively + some writing. I've had maybe 1-2 conversations during the past few years.

For me, I assign intermediate/basic/advanced based on what I can understand on TV/radio and read. I can write decently and probably speak well if I had to, but I can honestly say that whatever active skills I have are from listening and reading.

Edited by sillygoose1 on 13 March 2014 at 5:46pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6407 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 5 of 23
13 March 2014 at 8:32pm | IP Logged 
Hmm do you do a lot of formal study? In this case it makes sense, yes. I also don't have all that many conversations, but I need to be sure I can have them.
1 person has voted this message useful



outcast
Bilingual Heptaglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 4759 days ago

869 posts - 1364 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin
Studies: Korean

 
 Message 6 of 23
13 March 2014 at 11:49pm | IP Logged 
I have to be honest, if you can read a language but you can't speak it, then, well... you can't speak it! :)

But I understand the format and layout of the biographical profile is (somewhat understandably) simplified.

Ideally, one should be able to choose thus:

Native languages: Only languages you learned as a child and still speak today HERE
2nd languages: Only languages you learned to conversational fluency in all areas HERE
Passive languages: Only languages you learned passive skills/input HERE
- - - - -
Learning languages: ANY language you are actively studying HERE(even your native ones!)
Wish list: Any language you want to learn HERE

2 persons have voted this message useful



chokofingrz
Pentaglot
Senior Member
England
Joined 4999 days ago

241 posts - 430 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Japanese, Catalan, Luxembourgish

 
 Message 7 of 23
14 March 2014 at 1:28am | IP Logged 
It's your profile - you decide!

If you were in a room full of polyglots, would you be comfortable for someone to address you in Catalan? If not, then maybe restrict it to the second category.
1 person has voted this message useful



Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5144 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 8 of 23
14 March 2014 at 6:24am | IP Logged 
I had the same dilemma with Swedish and Danish. I can understand and read 98-99 of both languages, but
would not normally speak them. In the end I removed Danish, because I can speak a sort of Swedish when I
have to, but I could not reproduce anything which would be recognized as proper Danish to save my life.


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 23 messages over 3 pages: 2 3  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3125 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.