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Help Picking a language for a Younger Sib | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Silvestris Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6358 days ago 131 posts - 136 votes  Speaks: English*, Polish*, German | Message 1 of 29 23 March 2007 at 2:54am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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So, a little backgroud. My brother and I are the children of Polish immigrants who came to America 30some years ago. As a result of this, we have grown up going to Polish 'Saturday school' and we speak with most of our relatives in Polish. So he has some foreign language background.
Now however, I've temporarily abandoned Polish for German and he never liked it in the first place. He's expressed interest in learning another foreign language and has asked for me to help him decide (Ah, minor note. He's 13 and I'm 16). Of course I know languages are excellent to learn and they'll be beneficial later on, but I have no idea what I should suggest to him. He's expressed a vague interest in Japanese but I have never studied such a hard language and I'm afraid he'd get discouraged and stop easily since he is, after all, 13. So does anyone have any suggestions? I'd really like to find a language with a lot of material and 'fun stuff' like TV and comic books because I know that will help keep his interest but any suggestion is very welcome. Edited by Silvestris on 23 March 2007 at 3:25am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Jerrod Senior Member United States Joined 6297 days ago 168 posts - 176 votes Studies: Russian, Spanish | Message 2 of 29 23 March 2007 at 4:54am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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What about Russian? He has a background in Slavic languages, I have heard that Polish has the same type of verb system as Russian (don't take my word for it), and at least 20% of the words you already known. You can find material for Russian everywhere.
Otherwise, if you are in the USA, why not Spanish? Even in small towns at your local book store you can find 100's of books. Jerrod 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| fredomirek Tetraglot Senior Member Poland Joined 6700 days ago 265 posts - 264 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 3 of 29 23 March 2007 at 6:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I agree with Jerrod as for Spanish. It might be a good choice. It's been easy for me to learn it, and since my native language is Polish, it might be similar for your younger brother. What's more, Spanish is one of the most frequently studied foreign language in the USA as far as I know (I may be wrong). Certainly, there are a lot of studying materials, and also native materials should be easily available (comic books for instance).
If you ask me then, Spanish would be my suggestion. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6496 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 4 of 29 23 March 2007 at 7:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Japanese certainly does have a lot of comics, cartoons/anime and movies to catch his attention. It isn't the easiest language to learn, true, but having the interesting material might help ease the path. I would start with an audio-heavy course like Assimil and let the reading/writing part wait until later. If he gets the comics, then he can keep looking at the pictures while he deciphers the words. He won't necessarily give up, you know.
Another possibility would be French. They've produced a good number of action movies in the past few years (anything produced by Luc Besson), and a lot of good music in different genres. The language is much closer to English, which is good. As a matter of fact, you convince him to study French, it could help his English for college exams. Just don't tell him that. If you did want to try to get him hooked on Russian, look for the movie trilogy that starts with Night Watch. Horror/action; derelicts who fight against demons. Coolness. There's also always Spanish. It's a popular language to learn for a lot of good reasons. Lots of music, films and telelvision, plus lots of great material and generally easier than most. Depending on where you live in the States, you may have access to a large number of native speakers as well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6264 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 5 of 29 23 March 2007 at 8:04am | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Another language worth looking into is Esperanto. It's not as big as Spanish or Japanese, but it's incredibly easy to learn and you can get fluent in it much faster than in other languages. Plus the inventor was Polish and the Esperanto movement is very strong in Poland, all of Eastern Europe, Brazil, Japan, Iran and Western Europe. There are Esperanto speakers in almost all cities in the world.
I started learning it on my own when I was 14. I used a free correspondance course where you receive lessons by e-mail and send back the exercises and any questions you might have. This is nicer than doing complete self-study, where you don't have anybody to keep you going. Also there are some nice, free, multimedia courses available at www.lernu.net . Esperanto is of course not as present on TV (but it used to have its own internet TV station at www.internacia.tv), but plenty of books and comics and music have appeared in Esperanto, it has its own Youtube-type site at www.farbskatol.net and an Esperanto-only social networking site at www.amikumu.com (which I co-founded btw). For young people and students it's particularly interesting because Esperanto youth meetings are known to be great fun ways to meet other youths from all over the world (e. g. the Internacia Seminario is an Esperanto New Year's party lasting 7 days, with several hundred participants from over 50 countries and free concerts every night). Also, a service called Pasporta Servo allows you to spend the night (or up to a month) at the homes of other Esperanto speakers all over the world and with local guides like these you're bound to see more (and spend much less) than the average tourist. Esperanto also provides a good vocabulary and grammar/logic basis for learning other languages later. Studies have shown that it works similarly well as Latin in that respect, and takes much less time to master. Edited by Sprachprofi on 23 March 2007 at 8:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Silvestris Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6358 days ago 131 posts - 136 votes Speaks: English*, Polish*, German | Message 6 of 29 23 March 2007 at 4:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
True but I've asked him and owing to the negative experience learning Polish already, he said he wouldn't want to try Russian just yet. It'll be my next language however and you are correct, the verb system is very similar, as is much of the vocabulary :)
I can't believe I didn't think of that one on my own! Thanks guys! And fredomirek, may I ask where in Poland you're from? Sorry, can't resist! I don't meet many Polish people on the internet often.
Thanks for the advice Lee. he seems pretty bent on Japanese and I have absolutely nothing against any language, but I don't want him to start on something, give up, and then decide that language/all languages are too hard or something silly like that. I'll run Russian, French, and Spanish by him, but I've heard from many, MANY people that French is too hard. Or at least the spoken version. Stimmt's?
I like your arguments, but the only problem I have with Esperanto is the lack of 'native' materials like books and TV and such, since that would probably be the main thing holding his interest. I know there are a few but I understand they're relatively hard to find? And, as always, thank you very much for the opinions! Edited by Silvestris on 23 March 2007 at 4:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| fredomirek Tetraglot Senior Member Poland Joined 6700 days ago 265 posts - 264 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 7 of 29 23 March 2007 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
It's ok :). I live in Poznan. If you have any other questions, fire away. And don't forget to let us know what language your brother will choose! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6264 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 8 of 29 23 March 2007 at 6:02pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
Library of online books in Esperanto - the "originala literaturo" index is for works originally written in Esperanto, "tradukita literaturo" is for works translated to Esperanto. Another library of online books in Esperanto Bookstore by the American Esperanto League - scroll down to see the categories of books Bigger online bookstore of Esperanto books (situated in the Netherlands) Open news magazine Chinese online newspaper in Esperanto Online magazine featuring mostly news from the movement Canadian radio station broadcasting in Esperanto, possibility of listening online Polish radio station broadcasting in Esperanto, possibility of listening online Samples of various Esperanto bands (full-length legal mp3s) Homepage of Pasporta Servo Big online community in Esperanto - find Esperanto speakers near where you live Random joke generator in Esperanto Index to some online games in Esperanto (scrabble, crosswords, hangman, etc.) More links And for all those who aren't yet sure what Esperanto is, how it developed or why it's worthwhile, read this article by Claude Piron (polyglot; translated professionally between 5 languages for the United Nations) . If you want to inform somebody very quickly about Esperanto, show him these videos instead. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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