Have you learnt another language? Which, why and was it worth it? Would you rather have spent all those hours doing something arguably more productive?
French: because you got put into a spanish or frnech class and I was in French. Had a good teacher and found it interesting. I think it is worth it as it gives me a different perspective on life, helps me to contribute (politically, by translating) at times and my current life wouldn't have happened without it. I don't consider the time wasted and I have done a lot more things that I consider a waste.
Russian: Evening classes through interest (Dostoyevky), I didn't really like the teacher's methods (classic French teaching style), I was too lazy with the homework and ultimately dropped it. I would like to try again one day, I do like the fact that I can often 'read' Russian words even if I can't usually understand them. Only a waste because I didn't do it properly and ended up dropping it a month or two before the end of the year.
Spanish: learned a bit in a relationship then dropped it, started again when it was supposedly necessary for work then dropped it again when it turned out that it wasn't. Only wasted in that as I stopped doing it I have forgotten most of what I learned (which wasn't that much but was a start. PRobably should pick it up again, it would be easier than Russian.
Most of the languages friends spoke at school, we leanred the swear words, I can still remember most of those, I know a few words and phrases of Cantonese and Turkish.
I once spent 2 years of twice weekly evening classes and got to a pretty good fluency in Italian because I wanted to move to Italy. I then moved to a French speaking place & haven't spoken a word of Italian since. Chose your language sensibly :)
Arabic: I should really be fluent, but never bothered with many classes. I can get around and engage in small talk and on some select topics etc. One of my biggest regret is that I did not learn this language properly.
German: had to choose between French and German in junior high. I chose German. Again, I didn't put enough effort into it to learn it properly. I can parse a text and get the gist of it, but can't really read anything properly. I do speak and understand German well enough that I could get around and in some cases engage in small talk. Though sometimes when I reach for German words, I find Arabic ones for some reason.
I'd say learning another language is definitively worth it.
It's super hard deciding which to learn if English is your native tongue, especially if you're not in love with a particular country (whose language is not spoken eslewhere) and don't know where you will be long-term. This debate is what I'm riffing off. I've read threads of a similar theme on the internet about Thai and Japanese. Conversely, the benefits of learning English are more obvious if you're not an NES - travel, career-wise, financially, can help with relationships, etc.
Why does Italian not have the global reach of Spanish or French?
i'd not say i've learned another language but i have tried more than once, i did german in school, but i cant anything but isolated words, more recently i took a Spanish course for two years at the local collage, i did considerably better than with german and can often read simple articles although i am out of practice now. Most recently i have been learning Esperanto for several months now and i'm probably at around the same level as i was when i was at my best at Spanish, Esperanto is definitely the easiest language i've tried learning so far.
other that that ive made some attempt to learn French, Mandarin and Japanese. I'm also considering learning some Russian and Korean because i often encounter Russians and sometimes Koreans in video games. But i want to finish the duolingo course on Esperanto before i try a new language
The problem with learning languages I have is that if I don't use them I lose them. I've learnt 5 (not including English) and I've forgotten 4 of them. And now because I work in a totally anglophone environment and most of my friends are immigrants who have better English than their French, so we speak English, my French is totally going to shit, which is a huge disadvantage here. I guess I need to be more social & actively seek out French speaking situations.
French, German, Italian at school, Spanish at evening classes, forgotten them all.
Would love to pick Spanish up again and explore South America. It's so interesting politically.
Despite forgetting, no regrets at all. I really enjoyed learning them and I still remember enough to get a lot more out of subtitled films than if I'd never learnt.
It's super hard deciding which to learn if English is your native tongue, especially if you're not in love with a particular country (whose language is not spoken eslewhere) and don't know where you will be long-term. This debate is what I'm riffing off. I've read threads of a similar theme on the internet about Thai and Japanese. Conversely, the benefits of learning English are more obvious if you're not an NES - travel, career-wise, financially, can help with relationships, etc.
Why does Italian not have the global reach of Spanish or French?
Spanish and French are widely spoken because of their colonial empires
i knew in 8th grade that i wanted to use languages in some capacity. the first language i was taught in h.s.was latin, and here i am having made a career with it. it's endlessly fascinating. on that I've built a competent knowledge of Italian and a functioning knowledge of a bunch of others (it really is true what they say). however, I am a failure: I've tried to learn irish three times, and failed three times.
there's little I've done that could have been more productive (though i could have been more productive with what I've done). i think I'm just wired for linguistics.
Translation work is not a skill I'm up to. Apart from the French, which I'm worrying about its deterioration, I can barely remember any Italian now, despite any enthusiasm I had, I find learning languages a struggle, it doesn't come very naturally to me.
Besides that, translation work is a skill set that goes beyond normal levels of language fluency. You can never really translate word for words and different languages have different grammar structures so it takes a talent for nuance to produce a text that scans and flows well. That said, I've helped people out from time to time with French to English texts from time to time but not at a level at which I would get paid for it.
Where I live there's a high level of bilingualism and because all immigrants are required to educate their kids in French, there are many people who are fluent in three languages. Generally these are the people who generally get translation work - I couldn't possibly compete with that!
Coincidentally, Latin was my first language too, it was always the subject I aced at school - probably because it was written & read rather than spoken and in between periods of wanting to be guitar superstar, I harboured a desire to be an archaeologist. Wasn't to be though. Grammatically, Italian is a damned sight easier!
I think living in a country and not learning the language is a waste. I think it would drive me insane, I already get frustrated on holiday when I can't understand or communicate.
Fleur is absolutely right about translation, it is a totally different skill and usually you translate into your mother tongue and there is a lot of competition into English so it's a lot easier to get paid translating from English. Also it is best if you have a specific knowledge, for example law or politics, I remember looking for work using my French and realising that no one cares that you can speak French, they care what else you know. Also lots of posh kids can speak decent French because they've been skiing and hunting poor people for years.
I started learning a little bit of Latin backwards from Old French but was never energetic enough to actually learn it properly. I could also read old French and Occitan but I don't really count them because I only ever used them at uni and I wasn't that good.
You lose fluency over time but it does come back quite quickly if you are immersed.
Learning Spanish was one of the best things I ever did and it changed my life. I use it all the time, I've interpreted for cleaners in various unions and at the moment I interpret the meetings for a housing group.
It makes me feel I'm useful and I'm not stuck just making the sandwiches.
If you speak English then the quickest way is to put up an offer for a language exchange. It works for most languages but the biggest demand is for English.
Yeah, nothing beats learning a language as actually practicing it, meaning either be submersed in it if you can afford to go to Spain/Latin America or do what Jef's suggests. To learn words and pronunciation on your own, there are actually a lot of decent smart phone apps (some of which are free, though it depends on the language and the quality may vary).
If you speak English then the quickest way is to put up an offer for a language exchange. It works for most languages but the biggest demand is for English.
I would also highly recommend an evening class to get the basics especially of grammar which I think you need a pro to teach you. You can get to a decent standard in two years, supplement it with media (films, newspapers, internet radio* etc) and conversation exchange.
It's not impossible to learn a language if you're motivated and have an aptitude for it. It's about knowing how to go about it and putting the time in.
*ie http://rneradionacional.radio.net
You're making me want to pick up a language again but I have no time at the moment.
If you speak English then the quickest way is to put up an offer for a language exchange. It works for most languages but the biggest demand is for English.
I tried that once in S.Korea and I don't know what an effective one looks like tbh. The individuals had at least a base of English from formal education/academies to work from (unlike myself) so it was quite unbalanced and having no direction, I felt like I was merely teaching for free. And that's without mentioning the Christian cultists on recruitment drive lol.
A very long time ago i endeavoured to learn, read and write Thai but quickly good intention fell by the wayside. Now i don't even bother to learn basic conversational Thai...just the usual polite niceties.
I was never going to engage in deep abstract theoretical discussions.
I had formal classes in the beginning but then there was so much demand for me to speak to people that I got better really fast. I was volunteering in a (different) housing group then as well and Spanish speakers came in most days. I did work pretty hard at it, I used to get hold of Spanish political magazines and read them on the bus and make lists of new words to look up in the dictionary.
One advantage of learning a language is that people say 'everyone speaks English' but loads and loads of people don't speak English, and people who do usually had more access to education, so if you spend a lot of time with people who don't speak English you get a lot of insights into what living in this country is really like for a whole load of people (tl dr it is quite shit.)
In terms of resources, duolingo is good, I like it, and a basic 'learn Spanish: book 1' out the library will help you (my book was called Pasos) and then watch loads of Spanish language films.
I think learning another language would be one of the most fulfilling things I could ever do; but it is really hard for me to stay disciplined. I am really keen on learning Mandarin these days though and trying my best to practice an hour a day. Try to find good media about the region (even in English) to keep interested.
French: because you got put
French: because you got put into a spanish or frnech class and I was in French. Had a good teacher and found it interesting. I think it is worth it as it gives me a different perspective on life, helps me to contribute (politically, by translating) at times and my current life wouldn't have happened without it. I don't consider the time wasted and I have done a lot more things that I consider a waste.
Russian: Evening classes through interest (Dostoyevky), I didn't really like the teacher's methods (classic French teaching style), I was too lazy with the homework and ultimately dropped it. I would like to try again one day, I do like the fact that I can often 'read' Russian words even if I can't usually understand them. Only a waste because I didn't do it properly and ended up dropping it a month or two before the end of the year.
Spanish: learned a bit in a relationship then dropped it, started again when it was supposedly necessary for work then dropped it again when it turned out that it wasn't. Only wasted in that as I stopped doing it I have forgotten most of what I learned (which wasn't that much but was a start. PRobably should pick it up again, it would be easier than Russian.
Most of the languages friends spoke at school, we leanred the swear words, I can still remember most of those, I know a few words and phrases of Cantonese and Turkish.
I once spent 2 years of twice
I once spent 2 years of twice weekly evening classes and got to a pretty good fluency in Italian because I wanted to move to Italy. I then moved to a French speaking place & haven't spoken a word of Italian since. Chose your language sensibly :)
English, which has proved to
English, which has proved to be somewhat helpful.
Arabic: I should really be fluent, but never bothered with many classes. I can get around and engage in small talk and on some select topics etc. One of my biggest regret is that I did not learn this language properly.
German: had to choose between French and German in junior high. I chose German. Again, I didn't put enough effort into it to learn it properly. I can parse a text and get the gist of it, but can't really read anything properly. I do speak and understand German well enough that I could get around and in some cases engage in small talk. Though sometimes when I reach for German words, I find Arabic ones for some reason.
I'd say learning another language is definitively worth it.
Yeah it's definitely worth
Yeah it's definitely worth it, especially if you're going to travel to/spend time in places where people speak it. That's also the best way to learn.
The only thing which sucks is if you do speak another language or two, and you don't use it for ages and you start getting rusty and forgetting stuff
It's super hard deciding
It's super hard deciding which to learn if English is your native tongue, especially if you're not in love with a particular country (whose language is not spoken eslewhere) and don't know where you will be long-term. This debate is what I'm riffing off. I've read threads of a similar theme on the internet about Thai and Japanese. Conversely, the benefits of learning English are more obvious if you're not an NES - travel, career-wise, financially, can help with relationships, etc.
Why does Italian not have the global reach of Spanish or French?
i'd not say i've learned
i'd not say i've learned another language but i have tried more than once, i did german in school, but i cant anything but isolated words, more recently i took a Spanish course for two years at the local collage, i did considerably better than with german and can often read simple articles although i am out of practice now. Most recently i have been learning Esperanto for several months now and i'm probably at around the same level as i was when i was at my best at Spanish, Esperanto is definitely the easiest language i've tried learning so far.
other that that ive made some attempt to learn French, Mandarin and Japanese. I'm also considering learning some Russian and Korean because i often encounter Russians and sometimes Koreans in video games. But i want to finish the duolingo course on Esperanto before i try a new language
The problem with learning
The problem with learning languages I have is that if I don't use them I lose them. I've learnt 5 (not including English) and I've forgotten 4 of them. And now because I work in a totally anglophone environment and most of my friends are immigrants who have better English than their French, so we speak English, my French is totally going to shit, which is a huge disadvantage here. I guess I need to be more social & actively seek out French speaking situations.
Radicalgraffiti, I don't know
Radicalgraffiti, I don't know where in the UK you live, but you could practise your Korean in New Malden. :)
Have you tried translating work Fleur?
French, German, Italian at
French, German, Italian at school, Spanish at evening classes, forgotten them all.
Would love to pick Spanish up again and explore South America. It's so interesting politically.
Despite forgetting, no regrets at all. I really enjoyed learning them and I still remember enough to get a lot more out of subtitled films than if I'd never learnt.
wojtek wrote: It's super hard
wojtek
Spanish and French are widely spoken because of their colonial empires
i knew in 8th grade that i
i knew in 8th grade that i wanted to use languages in some capacity. the first language i was taught in h.s.was latin, and here i am having made a career with it. it's endlessly fascinating. on that I've built a competent knowledge of Italian and a functioning knowledge of a bunch of others (it really is true what they say). however, I am a failure: I've tried to learn irish three times, and failed three times.
there's little I've done that could have been more productive (though i could have been more productive with what I've done). i think I'm just wired for linguistics.
wojtek Translation work is
wojtek
Translation work is not a skill I'm up to. Apart from the French, which I'm worrying about its deterioration, I can barely remember any Italian now, despite any enthusiasm I had, I find learning languages a struggle, it doesn't come very naturally to me.
Besides that, translation work is a skill set that goes beyond normal levels of language fluency. You can never really translate word for words and different languages have different grammar structures so it takes a talent for nuance to produce a text that scans and flows well. That said, I've helped people out from time to time with French to English texts from time to time but not at a level at which I would get paid for it.
Where I live there's a high level of bilingualism and because all immigrants are required to educate their kids in French, there are many people who are fluent in three languages. Generally these are the people who generally get translation work - I couldn't possibly compete with that!
Petey Coincidentally, Latin
Petey
Coincidentally, Latin was my first language too, it was always the subject I aced at school - probably because it was written & read rather than spoken and in between periods of wanting to be guitar superstar, I harboured a desire to be an archaeologist. Wasn't to be though. Grammatically, Italian is a damned sight easier!
I think living in a country
I think living in a country and not learning the language is a waste. I think it would drive me insane, I already get frustrated on holiday when I can't understand or communicate.
Fleur is absolutely right about translation, it is a totally different skill and usually you translate into your mother tongue and there is a lot of competition into English so it's a lot easier to get paid translating from English. Also it is best if you have a specific knowledge, for example law or politics, I remember looking for work using my French and realising that no one cares that you can speak French, they care what else you know. Also lots of posh kids can speak decent French because they've been skiing and hunting poor people for years.
I started learning a little bit of Latin backwards from Old French but was never energetic enough to actually learn it properly. I could also read old French and Occitan but I don't really count them because I only ever used them at uni and I wasn't that good.
You lose fluency over time but it does come back quite quickly if you are immersed.
Learning Spanish was one of
Learning Spanish was one of the best things I ever did and it changed my life. I use it all the time, I've interpreted for cleaners in various unions and at the moment I interpret the meetings for a housing group.
It makes me feel I'm useful and I'm not stuck just making the sandwiches.
How did you go about learning
How did you go about learning Spanish fingers? Can you recommend any books? I'm just using duolingo atm...
If you speak English then the
If you speak English then the quickest way is to put up an offer for a language exchange. It works for most languages but the biggest demand is for English.
Yeah, nothing beats learning
Yeah, nothing beats learning a language as actually practicing it, meaning either be submersed in it if you can afford to go to Spain/Latin America or do what Jef's suggests. To learn words and pronunciation on your own, there are actually a lot of decent smart phone apps (some of which are free, though it depends on the language and the quality may vary).
jef costello wrote: If you
jef costello
I would also highly recommend an evening class to get the basics especially of grammar which I think you need a pro to teach you. You can get to a decent standard in two years, supplement it with media (films, newspapers, internet radio* etc) and conversation exchange.
It's not impossible to learn a language if you're motivated and have an aptitude for it. It's about knowing how to go about it and putting the time in.
*ie http://rneradionacional.radio.net
You're making me want to pick up a language again but I have no time at the moment.
Quote: If you speak English
I tried that once in S.Korea and I don't know what an effective one looks like tbh. The individuals had at least a base of English from formal education/academies to work from (unlike myself) so it was quite unbalanced and having no direction, I felt like I was merely teaching for free. And that's without mentioning the Christian cultists on recruitment drive lol.
A very long time ago i
A very long time ago i endeavoured to learn, read and write Thai but quickly good intention fell by the wayside. Now i don't even bother to learn basic conversational Thai...just the usual polite niceties.
I was never going to engage in deep abstract theoretical discussions.
I had formal classes in the
I had formal classes in the beginning but then there was so much demand for me to speak to people that I got better really fast. I was volunteering in a (different) housing group then as well and Spanish speakers came in most days. I did work pretty hard at it, I used to get hold of Spanish political magazines and read them on the bus and make lists of new words to look up in the dictionary.
One advantage of learning a language is that people say 'everyone speaks English' but loads and loads of people don't speak English, and people who do usually had more access to education, so if you spend a lot of time with people who don't speak English you get a lot of insights into what living in this country is really like for a whole load of people (tl dr it is quite shit.)
In terms of resources, duolingo is good, I like it, and a basic 'learn Spanish: book 1' out the library will help you (my book was called Pasos) and then watch loads of Spanish language films.
I think learning another
I think learning another language would be one of the most fulfilling things I could ever do; but it is really hard for me to stay disciplined. I am really keen on learning Mandarin these days though and trying my best to practice an hour a day. Try to find good media about the region (even in English) to keep interested.