Well, Quenya, Sindarin, etc. are like, the only conlangs or created langs I know of that I find interesting enough to make me want to learn them - except I won't, since it isn't practical, XD. Well and there's Dothraki as well. But I'll never go beyond dabbling into them. I know of many others, like Lojban and such, but I'm not interested.
It's not that I think conlangs are ridic and useless (mine helps me understands and remember features and stuff that I learn in my lings classes), but rather the learning of them - only because I don't have the space in my cerebral hard drive, so I have to prioritise real languages. Take a language like Ubykh (suppose it has a couple hundred speakers left) - why the hell would I favour Esperanto (let's assume it hasn't been around long enough to become a real language lol) or Klingon over Ubykh? It's true that in a way all languages are created but personally I'd rather talk to real people than people from specific fandoms or what have you. :>
Now, if I can speak and write in half a dozen languages fluently then maybe I'll make time for a conlang, but even so, I'd probably just pick up a seventh actually spoken language that interests me instead, lol. As much as I like languages in and of themselves, I also try to be pragmatic. I have like... a dozen or two languages in my to-learn list, but I'm well aware I'll prolly never get beyond 6 or so, simply because I don't have the extra 50-100 years that I'd need to learn the others.
Finnish and Lithuanian and Polish are good examples. I think they're fascinating, but I don't reckon I want to live in Finland or Lithuania or Poland (or rather, I do, but I don't think I'll be able to) or visit them long enough to seriously learn these tongues. So instead I'm focusing on mastering French which I will definitely need and use here in Canada (well, for now; I plan to move to Quebec), and I'm learning Italian as well, but whether I end up making it my fourth "official" language we'll see. Interest in Irish, Icelandic and Korean make "take over" since, lol, Italian isn't nearly as challenging as French / these other languages.
Anyways, I appreciate the link! I had no idea UCLA had recordings of Polish. :O
Well, Quenya, Sindarin, etc. are like, the only conlangs or created langs I know of that I find interesting enough to make me want to learn them - except I won't, since it isn't practical, XD.
That's an argument I can accept. :) Naturally some languages are more practical than others. And more interesting, too, which is a very subjective thing. I have no great interest in Welsh, for instance, but that's not because I consider Welsh not worth studying. It just doesn't grab me.
It's not that I think conlangs are ridic and useless (mine helps me understands and remember features and stuff that I learn in my lings classes)
This is the biggest reason why both creating and learning conlangs is a useful thing. Klingon has taught me an amazing amount about linguistics in general, and it really gave me the impetus to look into the linguistics of a wider range of natural languages that I otherwise wouldn't have tried. Also, because the so-called "canon" corpus of Klingon is limited, working with it has taught me techniques of managing and interrogating a language corpus that have come in very useful with my Ubykh work.
As much as I like languages in and of themselves, I also try to be pragmatic.
Fair enough. :) I don't disagree, but if I were to be completely pragmatic about it then I'd just speak English and not bother with the effort of anything else. I live in a fiercely monolingual country so for me languages are fun rather than practical, and it's unlikely that I'm ever going to be in one country for long enough to need to learn the language to fluency. Except maybe Turkey, where my PhD research is based, but since I'm learning Turkish as well anyway that's a moot point!
Anyways, I appreciate the link! I had no idea UCLA had recordings of Polish. :O
It's not that I think conlangs are ridic and useless (mine helps me understands and remember features and stuff that I learn in my lings classes), but rather the learning of them - only because I don't have the space in my cerebral hard drive, so I have to prioritise real languages. Take a language like Ubykh (suppose it has a couple hundred speakers left) - why the hell would I favour Esperanto (let's assume it hasn't been around long enough to become a real language lol) or Klingon over Ubykh? It's true that in a way all languages are created but personally I'd rather talk to real people than people from specific fandoms or what have you. :>
Now, if I can speak and write in half a dozen languages fluently then maybe I'll make time for a conlang, but even so, I'd probably just pick up a seventh actually spoken language that interests me instead, lol. As much as I like languages in and of themselves, I also try to be pragmatic. I have like... a dozen or two languages in my to-learn list, but I'm well aware I'll prolly never get beyond 6 or so, simply because I don't have the extra 50-100 years that I'd need to learn the others.
Finnish and Lithuanian and Polish are good examples. I think they're fascinating, but I don't reckon I want to live in Finland or Lithuania or Poland (or rather, I do, but I don't think I'll be able to) or visit them long enough to seriously learn these tongues. So instead I'm focusing on mastering French which I will definitely need and use here in Canada (well, for now; I plan to move to Quebec), and I'm learning Italian as well, but whether I end up making it my fourth "official" language we'll see. Interest in Irish, Icelandic and Korean make "take over" since, lol, Italian isn't nearly as challenging as French / these other languages.
Anyways, I appreciate the link! I had no idea UCLA had recordings of Polish. :O
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That's an argument I can accept. :) Naturally some languages are more practical than others. And more interesting, too, which is a very subjective thing. I have no great interest in Welsh, for instance, but that's not because I consider Welsh not worth studying. It just doesn't grab me.
It's not that I think conlangs are ridic and useless (mine helps me understands and remember features and stuff that I learn in my lings classes)
This is the biggest reason why both creating and learning conlangs is a useful thing. Klingon has taught me an amazing amount about linguistics in general, and it really gave me the impetus to look into the linguistics of a wider range of natural languages that I otherwise wouldn't have tried. Also, because the so-called "canon" corpus of Klingon is limited, working with it has taught me techniques of managing and interrogating a language corpus that have come in very useful with my Ubykh work.
As much as I like languages in and of themselves, I also try to be pragmatic.
Fair enough. :) I don't disagree, but if I were to be completely pragmatic about it then I'd just speak English and not bother with the effort of anything else. I live in a fiercely monolingual country so for me languages are fun rather than practical, and it's unlikely that I'm ever going to be in one country for long enough to need to learn the language to fluency. Except maybe Turkey, where my PhD research is based, but since I'm learning Turkish as well anyway that's a moot point!
Anyways, I appreciate the link! I had no idea UCLA had recordings of Polish. :O
You're quite welcome!
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