Questions for linguaphiles

[cattiechaos]

This is a departure from the norm, but I didn't think anyone would mind if I asked a few questions to satisfy my own curiosity. Why are you a linguaphile? How many languages do you speak fluently, which are you learning, and why did you choose to learn them? On a related note, I feel that a major problem in many American high schools is that they

Comments

[muckefuck]

To find ways to encourage people to learn languages you first have to understand why they learn them in the first place.

[cattiechaos]

Thanks for the link, it was really interesting to read! What almost made me laugh was this line about parents teaching their children a different language: "It's harder if only one parent speaks the target language, especially if it's the father." My parents are both first generation Americans but while my mother was successful in getting me to pick up Korean (minus reading + writing, sorry mum) my dad utterly failed in teaching me any Mandarin Chinese (other than "happy New Year".) Thank you again, I really enjoyed the read.

[the1412]

I speak only English fluently and I'm trying to learn French and Tagalog. I know enough of both that I can follow a conversation, but replying is much harder. I learned what I know through school and home exposure, so it's resulted in a smattering of understanding. My motivation in learning them is so that I can stop feeling half-baked; it makes me feel super helpless not being able to fully understand!

[cattiechaos]

My motivation in learning them is so that I can stop feeling half-baked; it makes me feel super helpless not being able to fully understand!

I'm the same way with Korean and Spanish! I figure that since I already have a foot in the door I might as well go all the way, right? Best of luck to you with your language studies! :-)

[tisoi]

If you need any help in Tagalog, feel free. I also speak French too if you need help with that ;-)

[di_glossia]

Finland is a very poor example as Swedish and English are both highly useful and to a certain degree necessary for Finns interested in leaving the country or who wish to have access to non-Finnish media or literature, which is more readily available in Swedish and English. Sweden's largest minority is Finnish, Finland's largest minority is Swedish, Finnish and Swedish are official languages in both countries, and there is a large historical connection between the two countries. Finnish is also spoken by only a couple million people worldwide. English, on the other hand, is a lingua franca. US residents, on the other hand, have no pressing need to learn another language as the de facto official language is English, which is a lingua franca. There are few places in the world without English speakers, only 5.1% of the US population live overseas (as opposed to about 27% of Finland's), and there is a great wealth of English-language media and literature.

Read the article muckefuck linked to: languages are learned when there is a pressing need,

[cattiechaos]

Honestly? The best way would be to keep non-English speakers from learning English. Then Americans would be forced to learn other languages, the same as the countries that have had to learn English.

Ah, that's a really interesting and valid point, even if it's not really viable (in my opinion, at least). But still, thank you for educating me.

[di_glossia]

Oh, God, I wasn't trying to be a jerk. Nordic relations are an interest of mine, I'm descended from Swedish immigrants, and Finland and Finnish seem to follow me around in my various interests. But, really, I think there's this huge misunderstanding that people are learning English out of a desire to learn foreign languages and school requirements as opposed to using it as a lingua franca in travel and business. Knowing Finnish is a peculiarity; knowing English is an asset.

[cattiechaos]

Oh no, don't worry! My reaction was more of intimidation/awe rather than taking offense. I know from other posts that you' are very passionate and knowledgeable in regard to linguistics so I am grateful that you took the time to leave a comment. I really do appreciate it!

[kaizopp]

I was born in the Netherlands and moved to France when I was 6, so I grew up bilingual. English and German was always very easy for me at school. I'll say one thing: I think one reason french people suck at languages while dutch people do not is that in France everything on TV is dubbed while in the Netherlands it's mostly subtitled. That's probaly not much help for the US though, lol.

[di_glossia]

I've always heard that German and English are much easier for Dutch speakers to learn than it is for German or English speakers to learn Dutch. Do you find that generally true?

I (native English speaker) find subtitles incredibly useful when learning new languages, though they become distracting when I'm fairly proficient in the language. Americans aren't really big fans of non-English movies in general, though Pan's Labyrinth did fairly well.

[wunderbar]

I speak German and English and learning Dutch is a cake walk! 'kaizopp' is right about the dubbing!

[spunos]

I'm not kaizopp and this isn't a direct answer to your question, but I do have an anecdote that you might find interesting

[jodete]

I only speak English. I love learning about languages though, and love linguistics which is why I'm in this community. I wish there was more encouragement to learn other languages here in Canada. We have to take French in school but it was not well-taught and I barely remember any of it.

I'm sort of trying to learn German, I'm not very good at sticking to my lessons though, I wish I had more motivation. I just think it's a lovely language, it would be incredibly useful, and I hope to travel in some German-speaking areas.

[cattiechaos]

Ah, it's too bad to hear that your French classes were not well taught :-( Having a good teacher really makes a difference, doesn't it? (And conversely, having a bad teacher too >>) At least Canada has two official languages, so its reputation looks better in my opinion. Then again, I think Canadians have one of the best reputations around :Db

I'm learning German too, and I agree that it's a lovely language! It sounds very intense.

[imps85]

I had a good teacher but my desire for french just wasnt that great(nevertheless I got average marks because I am more linguistically talented than any otherareas (like maths ) at school.
However as a consequence my speaking is very abysmal , and so is the ability to write a text in french , but I can read a french newspaper without much trouble. (reading vernacular however especially on facebook is not that easy) So I have got all the passive knowledge in my head , but not that much active one (and I still struggle to not confuse the conditionel with the and futur. or was it imparfait?(there you see I am crap xD) )

[beemo]

that's one of my problems with learning french in school. verb tenses/moods are so similar, you really need to learn them together to be able to differentiate.