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20 years old & fluent in 11 languages, I'm jealous.
- Thread starter Gowans
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Let me explain. I know a lot of Africans living in London. However the number of kids my age that speak their mother tongue fluently is upsettingly few. The oriental kids i know almost all speak their parents' language, as for South Asians their kids are hit and miss with regards to native tongue fluency although far higher than the African kids.A part of me wonders why this is? When in Nigeria although the official language is English everyone speaks their own language at home, but when these parents go abroad they seem to reserve their mother tongue only for simple domestic chores or an ass-whooping. I wonder why this was cos you'd think parents would want their language as well as the culture passed down. I think that African parents due to them thinking that speaking to their kids at home might impair them developing their English, as well as them being more comfortable with the language than say other immigrants means that it's more likely that the kids don't learn the language.
Learning languages like Catalan and Afrikaans seems like a waste of time to me. I know some languages are easier to pick up than others especially if they are close(r) to your native tongue.
I really want to learn French and Spanish. I'd start with Spanish since it is the up and coming de facto language of the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers
I really want to learn French and Spanish. I'd start with Spanish since it is the up and coming de facto language of the US.
Also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers
Alpha-Bromega
Member
and keep it to yourself
that type of attitude is real shit, respect the languages and the people who would wanna learn them for whatever reasons they have. If the dude has no interest in Portugese but in Catalan, then guess which is x1000 more useful to him than Portugese despite Catalan being smaller?
your list of UN spoken languages and number of native speakers means jack shit even in some empty pragmatic mindset. If you are moving to Iceland guess how useful those 6 languages are, wanna watch the movies, read the lit, better yourself, etc.
i hate this mentality so god damned much. You going to work at the UN or something? if it's for some check mark on your CV then there are a lot better things you can do with your time then learn the 6 UN languages so you can claim that :lol Languages take a lot god damned more than shit like "projected economic value" to become useful in them, they are literally a part of you, your mindset, and each one reflects an entire culture and way of life and thinking.
Choke on the Magic
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I find that languages are useful because they allow you to access to a new subset of human culture that it'll be far and away from one otherwise. Translations are usually fine enough, but the real beauty of the original text is lost in the way.
That said, I only find useful to learn languages that grant you access to a new vast cultural content. Namely, international languages. It is my opinion, not to be necessarily shared of course. Life is short and learning languages is quite an effort, at least for me. Even then, I love it.
BTW, I find that the guy discussed in the OP had a convincing German accent, as well as his Russian sounded good... to my ears, I know neither. His Spanish wasn't perfect, but it was better than that of 95% of the foreigners I usually have contact to.
eh, I don't know, the non-english languages I can judge because I speak them as well (German, Spanish and Italian) didn't really blow me away, I didn't find it as mindblowing.
It was about what is expected from a good language student. all three languages sound like they are not his mothertongues, which is fine but just o.k
and not to bring this down, but everything he said was rather easy, in every language. For instance, he carefully avoided using verbs in complicated conjugation forms and tenses in spanish (habria, hubiera, hubiese, hubiera habido, and a couple more), plus he messed up a word because he was trying to speak too fast. I can make that video with at least 3 more languages, like french, Portugues, Bulgarian, which I don't count in my fluent languages, cause I can just ask for the price of stuff in stores and such.
spanish is probably the easiest to learn in america since there is alot of spanish speakers and media and it is very similar... the most useful language in about 5 years will probably be mandarin chinese.. but good luck learning that competently
Yeah, I do this with my son as well. I agree that if you're not passing on the mother languages of both parents - you're missing out on a great opportunity, especially in multicultural families.
You're probably right.
Oh.....Well, I can't say that I'm surprised. Still thanks for the heads-up.
Probably;D I'm not really worried about being detained, but I don't like the atmosphere of censorship and repression that is commonly depicted on the news. Nor do I like how "free thinkers / speakers" are being incarcerated simply because of their beliefs. For me, one of the key factors for learning a language is whether or not I like or am interested in the culture.
Oh, good point;D
Yeah, this is true. I don't get it as much anymore, but I had a lot of times when my brain would lock up when trying to switch between English and Japanese. Learning a language is just a great way to expand your perspective and way of thinking. Almost feel like I have split personalities sometimes.
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