Random Rants XLVII: I don't like food anymore!

[madviking]

Afrikaans: Because it's lekker.
Russian: A cool language. My cousin knows it, and it's the first language of this awesome girl I know. Plus it'll be invaluable for a history professor. This is my first choice.
Arabic: Useful, possibly good for history, and my great-aunt would be proud. She can't speak it any more, though. She and my grandpa had Lebanese parents. This is my second choice (tied with Mongolian).
Hungarian: A cool language, and could be useful if I ever go to Hungary. I think it's best to learn a country's language before visiting, and I'd like to go to Hungary.
Mongolian: I really want to visit Mongolia often and for long stretches if at all possible, since I have a fairly strong interest in its history and culture.
Georgian: I love its alphabet, look, and sound. Friggin' useless, though.
Gaelic: I don't like Gaelic, but I do like Breton. Some of my favorite music's Breton, so it might be nice to know. Definitely low-priority, though.

Oh, and I forgot Lithuanian. An awesome language, and a fair amount of interesting history books are in it and no other language.

So are you just trying to learn a language for non-academic reasons? eh there are phrasebooks and stuff on the internet for you to do that.

Also, Russian is a hard language but it's hard for me to believe it's harder than Hungarian or Breton.

Ninjedit: I do inflate the difficulty of Russian quite a bit. But let's just put it this way: I've been the better part of 20 years living with people who speak the language and three years of classes (albeit horrible classes, but classes nonetheless). My listening comprehension is pretty near a fluent speaker's (I'll just need to learn some vocab, that's it) but my writing and reading are all pisspoor and I'm conversant but not fluent speaking.

 

[Phrossack]

So are you just trying to learn a language for non-academic reasons? eh there are phrasebooks and stuff on the internet for you to do that.

Well, it's mainly for fun, but I do intend to use these languages. Russian seems the handiest for academic purposes, and for this reason and others it'll probably be my next language to learn, but there are other languages I'd like to know. Phrasebooks are useful to clueless tourists but I want to be able to converse.

 

[madviking]

Well, it's mainly for fun, but I do intend to use these languages. Russian seems the handiest for academic purposes, and for this reason and others it'll probably be my next language to learn, but there are other languages I'd like to know. Phrasebooks are useful to clueless tourists but I want to be able to converse.

you could probably get away with buying a basic grammar book and then reading wikipedia since it's relatively simple and direct and not exceedingly grammatically complicated.

the thing with speaking proficiency is that you have to find someone else to speak to. and given the rarity of afrikaans, breton, etc. speakers outside of the their native regions, that's the most difficult part. hence, you might want to save yourself some trouble and start with a more common language, e.g. russian or arabic of which there are many native speakers, and go more specialized afterwards.

 

[Takhisis]

Dammit Phrossack, you're like a 1st world me!

x-post edit: madviking's right. Learning regionalised languages is only feasible if you have an expat community close by.

 

[Phrossack]

you could probably get away with buying a basic grammar book and then reading wikipedia since it's relatively simple and direct and not exceedingly grammatically complicated.

the thing with speaking proficiency is that you have to find someone else to speak to. and given the rarity of afrikaans, breton, etc. speakers outside of the their native regions, that's the most difficult part. hence, you might want to save yourself some trouble and start with a more common language, e.g. russian or arabic of which there are many native speakers, and go more specialized afterwards.

Dammit Phrossack, you're like a 1st world me!

x-post edit: madviking's right. Learning regionalised languages is only feasible if you have an expat community close by.

I feel like a grammar book isn't enough to learn Russian fluently. At least I know some Russian speakers who could help, but a class may be best. And as much as I'd love to know all these little languages, I really should start with a better-known language.

 

[madviking]

I feel like a grammar book isn't enough to learn Russian fluently. At least I know some Russian speakers who could help, but a class may be best. And as much as I'd love to know all these little languages, I really should start with a better-known language.

like i said, 20 years of life hasn't been enough to learn russian fluently.

 

[Arakhor]

Latin is significantly less dead than Breton, you know. (Besides, being a "dead" language hasn't stopped the Church keeping it alive for centuries.)

 

[madviking]

Latin is significantly less dead than Breton, you know. (Besides, being a "dead" language hasn't stopped the Church keeping it alive for centuries.)

 

[Phrossack]

Latin is significantly less dead than Breton, you know. (Besides, being a "dead" language hasn't stopped the Church keeping it alive for centuries.)

Latin's dead, and beginning to smell. It's just being moved like a marionette. Breton's still spoken fluently in everyday life, and has been for over a millennium.

 

[Arakhor]

Breton is spoken by more people, certainly, but Latin is unlikely to disappear any time soon (if ever). If Breton speakers don't pick up dramatically, it'll be going the way of of its sister tongue, Cornish.

 

[JohannaK]

I suggest Arabic again. I want to learn a 5th language, and I want something a bit exotic. My options are Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian (Even though TK keeps insisting that I should learn Thai), and Russian I have ruled out because Arab and Chi and Jap are so much more exotic.

 

[LamaGT]

like i said, 20 years of life hasn't been enough to learn russian fluently.

Why then were the first 2 years years of life enough for me to learn it?
It all depends on how you practice it, if you never wanted to learn it you won't magically do that by hearing a few natives talking.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

[SpecificallyGermanComplaint]
After approximately three liters of Bitburger, Früh Kölsch tastes like nothing.
[/SpecificallyGermanComplaint]

 

[madviking]

Why then were the first 2 years years of life enough for me to learn it?
It all depends on how you practice it, if you never wanted to learn it you won't magically do that by hearing a few natives talking.

yup. i'm lazy.

 

[Peck of Arabia]

Hey, cut it out with all the bi- tri- and quad-lingualism, guys!

It's making me feel very narrowminded and parochial for being monolingual


I've only myself to blame, of course, but it was downright embarrassing when I went to visit a friend of mine in Berlin last year and he and his friends over there were, without exception, at least trilingual and then there was me with only "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" and "Nein, ich bin kein Arzt" firmly committed to memory. I didn't even need the latter.

 

[bhsup]

Pfft. The rest of the world should adopt English. There's really no need for multiple languages.

 

[madviking]

What do you call a person who speaks three languages?

A trilinguist.

What do you call a person who speaks two languages?

A bilinguist.

What do you call a person who speaks only one language?

An American.

 

[_random_]

Pfft. The rest of the world should adopt English. There's really no need for multiple languages.

So long as it's Midwestern-American English, that sounds grand.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Just who is the girl in the one anyway

Waiting for you to get back from your wilderness adventure to post so you can comment.

Oh she's just a mate. A good travel buddy that's all. Her boyfriend is well aware I'm on holidays with her.

At the moment I'm pulled over on the side of the road in the middle of however 200km north of Perth.....I got one bar on my i pad and pulled over. There is no phone or internet where I'm staying. I just had a 500 gram steak at this genuinely rustic bush pub with my dad.

Have you posted my pics yet? It's will take five minutes to load a page so I can't check it out.

 

[phoenix_sprite]

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