Learning a new language

[Roboman]

What language would you like to learn and why? Or if you are studying one, which is it and why?

 

[Tudordee]

I am taking a French class because I wish to go to France. I am quite interested in their art and philosophy and wish to see the Mona Lisa. I am having difficulty learning the language. It shares a lot of similar words with the english language, but my pronunciation is awful. This is not fun for me at all, and my mind always wanders in the class, with the phrase "I think therefore I am" always finding its way into my thoughts.

 

[Cavallier]

I took two years of French and two years of Italian. I've take an bit of Spanish.

Can I speak any of them with any really capability? No, not really.

Have these two languages, one entirely phonetic and one very much not phonetic, ruined my ability to spell in any language? Yes, it's horrible.

I think the languages I've studied are stuck back in my brain somewhere not easily accessible. I'd like to think that if I ever get dropped suddenly into a French or Italian speaking land I'd be able to muddle my way through back to fluency.

Edit: Why? Er, for fun? Why the hell else? I really love languages. I think that languages carry the soul (or key or whatever) to a culture. Learning French taught me that.

 

[Melllvar]

What language would you like to learn and why? Or if you are studying one, which is it and why?

All of them, but I prioritize mainly based on how widely spoken they are (geographically and by population). I'd mainly just like to be able to communicate with as much of the world as possible.

List of languages by number of native speakers
List of languages by total number of speakers

[bimgx=550]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Human_Language_Families_%28wikicolors%29.png/800px-Human_Language_Families_%28wikicolors%29.png[/bimgx]

As a rough guideline of debatable accuracy:

[bimgx=550]http://translation-blog.trustedtranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/world_map_no__1___languages_by_vicfieger.jpg[/bimgx]

 

[Trebuchet]

I would pick Italian and then go to Italy. Or maybe I would learn Spanish and go to Peru. I know a bit of Italian and Spanish but not enough to say I speak the languages.

Once in a Moroccan restaurant, the waiter commented that, having eaten with our hands, we were just like Moroccans. We had been joking with him all evening, and he clearly meant this in a friendly, silly way.

"No we're not," I protested. "I've been to Morocco. Moroccans all speak 5 to 10 languages, and we speak only one." The waiter said that couldn't be true, so I asked him how many languages he spoke. He listed 8, and then said, "Oh, and I'm studying Japanese." We told him "Domo arigato" when we left.

 

[Dapper Dan]

I took Japanese in high school and liked it quite a bit. I wouldn't mind learning some other Asian languages, either. The problem is that this would be nothing more than a hobby for me, and that makes immersion rather hard to come by.

 

[Oedipus]

Norwegian. I've been doing a little here and there, but this school year is the most difficult and I have a lot of that work to sit around and not do. It's a useful language as it aids the understanding of Danish and Swedish, Norway is a beautiful country, and I have some family there. I've been toying with the idea of staying in Norway for a year or so before I go to university, so obviously I should know the language for that. Plus, I chatter to Starfishtea a lot, and she's Norwegian, so it would be nice to let her speak her mother tongue for a change

 

[Lydia]

I have begun in numerous languages, alas I have left them unfinished. I have started in chinese some time ago, it was very interesting to have spoken in such a foreign manner. I also learnt a tiny percentage of Japanese. Though the language itself was complicated and I thought the words might get muddled up with the process of Chinese. I did a bit of european languages; such as Portuguese and Espanol. They were relaxing to utilize in communication. I wish to reach in completion for these languages.

 

[Konrad13]

Dutch, Irish, Japanese, French, Spanish, Finnish, Czech, German, Swedish, Italian, Latin, Russian, Greek, and Welsh are on my "to-learn" list, and I will begin devoting time and money to learn them this year. So far, I'm fluent in only one language, English *sigh*

"People like to say English borrows from other languages. This is false. English leads unwary languages down dark alleyways, then beats them for loose prepositions."

 

[Linsejko]

I have reached usable fluency in English, Esperanto, Hebrew, and to some degree Spanish--and I am going to south america for a few months to sharpen that one soon.

Hebrew was originally a desire from my once-religious days; later it became a gateway to cheap university.

Esperanto was my gateway language, and a fun theoretical pursuit. I learned it principally to aid in learning other languages after it, and I have no regrets. It still makes for fun in its own right--reading the news on liberafolio.org, chatting on an Esperanto IRC chanel, and just one more quirky thing to engage in.

Spanish is more complex... but if nothing else, it's the second most spoken language in the world (after Mandarin) (yes, English is third, probably, and not by much), which is useful. I want to be able to escape to Latin America if necessary someday, perhaps. And I grew up with a lot of latino culture around me in my youth, and so feel some connection to it.

I also learn Japanese on the side, on and off. Learned all the Hirigana at one point, though it's only half-there right now. I could pick it up again if I wanted to, but I'm instead focusing on the speaking approach and using a Pimsleur course for it.

I also know some Latin from some studies done before I realized Esperanto existed, and some token French and Arabic. After that, it's just a couple words here and there in various languages that aren't enough to deserve mention: Russian, Chinese, Icelandic, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, and so on...

I love languages. They're the perfect mix of intuition and logic, complex yet attainable, and I have a knack for accents and languages as a whole--success is enjoyable. And they garner a great deal of respect.

Also, in regards to the Moroccan statement above, about them all knowing 5-10 languages--Bullshit. Except for a handful of rare hyperpolyglots in the world, an average-intelligent person can only maintain reasonable fluency in 7 or so languages max; beyond that, the maintenance itself is too high. Jerusalemites are the most language-happy people I've run into yet, with speakers of 3 languages not being uncommon, and 4 not being so rare.

 

[Linsejko]

To anyone seriously interested in learning a language, I recommend first checking out FSI courses (a google will find them quickly)--free, and often very high quality. Their Spanish course is superb, as is their French. Their Korean has a funny accent, however, and their Hebrew is usable but quite a bit dated (Hebrew has evolved faster than most language in the last 40 years, however, so it can't be faulted).

I would also strongly encourage the use of the SRS "ANKI". It's an invaluable resource for tearing through the most difficult part of any language for an INTP: the vocab. Any other way of learning vocabulary, at least preliminarily, is simply inefficient in light of this software.

 

[P.H.]

I've attempted to learn Russian, Japanese and Hungarian. Russian sounds hot, I wanted to learn Japanese so I could watch unsubbed anime and Hungarian because I'm 25% Hungarian. Through school I've learned a bit of French, German, Latin and Ancient Greek but I dropped the subjects because I wasn't interested in doing them. Oh, and I tried elfish and Gaelic, but those were very vague attempts. Needless to say, I can't manage to express myself properly in any of these languages. I do fully understand Japanese grammar though but lack the vocabulary, and I can follow some conversations in Hungarian.

What helped me overcome the vocabulary problem is post its. At one point my whole room was covered in post its, with words written on them. So on my window I had a post it with the Japanese word for window on it. The only downside is that there is a whole world outside your room you can't cover by this method, but at least it was a start.

 

[tepellian]

Korean (some), Japanese, Chinese. I became interested in them because of their grammatical systems, other linguistic properties, and probably just that they appear quite different from English at first blush. I learn a language best on my own by thinking about and dissecting grammatical structure, putting it to use in translating things for myself or thinking/talking to myself in the language. Mental games also include things like finding different ways to express the same idea, maybe until I can hone in on the one that seems most appropriate. I learn vocabulary this way too, and I'll often take several words to focus on and just keep using them and thinking about the various ways they are used within the context of vocabulary I've already built, to eventually get them down.

Hearing other people speak or (especially) reading what other people type, and attempting to return communication, can also be invaluable. But that approach isn't how I end up going these days, unless I find myself communicating with people online, especially like-minded others who also want to learn the same language.

 

[Hammo]

All of them, but I prioritize mainly based on how widely spoken they are (geographically and by population). I'd mainly just like to be able to communicate with as much of the world as possible.

Ha. Same here. Although recently I've diverged a bit from practicality and prioritized them by novel value. Eg, I would like to be able to speak Swedish when cooking.

 

[psychopathwannabe]

I would love to learn those extinct ancient languages. Both Ancient Mayan and Akkadian are what really indulge me. I want to know what happened to them. How they gain their knowledge, wisdom etc.

 

[marainein]

Japanese of course, so I can be a better weeaboo! Watching anime in Japanese, without subtitles, was a long held dream back when I used to enjoy anime a lot. And it's a dream that still survives, even after I've become bored with most anime.

But learning any language involves a lot of hard work over a long period of time. Cleverness and insight can't substitute for most of that hard work, which makes language learning challenging for an INTP's typical learning style.

 

[Vrecknidj]

If time and money were not obstacles, I would learn languages. Sadly, my finite resources are being diverted to other things. If things were otherwise, I would learn the following:

Spanish
Latin
Greek
Hebrew
German
Russian
Chinese (both of the more used ones)
Japanese
Arabic

 

[EditorOne]

Apparently some people can pick up new languages with ease. Not me. So for me, the value of five hard, bloody years of high school and college French was not the resulting ability to speak French badly, it was the adjustment of mental channels to arrange thoughts in new patterns. Not bad. Just like algebra and quadratic equations and stuff taught me to think in orderly ways.

 

[Question Authority]

I took German, and enjoyed it until I had a year and a half of awful teachers. I had a few forays into french and Norwegian, but I didn't stick with either

 

[Allegra]

I speak Spanish, Icelandic, Swedish, some Norwegian, and English, I will say that my spoken Norwegian is better than my Spoken English, however my Norwegian spelling is not great ( and yes I'm having a hard time even though I speak Swedish fluently)

I hate French and German with a passion, even though they might be useful, I also dislikes English but it's basically a must so I never really had a choice

 

[Wasp]

I speak Spanish, English, and sign in American Sign Language (the syntax can be crazy at some times). I want to learn Italian, French, German, and Russian.

 

[Treece]

I've taken Spanish in high school and then one semester in college. I also took a semester of Beginning Chinese. I would not do that again lol. But it was fun to learn.

I would love to learn Spanish fluently, and honestly Chinese as well, but that would take a ton of studying lol

 

[serh]

Learning Japanese at the moment. Finished learning the kana and basic grammar, trying to tackle the kanji.
Used to study French, but I dropped it and most was eventually forgotten.
I'm also pretty fluent at Bashkir, thanks to partial immersion.

 

[professorblack]

I would love Russian, French, and Japanese.
I became interested in Russian when I found the blog of one of my favorite photographers...which happened to be in Russian. I took some French in high school, but didn't really care for the subject. Lately, though, I've realized it would probably have some actual, practical purpose, now. That, and I picked up a French copy of Fahrenheit 451 (yes, without knowing how to read it...but I love the book and it's the only copy I've ever found in a used store).

Then there's Japanese, because I'm a slowly evolving anime nerd, and I want to visit Tokyo one day.

 

[mailbox167]

I speak English and French fluently (I live right outside of Quebec). I would love to learn a language that has at least some relation to English so it would be easier to pick up as sort of a hobby and not a 10-week intensive training course involving going to a country that speaks said-difficult, unrelatable language. Something like Spanish (without the lisp) would be, I think, easy to learn. Something like Mandarin would be, I think, something NOT easy to learn. I'm limiting to Germanic and Romantic, I guess.

 

[Architect]

Haskell. I can read Latin too.

 

[Roran]

I can speak a little bit of Español, I can't hold a conversation in it, but I can do all the tourist-y things like asking for directions and the prices of things. I'll be taking Japanese courses in the near future as well because of its legendary difficulty. I figure it can't be a bad thing to be able to halfway utilize more than one language.

 

[nexion]

I would like to learn Latin, because practicality in a new language is apparently of no concern for me.

Lojban wouldn't be bad either.