Re: Things you wish people would stop saying when you tell them the languages that you're learning
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 7:47 pm
May I give more than one heart to tiia's post, please? Fifteen might suffice.
We talk languages
http://forum.language-learners.org/
http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4906
tiia wrote:"Oh Finnish is hard, isn't it?" and later sometimes "You must be talented/a genius." - No, it is not hard. It is just different. And I'm not a language genius. But the genius-thing is not yet really annoying.
"It is related with Swedish, isn't it?" - But nowadays they know that Finnish and Swedish do not belong to the same group. So now it's more: "Isn't it related with Hungarian?" - Well yeah, but those two are as close as German and Russian. No, I cannot guess the meaning of Hungarian words. - The concept of a related language is often seen only as Germanic, Slavic or Romance languages.
tiia wrote:Marais wrote:How long have you been studying French for?
Oh this one... When I get the question about Spanish: I studied it for three years, forgot everything and started again two years ago. So how long did I study it? Two years? Three years? Five years? Or including the break: eleven years?
And for Finnish the typical: "How much can you understand?" or "Can you speak it?" Especially when they know I was there as an exchange student.
Is it so hard to believe I studied the language before I arrived there? Is it so hard to believe I actually speak the language fluently?
Why? What's the use?
Why not study (just) Russian**?
Why not Spanish or something useful?
Marais wrote:Just '17 years on and off' would have done.
Cavesa wrote:Marais wrote:Just '17 years on and off' would have done.
No it wouldn't:
1.it would give credit to useless teachers and rigid school system. I was prevented from learning the language for many years. And before someone blames me: no, it wasn't obvious for a 13 year old girl with dial-up internet connection to look up tons of sources and self-study.
2.It would as well play down the struggles I had to go through, which were quite ridiculous considering the fact that my only guilt was liking something different than most people. Includes not only being ridiculed not only by other kids but as well by adults, but it was another reason for an English teacher to shout at me several times per week.
So no, majority of the 17 years was absolutely wasted and not by my fault. I didn't take me 17 years to learn French, I was not that slow due to stupidity and refuse to be taken for stupid. It took many years to the system to stop actively holding me back. I could have been at my current level ten years ago. So no. Just as I haven't learnt vast majority of it at school.