What would make you give up learning a language?

General discussion about learning languages
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anitarrc
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby anitarrc » Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:08 am

Le Baron wrote:Or what would prevent you from giving up?

Boredom?
Limited chances for usage?
Desire to shift focus to another language (or something else)?


nº3 : yep, I needed the brain pre-installed SSD space for Portuguese instead of Italian (for which the limited use also applies)

All this plus:
too thick - can't remember Japanese characters from here to the door.

What stops me giving up: Masha my flatmate -> she will patiently talk Russian to me till even Laurita the cat knows better than me.
After 2 months I feel a difference
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Cavesa
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby Cavesa » Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:29 am

A good thread, a good topic that doesn't get discussed enough imho. It is extremely far from the simple underestanding that giving up=being lazy or not interested.

Le Baron wrote:Boredom?
Limited chances for usage?
Desire to shift focus to another language (or something else)?


I had written a too long post about this:

a tldr version:
-not just limited chances for usage, but obstacles on every path towards the culture. Feeling extremely unwelcome
-very different expectations from the reality
-lack of time
-a huge moral failure of the author, who had been the main reason to learn the language
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tungemål
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby tungemål » Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:43 am

I never stop learning a language. I merely take short "breaks". Sometimes the break lasts 20 years or longer.
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby RyanSmallwood » Fri Oct 07, 2022 11:06 am

Early in the process it was definitely unrealistic expectations and needing to devote time to other things, of course I still go back to these languages occasionally, but I'd say I "gave up progressing" in them. Currently its hard for me to imagine dropping any language I actively use. I suppose suddenly needing to make time for other things might make me use them less, but they'd still be in the rotation so to speak. The question for me now is if time will ever open up to start a new one or go back to one I dropped before, or will the ones I'm currently using keep my busy for the rest of my life?
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby garyb » Fri Oct 07, 2022 11:20 am

I gave up on French a few years ago. I just came to the realisation, much later than I should have, that I no longer had much practical use for speaking it and I was putting the cart before the horse by trying to artificially create a use for it with things like meetups and language exchanges. Nothing against these, but they're a means rather than an end and there's not much point in practising if you have nothing to practise for. My receptive skills were already sufficient to enjoy much of the high-quality literature, cinema and TV that the language offers; perhaps not with 100% comprehension, but enough.

So lack of practical use is a big one. If things change in the future and French becomes useful to me, I'll pick it up again with pleasure.
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby badger » Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:34 pm

having the ability to easily go to work/live in one/some of your TL countries removed for unnecessary political reasons.
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby luke » Fri Oct 07, 2022 6:19 pm

The collapse of LLORG.
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby Querneus » Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:11 pm

A lot of encounters with disagreeable natives made me give up a language once.

Limited time and limited chances to use it are reasons why I don't even start studying them in the first place.
luke wrote:The collapse of LLORG.

Image
"May God avert this calamity!"
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby tractor » Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:57 pm

Simple answer: Lack of motivation. Loosing motivation however could have many causes, already mentioned in this thread.

So far, I haven't given up learning a language, but I've taken long breaks.

I'm trying to resist wanderlust and instead concentrate on a few languages that I really want to learn.
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Re: What would make you give up learning a language?

Postby Cainntear » Sat Oct 08, 2022 11:05 am

If the last native speakers died, I would stop.
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