You know you're a language nerd when…

General discussion about learning languages
User avatar
Neurotip
Green Belt
Posts: 332
Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2017 10:02 pm
Location: London, UK
Languages: eng N; ita & fra B2+, ell & deu B2-, ísl B1 (spa & swe A2?)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9850
x 660

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Neurotip » Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:05 am

You get funny looks for laughing out loud on a train because you've just written 'and I recently taught myself Icelandic' on an application form and you've suddenly realised how ridiculous it sounds when you say it to an outsider...
8 x
Corrections welcome here

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Cavesa » Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:49 pm

When you have no intention of reporting a bug, due to which a game throws random languages on you on its forum, wiki, and in a player survey (btw yay! I got through a player survey in German! I even wrote a few words in the open questions!). The longer this isn't fixed, the better!
5 x

User avatar
sporedandroid
Blue Belt
Posts: 656
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:54 am
Languages: English (N), Spanish (heritage/intermediate), Hebrew (A2-B1)
x 1371

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby sporedandroid » Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:29 pm

Neurotip wrote:You get funny looks for laughing out loud on a train because you've just written 'and I recently taught myself Icelandic' on an application form and you've suddenly realised how ridiculous it sounds when you say it to an outsider...

I used to be so embarrassed about studying Icelandic in high school. I’m still embarrassed about whatever language I’m studying, so I just say I’m studying French instead.
1 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Cavesa » Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:35 pm

sporedandroid wrote:
Neurotip wrote:You get funny looks for laughing out loud on a train because you've just written 'and I recently taught myself Icelandic' on an application form and you've suddenly realised how ridiculous it sounds when you say it to an outsider...

I used to be so embarrassed about studying Icelandic in high school. I’m still embarrassed about whatever language I’m studying, so I just say I’m studying French instead.


And don't people ask you how to say stuff in French? That's how it goes for most learners (you know, like Tom Riddle asking Dumbledore to prove he's a real magician). Or perhaps you've mastered this already and learnt a few phrases for this purpose?

That would be a cool YKYALLN addition: a person learns a language to cover learning other languages :-D
6 x

User avatar
sporedandroid
Blue Belt
Posts: 656
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:54 am
Languages: English (N), Spanish (heritage/intermediate), Hebrew (A2-B1)
x 1371

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby sporedandroid » Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:17 am

Cavesa wrote:
sporedandroid wrote:
Neurotip wrote:You get funny looks for laughing out loud on a train because you've just written 'and I recently taught myself Icelandic' on an application form and you've suddenly realised how ridiculous it sounds when you say it to an outsider...

I used to be so embarrassed about studying Icelandic in high school. I’m still embarrassed about whatever language I’m studying, so I just say I’m studying French instead.


And don't people ask you how to say stuff in French? That's how it goes for most learners (you know, like Tom Riddle asking Dumbledore to prove he's a real magician). Or perhaps you've mastered this already and learnt a few phrases for this purpose?

That would be a cool YKYALLN addition: a person learns a language to cover learning other languages :-D

I do know some basic French since I went to French immersion for a year and I’m Canadian. I don’t think I remember much, but I do have okay reading comprehension for French. Having Spanish as a heritage language probably helps with my so called French skills.
0 x

User avatar
eido
Blue Belt
Posts: 841
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:31 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish (C1)
x 3181

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby eido » Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:38 am

When you're reading through Amikumu posts (your fourth app downloaded for language exchanges) and making fun of Esperantists for being such nerds. Yet you can read most of the Esperanto and explain the history of the language and its basic features to your mother...
sporedandroid wrote:I used to be so embarrassed about studying Icelandic in high school. I’m still embarrassed about whatever language I’m studying, so I just say I’m studying French instead.

I was unabashedly proud of my Icelandic obsession. Same with anime and Japanese. And Romanian... Icelandic is cool. Your choice of languages is cool. Rock it.
4 x

User avatar
sporedandroid
Blue Belt
Posts: 656
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:54 am
Languages: English (N), Spanish (heritage/intermediate), Hebrew (A2-B1)
x 1371

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby sporedandroid » Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:12 am

eido wrote:
sporedandroid wrote:I used to be so embarrassed about studying Icelandic in high school. I’m still embarrassed about whatever language I’m studying, so I just say I’m studying French instead.

I was unabashedly proud of my Icelandic obsession. Same with anime and Japanese. And Romanian... Icelandic is cool. Your choice of languages is cool. Rock it.

I just always get embarrassed. Right I just feel super embarrassed to study Hebrew. Maybe because I feel like I’ll obsess about it too much if I’m more open about it. So I just pretend it’s French. I chose French because I know some French, it’s a “useful” language and some people think Hebrew sounds like French. So if they happen to hear some of my Hebrew music/tv or hear me practice it they could believe it’s French. As long as I avoid common words like shalom I should be fine.
0 x

User avatar
Teango
Blue Belt
Posts: 766
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2015 4:55 am
Location: Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
Languages: en (n)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 9&p=235545
x 2943
Contact:

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Teango » Tue Mar 05, 2019 6:54 am

When you wonder how one would go about ordering a periodic table of languages rather than elements?

Honorable (if somewhat contentious) mentions:
4 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Cavesa » Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:41 am

sporedandroid wrote:I just always get embarrassed. Right I just feel super embarrassed to study Hebrew. Maybe because I feel like I’ll obsess about it too much if I’m more open about it. So I just pretend it’s French. I chose French because I know some French, it’s a “useful” language and some people think Hebrew sounds like French. So if they happen to hear some of my Hebrew music/tv or hear me practice it they could believe it’s French. As long as I avoid common words like shalom I should be fine.


There is no reason to be embarassed about a cool language! Especially in front of monolinguals. You wouldn't be embarassed about most hobbies, would you?

And it seems to be weird from the other side. I've just imagine going into the room, hearing you and your tv in Hebrew, and then you tell me "ah, it's just French." I can clearly hear it's not (even though I'm not sure I'd recognize Hebrew, true). Like: "wth, one of us is definitely not ok!" :-D
4 x

User avatar
zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
x 7030
Contact:

Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby zenmonkey » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:27 pm

Cavesa wrote:And it seems to be weird from the other side. I've just imagine going into the room, hearing you and your tv in Hebrew, and then you tell me "ah, it's just French." I can clearly hear it's not (even though I'm not sure I'd recognize Hebrew, true). Like: "wth, one of us is definitely not ok!" :-D


Hah, my French daughters would give you the side-eye, too. Hebrew has a lot of questions attached that I don't want to necessarily answer each time (religious, political) so I just avoid talking about it. But I think I'm going to borrow the idea from here and just say I'm studying Sentinelese or !Xóõ.
4 x
I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar


Return to “General Language Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 2 guests