Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

General discussion about learning languages
jackb
Orange Belt
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:04 pm
Languages: English (N), French (Intermediate)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12251
x 789

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby jackb » Wed Sep 01, 2021 1:23 pm

Since I'm still on my first language and I'm shaping up to be a serial monogamist language learner, I have one main factor before starting my second one. The level of my current language has to be advanced enough to withstand neglect and/or I need to be able to consume any media I want without having it feel like study.
5 x

User avatar
Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
x 1275
Contact:

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby Elsa Maria » Wed Sep 01, 2021 4:11 pm

The languages that I have learned (Danish) or am learning (French, Dutch) came into my life because I was living there (Denmark) or I had a close family member living there (Dutch) or moving there (French). I started learning Latin because of homeschooling.

If I were to pick a language on purely objective grounds, I would want a language:

(1) spoken in a country/region with low English proficiency.
(2) where I could envision myself spending a lot of time.
(3) with interesting literature.
(4) with a bookstore that ships to the USA.
(5) with an immediate or easily obtained social component, either in person or online.

I'm not even sure what language would fit those criteria so I will probably just keep on going with the flow of opportunities. I still have good opportunities with my current roster so I don't want to drop any of them.
3 x
Corrections are always welcome.

User avatar
IronMike
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
Maintaining: nada
Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
x 7265
Contact:

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby IronMike » Thu Sep 02, 2021 1:38 am

1. Are there ample learning resources with audio? Definitely a consideration before I start a new language. For instance, when in Kyrgyzstan, I got interested in Meadow Mari, and thankfully found some Russian-language media textbooks.
2. Is the country of origin a place I would like to visit, or feel safe visiting? Hardly a consideration.
3. Can I find media in the language? Somewhat a consideration.
4. What level do I hope to achieve (A level, B level, C?) I'm normally ok and happy to get it to the B1-B2-ish level. I used to call this the "Berlitz level." Mostly, if I could order a beer, find a hotel room, talk basic BS at a bar with its speakers, then I'm happy. In DLPT terms, level 2.
5. Is the language endangered, and could go extinct before I reach target level? This sometimes attracts me to a language, but because a language is or is not endangered isn't a factor by itself on whether or not I will start a new language.

Other factors:
a. Politics of the region: A big consideration. If I am interested in the politics, I might want to learn the language.
b. The folks: If I've met someone who speaks the language, and that person is nice or otherwise someone I'd like to talk to, then that's a huge impetus for me to learn their language. This comes in a lot when I've got a neighbor who's a speaker of any language other than English.
c. The way it sounds: Lakota, Cornish, Mohawk.

Probably some more factors that I can't think of right now.
8 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

lichtrausch
Blue Belt
Posts: 511
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2015 3:21 pm
Languages: English (N), German, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean
x 1379

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby lichtrausch » Sun Sep 05, 2021 6:03 am

Nowadays I take the following into consideration:

- How distant is the language? I prefer it to be related to a language I already know so that I have something to latch onto, but not so closely related that I get bored (so yes to Persian, no to Arabic or Dutch).
- How many speakers and where are they? I prefer languages where you're likely to run into its speakers in any large international city (most languages with 70 million plus speakers I would say).
- Tonal? No tones please. It took me forever to become more or less comfortable with Mandarin tones. I might make an exception for Thai one day.
- Attractive travel destinations (Seoul is the gold standard as of now)
- Literature? The prospect of reading compelling literature in the original is very attractive to me. It was enormously satisfying to finally read Murakami in Japanese for example.
- Resources? I need enough to get me to intermediate with little or no help from a teacher or tutor.
- TV? I need at least a couple decent TV series for learning purposes.
- Writing system? No more logographic writing systems. It feels like I ran out of space in that section of my brain.
6 x

nicolejorn
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri May 21, 2021 12:33 am
Languages: English (N), Spanish (beginner), considering Yiddish, Japanese, and Mandarin
x 1

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby nicolejorn » Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:48 pm

Aside from points that have been made by other users, I like checking if I game I play is available in the language and if it has a big fanbase of speakers of that language.
1 x

aaleks
Blue Belt
Posts: 884
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:04 pm
Languages: Russian (N)
x 1910

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby aaleks » Sun Sep 05, 2021 6:53 pm

The short answer would be: I don't consider anything :) .

Now the longer one. I won't be lying if I say that every time it was the on-a-whim or spur-of-the-moment kind of decision. But at the same time all the language I'm learning/have learned/have tried to learn/have thought of learning were the languages I'd been interested in in the past, mostly because of the media content.

English. In the first place I was interested in tv-series/shows. This is why my goal for English was listening comprehension. And while I could think of the situations where I might have to speak in English, writing definitely wasn't on my list.

French. I liked French series, movies. As a kid/teen I liked Duma's books. French was my favorite language since I was 10 or 11.

Actually, both - English and French - were the languages I'd wanted to learn since I was 8-10 years old.

German. Again tv-series. Besides, this was the language I learned in school, and the first language I tried to learn on my own in the early 2000's.

Italian. I think in the case with Italian it was more about the language and the culture in general. But I watched Italian movies and series as a kid, and I believe I thought of learning the language at some point back then. I guess it was just the wishful or idle kind of thinking but still.

The languages I've though of learning:

Spanish. Series :D . When I was a teen I watched a lot of them. Because they had the overvoice kind of dubbing I could hear the original track, so eventually I learned some words, noticed some easy-to-spot grammar. Sometimes I could understand some of the intro-songs, some not-too-long phrases, and the like. At some point I got almost serious about learning Spanish so I bought a thin, small, cheep textbook (I was just a school-girl at that time) but I've never come around to really learn the language.

Polish. When I was ~13 year old I read one of Joanna Chmielewska books, and for the next probably 10 years she became my favorite author. I don't know how many (Russian translations) of her books I have. Maybe a couple of dozens. So at some times I thought that it would be great to read at least some of the books in the original.

The reason why I think I won't ever learn either Spanish or Polish is time. Both language wouldn't be too difficult for me to learn given my language background, at least the passive skills. Even now I can understand both to some extent. But I would have to spend some time on them, the time I need for working on my other languages. So, I guess, time is the factor I consider in the first place. Right after the media content I mean.
8 x

gsbod
Blue Belt
Posts: 839
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 3:22 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (native)
German (advanced)
French (intermediate)
Japanese (intermediate)
Spanish (learning)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=1152
x 2900

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby gsbod » Sun Sep 05, 2021 6:59 pm

In order to start a new language I don't really need anything beyond natural curiosity and access to one or two half decent resources.

The crunch point for me is always a couple of weeks after starting, when I have to ask myself, knowing what I know now about how much effort it will take to get to a half decent level, is this going to be worth the long term commitment?
7 x

User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3505
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9384

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby Le Baron » Sun Sep 05, 2021 11:36 pm

devilyoudont wrote:My list:

1) Does it have a sizeable community of speakers in my city? If no, is there a way to interact with this language online in a meaningful way?
2) Does it release books or films at least yearly?
3) If it fails on the above: is it extremely easy?

I'm drawn to that set of considerations, especially the 'is it extremely easy' :lol: Though they all seem easy until about lesson 20.

Resources seems to be a main criterion judging by the replies in this thread. I'll fall into line on that score. Without a least a moderate wealth of resources it can be slow going with not enough exposure to the current language.

My main factor though is: will I be able to use it in all its four key areas?. At least listening, speaking, reading. If I can't really use it I'll be leaning towards being not that interested. Living only in the world of a language's literature is like only a fraction of the story. There are languages I've pursued or dabbled in where it was likely I wouldn't have much chance of using them. They either fall into storage or they are languages that largely live in books anyway (e.g. ancient Greek).

Above all I want to speak languages. That doesn't mean paying less attention to reading. Speaking English and reading in English (or Dutch or French) have equal weight for me.
3 x

Online
guyome
Blue Belt
Posts: 601
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2020 1:41 pm
Languages: French (N)
x 2424

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby guyome » Mon Sep 06, 2021 6:45 pm

As long as I can find one good course I'm not too worried about resources. I'm mostly interested in developping passive skills and (as it turned out) not too common languages so the main thing for me is whether there is enough to enjoy in the language (with books being more important than films, etc).

Quechua for instance interests me very much but written material is hard to come by and there isn't that much online as far as audio goes.
2 x

User avatar
księżycowy
Blue Belt
Posts: 655
Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2017 3:26 pm
Location: Earth
Languages: *Native*
English

*Studying*
Biblical Greek, Hebrew, German (Arabic)


*Waiting List*
Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Italian, Modern Greek, Latin, Old English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese), Vietnamese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Aramaic, Amharic, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Cayuga
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17499
x 1488

Re: Factors You Consider Before Starting a New Language?

Postby księżycowy » Mon Sep 06, 2021 7:11 pm

For me:
1) Is there a good textbook available? (With audio, if a modern spoken language)
It's not necessarily a deal breaker if audio isn't available, but naturally I prefer it.
2) Is there a dictionary to/from English/TL?
It's not always necessary that it be to/from English, but that is my preference. For some that are written to/from other languages I am good in, that's just as good. Like, I have some Northern Frisian and Sorbian dictionaries in German.
3) Is there reference material available?
Not a deal breaker, but nice when available.
1 x
Dead Log
Modern European Log
East Asian Log

DaF Kompakt A1-B1 (Klett) : 1 / 30
Modern German Pronunciation 2e (Hall) : 0 / 7
[Greek and Hebrew TBD]


Return to “General Language Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests