How varied are your languages?

General discussion about learning languages

I have learned one or more frgn langs to int level or higher that has (compared to my native lang):

1) The same family with the same or different script, or another family with the same script.
25
36%
2) Another family with a different script.
7
10%
3) 1) and 2).
36
52%
4) Neither.
1
1%
 
Total votes: 69

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leosmith
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How varied are your languages?

Postby leosmith » Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:35 am

(edit - I just allowed re-voting for those of you who want to change)
There is a lot of interesting discussion here regarding learning methodology, but I often find myself thinking “that won’t work very well for a hard language”. I chalk up this feeling to the variety of languages I learn. I was just wondering if there are any like minded people out there, so I created the poll.
Last edited by leosmith on Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby Iversen » Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:10 pm

Not varied at all. The only non-Indoeuropean language which I have studied in earnest (beyond reading a grammar or small language guide) is Bahasa Indonesia, and it's written with Latin letters :roll: .

PS: how is no. 4 possible? No target languages or just one without a writing system?
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby leosmith » Mon Jun 20, 2022 5:05 pm

Iversen wrote:how is no. 4 possible? No target languages or just one without a writing system?

I meant it to be for people who have never learned a foreign language to an intermediate level or better.
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby zenmonkey » Mon Jun 20, 2022 6:27 pm

Pretty varied, I've learned (to low levels) 4 scripts, a tonal language, and really different language families. But I suck at most.

When I hear about different methodologies, yep, I sometimes think "that only works for 'easier' languages". You're not alone.
And I know there are languages out there that are unapproachable unless I really rethink what language is.
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby iguanamon » Mon Jun 20, 2022 7:37 pm

I have learned two French-lexified creole languages (without having learned French)- Haitian Creole and Lesser Antilles French Creole (St Lucian/Dominican). The grammar is West African. 10-15% of the vocabulary is not French-based, but comes from Amerind; West African; Spanish; English. The Creole languages are not generally included in the Romance category because of the grammar and special features within them.

Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol is based on medieval Spanish with an admixture of Hebrew; Arabic; Turkish; Greek; French; Portuguese; Italian. Since 1918, the language has been written in Latin script. If you want to read anything written before 1918, you have to be able to read Hebrew scripts- from right to left. I have learned three Hebrew scripts- Rashi; Solitreo (Ladino cursive); Hebrew Square. Is Ladino a romance language or more properly- a Jewish language, or both? It certainly provides me with enough variety to make my language life interesting.

The rest of my second languages- Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, are solidly romance.
Last edited by iguanamon on Mon Jun 20, 2022 7:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby Dragon27 » Mon Jun 20, 2022 7:50 pm

I'm kind of confused as to why the first option is so encompassing. Learning a language from the same family but with a different script is vastly different from learning a language from a different family but with the same script (as if having the same script somehow makes the target language as easy as the language from the same family).
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Tue Jun 21, 2022 6:03 pm

I read French and Spanish, which are both Romance languages, and Ancient Greek, an Indo-European language with no really close relatives that uses a script mostly similar to Latin script.
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby Deinonysus » Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:59 pm

I made a double reading comprehension oopsie! I chose option "another family with a different script" because really what haven't I dabbled in at this point? But I do know same-family and same-script languages too, so I should have picked 3. But then I realized that you only wanted intermediate or higher, so I should have chosen "The same family with the same or different script!" Because it would be a big stretch to call my Hebrew intermediate, although I'm hoping to remedy that this year.
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby Le Baron » Thu Jun 23, 2022 3:51 pm

I don't think the languages I know best and use are all that greatly varied. I'm okay with that. I have studied more varied ones in the past, with major differences (Cantonese); or closer in family, but different alphabet (Russian) and scraped up to maybe the thin edge of A2/B1. So I know there are differences and difficulties in learning, but what are the specific issues relating to the sentiment in the OP:
but I often find myself thinking “that won’t work very well for a hard language”.

What things specifically get done in a 'hard' language that isn't done in 'easy' languages or not recognisable? And from whose perspective is a language hard/easy?
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Re: How varied are your languages?

Postby leosmith » Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:59 pm

Dragon27 wrote:I'm kind of confused as to why the first option is so encompassing. Learning a language from the same family but with a different script is vastly different from learning a language from a different family but with the same script (as if having the same script somehow makes the target language as easy as the language from the same family).

Good point. For example, for me at least, Russian is a difficult language. It has a different script, but the same family as my L1, so it fails my own criteria, lol. All languages with different scripts that I've studied, I consider to be difficult. Also, a language with a different script automatically puts it into FSI category 4 or 5. So I probably messed that one up.
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