I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

General discussion about learning languages
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby David27 » Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:55 pm

Well, they say there are 6500+ languages out there, so over 6,490 will likely escape me. I've settled in for the long haul with Japanese and Chinese, but I see this as a life-long journey, and I think any other language I learn will likely be related to languages I know. I love the sound of Arabic and Hebrew, and where I currently live Bengali would be very useful, so I don't want to rule them out. But realistically, unless I start making rapid progress in Chinese and Japanese in the next few years, I don't foresee myself getting to them.
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby badger » Mon Feb 06, 2023 9:12 pm

Le Baron wrote:Yes, the best time to start is today. The problem is I sometimes stop tomorrow.

the best time to start was 20 years ago; the best available time is today.
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby lichtrausch » Mon Feb 06, 2023 9:27 pm

Anything non-Sinosphere and non-Indo European. Although it's possible that I will make a series of desperate attempts for Turkish, Arabic, Telugu, and Thai. Likely to fail.
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Feb 06, 2023 9:28 pm

I have reasons for studying every single language I've spent some time with, and I also have reasons for leaving them (or taking long breaks).

Somebody's reason to be obsessed with a language may be my reason to (eventually) avoid it like the plague.

I might become fairly proficient in a language (entirely on my own), but:
I will likely die before ever going to the country where it is spoken.
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby språker » Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:07 pm

badger wrote:
Le Baron wrote:Yes, the best time to start is today. The problem is I sometimes stop tomorrow.

the best time to start was 20 years ago; the best available time is today.


I have another approach that seem less stressful. I am reserving one spot for a language when I retire. I don't have to stress about how much better it would have been if I had started it earlier, as the earlier slots are already occupied by languages I am already studying, or for a language that pops up in my life and selects itself (i.e. if we move to another country).

I don't even have to start a language the day I retire if I don't feel for it, but if I do, I'll brew myself a coffee in the morning, put my feet on the pouf, and just get going, knowing that I'll hopefully will have many years with it. It'll hopefully be around 20 years from now.
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby rdearman » Mon Feb 06, 2023 11:55 pm

språker wrote:
badger wrote:
Le Baron wrote:Yes, the best time to start is today. The problem is I sometimes stop tomorrow.

the best time to start was 20 years ago; the best available time is today.


I have another approach that seem less stressful. I am reserving one spot for a language when I retire. I don't have to stress about how much better it would have been if I had started it earlier, as the earlier slots are already occupied by languages I am already studying, or for a language that pops up in my life and selects itself (i.e. if we move to another country).

I don't even have to start a language the day I retire if I don't feel for it, but if I do, I'll brew myself a coffee in the morning, put my feet on the pouf, and just get going, knowing that I'll hopefully will have many years with it. It'll hopefully be around 20 years from now.

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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby Sae » Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:24 am

I'm gonna go with:

Japanese: I was really interested in it as a teenager because of Karate, which sparked an interest in Japan, its history and culture and tried to learn it. And there is a part of me that would like to learn it. But I probably won't. Though I would love to visit Okinawa, funnily enough I looked up resources for Ryukyuan languages today as somebody wanting to learn was having trouble finding stuff. And I think the writing system for Japanese would put me off, I had the energy as a teen.

German: I feel like it's one I should know by now and as I have haven't, I probably never will. I lived in Germany when I was a toddler, I studied it in school and have been to Germany 10 times since leaving school, my dad has a degree in German and it's one of the most accessible languages to an native English speaker. And yet, my German remains horrible broken.

All Scandinavian Languages: I wanted to learn the once, but that desire has weakened and I think the motivation to learn one has subsided. Nothing against the languages, because they're great. I've just moved on!

English: I'm a native speaker, sure, but ngl, my English is probably terrible. And I have what I call "autocorrect brain", where similar words to what-I-meant appear.
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby Xenops » Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:24 am

jeff_lindqvist wrote:
I might become fairly proficient in a language (entirely on my own), but:
I will likely die before ever going to the country where it is spoken.


I understand the context, since I know you don't like to travel--but out of context (if applied to me, for example), this would be very depressing indeed! :lol: :cry:

As for languages I likely won't learn: well at the moment I'm feeling optimistic about life in general, so I would prefer to "never say never". :D But here are some contenders:

Sanskrit: I don't see myself indulging into Hinduism or India's ancient writings.

Native American Languages: Partly out of respect, and partly because it's stupidly hard to find materials beyond A1, from what I (briefly) searched. I also get the impression (related to the respect) that the native speakers are inclusive, and having outsiders study their tongue would be unwelcome.

Zulu or Xhosa: As cool as they sound...Not likely.

Caucasian Languages: From I read, Georgian is one of the more normal ones of the bunch. :D One has arguably 64 cases!

Dothraki: Would't I have to be a Game of Thrones fan first? Shoot, wouldn't I have to either read the books or watch the show first!?

Gothic: Well, for obvious reasons...
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby Kullman » Tue Feb 07, 2023 1:01 am

Probably arabic (persian/farsi) would be the least desirable language to learn for me right now...
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Re: I will likely die before ever learning X-language!

Postby Le Baron » Tue Feb 07, 2023 1:19 am

Sae wrote:Japanese: I was really interested in it as a teenager because of Karate, which sparked an interest in Japan, its history and culture and tried to learn it. And there is a part of me that would like to learn it. But I probably won't. Though I would love to visit Okinawa, funnily enough I looked up resources for Ryukyuan languages today as somebody wanting to learn was having trouble finding stuff. And I think the writing system for Japanese would put me off, I had the energy as a teen..

This is one reason I originally wanted to be proficient in Japanese. I started Karate aged 10 or 11, against the will of my parents because the club was far out of our backwoods area and they thought it would make me give up other things. So probably like you I always knew lots of words for stances and blocks and strikes etc and some additional words, names of kata some weapons etc, but not much more. In any case the style is effectively Chinese anyway, from Malaysia, and only gained a Japanese basis because of the Japanese occupation of Malaya. When the head organisation came over for the grading of my 1st (and only) dan grading over three days, everyone was speaking either Malay or Chinese or English anyway... :lol: Feels like a lifetime ago.

So at that time, yes I had that same interest as yours in Japan and beyond, but it morphed into wanting to learn Chinese (Cantonese) instead. And we know how that went. Yet modern Japanese culture never interested me, which means my view was probably superficial.
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