Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

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Le Baron
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Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby Le Baron » Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:48 pm

I recall a similar thread with a similar sort of question, but a search turned up nothing (if you know it, please don't post the link because that's not the point).

'Fear' might be an inaccurate word here, but I mean a sense of trepidation and even concern precisely because you know how the process goes. The honeymoon period which quickly leads to a pre-intermediate quagmire which really tests your motivation and staying power.

At this stage I've stopped being tripped up by forgetting how it goes. It's a bit like when I was in my early twenties and got massive hangovers from drinking vodka, then said 'never again!' Only to be seen a month (ha!) later with a shot glass in hand. Whereas nowadays if I even drank one glass I'd tell myself: 'do you want your head to explode tomorrow morning? Do you?'

Whilst pondering where I'm going to go after the end of this month this feeling has a lot of influence. Whereas I also think it might be a horrible limiter stopping me from shooting for something I'll be glad about 4 years down the line. But all that misery of reading one page for 45 minutes and getting 85% of it completely wrong feels like a such a mountain.

Maybe I'm old. Maybe language learning ages you even if it saves you from dementia in premature old age (which I don't believe, but yeah). As they say on YouTube's comment section: "is it just me or..?"
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby Iversen » Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:26 pm

If anyone knows about an older thread about the same topic then I can't see any reason not to share it - but I don't remember that we have discussed the supposed fear of starting a new language. And personally I can't recognize that fear in myself - mostly because I have been through the process several times, and I know what to do. I also know how to draw the line between languages I study and those I just may have a peek at and then leave again - and right now I'm in the middle of learning so many languages that I won't be tempted to start one more with the intention of learning to use it actively.

Passively ... well maybe. I like to check out how much I can understand without having properly studied a language or dialect. For instance I have long owned a translation of Harry Potter I into Ancient Greek, and when I wanted to grab the translation of the same book into Irish I got hold of this one instead, and now I have decided to copy and compare one page of it with the English original just to see how far it is from modern Greek. I don't have an Ancient Greek dictionary, which in itself is enough to keep me from starting to study the Ancient version of the language, but one page can't take more than an hour or so, and I don't feel tempted to start learning it.

The last thing I added to my official agenda was Ukrainian, which I so far have spent max. two to four hours on every week (sometimes less) - so I definitely don't risk becoming obsessed with that project or any of the others on my list. But I can see that I feel much more at home in it now than just a few months ago. And with my slow pace and limited goals I don't have reason to fear that my honeymoon will end on a flat and featureless plateau - it has been a steady, but slow progress all the way so far, and I don't expect more.

When you don't expect miracles you don't get disappointed when they don't happen.

And I don't drink vodka.
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby tastyonions » Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:38 pm

I "feared" venturing outside the familiar Romance + Germanic territory for quite a while. More a wariness of the difficulty than anything, and of the possibility of putting in a lot of time and still getting nowhere near a useful level. That's why I've put off starting Russian for years and years.

But I'm testing the "more distant language" waters with Greek now and so far I'm enjoying it.
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby Le Baron » Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:43 pm

Iversen wrote:And personally I can't recognize that fear in myself - mostly because I have been through the process several times, and I know what to do.

It's not so much not knowing what to do, but knowing exactly what will be required. Not like a fear of the unknown, but knowing all to well that it will be a great effort at times.
Iversen wrote:And I don't drink vodka.

It's never too late to start. :)
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby Le Baron » Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:50 pm

tastyonions wrote:I "feared" venturing outside the familiar Romance + Germanic territory for quite a while. More a wariness of the difficulty than anything, and of the possibility of putting in a lot of time and still getting nowhere near a useful level. That's why I've put off starting Russian for years and years.

But I'm testing the "more distant language" waters with Greek now and so far I'm enjoying it.

Yes, moving outside known groups is likely a real concern. Luckily I started off with stupid difficult choices so he 'easier' ones felt so much easier! However, from what you say about Greek maybe there's not much need for trepidation, just an open approach.
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby Irena » Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:08 pm

Ah, yes. I definitely feel trepidation. I know how much work it is. And it's not a great feeling when you abandon a language, having invested a few hundred hours into it, only to forget most of what you learned. :( The other issue is that learning a new language competes for time with maintaining (and possibly improving) old ones.

I'm toying with the idea of starting various new languages (one by one, not all at once!), but I'm not sure I'm going to do it. Rationally speaking, maintaining/improving my old languages is probably a better use of my time.
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby einzelne » Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:41 pm

Le Baron wrote:Maybe I'm old. Maybe language learning ages you even if it saves you from dementia in premature old age (which I don't believe, but yeah). As they say on YouTube's comment section: "is it just me or..?"


Definitely, not just you. I was reading a lot in my native Russian recently and was overjoyed to devour one book after another. And I mean books translated into Russian. You read way faster, can retain more information, can see more conceptual connections since you don't have to spare your valuable mental energy on deciphering the linguistic aspect of the text. No need to check your dictionary, less fatigue etc.

I was considering to reread intensively one German book I read in translation. So I opened it only to realize what a gulf separates me from comfortable unassisted reading in German. Granted it was a "high-brow" book, nothing fancy like Joyce, but still. And my first thought was: do I really need it?

Same story with Italian. I read like crazy Italian books last spring but then had to drop it. So I decided to return to it now, for nostalgic reasons, and much to my chagrin, I discovered that I need to refresh my grammar and even some basic words. And then again: the same thought: do I actually need it? How about to stick to English and French and read more in your native language?

Right now my 'fear' is at its highest. Sometimes I look back at the languages I've dabbled with and shudder. But who knows, may be in some distant future the life will be calm and stable again and I would venture into another language journey. But I'm definitelt not as enthusiastic as I was 10 or 15 years ago.
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby rdearman » Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:43 pm

I would say it is more dread than fear. Dreading the intermediate blues.
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby lingua » Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:51 pm

I don't feel any fear or whatever you want to call it of starting a new language. Either I'll enjoy it and stick with it or not. I've noticed though that I haven't felt a need to start a new language in quite a long time. At the moment I'm fine with the four I'm currently working on to varying amounts of time.
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Re: Do you ever 'fear' starting a new language?

Postby Le Baron » Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:59 pm

rdearman wrote:I would say it is more dread than fear. Dreading the intermediate blues.

Yes, dread is the right word. Apprehension knowing what's coming.
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