Would you learn an useless language?

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

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby eido » Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:39 pm

nooj wrote:Icelandic is a minority language? It is the overwhelming majority language of Iceland demographically speaking AND it has official status in a nation-state, no? How can it be a minority language?

Perhaps I'm wrong? Do I have the incorrect definition of 'minority language'? No need to freak out. I tried learning the definition from context. I thought it simply referred to people speaking a language that a had a small amount of speakers, but perhaps the word 'minority' is similar to what we use to refer to the ethnic (?) minorities of a nation, where it means that the opposite, the majority, has more power over that said minority in a social context thanks to history. In fact, that's what I see from looking it up now. For some reason, I didn't connect the word in the two different contexts to mean the same thing. I won't edit my post though. Everyone should see my ignorance.
0 x

User avatar
devilyoudont
Blue Belt
Posts: 571
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2018 1:34 am
Location: Philadelphia
Languages: EN (N), EO (C), JA (B), ES (A)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16424
x 1829
Contact:

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby devilyoudont » Sun Aug 12, 2018 3:31 pm

:D My intended use of Spanish is as a minority language: to speak to Spanish speakers where I live, where they make up about 10% of the population and they do experience a fair bit of discrimination. I don't know that I will ever be visiting any place where Spanish is the majority language.
0 x

nooj
Brown Belt
Posts: 1257
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:59 pm
Languages: english (n)
x 3358

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby nooj » Sun Aug 12, 2018 5:07 pm

eido wrote:Perhaps I'm wrong? Do I have the incorrect definition of 'minority language'? No need to freak out. I tried learning the definition from context. I thought it simply referred to people speaking a language that a had a small amount of speakers, but perhaps the word 'minority' is similar to what we use to refer to the ethnic (?) minorities of a nation, where it means that the opposite, the majority, has more power over that said minority in a social context thanks to history. In fact, that's what I see from looking it up now. For some reason, I didn't connect the word in the two different contexts to mean the same thing. I won't edit my post though. Everyone should see my ignorance.


It's the internet, let harsh words just roll off your back. Don't worry about it.

I don't think Icelandic is on the same level as say, Welsh (official in Wales, but demographically outnumbered by English) or Gallo (non-official and demographically outchallenged by French). You can justifiably call Welsh and Gallo minority languages, I think.
1 x
زندگی را با عشق
نوش جان باید کرد

cathrynm
Orange Belt
Posts: 246
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:11 am
Location: Berkeley, California
Languages: Japanese(JLPT N3), Finnish(beginner), English(native)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=721
x 249
Contact:

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby cathrynm » Sun Aug 19, 2018 2:38 am

Wait, is it possible -- Finnish is useless? Oh no!
1 x

User avatar
tiia
Blue Belt
Posts: 735
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
x 1997

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby tiia » Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:13 am

cathrynm wrote:Wait, is it possible -- Finnish is useless? Oh no!

I've heard rumors, that some people have actually found a use for it. :o
1 x
Corrections for entries written in Finnish, Spanish or Swedish are welcome.
Project 30+X: 25 / 30

Ezra
Orange Belt
Posts: 185
Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2018 9:33 am
Languages: Russian (N), English (C1),
In use: French, Spanish, Latin, Classical Hebrew
Studying: Classical Chinese, Italian, German, Japanese, Ancient Greek
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=8792
x 631

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby Ezra » Sun Aug 19, 2018 8:38 am

Sometimes one can be surprised after assessing what is useful and what is not. I am learning Japanese, Latin and Hebrew, and latter two are much more useful than the former. Hebrew already allows me to read Bible, and after that I have a list of post-Biblical literature in Hebrew to read. The same with Latin: more and more I advance in it, the longer is becoming the list of books to read. And ability to read all those old books not only helps to satisfy my curiousness, knowledge-hunger and love for wisdom, but is required for some of my longterm goals. I do have recreational use and practical necessity to learn these classical languages.

On the other side, Japanese is a great challenge, and challenge is the main drive for me to learn it. When I try to assess its actual use for me, I am puzzled. Playing games, reading manga and ranobe? Well, somewhen it could be an incentive — but no more. Reading serious literature? The corpus of literature in Modern Japanese is not that big and really incomparable with corpora of Latin and Hebrew, both of which open two thousand years of literature treasure-trove. And keeping in mind difficulties of Japanese learning, sometimes I ask myself: for what exactly reason(s) I am doing this?

May be I can use it at work? Not at the moment. Chinese would more useful. Of course, it might be useful and open career and/or money-making possibilities, but this is true for many other modern languages. German would be way much more useful in my line of work.

In spite of this, I am continuing this quest of learning "useless" Japanese. It is not about mundane practicality, it is a personal challenge. Am I-present is superior to me-back-then? Can I do what I failed to do two times in the past? Can I do this or not? :D
3 x

User avatar
Axon
Blue Belt
Posts: 775
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:29 am
Location: California
Languages: Native English, in order of comfort: Mandarin, German, Indonesian,
Spanish, French, Russian,
Cantonese, Vietnamese, Polish.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5086
x 3288

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby Axon » Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:51 am

I learned Indonesian because I had the opportunity to go live in the country and take a year-long course. Prior to that I'd been interested long enough to learn "Apa kabar?" before immediately dropping it. When I started teaching myself, I had been to one Indonesian restaurant on vacation and knew a little bit about the history of the country. I had never identified any language I heard in public as being Indonesian, I had never met anyone that I knew to have Indonesian heritage - in short, it was in my opinion an entirely separate place from my personal experience.

I come from a city of about 150,000 in Northern California. Most of the languages I hear on the streets are Spanish, Chinese, and sometimes European languages from tourists visiting the wineries.

After I learned Indonesian, I flew back home for a brief visit, stopping first in Southern California. The day I landed in the Los Angeles airport I heard Indonesian spoken at the baggage claim. A few days later I heard Indonesian tourists in Disneyland. The day after I returned to my hometown, I heard Indonesian at a Vietnamese restaurant - spoken flawlessly by an American man to his Indonesian wife and son.

So if you think the language you're learning is useless, life has a way of opening your eyes and ears to experiences you might have glossed right over before.
8 x

renaissancemedici
Orange Belt
Posts: 198
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:41 am
Location: Athens, Greece
Languages: Greek (N), English (C2), French (B2), Italian (A2), German (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 25#p100832
x 381

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby renaissancemedici » Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:49 pm

Although everything we learn could prove useful, in terms of hard reality all my languages except English have been useless. Speaking during holidays, or to tourists that visit Greece is little usefulness. Learning a new culture, that's better. Actually using it for a job, that would be a real treat. That's why I've abandoned all others and switched to German, because in Europe apparently it is the second most used language, and a real asset for your CV (sorry French... :cry: ). I also like it of course.


So the answer is yes, I would and I have. No regrets!
2 x
I use Assimil right now as a starting point, but at the same time I am building the foundation for further studies of German.

Assimil German with ease: 8 / 100

User avatar
reineke
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3570
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 7:34 pm
Languages: Fox (C4)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6979
x 6554

Re: Would you learn a useless language?

Postby reineke » Sun Aug 19, 2018 3:44 pm

rdearman wrote:
Xenops wrote:
rdearman wrote:
eido wrote:I'm doing it - I'm digging up this thread.

I'm learning a minority language because I love the way it looks, the way it sounds. And yes, the minority language doesn't need you to validate its existence, especially if you're a native English speaker, but your love is what will make it grow, and it might just need that. So pour it in.

I don't think Spanish is considered a minority language. Or are you learning something not listed on your profile?


I believe she is referring to Icelandic.

OK, cause Spanish is about as far from minority as you can get! :lol:


Spanish is a minority language in the US. Icelandic is not a minority language in Iceland. Things get a little more complicated in places like Indonesia. Spanish is a major language. This implies that there are minor languages and the word often ends up in quotation marks. You can try using a bureaucratic, neutered expression like "less commonly studied languages."
3 x

linguafranca
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2018 10:19 pm
Languages: English
x 18

Re: Would you learn an useless language?

Postby linguafranca » Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:47 pm

I have learnt several “useless” languages over the years: Sanskrit (for a couple of years at school); Old Norse (university); Old English (university); Old High German (university); Icelandic (for fun); Faroese (very briefly for fun).

I chose to study a master’s degree in historical Germanic linguistics because I was interested in the evolution of languages, especially through language contact.

Now that I have no particular need or desire to study a “useless” language, I can see why people focus on “useful” languages: learning a language with a lot of speakers is definitely very rewarding. But having spent years learning dead and obscure languages, I can tell you that it is extremely rewarding to be able to read Sanskrit shlokas and Old Icelandic sagas the way they were meant to be read (among other things!).

I am studying Italian at the moment which has very little relevance in my daily life but it’s a beautiful language and I love it – reason enough for me to study it.

I want to learn Akkadian at some point. So useless! :)
5 x


Return to “General Language Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests