Marais wrote:Cavesa wrote:Marais wrote:Just '17 years on and off' would have done.
No it wouldn't:
1.it would give credit to useless teachers and rigid school system. I was prevented from learning the language for many years. And before someone blames me: no, it wasn't obvious for a 13 year old girl with dial-up internet connection to look up tons of sources and self-study.
2.It would as well play down the struggles I had to go through, which were quite ridiculous considering the fact that my only guilt was liking something different than most people. Includes not only being ridiculed not only by other kids but as well by adults, but it was another reason for an English teacher to shout at me several times per week.
So no, majority of the 17 years was absolutely wasted and not by my fault. I didn't take me 17 years to learn French, I was not that slow due to stupidity and refuse to be taken for stupid. It took many years to the system to stop actively holding me back. I could have been at my current level ten years ago. So no. Just as I haven't learnt vast majority of it at school.
I don't know why you have to be that sensitive over it. Seems like a huge overreaction to a simple question. I asked you how long you've been learning French because i too learn French, and see that you're fluent, so i'm interested. You turned a very simple question into some pointless debate. Saying 'on and off' doesn't 'give credit to teachers' or anything of the like. The person asking will just think you've been learning French, not necessarily consistently, but since 17 years ago. It's very simple really in my opinion.
You could have just said 'it's hard to say' and moved on. No need to make such a big deal of it.
From some of the reactions here i'm beginning to think that maybe innocent people trying to make conversation get the 'wrong' end of your sticks and end up on the end of some bitter tirades.
Not that she needs me to come to her defense, but I for one appreciate the precision in her type of answer. It doesn't skew people's expectations (that long? Languages are hard! That short? You must be a language genius!) and acknowledges the inherent struggle and difference of language learning vs many other types of learning. It opens the door, if your interlocutor is willing, to a conversation about what learning a language really takes, so you can give an answer appropriately.
Of course, I tend to answer most questions like that, so I appreciate it - and I understand that others sometimes find it annoying, though it's certainly, not pointless.
I'll also acknowledge that the written medium must be taken into account here - my initial reading of your last paragraph got a very strong reaction, as I initially found it way out of line and incommensurate with what it was referencing, but I'm sure that I'm misreading intent here.
As for the thread topic: I don't get many odd comments, perhaps in part because people who know me don't want to get me started talking... languages just end up in the "ok, yeah, you do stuff we don't get, that's cool" category for a lot of people.