Underrated Languages

General discussion about learning languages
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby nooj » Sat Dec 16, 2017 5:56 am

Xmmm wrote:If there are 7000 languages, 6950 must be underrated.

Flipping the question, what's overrated? Irish, Icelandic, Basque, Catalan.


What does it mean to be under and overrated?

Are we using these terms as synonyms of underrepresented and overrepresented (for their population size, economic impact, statal support etc)?
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby mick33 » Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:28 am

I think maybe what is meant (going by the OP in this thread) is languages that are rarely learned or discussed by members of this forum or HTLAL.
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby nooj » Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:51 am

Ah, I see, that makes sense.

I think a factor of this might be the availability of the language to the learner. I don't think it's wrong to say that most of us are Anglophones and we learn our languages through English at first, and then through other languages once we learn them.

Irish may seem overrated but it is a fact that most learning material for Irish is made by Anglophones for Anglophones, and so Irish is more accesible than Breton.

I am sure however that if you go to a French language learning forum, Breton will be far more popular than Irish.
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby Serpent » Sat Dec 16, 2017 7:11 am

basica wrote:I actually find Romanian interesting too. I think a Romance language with a lot of Slavic influence to be fascinating.
I like it for the same reason :) My active skills are crap but I understand a lot.
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby PeterMollenburg » Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:10 am

basica wrote:It's actually fascinating for me how many small European languages attract people that don't have ties to them (e.g. not a heritage speaker). Norwegian is probably a great example as on here and unilang I seem to come across heaps of people learning it and to me at least it's a real obscure language with almost 0% of actually using it in day to day life (I'm sure this is different depending on where you live, but even still I can't imagine there's too many Norwegian expat communities of noteworthy size considering their population size). Of course, you're interested in what you're interested in but I don't know where that interest comes come. Maybe because I live in Australia and have less of a connection with the region :? ?


To me it’s relatively clear. A hell of a lot of ppl learn English for financial reasons, such as job markets or employment opportunities, which equates to a potential increase in quality of life.

Norway often tops or is near the top of quality of life index ratings and happiness ratings. Such lists are based on educational levels, access to health care, commuting times, pollution, crime, income and so on. Norway is a wealthy country, and one’s purchasing power if you want to travel from Norway to other countries is very high (compare earning a Romanian wage to a Norwegian one if you like to travel, and even in general). Access to stunning nature is easy, work-life balance is better than many other western countries from what I hear and they have many social structures that protect individuals and families much better than many other countries (compare maternity leave of Norway to the U.S.A. for example).

Norway’s not alone but the attraction is clear for me. I’ve been very tempted to learn the language myself by being tempted to relocate there (likely temporary-ish). I have my heart set on France, but when I read/ hear of the quality of life in Norway, the benefits of their social structures and their government, even their relation to the land and their property rights, I suffer from wanderlust. Romanian doesn’t pull me in like Norwegian since it’s poor in comparison, I’ve heard some rather off-putting things about the Romanian government with regards to fundamental rights and respect and life would be tough there moving from Australia. Australia’s quality of life is high, but Norway’s is higher (that’s in ratings and anecdotally).

As a bonus for us language learners, learning Norwegian brings with it a great level of Swedish and Danish comprehension hardly lifting a finger- two more happy and wealthy countries where social systems do a lot to provide for their citizens.

As a side note, I don’t learn languages just from an economic stand point, but for Norwegian (and Luxembourgish and Swiss German) I am tempted quite often.

Edited for spelling errors and a couple of minor additions.
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby tarvos » Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:28 am

Norway is really, really expensive though.

Honestly, I just learn what tickles my fancy. Screw what the rest of the world thinks, if I have to learn Mandarin for whatever reason I will.
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby PeterMollenburg » Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:50 am

tarvos wrote:Norway is really, really expensive though.


Yes, but not if you earn Norwegian kroner, generally speaking, which was one of my earlier points. If you live and work in Norway your kroner is worth a lot in the vast majority of other countries (post exchange for local currency). Thus, if you would like to travel, being based in a country with a strong currency (usually those countries that seem very expensive to outsiders - Norway, Switzerland, ?Luxembourg) then its a good country to be based in, generally speaking.

So, yes it’s very expensive (I know from experience too), but not for the locals.

A Romanian, generally would find travelling to Norway extremely expensive, a Norwegian travelling to Romania would find it quite cheap. I know where I’d prefer to settle with a family. And I have nothing against the Romanian people or culture at all.

tarvos wrote:Honestly, I just learn what tickles my fancy. Screw what the rest of the world thinks, if I have to learn Mandarin for whatever reason I will.


Same here. If it really was about money I would’ve gone into banking, management or become a surgeon (if possible). One thing I love about languages is the culture(s) and societies they represent, and for Norwegian an aspect of that is their high quality of life, which I find appealing.
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby BalancingAct » Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:54 am

The only language underrated is perhaps the heritage language you did not learn. For me it's Dutch.
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby basica » Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:55 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:...Norway’s not alone but the attraction is clear for me. I’ve been very tempted to learn the language myself by being tempted to relocate there (likely temporary-ish). I have my heart set on France, but when I read/ hear of the quality of life in Norway, the benefits of their social structures and their government, even their relation to the land and their property rights, I suffer from wanderlust. Romanian doesn’t pull me in like Norwegian since it’s poor in comparison, I’ve heard some rather off-putting things about the Romanian government with regards to fundamental rights and respect and life would be tough there moving from Australia. Australia’s quality of life is high, but Norway’s is higher (that’s in ratings and anecdotally).

...As a side note, I don’t learn languages just from an economic stand point, but for Norwegian (and Luxembourgish and Swiss German) I am tempted quite often.


As tarvos has said, it's an expensive place. I'm sure if most people saw the taxes in Norway, or the cost of fuel they'd dump dreams of moving there quicker than you could blink :) IME, most people aren't learning it to move there anyways. They're just attracted to it for whatever reason (like the sound, like that it's somewhat easy to learn for an English speaker, etc), which as tarvos has said is perfectly fine. No one needs to justify their reasons for learning a language, it's just for me at least it doesn't all that much sense why it in particular is popular (not that I need to understand in any case) because a lot the points you raised could be said of other countries too.

As for the economic and cultural reasons for learning a language, what is better or worse is a very personal and subjective thing. For example, if I were to live in the US doing what I'd do now, I'd probably be able to earn double my already quite healthy salary, and probably pay less tax to boot. My standard of living would skyrocket despite it being far less of a socialistic country than Australia. If I were to live in Norway, by the looks of it I would have about 10 grand less in my pocket every year (due to taxes), not accounting for the higher expenses of everything else. For me, I view Norway in probably a far less positive light than you do Romania. Especially since I can work remotely in Romania and live like a king by their standards :)

Anyways, that was a bit of a tangent. All in all, we all learn languages for different reasons and that's a-ok :)
Last edited by basica on Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Underrated Languages

Postby tarvos » Sat Dec 16, 2017 9:56 am

Norway is quite expensive even if you earn in kroner (been there), but it is slightly less expensive then yes.

Honestly, most of the countries at the top of those ratings are pretty much interchangeable for living standards (I live in NL and it's fine). But the reason I went to Romania (I spent six weeks volunteering there) didn't have anything to do with money. I just wanted to pay my societal dues.
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