Morgana wrote: Shhhhhh, you were supposed to go along with pretending you didn't notice
Morgana wrote:tiia wrote:However, I noticed that adding the target languages to the log title increased the number of readers.
Indeed. Though, one small correction: it was adding
popular target languages to the log title that increased the views. I had had Swedish, and then also Icelandic, as part of my log title for a long time.
I cannot tell the difference, since I put Finnish and Spanish at the same time there. But I noticed that I got more comments when I started Swedish... Maybe because there are not too many people learning it? Or because I was such a beginner, that people were eager to help me. Or maybe I was just asking more questions. I don't know. I never got corrections for my few Spanish posts, but for Swedish I got some, and even a few for Finnish.
Morgana wrote:My purpose in writing the part you quoted here was to express what most language learners are doing and why it makes sense vs. what I have done. Let's consider your case, though: you live in Finland now. I assume at least some of the duration of your learning had been spent with the hope or intent to migrate.
And now generally: most people who have a longterm primary focus on a small(-ish) language are probably planning to use that language at some point because of loved ones, a career, relocation, etc. So it makes sense to learn them. For someone not doing those things it maybe isn't such a great plan. Unless one just really loves the language at all costs. I'm not judging anybody's reasons for learning, just pointing out what tends to be the case with the majority of language learners. They go for big languages, not small ones.
Well although I cannot deny completely that the thought of moving there had been in my mind like some kind of dream, I do think you're making it too easy here.
Here I had written what got me into Finnish in the first place. Really I just thought that it's such a crazy and funny language that I have to learn it. And I had a lot of fun learning Finnish, got to know other learners etc. But I also put a lot of effort in these things.
Getting the exchange placement (after 6 years of learning) was an incredibly great opporunity (btw. my faculty had no exchange placement in Finland, but in Sweden and
Iceland. If I had not learned Finnish already, Iceland would have been
THE choice. But so, I had to get the placement through another faculty.) After the exchange I was certain I would like to move there, because I had been so happy during that time. Anyway, I became pretty unsure as my studies took me
way longer than expected. I was not even completely sure, whether I would really stay for more than the three months when I came last summer.
But there was one thing I was always certain about: Finnish would always have its place in my heart and I wouldn't let it got, as it had brought me so much joy already. I sometimes went as far to say (to myself) that although my love life isn't working out at all, I have at least Finnish (and it cannot run away).*
However, I do understand that in general people learn such exotic or "small" languages often for their partners or because they just ended up living in the country where it's spoken. (But a lot of expats here don't speak any Finnish.) I mean I've met such people here a lot. I agree with you, when it's about the majority of language learners. I just don't think I'm such a good example for that.
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Morgana wrote:The day that was August 2nd:
[list][*]Russian, Assimil:[list][*]41st lesson.
[*]Now we’re learning to tell time! Oh my this seems so different from English. Genitives, ordinal numerals, ugh and Russian does that "half-six" thing like the Brits... I always have to do the math when I hear "half-four" or "half-eleven" like why is it so hard to just say "ten-thirty?!" I wanted the time, not a math problem!
Here's a spoiler for you for German, one where even I as a native speaker still have to think what time it actually is.
There's half-something. That's easy. But what about quarter to or quarter past? Well... Germans have TWO ways of saying that.
The first and more common one that everybody understands goes like this:
14.00 - Zwei Uhr. (Two o'clock.)
14.15 - Viertel nach zwei. (Quarter past two)
14.30 - Halb drei. (half-three.)
14.45 - Viertel vor drei. (Quarter to three.)
But then there is also the second way, that is only used in some areas in Germany:
14.00 - Zwei Uhr. (Two o'clock.) -
same as before14.15 - Viertel drei. (quarter three)
14.30 - Halb drei. (half-three.) -
same as before14.45 - Dreiviertel drei. (three-quarters three)
Dreiviertel ("three-quarters") sounds still quite logical and is at least not hard to understand. But
Viertel [number] (without
nach or
vor) still makes me trouble. Just think of the problem that the difference between
Viertel drei (14.15) and
Viertel nach drei (15.15) is a whole hour!
Btw. Germans who use this expressions, always explain it with cake. Having a quarter of a cake, half of the cake three quarters of the cake and well, the full cake. (But.. aren't we eating the cake and it becomes usually less, when time goes on?)
*You know you're a language nerd, when you write with more people learning Finnish and Finns on a (German) dating site, than you have actual dates.