Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

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garyb
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby garyb » Wed Aug 31, 2016 9:18 am

reineke wrote:Sure. There's a long list of personality types and conditions that may overlap in their descriptions and that are not mutually exclusive. People with all sorts of personalities can become successful language learners. They will likely come up with different approaches to language learning.


I think this is an important point that is often overlooked and worth remembering when people talk about the "best" method. It's unsurprising that, for example, more introverted learners tend to have more success with methods focused on reading and listening while more extroverted ones do better with speaking more.
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby YtownPolyglot » Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:21 pm

I don't think I am all that introverted, but the idea of trying to speak a target language with a large group of natives is really intimidating. If I can be in a group of only four or five people, I am going to have an easier time of it. Even remembering all of those names will be a challenge for me.
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby Marais » Thu Sep 01, 2016 6:18 am

Not wanting to socialise will definitely make it take longer to learn a language than if you were out and about mingling with people all the time.

However, that's not real life to me because it depends on your circumstances.

Take me. I am married with a young son, and i work from home most of the time. If i actually break down my day, it's difficult for me to go and seek people to speak with or hang out with because i'm a grown man with a family. It's easy for singletons to claim you should just go and hang out in café's all day and speak to the locals but real life isn't like that.

So even though i'm mostly extroverted, getting time in with natives is hard because an average day includes too many other things that need to be done.
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby garyb » Thu Sep 01, 2016 9:47 am

YtownPolyglot wrote:I don't think I am all that introverted, but the idea of trying to speak a target language with a large group of natives is really intimidating. If I can be in a group of only four or five people, I am going to have an easier time of it. Even remembering all of those names will be a challenge for me.


At meetup-type events it's quite rare for conversations to be that big; usually a big group naturally breaks up into several smaller conversations of around 2 to 5 people. That shouldn't be a reason to be discouraged!

Marais wrote:So even though i'm mostly extroverted, getting time in with natives is hard because an average day includes too many other things that need to be done.


That's a good point too. I'd happily speak every day if I could, but it's just not realistic to find the time on top of general life and other language activities. Even when I was living with target-language speakers, with our schedules we didn't see each other every day and we only really had a proper conversation a few times per week. Part of my reason for having a more input-focused approach is just that it's easier to fit into my life.
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby aokoye » Thu Sep 01, 2016 4:28 pm

I'm an introvert and also have severe depression and have a history of social anxiety.

When I was living in Vienna my social anxiety was really bad and I do think it hindered my progress in German. I was in a very ideal situation in terms of living in a dorm that was 99% Austrian and German students (there were a handful of people from other countries and only one other person from an English speaking country), had people in said dorm who were more than willing to speak to me in German (the person who was in charge of my floor refused to speak to me in English actually - which I appreciated but it made me anxious), and so on. The major issue was that I was there via an American based program so most of my classes were in English and I wasn't around Austrians when I was a school.
Given that my social anxiety has gotten significantly better I think I would be able to take advantage of that opportunity a lot better now than I was then. That said, I still made major gains in my German, especially my listening. I am pretty sure the fact that I spent 9 months in Vienna is the primary reason why I have no problem understanding Viennese and other Austrian accents while also being able to understand a number of German accents. I also went to two knitting groups every other week. One was in German and one was in English (a bunch of expats) and I was one of two people who spoke English in the German group. Unfortunately the German language group disbanded when the organizer moved, but I think that was also helpful.

At this point my depression is what really hinders my ability to learn languages because it hinders my ability to learn everything. If I don't have the energy to get out of bed I don't have the energy to work on languages. Even if I do have the energy to get out of bed, I'm probably not going to have the energy to do anywhere near the amount of language stuff that some people here are able to do unless I'm having a better than usual day. It is easier when I'm on a break from school (like right now) because of the sheer lack of things on my plate, but once school starts it's pretty hard unless I'm taking a class in said language in which case it's a little easier because of the structure.
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby Marais » Thu Sep 01, 2016 6:40 pm

For me, i don't get why someone who really didn't enjoy being around people would want to learn to speak a foreign language? What would be the point?

I'm learning French because i need to because i live here. But i couldn't see the point in learning to speak say German if i didn't like being around people at all. Reading and listening, yes, because then you could write on forums etc, but i don't get why someone of this nature would care about speaking.
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby arthaey » Thu Sep 01, 2016 7:16 pm

Marais wrote:For me, i don't get why someone who really didn't enjoy being around people would want to learn to speak a foreign language? … i couldn't see the point in learning to speak say German if i didn't like being around people at all.

I'm very much an introvert. This means I need time alone to recharge; it doesn't mean I don't like "people at all". I suspect the same is true for many (most?) of the folks replying in this thread.

For example: I have some very fond memories of parties my roommates threw in Mexico last year. The party per se overwhelmed me within half an hour, but by then I'd usually have found someone to have an interesting one-on-one, in-depth conversation with out on the quieter balcony.

And then I'd spend the next day all day at a bookstore to recover. ;)
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby Marais » Thu Sep 01, 2016 7:43 pm

arthaey wrote:I'm very much an introvert. This means I need time alone to recharge; it doesn't mean I don't like "people at all". I suspect the same is true for many (most?) of the folks replying in this thread.

For example: I have some very fond memories of parties my roommates threw in Mexico last year. The party per se overwhelmed me within half an hour, but by then I'd usually have found someone to have an interesting one-on-one, in-depth conversation with out on the quieter balcony.

And then I'd spend the next day all day at a bookstore to recover. ;)

I'm in the 50/50 boat. Sometimes i want to be around people and love being the centre of attention. Sometimes i don't even like to make a phone call or reply to a message, let alone speak to people. It's not some sort of bipolar thing it's just that sometimes i feel like being quiet. Totally arbitrary and random as to when it happens, depends on the day i guess.

I reckon most people go through periods like this.
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby Retinend » Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:23 pm

Well I feel out of place. I don't have problems talking to people. Most people aren't anything to be bowled over by.

Neither are they boring. How one can be "asocial" or indifferent to them is the same to me as saying you're indifferent to languages. They make up the world.

I used to be more withdrawn but that was because I took myself too seriously and social situations which required me to be more convivial put me out of my comfort zone. I think if you cling too hard to these precious labels (above all "introvert") you will condemn yourself to never escape yours.
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Re: Does being antisocial make it more difficult to use/learn a language?

Postby aokoye » Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:56 pm

Retinend wrote:Well I feel out of place. I don't have problems talking to people. Most people aren't anything to be bowled over by.

Neither are they boring. How one can be "asocial" or indifferent to them is the same to me as saying you're indifferent to languages. They make up the world.

I used to be more withdrawn but that was because I took myself too seriously and social situations which required me to be more convivial put me out of my comfort zone. I think if you cling too hard to these precious labels (above all "introvert") you will condemn yourself to never escape yours.


Everyone has different experiences in life and experiences living differently. Just because you haven't experienced issues with talking to people, social anxiety, challenges that come with being an introvert, etc doesn't mean that a. those things don't exist or b. that those labels and diagnosis make someone somehow "less than". Not everyone who is an introvert or who has trouble talking or relating to people takes themselves too seriously.

That you equate introversion or being asocial with finding someone boring shows just how ill informed you are on this topic.

I think if you cling too hard to these precious labels (above all "introvert") you will condemn yourself to never escape yours.

Not everyone wants to or feels the need to "escape" being an introvert. Also if you were to exchange "introvert" with "depressed" I could most assuredly tell you that not "clinging too hard to this precious label" would do almost nothing to help me escape being depressed.
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