Language Learning

[wolffyluna]

I really like languages. I find them fascinating, all the different structural things, and the way grammar works, and all those neat things and all that ~linguistic stuff. And I do think learning a language could be useful and fun. I have enjoyed language learning in the past!

And like, I don't want to be One of Those English Speakers, who Don't Even Try.

--but I think not wanting to be One of Those English Speakers may be giving me weird hang ups. (Among other causes.) Because I have to pick The Most Useful Language, For Extremely Utilitarian Purposes-- and then I either don't pick a language, because how the heck do you evaluate 'most useful language'?, or I grind to a halt, because I'm not doing it for fun.

I "learned" French in high school. French is, arguably, a fairly useful language. It doesn't have the most speakers of any language, but it's got a fair geographic spread. I have tried to start learning French again, and have not got very far. Because as much as learning a language is fun (I do find it fun! Like, actually!) I don't particularly want to learn French? Like, the only reason I've been trying to do more of it is because I already have some of a baseline of it. There's nothing that makes me go 'I want to learn French, specifically, as opposed to any other language.' I have never gone "gee, I want to experience this in the original language" or even "you know, French would be pretty useful right now."

(Also, I'm not sure how related this is: but in hindsight my high school French teacher kinda sucked. And I think this may have lead to me feeling language learning is more boring and slow than it actually is. Like, I spent ~3 years of several hours a week, and I got to the point where I could say 'I eat a potato,' but I could not ask a store clerk where the potatoes were, and saying 'I ate a potato' was completely beyond me. And I thought that was just how language learning went: spending many hours to not be able to say or read much. And I'm not sure that's actually true? Like, languages are hard, but they are not necessarily that toffee slow to learn?)

So I'm thinking of maybe picking a language based on having an actual reason to learn it, some goal I am working towards by learning it. Even if it feels incredibly ~decadent to pick a language to learn purely for fun and because I want to read or watch something in it. (Then again, there is some overlap between 'language I want to learn for a fun reason' and 'language that could plausibly be useful' has some overlap. Like, Mandarin is a pretty widely spoken language, and while wanting to learn a language because it means you can read more random posters stuck up around the place is a weird reason*-- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Though there is also part of me that's tempted to throw all questions of use to the side. Pick a language purely based on wanting to learn it, and having a reason to learn it, however stupid! Leanring purely for fun! And there is a language that I keep wanting to be able to write text in and read, that has an inherently limited vocabulary which might make learning it easier-- the problem is that langauge is goddamned Sindarin. Being only able to speak English and Sindarin would be.. a combination, to say the least.

*I legitimately like reading posters. And ingredients lists on food packaging. I just like reading whatever random text is nearest to hand. It's a thing.

Comments

[sebenikela]

fwiw
a) i totally support learning a language just because you want to, including Sindarin, because fuckit, it's your life

b) while high school Spanish was useful for the grammar stuff, I couldn't actually properly speak Spanish until I lived in a Spanish-speaking country. Ditto French. I know there's a shitton of language immersion programs of varying legitimacy all over central and south america, and there's probably similar stuff elsewhere. So y'know, if you somehow have the chance, those types of things might be more useful for actual functional language learning?

[contrarianarchon]

1. I feel this, with learning in general.

2. You'd hardly be alone. Have fun!

[wolffyluna]

Thanks for the tip on the immersion programs! I think the nearest actually French speaking place might be New Caledonia, but it might have immersion programs?