Is a foreign language worth learning?
In your opinion would a foreign language be worth learning if I wouldn’t be able to visit the country i.e I’d only be using it on skype etc. Is it worth the years it takes to learn?
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Welcome to fluther. It’s always good to learn other languages, even if you never get to the country. As someone that only speaks one language I really regret not having access to other language instruction.
Knowing a foreign language (or any branch of learning) can come in handy at the randomest times. You might meet native speakers around your city, or come across bits of the language in books, on TV, or on a restaurant menu. Learning a language usually comes with learning a culture, so you’ll gain an understanding of how people live in other parts of the world. That can be really interesting and cast your own culture in a new light. Other languages are full of wonderful literature that usually doesn’t show up in English-language curriculums. (Like, I wouldn’t have found Pablo Neruda or Jorge Luis Borges in high school if I hadn’t taken a Spanish literature class.) Even if you don’t use it often in daily life, learning a language can make you a more well-rounded person.
Learning a foreign language is always worth it. Just remember that you have to find ways to practice it frequently, or you will forget everything. I was almost fluent in Spanish for a while, but I quit practicing, and forgot most of it. I could still get by, if I were stranded in a Spanish speaking country, but I regret not keeping up with it.
From the UNESCO study in 2003:
Language diversity is essential to the human heritage. Each and every language embodies the unique cultural wisdom of a people. The loss of any language is thus a loss for all humanity.
I appreciate that it says language embodies cultural wisdom. I’ve often heard it reduced further to “language embodies culture.” If you want to understand a people, you must understand their language. If you want to truly understand your own culture, you must be able to look at it from the outside, and there’s no better way to do that than from a foreign language.
I speak my native English and fluent Japanese. I studied Japanese formally as an exchange student and then on my own and by being immersed in it in a business setting. It was jarring. Japanese culture is vastly different than the US culture I grew up in, but learning the language helped me to love the country and its people.
Learning Japanese also taught me more about the US than I ever learned in school. I could step back from the center of American society and really watch it. I became more objective about my home country’s strengths and weaknesses. I have a richer understanding for my home.
Learning any foreign language will open areas of your mind so far untouched. It enriches your life unimaginably.
Foreign language opens the world.
Yes, it will increase the quality of your thoughts, and allow you to imagine concepts that you otherwise would not be able to express.
In English, we have words like deja vu, that we have borrowed from French, that allow us to put complex concepts in to simple vocabulary. If you know another language, it will open your mind up to other such concepts.
You can learn concepts and words, such as: ubuntu, mahal kita vs mahal ko, schadenfreude, siesta, and much more, that will enrich your mind and allow you to imagine things a new way.
It is a much better investment than time spent on the xbox or watching TV.
We live in a world where even small businesses are operating globally. Being able to speak another language, especially if it is the language of a major trading partner of the country you live in, could afford you better employment opportunities. I can’t think of any negatives for learning a foreign language.
I believe, and I didn’t take my own advice and really focus on the opportunities I had to learn another language, that once you learn one language it’s easier to learn others. You have sort of ‘trained’ your brain to manage the process.
You have nothing to lose and lots to gain.
Learning a language now, regardless of whether you can visit a country where everyone speaks it or not, may open doors for you in the future that wouldn’t open otherwise.
I’ve taken 6 years of Spanish classes and gotten ACTFL certified, but I’ve never been to a Spanish-speaking country and don’t plan to any time soon. Surprisingly enough, listing my Spanish proficiency on my resume was one factor that helped me get an internship in Asia for this summer. I don’t think you’ll ever regret taking time to learn a new language.
Knowing a second language can help you understand your own language better. It broadens the mind, helps one understand other cultures. Language is not just words, but there is also a rhythm to language. The structure and logic in languages, the grammar, conjugating verbs, vocabulary, make you think, analyze. If you will be able to skype with people that sounds good to me. If you are in America why not learn Spanish? Spanish is all around in a large portion of the country. We have Spanish TV stations in most communities and bilingual signage in stores and many public places. States that border Quebec use French to some extent.
Welcome to Fluther.
I will join the cosmopolitan jelly consensus and say hell yes.
It will expand your mind and enrich your life in ways you can’t even foresee right now.
I like how @poisonedantidote pointed out that you will learn concepts that don’t exist in your native language. Culture is encoded in language. I am able to have thoughts in French that I can’t really have when I’m thinking in English. Even different emotions.
And if you get to the point where you can Skype or use SecondLife to speak with native speakers, imagine how cool that will be. Making friends on other continents, who come from completely different cultures.
What languages were you considering, by the way?
Yes, you should learn German. Everyone should.
@ragingloli As long as we can say sauerbraten, goulash, and sauerkraut what more do we need? You know I’m kidding.
Yes, it broadens the mind. Learning for learning’s sake is a desired goal.
What @JLeslie said, except for the Quebec French part. Canadian French is a strange old dialect of real French and if you learned that and tried to speak it in Paris, they would just look at you weird.
I had to learn Norwegian when I moved here and I think it improved my understanding of English, to boot. Also, I got Swedish and Danish for free because they are so similar, and I can even understand a little Icelandic. Of course, I now have trouble remembering words in English and when I am tired or drunk a strange melded combination-language emerges, but at least it is entertaining and some think a little bit charming. ;)
@cazzie: Hehee, I’ve heard from Parisians that when Québéquois films are released in France, they have to subtitle them!!! But I have some fellow-feeling for the Québéquois because I fear that Brits must think that American English sounds as awful as French people think Canadian French sounds…
@Adirondackwannabe
It is spelled ‘Gulasch’ in German. And I insist on the Capitalisation of Nouns.
@ucme
At least that one is funny.
But everyone knows Wii is French for yes, just as Nintendo means I don’t understand…no attempt at humour, just better educated it seems.
@cazzie I would assume people who study French in New England are taught some of the differences between QC French and France French. In the state we tend to teach Latin America Spanish, which of course even varies from country to country somewhat, rather than Spain Spanish. My girlfriend’s sister teaches English in Russia and they use British English, not American English, while Mexico teaches American English.
@JLeslie I don’t know what people are taught in French class in New England. I know, that here in Norway, I was taught a form of Norwegian, their ‘proper acknowledged’ dialect, but when I went out to the store, I didn’t understand a bloody thing anyone said because of the local dialect. I was being taught the dialect spoken in Oslo, but I lived in Trondheim. They spoke their numbers differently, their verbs ended abruptly, They said ’Æ’ instead of ‘Jeg’ just for a start. It is one thing to lean a language and another thing all together to live amongst the locals and be immersed in the culture. Suddenly there are a myriad of literary references and music references and historical references that play a part in sayings and expressions.
My son is being taught ‘British English’ by non native speakers right now in school and he and I have actual belly laughs over some of the stuff he brings home. (I can’t help myself… I send corrections back to the teacher.)
Thank goodness we love language and don’t take ourselves too seriously with it all. Having the bravery to speak a new language amongst the locals is not for the faint of heart. ;)
@cazzie I experienced the same thing living on the southern island of Kyushu in Japan. In school, I was taught standard Japanese of Tokyo, but on the streets, I had to learn a different style of speaking altogether.
And don’t get me started on how the Japanese teach English. Ack!
@Hawaii_Jake
You can barely understand them when they try to speak english.
@cazzie It’s basically like that around the world. Especially if the language is taught by a non native speaker. When I was in Quebec City, QC a few years ago they spoke English with such a strong accent it was sometimes difficult to understand. I asked a tour guide about it, because I would have assumed they learned English from a very young age in Canada. She said the problem is the teachers speak English as a second language themselves, and speak with strong French accents. Another tour guide I had revealed his English was very good because he lived in Alberta for a few years. I didn’t have a conversation with him about it, but another person on the tour commented to him about how excellent his English and French was and asked which part of Canada he was actually from.
My husband who started English class at the age of 4, and wound up getting his college education in America, is fully bilingual except for a few little mistakes once in a blue moon, but cannot understand some American dialects at all. Some southern dialects are very difficult for him, usually very lower income, and I also would struggle a little, but not like him. He might understand every 5th word. But, even middle class who use words and expressions never taught in a book and not used in other parts of the country. For that matter some Americans probably would need translation.
@letmeknow17 :: Mais oui, effectivement, cela vaudrait la peine, j’ose à dire….
(I am slightly biased, but do eet!)
@JLeslie How odd. I didn’t know accents came in the ‘very lower income’ variety. Do you speak ‘Snob’ by any chance?
@cazzie No, I don’t have enough money.
Are you really going to say that different dialects and accents aren’t sometimes observed in different socio-economic levels?
@cazzie @JLeslie has a point. You don’t hear higher income people saying, “Lemme axe you sumpin’ bout what weez gonna do.”
@cazzie I also wanted to point out I said some not all. I am not saying all lower income people speak a certain way, I am not trying to overgeneralize. When a community has very low literacy rates this tends to create a dialect farther away from what one might call standard English, because being able to read helps with grammar and pronounciation. It doesn’t always hold true. But, this is not a sole reason for dialects and accents of course. Additionally in America, country of origin, and many other factors influence accent and dialect.
Its all about where the language you use if you not at all using that language anywhere in your life then there is no point of learning that language unless you very fond of that language.
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