Poll: Have you ever resented having to learn/speak a language? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
|
|---|
This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever resented having to learn/speak a language?".
View the poll results »
| | | | | Resent? No, quite the contrary! | Jul 14, 2018 |
Even in high school languages were my favorite subjects (with Maths).
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 16:20
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Not resented, but disliked | Jul 14, 2018 |
I had to study a Polish module as part of my Russian degree course, and I found it a distraction and confusing at the time, especially the written part. However, I now wish I had paid more attention, as I seem to come into contact with Polish speakers much more often than Russians nowadays.
| | | | Muriel Vasconcellos (X) 
United States
Local time: 07:20
Spanish to English
+ ...
I tried to learn Japanese after I retired. I found it difficult; the young people in the class were catching on much faster than I was. I learned enough to get by when I visited Japan, but my learning curve was so poor that I finally gave it up.
| | |
|
|
|
Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 12:20
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Time was the only issue | Jul 14, 2018 |
Since I learned English very young and I always loved languages very much, I went to Spanish and French in the sequence. Then, my fifth trial would have been German. That was my first "denial". I never thought any language could have a more complex grammar and construction than Portuguese, until I started learning German. I gave it up in six months.
Since my mother was Lebanese, I also started learning Arabic, but I never took lessons.
I finally thought of Chinese as well, but it's... See more Since I learned English very young and I always loved languages very much, I went to Spanish and French in the sequence. Then, my fifth trial would have been German. That was my first "denial". I never thought any language could have a more complex grammar and construction than Portuguese, until I started learning German. I gave it up in six months.
Since my mother was Lebanese, I also started learning Arabic, but I never took lessons.
I finally thought of Chinese as well, but it's not feasible at my age.
So I decided to stick to the four languages I had studied, and to consider that good enough. Since the age of about 30, I dedicated my learning time to other stuff, more useful and adequate to the professions I had chosen.
[Edited at 2018-07-14 11:19 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Debora d'Amato (X)
Italy
Local time: 16:20
English to Italian
+ ...
| Absolutely not | Jul 14, 2018 |
I'm a found of languages and I really love learning and speaking new ones even when they're tough ones.
As Mario Freitas already said, German has a quite literally bad grammar (even though the Russian grammar is pretty harder than the German's one), which sometimes freaks me out. Though it's still an enchanting language.
| | | | Vi Pukite
United States
Local time: 07:20
Latvian to English
+ ...
Never could get used to the intonations in Swedish and never got far in picking up that language in Stockholm. But I just love the sound of Italian, it's like music to my ears, and it took no time at all to be comfortable with it when living and working in Rome.
So German has bad grammar! And I've been speaking it all my life and never knew!
| | | |
I was never in a position where I "had to" learn a language. That is, I supposed French was compulsory, given that I'm in Canada, but it seemed fun for some reason. Later languages were out of curiosity. My first new language was when I was 5 years old and we moved to Canada - but that is in age where language learning is just a natural thing kids do. Maybe that got the ball rolling.
I did resent geography and his... See more I was never in a position where I "had to" learn a language. That is, I supposed French was compulsory, given that I'm in Canada, but it seemed fun for some reason. Later languages were out of curiosity. My first new language was when I was 5 years old and we moved to Canada - but that is in age where language learning is just a natural thing kids do. Maybe that got the ball rolling.
I did resent geography and history. Decades later I discovered that what we got in school was very badly and boringly taught. When I started studying music history I had to go back to those two subjects, and discovered they were absolutely fascinating. But not if you have to memorize map names, and names of famous people. I'm wondering if poorly taught languages can engender resentment the same way. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
Kay Denney
France
Local time: 16:20
French to English
Latin was a waste of time. Apart from winding the teacher up by reciting a mo a mat a mass a monk a mink a minibus, but you can only milk a joke so far.
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Poll: Have you ever resented having to learn/speak a language? | Pastey | Your smart companion app
Pastey is an innovative desktop application that bridges the gap between human expertise and artificial intelligence. With intuitive keyboard shortcuts, Pastey transforms your source text into AI-powered draft translations.
Find out more » |
| | TM-Town | Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business
Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
