So many languages; so little time

With approximately 4000-6000 (or maybe even more) languages in the world, how does an enthusiastic language learner choose a language to focus on?  The reasons for choosing a language are highly individual.  Some are practical choices.  Others are emotionally charged.  And still others are pure whimsy.

First are the language choices made by your head.  You need formal credits for a degree requirement in high school or college, for example.

 

Your language decision is based on which language offers you the best opportunity to complete a course of study.  Or you are training for a career for which a second language is required or useful, such as international business, translation, or language instruction.

 

Which language to choose may be decided for you based on future job opportunities. Lists of the most important world languages differ, but the following languages show up consistently: (in alphabetical order)  Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.   

A second category of language choices involves an emotional attachment.

You want to learn the language of your ancestors  Or you have a friend or significant other who speaks another language. Your decision may be motivated by doing a student abroad program in another country or a brief overseas visit.  You may be planning to travel to Italy and rent a villa, or vacation in the Dominican Republic.  Beloved songs, poetry, and literature can also lead a learner to choose a certain language.

 

You may be a fan of a foreign sports figure, such as a soccer player, mixed martial arts fighter, or a motorcycle racer who inspires you to study their native language.

The last category of language choice is my favorite - whimsy.  Choosing a language on a lark.

Maybe you like the way it sounds   (I definitely get a pleasant feeling when hearing Portuguese on my Duolingo program.)  You have always wanted to learn X language, but you can't really put your finger on why.  You consider studying a language as entertainment rather than a chore. Why study X language?  Because it is there, like Mt. Everest. 

So why have you personally chosen a certain foreign language?  My Italian instructor observed recently, "You have to love a language in order to learn it well." Having a love affair with another language sounds like a great way to increase the endorphins in our brains that make living a wonderful experience. 

      

I now have a Duolingo buddy!

My husband, Wayne, is now my Duolingo buddy!  This blog post is dedicated to him.

Readers who have read my previous blog posts probably know by now that I'm very impressed with a free online program for language learning called Duolingo.  Yes, I'll admit it up front.  I am just a tad obsessive about learning other languages.  

I follow other learners on Duolingo, mostly random people from all over the world that I don't know personally.  It's interesting to compare my progress with theirs from time to time.

But now that Wayne has become seriously committed to Duolingo, I have someone in my own household to compare Duolingo notes with.

Wayne grew up in a Texas town bordering the country of Mexico, as did I, so we have heard Spanish spoken all of our lives.  When Wayne finally tired of seeing me have so much fun with my daily language sessions on Duolingo, he made another attempt at learning Spanish on Duolingo (he had started and stopped a time or two before, as lots of people do). Now he is on an over two-month streak (earning Duolingo experience points every day) and very proud of his progress.

I also applaud his success, not only from a personal standpoint, but also because I want to learn more about how people acquire languages.  This morning I asked Wayne to talk to me for a few minutes about his Duolingo study.  Here are some observations he made about his learning process.

(1) He enjoys the "repeat after the speaker" questions and views them almost as a "gimme."  (I would like to add that he has a very authentic accent in Spanish.  I am especially jealous of his ability to produce a perfect rolled Spanish "r.")

(2)  He feels the need to go back and study certain grammar points, for example personal pronouns.  I try to discourage him from doing too much grammar in the early stages of language study, but I can sympathize with the urge to learn grammar rather than acquire it by use.

(3) He personalizes the Duolingo program to fit his needs.  On a busy day, he may return to an easier exercise just to get point credits for the day.  When life is more leisurely, he may challenge himself to a new grammar or vocabulary topic.  When asked to match Spanish and English vocabulary words, he disciplines himself to try to match them without resorting to process of elimination to get the right answer.

(4)  He likes the format change in Duolingo which allows the learner to continue an exercise, no matter how many tries it takes to reach the end.  (Previous versions of Duolingo would only let you make a limited number of errors before you "lost" the round.)

(5)  He isn't sure if Duolingo study is translating into real world use of Spanish, but he believes it will when he advances in the program.

Although I realize that Duolingo is not the only language program available, I think it has a lot going for it:  it's free to all users; it's available 24/7 on desktops, laptops, tablets and cell phones; and it's user friendly and lighthearted in approach.

"Have you done your Duolingo today?" is now part of daily conversations in our household, and I enjoy talking about it!

   

   

So many languages, so little time

If T-shirts were a part of my daily wardrobe, I would have one specially made that says, "So many languages, so little time."   Languages are always on my list of fun activities.  But with an estimated 6000-8000 languages identified in the world today, which languages should I choose to devote time and effort to study?

This very intriguing issue presented itself to me yesterday as I logged onto a free language-learning site, livemocha.com.  I had my choice of 35 languages, with a long list of planned languages for the future.  What a smorgasbord!  And the winner was Catalan.  

Catalan is a Romance language, derived from Latin like its sister languages, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

It is one of the official languages of Catalunya, whose capital city is Barcelona. Catalan is spoken in other regions of Spain and France as well and on various islands. Catalan is the official language of Andorra, a small nation bordered by Spain and France. 

But why did my eye settle on Catalan instead of the other 34 choices?  This question leads to a larger question of why we are attracted to some languages and not others.  In my case, the Catalan language brought memories of a family trip to Barcelona several years ago.  And I savored those memories.

Our twenty-something son had agreed to make one more family trip with his parents, and we had reserved a separate room for him in Barcelona.  As he tells the story, he had emerged from the shower, wrapped a towel around himself, and wandered out onto the small balcony of his bedroom to catch a view of Barcelona. When he turned to go back inside, he discovered that the sliding glass door to the balcony had closed and locked automatically.  His story of how he solved the problem was my first insight into the Catalan language.

He explained that he had started yelling to anyone he could see outside, giving his room number.  "What language did you speak?"  I quizzed him, knowing he had studied Spanish several years ago in high school but did not speak Catalan.  When he realized that using Spanish was not helping him out of the situation, he said he switched to Catalan.  And he was rescued!  "How in the world did you do that?"  I inquired suspiciously.  He said that he just took the words for the numbers in Spanish and shortened them. What a practical solution! I'll have to investigate that.

Some of my other memories of Barcelona are leisurely walking Las Ramblas, a pedestrian street filled with music, food, vendors and street performers,  

and subsequently nursing my husband back from a bout of stomach trouble caused by a suspicious paella dish. And then I remember the Picasso museum, sunning on the beach, and an unforgettable performance of Lang-Lang with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Gran Teatre del Liceu Opera House.  I also attended my first motorcycle race in a village outside of Barcelona.  A unique experience!

Yes!  I want to study Catalan, if for no other reason than to let my mind travel back to our stay in Barcelona, now with the added thrill of imagining myself communicating in the Catalan language.  "Hola!" I will say, "Com estàs?" "Eu dic Linda Calk."  "Com et dius?"  And I promise myself not to panic if I actually get a response in Catalan!