A few thoughts...
Sep. 14th, 2009 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkThis link: www.claritaslux.com/blog/the-hardest-language-to-learn/
First of all, I have to disagree with that list. I don't have any knowledge of Polish, but I have a hard time believing it's harder for a native English speaker than Chinese or Arabic, which are from completely different language families and therefore are much, much more different in terms of vocabulary, grammar, structure, etc. (Not to mention the infamous four tones of Chinese.)
But I won't dwell for long on that topic, as it has already been beaten to death by some of the commenters. I started reading the comments, some of which were rather interesting, some of which...made me cringe/bang my head on the desk.
A few points:
1) Many of the commenters seemed to think their language was the best in the world, or that people who speak their language have amazing language abilities. Er, okay. I wasn't exactly surprised (it's human nature to think the best of your group/nationality/whatever), but sometimes I wish people would acknowledge that each language is beautiful in its own way. Furthermore, about the people-who-can-learn-languages better or not...I remain highly skeptical that they can because of their mother tongue. A person's aptitude for languages is dependent on many factors, such as passion, time, motivation, perhaps a little bit of genetics. Also, it's a fact that people have easier times learning languages that are closer to their mother tongue. So a Pole wouldn't have as much trouble learning Russian, an English-speaker might have an easier time with a Germanic language, etc. Just because you know a so-called "hard language" doesn't mean you're better at picking up so-called "easy languages."
That reminds me of the age-old debate over whether English is a "hard" language or an "easy" language. I'm going to paraphrase a quotation I found from the internet that I agree with: English is a language that is simple at first to pick up but becomes progressively harder to speak correctly as a native.
2) This comment really enraged me: "As a native Finnish, may I point also that I have never met a foreign persons (so a person who hasn’t been raised in Finland with Finnish as first or second mother tongue), who would have spoken Finnish compleatly without an accent or without making some kind of grammar mistakes. Most of the time foreigners Finnish is actually so painful to listen and understand that everybody turns to English."
See, there's a major problem with some people who wish to learn certain languages in countries where most of the people also speak English: the native people then tend to avoid speaking their language with foreigners. This is a horrible obstacle for people trying to learn the language. If you're learning, say, Russian or Chinese and decide to immerse yourself in the language in order to attain fluency, as long as you have the money and time to take the trip, you'd probably be pretty successful, as very few Chinese and Russians know English well enough to speak it automatically with foreigners.
On the other hand, if you wish to immerse yourself in one of the Scandinavian languages (or even German or Dutch sometimes, I hear), people will just respond to you in English.
My question is: WHY??!
If a tourist was looking for directions, chances are they'd first ask a native if that person could speak English, and if not, then pull out a phrasebook or attempt to draw a picture or something. If someone actually tries to speak in the native language, that usually means they are serious to some degree about learning that language. Especially where languages such as Finnish or Estonian are concerned--they're difficult languages for English-speakers, and people wouldn't attempt them without good reason.
The bottom line is, if you're trying to learn a language and you go to a country that speaks that language in order to learn, obviously perfect pronunciation and grammar won't come flowing out of your mouth. You have to make mistakes in order to learn. But if you're prevented from learning, you can't even take that first step.
Now let me use English in the U.S. as a counterexample. I think that, at least among the people I know, most people are friendly enough that if you're trying to learn English and have a heavy accent/poor grammar/whatever, we're more likely to try to understand you than cringe or make fun of you or attempt to speak to you in your native language. (Well, there's also the fact that many Americans don't know another language well enough, but that's another story.) Perhaps the case is different in other parts of the country; perhaps it's because, as a nation of immigrants, we're used to people with all kinds of accents from all over the place.
I will admit that I am biased one way or another. I'm also acutely aware of the need to immerse oneself in a language fully in order to actually learn it. Personal anecdote: there's a girl about the same age as my sister who recently moved from China to the U.S. Her English skills aren't that good, and since she's attending high school here now, she really has to pick up English fast in order to keep up with the courses. The problem is, she's shy and she tends to stick around people who speak Chinese. My sister even speaks Chinese to her to facilitate the communication. I advised my sister to cut the Chinese, because that really won't cut it for the girl's English skills.
Argh, this ended up a lot longer and more rambling than it should have been, and now I have the overwhelming urge to call my sister and ask her how things are going.
First of all, I have to disagree with that list. I don't have any knowledge of Polish, but I have a hard time believing it's harder for a native English speaker than Chinese or Arabic, which are from completely different language families and therefore are much, much more different in terms of vocabulary, grammar, structure, etc. (Not to mention the infamous four tones of Chinese.)
But I won't dwell for long on that topic, as it has already been beaten to death by some of the commenters. I started reading the comments, some of which were rather interesting, some of which...made me cringe/bang my head on the desk.
A few points:
1) Many of the commenters seemed to think their language was the best in the world, or that people who speak their language have amazing language abilities. Er, okay. I wasn't exactly surprised (it's human nature to think the best of your group/nationality/whatever), but sometimes I wish people would acknowledge that each language is beautiful in its own way. Furthermore, about the people-who-can-learn-languages better or not...I remain highly skeptical that they can because of their mother tongue. A person's aptitude for languages is dependent on many factors, such as passion, time, motivation, perhaps a little bit of genetics. Also, it's a fact that people have easier times learning languages that are closer to their mother tongue. So a Pole wouldn't have as much trouble learning Russian, an English-speaker might have an easier time with a Germanic language, etc. Just because you know a so-called "hard language" doesn't mean you're better at picking up so-called "easy languages."
That reminds me of the age-old debate over whether English is a "hard" language or an "easy" language. I'm going to paraphrase a quotation I found from the internet that I agree with: English is a language that is simple at first to pick up but becomes progressively harder to speak correctly as a native.
2) This comment really enraged me: "As a native Finnish, may I point also that I have never met a foreign persons (so a person who hasn’t been raised in Finland with Finnish as first or second mother tongue), who would have spoken Finnish compleatly without an accent or without making some kind of grammar mistakes. Most of the time foreigners Finnish is actually so painful to listen and understand that everybody turns to English."
See, there's a major problem with some people who wish to learn certain languages in countries where most of the people also speak English: the native people then tend to avoid speaking their language with foreigners. This is a horrible obstacle for people trying to learn the language. If you're learning, say, Russian or Chinese and decide to immerse yourself in the language in order to attain fluency, as long as you have the money and time to take the trip, you'd probably be pretty successful, as very few Chinese and Russians know English well enough to speak it automatically with foreigners.
On the other hand, if you wish to immerse yourself in one of the Scandinavian languages (or even German or Dutch sometimes, I hear), people will just respond to you in English.
My question is: WHY??!
If a tourist was looking for directions, chances are they'd first ask a native if that person could speak English, and if not, then pull out a phrasebook or attempt to draw a picture or something. If someone actually tries to speak in the native language, that usually means they are serious to some degree about learning that language. Especially where languages such as Finnish or Estonian are concerned--they're difficult languages for English-speakers, and people wouldn't attempt them without good reason.
The bottom line is, if you're trying to learn a language and you go to a country that speaks that language in order to learn, obviously perfect pronunciation and grammar won't come flowing out of your mouth. You have to make mistakes in order to learn. But if you're prevented from learning, you can't even take that first step.
Now let me use English in the U.S. as a counterexample. I think that, at least among the people I know, most people are friendly enough that if you're trying to learn English and have a heavy accent/poor grammar/whatever, we're more likely to try to understand you than cringe or make fun of you or attempt to speak to you in your native language. (Well, there's also the fact that many Americans don't know another language well enough, but that's another story.) Perhaps the case is different in other parts of the country; perhaps it's because, as a nation of immigrants, we're used to people with all kinds of accents from all over the place.
I will admit that I am biased one way or another. I'm also acutely aware of the need to immerse oneself in a language fully in order to actually learn it. Personal anecdote: there's a girl about the same age as my sister who recently moved from China to the U.S. Her English skills aren't that good, and since she's attending high school here now, she really has to pick up English fast in order to keep up with the courses. The problem is, she's shy and she tends to stick around people who speak Chinese. My sister even speaks Chinese to her to facilitate the communication. I advised my sister to cut the Chinese, because that really won't cut it for the girl's English skills.
Argh, this ended up a lot longer and more rambling than it should have been, and now I have the overwhelming urge to call my sister and ask her how things are going.
