Language Meme
Mar. 21st, 2022 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elenotharThis one's right up my alley...
1st foreign language learned
English. We started learning it in school in year 5.
1st language you self studied
Leaving aside all the languages I learned at school, I guess Spanish? My sister lived in Barcelona for years and I got curious. I never got super far with it, but there's enough overlap with languages I do know that it's not completely hopeless.
Language you wished was your native language
I find this really hard to answer because language is quite tied up with surrounding culture and identity in my head and it's really hard to ask for a different native language without changing all the surrounding circumstances of growing up. I'm pretty happy with German, I guess.
Language you wish you studied more
French - solely because I did it for a few years at school and came away not at all fluent, which in retrospect seems a bit of a waste. I was too wrapped up being just at the brink of fluency with English at the time (and had a terrible teacher), but I wish I'd put more effort in.
Language you wish wasn't so hard
Chinese. I'm having lots of fun trying to learn, but man is it hard.
Language you have officially quit
I never really officially quit a language - often enough the urge to look at it comes back an indeterminate time later - but I suppose the closest I've come is Russian, which I tried for a summer or so and haven't touched since.
Language you wish you could speak every day
I'm strangely attached to speaking English, possibly because it's the language I can express myself best, so I'm pretty happy with where I am with that.
Language that everyone speaks but you never want to try
I don't think I've come across a language I wouldn't want to try if I had infinite time.
Language everyone speaks and you want to try
Arabic, maybe? Not sure how to interpret 'everyone', exactly, but there's a lot of Arabic speakers and it's not a language I've tried at all so far.
Language that makes you nervous
I'm not sure how a language would make nervous, to be honest. There's plenty that are hard, but that's a different kind of feeling.
Language that feels soothing
Italian. I find the pronunciation quite soft, when it's not being yelled at a football stadium.
Language that feels like a businessman in a suit
German, I guess? It feels pretty formal to me, though not necessarily in a bad way.
Language that feels like grandma's home cooking
Weirdly, my answer to this is Irish Gaelic. No, I can't tell you why. It's just the vibe.
Language that feels like a mad scientist’s experiment
... Also Irish Gaelic. But that's mostly because the orthography and the pronunciation are So Far Apart.
Language you think is overrated
As much as I love English, the answer is definitely English. It's just got such a privileged status in the world that it's hard for me to go with anything else.
Language you think is underrated
Apart from, like, all of them? Brutal question to ask a linguist, but I might go for Icelandic, which is supremely charming and obviously not spoken by many people.
Language with the hardest pronunciation
Anything with tones. So, for me, Chinese is the only language I'm learning that has that, so Chinese it is.
Language with the easiest pronunciation
It's hard to look past the native language bias with this question - German is pretty regular, too - but I might say Latin? Except for how it depends whether you're learning German Latin, French Latin, English Latin... still very regular either way though.
Language with the easiest grammar
English. There are a few things you need to wrap your head around, but mostly it's pretty easy.
Language with the hardest grammar
Of the ones I've personally tried to learn, Chinese (it's grammar issues don't look similar to the ones I'm used to, but that doesn't mean it's easy). I don't think it's the hardest full stop though.
Language with the best writing system
If we define best as 'the one I like the most', then Chinese.
Language with the worst writing system
Also Chinese. It's just too damn hard to learn.
Your language learning guilty pleasure?
Learning to read and write a language and never really getting beyond basic phrases in terms of speaking out loud because that's the hardest part of language learning for me.
1st foreign language learned
English. We started learning it in school in year 5.
1st language you self studied
Leaving aside all the languages I learned at school, I guess Spanish? My sister lived in Barcelona for years and I got curious. I never got super far with it, but there's enough overlap with languages I do know that it's not completely hopeless.
Language you wished was your native language
I find this really hard to answer because language is quite tied up with surrounding culture and identity in my head and it's really hard to ask for a different native language without changing all the surrounding circumstances of growing up. I'm pretty happy with German, I guess.
Language you wish you studied more
French - solely because I did it for a few years at school and came away not at all fluent, which in retrospect seems a bit of a waste. I was too wrapped up being just at the brink of fluency with English at the time (and had a terrible teacher), but I wish I'd put more effort in.
Language you wish wasn't so hard
Chinese. I'm having lots of fun trying to learn, but man is it hard.
Language you have officially quit
I never really officially quit a language - often enough the urge to look at it comes back an indeterminate time later - but I suppose the closest I've come is Russian, which I tried for a summer or so and haven't touched since.
Language you wish you could speak every day
I'm strangely attached to speaking English, possibly because it's the language I can express myself best, so I'm pretty happy with where I am with that.
Language that everyone speaks but you never want to try
I don't think I've come across a language I wouldn't want to try if I had infinite time.
Language everyone speaks and you want to try
Arabic, maybe? Not sure how to interpret 'everyone', exactly, but there's a lot of Arabic speakers and it's not a language I've tried at all so far.
Language that makes you nervous
I'm not sure how a language would make nervous, to be honest. There's plenty that are hard, but that's a different kind of feeling.
Language that feels soothing
Italian. I find the pronunciation quite soft, when it's not being yelled at a football stadium.
Language that feels like a businessman in a suit
German, I guess? It feels pretty formal to me, though not necessarily in a bad way.
Language that feels like grandma's home cooking
Weirdly, my answer to this is Irish Gaelic. No, I can't tell you why. It's just the vibe.
Language that feels like a mad scientist’s experiment
... Also Irish Gaelic. But that's mostly because the orthography and the pronunciation are So Far Apart.
Language you think is overrated
As much as I love English, the answer is definitely English. It's just got such a privileged status in the world that it's hard for me to go with anything else.
Language you think is underrated
Apart from, like, all of them? Brutal question to ask a linguist, but I might go for Icelandic, which is supremely charming and obviously not spoken by many people.
Language with the hardest pronunciation
Anything with tones. So, for me, Chinese is the only language I'm learning that has that, so Chinese it is.
Language with the easiest pronunciation
It's hard to look past the native language bias with this question - German is pretty regular, too - but I might say Latin? Except for how it depends whether you're learning German Latin, French Latin, English Latin... still very regular either way though.
Language with the easiest grammar
English. There are a few things you need to wrap your head around, but mostly it's pretty easy.
Language with the hardest grammar
Of the ones I've personally tried to learn, Chinese (it's grammar issues don't look similar to the ones I'm used to, but that doesn't mean it's easy). I don't think it's the hardest full stop though.
Language with the best writing system
If we define best as 'the one I like the most', then Chinese.
Language with the worst writing system
Also Chinese. It's just too damn hard to learn.
Your language learning guilty pleasure?
Learning to read and write a language and never really getting beyond basic phrases in terms of speaking out loud because that's the hardest part of language learning for me.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-22 12:11 am (UTC)German is my native language - I lived in the UK for several years, though it occurs to me I should update the bio since I'm currently in Canada 😅
no subject
Date: 2022-03-22 05:17 am (UTC)That's still heaps!! I'm very impressed! Do you have occasion to use your French much in Canada or are you more in English speaking parts?
no subject
Date: 2022-03-22 12:53 pm (UTC)I'm in Ontario not Quebec, so I don't need the French, but everything is bilingual here, so it always feels like I should be better at it than I am...
no subject
Date: 2022-03-26 12:11 pm (UTC)ah, if you're not in the mainly French-speaking parts then there's no reason why you would use your French that regularly! Don't beat yourself up about not being "good" at it, IMO. ♥
no subject
Date: 2022-03-26 02:05 pm (UTC)(not that there's anything wrong with noticeably non-perfect English, but given it's something I've put a lot of time and effort into, it's still nice to hear)
Honestly, language learning is the one area in my life where I'm actually ambitious, so it's less beating myself up and more feeling vaguely disappointed with myself. But I can only concentrate on one new language at a time, and currently that's Mandarin so *shrug*
no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 01:34 am (UTC)I shall wish you the best of luck with it! ♥
no subject
Date: 2022-03-27 02:15 pm (UTC)