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Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

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Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#41

Post by aspenmayer »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #36
simlevesque wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a geo restriction problem. It's a distribution rights problem. NRK doesn't own the right to distribute what they have worldwide, they bought limited local distribution rights. Why would local broadcasters buy the worldwide license ? It's the producers of the tv shows which need to license their product to a worldwide broadcaster. NRK is only georestricting because the licenses forbids them from not doing it.…

> It's not a geo restriction problem. It's a distribution rights problem. This is the same thing.

It’s not the same cause but the effect is the same. It’s a distinction with a difference, not to be confused with the opposite.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinction_without_a_differen...

Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#42

Post by pawelwentpawel »

zerof1l wrote: post #21

I'm currently actively learning my 5th language and passively learning the 6th one. There's no universal way to learn a new language. What works for one doesn't work for another. Also, a big factor in how hard it will be to learn a new language are the languages you know already. If the new language is similar to the one you know already, i.e. is in the same language family, you will have a much easier time learning…

Once you learn, how do you maintain the language? I'm currently in Brazil speaking Portuguese a lot. I used to speak more Spanish. Right now, if I want to switch back to Spanish it takes me a lot of time. They're so similar I still keep on mixing them up quite often. I even started a small project (https://glot.space) to try to keep training vocabulary in two languages at the same time to keep the distinction in my brain.

Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#43

Post by jwrallie »

cicloid wrote: post #23

I speak Spanish and English, but then I moved on to Japanese and now find myself stuck. I'm not confident in any scenario involving Japanese. Perhaps I should explore other languages (likely French, Portuguese, or another Romance language), then revisit Japanese. From there, I might transition to Mandarin and Korean. Either the path I chose is too complex, or age is beginning to impact my cognitive speed. Has anyone…

I went from Portuguese and English to Japanese and I can tell you: that is entirely normal.

So many words in English are from Latin origin, so you got so many shortcuts when learning English (and I’m sure you are exposed to it for more time than you realize, as time spent passively learning a language dominates in the end).

It took me some time to realize the amount of work (in terms of hours put into it) that are needed to learn Japanese.

But then what I look for in language learning is not what polyglots look for. I want to understand the language deeply to appreciate its beauty fully while communicating with natives in a deep level, so I’m OK with putting the hours and leaning it within many years, even if it means it is the last language I learn. I’m in for the depth, not for the number of languages.

Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#44

Post by n_plus_1_acc »

ajuc wrote: post #7
jll29 wrote: post #2

I would suggest to drop "Amateur" from the title in the sense that languages are useful both professionally and privately - you never know in what language your next deal will be signed, your next networking acqaintance bumps into you to make you the next job offer etc. Besides, as a professional (computational) linguist, I have met many trained/professional linguists that know only one language - typically English -…

> the way a language structures the world for you in the way its vocab influences the way you think in concepts You can even see it in this article :) "Learn only 4 tenses. Past for one time events, past continuous, present, future. These are enough to go by and explain yourself." Some lanuages don't even have 4 tenses. Polish has 3. And Past Continuous isn't a thing, we have aspects instead. BTW I don't intend to cr…

In some analyses, english only has two (past and present).

Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#45

Post by pard68 »

Barring English, I only speak "dead" languages. Am I a polyglot still? Latin, Koine & Classic Greek, ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and am at "coffee" level in a few ANE/Semitic languages.

Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#46

Post by rvnx »

vasco wrote: post #32
zerof1l wrote: post #21

I'm currently actively learning my 5th language and passively learning the 6th one. There's no universal way to learn a new language. What works for one doesn't work for another. Also, a big factor in how hard it will be to learn a new language are the languages you know already. If the new language is similar to the one you know already, i.e. is in the same language family, you will have a much easier time learning…

> You may find yourself having to learn to think in a new way literally. I've said for a few years now my personality is slightly different when I speak English. I have a partner of several years that doesn't speak my language nor me hers and we communicate in English and even simple things like expressing affection feel different even after a decade. At some point since I speak more English every day than my own lan…

With English you get to lose nuances and to simplify your thoughts. As a result, you cannot put exact words on your emotions or your thoughts and you start to think and feel differently (and not in a nicer way).

Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#48

Post by fromMars »

cicloid wrote: post #23

I speak Spanish and English, but then I moved on to Japanese and now find myself stuck. I'm not confident in any scenario involving Japanese. Perhaps I should explore other languages (likely French, Portuguese, or another Romance language), then revisit Japanese. From there, I might transition to Mandarin and Korean. Either the path I chose is too complex, or age is beginning to impact my cognitive speed. Has anyone…

East Asian Languages are tough for Westerners, or at least that has been my experience. The biggest problem is really the barrier to reading especially with Chinese and a lesser extent Japanese.

Would love any tips from someone who has mastered all those characters without full immersion or a structured University curriculum.

Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#49

Post by kebsup »

Shameless plug: for the past year, I've been building an app to help me learn vocabulary. I used to use Anki, but it was very difficult to keep adding new words -> word, sentence example, image, audio. So I've basically created a copy of Anki - spaced-repetition flashcards, with the generation of cards fully automated. Also added YouTube and website integration. [1]

The problem with language learning in my opinion is, that learning the vocabulary just cannot be skipped. I've had German for 6 years (2-3 lessons per week) in highschool, just to find out that I don't understand words on 100th positions on the frequency lists. We've mostly focused on memorizing crazy complex grammar structures.

I've also tried passively listening to podcasts and watching movies/series I've already knew, but that would result in at most 1-2 words per episode, which just wouldn't work, if you need at least 5000 words to understand reasonably well.

[1] https://vocabuo.com

Re: Becoming an Amateur Polyglot

#50

Post by peterfirefly »

felsokning wrote: post #24

> ...OR Series in target language and subtitles in English or native language... In the ever-growing geo-restrictions world, this is no longer as easy as it was in the days of yore. For example, if you're learning Norwegian and you want to watch anything on NRK, you need to get a BankId[1] - for which you need to be a resident _in_ Norway to have. The alternative, of course, is buying DVDs/Blu-Rays on Amazon -- but y…

Not necessary for news broadcasts, for example:

https://tv.nrk.no/serie/dagsrevyen-21/202405/NNFA21051224/av...

I didn't bother looking further into it but I would expect lots of other programs to be available without BankId.

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