Comments on Faoiseamh: The Polyglot Dream

Well, I think Colm pointed out some very good reas...

2009-04-29T22:18:00.000+02:00

Well, I think Colm pointed out some very good reasons why you might want to do it. In my case I haven't yet learned a language I have no chance to use so I can't really say. Even though I gave up Swedish (for now) I do have a colleague from Sweden who I speak snippets of Swedish with.
You are right though you have to enjoy learning the language. As I said in the post:
"As any language enthusiast will admit though its not the destination (perfect fluency) it’s the journey (learning to crawl and walk in a new language) that is really where the enjoyment is.@

"What do you think yourself? Is there no point in ...

2009-04-29T21:28:00.000+02:00

"What do you think yourself? Is there no point in learning a language you don't use regularly?"

Well, apart from the chance that the language can somehow hazardly come in handy, the only other reason I can think of is the enjoyment of learning it. If you don't, then perhaps there really are better uses for your time.

No. I mean. I agree with your thinking on this. I ...

2009-04-29T10:08:00.000+02:00

No. I mean. I agree with your thinking on this. I think cross-posting is the way to go. That's what I used to do when I had two blogs. It makes sense the way you're doing it.

All I was saying was that you explained the logic of doing that when you re-launched TSL, so I guess some of your more regular readers already knew what was going on on that account.

Wow, it's all coming out now! The thing is that i...

2009-04-28T21:26:00.000+02:00

Wow, it's all coming out now!
The thing is that if I only post things on the other blog then they will only be read by a tiny amount of people so until The Struggling Linguist gets very popular cross-posting is the way to go ;-)

On the question, I think any language learning is ...

2009-04-28T21:24:00.000+02:00

On the question, I think any language learning is beneficial. It is all up to the learner themselves. We each learn languages in general - and a particular language - for different purposes. The learning task itself might be enjoyable enough in and as itself or you might never use the language for communication but like it because you are interested in language families and historical linguistics.

I like to learn some words and phrases of the Sámi languages. No because I think I'll ever use it with a Sámi but simply because it allows me learn more about the Finno-Ugric langauge family which contains Estonian, a language I am using for communicational purposes.

You are the first person who has noticed this so i...

2009-04-28T21:18:00.000+02:00

You are the first person who has noticed this so it shows that my very limited readership is unlikely to get confused ;-)No. I am sure other people have noticed but had previously read your policy on cross-posting so don't find it confusing at all and don't make comment on it. :-)

This is a general blog with far more posts, the ot...

2009-04-28T16:51:00.000+02:00

This is a general blog with far more posts, the other one is just with languages posts. I cross-post when I think the language post might interest the general reader. You are the first person who has noticed this so it shows that my very limited readership is unlikely to get confused ;-)
"what do you think the goal of learning so many languages "fluently" is if mostly people are not really likely to put most of these languages to real use."
Well in my case I do have reason to use English, Dutch, Polish, Irish, Spanish, French, German and Japanese regularly enough to make it worthwhile learning them as I have family, work and travel reasons for interacting in all of those languages.
I was learning Swedish but never really got to use it so I guess that proves your point that you need eventually to put the language to real use. Still, I can and do read Swedish and say Afrikaans so you don't actually have to speak a language to make use of it.
What do you think yourself? Is there no point in learning a language you don't use regularly?

Hmm, I don't quite understand: http://thestrugglin...

2009-04-28T16:37:00.000+02:00

Hmm, I don't quite understand:
http://thestrugglinglinguist.blogspot.com/2009/04/polyglot-dream.html

This is the same article. Why are you reposting stuff from your other blog (or is it the other way around?). And which one should be followed?

As for the post itself: what do you think the goal of learning so many languages "fluently" is if mostly people are not really likely to put most of these languages to real use.