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Kaff가 2012년 1월에 어느 게시판에 올린 답글이다. 원래 질문글의 취지는 "외국어를 배우고 싶어졌는데 다 흥미로워 보여서 뭘 골라야 할 지 모르겠어요"였는데, 왠지 남의 글보다 자기 글 번역하기가 더 어려워서 그냥 영어인 채로 놔둡니다. 원 질문자는 딱히 외국어를 공부해 본 적이 없는 영어 원어민인 것 같지만 제2외국어를 고를 때 흔히 발생하는 문제이기도 하기 때문에 프리필에도 올려봅니다.

I'm going to be blunt honest with my opinion and you're welcome to hate me. You ain't going to learn anything.

Let me explain why. "Almot everything looks interesting" and "it's hard to pick one" mean you aren't really that "interested" in any of them. That kind of cafeteria selection works great in cafeteria, but language learning is a long-term project, and you're at least looking for years, and it might very well be a lifetime project. This is a sad realization, but most of us on UL have experiences in learning (or trying to learn) several languages, if not dozens, and most of us are stuck with just a couple of our "favorites." Liking a specific aspect of a language is the worst reason you can think of, because you aren't dedicated to the language, you're just enjoying it as a novelty: once you get used to it, it'll soon become boring and you'll be looking for your next affair. Some people do develop a stronger tie with the language other than script, sounds, grammar or whatever, and they're the ones who go further.

So... what kind of motivation would I recommend to have? It's like a marriage decision. You might like that girl/guy for a party night, but not for the whole life. If you live in New York and the girl lives in Budapest, the relationship ain't going to last very long. If you're a secular atheist and the girl's a fundamentalist jihadist, you ain't going to live with her no matter how fucking sexy she might be. So, do more research, learn not only about the language but the culture that you're going to have to accept as a part of your life. Just like marriage isn't just about having someone to have a sex with, you're going to have to change your lifestyle to integrate that language you're learning, and this might involve having to acquire a different taste of things (music, movie, literature, whatever.) and I'm putting it this way because you don't seem to have a pressing practical worldly "need" to learn something (like compulsory English in many countries).

This is my experience. I fell in love with Thai once, and this one lasted more than six months. I actually completed a couple of beginner textbooks and I was supposed to be ready to move to the next stage... which I didn't. Beyond the introductory stage, learning Thai now meant doing some stuff in Thai, and I failed to develop any appreciation of Thai movies or TV shows. Thai literature was virtually inaccessible where I lived, and that would have demanded a much higher level of knowledge even if I could get some books in Thai. Music didn't please me enough, and finally, my plans to find a work in Thailand didn't work out. At that stage, learning Thai simply became a burden, and I couldn't extract anything that was relevant to my life. So, I dropped Thai and after three years, I forgot almost everything. Six months of hard work, gone.

So, my conclusion: don't ask people for reasons to learn a language. You need to find it yourself, and the most important criterion should be "relevance" to your life.


맞아요. 고등학교때 2년 일본어 배우고 나중에 직장에서 새벽에 해주는 일본어 강의 듣고 정말 재미있어서 좋아하면서 배웠는데요. 언젠가 일본어를 제대로 익히는 것을 일생일대의 꿈으로 둔 적이 있었는데 미국에 오고 나서 일본어 할 수 있는 일본인은 딱 한명 만났네요. 일본어 필요할 일이 없으니까 예전에 일본어를 그렇게 배우고 싶어했다는 기억조자 희미해지더라고요. 요즘은 스패니쉬에 대한 need가 있죠. 환자의 반 정도는 hispanic이고 그 중 상당수가 스패니쉬만 하지요. 캘리포니아는 여러 문서가 앞은 영어, 뒤는 스패니쉬라 글자로도 눈에 계속 익고요. 여기 저기서 귀로도 많이 듣지요. 어설픈 동기로 스패니쉬 독학을 시도해보기는 했는데 아무래도 input이 너무 얇은데다 그를 보충하기 위해 투자할 수 있는 시간 자체를 생각만큼 만들 수 없더라구요. 영어 하나로도 여전히 분투하는 중이라서요. 스패니쉬를 말할 수만 있다면 제 삶이 훨씬 쉬워질 텐데요. 지금으로서는 관심은 유지하되 들고 파지는 못하고 몇년후 딸래미가 스패니쉬를 배우게 될 때 같이 배우려고 생각하고 있죠. --브로카

see also 외국어단기완성의욕심

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