Jude brought up an interesting point in a previous comment section--languages we'd like to know. So, if you had the time/money/magical genie wish to learn any language, what would you choose? And what do you already know?
I'll be fair and answer my own questions:
English is my native language, and despite how much of a pain it is, I love it.
I took French in high school (it was as geographically close to Arabic as I could get) and had a very good time; I'm now a French minor. I love the literature, especially the poetry of Victor Hugo and Paul Eluard.
I ruled out colleges because of their (lack of) Arabic programs. I'm in my second year, and I like to tell people that I know enough to find an English speaker. As of this last week, I also know enough to find the bathroom.
If I could learn any other languages... Farsi and Hebrew. If I could learn any in an instant, I'd probably choose to learn them all, but if I had to choose runners-up to Farsi and Hebrew, I might go for Russian or Chinese.
Now it's your turn.
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I stumbled across your blog today and all the posts I've read have been both well written and interesting, so I figured I may as well make my own small contribution! I am a little intrigued by your choice of languages to learn, as Hebrew is a relative of Arabic, and Farsi is from a similar geographic region. Is there something in that area that interests you particularly?
ReplyDeleteAs to answering the questions...:
I speak English as a native and find it far too fascinating to be a pain. I learned French, German and Russian in school, and although I started with French I took German the furthest, eventually living in Germany for a while. Of the three, I found Russian to be the most interesting though. As part of my job I've learned Italian, though I've had little opportunity to speak it. I would probably only claim to read Italian rather than being able to speak it. Curiously enough, I've just started looking at learning Arabic, but it'll be essentially self-taught.
Other languages I'd like to learn: Icelandic because it sounds beautiful when it's spoken, and Finnish because its grammar is utterly insane compared with most European languages. And perhaps, after that, one of native american languages because they're endangered by the decreasing populations that speak them.
Oops, this has turned into quite a long comment; my apologies!
Hebrew (ancient or modern, doesn't matter), Ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Greek, in that order, for human languages.
ReplyDeleteAmongst the conlangs? Kryptonian, High Gallifreyan and Quenya, of course.