Anyone else have language learning special interests?

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obsessingoverobsessions
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23 Oct 2016, 5:39 am

For me, one of my biggest special interests is learning languages. I'm currently learning Icelandic and German and I can't stop talking about new phrases or words I've learned. Once I'm fluent in both languages (I'm about half fluent right now), I will start learning Finnish.

Anyone else?


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liveandrew
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23 Oct 2016, 6:24 am

Not me but my son is completely fluent in French and also knows, but is not fluent in, German, Russian, Polish, Slovenian, Norwegian and also has learnt a bit of Latin, Kashubian, Slovincian and old Prussian. He loves language structure, syntax and the roots of languages. I just asked him to list them and he's still rabbiting on about it :)


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naturalplastic
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23 Oct 2016, 9:25 am

The subject of word origins, and of the evolution and kinships of different languages fascinates me. But doing the work of actually learning to speak a foreign language...not so much.



RabidFox
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23 Oct 2016, 11:15 am

I studied Irish and Japanese for years, but I got overwhelmed with the complex grammar of Irish and the extremely confusing vocabulary of Japanese. At one point, I could read about 1/3 of a book in Irish. I never learned how to truly grasp Japanese—Kanji is the hardest thing in the world to learn, and a lot of language learning materials teach you Kanji before Hiragana, which makes no sense. Even Japanese children must learn Kanji by studying a portion of it every year in school. Hiragana is what children actually learn first.

However, I don't regret studying languages. It teaches you so much more than just how to speak in a different way. You learn so much about the world in general.



SaveFerris
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23 Oct 2016, 12:08 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
But doing the work of actually learning to speak a foreign language...not so much.


Is that an autistic superpower - super apathy :lol:


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ArielsSong
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23 Oct 2016, 12:15 pm

I actually used to. At one point, I knew 10 or 11 languages (anywhere from basic to fluent), having self-taught. My favourite was Icelandic.

Now, I still enjoy learning other languages but only as songs - music is a big interest of mine - so I have a lot of songs in foreign languages on my MP3 player and can sing them in full, but wouldn't know what the words were to use outside of that song.



mended
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23 Oct 2016, 12:24 pm

I've been using Duolingo for over four years and have completed the French tree. I'm halfway down the German one, and the Esparanto one. I've made some inroads into Spanish and Irish.

I've been learning Persian for a few years. I enjoy writing in the Arabic script. I've been using books mostly -for both colloquial and classical Persian but lately I've signed up with Mondly.com. I'd prefer to use duolingo but they don't do persian.

I use Michael Thomas audio courses for French and German (intermediate and advanced) and Dutch (beginners ).

I did latin and greek (ancient ) at school and a few years ago I worked at recovering my knowledge.

So yes. I guess languages are one of my Special Interests.


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Joe90
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23 Oct 2016, 4:31 pm

I got really obsessed with Spanish once, and I really wanted to speak fluent Spanish, so I brought CDs and a book to help me learn. But, unfortunately, I found it so hard to remember it, and in time the obsession died off.

I'm not too interested in learning other languages, it's too hard. I will just stick to English.


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AnaHitori
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23 Oct 2016, 5:38 pm

I am teaching myself Japanese.

And I love listening to music in various different languages. Hardly any songs I like are in English.

I am fascinated by grammar, pronunciation, etc. And foreign cultures.

My friends and I learned the ASL alphabet and use it to communicate during class. ^.^

In general, I seem to be interested in different ways of communicating things. Morse code, braille, and different systems of measurement.


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Mattoid
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25 Oct 2016, 12:35 am

I've been learning a bit of French about once every week; I'm really lazy about it when I shouldn't be, because I do really like French. I also purchased a book on Old English, the only dead language that really matters to me.


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Catlover5
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25 Oct 2016, 1:07 am

Did somebody say "languages"? Or was it "langues"? Was it "Sprachen"? :P

I am a huge language nerd. I'm hoping I can study and learn as many languages as I can in the future. I'm hoping I'll be able to learn German soon; my mum says she might be able to organise that for me.

Glad to know I'm not alone! Heureux de savoir que je ne suis pas seul! Froh zu wissen, ich bin nicht allein!

Sorry, I can't help myself :lol:



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25 Oct 2016, 2:28 am

Who else here uses duolingo.com ? (It's the best free site for languages)


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obsessingoverobsessions
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25 Oct 2016, 3:45 am

mended wrote:
Who else here uses duolingo.com ? (It's the best free site for languages)


I use duolingo, but only to reinforce the German that I've already learned. I don't use it to learn new languages because I don't think it's the best way, and the speakers on it sound very robotic and unnatural. I prefer to use books and CDs (for Icelandic I started off with Complete Icelandic, now I'm getting Colloquial Icelandic).


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naturalplastic
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25 Oct 2016, 4:48 am

liveandrew wrote:
Not me but my son is completely fluent in French and also knows, but is not fluent in, German, Russian, Polish, Slovenian, Norwegian and also has learnt a bit of Latin, Kashubian, Slovincian and old Prussian. He loves language structure, syntax and the roots of languages. I just asked him to list them and he's still rabbiting on about it :)


Never even heard of "Kashubian" (much less can speak it). Lol!



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25 Oct 2016, 4:57 am

naturalplastic wrote:
The subject of word origins, and of the evolution and kinships of different languages fascinates me.


This this this!



liveandrew
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25 Oct 2016, 5:03 am

naturalplastic wrote:
liveandrew wrote:
Not me but my son is completely fluent in French and also knows, but is not fluent in, German, Russian, Polish, Slovenian, Norwegian and also has learnt a bit of Latin, Kashubian, Slovincian and old Prussian. He loves language structure, syntax and the roots of languages. I just asked him to list them and he's still rabbiting on about it :)


Never even heard of "Kashubian" (much less can speak it). Lol!


Me neither! I don't know where he gets it from as it's definitely not me - my schoolboy French (with a Cornish accent) is appalling :) I would like to learn Norwegian though, as my Grandfather was from Norway and I'm very close to my Norwegian cousins.


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Diagnosed: Asperger's Syndrome (ICD-10)
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Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 152 of 200
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Listener of all things noisy, viewer of all things bloody, writer of all things sh*t.