The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5461 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean
| Message 25 of 28 08 January 2012 at 2:43pm | IP Logged |
I'd learn the same languages, but I would have started learning them earlier.
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bellairis29 Newbie United States Joined 5412 days ago 6 posts - 6 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, French
| Message 26 of 28 09 January 2012 at 2:15am | IP Logged |
If I could start over...
I would have studied Japanese actively outside of school while I was studying it in school. I neglected it because I hated my teachers (a teenage rebel thing) but the more productive path would have been to learn it well enough to bash my teachers in Japanese!
Spanish: I should have chatted in Spanish with my Mexican co-workers when I had the chance, I never did because I was always too embarrassed. I'd probably be fluent in that by now too.
French: I would have studied harder before my trip to Quebec so I could have actually talked to the locals in French. As it was, I could only read things.
Other than that, there are so many languages I'd love to learn, Arabic, Chinese, and Korean, and German and Slovak because of my heritage, but I'm still young so I don't think those opportunities are impossible still.
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Hekje Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4515 days ago 842 posts - 1330 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French, Indonesian
| Message 27 of 28 09 January 2012 at 3:33am | IP Logged |
I would've simply started Dutch earlier, on my own, instead of lollygagging about until
college. Although it's nice to know how much I can learn in just a few months, I wish I'd
had this surge of enthusiasm years earlier.
The other language I've studied at all is French, but that was in high school and I never
followed up. I don't regret taking it because it's a highly useful language and I can
definitely see how having that foundation really helped me with my approach in Dutch.
However, I can't speak French anymore and probably never will again because my desire to
engage with French culture isn't that strong, so I do sort of wish now that all that time
and energy had been devoted to something I actually really fancied.
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pfn123 Senior Member Australia Joined 4895 days ago 171 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 28 of 28 09 January 2012 at 5:30am | IP Logged |
I like to think about it like this: I DO get to start over again, every time I start a new language. I try (and I hope I succeed) to learn from the mistakes I made last time, re-use the things that work, and enjoy the new adventure... Having said that, about starting again if I could go back in time? Well, I wish I knew then what I know now. But that's the nature of learning ;) And it's why learning languages has taught me lessons for all areas of my life.
EDIT: Spelling
Edited by pfn123 on 09 January 2012 at 5:31am
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