[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 131 KB, 1264x471, 1354118498418.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3553881 No.3553881 [Reply] [Original]

/lit/, have any of you ever tried to learn another language? I might try it for employability purposes, since I don't graduate until mid-2015, and I need something to make me stand out.

>spoke Arabic and English when I was 3 or 4
>forgot the arabic - I think my parents used me to learn more english rather than me learning from them
>I'm 20 now
>can read and write arabic, can understand nothing, know zero grammar

So my major advantage would be that I live with my parents, both fluent arabic speakers.

Would it take a metric shit-tonne of effort to do this? What are your experiences?

>> No.3553884

I can't imagine what it's like to not know a second language. Go for it.

>> No.3553890

probably would be relatively easy for you OP go for it.

>> No.3553891

No, it won't take a long time. Not knowing the intricacies of Arabic, studies show that as long as you are exposed to the language before you are 20-22, you can approach fluency.

Watching the news in Arabic might help for getting acquainted with the sounds again. Plus, sites like Al Jazeera regurgitate what is written in the summaries, so you can have a "middle ground."

>> No.3553893

>>3553884
Imagine yourself walking down the street and you hear a group of people speaking another language. Everything they're saying automatically comes across as obnoxious and annoying simply because it sounds like they're babbling nonsense and rubbing it in your face that they're speaking some sort of secret code and refuse to conform to the only way you know how to communicate with the world.

OP you're probably going to have trouble with the grammar. I hear Arabic is really difficult with that, but constantly being around people speaking it and slowly picking it up will help. Ask your parents to start talking to you in Arabic when you visit them in certain situations like at the dinner table and see if you can't start to pick things up.

I have friends who do that with me with Spanish, but most of what I've been picking up are swear words and how to insult people.

>> No.3553924

Arabic is an extremely useful language for literature, poetry, and history. If you can already read and write it then why not.

I would imagine it's also good for business.

>> No.3553926

And it's good for your brain. I hope to always be studying some language or another.

>> No.3553948

>>3553881
To people ITT: there's no such language as 'Arabic', you morons.

MSA is a dead language, I doubt it very much that OP's parents spoke to him in MSA as a child.

>> No.3553954

I want to learn Japanese as my fourth language but it looks so hard and my back hurts. I want to go home.

>> No.3553961

>>3553948
MSA is extremely useful if you are interested in literature, poetry, or history.

>> No.3553978

>>3553961
>MSA is extremely useful if you are interested in literature, poetry, or history.
The point is that having spoken a modern Arabic language as a child of 4 years will be of no use whatsoever in learning MSA.

>> No.3554019

> tfw master race native Arabic speaker.

>> No.3554023

>>3554019
That comes along with:
>tfw sand nigger