Current Events > People who only speak one language

(+) Yeah! (+)

Why?

hmm? ;;;;;o

Vegy posted...

Why?

I tried to learn Japanese but gave up 20 years ago. One major problem is I don't talk to people. And you have to practice talking the language. I found out that shy people like me have a much harder time trying to learn a language. Anyway, I also stopped because I realized my dream of living in Japan was unrealistic so it was pointless.

Because learning another language takes work, and I haven't put that work into doing so.

No, Ive tried, but theres just a disconnect for me.

I had to take French and Spanish in middle school, but nothing stuck. I just wasn't interested in learning it. Even with a language I had been interested in learning, Japanese, I just couldn't get into it and only learned a few different words. I just don't think I have the capability of learning an entirely different language.

Sort of. I took four semesters of Spanish in high school, but my vocabulary was never great and I've forgotten a lot of it.

As for why, well, there's not any use for it. I have met one person in my life who didn't speak English. Several who didn't speak it well but only one who didn't speak it at all.

*shrugs* They say you can't even learn by immersion because if you go to Italy or Japan or Ukraine you can get roughly to "hi" in the native language before they're like I speak English you idiot.

i used to be relatively fluent in French but after not speaking it for 15+ years i can't speak it or understand it anymore. Can sort of read it still.

But i was required to take it for like 5 years in high school

I took two semesters of Japanese in college and still do duolingo for some practice...

But I wouldn't say I know japanese, I can only communicate a few phrases and such

I'd say I know 1.25 languages.

I know bits and pieces, but not enough to be truly useful.

First language is Polish. Born in the US but my parents didnt speak English at home. They switched to English when I started kindergarten and I struggled.

English is the universal language so no real need to study another unless I move to another country.

Zikten posted...

I tried to learn Japanese but gave up 20 years ago. One major problem is I don't talk to people. And you have to practice talking the language.

Pretty much the exact same situation as me. I spent about 8-10 months learning the fundamentals: hiragana/katakana alphabet, vocabulary, and about 1200 unique kanji.

But it was all self taught, and I eventually hit a brick wall. I live in the Midwest US, have no Japanese friends, and cannot speak to anyone to actually practice. I watch tons of Japanese TV shows, anime, and news, but that can only take you so far. I understand some Japanese when hearing it, but I couldn't communicate back for the life of me.

Outside of moving to Japan and being completely immersed in the language, or taking actual lessons and the N1-5 tests, I don't see me progressing any further.

I took Japanese classes in high school and in college, but they weren't great (high school class slacked off too much, and I wasn't in the college class for long enough), and little of it stuck.

Right now I'm actually taking lessons again, using an app. Third time's the charm?

It's not my fault. I'm trying to learn Spanish, but my main teacher is Luisito.

Zikten posted...

I tried to learn Japanese but gave up 20 years ago. One major problem is I don't talk to people. And you have to practice talking the language. I found out that shy people like me have a much harder time trying to learn a language. Anyway, I also stopped because I realized my dream of living in Japan was unrealistic so it was pointless.

This is pretty much how it went for me as well.

MarshMellow posted...

English is the universal language so no real need to study another unless I move to another country.

This. Being American kinda eliminates any real necessity of doing so (even if there is a desire)

was raised in a foreign country for half my life, but English has always been my primary language. I'm also learning Japanese so I can daydream about moving to Japan

Huh I really thought CE would have more bilingual/multilingual people

I have never been in a position that has required me to speak anything more than English.

O est la bibliotheque?

Just English.

Other than American English I know the American Sign Language alphabet just in case I need to communicate in that way with someone. Other than that tiny bits of a couple languages I have picked up over the years, but not enough to communicate sadly.

the only reason ive ever had to learn another language is japanese for anime/games/manga etc but thats not the most compelling reason to learn a language

if your first language isn't english you're likely to learn it.

Im not fluent in anything but English and I may not even be truly fluent in that
however I have picked up a ton of Japanese from playing games voiced in Japanese daily since 2020

I need to learn since im living in another country.

I was an extremely lazy student even with subjects I had an interest in such as history. No way could I commit to learning another language

Never had any interest in moving to another country, let alone one whose primary language isnt English.

If youre just traveling in a foreign country for a week, a translation app will suffice.

MarshMellow posted...

English is the universal language so no real need to study another unless I move to another country.

wow

Kanaya413 posted...

however I have picked up a ton of Japanese from playing games voiced in Japanese daily since 2020

https://youtu.be/5z7fc397JEk?si=_d3AsRUDnhZxgxBM

Born in the united states, I talk murican' (a english accent from someone born up north, moved down to south carolina, and now its a weird mix between that and the various south carolinian gibberish) and I have no desire to travel out of country. I am a minority born with a chronic illness (a chronic illness that is not common among most people in the world), so I am definitely better off just staying right where I'm at and near all the hospitals/doctors I need to regularly visit.

Like many dorks in the early 2000s I had a desire to learn to read japanese at some point just to read rpgs that was stuck in japan (muh tales of symphonia PS2, tales of destiny PS2, tales of vesperia PS3, kingdom hearts 2 final mix, rebirth, e.x. troopers, etc. etc.) but then I gave up on that quick.

I'll wait very, very patiently for the fan-translators to do their thing. Either that or the companies finally after years just randomly decide to port over previously japan-only games. (Basically what happened with tales of symphonia PS2, kingdom hearts 1 and 2 final mix, tales of vesperia PS3 etc.).

I've learned enough Korean to have basic conversations...but that shit's fuckin' hard, man.

i know a smattering spanish words, but not really able to engage a conversation.

tried to learn it in high school. quick tip, if you're going to a underfunded high school loaded with a lot of students that do not want to be there then you're not going to learn a new language. none of my spanish class teachers had any real control of their class, and in spnaish 1 the teacher maybe had 10 minutes of teaching time in a 50 minute class.

Only know English... Too lazy to learn another language...

I consider the nuance of English and assume I could never be as expressive in another language if I started learning now. The stuff I learned in school is mostly forgotten except for the easy stuff

I can speak and understand some Spanish, but I'm not fluent in it. I also tried to learn some Italian when I went to Italy 10+ years ago, but I haven't used it since and forgot it.

leaving my native i know
english - fluent in reading and mostly broken when i speak or write
urdu - can't read but i can speak it well enough cuz of years of interacting with my indian and pakistan friends i knew growing up and watching movie helped me
arabic - can partly read but crappy at writing it but i can speak and understand it well enough
japaness - mostly understand the anime/games mostly but need subs for most of the time
so that's 5 i know and a bit of a 6th turkshi but mostly basic stuff

Took an elective of Spanish 1 and 2 in high school years back but only retained a few words and phrases. "Use it or lose it.". It's needed much more these days than back then.

Kind of disappointing to see such flippant? Attitudes towards language learning

It takes like ten-twenty minutes of practice a day

Also there are huge cognitive and mental health benefits and it's a good way to develop emotional intelligence.

And it's just fun, like there are so many different concepts and ideas and ways to view the world that you won't even realize exist without looking through the lens of another language

Hexenherz posted...

Kind of disappointing to see such flippant? Attitudes towards language learning

It takes like ten-twenty minutes of practice a day

Also there are huge cognitive and mental health benefits and it's a good way to develop emotional intelligence.

And it's just fun, like there are so many different concepts and ideas and ways to view the world that you won't even realize exist without looking through the lens of another language

The biggest issue with learning a second language, as an adult, is that we grow up in societies where making mistakes is frowned upon. So instead of being allowed to fuck up with minimal judgment, like when we learn languages as a child, we feel pressure to be perfect/not fuck up while learning a new language.

Additionally, to many, 'learning' a language means becoming fluent in it and being able to have 'adult-level' or deep conversations about (more) complex topics in the language.

In essence, we approach learning a language with the wrong mindset and the wrong expectations, while feeling we have little to no room to fuck up. So many just don't bother or try and give up.

I do feel like that... learning (geographically) unrelated languages (ie an Asian language as an English speaker or vice versa) removes some of the stigma of fucking up or is expected so it removes the pressure from having to be perfect. Whereas, if you're trying to learn a related or geographically close language, you get less leeway.

English, learned Romanian a few years ago and now learning Russian, it's not that hard

yes, but this topic has reminded me of some gamefaqs users being huge assholes about my english mistakes when i was like 14

i assume they all were and still are monolingual

I took 5 years of Spanish in school, but I don't speak Spanish. Without any practical way to use it in conversation it's basically just a bunch of vocabulary to me, which admittedly has come in handy when reading signs and things

American English is my first language. I also know a tiny bit of Spanish and a tiny bit of Japanese.

DipDipDiver posted...

I took 5 years of Spanish in school, but I don't speak Spanish. Without any practical way to use it in conversation it's basically just a bunch of vocabulary to me, which admittedly has come in handy when reading signs and things

I took...8 years of French in school. It was basically mandatory here from grades 4-9, and then I took it again in grades 10 and 11, but I had such a bad time with it in grade 11 that I decided not to take it again in grade 12. But yeah, haven't really used it since, and even back then I would never have said I was fluent. I could slowly read stuff (as long as the vocabulary didn't include too many unfamiliar words), but my conversation ability was fairly limited, and nowadays pretty much the only things I can still remember are how to introduce myself and say that I don't speak French.