how to pick a foreign language
Sunday, January 04, 2009 (12:12 PM)
having taken so many foreign languages (none of which i am exceptionally fluent in T_T), i've come to notice a particular trend.
i've attended more asian languages than european ones and being in my current spanish class, i realised there are more ang moh pais than chinese pai. on the contrary, classes for the asian language classes i've taken are attended by almost 100% chinese. it does seem that the ang moh pais are less interested in asian languages except the more exotic ones. and this translates to an equally lower chance of the classes hanging out at ktv. because it does appear that the chinese pai have more tendency to arrange a ktv session than the ang moh pais. just look at our el clique and you'll realise this is no bull.
looking at the demographics, my spanish class has an american, his wife, 3 authentic indians, a girl who stayed in america for a year, and his guy friend both of whom can only brag about their mandarin skills to a pre-primary student. i guess i'm the best at mandarin in the class. no, actually i don't have to guess. =)
there's a reason why i chose spanish other than the fact that i think it's a beautiful language and that it is the 3rd most spoken language in the world (god i hate my linguistics knowledge sometimes), it's also 'cause having learnt 2 asian languages and 1 european language, i guess it would make more sense for me to add another european language to my arsenal. and i am not including thai and malay because, i don't think they count as languages i speak. i can barely remember anything from the lax1201 classes.
the spanish group i'm hanging out with likes spending time together at someone's place watching spanish shows. or rather, watching english shows in spanish sub. it's something we figured. for beginners, that's really the best way to pick up the language. imagine listening to something in spanish and you can't even catch what they're trying to say. most of the time, you'll probably just be reading the subs.
so if you are one who is imagining a great ktv session with your new foreign language classmates, choose an asian language. if you'd prefer the comforts of someone's home, choose a european one.
and if you're taking the above advice, you're probably not the language person...
who the fuck chooses a language based on ktv sessions!
fastidiar!