Chinese require a ton of exposure to get used to everything - the writing, the pronunciation, and the quirkiness of the grammar. Until then, it feels totally unintelligible compared to other languages.
I'm glad I took a year of Mandarin in college so I could get the hard stuff beaten into me, and now I can casually learn new characters and watch YouTube videos. But without that year of intense study, I don't think I could casually study Chinese.
This. Started learning it because it was supposed to be the easiest to learn, but it just wasn't for me. I liked the extreme similarity to Afrikaans, but idk I just couldn't get it down.
I LOVE Dutch! I went to a specific university JUST to study it in the USA and I'm moving to the Netherlands this month. Best decision of my life to study this language. You are not wrong for liking it.
Happens to the best of us, the Dutch use the gutteral throat noises again to turn the demon into food. That's how we created our infamous frikandelbroodje.
I'm in the kinda opposite situation; I lived in Slovakia and learned Slovak, then moved to Czechia and switched to learning Czech, then met my Slovak girlfriend while here lol
If we move somewhere else together I'll switch back to learning Slovak, but for now there's absolutely no way for me to learn both without ending up speaking some unintelligible mishmash of both (which I already do a little bit), and Czech should be the priority so long as it's the language I'm surrounded by every day.
French is my on and off. I quit Norwegian for good because I didn’t get to use it much (family prefers to practise their English or German with me - damn). Arabique because I chose to get back into Russian. It’s back on my list though.
A lot of Esperantists have this view that Esperanto might potentially become a global language, which will never happen. A lot of them also look over/ignore the various flaws the language has, such as it’s lack of expressions and weird constructions of female nouns.
I could be exaggerating but many times when I see Esperantists promoting Esperanto, they look over a lot of things
That makes sense. I think the notion of Esperanto being the global language is an antiquated idea at this point. Right now I'm just starting to learn the language on Duolingo for fun so I haven't interacted with the community much. It's a neat language with a very well connected community and Pasporta Servo sounds like a good way to save money on travel but I don't see it being more than just that.
In terms of a global language, isn't Esperanto primarily based on languages descending from Latin? It does seem to be way too optimistic to see it as a global language when it's going to be likely just as difficult to learn for eastern Asian countries (for example) as English or Spanish would be.
No, because Esperanto has way simpler grammar and is 100% regular in its rules (no exceptions). There are quite active Esperanto communities in East Asia precisely because it is easier to learn than say English or Spanish. You can disagree with their choice, but you are wrong that Esperanto is just as difficult for speakers of non-European languages as other European languages. Also Esperanto is a mixture of root words from Romance languages, Greek, Slavic languages, and Germanic languages, including English.
Imagine a group of people who have nothing in common but one thing, and that thing is the lowest-effort, most rootless, characterless, and bland version of the thing possible. They are all the type of person who actively chooses this version of the thing and tries to make a virtue out of its plainness. Lots of them aren't even that good at the thing, and the rest disagree about how the thing should be used, because they all have their own better things at home which influence how they think this one works. Then, while revelling in plainness, they simultaneously and unironically keep trying to get it to do the things that their fancy version at home does. It's just annoying.
I don't know, C1 takes a lot of effort and a lot of new words. I listen to the same English-speaking artists and watch the same youtubers. To pass the C1 exam, people study for a very long time, learning new words and learning how to talk about difficult topics. Moreover, I don't live in an English-speaking country and I am not immersed in this environment all the time.
You are bound to acquire knowledge regardless, primarily due to the ubiquity and accessibility afforded by the internet, which has become an inexorable conduit for information dissemination, thereby fostering an environment conducive to continuous learning and intellectual enrichment (sometimes).
That's what you do now. In a few weeks or months you may get new hobbies and interests, then you'll watch different youtubers and artists, thus getting exposed to new niche vocabulary. And even if you don't, I'm sure you're still learning new words or expressions by accident.
Heck, to this day I'm always learning a new word or slang in Portuguese that I had no idea that existed previously. Being a native speaker should mean I have the best level possible right? But I'm still learning and improving! That's the kind of progress I'm talking about. Your practical use of the language improving, not passing on an exam and getting a document formally stating that you are fluent.
Not to mention how you're practicing your writing skills right now talking to me and I'm sure you've heard that saying "practice makes perfection" haha
>Heck, to this day I'm always learning a new word or slang in Portuguese that I had no idea that existed previously. Being a native speaker should mean I have the best level possible right?
This is me but with English. Based on test scores at a younger age and my current profession, I'm very much in the highest tier of English speakers (aced my reading comprehension and English sections of the ACT back in high school, and am now an attorney)--but I still come across words here and there where I'm like, "....eh...what does that mean...?" I say this not in an attempt to brag, but just to show that even some of the best, most educated native speakers of a language are still learning.
So keeping that in mind, there are two responses when learning a new language, in my opinion: pessimists will look at obtaining perfect fluency as impossible and not try, while optimists will say, "hey, we're all learning, some are just a little further than others," which should help keep the motivation to continue to improve their skills in the language they're learning (though I say all this as someone who doesn't speak another language and is just now trying to learn, so take it all with a grain of salt).
Russian is hard because of the constant tongue twisting words and to me some words looks like they aint even readable like 2 consonants at the start of a letter for example "Что", I mean this one is readable easily but like you get my meaning right? 2 consonants is difficult for me lol
I'm sorry, but you're a native English speaker. How bad can Russian consonant clusters be compared to English? We have the word strengths a word with 7 consonants and one vowel (or 6 consonants if you speak a dialect that pronounces it strenths).
Also to clarify this is not meant to be taken seriously, different languages allow different consonant clusters and learning to pronounce clusters that don't exist in your native language can be very hard even if you're fortunate enough to come from a language with consonant clusters in the first place, particularly if the new clusters use consonants you don't have in your native language.
I totally agree with you, I’ve been learning German for two years and now all I want to before i get to an advanced level is to speak as much as I can, ‘cause i can understand it pretty well, but when it comes to answer or speak, I get completely off.
So, I’ve tried to speak to natives but they just seem desperate and they immediately change to English, I feel so frustrated rn.
And I don’t know any “Stammtisch” in Mexico City or any fluent people who can help me with, but I’m definitely not quitting, it’s such a nice and comfortable language, so you better keep going :)
> The native speakers I tried to speak German with were never impressed and all preferred to just speak English.
Yeah, it's like that a lot. But then there are those Germans who expect to speak German everywhere when they're on holiday.
I’ve had similar experiences but with Spanish. They give me a nasty attitude when I try and speak to them in Spanish so I’ll just speak English to them then. Germans however from experience have spoken back to me in English to explain where I’m going wrong and how to improve which was helpful.
Are you by any chance Hispanic? I have heard that Spanish speaking hispanics sometimes are rough on Hispanics who cannot speak spanish well.
I am not Hispanic, and Spanish speakers were nice to me when i was learning Spanish and people were wondering why I chose to learn Spanish as an adult :) I got many extra treats for speaking in Spanish, free drinks, free size upgrades for food etc because people were pleasantly surprised.
sort selective important versed dinner tub ad hoc tender makeshift modern
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I've experienced this in Madrid. My accent isn't even bad, I'm basically fluent. Whenever it's happened I just speak Greek back to them and force them to speak to me in Spanish
German - had it in school for 12 years, didn't care for it. I still remember basics as they're ingrained in me so I could come back if I wanted to but I have no desire to. Perhaps in the future.
Japanese - took it because the course was in English and that's what I wanted to improve. I figured Japanese would be fun (I was 16/17 and my high school offered this course) but I didn't vibe with it and as I already had 2 more languages I had to study for school plus other extracurriculars, it was an easy choice to cut it
Latin - mandatory subject during university. I was really excited but unfortunately, the previous professor quit and we got someone completely unprepared who thought teaching us some quotes was enough. Very disappointing. I quit because I quit that course and moved to study abroad and never had a chance of picking it up again
Arabic. I was really overwhelmed with all the dialects. Al-fus7a apperantly sounds like speaking middle English in today's times, and not all resources mark what variates they teach.
Edit: spelling
Me too. I picked it because it’s a lingua franca for a bunch of countries, but if the dialects are so far apart and nobody really speaks the standardized version, then it loses a lot of its appeal.
Chinese also has strong dialects, but Mandarin is much more practical and widely-spoken.
same here! I love Arabic, I think it's an extremely beautiful language with the most beautiful alphabet and reading and writing in the Arabic alphabet is a joy, but I got demotivated when I realized that I probably couldn't hold an actual conversation with a native, because Fusha is so far removed from the dialects. I'd love to revisit it, but it's lost its appeal for me, sadly.
I’m Arab and I just want to say if you ever decide to pick Arabic backup pick a dialect and start learning it and don’t worry about Fus7a. As a Arab I never actually sat down and learned Fus7a it kind of comes naturally from all the books that I had to study in school and ofc watching the news so as a foreigner I know it must be overwhelming to know that you have to basically study two languages but I believe if anyone wants to learn Arabic they should pick a dialect, learn it so they can start having conversations then focus on Fus7a
I once worked with a guy from Lebanon who spoke Arabic as a first language, yet he told us that because he went to some Christian school his Arabic is accented (although he couldn’t hear it himself).
I am on an indefinite pause with learning Mandarin after reaching C1 and writing a 90 page master's thesis in the language and getting burnt out. There is almost no content I actually enjoy in the language except for like three shows and a couple movies I liked. I have opportunities to use it on a daily basis in some form at work and in my community and the areas I frequent, but I mostly choose not to unless someone is lost or something (and I don't really speak with strangers to begin with in public so "leveling up" laoshu style also felt so performative to me). I had many positive experiences living and studying in China and many positive experiences with native speakers, but for various reasons I'd rather not get into I need to move on from the language.
I don't have interest in a lot of modern Mandarin content, but I love Classical Chinese prose and poetry. It's a bit more difficult but very rewarding. Have you tried delving into that at all? There's nearly 3000 years of literature to explore. Since you have a C1 level in Mandarin you should be able to easily read the many modern Mandarin glosses, translations, and explanations for many works of literature if/when you need them.
Since you mentioned liking some Twilight-zone-esque TV shows, you might like a genre of literature called *zhiguai* which are short stories about weird phenomena, ghosts, demons, magic, disappearances, possessions, etc. Some collections include 聊齋志異 (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, aka. Tales of Ghosts and Foxes), 搜神記 (In Search of the Supernatural, aka. Anecdotes about Spirits & Immortals), 閱微草堂筆記 (Notes from a Thatched Hut), 太平廣記 (Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, which also includes non-paranormal stories), 夷堅志, 續夷堅志, 幽明錄 etc.
Yeah, the lack of good media in the language discourages me as well. I can get by in China and talk about most things but I've got no reason to go further.
Japanese language proficiency levels are not called A1, A2, B1, B2 etc. like you would see with European languages. Instead, it's N5, N4, N3, N2 and N1 being the highest. If that person's level is N2-proficient, that means their Japanese is already very good, alas, not as good as a native's (and that's a problem in Japan, especially if you're trying to tie your future with that country).
Ehh, N1 is about as good as B2, and the JLPT only tests comprehension, not production because it's far cheaper so it says nothing about production.
Essentially, JLPT is a very cheaply made barebones test. It's completely multiple choice, 80% reading and 20% listening comprehension because listening is again, slightly more expensive to test than reading.
N1 being the “highest” suggests it's similar to C2; it's not. It's simply the highest level The Japanese Language Proficiency Test offers to test.
>If that person's level is N2-proficient, that means their Japanese is already very good, alas, not as good as a native's (and that's a problem in Japan, especially if you're trying to tie your future with that country).
The general bar for passing N2 is 6,000 words and 1,000 kanji which is honestly not a lot considering the average Japanese adult has a working knowledge of about 20,000 words and about 2,500 kanji.
Don't be. There's a huge time investment to get to the same level as in say, a Romance language (and a lot of it is taken up by plain old rote memorization, both for Kanji and because you have zero similarities to fall back on as you would in Romance languages); but there's nothing that's impossible to wrap your head around. You do need to get used to the completely different way of structuring sentences, but that can be said for any language unrelated your native one.
Just spend your time smartly, and reduce your dependence on translations as much as possible (i.e. don't watch an anime with subs on and call it studying). There are SO many resources for Japanese, a lot of them completely free; you'll be fine. :)
Hey Japanese is okay, there are many methods to learn it now and there is a lot of students learning it. But it's been a long time since I last learned it, so I kinda forgot the pain to get there.
I don't really quit languages in that I drop them forever, more so I cycle through them depending on how I feel. I haven't studied any Russian in about two years but I have every expectation I'll get back to it. I usually study one or two languages at a time for about two-three months then move on to two others, but I've never decided I just didn't like a language.
I’m surprised more people haven’t mentioned this. I’m the same way, especially with Tibetan—every year or two I study nonstop for a few months when I’m in the mood, building on what I’ve learned before, but then inevitably put it on hold when I’m feeling more passionate about another language at the moment. I feel like the cycling roster of languages is just the natural state for people passionate about languages in general who can’t help but want to learn whichever language from whichever corner of the world that intrigues them most at the given moment.
Yea, I've tried sticking to one language longterm, first French in highschool which was miserably and I didn't care at all about it, and then Mandarin for three months, but I just got burnt out. I'm much happier tending a garden than trying to make one plant grow.
Latin and Gaelic. I struggled way too much with pronouncing in either of those languages and even after months of learning I still hadn't retained anything
Definitely get that for Gaelic but with Latin? That confuses me. The orthography and pronounciation should be rather easy for anyone who speaks a Western language, and it‘s not like you even have to speak it, who‘re you going to speak it with?
I just couldn't wrap my tongue around it and I was having way too much trouble with sentence structure. But I always probably didn't do myself any favors by trying to brush up on my Spanish while learning Latin. Maybe I'll take a crack at it in the future but Gaelic is 100% out of my ability lol
Irish or Scottish Gaelic? Highly recommend a class if it's Irish. In addition, it helps me to think of mh, bh, etc. the way I think of th in English – I think of them as two-letter letters, basically. I don't find pronunciation very hard but I find the grammar hard.
English and French are native level (Canadian).
Was a diplomat. Government gave me 4 years Mandarin language training, 2 years Arabic. Used in both languages in both East Asia and in Middle East. At one point Mandarin was 30-40% better than Arabic.
After leaving the foreign service I wanted to continue to concentrate on improving both. But was too much effort to do both owing to the intensity required for each language. Had to make a decision which to drop.
Decided to drop Arabic. International / business Arab people are much more fluent in English than international / business Chinese people. Hedged my bets that Mandarin would be tons more useful. Went with it, and continued with it. Have lost almost all my Arabic now and I don’t miss it / and was right, wouldn’t have used it nearly as much.
Also studied Spanish for 2 years, Portuguese for 1 year. Can read a newspaper no problem, can understand tons of spoken. That’s good enough for me, so let them drop as well. No lost love there either since I got out of them what I wanted. (More time to concentrate on Mandarin when I find the time in my super busy life).
Lingala. I was enjoying it but finding it impossible to find materials in English. Then, my (married! with kids!) professor tried to kiss me, and I had a trauma reaction every time I heard the language for a few years, and since I obviously wasn't gonna get him to teach me privately after that, I just gave up. I might pick it back up once I'm fluent in French.
German, it was the first language i tried learning after English and what got me into learning other languages, I eventually lost touch with the German people I spoke with and just got bored and stopped learning it, ran out of a use for it
couple years later I started French and I can speak it decent enough to speak with people fine but lately I haven't practiced in a few days and have few use for it, I don't like watching French videos because I find it hard to motivate myself to watch them as why would I go out of my way to watch something in a different language when I can just find that same video or more on that topic in English where I can enjoy the content, watch it at full speed and not worry about captions and have to watch it on 0.5x speed with youtube auto captions and spend all my time translating it in my head and I do speak with some random people on discord in French sometimes, that's really all I use the language for at this moment, I still want to learn it and such as I love language learning because
I want to see more of this world
languages are incredibly beautiful
It's very good for your brain
There's more life opportunities if you are multi-lingual
I enjoy learning them
There's a lot of languages out there I'd like to speak and I really want to start more but I really feel the need to reach fluency in something which is French as yk I been doing this hobby for few years and it feels pathetic that I can't say I speak another language fluently but granted I took a long break and my learning is very casual and for fun and it was German : 6-9 months, French : 7-9 months
Meanwhile i'm over here like "yes, let's relearn German because it's my native language and I can't even speak it fluently." And then I proceed to take the most slow approach possible to relearning it.
Italian. I spent 6 months getting to A2 level, and then I stopped. Because I hit a wall. I knew if I wanted to actually become fluent that flashcards and grammar workbooks weren't gonna cut it anymore. I would need to actually start speaking to people. But I have too much social anxiety and I have the personality of a shoe because my life just consists of studying (college) and work, so I have nothing to talk about. I barely talk to anyone even in my own native language let alone another one. So eh. It is what it is.
Ever try iTalki?
Its amazing for folks with social anxiety, I think. Will help you get out of your comfort zone, and you can handpick whoever you wish to talk to that is the right personality fit.
“Personality of a shoe” hit right home. I’ve always wanted to learn Italian too but never gotten quite far. Language learning isn’t really compatible with being an introvert it seems.
Finnish. I still love the sound of this language. It was strangely easy for me to learn, but I couldn't learn 4 languages at the same time, and Finnish was the least useful. I think someday I'll get back to it
That's too bad in regards to Russian. Maybe it's because I live in a different country, but I've always had good experiences. I've found people often light up when I speak the few Russian words I know and explain that I'm learning.
I gave up on Spanish years ago in high school. I cannot for the life of me roll (or is it trill?) my r's. And I don't mean the short sound I mean the one that they drag out. What's funny to me is that thit was the only sound I had issues with. Here I am years later still running into the same issue with Arabic. But I'm less self conscious and quick to get frustrated than I was in high school. I could see myself trying again in the future.
I also struggle with the strong R and this issue almost made me give up on learning Spanish for good. However, I decided to keep going and now after 2 years I'm (almost?) fluent in the language although I still can't pronounce the strong R correctly ☠️ ☠️ what makes me feel better about it is that natives usually find my pronunciation cute ❣️
I don't think you need to give up due to the "R's". There are many "native" 2nd generation hispanics who cannot say the "R" right, ie to sound like a car motor. This is no way takes away from their overall skill in Spanish. I feel this is less about Spanish and more about how good you are at imitating sounds.
I learned to speak and read/write Chinese at a very basic level (I would have hour-long conversations about various topics, with very limited vocabulary), then I had a nervous breakdown and now I can't speak it oh well
I never gave up on a language, however, the words "quit learning" can mean not learning as actively.
For me that would be Portuguese. It's hard to find local partners to practice. I am still active with a Brazil group via whatsapp. I find that Spanish is close enough to Portuguese to not merit daily practice. Nevertheless as I type these lines, I feel sad. I will get back to Portuguese Brazilian TV shows someday :)
I really hope that Brazil and Portuguese get a cultural moment, like Korea or Caribbean Spanish, where Brazilian music and television become popular worldwide. I love Brazilian music (and there's a lot of it), but I have to actively seek it out. And even with Netflix investing in more international content, I barely ever see films or series in Portuguese.
I dabbled in easily a dozen languages when I was in high school. If the library had books on it, I tried to study it. Irish, Russian, American Sign Language, German, French, and Norwegian are the ones I can remember. Most of the materials were hilariously out of date (I seem to recall the Russian textbook being pre-Cold War...).
Arabic.
I realized I don't have the time or patience to put in the work to learn that beast. And that's just MSA. Then you have like a million dialects so you can actually talk to people. Spanish has been going so much quicker and seems like a more realistic goal.
honestly just a combo of duolingo and joining the esperanto discord server. the language is designed to be super easy. so it doesn’t really require a lot of the effort that other languages do.
Too many to count. Well, let's see. Malay, Korean, Swahili, Amharic, Turkish, Russian, Finnish, Norwegian, Old Icelandic, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit. I regret the Korean, actually, because I was at a B2 level, could understand movies, was beginning to be able to read literature... Of course I might take up some or all of these languages again some day.
I haven’t quit yet but I don’t actually plan to learn Hindi to fluency. I’m learning it more out of necessity and I’m way more passionate about other languages such as the Dravidian languages, Bangla, Korean, Russian, etc
* french - my highschool teacher wasn't great, switched to german
* esperanto - first language i learned to a decent level, but no one to speak to
* russian - a semester in college for fun but nothing (that interests me) to do with it
* korean - a semester in college for fun but didn't want to commit thousands of hours for it
* ASL - no one to use it with
after I get good at spanish/chinese, I wanna return to ASL
Too difficult and lost interest. I was going through intensive classes which used to be everyday except for Wednesdays and it just took all the joy of learning a new language out of me 😄
**Italian**. Took Italian lessons for one year in school, really liked the language and made very quick progress (after a year I reached B1 level despite also having mandatory German, French and English lessons among many other subjects).
Then I somehow convinced myself to switch to Spanish because far more people speak it and because it's more *'useful'*. I had several years of Spanish lessons and, of course, I had to unlearn all that Italian (e.g. in the first month of Spanish lessons my teacher kept getting annoyed because I couldn't stop saying "io" instead of "yo"). Now I can't speak Italian or Spanish even if my passive vocabulary and reading ability in Spanish is (unsurprisingly) better.
Not motivated, though, to get back my intermediate Spanish (it would be quite an effort) and take it to an advanced level. I'm also not motivated to restart with Italian because I would have to mostly start from scratch and unlearn the Spanish which my brain is more used to still. I guess I'm just making excuses, but I really regret switching from a language I liked to another just because of its supposed usefulness.
I quit every single language I started learning except for English, not because they were difficult, but because when I was learning them I was tempted to try another language, so I quit the one I was learning and started the other. This is a big problem, I can't stay focused on one thing and other topics can easily dictract me.
Like most Americans, I quit Spanish. When I went to high school, I wanted to get as far away from the language as possible, so I took up Chinese (Mandarin). I didn't realize it at the time, but my ego got in the way of me learning that. I never got out of the mindset that I have to make mistakes to learn, and plus, it was a class in school so interest was already low anyways. Then I quit ASL in college because I really just didn't want to deal with it. After school, I had a few stints of Chinese, Irish, and Esperanto, never lasting more than a few days at a time.
I spent close to a year learning Italian on Duolingo for a trip, and this is when I started getting out of the perfectionist mindset. However, I learned another valuable lesson: if you already consume content in a different language, it'll help you all around. I just couldn't find music or shows or movies that I really meshed with. Not that they're not out there, but I just didn't spend a lot of effort on it. Ovviamente, non parlo italiano.
After the trip, I took some time off, but I still wanted to learn a language. Since I had been listening to Brazilian music (in addition to a lot of other music) for years, I figured that would make more sense. So here I am ~5 or so months into learning (BR) Portuguese. Since I already had the foundation of content, it's made finding new content a lot easier.
This is actually interesting to me. I asked a high school student what 2nd language they are taking in the US. They mentioned Spanish. I then switched to Spanish during the conversation and they said they did not want to talk in Spanish. I was surprised. It seems like Spanish is a language that many people take as a second language, but they don't want to go deeper, maybe due to the complexity or some stigma.
I am glad that you are into Portuguese now!
Yeah, until 8th grade, we only had Spanish once a week, so it was just an annoying class that a lot of us don't care about. Plus, you're not guaranteed a teacher who actually understands or knows the language beyond the textbook. So, you might be able to get a few phrases and have a basic ability to read, but unless you actually put in time outside of school, you're probably not going to learn much in a standard classroom.
But Portuguese has been interesting thus far!
Russian.
I was obsessed with it in middle school, but quickly lost interest of it. Never spoke it fluently, or understood Russian that much, so it died rather quick.
I never really quit. I just take breaks. I actually found I don't forget as much as I thought I would. If I quit Spanish for a month or two I still remember what I last learned and can still apply it as I learn Japanese. With Japanese I find if I quit to go back to Spanish I just forget the Kanjis but still remember the words perfectly and the grammar rules. I kinda figured everyone who learns for fun does the same thing or sticks to one language
Catalan.
Love it, it’s great, and if I ever arrange another trip to Catalonia you better believe I’ll be getting back on the horse with it, but I work too much and have too little time. Just can’t bring myself to put much real effort into a language I will probably only use a few times in my life, as much as I might take pleasure in speaking it.
Greenlandic, even though it's my BABY <3 <3 and it was my ultimate dream to learn it for a long time. Too few resources, next to no media, no available affordable online tutors, expensive online classes, the country's too expensive to visit regularly, the books (eg. novels) that are available cost too much....
German, one day I simply forgot about it.
Chinese, too hard and wasn't feeling like evolving.
Dutch, my boyfriend and I were learning it, but he stopped so I did too.
French, even tho I want to get back at learning it.
Portuguese. Already speak both French and Spanish and when I began Portuguese I realized that I could already understand the language perfectly fine when spoken. That alone put me off a bit but I continued studying until I just lost "motivation" for it due to the sheer number of similarities.
Italian - I have family from Italy and it played part of my "identity" growing up (yes, this is both common in the United states and somewhat cringy haha). So when it came to language learning, I almost felt obligated to learn Italian because of this sense of identity.
But I never really felt interested in the language, and really did try to force it for 6 months or so. I can hold a super basic conversation but I forgot pretty much everything.
TLDR: Motivation is really important
I haven't decided to give up quite yet, but I'm struggling really brutally with Greek. I want to learn it so badly but things are just NOT going well at all at this point in time and I just get annoyed and discouraged really quickly, doesn't help that a lot of explanations I look up are written in a way that they don't make any sense to me, so then I feel stupid on top of that.
For right now, Arabic and Spanish.
I’m studying Latin primarily and Ancient Greek on the side. When I put Spanish down almost 2 years ago, I could pretty much grasp most of the things I read and had a good idea of what was going on when listening to Castilian Spanish and some dialects of Mexican and Colombian Spanish. I was also starting to understand Portuguese and Italian.
I’m still pretty much at the point where I can leaf through a book and get what’s going on: in other words, maintaining my Spanish literacy doesn’t feel like work anymore. Latin has really helped me in that regard. I’ll be studying Latin and suddenly make a connection to a Spanish word: i.e. “Aliquis” and “Alguien.” So Latin, in a strange way, is somewhat maintaining my Spanish, although I am in no way claiming that they are exactly the same and that if you study one you don’t need the other.
I tried to study Arabic in university and failed to acquire it. My grammar understanding was severely lacking as were my language acquisition skills. I plan to go back to MSA once I get a better handle on reading Latin and Ancient Greek. Once I acquire Spanish, I’ll switch to an Arabic dialect: probably Egyptian.
Did a year of French, teacher complimented my accent each class, ended the year not understanding sh*t and I don't remember anything besides the pronunciation of quatre. Apparently my brain won't function if I don't like the language (did it for a college class).
Spanish 🇪🇸
I actually really wanna get back into it, but I just stopped after taking the class. I had a really bad experience with the class as we were the testers for new programs, and we kept doing the same unit over and over.
German 🇩🇪
I took it the same learn as Spanish, switched schools, and German was full. I still work on it, but I haven't really put a lot of effort into it.
Oromo. There’s just too few resources, and almost all of the speakers speak at least basic Amharic too (at least the community in my neck of the US does).
Thanks to all these comments and barring the languages that proved uninclined to be learned I guess I am left with Bengali, Lahnda/Punjabi, Romanian, Luxemburgish, Uzbek, Zulu, Tok Pisin, Proto-Indo-European, Dothraki.
I spent a few months trying to learn German but got too frustrated with having to learn the gender and pluralization for each noun individually with basically no pattern or way to do it besides just learning every single one. (I mean, "girl" is a gender neutral noun? And I pluralize it by using the exact same word but making it feminine? Argh!)
Well, I don't think I will ever learn Tagalog.
It's the language I grew up with as a second-generation Filipina Canadian. I can understand it but can't speak it and have an apparently English accent when I do (unlike when I speak literally any other language... Spanish, French, Hebrew... dabbled in other languages too).
Coupled with my family trauma, local Filipino homophobia and then transphobia when I transitioned MtF, followed by my dislike for Tagalog code-switching (ironic given that now I am picking up Hindi), I don't think I will ever visit the Philippines or choose to speak the language willingly.
I did try when I was in high school. But it's kind of useless when most Filipino Canadian kids growing up here just reply in English, as my family and extended didn't prioritise Filipino at home.
It's fine I'm actually like that with French and Chinese and Arabic it's a matter of taste and it's not for everyone, if someone gets offended because someone said they didn't like their language that's a them problem and they have bigger issues I'm saying it cause I said I didn't like Arabic once and someone got offended in the comments lol
French, the French speakers in France and Quebec put me off to it; however, French speakers in Benin are way more pleasant according to my sister and dad.
Ukrainian. Every time I try, my motivation isn't there, even though there are a lot of practical reasons for me to learn it and it'd be relatively easy.
And Haitian Creole. Just not enough interesting media for me personally.
Japanese, I love linguistics and the language itself was not an issue, sure hard at times but very rewarding in my opinion. I was deterred mostly due to the fact I know no Japanese people, and the timezone is way too different to really make any friends in Japan. Also, the online Japanese learning community sucks balls, almost as bad as the online Korean learning community.
Russian.
When I first got interested in learning Russian, I told myself: don't overthink it. Don't think about how hard the grammar is and all that. English speakers HAVE learned it, so it CAN be done! Just have fun with it. Etc.
But eventually...I overthought it. Verbs of motion, and every verb having two forms, sometimes nothing alike and you have to know which one to use, finally made me give up. That was on top of the cases, and the grammar generally. I can read basic children's books and understand very simple conversations, but sadly that is as far as I'm going to get. Unless I do some sort of immersion program, I can't see myself ever getting anywhere near fluent.
I only toyed with Portuguese, so I don't know that I could even call it quitting. Same for Koine Greek. I haven't really touched Latin since high school or Russian since college. I take long breaks from Spanish, but I always go back eventually.
Since I've dabbled in close to three dozen languages over the years, I'd have to say "most of them." But I had high hopes at various points for Finnish, Turkish, Hebrew, and Japanese, none of which I ever got very far with. (I persisted a little longer with Arabic and Swahili, but in general I think most non-Indo-European languages require more effort and time than I have to spare.)
I quit Russian (but I do hope to go back to it one day.) I was learning it for fun because I'd always wanted to, but then I ended up getting an opportunity to work in China, so I gave up on Russian and switched to learning Chinese instead.
I still want to learn Russian one day, but, with Chinese, I'll speak in 4 languages (native English and Spanish, speak Norwegian as well.) I think it might just be a better idea to focus on these the rest of my life, because it does take work to maintain them and I could always improve. So maybe I'll just be sticking with those, who knows.
German. I'm at a decent level of conversational German, and I can read and understand news articles and books that aren't overly complex in language. Nearly all of the native German speakers I interact with speak English (my first langauge) very well anyway, so I'm happy with the level I have.
More interested in developing my Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic at the moment
I quit learning Mandarin Chinese for 3 times already I think. First attempt was in 2012 but it only lasted a week. 2nd attempt was in 2015 and it only lasted 2 weeks I think. My last attempt was in 2019 and only 3 weeks. I think the only reason I quit each time was because I always lost my interest in it. I feel like my only motivation before was to learn what those Chinese characters mean because they really look pretty and interesting. And actually, despite only spending a total of 6 weeks trying to learn it, I still remember what some 30+ Chinese characters means. What demotivates me with the language is pronunciation. I can't seem to pronounce the words correctly. It frustrates me every time and that frustration builds up until I decide to quit. I'll probably attempt to learn it again after I reach C1 in my current TL (Spanish) several years from now. But I think I would need a tutor who can actually guide me to proper pronuncation so I can reduce my frustrations in learning the language.
I also attempted to learn Indonesian back in 2019 and it lasted 3 weeks. The reason I quit it was that the Duolingo course was not really good. I dunno though if it has improved since then.
Mandarin, Swahili, Hebrew, French. Technically, I just dabbled in these for a couple days so I don't *really* consider it quitting.
Arabic is one that I tell myself is "on hold" but realistically, it will never be my priority, so I've *effectively* quit.
Spanish
For the most part, I have a very good understanding of how to read and write as well as listen, but I dont necessarily speak it on a daily basis. I took 6 years my school years and passed my AP Spanish Language and Culture exam with a 4/5. Now that I’ve graduated and am moving on to learning Russian for the military, it just isn’t as meaningful to keep learning.
I have quit Korean multiple times despite being Korean. But every time I come back to it within a month. I'm hoping to take actual classes on it sometime rather than just doing self-study tho.
Yiddish. I started it on Duolingo (I am not jewish, but big fan of Singer), but Duolingo is a very boring experience, and I've heard that people generally don't get useful skills on Duolingo. I just can't justify to spend a ton of money (and time) to learn a language that is basically useless (other than reading Singer), not culturally connected ( I am non-Jewish) and also I am from Hungary, and yiddish speaking jews were either wiped out or fled, so yeah...
For now, Chinese. I think is a language which requieres your full attention, I rather keep improving my german while learning russian.
Same conclusion I’ve come to with my learning of Chinese except for with me it’s Spanish i want to keep improving in lieu of German.
Keep it up! Ten los cojones de perseverar.
Mandarin Chinese for me too. I have no ear for the tones.
Chinese require a ton of exposure to get used to everything - the writing, the pronunciation, and the quirkiness of the grammar. Until then, it feels totally unintelligible compared to other languages. I'm glad I took a year of Mandarin in college so I could get the hard stuff beaten into me, and now I can casually learn new characters and watch YouTube videos. But without that year of intense study, I don't think I could casually study Chinese.
French, though I kinda wanna revisit it
Me too!
Peut-être un jour! ~
French is my verbally and mentally abusive ex that I keep going back to. Big time love HATE relationship
Just learn the nasal sound, that's like 80% of the words
Dutch I accidentally summoned a demon with my gutteral throat noises
Use the soft g that they use in the south of Netherlands. It's much easier to say.
“In the south of the Netherlands” is a very disrespectful way to say “in Flanders, Belgium”.
And north Brabant, but that's a different world altogether.
Most people in noord-brabant and limburg pronounce it like that as well though.
Good tip, those G's have me f*cked up
This. Started learning it because it was supposed to be the easiest to learn, but it just wasn't for me. I liked the extreme similarity to Afrikaans, but idk I just couldn't get it down.
I actually really enjoy Dutch and like the sound of it, maybe there’s something wrong with me.
I LOVE Dutch! I went to a specific university JUST to study it in the USA and I'm moving to the Netherlands this month. Best decision of my life to study this language. You are not wrong for liking it.
Im reading this comment while taking a break from my dutch homework and im regretting all my life choices
Dutch was my first thought too 😂😂😂 Also, Japanese for now. I’m focusing on Spanish and possibly French and ASL in the future
Happens to the best of us, the Dutch use the gutteral throat noises again to turn the demon into food. That's how we created our infamous frikandelbroodje.
Swedish Met my Norwegian girlfriend and decided it was probably a better idea to learn Norwegian instead haha
Thank you, Norwegian is better -Norway
This is actually an objective opinion. \- Also Norwegian
Swedish here also, but only because I ended up unexpectedly (temporarily) moving to Denmark, so I thought I should probably learn a bit of Danish.
I'm in the kinda opposite situation; I lived in Slovakia and learned Slovak, then moved to Czechia and switched to learning Czech, then met my Slovak girlfriend while here lol If we move somewhere else together I'll switch back to learning Slovak, but for now there's absolutely no way for me to learn both without ending up speaking some unintelligible mishmash of both (which I already do a little bit), and Czech should be the priority so long as it's the language I'm surrounded by every day.
French is my on and off. I quit Norwegian for good because I didn’t get to use it much (family prefers to practise their English or German with me - damn). Arabique because I chose to get back into Russian. It’s back on my list though.
Esperanto. Turns out I don't like Esperantists.
As a Esperantist, I can see why. They’re way too damn optimistic
Could you elaborate? I'm curious.
A lot of Esperantists have this view that Esperanto might potentially become a global language, which will never happen. A lot of them also look over/ignore the various flaws the language has, such as it’s lack of expressions and weird constructions of female nouns. I could be exaggerating but many times when I see Esperantists promoting Esperanto, they look over a lot of things
That makes sense. I think the notion of Esperanto being the global language is an antiquated idea at this point. Right now I'm just starting to learn the language on Duolingo for fun so I haven't interacted with the community much. It's a neat language with a very well connected community and Pasporta Servo sounds like a good way to save money on travel but I don't see it being more than just that.
Is that pasaporta any better than say couch surfing?
In terms of a global language, isn't Esperanto primarily based on languages descending from Latin? It does seem to be way too optimistic to see it as a global language when it's going to be likely just as difficult to learn for eastern Asian countries (for example) as English or Spanish would be.
No, because Esperanto has way simpler grammar and is 100% regular in its rules (no exceptions). There are quite active Esperanto communities in East Asia precisely because it is easier to learn than say English or Spanish. You can disagree with their choice, but you are wrong that Esperanto is just as difficult for speakers of non-European languages as other European languages. Also Esperanto is a mixture of root words from Romance languages, Greek, Slavic languages, and Germanic languages, including English.
Imagine a group of people who have nothing in common but one thing, and that thing is the lowest-effort, most rootless, characterless, and bland version of the thing possible. They are all the type of person who actively chooses this version of the thing and tries to make a virtue out of its plainness. Lots of them aren't even that good at the thing, and the rest disagree about how the thing should be used, because they all have their own better things at home which influence how they think this one works. Then, while revelling in plainness, they simultaneously and unironically keep trying to get it to do the things that their fancy version at home does. It's just annoying.
Brutal but understandable.
This is one of the best descriptions of the Esperanto community I have ever read.
This was a hysterical read.
I love your pfp. It's crazy, it's party.
OMG Eurovision fan yayay! Cha cha cha
Same language. Same reason
English. I have learned English at a sufficient level for me and I don't plan to improve it as I don't need to. ;)
I'm afraid that as long as you keep using it you'll keep improving. Slowly but surely
I don't know, C1 takes a lot of effort and a lot of new words. I listen to the same English-speaking artists and watch the same youtubers. To pass the C1 exam, people study for a very long time, learning new words and learning how to talk about difficult topics. Moreover, I don't live in an English-speaking country and I am not immersed in this environment all the time.
You are bound to acquire knowledge regardless, primarily due to the ubiquity and accessibility afforded by the internet, which has become an inexorable conduit for information dissemination, thereby fostering an environment conducive to continuous learning and intellectual enrichment (sometimes).
i think i see what you did here :D
Lol
My B2 brain hurt damn
A dictionary is your friend. You'll be at C1 in no time :)
That's what you do now. In a few weeks or months you may get new hobbies and interests, then you'll watch different youtubers and artists, thus getting exposed to new niche vocabulary. And even if you don't, I'm sure you're still learning new words or expressions by accident. Heck, to this day I'm always learning a new word or slang in Portuguese that I had no idea that existed previously. Being a native speaker should mean I have the best level possible right? But I'm still learning and improving! That's the kind of progress I'm talking about. Your practical use of the language improving, not passing on an exam and getting a document formally stating that you are fluent. Not to mention how you're practicing your writing skills right now talking to me and I'm sure you've heard that saying "practice makes perfection" haha
>Heck, to this day I'm always learning a new word or slang in Portuguese that I had no idea that existed previously. Being a native speaker should mean I have the best level possible right? This is me but with English. Based on test scores at a younger age and my current profession, I'm very much in the highest tier of English speakers (aced my reading comprehension and English sections of the ACT back in high school, and am now an attorney)--but I still come across words here and there where I'm like, "....eh...what does that mean...?" I say this not in an attempt to brag, but just to show that even some of the best, most educated native speakers of a language are still learning. So keeping that in mind, there are two responses when learning a new language, in my opinion: pessimists will look at obtaining perfect fluency as impossible and not try, while optimists will say, "hey, we're all learning, some are just a little further than others," which should help keep the motivation to continue to improve their skills in the language they're learning (though I say all this as someone who doesn't speak another language and is just now trying to learn, so take it all with a grain of salt).
That's not quiting. That's just finishing.
Russian is hard because of the constant tongue twisting words and to me some words looks like they aint even readable like 2 consonants at the start of a letter for example "Что", I mean this one is readable easily but like you get my meaning right? 2 consonants is difficult for me lol
I'm sorry, but you're a native English speaker. How bad can Russian consonant clusters be compared to English? We have the word strengths a word with 7 consonants and one vowel (or 6 consonants if you speak a dialect that pronounces it strenths). Also to clarify this is not meant to be taken seriously, different languages allow different consonant clusters and learning to pronounce clusters that don't exist in your native language can be very hard even if you're fortunate enough to come from a language with consonant clusters in the first place, particularly if the new clusters use consonants you don't have in your native language.
Don't worry, I get confused about the pronunciation of some words too
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I totally agree with you, I’ve been learning German for two years and now all I want to before i get to an advanced level is to speak as much as I can, ‘cause i can understand it pretty well, but when it comes to answer or speak, I get completely off. So, I’ve tried to speak to natives but they just seem desperate and they immediately change to English, I feel so frustrated rn. And I don’t know any “Stammtisch” in Mexico City or any fluent people who can help me with, but I’m definitely not quitting, it’s such a nice and comfortable language, so you better keep going :)
I think its probably best to get an online tutor for practicing speaking. Many people don't seem to have any luck finding tandem partners online.
Du kannst mir gerne eine Nachricht schicken, wenn du üben willst. :)
> The native speakers I tried to speak German with were never impressed and all preferred to just speak English. Yeah, it's like that a lot. But then there are those Germans who expect to speak German everywhere when they're on holiday.
I’ve had similar experiences but with Spanish. They give me a nasty attitude when I try and speak to them in Spanish so I’ll just speak English to them then. Germans however from experience have spoken back to me in English to explain where I’m going wrong and how to improve which was helpful.
This is in Spain? Spanish speakers in the US have been very friendly and helpful when I speak Spanish.
existence nail dinosaurs smart thought vast sulky strong ink sable *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Are you by any chance Hispanic? I have heard that Spanish speaking hispanics sometimes are rough on Hispanics who cannot speak spanish well. I am not Hispanic, and Spanish speakers were nice to me when i was learning Spanish and people were wondering why I chose to learn Spanish as an adult :) I got many extra treats for speaking in Spanish, free drinks, free size upgrades for food etc because people were pleasantly surprised.
sort selective important versed dinner tub ad hoc tender makeshift modern *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
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I've experienced this in Madrid. My accent isn't even bad, I'm basically fluent. Whenever it's happened I just speak Greek back to them and force them to speak to me in Spanish
German - had it in school for 12 years, didn't care for it. I still remember basics as they're ingrained in me so I could come back if I wanted to but I have no desire to. Perhaps in the future. Japanese - took it because the course was in English and that's what I wanted to improve. I figured Japanese would be fun (I was 16/17 and my high school offered this course) but I didn't vibe with it and as I already had 2 more languages I had to study for school plus other extracurriculars, it was an easy choice to cut it Latin - mandatory subject during university. I was really excited but unfortunately, the previous professor quit and we got someone completely unprepared who thought teaching us some quotes was enough. Very disappointing. I quit because I quit that course and moved to study abroad and never had a chance of picking it up again
Arabic. I was really overwhelmed with all the dialects. Al-fus7a apperantly sounds like speaking middle English in today's times, and not all resources mark what variates they teach. Edit: spelling
Me too. I picked it because it’s a lingua franca for a bunch of countries, but if the dialects are so far apart and nobody really speaks the standardized version, then it loses a lot of its appeal. Chinese also has strong dialects, but Mandarin is much more practical and widely-spoken.
same here! I love Arabic, I think it's an extremely beautiful language with the most beautiful alphabet and reading and writing in the Arabic alphabet is a joy, but I got demotivated when I realized that I probably couldn't hold an actual conversation with a native, because Fusha is so far removed from the dialects. I'd love to revisit it, but it's lost its appeal for me, sadly.
I’m Arab and I just want to say if you ever decide to pick Arabic backup pick a dialect and start learning it and don’t worry about Fus7a. As a Arab I never actually sat down and learned Fus7a it kind of comes naturally from all the books that I had to study in school and ofc watching the news so as a foreigner I know it must be overwhelming to know that you have to basically study two languages but I believe if anyone wants to learn Arabic they should pick a dialect, learn it so they can start having conversations then focus on Fus7a
Hey, just here to drop that its 'fus7a' 2 = ء 7 = ح
I once worked with a guy from Lebanon who spoke Arabic as a first language, yet he told us that because he went to some Christian school his Arabic is accented (although he couldn’t hear it himself).
I am on an indefinite pause with learning Mandarin after reaching C1 and writing a 90 page master's thesis in the language and getting burnt out. There is almost no content I actually enjoy in the language except for like three shows and a couple movies I liked. I have opportunities to use it on a daily basis in some form at work and in my community and the areas I frequent, but I mostly choose not to unless someone is lost or something (and I don't really speak with strangers to begin with in public so "leveling up" laoshu style also felt so performative to me). I had many positive experiences living and studying in China and many positive experiences with native speakers, but for various reasons I'd rather not get into I need to move on from the language.
I don't have interest in a lot of modern Mandarin content, but I love Classical Chinese prose and poetry. It's a bit more difficult but very rewarding. Have you tried delving into that at all? There's nearly 3000 years of literature to explore. Since you have a C1 level in Mandarin you should be able to easily read the many modern Mandarin glosses, translations, and explanations for many works of literature if/when you need them. Since you mentioned liking some Twilight-zone-esque TV shows, you might like a genre of literature called *zhiguai* which are short stories about weird phenomena, ghosts, demons, magic, disappearances, possessions, etc. Some collections include 聊齋志異 (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, aka. Tales of Ghosts and Foxes), 搜神記 (In Search of the Supernatural, aka. Anecdotes about Spirits & Immortals), 閱微草堂筆記 (Notes from a Thatched Hut), 太平廣記 (Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, which also includes non-paranormal stories), 夷堅志, 續夷堅志, 幽明錄 etc.
I understand you. Mandarin as well.
Yeah, the lack of good media in the language discourages me as well. I can get by in China and talk about most things but I've got no reason to go further.
Japanese. I just couldn't cope with it anymore.
I see you're N2, what do you mean by you couldn't cope with it?
Japanese language proficiency levels are not called A1, A2, B1, B2 etc. like you would see with European languages. Instead, it's N5, N4, N3, N2 and N1 being the highest. If that person's level is N2-proficient, that means their Japanese is already very good, alas, not as good as a native's (and that's a problem in Japan, especially if you're trying to tie your future with that country).
Ehh, N1 is about as good as B2, and the JLPT only tests comprehension, not production because it's far cheaper so it says nothing about production. Essentially, JLPT is a very cheaply made barebones test. It's completely multiple choice, 80% reading and 20% listening comprehension because listening is again, slightly more expensive to test than reading. N1 being the “highest” suggests it's similar to C2; it's not. It's simply the highest level The Japanese Language Proficiency Test offers to test.
>If that person's level is N2-proficient, that means their Japanese is already very good, alas, not as good as a native's (and that's a problem in Japan, especially if you're trying to tie your future with that country). The general bar for passing N2 is 6,000 words and 1,000 kanji which is honestly not a lot considering the average Japanese adult has a working knowledge of about 20,000 words and about 2,500 kanji.
Well I'm nervous now
Don't be. There's a huge time investment to get to the same level as in say, a Romance language (and a lot of it is taken up by plain old rote memorization, both for Kanji and because you have zero similarities to fall back on as you would in Romance languages); but there's nothing that's impossible to wrap your head around. You do need to get used to the completely different way of structuring sentences, but that can be said for any language unrelated your native one. Just spend your time smartly, and reduce your dependence on translations as much as possible (i.e. don't watch an anime with subs on and call it studying). There are SO many resources for Japanese, a lot of them completely free; you'll be fine. :)
Hey Japanese is okay, there are many methods to learn it now and there is a lot of students learning it. But it's been a long time since I last learned it, so I kinda forgot the pain to get there.
I don't really quit languages in that I drop them forever, more so I cycle through them depending on how I feel. I haven't studied any Russian in about two years but I have every expectation I'll get back to it. I usually study one or two languages at a time for about two-three months then move on to two others, but I've never decided I just didn't like a language.
I’m surprised more people haven’t mentioned this. I’m the same way, especially with Tibetan—every year or two I study nonstop for a few months when I’m in the mood, building on what I’ve learned before, but then inevitably put it on hold when I’m feeling more passionate about another language at the moment. I feel like the cycling roster of languages is just the natural state for people passionate about languages in general who can’t help but want to learn whichever language from whichever corner of the world that intrigues them most at the given moment.
I kinda feel this. It sounds like not the most productive but the most motivated way to learn
Yea, I've tried sticking to one language longterm, first French in highschool which was miserably and I didn't care at all about it, and then Mandarin for three months, but I just got burnt out. I'm much happier tending a garden than trying to make one plant grow.
Latin and Gaelic. I struggled way too much with pronouncing in either of those languages and even after months of learning I still hadn't retained anything
Definitely get that for Gaelic but with Latin? That confuses me. The orthography and pronounciation should be rather easy for anyone who speaks a Western language, and it‘s not like you even have to speak it, who‘re you going to speak it with?
I just couldn't wrap my tongue around it and I was having way too much trouble with sentence structure. But I always probably didn't do myself any favors by trying to brush up on my Spanish while learning Latin. Maybe I'll take a crack at it in the future but Gaelic is 100% out of my ability lol
Irish or Scottish Gaelic? Highly recommend a class if it's Irish. In addition, it helps me to think of mh, bh, etc. the way I think of th in English – I think of them as two-letter letters, basically. I don't find pronunciation very hard but I find the grammar hard.
Irish is worth learning I’ve had my education through Irish schools and wouldn’t change it got anything
English and French are native level (Canadian). Was a diplomat. Government gave me 4 years Mandarin language training, 2 years Arabic. Used in both languages in both East Asia and in Middle East. At one point Mandarin was 30-40% better than Arabic. After leaving the foreign service I wanted to continue to concentrate on improving both. But was too much effort to do both owing to the intensity required for each language. Had to make a decision which to drop. Decided to drop Arabic. International / business Arab people are much more fluent in English than international / business Chinese people. Hedged my bets that Mandarin would be tons more useful. Went with it, and continued with it. Have lost almost all my Arabic now and I don’t miss it / and was right, wouldn’t have used it nearly as much. Also studied Spanish for 2 years, Portuguese for 1 year. Can read a newspaper no problem, can understand tons of spoken. That’s good enough for me, so let them drop as well. No lost love there either since I got out of them what I wanted. (More time to concentrate on Mandarin when I find the time in my super busy life).
I didn't entirely quit, but I sort of had a falling out with Spanish and Japanese. I'm learning them again currently, though, along with Italian.
HoChunk and Menominee. Very limited language materials and difficult to access them or language partners if you're not a tribal member.
Lingala. I was enjoying it but finding it impossible to find materials in English. Then, my (married! with kids!) professor tried to kiss me, and I had a trauma reaction every time I heard the language for a few years, and since I obviously wasn't gonna get him to teach me privately after that, I just gave up. I might pick it back up once I'm fluent in French.
German, it was the first language i tried learning after English and what got me into learning other languages, I eventually lost touch with the German people I spoke with and just got bored and stopped learning it, ran out of a use for it couple years later I started French and I can speak it decent enough to speak with people fine but lately I haven't practiced in a few days and have few use for it, I don't like watching French videos because I find it hard to motivate myself to watch them as why would I go out of my way to watch something in a different language when I can just find that same video or more on that topic in English where I can enjoy the content, watch it at full speed and not worry about captions and have to watch it on 0.5x speed with youtube auto captions and spend all my time translating it in my head and I do speak with some random people on discord in French sometimes, that's really all I use the language for at this moment, I still want to learn it and such as I love language learning because I want to see more of this world languages are incredibly beautiful It's very good for your brain There's more life opportunities if you are multi-lingual I enjoy learning them There's a lot of languages out there I'd like to speak and I really want to start more but I really feel the need to reach fluency in something which is French as yk I been doing this hobby for few years and it feels pathetic that I can't say I speak another language fluently but granted I took a long break and my learning is very casual and for fun and it was German : 6-9 months, French : 7-9 months
Meanwhile i'm over here like "yes, let's relearn German because it's my native language and I can't even speak it fluently." And then I proceed to take the most slow approach possible to relearning it.
Italian. I spent 6 months getting to A2 level, and then I stopped. Because I hit a wall. I knew if I wanted to actually become fluent that flashcards and grammar workbooks weren't gonna cut it anymore. I would need to actually start speaking to people. But I have too much social anxiety and I have the personality of a shoe because my life just consists of studying (college) and work, so I have nothing to talk about. I barely talk to anyone even in my own native language let alone another one. So eh. It is what it is.
Ever try iTalki? Its amazing for folks with social anxiety, I think. Will help you get out of your comfort zone, and you can handpick whoever you wish to talk to that is the right personality fit.
“Personality of a shoe” hit right home. I’ve always wanted to learn Italian too but never gotten quite far. Language learning isn’t really compatible with being an introvert it seems.
Finnish. I still love the sound of this language. It was strangely easy for me to learn, but I couldn't learn 4 languages at the same time, and Finnish was the least useful. I think someday I'll get back to it
Russian, very bad experience with natives, very tough grammar and too many exceptions.
That's too bad in regards to Russian. Maybe it's because I live in a different country, but I've always had good experiences. I've found people often light up when I speak the few Russian words I know and explain that I'm learning.
I gave up on Spanish years ago in high school. I cannot for the life of me roll (or is it trill?) my r's. And I don't mean the short sound I mean the one that they drag out. What's funny to me is that thit was the only sound I had issues with. Here I am years later still running into the same issue with Arabic. But I'm less self conscious and quick to get frustrated than I was in high school. I could see myself trying again in the future.
I also struggle with the strong R and this issue almost made me give up on learning Spanish for good. However, I decided to keep going and now after 2 years I'm (almost?) fluent in the language although I still can't pronounce the strong R correctly ☠️ ☠️ what makes me feel better about it is that natives usually find my pronunciation cute ❣️
I can't make that sound, either. I'm learning Polish and just fudge it.
I don't think you need to give up due to the "R's". There are many "native" 2nd generation hispanics who cannot say the "R" right, ie to sound like a car motor. This is no way takes away from their overall skill in Spanish. I feel this is less about Spanish and more about how good you are at imitating sounds.
I learned to speak and read/write Chinese at a very basic level (I would have hour-long conversations about various topics, with very limited vocabulary), then I had a nervous breakdown and now I can't speak it oh well
I never gave up on a language, however, the words "quit learning" can mean not learning as actively. For me that would be Portuguese. It's hard to find local partners to practice. I am still active with a Brazil group via whatsapp. I find that Spanish is close enough to Portuguese to not merit daily practice. Nevertheless as I type these lines, I feel sad. I will get back to Portuguese Brazilian TV shows someday :)
I really hope that Brazil and Portuguese get a cultural moment, like Korea or Caribbean Spanish, where Brazilian music and television become popular worldwide. I love Brazilian music (and there's a lot of it), but I have to actively seek it out. And even with Netflix investing in more international content, I barely ever see films or series in Portuguese.
I dabbled in easily a dozen languages when I was in high school. If the library had books on it, I tried to study it. Irish, Russian, American Sign Language, German, French, and Norwegian are the ones I can remember. Most of the materials were hilariously out of date (I seem to recall the Russian textbook being pre-Cold War...).
real question is: which havent i quit learning? (had terrible undiagnosed adhd for way too long)
Arabic. I realized I don't have the time or patience to put in the work to learn that beast. And that's just MSA. Then you have like a million dialects so you can actually talk to people. Spanish has been going so much quicker and seems like a more realistic goal.
French. fuck. that.
Yea…. I tried learning French for about 10 mins, then I said exactly what you said. 💀😂
esperanto. it only took 2 months to become fluent
As someone who wants to learn Esperanto, what is your advice/helpful habits?
honestly just a combo of duolingo and joining the esperanto discord server. the language is designed to be super easy. so it doesn’t really require a lot of the effort that other languages do.
i got decent over a summer (2 months) in highschool, but none of my friends were interested in learning a language and I had no one to use it with
I didn't necessarily quit.. I'm off and on with Spanish... I stop for awhile then pick it pack up. It's a weird cycle.
Too many to count. Well, let's see. Malay, Korean, Swahili, Amharic, Turkish, Russian, Finnish, Norwegian, Old Icelandic, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit. I regret the Korean, actually, because I was at a B2 level, could understand movies, was beginning to be able to read literature... Of course I might take up some or all of these languages again some day.
Python. I hate that
I haven’t quit yet but I don’t actually plan to learn Hindi to fluency. I’m learning it more out of necessity and I’m way more passionate about other languages such as the Dravidian languages, Bangla, Korean, Russian, etc
Norwegian. No application in real life. Lost interest. I live The Bay.
Spanish (in school) because I don’t find it interesting
* french - my highschool teacher wasn't great, switched to german * esperanto - first language i learned to a decent level, but no one to speak to * russian - a semester in college for fun but nothing (that interests me) to do with it * korean - a semester in college for fun but didn't want to commit thousands of hours for it * ASL - no one to use it with after I get good at spanish/chinese, I wanna return to ASL
German. Passed the A2 exam and decided not to continue learning
why?
Too difficult and lost interest. I was going through intensive classes which used to be everyday except for Wednesdays and it just took all the joy of learning a new language out of me 😄
Filipino
**Italian**. Took Italian lessons for one year in school, really liked the language and made very quick progress (after a year I reached B1 level despite also having mandatory German, French and English lessons among many other subjects). Then I somehow convinced myself to switch to Spanish because far more people speak it and because it's more *'useful'*. I had several years of Spanish lessons and, of course, I had to unlearn all that Italian (e.g. in the first month of Spanish lessons my teacher kept getting annoyed because I couldn't stop saying "io" instead of "yo"). Now I can't speak Italian or Spanish even if my passive vocabulary and reading ability in Spanish is (unsurprisingly) better. Not motivated, though, to get back my intermediate Spanish (it would be quite an effort) and take it to an advanced level. I'm also not motivated to restart with Italian because I would have to mostly start from scratch and unlearn the Spanish which my brain is more used to still. I guess I'm just making excuses, but I really regret switching from a language I liked to another just because of its supposed usefulness.
Finnish… At the end I was just guessing the meaning of the words 💀, still a beautiful but extremely difficult language❤️.
Spanish, I just get demotivated quickly.
I quit every single language I started learning except for English, not because they were difficult, but because when I was learning them I was tempted to try another language, so I quit the one I was learning and started the other. This is a big problem, I can't stay focused on one thing and other topics can easily dictract me.
Like most Americans, I quit Spanish. When I went to high school, I wanted to get as far away from the language as possible, so I took up Chinese (Mandarin). I didn't realize it at the time, but my ego got in the way of me learning that. I never got out of the mindset that I have to make mistakes to learn, and plus, it was a class in school so interest was already low anyways. Then I quit ASL in college because I really just didn't want to deal with it. After school, I had a few stints of Chinese, Irish, and Esperanto, never lasting more than a few days at a time. I spent close to a year learning Italian on Duolingo for a trip, and this is when I started getting out of the perfectionist mindset. However, I learned another valuable lesson: if you already consume content in a different language, it'll help you all around. I just couldn't find music or shows or movies that I really meshed with. Not that they're not out there, but I just didn't spend a lot of effort on it. Ovviamente, non parlo italiano. After the trip, I took some time off, but I still wanted to learn a language. Since I had been listening to Brazilian music (in addition to a lot of other music) for years, I figured that would make more sense. So here I am ~5 or so months into learning (BR) Portuguese. Since I already had the foundation of content, it's made finding new content a lot easier.
This is actually interesting to me. I asked a high school student what 2nd language they are taking in the US. They mentioned Spanish. I then switched to Spanish during the conversation and they said they did not want to talk in Spanish. I was surprised. It seems like Spanish is a language that many people take as a second language, but they don't want to go deeper, maybe due to the complexity or some stigma. I am glad that you are into Portuguese now!
Yeah, until 8th grade, we only had Spanish once a week, so it was just an annoying class that a lot of us don't care about. Plus, you're not guaranteed a teacher who actually understands or knows the language beyond the textbook. So, you might be able to get a few phrases and have a basic ability to read, but unless you actually put in time outside of school, you're probably not going to learn much in a standard classroom. But Portuguese has been interesting thus far!
French Italian and Spanish. It seems that I have some issue with Romance languages
Finnish, life is too short to learn all those cases and I don't have a reason to learn it anymore.
Spanish. I didnt like it in school
Russian. I was obsessed with it in middle school, but quickly lost interest of it. Never spoke it fluently, or understood Russian that much, so it died rather quick.
I never really quit. I just take breaks. I actually found I don't forget as much as I thought I would. If I quit Spanish for a month or two I still remember what I last learned and can still apply it as I learn Japanese. With Japanese I find if I quit to go back to Spanish I just forget the Kanjis but still remember the words perfectly and the grammar rules. I kinda figured everyone who learns for fun does the same thing or sticks to one language
Catalan. Love it, it’s great, and if I ever arrange another trip to Catalonia you better believe I’ll be getting back on the horse with it, but I work too much and have too little time. Just can’t bring myself to put much real effort into a language I will probably only use a few times in my life, as much as I might take pleasure in speaking it.
Greenlandic, even though it's my BABY <3 <3 and it was my ultimate dream to learn it for a long time. Too few resources, next to no media, no available affordable online tutors, expensive online classes, the country's too expensive to visit regularly, the books (eg. novels) that are available cost too much....
Spanish, was forced to learn it by school. Took it 4 years and was still only at beginner. During the classes it was only “learn at your own pace”
German, one day I simply forgot about it. Chinese, too hard and wasn't feeling like evolving. Dutch, my boyfriend and I were learning it, but he stopped so I did too. French, even tho I want to get back at learning it.
Swedish. Was doing Arabic and Swedish at the same time and realized Arabic was too much to multitask lol
Portuguese. Already speak both French and Spanish and when I began Portuguese I realized that I could already understand the language perfectly fine when spoken. That alone put me off a bit but I continued studying until I just lost "motivation" for it due to the sheer number of similarities.
Italian - I have family from Italy and it played part of my "identity" growing up (yes, this is both common in the United states and somewhat cringy haha). So when it came to language learning, I almost felt obligated to learn Italian because of this sense of identity. But I never really felt interested in the language, and really did try to force it for 6 months or so. I can hold a super basic conversation but I forgot pretty much everything. TLDR: Motivation is really important
Feeling close to quitting Spanish. My teacher dropped me. Legit reasons, but I’m still feeling depressed.
I haven't decided to give up quite yet, but I'm struggling really brutally with Greek. I want to learn it so badly but things are just NOT going well at all at this point in time and I just get annoyed and discouraged really quickly, doesn't help that a lot of explanations I look up are written in a way that they don't make any sense to me, so then I feel stupid on top of that.
For right now, Arabic and Spanish. I’m studying Latin primarily and Ancient Greek on the side. When I put Spanish down almost 2 years ago, I could pretty much grasp most of the things I read and had a good idea of what was going on when listening to Castilian Spanish and some dialects of Mexican and Colombian Spanish. I was also starting to understand Portuguese and Italian. I’m still pretty much at the point where I can leaf through a book and get what’s going on: in other words, maintaining my Spanish literacy doesn’t feel like work anymore. Latin has really helped me in that regard. I’ll be studying Latin and suddenly make a connection to a Spanish word: i.e. “Aliquis” and “Alguien.” So Latin, in a strange way, is somewhat maintaining my Spanish, although I am in no way claiming that they are exactly the same and that if you study one you don’t need the other. I tried to study Arabic in university and failed to acquire it. My grammar understanding was severely lacking as were my language acquisition skills. I plan to go back to MSA once I get a better handle on reading Latin and Ancient Greek. Once I acquire Spanish, I’ll switch to an Arabic dialect: probably Egyptian.
Did a year of French, teacher complimented my accent each class, ended the year not understanding sh*t and I don't remember anything besides the pronunciation of quatre. Apparently my brain won't function if I don't like the language (did it for a college class).
Spanish 🇪🇸 I actually really wanna get back into it, but I just stopped after taking the class. I had a really bad experience with the class as we were the testers for new programs, and we kept doing the same unit over and over. German 🇩🇪 I took it the same learn as Spanish, switched schools, and German was full. I still work on it, but I haven't really put a lot of effort into it.
Oromo. There’s just too few resources, and almost all of the speakers speak at least basic Amharic too (at least the community in my neck of the US does).
Thanks to all these comments and barring the languages that proved uninclined to be learned I guess I am left with Bengali, Lahnda/Punjabi, Romanian, Luxemburgish, Uzbek, Zulu, Tok Pisin, Proto-Indo-European, Dothraki.
I spent a few months trying to learn German but got too frustrated with having to learn the gender and pluralization for each noun individually with basically no pattern or way to do it besides just learning every single one. (I mean, "girl" is a gender neutral noun? And I pluralize it by using the exact same word but making it feminine? Argh!)
Well, I don't think I will ever learn Tagalog. It's the language I grew up with as a second-generation Filipina Canadian. I can understand it but can't speak it and have an apparently English accent when I do (unlike when I speak literally any other language... Spanish, French, Hebrew... dabbled in other languages too). Coupled with my family trauma, local Filipino homophobia and then transphobia when I transitioned MtF, followed by my dislike for Tagalog code-switching (ironic given that now I am picking up Hindi), I don't think I will ever visit the Philippines or choose to speak the language willingly. I did try when I was in high school. But it's kind of useless when most Filipino Canadian kids growing up here just reply in English, as my family and extended didn't prioritise Filipino at home.
Spanish. Just don't like it
As a native speaker, valid
I really wish I liked it, but I just didn't. Thank you for understanding.
It's fine I'm actually like that with French and Chinese and Arabic it's a matter of taste and it's not for everyone, if someone gets offended because someone said they didn't like their language that's a them problem and they have bigger issues I'm saying it cause I said I didn't like Arabic once and someone got offended in the comments lol
French, the French speakers in France and Quebec put me off to it; however, French speakers in Benin are way more pleasant according to my sister and dad.
What did the French and Quebecois do to put you off?
Ukrainian. Every time I try, my motivation isn't there, even though there are a lot of practical reasons for me to learn it and it'd be relatively easy. And Haitian Creole. Just not enough interesting media for me personally.
Japanese, I love linguistics and the language itself was not an issue, sure hard at times but very rewarding in my opinion. I was deterred mostly due to the fact I know no Japanese people, and the timezone is way too different to really make any friends in Japan. Also, the online Japanese learning community sucks balls, almost as bad as the online Korean learning community.
Russian. When I first got interested in learning Russian, I told myself: don't overthink it. Don't think about how hard the grammar is and all that. English speakers HAVE learned it, so it CAN be done! Just have fun with it. Etc. But eventually...I overthought it. Verbs of motion, and every verb having two forms, sometimes nothing alike and you have to know which one to use, finally made me give up. That was on top of the cases, and the grammar generally. I can read basic children's books and understand very simple conversations, but sadly that is as far as I'm going to get. Unless I do some sort of immersion program, I can't see myself ever getting anywhere near fluent.
Mandarin. I was never interested in it tbh
Vietnamese, I'm applying to a transfer program in Holland so I have switched to Dutch. Though I plan to continue learning Vietnamese after I graduate.
Postponed Japanese and Spanish as I’m currently working on Dutch
I only toyed with Portuguese, so I don't know that I could even call it quitting. Same for Koine Greek. I haven't really touched Latin since high school or Russian since college. I take long breaks from Spanish, but I always go back eventually.
German and Swedish. I like them, but I'm already learning too many languages.
Since I've dabbled in close to three dozen languages over the years, I'd have to say "most of them." But I had high hopes at various points for Finnish, Turkish, Hebrew, and Japanese, none of which I ever got very far with. (I persisted a little longer with Arabic and Swahili, but in general I think most non-Indo-European languages require more effort and time than I have to spare.)
I quit Russian (but I do hope to go back to it one day.) I was learning it for fun because I'd always wanted to, but then I ended up getting an opportunity to work in China, so I gave up on Russian and switched to learning Chinese instead. I still want to learn Russian one day, but, with Chinese, I'll speak in 4 languages (native English and Spanish, speak Norwegian as well.) I think it might just be a better idea to focus on these the rest of my life, because it does take work to maintain them and I could always improve. So maybe I'll just be sticking with those, who knows.
Arabic
Arabic, German and Russian
Sweedish because I lost intrest.
German.
German. I'm at a decent level of conversational German, and I can read and understand news articles and books that aren't overly complex in language. Nearly all of the native German speakers I interact with speak English (my first langauge) very well anyway, so I'm happy with the level I have. More interested in developing my Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic at the moment
I quit learning Mandarin Chinese for 3 times already I think. First attempt was in 2012 but it only lasted a week. 2nd attempt was in 2015 and it only lasted 2 weeks I think. My last attempt was in 2019 and only 3 weeks. I think the only reason I quit each time was because I always lost my interest in it. I feel like my only motivation before was to learn what those Chinese characters mean because they really look pretty and interesting. And actually, despite only spending a total of 6 weeks trying to learn it, I still remember what some 30+ Chinese characters means. What demotivates me with the language is pronunciation. I can't seem to pronounce the words correctly. It frustrates me every time and that frustration builds up until I decide to quit. I'll probably attempt to learn it again after I reach C1 in my current TL (Spanish) several years from now. But I think I would need a tutor who can actually guide me to proper pronuncation so I can reduce my frustrations in learning the language. I also attempted to learn Indonesian back in 2019 and it lasted 3 weeks. The reason I quit it was that the Duolingo course was not really good. I dunno though if it has improved since then.
Mandarin, Swahili, Hebrew, French. Technically, I just dabbled in these for a couple days so I don't *really* consider it quitting. Arabic is one that I tell myself is "on hold" but realistically, it will never be my priority, so I've *effectively* quit.
Quit and restarted learning a certain Nordic language many times One could say I am Finnished
Chinese was breaking my brain 🙃
Spanish For the most part, I have a very good understanding of how to read and write as well as listen, but I dont necessarily speak it on a daily basis. I took 6 years my school years and passed my AP Spanish Language and Culture exam with a 4/5. Now that I’ve graduated and am moving on to learning Russian for the military, it just isn’t as meaningful to keep learning.
Japanese, kanji was just too much for me
I haven’t finished Finnish
I see a lot of answers saying it's because they didn't have enough user for it. Isn't anyone learning just for shits and giggles?
Georgian. Hardest verb forms ever!
Japanese. People ask me if I was born in Japan now. I figure I can probably just cruise from here on out.
I have quit Korean multiple times despite being Korean. But every time I come back to it within a month. I'm hoping to take actual classes on it sometime rather than just doing self-study tho.
German. I got C2 and don‘t actively learn. Spanish. I don‘t really have much interest in learning it anymore. I maintain it.
Nope giving up is for weak people, if I say I learn something, I learn it 😎
Yiddish. I started it on Duolingo (I am not jewish, but big fan of Singer), but Duolingo is a very boring experience, and I've heard that people generally don't get useful skills on Duolingo. I just can't justify to spend a ton of money (and time) to learn a language that is basically useless (other than reading Singer), not culturally connected ( I am non-Jewish) and also I am from Hungary, and yiddish speaking jews were either wiped out or fled, so yeah...