>He considers himself """literary """

non anglos have no idea how quaint being a polyglot in anglo countries is. we get it, you learnt english in school and now it makes you feel superior. i learnt french and german, difference is i havent had to speak either of those languages in over a decade and have forgotten most of it..

>>9689628
Get a pen pal, it's a lot of fun! I ask my Russian pen pal about life over there all the time...she wants to meet me in person but I think that's a little too intense to be honest

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>>9689616
>French language knowledge is no longer a given for English literature students

>>9689649
Imagine being this much of a pussy. Go meet your qt Russian penpal, bud. I know guys who have turned their penpals into girlfriends.

>>9689628
> i havent had to speak either of those languages in over a decade and have forgotten most of it

You're not a 'polyglot' then in practice. You know a language if you can actively make use of it.

>>9689817
Good. I'm sick of reading old books where I'm expected to know frog offhand.

>>9689628
>you learnt english in school and now it makes you feel superior

That isn't at all how we view things - you don't, actually, get it.

>>9689649
How would you go about getting a penpal?

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>>9689649

>tfw no Russian gf

>>9690176
bump for this question, out of all my time on interpals I've only made one actual pen pal

>>9689616
>you can't learn Japanese
Why not? It's simplistic as fuck..

>>9689616
>Japanese is a worthwhile lit language
fuck off weebscum.

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I think dabbling in a language is underrated. People on here present it as an all or nothing endeavor, as if I have to reprogram my life to become fluent or I'm just wasting my time. I hack my way through translating Dumas here and there, learning bits as I go. Idgaf. It helps me to be a better reader of English, reminding me to practice close reading. I can totally breeze through a great paragraph from a novel and not realize it sometimes because I get lost looking at "the big picture".

Well I do. I speak Norwegian, English, German, conversational in Icelandic, and I can read Ancient Greek from studying Classics.

I need to brush up on my German though. I also want to learn French.

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>>9689616

I browse /int/ threads in languages I don't understand and chuck their posts into google translate so I can enjoy the memes and bants.

I've actually picked up a bit of french vocab from it.

>>9689616
> languages are being cut from the UK curriculum
> classes are now full, up to 40 students per classroom
> schools are underfunded and under-staffed, some cases the teachers are not qualified as teachers but only teaching assistants

The next generation won't have the honour of learning another language, OP.

>>9689616
>>He considers himself """literary """
what the fuck do you even mean by this?

>>9689616
>Fluent in English and German
>feel like a failure for not knowing Spanish, French and Russian
why do I always subconsciously equate myself as monolingual?

>>9691403
German is like cheating. It's not an entirely new language if you originally speak English, anon.

Go learn some ancient Arabic or African tribal dialects.

>He considers himself """""""""literary""""""""
>Still hasn't zeroed in on one language to study yet
I'll be over here reading Chaucer while you decide

>>9691411
>It's not an entirely new language if you originally speak English
That's not german's fault, that's english's fault for being a frankenstein's monster of a language. It's basically the exasperated form of all the western european languages spoken 500 years ago.

Trying to get into classical Chinese after a few years of modern Mandarin. Even though I know most of the characters, it's still hard to figure out what the sentences are supposed to mean because of how often they omit words and assume you'll figure things out based on context alone.

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>>9689616
>tfw you speak German, English and French on a native level
>tfw you speak passable Spanish
>tfw you are learning Russian and Polish right now

How does it feel to be a pleb? I wouldn't know.

>>9691592
How did you learn, sir?

>>9691598
>German
I grew up with this language

>English
School

>French
did my masters degree in France

>Spanish
learned it for free in university (mfw Americans have to pay for this)

>Russian and Polish
started learning it in university as well and I am continuing it through adult education

>>9691612
>tfw American
i-it's not fair

>>9691619
That's the price you have to pay for global hegemony.

>>9691333
>as if I have to reprogram my life to become fluent or I'm just wasting my time
Your level of fluency depends on how much time and effort you put into learning the new language, which in turns depend on how and why you're learning it in the first place. In other words if what you're doing works for your purpose you're not wasting your time.

So how many DJTbros are also here on /lit/?

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How many of you speak German as a second language, best for literature except for Russian which I plan to learn next

>Be Mexican
>read Sanderson and have fun
>read some other american fantasy shit
>consider myself as a noob /lit/ guy
>in college attend a creative writing class even though I major in IT
>teacher is a chill dude. Project is write whatever you like that is 40 pages minimum and has to be printed as a book
>suddenly realize i haven't read a single book in spanish for the purpose of /lit/
>can't write in english because is not my native language
>can't write in spanish because i haven't read novels in spanish
>make a 120 page story in spanish anyway
>read it 6 months later
>it's shit
I'm currently learning japanese. Don't worry, i past my phase of "i want watch anime without subtitles" 15 years ago. It's a drag, specially kanji, but there is some charm in understanding weird drawings.

>>9691681
Wie hast Du Deutsch gelernt, Kumpel? Schule, Uni, Goethe-Institut oder auf einem anderen Weg?

>>9691592
you're what 24 years old at least? and you only know three languages on a native level? they're all Western languages too...

weak anon, weak...

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>>9691763
What do you speak? English and anime? baka desu senpai

>>9689649
Your Russian penpal wants to get out of here by marrying you and divorce immediately after. Do not fall for it.
t. Russian

>>9691777
>anime
No, I just translate NHK news articles instead.

also reading a work by Tatsuo Hori in native

>>9691801
>reading a work by Tatsuo Hori in native
Nice. Say, how much work is necessary to read Mishima? In terms of Kanji, for example

>>9691681
>>9691699

My parents are German but I was born in the US so I speak English and German natively. My German needs a lot of work though, I've never had a formal education in it and it's a real pain trying to mend incorrect habits in grammar and speaking.

I haven't started reading any German literature yet, but I plan to start soon. Any recommendations? I've been skipping past most philosophy while starting with the Greeks, so I think I'll stray away from Nietzsche and co. for now since I lack the foundation. I was probably going to start with some Goethe for fun, and Spengler and Ranke for improving my German.

>>9691811
You'll probably need a general understanding of most common kanji, but I wouldn't worry too much. Part of why I read Hori is to learn more; his works are pre-WWII so depending on the translation it will probably be more difficult than Mishima, in regards to kanji.

Mishima's major works were all written nearly 15 years after those by Hori and are post-WWII era, so I would expect them to be slightly more adjusted to what a student of contemporary Japanese is used to.

If you know a lot already, I'd say just go for it and possibly learn along the way, it's fun.

>>9689628
>Implying I didn't learn English by using it.
No sabez nada, gringo.

>>9691333
Translation is actually super effective to learn a language. All I remember from German I got from ignorant music translations I did as a kid. And translation of a language you do understand not only makes you better at it, but also helps your fluidity in the language you're translating to--I didn't come to appreciate how much more clearer Spanish was than English until I translated some stuff. As a rule of thumb, working with the "material" parts of a language will always help you more than just trying to memorize it--even making your own grammar charts is easier than reading someone else's over and over. The big problem with going solo though, is that you always have the danger of not understanding what the "boundaries" of words properly are, instead taking them from your mother tongue, as you haven't got that abstract "feeling" of what is or isn't grammatically correct, which only comes with habit--this is probably why languages become easier to learn the more language you already know, ironically, because you become more "flexible", more receptible to what meaning a word could or couldn't have.

>>9691801
>it's a weeb who is proud of speaking mango
top jej

>>9691811
oh and to add, you can use this site to find a lot of popular novels and short stories by Japanese writers

http://www.aozora.gr.jp/

風立ちぬ (The Wind Has Risen) is on there, for example

>>9691842
Oh, nice! I do not know much at the moment, but I hope to cover the joyo kanji and get the most common grammar by the end of the year, and wonder how much farther would I need to get before the real fun starts, the fun being Mishima and shitposting on 2channel

>>9691369

I did 3 languages when I was at secondary school in the UK: French, German and Spanish. Damn shame.

I can't remember any Spanish, but I ended up living in France and Belgium for a while and I've learned Russian for 2 years.

About to start learning Old English to read them epics.

>>9691852
>it's an untermensch who is proud to speak nazi
wow look how easy it is!!!

>>9691835
>Goethe for fun
Then go with Werther. That's one of Goethe's easier works. But it's also boring if you ask me. Faust is god tier but probably goes over your head. Otherwise Hesse, Kafka, poems by Gottfried Benn. Fontane also has some simple prose but I disliked reading him in school.

>>9691864
Ich bin Teil der Herrenrasse. Deutscher von reinem Geblüt mit einem Stammbaum, der bis ins 16. Jahrhundert reicht. Mich als Untermensch zu bezeichnen, ist echt niedrig, du dreckiger Reisfresser.

>>9691872
議論ではない

>>9691880
Wos host Du grod von mia gsagt Du gstingada kloana Saugrattler? Du woast fei scho dass I schon aus da Grundi im Hochzug bei de Gebirgsjaga ois Besta aussaganga bin, I war in am Hauffa saugeheime Raffareien mit de Mohammedana und hob über 300 obgraglt, garantiert. I bin a drainierta Untergrundkempfa und I bin da beste Scharfschütz von da ganzn Armee. Du bist nix für mi ois a zui mera, I blos Dir so prazis Dei Liachtal aus wie's die Welt no ned gseng hod, host me? Du glaubst Du kanntst davokemma nachdem Du sowas von mia gsogt host aufm Internet? Da denkst nummoi drüba noch, Oarschgsicht. Grao wie mia redn ruaf I meine Spionage-Spezln im ganzn Bayernland zsam, und dei IP werd grod im moment zruckverfoigt oiso richt Di scho amoi her fürn Sturm, Du Wurm. Der Sturm der wo des kloane Ding ausradiert wos Du rührselig Lebn nennst. Du bist aufgschmissn. Kloana. I kon übaroi sei, ollawei, und i kon de auf mera wia siebnhundad Artn dagragln, und des aloa mit meine Handerln. I bin ned blos gübt im Wirtshausraffa, sondern i hob a an zugriff auf des ganze Arsenal von der freiwillign Feiawehr von Olching und i werd des ois hernemma damit Dei gstingada Hintan vom schena Bayernland runtergspült werd, Du kloana Schoashauffn! Wenn Du gwusst hätts wos Dei kloana "schlauer" Kommentar auf De runterreisst, dann hättst wahrscheinlich Dei voisoachts Maul ghoidn. Aba Du hosts ned kenna, Du host Dei Mei aufreissn miassn, und jetzt zoist, Du gottverdammta Troddl. I scheiss an grant üba Dir aus und Du werst drin dasauffa. Du bist komplett hi, Klona

>>9691851

This is really interesting, I've always wondered why translation isn't a much more popular method of learning modern languages like it is for Latin and Ancient Greek.

I had actually planned on giving this a shot a few weeks ago, I ordered both an English and an original German copy of Spengler's Decline of the West. I'm going to be translating the German copy to English and checking my translation with the English copy every few pages. I have a feeling this is going to greatly improve my German, but we'll see how it goes. Any advice?

>>9691888
Bavaria pls go

>>9691888
>du bist komplett hi, klona

topkek.
Can't take bavarian serious, though

>>9691865
>Werther
don't do it.
Faust is alright. Not really difficult imo.
I can also recommend Schiller and Süskind.

>>9691893
>Any advice?
Have more than one dictionary, even if it's online. Things like google translate actually can get you out of being stuck on something. Searching the etymology of words helps a lot in understanding the underlying metaphors. Don't be afraid to make mistakes and don't feel bad about correcting yourself.

If you want to learn to speak it properly, your best bet is to first learn the phonemic inventory; learn what the phonetic range of the phonemes is, how they change according to contexts, the phonotactics, dialectal differences, etc. Wikpedia actually has more or less reliable resources on this stuff, and it also has sound samples for specific phones. When you practice, you want to be as specific as you can in your articulation: learn properly what "close front rounded vowel" means ü is, what parts of your mouth are doing what. When you're reading silently, spell out the word to yourself in your mind: it will come out easier than pronouncing them because your muscle memory won't come into play. To actually improve it, pick a song you like a lot, then sing along with it, and do this repeatedly; don't worry about getting stuck as it happens and will happen less and less. Rule of thumb is, again, that the more varied your phonemic capability is, the easier it is to expand it: if you have /t/ and /ɖ/, /ʈ/ is a given. Remember that your particular language entail a particular inventory: use its strengths and be aware of the holes it has in comparison to what you're going to learn: the ich sound is a great German example for this, as it might naturally sound to you as one or another phone you already know. And have fun, things go a lot faster that way.

>>9691959
Oh, and you should have a dictionary of the language you're translating into, of course.

>When you're reading silently, spell out the word to yourself in your mind
What I was getting at was that you are training your ear here, not your tongue.

>To actually improve it, pick a song you like a lot, then sing along with it, and do this repeatedly
Of course you could also pick a piece of dialog or writing, so long as you're comfortable with it. The point is to get you to speak on your own, rather than always forcing.

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>>9689616

Most of us outside of the Anglosphere, if we're browsing the internet regularly, actually know two languages at least. So, do you imply the anglosphere is in overall disadvantage BECAUSE yours is basically the lingua franca?

Russian, Romanian, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, or Swahili? For modern literature.

I'm German and know English well enough to read most books in it. I wanna learn French next.

>>9691982
Modern Russian literature is 95% a joke, but so is everyone else's. Outside of that and maybe Portugese, how are other even options?

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>>9692009
?

>>9691835
Going through Rilke atm and its pretty good, contemplating reading Gass' book on him as well.
Plan to go onto Faust, at least part 1, next then maybe Kafka.

>>9692009
They're the choices narrowed down using various reasons, but I haven't considered literature selection yet. And I want to make sure they have new literature worth reading, not relying on their 19th century.

>>9691488
English is a cousin of german mixed with old french. That's it. We have scattered vocabulary from all over, but so does every language.

>>9691650

What if you're just extremely stubborn and don't quit?

>>9689616
>He's smug about being a retarded weeb

>>9691369
Next generation will be inbred Arabs and Africans, they can barely handle English proper let alone having to do a second one.

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>tfw fluent in Swedish, English and French

>>9692444
>worst Scandinavian language
I'm so sorry.

>>9692447
stay mad boi

Learning Russian for a year and a half now, just started Death of Ivan Ilych. The first couple pages were laborious as fuck, but I'm about 10 pages in now and it's getting easier. Grammar and that is real easy for me at this point, but the vocab barrier to reading is huge. I can passably talk though, and everyday speech is pretty much totally comprehensible.

Also learning Irish, as I'm Irish and am ashamed not to know it. I only just started it as I'm moving to england for a PhD in October, and I can't go to the land of the coloniser without that staple piece of my national identity

>>9689616
I can read in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin but I can't effectively write in them and I only 'speak' Spanish, and by speak I mean I can ask basic questions and tell people to go fuck themselves which is about all you need to know when communicating with your typical American Spanish speaker.

I've fiddled with the idea of learning Russian, and really truly learning it because I find the way the language works so interesting but it's probably more effort than its worth.

I'm taking the JLPT N1 this Sunday.

I hope I can, in fact, learn Japanese.

>tfw looking for doujins and stumble on the russian translation of what I'm looking for

What a feeling guys, my first second language wank, it's how you know you're getting there

>>9691977
>>9691959
>>9691977
Fantastic advice, thank you very much. I'll keep all this in mind.

ктo-нибyдь здecь ичyчaть pyccкий язык?

Convince me to not give up on sanskrit. I have already learned most of the devanagari; but i still don't know vocab or grammar, and the gůna and vriddhi are even more annoying than the sandhi rules

Trilingüal, btw

>>9692924

You've started so you'll finish.

It's a shit motivation but it was my motivation, and it worked for the most part.

Motivation comes and goes, discipline is what keeps you going.

>>9692036
>Implying you can learn basic Hunagrian, let alone follow László's long and elaborate sentences

>>9692950

How hard is hungarian?

Out of interest. I have zero interest in learning it.

>>9692937
Ty

>>9692512
Hoping to take that in December. What's your study regimen like?

>>9692954
4/5

>>9692970

Cool. My best friend is hungarian and he often tells me fun facts about the language

>he speaks more then one language
>he brags about it among monolinguals

you are more pathetic than them

>>9689616

>my little sister can't POSSIBLY be this smug!!

>>9691340
>I can read Ancient Greek from studying Classics.

How

>>9691592
How does it feel to spend so much of your time learning useless skills?

>>9692887
Ecли poднoй pyccкий, coйдeт?

>>9694025
Я eм мaльчик дa дa дa этo мoи дoм, cyкa

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>>9691340
>can read Ancient Greek from studying Classics

French and English native level.

Ordered a bunch of books to study latin, likely to begin soon. Tried learning Japanese some time ago but I gave up halfway in. Might try again sometime soon, or not, who knows.

>>9694062
why did you give up? japanese is the third language i'm seeking to learn

Is it possible to be fluent on english only reading books in english and taking notes of the unknown words and their meanings?

>9694047
reminds me of Lovecraft's story "The Outsider" where the solitary narrator learns how to read from old books that are in his castle. Like, that's not how it works.

I'm learning German and Japanese, in that order.

>>9692436
I had a friend from djibouti who sdpoke 5 languages.

He entered the norwegian school system at like 11, and he was a muslim, so he ended up having to learn somali (mother tounge), arabic (islam), english, norwegian and french (secondary language). He was actually suprisingly proficient in all five too.

Is the capability of consuming japanese art on it's native language really worth all the disavantages mentioned in this article?
https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/why-you-shouldnt-learn-japanese

>>9694460
>https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/why-you-shouldnt-learn-japanese

When people say Japanese art they just mean the anime and videogames they are already wasting their time on. Come on.

>>9692959
Not him, but I passed N1 a year ago. My study regimen was mostly cartoon porn games. Also of note is that I never used Anki.

>>9694460
>Japanese people know English.
Hardly. They'll know it well enough to get you through some painful exchange as a tourist.

>Opportunity cost
I'm a year and a half in of lackadaisical self study and I can read kokoro at an enjoyable pace.

If you want to learn Japanese learn it. If you want to learn a different language then learn it. It'll take less time for most other languages, but is the juice worth the squeeze to you?

>>9689616
I can't read the script of my other native language yet and I don't know where I would find books written in it in the last several centuries as there are fewer speakers than for Georgian.

>>9691340
>>9693027
>>9694047
prospective classics student here, why is this weird?

>>9692950
Rather hard, I'd say.
>Vocabulary doesn't have a serious relation to English or Latin
>Grammatical structure depends on endings of the word
>More than 15 cases

>>9692436
/thread

>>9692506
LOL.

I'm really glad to be a native English speaker, but I do want to improve my French.

>>9695647
Learning French to pepper your English with is just achieving a more patrician level of English fluency.

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>>9695201
I thought that most western countries had a curriculum of latin and ancient greek or was that just us?

>>9696268
i can only speak for what i've seen in usa, but most have dropped it all together. greek is rarely/never taught, thus i haven't had any. now only tiny rural private or larger boarding schools have trifling but existing latin programs. whats it like there? (netherlands right?)

>>9691784
But I do get to have sex, right?

>>9689628

You're on a literary board. You realize people used to learn languages with nothing but a grammar and a dictionary, simply because it would expand their horizon, right?

Meanwhile you have the internet, and all you can do is use it to bitch about how quaint not being polyglot is.