video that I got from reading Nafis on April 27, 2011 at 11:30am post titled: My Guest Blogger: Mr. Steve Kaufmann
I did two things:
1: I updated my language learning map to include HUMOR. It made sense and while I was aware of it, it is now solidified in my road map as a milestone.
2: I started to think: what is better, knowing many languages or know a few or perhaps only one but to the high level?
By circumstance I know two languages, one is Hungarian that I would not recommend anyone to learn unless there is a special reason since it is the hardest language after the Chinese (reportedly, but I would not know as I grew up with it). And English of course that I am writing with and use on the daily basis.
Presently I am involved in a higher level learning of the English language and I am enjoying the benefit of higher level communication with people. The moral of my short essay here is the conscious choice one can make between learning many languages and communicate at the level of his/her proficiency of it, or invest into one or two languages but learn them at higher levels that enables the person to engage in higher level topics and communicate with more cultivated people. The old duality of quantity and quality dynamics at work ;-)
We are discussing the depth of knowledge one takes a second or x number of language knowledge ;-) Though original post was in a rhetorical format intended.
Though I didn't know much what Oksana and you were talking about I did enjoy it. I'm beginning to feel that I'm climbing up to a higher level of communicating ability. Just feeling, I hope it will come true. Thanks a lot to both of you.
Hi again. Did you see his own (Steve's) answer to your question? It was in the comments below the video.
Quote: "I tend to want to focus on one at a time till I reach a certain level. But two is also OK. IN that case I go 80% one language and 20% the other."
Speaking in general, I consider it as a question of comfort. One feels comfortable knowing just common phrases and being able to book a room in a hotel while travelling, another prefers to taste every single word of a foreign language like a sommelier who knows the difference between exclusive fine wines. I incline to choose the second option with a few corrections.
By the way, Steve's Russian in this video sounds terrible. I can't estimate other languages in his performance, for I am a complete zero in them. Hmm, though I am not sure my English sounds better... :D
Comments
This is an absolutely exact and relevant picture! How many icebergs are you going to posess? :D
The question was also in a rhetorical format. ;)
Hi again. Did you see his own (Steve's) answer to your question? It was in the comments below the video.
Quote: "I tend to want to focus on one at a time till I reach a certain level. But two is also OK. IN that case I go 80% one language and 20% the other."
Speaking in general, I consider it as a question of comfort. One feels comfortable knowing just common phrases and being able to book a room in a hotel while travelling, another prefers to taste every single word of a foreign language like a sommelier who knows the difference between exclusive fine wines. I incline to choose the second option with a few corrections.
By the way, Steve's Russian in this video sounds terrible. I can't estimate other languages in his performance, for I am a complete zero in them. Hmm, though I am not sure my English sounds better... :D