I wouldn't consider mastering any language a waste of time or brain space. Each to his or her own
I wouldn't consider mastering any language a waste of time or brain space. Each to his or her own
Haven't learned Esperanto but two other languages, though only one stuck. But I still find it very hard to learn a new language - tried Mandarin a few years ago but gave up since I can't distinguish the tones. Although I have a good hearing (physically) it seems my brain can't associate it with language, so I won't even try Cantonese - although I would be good at reading and possibly writing it, just without knowing the correct pronunciation. I believe I can learn another language if I put some effort into it but I don't see it being easier because I already know two.
To me learning languages is not too different from acquiring other skills, say like playing an instrument - for people that have the talent it's easy while for others that don't it is really hard (and takes years of practice to get to a reasonable level) or even impossible.
hmm, most people I know who are multi-lingual speak at least three. For example one of my friends is Dutch and speaks perfect Dutch, English and Japanese. My wife speaks four languages fluently and a handful of dialects more at a conversational level.
Maybe it's just whether you're brought up with more than one language that makes the difference?
It does seem that certain people have the aptitude for language learning and I agree it can be seen as a skill. I hope that people who really suck at it (people like me) still stand something of a chance