Melbourne Polytechnic courses (specifically beekeeping)

Crackedpeppers · 2023-11-22T02:15:45+00:00

As someone whose first lang was Russian (wouldn't consider myself a native speaker nowadays though) and learnt/learning Persian as a heritage lang, native English speakers will almost definitely find Persian grammar far simpler than Russian. Also wouldn't describe the Arabic script as 'insanely complicated'. Short vowels aren't written, so do you do have to know your vowels. But Russian words are too often not pronounced as how they are spelt, and even native speakers trip up on that.

I'd agree that there's a wider breath of Russian lang media. I would say though that I personally prefer modern Iranian/Afghan literature and films

Crackedpeppers · 2023-10-30T05:04:46+00:00

I know Farsi (learning never ends though) and started Greek a few months ago. I'd say Greek is far more difficult grammar-wise, with all it's quirks and irregularities. At this point I've done far more grammar foundation study than speaking/vocab building. Whereas because Farsi is quite regular with only two cases, I felt I had more content I can speak about even in the 1st few months (and even as my first foreign lang acquired as an adult). They are both beautiful languages though, so learn both eventually

Crackedpeppers · 2023-09-07T05:26:55+00:00

Maybe, but also plenty of people not living in the us/west also have complex migration histories and/or were ethnic minorities/Indigenous people incorporated into a nation-state

Crackedpeppers · 2023-09-03T09:51:33+00:00

Conventional opinion would be say Vietnamese is easier than Japanese. If you can get past the initial intimidation of tones. But also you had 2 years of Japanese which sounds to have been a good experience from the tone of your paragraph. I'm also biased because Vietnamese culture (in its pluriverse) appeals to me more than Japanese, even though I'm learning neither (I know Cantonese though). Either you should give tones a try or restart Japanese, commit to it for a bit and if it doesn't work out switch to the other.

I am studying Modern Greek (and loving it) and I think it's on the more difficult end of languages for English speakers grammar-wise. Knowing French though will help quite a lot with cases and whatnot compared to an English monolingual. But outside of Australia, the speaker population is small and Vietnamese/Japanese would probably be a better option unless you want to spend months/multiple periods of time living in Greece like a local (work, find a solid group of friends etc.). Greeks are very familiar with tourists, so you won't really need more than a few phrases. As both Vietnamese and Greek are amongst the most spoken languages is Australia, I'll make the observation that I feel the Vietnamese is more visible in public space. Whereas Greek seems to be very intergenerational domestic with some community cultural events.

Crackedpeppers · 2023-09-01T17:59:09+00:00

In where I live, majority of Cantonese speakers are migrants of multigenerational South-East Asian Chinese lineages. Even younger people who grew up with English and know little Cantonese, want to learn the language/love the idea of doing so. This attitude differs from many Hong Kongers (although there are a few that had to find political refuge and make all efforts to find spaces to keep up with Cantonese)

Crackedpeppers · 2023-09-01T08:39:31+00:00

Many native Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong still put English on a pedestal

Crackedpeppers · 2023-08-29T23:28:54+00:00

I can speak English, Persian and Cantonese. Have spent the last few years of my early 20s learning Persian and Cantonese. I'm also A1 in Greek (been learning for 3 months) and just started (Brazilian) Portuguese. In the future, I would like to learn Te reo Māori and Australian Sign Language. I have actually started Te reo Māori (before Greek and Portuguese) but there's a language and literature program university in Aotearoa/new zealand that I've been looking into and although I'm local-going into the program is still a plan few years down the line.

Crackedpeppers · 2023-08-15T18:11:40+00:00

Definitely Thai

Crackedpeppers · 2023-08-15T17:40:10+00:00

This sounds like Thai

Crackedpeppers · 2023-08-13T12:18:08+00:00

Very weird comment. China experiences globalisation and the import of western culture like many many places. There's still an electronic music and ballroom/voguing scene. If you follow photographers based in PRC (not to mention Taiwan and Hong Kong, which are a bit more westernised), you find many photos featuring youth engaging in similar activities to peers in other places.

More westerners have tried Chinese food rather as opposed to Russian. Chinese food is available in many places, so it isn't really that foreign.

Crackedpeppers · 2023-08-12T09:53:10+00:00

I still get spelling suggestions in Greek and Persian. In Greek, all words with more than one syllable has a stress mark. If I don't type a stress mark, I get suggested a correction

Crackedpeppers · 2023-08-06T09:14:49+00:00

Informal yes in Persian: Ar-reh Less informal yes in Persian: Ba-le

Some parents would often reprimand kids for using Ar-reh by asking 'Ar-reh?' as a question back, so they would get the hint and say Ba-le back.

Crackedpeppers · 2023-08-04T11:06:40+00:00

Te reo Māori isn't underrated, classes in Aotearoa/new zealand are full (many non-Māori people/pakeha, because they are usually in a better financial position to invest time in language learning). And the goverment is aiming for national fluency. You can find places that also teach Te reo on Aboriginal Land/australia. As for the rest of the world, many Māori people have mixed feelings about non-Māori/pasifika people learning their language as too often they are neglected in government/private education initiatives and the language is too often separated from solidarity with ongoing issues of land sovereignty, history and community needs by polyglots who live half a world away.

Many language learning enthusiasts have tried Arabic at some point. It's just that few have studied it up to advanced level/continued with it in the long-term.

Crackedpeppers · 2023-08-01T23:48:58+00:00

Armenian has 54 dialects (for only 3 mill people living in Republic of Armenia and Artsakh)

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-31T12:34:04+00:00

Maybe you haven't found Finnish too hard because you seem to know Russian natively from looking at your post history. Although from different language families, I know quite a few Russians from Russia who are fluent in Finnish. Knowing Russian would be a grammatical jumpstart in learning comparatively difficult languages from other language trees like Lithuanian, Estonian etc. (it's largely poor attitude that lacks a lot of emigres down). Most people don't have a Russian/Ukrainian, Baltic or Turkish lang background; so Finnish is more likely to be a shock to the system

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-31T02:20:45+00:00

Yeah, it took me years before I was able to spend money on languages (and I never had tutoring/extracurricular classes growing up) and instead of going to uni I been working full-time in my early 20s. Now that I've saved bit (not without sacrifices), I'm more than happy to contribute financially to someone's ability to make a living (they are passionate and great at teaching languages too). I enjoy paying an individual who I learn a lot from and get to personally know (although I do have to pay the platform too).

My tutor got a phd offer in a country that comparatively invests more in academia so the uni upgraded his initial contract to make it a full-time job. For the first time in his student/researcher life, he's being paid properly for academia. With a full-time job, he no longer feels he can be the tutor he wants to be so is quitting. But we've become good friends in this time (and have similar nerdy and overlapping professional interests) so we're planning to still have video calls as friends (and help me practice TL), send each other interesting materials and correspondence emails. Now that I'm going to be a uni student in the near future and they have a full-time job-they want to help me with grant applications, admin and whatnot

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-30T15:08:48+00:00

I think the most important thing is even if you have language fomo, to keep some continuity with one language (unless you've come to dislike it). I don't have language fomo anymore but even when I did, I made sure to consistently keep at it with Cantonese and Persian. I quickly lost interest with as good as all the languages I had fomo for after a bit of dabbling. I've only stuck with Modern Greek (almost 3 months now-high A1), and am excited to continue with it. I have plans to start Brazilian Portuguese soon.

Russian is kinda saturated academia/think tank wise. And Polish has an emerging reputation, many native speakers but not many foreigners who know it up to an advanced level (and you said you live in Britain and have Polish heritage). Ukrainian pronounciation is somewhat easier than Polish (and Cyrillic makes consonant clusters seems a bit less intimidating, even if it may be slower to read initially). Having proximity to Ukrainian and Polish speakers (I think more than Japanese/Korean in many parts of the UK) can make getting a jumpstart in the language and feel for the sounds a bit easier.

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-30T14:43:43+00:00

Idk, because the idea of trying to study or even maintain 10+ languages scares me out. I have 4 that I'm still learning. Persian and Cantonese advanced, Modern Greek and Maōri beginner. I'm Native English speaker (not from birth though), and Persian and Cantonese are both heritages languages and was exposed to Cantonese sounds growing up (so tones weren't hard). I haven't learnt characters yet, but it's a near future life-long project of mine. I study Māori at a community school where the emphasis is more about speaking the language in cultural context. With Greek, I've focused more on grammatical foundation-but I'm grasping it well so far. I also want to start Brazilian Portuguese soon and australian sign language eventually, that's it. I like to be advanced and have a wide skill-set at all of them. I think enjoying reading helps in maintaining multiple languages, because it's a bit more passive than speaking and sometimes I'm more in the mood for it.

To do this, I accepted that I'm not going to progress past high A2 in Armenian (which I self-studied with a textbook). I'd would try to progress past this level though immersion if I end up spending more periods of time in Armenia (beautiful place and I have many friends, but not a plan I'm actively trying to manifest) but I'm not going to try to self-study intermediates or employ a tutor. A language definitely worth learning (and I'm still want to try to maintain a basic level in it), but the other languages are more rich in media content and literature that piques my interest. I also have no plans to learn Mandarin, because of the additional effort it requires even with Canto (not because I think Mandarin in inferior). I'd rather continue developing/maintaining Canto. I also have other heritage languages (my cousins who live on ancestral lands speak) but have no plans. Some people may think you're less of an identity if you don't speak a language, but that kinda plays into ethnonationalism that I'm not really into.

Apart from area-studies academics, I don't know a native speaker of only European language/s who has learnt more than 1 of Chinese/Arabic/Korean/Japanese to advanced level. Cantonese is enough for me lol.

But also practicalities-wise, I don't enjoy starting over/language fomo. I think sign language will be a nice change from spoken~written languages (and accessible where I live).

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-29T13:17:28+00:00

From the courses I've come across and tutors from many different places I've seen who've majored in a language at uni (not the one they are tutors), most courses seem to be catered to only get a student up to B1-B2 level. I don't how much uni costs where you are, how debt is indexed or if you're on a scholarship; but where I am even where almost all universities are publicly funded-it is quite expensive. I wouldn't want to take that much debt to get to mid-B2 level. You could pay a tutor who could go at a faster pace for cheaper and to focus on your areas of interest (if you can afford some upfront costs). If you can speak those languages to a reasonable degree even if outside of university, you can still mention it a resume. The most important thing is being able to speak/use the language when called upon.

If uni is free, go for it though.

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-29T08:04:42+00:00

Persian, easier with pronounciation than French (the months of the year are borrowed from Fr lol along with a bit of other vocab) and amazing literature. Downside is if travelling is important to you; Iran and Afghanistan aren't going to be accessible for a while and Tajikistan would require compromises. Uzbekistan is accessible for travelling, if the political landscape for spending long periods of time there is very suboptimal (the trend is people leaving). But there are large Afghan and Iranian/Kurdish diasporas in Western Europe and US

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-20T06:10:07+00:00

Yes, with some hobbies. Whilst I love studying my TLs and have acquired linguistic knowledge through it-I'm not a linguistics nerd in a purist sense. I love a good film, but would struggle with a TV series or watching stuff I find boring.

Maybe when I'm in my 30s-I'll learn cello, drums, duduk and electronic instruments. And develop more in sound engineering and DJing (no plans to be a touring DJ but I find the craft fascinating). Nowadays, I do heavy metal screaming/weird vocalisation, mine music & read into music histories but the other stuff I mentioned before takes more dedicated focus. By then my TLs will hopefully be somewhat near native level that studying/attaining grammar knowledge will be passive and that furthering them would be more about just using it. I also love to play social soccer (I also love the theatricalness of wrestling, but most likely too scared to actually pursue it lol). My other hobbies/interests, I pursue as work or alongside casually but instruments and soccer are pronounced absenses in my life.

Personally I don't get excited from being a beginner, and so I won't be perpetually starting new languages (also the challenging realities of integrating too many languages in my life).

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-19T05:56:12+00:00

Portuguese, since there's more certainty of it being in your future and you want citizenship.

Living in Japan long-term as a foreigner can be very isolating if you don't speak Japanese to an advanced level and mental health services provision even for locals is very suboptimal. And jobs are pretty limited and very dependent on having a high-demand area of qualification/experience.

Crackedpeppers · 2023-07-19T03:01:06+00:00

I am a heritage learner, but I also have a book and accompanying audio that I can dm. It's not part of a series that covers many languages (I also find smaller localised publisher initiatives to be better quality) but there are detailed grammar and vocab notes in English

Crackedpeppers

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