messlanguage-blog

[messlanguage-blog]

Why learning languages at all, and which ones to learn

HEYYYYYY

Thought I disappeared?

You’ve read the title. Today we’re talking about why the hell even bothering to learn a language since AI is becoming so freaking powerful and smart. After that I persuade you to learn, I’ll tell you which ones are the best. COME WITH MOI

Why learning languages?

Bah, Michael, you’re American. What do you know about languages if you didn’t need to learn English as a second language?, you may ask. Well, I know I haven’t struggled with English, but I had my own problems. I’m gonna give you a little backstory of my life now.

I’m American, born and raised. But when I turned 14, my family had to come to Brazil because of my dad’s job. And my 14-year-old ass wouldn’t say a word in Portuguese. I knew nothing about the culture. Those were hard times.

I had studied Spanish for a while in my American school, but I hated it. I didn’t go along with it, and my teacher was terrible. I hated languages, and had the thought that in the future we wouldn’t need it. Because, hey, Google’s making AI and they’re getting close to human minds. Google Translate makes every day fewer and fewer mistakes. Why do I need it? I’m glad you freaking asked. We need it for 3 reasons (who gets the reference will win a digital cookie):

1. Culture

Leaning about somewhere’s culture is so much nicer in its mother language! Let’s pretend, for example, that you want to study WWII. Why not looking at the German’s side and see why they thought Hitler was right? Or the Italian’s side, with Mussolini? Yes, there are documentaries in English about that, but there’s a difference. The depth of facts and the thoughts about it will be different.

Brazilians don’t learn about American history as deep as we do. And I believe that works for every country. You want to know something with details? Search for content in that language. Other funny thing about Brazil, they don’t think the Wright Brothers invented the airplane, but Santos Dumont. Points of view, that’s all.

And also, in Humanities, there’s always a misinterpretation, or something that just makes sense in the original language. Heidegger's “dasein” for example. No one translated it, because you can’t. That expression only makes sense in German. And Literatur is so much better when it’s in its original language. You’ll adapt the text inevitably when you’re translating something. Some jokes just make sense in a specific language. Some rhymes only happen in a specific language. And to understand them, you gotta learn.

2. Friends

I’m honestly trying to talk about social skills in Tumblr. I don’t know why I’m doing this.

Let’s pretend you just started a friendship with a French person. That person will feel way more comfortable if you speak in hir language. That’s a fact. Friendship will flow way better if you speak the same language. Ah, but Google Translate bla bla, NO. It won’t flow. You won’t be able to have a real, deep conversation with someone and Google Translate. This is a duo, not a trio.

And again, you have the factor that you’ll start knowing about the others’ manners, what’s normal for them, what’s gross, what’s weird and etc. And the most amazing thing: comparing senses of humor. It’s awesome.

3. Fun

And last, but not least, the freaking fun you have while studying it. Think with me. Languages are the only subject in which people won’t complain that you “just watch TV and listen to music”. C’mon, movies and music just make everything better! And while, in other subjects, these two make you procrastinate, in language learning, they’re an essencial part. Who would have known, huh? Listening to songs in other languages is my absolute favorite hobbie, and I’ll definitely give some recommendations later for you guys.

Fine. Now what? Which ones to learn?

Now that you’re a happy little pupil that wants to buy a textbook right away, which language to start with?

It depends.

I know how bad this may sound, but I truly believe the only language that you shouldn’t necessarily learn for your own pleasure is English. Wanting or not, it’s the language everyone needs to speak nowadays. Sorry, guys.

But after you went pass English, it’s on you. You can go and learn the language whose culture made you feel interested. For exemple, I want to learn Croatian in a close future, because I fell in love with Croatia in this World Cup. They’re freaking awesome! How about some Icelandic as well, who knows?

Will it be useful? I don’t care, and that’s not the point. It’ll bring you joy and happiness, and such a broader worldview. Just go for it, mate, and make the world yours.

Hope you guys likes this post! Peace

[messlanguage-blog]

妈妈骑马 马慢， 妈妈骂马。

Chinese tongue twister.

WASSUP Y’ALL! 

My name’s Michael and I guess I’ve started this langblr. So, I think you’ve read the name of this little thing, but in case you didn’t, here’s Language Mess. ‘Cause I’m a mess (for real) and I loooove languages. I’ll be giving y’all some tips about language learning (as if there weren’t many on the internet) and share my personal experiences, ‘cause I want to.

Do you see up there that freaking tongue twister? If you don’t know Chinese, you probably have no idea how you pronounce that. Surprise: YOU HAVE THREE DIFFERENT TYPES OF “MA” IN THAT THING. The last part is insaaane! It’s basically “Māmɑ qí mǎ. Mǎ màn. Māmɑ mà mǎ.” Like, what’s that freaking curve above the a, man? Crazy, huh?

I’ll confess, I’ve started Chinese today, and I’m super lost with the pronunciation part. It’s zh, z, ch, c, j, and I don’t know what else. I haven’t even STARTED the characters, ‘cause I’m scared to do so. I’ve started this nice Chinese course in Coursera (by the way, super recommend the site to y’all) from the Uni of Peking. She talks fast, bro. I had to stop and breathe sometimes just to understand what breeze just passed through me. That thing isn’t easy. But, I’ve subscribed to it, so gotta finish!

I’ve had an app downloaded for a while since I’ve decided that I was going to learn Japanese and Korean, called LingoDeer. It’s quite nice for Chinese! It explains well, giving examples in English how the pronunciation goes. The nicest thing is that you can even learn Chinese in other languages, like Spanish, French, German, Korean, and the list goes on. Such a nice cute little app.

That’s basically it for today, fellas. I hope you’ve liked this blog and click that reblog button! 

Trivia: while I was writing on my book the differences between the pronunciations, I’ve killed a mosquito with it. I guess that’s a sign.