Quote:
Originally posted by Moiraine:
Oh, Ramon !  
Really, I find it much more interesting to learn a very foreign language, as by doing so, you catch some insight into the culture as well, by the way people frame their language from their thinking.
And into political hold over education, as well ... I began learning Russian with the same book that Russian children used at primary school (it was in 1977, when Russia was still USSR) - would you believe that the first word these children had to learn in Russian was the word "factory" ? Awful ...
I also learned a little Hebraic at high school, and it gave me an interesting insight about why there are so many different discussions about what the Bible truly says : First, the order of the words in a sentence is not as determined as it is in our European languages. Also, old written hebraic does not indicate vowels, and the vowels are the only way you have to distinguish the verb, the noun or the adjective from a same root. Hence the so many different ways to read a same sentence ...
Hope I am not too boring ...
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Moiraine - you are never boring !
I understand very well what you are saying about the appeal of "exotic" languages: a couple of years ago, when I was suffering from a major motivational crisis in my studies, I took up Chinese for a term - almost full time, a 18 hours a week intensive course for students of Sinology (have I ever mentioned that I am a perfectionist ?
). In four months we had to learn 1000 Chinese characters ! Unfortunately, after the first term I had to realize that I could not keep that up as a hobby.
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So long !
R³ - Co-president(s) of the Club of Broken Hearts