Mesaĝoj: 40
Lingvo: English
dbiswinner (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-21 01:54:42
I just created a topic about this on the "aliaj lingvoj" board, but since the English board is much more active, I decided to add it here also in hopes of quicker response.
So, Interlingua is claimed to be understood by any Romance speaker, which I find credible. I understand most Interlingua that I've tried to read, albeit with some difficulty. I'm a functional English monolingual (although I would say I'm functional, but not proficient in Esperanto), and can read and understand simple Spanish. My main goal is to become functional in Spanish as soon as is practical, and I've set a loose goal of about a year to do so. I've taken one semester of formal class already.
It seems counterintuitive, but Esperanto is evidence that learning another, even unrelated language, can improve receptive capabilities to learn a target language. So I guess my question is whether it would be beneficial to study Interlingua for a month or so, then continue with Spanish, or if my time would be better spent studying only Spanish. Anyone have experience with Interlingua or just general advice for learning languages?
So, Interlingua is claimed to be understood by any Romance speaker, which I find credible. I understand most Interlingua that I've tried to read, albeit with some difficulty. I'm a functional English monolingual (although I would say I'm functional, but not proficient in Esperanto), and can read and understand simple Spanish. My main goal is to become functional in Spanish as soon as is practical, and I've set a loose goal of about a year to do so. I've taken one semester of formal class already.
It seems counterintuitive, but Esperanto is evidence that learning another, even unrelated language, can improve receptive capabilities to learn a target language. So I guess my question is whether it would be beneficial to study Interlingua for a month or so, then continue with Spanish, or if my time would be better spent studying only Spanish. Anyone have experience with Interlingua or just general advice for learning languages?
erinja (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-21 03:09:51
I didn't see your post on the other board, maybe you could link to it?
I think a "first second language" will always help you learn a "second second language". Since you've already taken care of this step with your study of Esperanto, and with the semester you've had of Spanish so far, I don't think that Interlingua would give you any extra benefit.
Therefore I would jump straight to Spanish if I were you. The whole point of an easy 'first second language' is to train your brain on the idea of language learning. To teach yourself not to translate word for word, that certain ideas can be transmitted in a totally different way from one language to another (I miss you = You are lacking to me, for example), and ideas of that nature.
In my opinion a year is definitely enough time to get functional in Spanish, if by functional you mean speaking Spanish that may sound 'broken' and ungrammatical, but getting your point across. I don't think you particularly need Interlingua to help you at this point, unless you happen to be interested in it for its own sake (which is fine too).
I think a "first second language" will always help you learn a "second second language". Since you've already taken care of this step with your study of Esperanto, and with the semester you've had of Spanish so far, I don't think that Interlingua would give you any extra benefit.
Therefore I would jump straight to Spanish if I were you. The whole point of an easy 'first second language' is to train your brain on the idea of language learning. To teach yourself not to translate word for word, that certain ideas can be transmitted in a totally different way from one language to another (I miss you = You are lacking to me, for example), and ideas of that nature.
In my opinion a year is definitely enough time to get functional in Spanish, if by functional you mean speaking Spanish that may sound 'broken' and ungrammatical, but getting your point across. I don't think you particularly need Interlingua to help you at this point, unless you happen to be interested in it for its own sake (which is fine too).
ceigered (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-21 03:58:04
While intrrlingua is a great primer for learning romance languages (it is a well made language), just keep in mind that you probably will still end up relearning a lot anyway if you eventual target is Spanish.
THAT SAID, i actually can vouch for interlinguas usefulness as a crutch, but this was unintentional (eg i had not planned on interlingua actuallly being helpful). This is because it sort of acts as a go-between with Latin and the other romamce languages.
Keep in mind though the above is more helpful if your planing on dabbling in the evil art of polyglotism
, where you might want a sort of stabiliser/balancer between all the different romance lamguages a young polyglotling will inevitably come across.
Also note that when it ckmes to language learnung im very chilled and therefore my relaxed lang learnjng might not work wth those who are very goal orientated busy people who dont want no messin' bout!
Pardon my englidh, this ipad im typing on is nutters.
THAT SAID, i actually can vouch for interlinguas usefulness as a crutch, but this was unintentional (eg i had not planned on interlingua actuallly being helpful). This is because it sort of acts as a go-between with Latin and the other romamce languages.
Keep in mind though the above is more helpful if your planing on dabbling in the evil art of polyglotism
, where you might want a sort of stabiliser/balancer between all the different romance lamguages a young polyglotling will inevitably come across.Also note that when it ckmes to language learnung im very chilled and therefore my relaxed lang learnjng might not work wth those who are very goal orientated busy people who dont want no messin' bout!
Pardon my englidh, this ipad im typing on is nutters.
ceigered (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-21 04:00:34
Also every new language you learn is better. It has a stack-up effect 
but the effectivness wears out after a while of course smce it grts hard to maintain skills in several languages. Thus why interlimgua is a good crutch, because theres less regret if you forget it 
EO however, well no i dont like the thiught of forgetting that
but the effectivness wears out after a while of course smce it grts hard to maintain skills in several languages. Thus why interlimgua is a good crutch, because theres less regret if you forget it EO however, well no i dont like the thiught of forgetting that
dbiswinner (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-21 04:27:00
Bedaurinde, it seems my topic is nonexistent. I believe I must have inadvertently left the page after typing it and clicking "preview," but not "submit." Mi reskribos... It was essentially the same message but en Esperanto.
Thank you for the reply! And yes, that is pretty much what I mean by functional; I don't want to make a complete mockery of the language, but it will not bother me to make grammatical errors, so long as they do not hinder communication. I have my whole life to become fluent and reduce grammatical errors, yes? So my first goal is to become communicable.
I want to also comfortably read Spanish literature, but reading comes much easier to me. Speaking is where I get no practice (this is the downfall of Esperanto for me: no one to speak with. I get by with Radio Verda and reading aloud whenever possible), but it will be much easier to find Spanish-speakers, both learners and natives.
I (re)created the topic on the aliaj lingvoj board. It is here, though obviously there are currently no replies.
Thank you for the reply! And yes, that is pretty much what I mean by functional; I don't want to make a complete mockery of the language, but it will not bother me to make grammatical errors, so long as they do not hinder communication. I have my whole life to become fluent and reduce grammatical errors, yes? So my first goal is to become communicable.
I want to also comfortably read Spanish literature, but reading comes much easier to me. Speaking is where I get no practice (this is the downfall of Esperanto for me: no one to speak with. I get by with Radio Verda and reading aloud whenever possible), but it will be much easier to find Spanish-speakers, both learners and natives.
I (re)created the topic on the aliaj lingvoj board. It is here, though obviously there are currently no replies.
dbiswinner (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-21 04:34:35
Thank you, Ceigered! Polyglotism is definitely tantalizing, though very impractical for me, and I doubt my capability of ever accomplishing it. Trilingualism in English, Esperanto, and Spanish seems far more likely. But I really enjoy languages, so who knows. I may dabble in Interlingua for a few days and see how I like it, but I will probably start back in with heavy study of Spanish. I must admit, I'm quite skeptical of a lot of the claims about Interlingua, such as it being useful for travel. Though I definitely see it being a useful bridge language between ancient Latin and modern Latindidoj. I took three semesters of Latin in high school that are hardly worth mentioning, but enough to recognize more roots than with only my Spanish.
ceigered (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-21 08:18:52
Haha! Yes, you should be a bit sceptical when the Interlingua website starts saying stuff about travel and science benefits - they are all mere possibilities unfortuantely (I mean, it'd be awesome if they were modern day realities, as it would be if that was the case for any language other than English, the choice wouldn't hurt at least).
That said I can imagine knowing interlingua would help those trying to come up with the right phrases abroad - at least more so if you've only got Clouseau and Arnie's French and Italian phrases to back you up. But it'd be like an italian speaker going to spain and only being a capable spanish speaker - every time you speak would be like some grand linguistics experiment. Which, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a great deal of (and one of the languages I'm doing at uni is in fact like that all the time, good ol' Indonesian), but after a while you want to be able to speak smoothly, concisely and quickly, like ordering at a restaurant or asking for directions when you're not at liberty to start up a multilingual conversation with a nearby university professor
Long story short, while interlingua is very close to the modern romance languages if not effectively one by itself (albeit man made, although it wouldn't be the first), to some degree you have to treat it like Esperanto and go "am I OK with learning this language with no immediate benefits", since while there are benefits to IL, whether you need them or even notice them is different for every person.
That said I can imagine knowing interlingua would help those trying to come up with the right phrases abroad - at least more so if you've only got Clouseau and Arnie's French and Italian phrases to back you up. But it'd be like an italian speaker going to spain and only being a capable spanish speaker - every time you speak would be like some grand linguistics experiment. Which, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a great deal of (and one of the languages I'm doing at uni is in fact like that all the time, good ol' Indonesian
), but after a while you want to be able to speak smoothly, concisely and quickly, like ordering at a restaurant or asking for directions when you're not at liberty to start up a multilingual conversation with a nearby university professor Long story short, while interlingua is very close to the modern romance languages if not effectively one by itself (albeit man made, although it wouldn't be the first
), to some degree you have to treat it like Esperanto and go "am I OK with learning this language with no immediate benefits", since while there are benefits to IL, whether you need them or even notice them is different for every person. erinja (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-21 14:57:19
ceigered:Haha! Yes, you should be a bit sceptical when the Interlingua website starts saying stuff about travel and science benefits - they are all mere possibilities unfortuantelyYeah, I wouldn't believe the claim about travel, unless you know an actual person who has told you their experience with it.
Some time back I looked at the pan-Slavic language Slovio, which claimed that you could speak it and be understood in any Slavic-speaking country. The website was full of testimonials about how everyone could understand them perfectly. It smelled strongly of "too good to be true" and I was curious, so I googled around to find independent accounts of people who had travelled with Slovio. Eventually I found one single person who had actually tried Slovio in a Slavic-speaking country. It didn't work as advertised. According to the guy, people would hear a couple words and then think "I don't speak that guy's Slavic language" and tune him out, and immediately tell him they didn't understand and didn't speak his language. He said that he thought they would understand if only they would have a little patience and listen carefully to what he was saying. He felt that it may help if you prefaced what you said with something like "What I am about to say will sound strange and foreign but if you listen carefully and keep an open mind, you will be able to understand most of it". But most people aren't willing to wait for that and put up with it, so it wasn't exactly a big success.
I have a feeling it would be similar with Interlingua. I don't think that my Italian ever helped me very much with spoken Spanish, although similarities, plus a cursory study of Spanish, did help me do touristy things like reading a menu, basic ordering in a restaurant, and understanding instructions on ticket vending machines.
danielcg (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-22 04:43:18
Hi dbiswinner. I am precisely trilingual in English, Esperanto and Spanish, albeit I have traveled just the opposite way to you (that is, I am a native Spanish speaker who learnt English and then Esperanto).
The first warning I give you is that, while being trilingual will be seen by many of your cognates as an important achievement, in Lernu it will still be miserably below the average, since most members seem to speak four or more languages. So we should consider adding at least a fourth language to our assets...
Spanish is really a beautiful language, with a rich literature and history. It is not completely phonetic, but close to being so. However, appart from the irregularities of any national language, its main drawback is the complexity of the conjugation of regular verbs (let aside the irregulars). But it can be learnt.
Welcome to trilingualism!
Daniel
The first warning I give you is that, while being trilingual will be seen by many of your cognates as an important achievement, in Lernu it will still be miserably below the average, since most members seem to speak four or more languages. So we should consider adding at least a fourth language to our assets...
Spanish is really a beautiful language, with a rich literature and history. It is not completely phonetic, but close to being so. However, appart from the irregularities of any national language, its main drawback is the complexity of the conjugation of regular verbs (let aside the irregulars). But it can be learnt.
Welcome to trilingualism!
Daniel
dbiswinner:Thank you, Ceigered! Polyglotism is definitely tantalizing, though very impractical for me, and I doubt my capability of ever accomplishing it. Trilingualism in English, Esperanto, and Spanish seems far more likely. But I really enjoy languages, so who knows. I may dabble in Interlingua for a few days and see how I like it, but I will probably start back in with heavy study of Spanish. I must admit, I'm quite skeptical of a lot of the claims about Interlingua, such as it being useful for travel. Though I definitely see it being a useful bridge language between ancient Latin and modern Latindidoj. I took three semesters of Latin in high school that are hardly worth mentioning, but enough to recognize more roots than with only my Spanish.
Miland (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-22 10:46:07
If you are interested in Spanish, but not other romance languages, IMO you should go for it immediately. As you say, finding speakers of Spanish in the USA should be easy enough.