I am thinking of French but I am a bit on the fence and can use some sober second views.
I am over 50, unilingual and don't work [rentier]
Pro
1: I am half Quebec French and it's always a shame not to know your ancestral languages especially if they are in common use.
2: Easy, a gentle introduction to the world of learning a language. [Have other language interests]
2a: I live with my father who spent most of the 1930s and 1940s as a unilingual French speaker
2b: Spent 50 years in Canada with official bilingualism and my first 13 as an Anglo in Quebec [where I failed French every second year when taught by a unilingual teacher. I have a bit of vocab, familiarity with the sounds and probably some long forgotten stuff from 40 years ago.
2:c: I live close to Quebec in a small city some French. Library with French stuff. French TV stations, French radio.
Non issues
Work: Don't care
Cons. I don't really have any other reason to learn French.
1: I have no connections to my Father''s side of the family none of whom speak English and no real interest to start now. I have no French friends and don't make friends easily.
2: No real interest in the culture. Sure I could find something to watch and read for learning and maintenance however I have no real drive for it [unlike for example Bollywood or Kdramas].
3:All the local French people in town speak fluent English and even when I was going into Montreal every few weeks it's amazing how you can get by with no French. Double plus so in the West Island. So the utility factor is pretty much none.
4: I am still a bit sore about the language politics and growing up in a province where I knew my kind was not welcome.
It seems a heavy time investment for a language that I want to know but have no actual need or use for.
TL DR
Good starter language. Pride. Vs No other need or interest in the language.
I feel like the donkey who starves because he is an equal distance between 2 piles of hay. Except one distance is metric and the other is imperial.
[link] [comments]
from Language Learning https://ift.tt/34xAiug
via Learn Online English Speaking
Comments
Post a Comment