INTP Live

Noir wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 13, 2021 11:19 pm

I'm jealous. I learned Mandarin when I was younger but haven't really kept up with it. It would be cool to read in another language too; there's so many figurative aspects to language (idioms and such) that get lost in translation.

Do you have a favorite language? Is that allowed?

Mandarin sounds like a big deal, that would probably open doors for you if you took it up again, right?

The figurative aspects to language are the things that make me hold back from just openly asking for work in Portuguese (offering Portuguese to English in a Spanish-speaking country must be lucrative). I know there must be a ton of "false friends" and things that seem one way when they're something else, and you only really know those things when you study and read a lot in a language. That's why I'll probably do some intensive Portuguese classes before I feel confident. I had one client who started sending me stand-up in Portuguese and I had to tell him to stop because culture-specific humor is too risky for my skill level.

I don't have a favorite language but I guess English is the least clunky language I can think of among the ones I know. I feel more comfortable expressing myself in Spanish but I'm aware that it lacks the powers of synthesis that English has. Then there's French, which just sounds better than the rest, but not being native in it I wouldn't call it a favorite.

For intellectual simulation. New ideas. Book recommendations, etc.

Madrigal wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 14, 2021 12:24 am

Then there's French, which just sounds better than the rest, but not being native in it I wouldn't call it a favorite.

French "sounding better", especially if you are at all inclined to lean into its more dramatic facets, is its primary appeal/advantage in all contexts. Disregard anyone who claims otherwise!

However, being a native speaker, it is German that strikes me as wonderfully dramatic. Especially when whispered softly by witchy women but I don't want to talk about that right now.

I only recently realized how pretty German is, I don't understand how I took so long to notice.

My new favorite language (Brazilian Portuguese) in cinematic form, Cidade De Deus in a series of clips.

Spanish version fully complete.

SomeInternetBloke wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 10, 2021 5:02 am

My new favorite language (Brazilian Portuguese) in cinematic form, Cidade De Deus in a series of clips.

I watched it a long time ago. I have to say my natural reaction to Brazilian Portuguese is to find it absolutely repellant. Which I guess explains why I never got around to learning to speak it despite it being the smart thing to do. I think I hate it a lot less now, so I have hope that I'll learn someday.

I have been learning Spanish for purely practical/professional reasons and have absolutely no ear or passion for it. Luckily, my girlfriend is Hispanic and we just broke up so now it is tied up all that too.

What a nightmare!

ashi wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:28 pm

I have been learning Spanish for purely practical/professional reasons and have absolutely no ear or passion for it. Luckily, my girlfriend is Hispanic and we just broke up so now it is tied up all that too.

What a nightmare!

That is a real shame and I know what a chore it feels like to have to learn a language you don't care for. You being a native French speaker, I can't tell you Spanish is the language of poetry*, but I just went and said it. Maybe a writer you like will engage you. Unoriginally, I like Pablo Neruda, Miguel Hernández, some Mario Benedetti (even though his poems are considered a bit basic by people who like poetry), relatively recently I began to enjoy Félix Grande, who I hadn't read before. I also like old school Silvio Rodríguez lyrics.

I had a change of heart towards Portuguese when I started actively listening to some bossa nova lyrics. Then it didn't sound so much like a joke language at all.

*according to Spanish speakers

Madrigal wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:09 am

ashi wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:28 pm

I have been learning Spanish for purely practical/professional reasons and have absolutely no ear or passion for it. Luckily, my girlfriend is Hispanic and we just broke up so now it is tied up all that too.

What a nightmare!

That is a real shame and I know what a chore it feels like to have to learn a language you don't care for. You being a native French speaker, I can't tell you Spanish is the language of poetry*, but I just went and said it. Maybe a writer you like will engage you. Unoriginally, I like Pablo Neruda, Miguel Hernández, some Mario Benedetti (even though his poems are considered a bit basic by people who like poetry), relatively recently I began to enjoy Félix Grande, who I hadn't read before. I also like old school Silvio Rodríguez lyrics.

I had a change of heart towards Portuguese when I started actively listening to some bossa nova lyrics. Then it didn't sound so much like a joke language at all.

*according to Spanish speakers

Well! Only a fool would suggest that Spanish is not a language of tremendous art, poetry and otherwise, but for me a language is a bit like a dance and I need to pick up a feel and momentum otherwise it is just awkward flailing about. I also have random bits of Occitan in my head, which is like French and Spanish's fat ugly child.

I truly do need it for work, though, and there are many social benefits beyond that. I'll sort it out. Probably.

ashi wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:07 am

Well! Only a fool would suggest that Spanish is not a language of tremendous art, poetry and otherwise, but for me a language is a bit like a dance and I need to pick up a feel and momentum otherwise it is just awkward flailing about. I also have random bits of Occitan in my head, which is like French and Spanish's fat ugly child.

I truly do need it for work, though, and there are many social benefits beyond that. I'll sort it out. Probably.

It seems to me that learning a language involves the same stages as culture shock, with an initial enchantment phase, then all you see are the problems and absolutely hate it, and then finally you warm up to it in a more balanced way. I had those issues anyway.