Report Blog Entry
Hei Hei
So for over two years I have dedicated a lot of my spare time to trying to learn Norwegian(Bokmal) as I feel like a lot of native-English speakers feel as though it is a waste of time even though it can unlock different ways to express your thoughts/feelings and different ways of living etc. And of course, I have a huge interest in Norway and the surrounding Scandinavian countries.(Norwegian also has the added bonus of being really easy for English folks besides it having so many dialects) However, one thing I have noticed is that people who's language is not natively English have a much easier time learning English due to the sheer amount of media which is easily accessible around the world based in the English language. Furthermore, many countries require English to be taught all throughout their early education system and have a much bigger emphasis on learning other languages than America or Australia would ever have. So while I agree that if you're living in a different country as a native-English person you should make an effort to try and learn something, I also think it's important to consider that Western education sees language learning as an optional subject, mostly reserved for nerds or people who already have some knowledge in the language they choose.
For me personally, I dropped out of learning French in school even though I was good at it, because I found it really boring. So instead, I started learning Norwegian at home. Learning Norwegian can be hard because not many people speak it compared to more popular languages like Spanish or German, so it is harder to access Norwegian media and educational content. So far I have kept up a Duolingo streak for over a year, and watched whatever Norwegian movies I could find on Netflix, as well as YouTube; but it feels like nothing compared to if I had learned it from a young age in school like so many others do with English. I just have to remind myself that I will probably take a lot longer to learn to a fluent level than most people. (But I'm okay with that becuase the process is a lot of fun)
If you're reading this and have any advice for learning languages, especially less popular ones, I would greatly appreciate it!
Have a great day/ Ha det Bra
Comments
Displaying 0 of 0 comments ( View all | Add Comment )