I sincerely have no idea how other people may feel about (not) speaking foreign languages, it’s up to them. Also, it’s not a competition with a single winner and many losers. It’s like being able to draw (I love doing that, I’m shit at it) or to dance (I can’t, but I love watching dance and ballet).
Personally, I don’t feel better because of the languages I speak. It’s just a decision I made, and then a question of putting in the required work (aka, time and efforts). But I am happy to be able to read/speak those languages.
As an avid reader, it’s something I always considered a necessity as I wanted to be able read books in their native language in order to fully appreciate them. It’s also so much better when interacting with other people, even for someone as shy as I am, to be able to speak in their native language even poorly and in a limited way (I’m not fluent in all of the few languages I understand, far from it).
I think it’s important to mention that as I too often met people that are afraid to learn and even more so that are unable to speak in a foreign language because they worry so much about being judged. It’s true we all are bad when we’re starting out but that’s still a real sad mistake to let that stop us as a vast majority of people will be more than welcoming to anyone trying to speak their language. For the record, I say that as someone who is monstrously shy (like, really) and speaks with a terrible French accent. So, I know perfectly well what it’s like to feel intimidated ;)
The one language I would love the most to learn but never managed to is Chinese.
There are writers, thinkers, and poets I would love to read not in a translation (and many more that are not even available in translation, sadly). But it’s also so complex to the point of being intimidating… This year, I almost managed to convince myself to apply to one of the schools teaching Chinese, here in Paris, but money and, like I said, me being utterly shy made it so that I not-that-accidentally missed the deadline.
Also, I’m starting to get old (well into my 50s) and my health not being that great I worry more and more it would be a waste of a seat that a much younger person could make better use of.
I don’t know what it’s like in Paris, but here in my area (germany) they had to discontinue the Chinese course, because not enough people signed up for it. So for what it’s worth, I don’t think you need to worry about taking someones seat. The language course I’m visiting at the moment (currently learning french) is really nice and welcoming, so no need to be shy :-)
I sincerely have no idea how other people may feel about (not) speaking foreign languages, it’s up to them. Also, it’s not a competition with a single winner and many losers. It’s like being able to draw (I love doing that, I’m shit at it) or to dance (I can’t, but I love watching dance and ballet).
Personally, I don’t feel better because of the languages I speak. It’s just a decision I made, and then a question of putting in the required work (aka, time and efforts). But I am happy to be able to read/speak those languages.
As an avid reader, it’s something I always considered a necessity as I wanted to be able read books in their native language in order to fully appreciate them. It’s also so much better when interacting with other people, even for someone as shy as I am, to be able to speak in their native language even poorly and in a limited way (I’m not fluent in all of the few languages I understand, far from it).
I think it’s important to mention that as I too often met people that are afraid to learn and even more so that are unable to speak in a foreign language because they worry so much about being judged. It’s true we all are bad when we’re starting out but that’s still a real sad mistake to let that stop us as a vast majority of people will be more than welcoming to anyone trying to speak their language. For the record, I say that as someone who is monstrously shy (like, really) and speaks with a terrible French accent. So, I know perfectly well what it’s like to feel intimidated ;)
The one language I would love the most to learn but never managed to is Chinese.
There are writers, thinkers, and poets I would love to read not in a translation (and many more that are not even available in translation, sadly). But it’s also so complex to the point of being intimidating… This year, I almost managed to convince myself to apply to one of the schools teaching Chinese, here in Paris, but money and, like I said, me being utterly shy made it so that I not-that-accidentally missed the deadline.
Also, I’m starting to get old (well into my 50s) and my health not being that great I worry more and more it would be a waste of a seat that a much younger person could make better use of.
I don’t know what it’s like in Paris, but here in my area (germany) they had to discontinue the Chinese course, because not enough people signed up for it. So for what it’s worth, I don’t think you need to worry about taking someones seat. The language course I’m visiting at the moment (currently learning french) is really nice and welcoming, so no need to be shy :-)