He knows only one language

Is there anything more pleb than reading books in the original language?

>jealous monoglots can only read books in the original language
>patrician polyglots like myself can read the works of Goethe in French, the masterpieces of Proust in the superior Russian, Chinese and Japanese works in the opposite language, etc., opening up new vistas of interpretation and understanding

I tried reading a book in the original language once, just to see what it's like being a pleb, and it was a suffocating and nauseous experience. I pity those for whom there is no other option.

being able to say "I am", "you are" plus a funny word to go along with it.

you honestly think someone could read decent level literature without being fluent?

I took Russian and German for three years in high school, and read Tolstoy and Goethe.

don't believe you

>>he knows only one language

Americans are this delusional. Just because you can't speak anything more than English doesn't mean other people actually put in the effort because they are not fat lazy pieces of shit.

>tfw learned english by watching TV shows and browsing 4chins
As a side effect, I can only communicate in stock one-liners and memes

I don't believe you
I'm American

Probably bait but honestly you can't blame Americans for being monolingual. The world accommodates them, not the other way around. There is literally no need outside of personal interest. Whereas non English speakers have a much bigger need to learn English

My example types among us, European criteria of fluency is null. I've met all sorts of shit weasels in hostels that say they can speak x, y, and Z because they can hold a basic, basic conversation

>He can only read three languages
My sides

>understading russian or german after "studying" it for 3 years

>what was operation desert storm

hahaha, jokes on you faggot I know BSL, hahahahaha I can read so many more books than you

yeah, not buying this.
you either put in significant effort outside of school, or "read" them side-by-side with a translation.

or you're a native speaker of ukranian and dutch or some shit.

>implying I'm an American
Rule Britannia, God save the Queen, and so on and so forth.

Tolstoy was cheating because I already read his shit in AP lit, but he and Goethe were assignments in Russian III and German III, respectively. The most I studied either language outside of coursework was listening to Rammstein and Tatu. Ten years later I just remember grammar rules and can read but I stumble trying to remember words. Never been out of the states and the Germans in college only wanted to speak English and I have literally never met a Russian. Oma's senile and pretty much never spoke her native tongue for the fifty years she has been in America and forgot much of her own language. It's not that it's hard to get fluent, it's hard to stay fluent if you don't practice all the time.

is Death of Ivan Ilych the best work in history of russian literature?

I like Anna Karenina better

>he
>thinking that monolinguals are humans

how many languages do you speak and how many have you mastered you smug cunt

My native is russian, I can also read in english and german (my mother majored in the latter). I wished I learned spanish instead of this shitty nazispeak

>Know French and English
>Learning a third one
>20 years old

A-am I doing it right lads?

Romance languages don't count - if you can't commit to Mandarin or Navajo, you'll never make it.

>he doesn't know Latin

tu stultus est?

I'm learning 日本語。

Not reading Tolstoi in Russian is a huge loss.
Also, Baudelaire is better enjoyed in French (or, as I'm led to believe, Italian, of all things. I have read consistent praises to the Italian translation)

>for whom there is no other option
every time

>tu
>est
>without -ne

i learned english i on year, lmao

>mandarin
>not cantonese
dirty farmer scum

polish and english
i can read french

So for those who have learned how to read in at least a couple other languages, be honest: is it really worth it? I am studying Spanish, German, and Latin, and plan to start Greek next year. But of course learning three languages at the same time takes up quite a bit of time. Certainly all three are "beautiful" languages phonologically speaking, but I wonder if my time would not be better spent just mastering the English canon, with some choice translations thrown in.

pro praeda cecidit

>I learned english by just browsing Veeky Forums

i learned english by watching porn
checkmate atheists

>Stultita solecismique sunt "escae"

Landica mea suscipere potes ac eam in culo locare.

Quantum Troia est in Asia, tantum meus radius est in tuo culo

[]non irrumatus
[x] irrumatus

>English speakers consist only of America
>Not Canada, Britain, Ireland*, Australia, and New Zealand

Wow.

As an american I can walk a thousand miles in any direction and there's still nothing but cheesecake factories and starbucks and everyone in them still speaks english. The only reason i'm moderately bilingual is because I try so hard to be the most interesting person in the room because my mother didn't love me and my father wasn't there.

>>>>>As an american I can walk a thousand miles in any direction
>implying Americans can walk a mile in any direction

Kek

>I am studying Spanish, German, and Latin, and plan to start Greek next year.
Stop doing this shit and focus on one of them. It is better to master one foreign language than spend years kinda sorta knowing four without ever touching the literary corpus of said languages

Damnit, I recently met my father and his family. They all speak Italian and English and I can only speak English.

I want to learn Italian but I have zero motivation.

How did any of you get motivated to learn a language?

They said if I didn't take 4 years spanish or french I couldn't graduate high school, and then they said if I didn't take another semester in college I couldn't get my estimable bachelors in english

That is so weird, I'm in Australia and language teaching is not taken seriously here. People take Japanese or French in highschool but most drop the language early on. Even those that graduate are far from fluent.

The world caters to anglophones; every anglo nation is like that

Just focus on Spanish and/or German.

Greek and Latin are not worth it.

Even German is arguably not worth it considering the time that it takes to become fluent and the smaller amount of people who speak it.

Okay.. well.. how do I learn a language?

Spanish lets you fully enjoy Don Quijote and that's something. Also, once you're fluent you can branch out to the more beautiful, italian.

>be 13
>want to learn a secondary language
>want it to be very unique and not a lot of people know
>start to study fucking esperanto
>become very fluent
>no books or any writings besides a few shitty magazines about esperanto ever get published in the language
>still have to read them or else I'll never read anything unique in this language
JUST

>He's a >polyglot

Not that guy, but a really easy method is rewatching series or movies on the dub you wanna learn. The idea is to learn it as any person would, just by listening. But you actually have the advantage of knowing what they mean. After that you can learn the alphabet with something as simple as google translate

>knowing more than one language

kek

>muh English translations

>Not being able to read Lorca in Spanish
>Not being able to read Baudelaire in French
>Not being able to read Dante in Italian

I realize there are other English countries. You guys are missing the point. If it wasn't for America's current cultural, and economic, and military dominance things wouldn't be the same. All these countries consume American media. Probably more of it than their own. The rest of the world consumes American media as well, but rarely from Brits, Canadians, aussys, etc. The world is conforming to America

Americans are usually the most vocal about their being pride of being monolingual. And since they are the world's most powerful country, what the other user said is true. The other countries, except perhaps the UK, are just pluses.

>he only knows english

>I have choosen the easy way and now regret it
>I walk down't the path I have choosen because I want to keep up appearances

>not reading in languages you don't understand

Ultimate patrician

You get pure language and lyricism without the silly meaning

>he only knows Spanish

POR FAVOR SEÑOR TRUMP NOOOO

That is the wrench stuck between my gears
Fuck those people.

I'm reading The Recognitions right now and there's a conversation at one point in French between Wyatt and a policeman. It was pretty basic but I managed to understand it. It's kinda inspired me to learn the language properly - what would be the best method?

We had a Russian kid during my time in the Finnish army and he spoke pretty good Finnish in just 6 months.

If you completely have to or can immerse yourself in a language, you will learn it very fast. Of course this is not a possibility for everyone.

Fucking pleb

>not being able to read Homer in Greek
>not being able to read Vergil in Latin

The only reason I know another language is because my family moved and I had no choice but to learn. If I did have a choice I'd rather just stick to and perfect my english.

I'm learning Russian currently. Wondering if I should take up Norwegian or Finnish as well. I also took up Swedish for a few weeks but realized they have no literature at all

Haud Latine scribere scis, amicule, primum quia verbo "landica" significatur non mentula sed mulierum pudenda, deinde quod id verbum praepostero casu declinasti, postremo propter abusum verbi "possum", quod significat non idem ac nostrum "can". Melius usus esses imperativo modo vel fortasse futuro tempore.

And I'm better in my singular language than you are in any three or more.

Nabokov you ain't.

Bene scripsisti, amice. Velim te rogare: quomodo tam bene Latine scribere didicisti? Saepe, Latine loquentes hîc videns, visos, etsi quidem scribere possint, arbitrer eos saepe ac magnopere errare. Itaque mirabile visu aliquem qui Latine tam docte scribere possit invenire.

(Neque me esse scriptorem optimum proponere volo, sed non tam barbarice quam alii hîc visi loquor.)

*me oporteat "eos" non scripsisse; quaeso, ignoscite mihi

>English isn't his native language

>the world is conforming to America

Because it's literally the free world, you colonial cock-jockey. The American identity is artificial, hence why you have no culture or history. America has been, and always will be, the Land of Immigrants.

Is latin the most fedora language?
Every time somebody says "I study latin" I picture a fat person in a trenchcoat who LARPs a lot

>he knows only language

>learns a meme language spoken by 20 autists
>wonders why the fuck there's no literature
So drop it and learn an actual language? According to esperganto-fags if you know it, learning a new language is a breeze

Asier?

What is a contemporary solution for learning a new language in America? I'd like to learn multiple languages, but taking classes can be expensive and I am already dubious of the quality of teaching of those classes. Rosetta Stone? What would you suggest, besides being a transplant?

I only know one person who studies Latin and she's a qt3.14.

your fat fetish is not welcome here. go back to Veeky Forums

Rosetta stone is actually quite terrible. Many people have been successful with Michel Thomas, or Pimsleur. Better yet, do both. The key to learning a language is actually speaking it and forming sentences. Michel Thomas stresses you have to 'know', and what you 'know' you don't forget.

>mfw I do this

I always thought speaking it was the best way to practice, but I just don't think I have any occasion to speak anything other than English! I could learn some Asian dialects and speak with some exchange students at school, but other than that...

I guess a class would be a good option to take because you would at least get practice in with someone who knows the language and a group of people learning the language.

and, I meant to say thanks for the suggestions as well user. Thanks.

Im not wondering, I know exactly why no unique literature is written. Other esperanto-fags are wrong because i'm trying to learn both French and Hebrew (kike here) and it's harder than learning the original memelanguage