Is it useful to learn a foreign language

I see many youngsters learning French,German,Spanish languages along with their studies.When I ak them why they do it, most of them are not sure....I am definitely not agianst it, but tend to think that when you want to learn something you need to do it thoroughly rather than skim through it rather thanto claim that they know french or german..

When I was working in Rourkela (Odisha) steel plant, which was built with Russian collaboration, I often used to interact with Russians. Most of them speak in Only Russian. Their knowledge of English was scanty. In order to communicate with them, I expressed my desire to learn Russian. They taught me conversational working knowledge of Russian. But, it has whetted my appetite to learn Russian in a full scale. I started with “learn a language in 30 days” series. Finally I reached a stage of reading Dostoevsky’s novels in original.

I see many youngsters learning French,German,Spanish languages along with their studies.When I ak them why they do it, most of them are not sure....I am definitely not agianst it, but tend to think that when you want to learn something you need to do it thoroughly rather than skim through it rather thanto claim that they know french or german..

When I was working in Rourkela (Odisha) steel plant, which was built with Russian collaboration, I often used to interact with Russians. Most of them speak in Only Russian. Their knowledge of English was scanty. In order to communicate with them, I expressed my desire to learn Russian. They taught me conversational working knowledge of Russian. But, it has whetted my appetite to learn Russian in a full scale. I started with “learn a language in 30 days” series. Finally I reached a stage of reading Dostoevsky’s novels in original.

Thats great ! It is of course good to learn as many languages as possible within our country as well as foreign languages....It always comes in handy and can be an asset !

It is always an added advantage to learn new languages, whether it is Indian or foreign languages.

I see many youngsters learning French,German,Spanish languages along with their studies.When I ak them why they do it, most of them are not sure....I am definitely not agianst it, but tend to think that when you want to learn something you need to do it thoroughly rather than skim through it rather thanto claim that they know french or german..

When I was working in Rourkela (Odisha) steel plant, which was built with Russian collaboration, I often used to interact with Russians. Most of them speak in Only Russian. Their knowledge of English was scanty. In order to communicate with them, I expressed my desire to learn Russian. They taught me conversational working knowledge of Russian. But, it has whetted my appetite to learn Russian in a full scale. I started with “learn a language in 30 days” series. Finally I reached a stage of reading Dostoevsky’s novels in original.

Thats great ! It is of course good to learn as many languages as possible within our country as well as foreign languages....It always comes in handy and can be an asset !

Though the skill of conversational Russian has come down, my ability to read Russian has shot up, because of constant reading.

Well, Even I don't know the proper reason.. But I have read somewhere that these days people can get good job in translating field too..
So such language knowledge can help.. But surely don't know about it in details.

I see many youngsters learning French,German,Spanish languages along with their studies.When I ak them why they do it, most of them are not sure....I am definitely not agianst it, but tend to think that when you want to learn something you need to do it thoroughly rather than skim through it rather thanto claim that they know french or german..

When I was working in Rourkela (Odisha) steel plant, which was built with Russian collaboration, I often used to interact with Russians. Most of them speak in Only Russian. Their knowledge of English was scanty. In order to communicate with them, I expressed my desire to learn Russian. They taught me conversational working knowledge of Russian. But, it has whetted my appetite to learn Russian in a full scale. I started with “learn a language in 30 days” series. Finally I reached a stage of reading Dostoevsky’s novels in original.

Thats great ! It is of course good to learn as many languages as possible within our country as well as foreign languages....It always comes in handy and can be an asset !

Though the skill of conversational Russian has come down, my ability to read Russian has shot up, because of constant reading.

Practice makes perfect, but more importantly one needs to have interest ....Languge learning is a skill that not many people have.I was going through some very old film magazines called FilmIndia of the sixties where a mention is made about Raj Kapoor who took private classes in Russian because he had such a great fan following there and he felt the least he could was to learn their language and speak when he visited Russia, which he apparently did ! Also Asha Parekh is supposed to have learnt enough Japanese to converse and make herself understood while in Tokyo shooting for Love in Tokyo...

I see many youngsters learning French,German,Spanish languages along with their studies.When I ak them why they do it, most of them are not sure....I am definitely not agianst it, but tend to think that when you want to learn something you need to do it thoroughly rather than skim through it rather thanto claim that they know french or german..

Learning is never useless. Most of peoples learn these as part time study. Learning is not enough till he have enough practice of it.

It is always an added advantage to learn new languages, whether it is Indian or foreign languages.

Language is a tool that help build the relations.

Language is a media of communication of thoughts to others. Usually, most of us know our own mother tongue besides English and Hindi. In most cases this suffices. If somebody is keen to learn languages, it is okay for him. Otherwise one should devote more time to enhance his skill in his profession or job rather than learning more language. If you feel that learning additional language will be helpful, you may well decide.

I agree! Learning any new language is never a waste but the learning should be in depth and not just superficial. The trend that you mentioned is mainly for the benefit of either scoring marks or only for showing off that they are learning a 'foreign language' that's the in thing!

I agree! Learning any new language is never a waste but the learning should be in depth and not just superficial. The trend that you mentioned is mainly for the benefit of either scoring marks or only for showing off that they are learning a 'foreign language' that's the in thing!

That's right. In some university, learning foreign language is a must. So, some students learn a foreign language out of compulsion. They try to score good marks and forget about it the moment the exam is over. Such superficial learning is just a wastage of time.

I agree! Learning any new language is never a waste but the learning should be in depth and not just superficial. The trend that you mentioned is mainly for the benefit of either scoring marks or only for showing off that they are learning a 'foreign language' that's the in thing!

That's right. In some university, learning foreign language is a must. So, some students learn a foreign language out of compulsion. They try to score good marks and forget about it the moment the exam is over. Such superficial learning is just a wastage of time.

Here in Maharashtra, most English medium schools have an option between Hindi, Marathi and at least one foreign language such as French or German, and most students opt for the latter two because Hindi and Marathi are mainly boring for these kids. And then they end up nowhere, as they cannot speak the regional languages quite fluently and the foreign language is forgotten quick as a flash once the exams are over. Very very few really take up the challenge of learning the languages further.

I agree! Learning any new language is never a waste but the learning should be in depth and not just superficial. The trend that you mentioned is mainly for the benefit of either scoring marks or only for showing off that they are learning a 'foreign language' that's the in thing!

That's right. In some university, learning foreign language is a must. So, some students learn a foreign language out of compulsion. They try to score good marks and forget about it the moment the exam is over. Such superficial learning is just a wastage of time.

Here in Maharashtra, most English medium schools have an option between Hindi, Marathi and at least one foreign language such as French or German, and most students opt for the latter two because Hindi and Marathi are mainly boring for these kids. And then they end up nowhere, as they cannot speak the regional languages quite fluently and the foreign language is forgotten quick as a flash once the exams are over. Very very few really take up the challenge of learning the languages further.

I too feel that we should definitely concentrate on our own mother tongue,state language etc...I have a neighbor who speaks her own brand of English but wants her children to speak only in English and no other language, also wants them to learn French...The children are very keen to learn tulu because they want to converse with their grand parents.Instead of appreciating them , she gets angry with them ..

I agree! Learning any new language is never a waste but the learning should be in depth and not just superficial. The trend that you mentioned is mainly for the benefit of either scoring marks or only for showing off that they are learning a 'foreign language' that's the in thing!

That's right. In some university, learning foreign language is a must. So, some students learn a foreign language out of compulsion. They try to score good marks and forget about it the moment the exam is over. Such superficial learning is just a wastage of time.

Here in Maharashtra, most English medium schools have an option between Hindi, Marathi and at least one foreign language such as French or German, and most students opt for the latter two because Hindi and Marathi are mainly boring for these kids. And then they end up nowhere, as they cannot speak the regional languages quite fluently and the foreign language is forgotten quick as a flash once the exams are over. Very very few really take up the challenge of learning the languages further.

I too feel that we should definitely concentrate on our own mother tongue,state language etc...I have a neighbor who speaks her own brand of English but wants her children to speak only in English and no other language, also wants them to learn French...The children are very keen to learn tulu because they want to converse with their grand parents.Instead of appreciating them , she gets angry with them ..

I remember that my mother would often say that it is better to change your religion than language. Mother tongue is natural identity of any person. It is okay to learn any language but this should not be neglecting one's mother tongue or the first language.

I agree! Learning any new language is never a waste but the learning should be in depth and not just superficial. The trend that you mentioned is mainly for the benefit of either scoring marks or only for showing off that they are learning a 'foreign language' that's the in thing!

That's right. In some university, learning foreign language is a must. So, some students learn a foreign language out of compulsion. They try to score good marks and forget about it the moment the exam is over. Such superficial learning is just a wastage of time.

Here in Maharashtra, most English medium schools have an option between Hindi, Marathi and at least one foreign language such as French or German, and most students opt for the latter two because Hindi and Marathi are mainly boring for these kids. And then they end up nowhere, as they cannot speak the regional languages quite fluently and the foreign language is forgotten quick as a flash once the exams are over. Very very few really take up the challenge of learning the languages further.

I too feel that we should definitely concentrate on our own mother tongue,state language etc...I have a neighbor who speaks her own brand of English but wants her children to speak only in English and no other language, also wants them to learn French...The children are very keen to learn tulu because they want to converse with their grand parents.Instead of appreciating them , she gets angry with them ..

That is exactly the attitude of most parents nowadays. It is actually very easy to learn all subjects in your own mother tongue because its a language one learns right from inside the mother's womb, but the attitude now is that every local or regional thing, including language is outdated. So children are made to learn foreign languages even before they learn their own language fluently, leading them to be neither a master at one nor fluent in own language.

It's good to learn a language only if you think that it could help you in your career because if you do not practice a language , it is most likely that you will forget what you learnt .

Most European nations now insist that those wanting to work in their country should know thge langage and they should pass a test to show their proficiency in the language. But in India we have so many languages, each state has its own language and the choice for those interested is many !

Indians going abroad esp in countries where English is native language, they must clear TOFEL to get a professional job. They are tested for other technical skills plus local language of the country they wish to work in is one primary condition.

It's good to learn a language only if you think that it could help you in your career because if you do not practice a language , it is most likely that you will forget what you learnt .

I learned Russian language to read Russian literature in original especially biographies.

It's good to learn a language only if you think that it could help you in your career because if you do not practice a language , it is most likely that you will forget what you learnt .

I learned Russian language to read Russian literature in original especially biographies.

I tried to learn it when I was in Moscow for a short term course but had to come back in early 90s due to very bad economical issues there. I managed to return with great efforts as it was impossible to survive there. Ruble was like a piece of paper and not even worth its value it was printed on.