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18:01
September 6, 2012
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Hi everyone,
My name's Craig, and I'm a native English teacher living in Ecuador- where I'm teaching English. Teaching has reignited my own desire to learn and study, and this is where my dilemma begins.
I'm torn between a) doing the "sensible" thing and improving my Spanish, b) polishing my pre-existing knowledge of French (6-7 years in high school) and Japanese (a year at university) or c) just starting again from scratch (Korean, Mandarin and Russian appeal to me for no particular reason.)
According to the University of Oxford's Spanish entrance exam, I'm upper intermediate- although it doesn't feel that way in real life, and for me, Spanish is pretty boring.
I think that if I started again on French or Japanese, it would all come flooding back, but would they provide a challenge or goal?
That only leaves the new languages, which would all provide different challenges to either Spanish or French due to the alphabets/characters, but would be of little benefit in the long term (for the foreseeable anyway).
I guess I'm really just looking for some feedback on reasons why you guys learn the languages you do, and trying to justify not having to dedicate all my time to Spanish!
Thanks,
Craig
10:39
September 18, 2011
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Before taking this decision, I'd ask myself what language appeals more to study. Learning more than one language isn't a bad thing, if you wanna know. Just try not to be overcharged and unlit this wish to study.
Fluent: 
Non-fluent: 
Old experiences: 
Interested in: 
23:49
May 23, 2012
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Honestly, I'd recommend working on Spanish. It will help you make friends where you are, and Spanish continues to be a very useful language to know.
I'm in a similar situation here in China. I could go back and polish up my German and Latin, but Chinese is an increasingly useful language and without it, my options for making friends are fairly limited.
But, it's completely up to you, there's no rule that says you have to study the language of the country you live in. I personally, just feel that one should if one is going to be there for more than a few weeks.
If you opt for Chinese, there are some really good books out there for learning to read and write, but it is one case where actual immersion helps enormously as it's difficult otherwise to have confidence that one is learning how to read.
Learning: 
05:16
August 9, 2012
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Hi Craig
If you want to start a new language from scratch, just do it. Your Spanish is good enough to get along in Ecuador and will most likely improve unless you socialize only with English speaking people. I lived in Brazil in the 1990's and spoke Portuguese at an A2 level at most when I arrived. I stayed for almost two years and never studied the language actively but everyone around me spoke only Portuguese so I picked up a lot of new vocabulary and quickly became conversational. There was no reason to speak Portuguese perfectly to make new friends, I got along and that was the most important thing. I guess it's similar for you and as long as it feels all right, I don't see any reason why you should study Spanish actively. You will only see it as an obligation and will probably find a lot of excuses to avoid sitting down and study the language. So you better use that time to study another language. You just have to decide which language you feel most attracted to at the moment. Good luck.
| Studying: 
(B1)
(A1-A2)
(A1)
Soon to start: 
|
My blog: 08:07
September 6, 2012
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Hi Everyone,
Thank you all for your input. I've decided on two things since I posted:
Firstly, I'm going to focus on Spanish slightly more that I have been doing (my work is in English, and the 90% of movies and TV I watch and music I listen to is English), but I'm going to do this more by the immersion/osmosis approach, not by any concerted effort. E.g. newspapers, radio/TV on in the background and trying more conversational Spanish- I'm one of those people who hate making mistakes, so I'd rather say nothing than say something with mistakes. This is a mindset I need to change.
Secondly, I'm going to learn Korean, with a view to studying there in a few years. I'm getting on a bit, but I have a plan in my head for a career change which will see me go back to university for a few years, a couple of which I hope will be in Korea (fingers crossed for GPA!). I read somewhere that pimsleur is a good place to start in terms of familiarising oneself with the sounds and basics, so I've started listening to that before I sleep. The writing system is easy enough to read, but I think takes a little more thinking to write- but it will come eventually, and I've joined italki and some other of the language exchange sites, and found a few other good language learning resources online- particularly some from Korean universities and a Korean government website.
All in all, I'm quietly confident that I can achieve these goals. I think it's actually the first time in my life that I've planned for the future! lol
Thanks again for your words of advice and encouragement, and all the best on your individual journeys too.
Craig
13:10
Hi Craig,
Firstly, good luck! Sounds like a good plan 
Just to answer your first question, I'm learning french because I need to up skill myself and make my CV look attractive to employers. I've decided to self-study while working and aim to be conversational by the end of the year. I feel that knowing another language will open more doors for me in terms of my career.
All the best
02:55
moderator
July 15, 2011
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Here's why I think you should stick with your Spanish for now Craig: You're so close to achieving a fluency, you live in a country where it is spoken, written and heard everywhere (unless you live in a region with more Quechua speakers) and you're going to end up with the same feelings you have now for Spanish in another language. In the beginning stages of learning a language that language seems exciting, fresh and new but as soon as the dreaded intermediate level approaches the language no longer seems fun but rather a chore and an obligation. It is so tempting to start learning a new language to bring back that sense of something new and exotic. I see this all the time on this and other language forums, the typical case of a love language junky. There's no excuse as to why you're not putting some time and effort into improving your Spanish. Do you know how many participants on this forum would love to be able to work and live in a Spanish speaking country for the opportunity to improve their Spanish? A lot actually.
Whatever you decide to do depends on your priorities. I just feel that it is a shame to give up on Spanish when you have so many free resources at your disposal.
By the way, which part of Ecuador do you live in?
Learning to fluency:
There will definitely be more that follow!
09:53
September 6, 2012
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Thanks for the replies:
Chayal- Good luck on your journey and I hope you reach your goals. Which types of resources are you using in your self-study?
Kevinpost- I'm not giving up completely on Spanish. As I said above, I'm actually going to put a bit more effort into immersing myself in the language, I'm just not going to invest my time in any lessons, books etc. I'm going to have to get to a level that is sufficient for studying too, as the universities here teach solely in Spanish, and I'll be forced to submit essays and the like in Spanish.
Korean in 2 years is my main aim, due to the fact that I hope to study there for at least a year, dependent on scholarships/funding and GPA.
In anwer to your other question, I am currently living in Quito.
Craig
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