You could assume I speak English, maybe Norwegian but what else? Is it even worth to learn languages? What do I think about studying languages?
1. Polish
I will start with the most boring one, which is my mother tongue. Nowadays I don’t use the Polish language almost at all, just when I talk with my parents or when I randomly meet Polish people at my work. The second one is always a surprise because I’m never really prepared for it so it’s mostly awkward. Not to mention that co-workers expect you to know all the polish people in the area, but in reality, it’s hard to know all Polish people here, especially since there’re so many of us.
2. English
I speak this language every day, which kinda make me fluent in it. I think in English all the time, besides when I’m at work (there’s just Norwegian). I must say it’s my favorite language to speak. I had to go for Erasmus exchange to Norway to fall in love with English because before that it wasn’t anything special or useful. Now it’s my main language.
3. Norwegian
Well, that’s something else. I was studying this language as well as I wrote the whole bachelor in it. I use it the most at work and in public situations (shops, dentists, etc.). I’m not fluent in it though, as I never really use it all the time as English, not to mention that I never had the opportunity to speak much of it during those 3 years of studying. On my Erasmus exchange, I did a lot of improvement, but the time of studying in Poland was just a waste of time (studying-wise). In my opinion, if you want to study the language, you should study it in the country of its origin. Otherwise, it’s not practical.
4. Other
Well usually people like to brag that they know so many languages, but like on the A1 level, so do they really can say they know the language? Or even write it in a CV? Well, nothing bad about knowing the language “little bit” but I don’t think CV or bio is the place to put them on. I know French A1, Slovenian A2 and some Croatian but it’s more for cracking some jokes or ordering jus d’orange avec la baguette kind of thing. Nothing harmful but nothing to brag about either.
5. Studying
Well, I learned this lesson hard way, but hopefully, by writing this I can prevent some of the bad choices of other people. Like I wrote previously if you wish to study language, the most valuable choice would be to do it where the language is from. Even then, you should ask yourself: why? If the only reason, like for me, was to live in that country or because the language sounds nice, it’s not worth it. It’s hard to find a normal job after studies like that abroad, and by the normal job I mean Monday-Friday kind of thing. It’s better to invest in courses, job practices, and trainee programs.
That’s it from me for now. Expect posts from Ireland quite soon (as soon as I will fix my laptop). Have a nice week!
againorway 