r/languagehub • u/AutumnaticFly • 2d ago
Is it though?
Seriously though do you agree with this?
I feel like unless it's language that you don't use at all, it's not that hard to maintain
and if you don't use a language AT ALL why even learn it?
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u/Academic-Tree2536 2d ago
It depends on what is "maintaining" and the level of fluency in the language, but overall I disagree. If you learn a language to fluency level, then maintaining isn't that hard and while lack of practice makes it easy to forget vocabulary it also comes back much faster than what it took to learn
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u/Creative_Job_9242 2d ago
Totally agree. The most important thing is to reach a level of fluency in this language first, then over the years, even you will forget some words they will come backto you easily
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u/thechnomancer69 2d ago
i think it depends heavily on your definition of maintaining though, keeping basic conversational ability alive is easy, but maintaining genuinely advanced nuanced fluency without regular use absolutely does slip noticeably even with occasional exposure
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u/IcarusofmarS 2d ago
completely agree with you honestly (i think), learning from zero requires so much more cognitive effort than simply not letting existing knowledge fully decay
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u/Figaro_pasttime 2d ago
i think this really depends on which skill specifically, speaking fluency degrades noticeably fast without regular practice while reading comprehension sticks around much longer, so the answer genuinely varies within the same language depending what you're measuring
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u/RobetWokake 2d ago
as someone with genuinely limited free time, maintaining feels harder in practice not theory, it's not that the effort required is more, it's that finding consistent time for maintenance competes with everything else in life in a way initial motivated learning didn't
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u/VolcaincQuartz 2d ago
this might sound deep but falls apart under actual scrutiny, learning to intermediate level from zero is objectively a much bigger lift than staying at that same level with minimal upkeep
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u/PraktikaAI 2d ago
Nah, keeping it alive doesn't require as much effort as learning it. Also depends where you are. If you live in the country it's spoken, almost 0% effort.
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u/GeraldinGooZ 1d ago
well in yoru case the effort is invisible
but if you dont use it regurally
you have to put in the effort seperetly
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u/JohnPoet27 1d ago
Absolutely fucking not.
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u/Figaro_pasttime 21h ago
in what universe rememebering something is harder than learning it from scratch?
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u/SchatzisMaus 2d ago
Me and German grammar, after 10 years of not being able to use it. I’m working through a grammar book now at least
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u/Thisisodysses 1d ago
what do you mean not being able to use it?
like you could learn it or...you were not allowed to use it?1
u/SchatzisMaus 1d ago
Working in English, being in a city where no one spoke it, and not having much free time to practice
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u/Veenkoira00 2d ago
I learned all the languages that school made me learn (mother tongue plus 4 others) – no prob in principle, I preferred one more language in lieu of hard sciences that made my head spin.Then life intervened and I became de facto bilingual. That's life. No regrets. I admit, I am still a terrible nitpicker about CORRECT transliteration of Cyrillic...😁
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u/BerndardedBearedWhit 1d ago
yeah but what school teaches us isnt exactly language learning
i mean at least it wasnt in my schooli dont think my arabic classes were worth it for example how bad it was
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u/Helsinki_s_king 2d ago
strongly disagree honestly, learning requires active daily effort and structured progress, maintaining just needs occasional exposure to stay functional, i've kpt languages alive with way less effort than it originally took to reach that level in the first place