What language should I learn?

[Blunderstar]

I'm dedicated enough to learn a new language based on my studying history, but I don't know which one to choose. Before weighing up the pros and cons of learning each foreign language, I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask for some insight.

I had to study German and Spanish in high school, so the educational process in perfecting those two are tainted with awful memories of a shitty system. Forget those two, unless you can convince me otherwise.

[moonturtle]

greek or german is what I would do but you doubtless have factors in mind like utility or so

[sheff]

Well, Spanish is easy (initially) and one of the most commonly-spoken languages in the world.

Divorce yourself from your memories of it and find a way into it through Spanish-language media, if necessary. (The band Control Machete, films such as El Labirinto del Fauno, Amores Perros and so on.)

Otherwise, is there any language in particular that catches your eye?

If you had a foundation of Spanish, French would be relatively easy. I'd say Italian, but only Italians speak Italian, apart from Swisses, and they're boring as hell in my experience.

Slavonics are difficult, especially for someone who's never dealt with inflections, and Asian langauages require a level of dedication and initial investment which is difficult for people who aren't studying them full-time, as a rule.

[reject]

German is pretty similar to English I find.

But most yanks struggle with that so I suggest you perfect the art of speaking proper English before you attempt another language

[Blunderstar]

Originally Posted by sheff

Well, Spanish is easy (initially) and one of the most commonly-spoken languages in the world.

Divorce yourself from your memories of it and find a way into it through Spanish-language media, if necessary. (The band Control Machete, films such as El Labirinto del Fauno, Amores Perros and so on.)

Otherwise, is there any language in particular that catches your eye?

If you had a foundation of Spanish, French would be relatively easy. I'd say Italian, but only Italians speak Italian, apart from Swisses, and they're boring as hell in my experience.

Slavonics are difficult, especially for someone who's never dealt with inflections, and Asian langauages require a level of dedication and initial investment which is difficult for people who aren't studying them full-time, as a rule.

I typed out an enormous reply to this, but the Zoklet server went down when I hit submit.

To summarize, yeah, an Asian language was always the most appealing to me, but I don't think I should waste my time putting in the extra hours considering I have no real plans to visit an Asian culture.

In comparison, Spanish is easy, I've already been introduced to it, and the French language has a strange allure to me. I'll put aside my shallow preconvictions, I suppose.

[Rolf]

If not learning a language out of necessity, it depends heavily on one's interests, notes Rolf. If not learning language for business or whatever, Rolf suggests looking for languages that you find interesting or appealing, if looking for practical application; look at more widespread languages such as Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, etc.

[The Pat-Man]

i came to this thread to say german and spanish. being the best languages in the world. obv this will not work.


how about finnish, that shit is LOLS.

[unstableasatable]

mandarin!!

[reject]

So the Chinese might keep him around when they invade the world in a few years?

[The Pat-Man]

they gonna invade australia first, theyre almost ready demographically.

[Rolf]

Originally Posted by The Pat-Man

german. being the best languages in the world.

German is simply Dutch without dykes and weed, notes Rolf.

[The Pat-Man]

yea but plus actual culture and alcohol.

[Rolf]

Originally Posted by The Pat-Man

yea but plus actual culture and alcohol.

... and Uwe Boll, adds Rolf.

[The Pat-Man]

touche

[reject]

Dutch is a ridiculous language.

[Rolf]

Originally Posted by reject

Dutch is a ridiculous language.

Anything related to Belgium is ridiculous and the route of all evil, agrees Rolf.

[water bottle]

Moving to the travel and language forum. I suppose this fits here as well, but I want as much traffic as possible for the travel and language forum - g2o gets enough.

Learn French. It isn't really as effeminate as the stereotype portrays it to be. Moreover, whether we like it or not, the French
language is hugely important relative to everything anglophone. Learn Canadian French, lol.

Really though, it's all up to you. Just think of London as kilometer zero and as a huge generalization, languages get harder the further east you go. Then you get into east Asia, which is really quite complex and different. But don't let difficulty stop you. Just pick an area of history or politics or literature or art or travel or whatever that interests you and go for it.

[Struwwelpeter]

Lemme teach you a lil' Korean!!!

Choseoung-bak ir jeeb a jurn tyeolteon i ba chun chun chon jeyonyoung sa lwoh wohjadfa epiahsefiaj pweoifjas pifhaqiehf awei apeijf asfaswefwegr awepfojap ofjawefpawjef waeojfap efjapseejfpaeofa0w39hq023rhawoiefnaoiwehf08ahefa09 whfoawiehfaoiwefhoo43rq34043q0q34ewpwieiagefewieuw fu80wq3r6t7832019345673821098456201394657812039478 920345784209346574209387woiqyurew2oiqeyruwoqieyurw iqoiyeurwiqoeuyriqwoeyurewioeuywoiuehjkwlqhddjskjd hfjskladhjkawldhjkaqwljhakljhbsmadnbcmsandbnmsa,nb nms,andbmnbvcxcvbhjkjhgfdswertyuiopoiu76543456y7io poiuytrewsdfghjklkmjnbvcxzxcvbnm,kjhgfdeswedfghjkl kjhgtfrdertyuiopoiuytrefghjkl;

[crazzyass]

Originally Posted by sheff

Well, Spanish is easy (initially) and one of the most commonly-spoken languages in the world.

Divorce yourself from your memories of it and find a way into it through Spanish-language media, if necessary. (The band Control Machete, films such as El Labirinto del Fauno, Amores Perros and so on.)

Otherwise, is there any language in particular that catches your eye?

If you had a foundation of Spanish, French would be relatively easy. I'd say Italian, but only Italians speak Italian, apart from Swisses, and they're boring as hell in my experience.

Slavonics are difficult, especially for someone who's never dealt with inflections, and Asian langauages require a level of dedication and initial investment which is difficult for people who aren't studying them full-time, as a rule.

And if you speak Spanish, you and Italian-speakers will understand each other.

[WAN]

Latin..i know it's a dead language but you can make up words with it, and you will be able to understand wherever it comes up like in some sort of christianity-based religious rite..

[bcbud]

if i ware you i would learn french if you are in North America its spoken in maine quebec ontario new foundland and some parts on Louisiana

[reject]

If you're in America I'd recommend you learn how to speak English.

[Blunderstar]

Originally Posted by reject

If you're in America I'd recommend you learn how to speak English.

Yeah, you've said that already. I'm not American.

[reject]

If you're Canadian I recommend you learn how to speak English.

[Sanzenbacher]

Sanskrit

[Sanzenbacher]

Ge'ez

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by water bottle

Learn French. It isn't really as effeminate as the stereotype portrays it to be. Moreover, whether we like it or not, the French
language is hugely important relative to everything anglophone. Learn Canadian French, lol.

French is pretty cool. I liked learning it at school, it flows really well off the tongue once you get used to it. It's also fun to see just how much of a debt the English language owes to it. I keep meaning to try and learn it again, but i've never got round to it.

[cws910]

#1. Fuck you guys who say Germany is the Netherlands with culture. Germans have squat
when it comes to culture. At least in NL its questionable.
#2. Fuck you guys who say the Dutch language is ridiculous. It's awesome, and a
complete snatch magnet.
#3. For the love of god, don't learn Dutch hahaha. I'm half Dutch, grew up speaking it at
home, so I'm fluent. In Holland, maybe 1 in 5 people will just respond in English
because I have an American accent, and probably more will respond in English if you have a strong accent. so it kinda sucks.
Its completely useless language to know outside of Holland and Belgium (PS Belgians speak a dialect of dutch called Flemish.
It's weird as shit.)
#4. Pick a language that's widely spoken over an area you want to travel. Don't be
deterred by 'hard' languages, in the end, if you want to be fluent it takes a shit load
of work anyways.

Russian, Spanish (sorry), Portuguese, Hindi, and Nepali are the languages I'm thinking about learning.

-C

[Prickle]

Pig Latin.

[Playground Legend]

[ObscuredByClouds]

Originally Posted by water bottle

Moving to the travel and language forum. I suppose this fits here as well, but I want as much traffic as possible for the travel and language forum - g2o gets enough.

Learn French. It isn't really as effeminate as the stereotype portrays it to be. Moreover, whether we like it or not, the French
language is hugely important relative to everything anglophone. Learn Canadian French, lol.

Really though, it's all up to you. Just think of London as kilometer zero and as a huge generalization, languages get harder the further east you go. Then you get into east Asia, which is really quite complex and different. But don't let difficulty stop you. Just pick an area of history or politics or literature or art or travel or whatever that interests you and go for it.

Waterbottle is right in his suggestion to learn french. I would recommend learning Québécois, which is still definitely french, albeit with a little bit of personality. The language itself is still French, but the different between France and Québec is definitely notable.

I have never been to France so I can`t speak for them, but in Québec they like to use english words and verbs. For example the verb Checker, they use it to literally mean To Check. Such as J'ai checké le liste. The youth here love to read internet memes, and a lot of their jokes come from that. I have heard them say (in english) Take my money! When discussing a cool item they heard of or something similar. It`s pretty funny also to hear them use the verbe Troller. They say stuff like J'ai trollé la fille! To obviously reference trolling.

If you really want to learn it, just come and live in Québec City. It is very easy to get a job (even if you are anglophone) and it`s relatively cheap to live here, especially when compared to living in other capital cities across Canada (fuck living in downtown Toronto). I have a really nice one bedroom appartment (I live on my own now, I moved out of my other place with that journal-reading bitch) that I pay $600 a month for. That`s including heating, electricity, hot water. It`s about 20 minutes par bus to take me downtown, it`s trés simple.

The city itself is exceptionally beautiful. Very old buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, and walking down it it`s like you are taken back in time. I really cannot overstate just how beautiful it is to live here. If you (or any Zokleteer) comes here I will personally give the grand tour.

If you really don`t know any french at all, it`s okay you will learn fast and a lot of people do speak a bit of english. Don`t listen to water bottle, Québécois really do like english people, and love helping out touristes that come by. I don`t understand the problem that english-canadians have with their french-canadian neighbours, but the feeling towards the rest of Canada is definitely not a negative one. In reality, Québec doesn`t hate Canada, they just feel like thy aren`t even really a part of it at all. They`re just concerned about their own business, and if Canada has a problem with that well then that`s Canada`s problem.

I don`t have internet at my appartment right now (having just moved out), but I do go to the Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy every now and then to check my email (and occasionnally Zoklet). If you have any other questions (about the language, the people, the city) please feel free to ask me, I will do my best to answer them.

[meth god]

Put some effort into learning an Australian Aboriginal language. Preferably one with dwindling speakers and that's in danger of becoming extinct. Chicks dig that kind of thing.