NationStates Jolt Archive

What is the best foreign language? Why?

German. Cause it's my native tongue.

Italian, cause it sounds nice.

What is the best foreign language? Why?

Whichever one you can speak fluently.

What is the best foreign language? Why?
English. Because it enables me to insult the Americans properly :p

My favorite laungauge, though its really domestic, is JAVA. Yes, its a language; it just lacks funtionality in that the only sTatements that can be made are, ironically, commands.

Oh btw if you mean foreign language for members of the US Empire.. umm.. German. Because if they knew it, I could insult them in my native tongue, which would be much easier for me :)

I like Latin because it is old and is related to all Romance languages

OH NOES!!!1 No "other" option.

I'm personally fond of Japanese.

English. Because it enables me to insult the Americans properly :p
Oooh!!! Good one. Need to remember that one!!!

I planned on having an other option, but I ran out of space. Oh Latin is also good because the Church spoke it; problem with that is that the Church was too stupid to pronounce Latin correctly.

"Spanish - hey! Puerto Ricans speak it - how hard can it be?"

I planned on having an other option, but I ran out of space. Oh Latin is also good because the Church spoke it; problem with that is that the Church was too stupid to pronounce Latin correctly.

Ok there quiz kid. How the hell do you know how to pronounce Latin correctly? It will remain a mystery until we can get Augustus from the days of yore (ancient Rome) to give us all a lesson in Latin phonetics. As long as you can understand what someone is trying to say, that should be good enough. Unless you know something I have missed out on or have a time machine.

PS-Can I borrow said time machine (I have a killer investment to make). ;)

What? No Chinese or Hindi? The official language of the 2 most populated countries in the world!?!?

(stupid westerners biases...grrrrr...)

J'aime parler français.

This thread shows to me how pissy Europeans really are. "So I can insult Americans", what is that? You don't hear peopke say they want to learn German to insult Germans. I'm glad an ocean seperates us, so sorry you're no longer a world power.

This thread shows to me how pissy Europeans really are. "So I can insult Americans", what is that? You don't hear peopke say they want to learn German to insult Germans. I'm glad an ocean seperates us, so sorry you're no longer a world power.

My best advise is to ignore Gigatron. He is, at best, a dilitante and a provocateur without the guts to actually discuss an issue. If he's over 15 years old, I'd be surprised since he certainly doesn't act it.

Meine besten raten ist Gigatron zu ignorieren. Er ist bestenfalls ein dilitante und ein provocateur wer nicht traut eine logische Diskussion zu haben. Wenn er ist über 15 Jahren alt, ich bin überrascht. Er benimmt sich nichts.

Edit: Yes, I know my german grammar sucks, flame away Gig. It's what you do best.

This thread shows to me how pissy Europeans really are. "So I can insult Americans", what is that? You don't hear peopke say they want to learn German to insult Germans. I'm glad an ocean seperates us, so sorry you're no longer a world power.
Hey I was not being serious - note the smiley. Duh!!!
I think this thread is silly, but the best foreign language to know would probably be Chinese. It's the land with the largest population and the superpower of tomorrow with the greatest economic potential. The problem is, I think Chinese is divided in some forms... Mandarin is the most popular afaik.

My best advise is to ignore Gigatron. He is, at best, a dilitante and a provocateur without the guts to actually discuss an issue. If he's over 15 years old, I'd be surprised since he certainly doesn't act it.

Meine besten raten ist Gigatron zu ignorieren. Er ist bestenfalls ein dilitante und ein provocateur wer nicht traut eine logische Diskussion zu haben. Wenn er ist über 15 Jahren alt, ich bin überrascht. Er benimmt sich nichts.

Edit: Yes, I know my german grammar sucks, flame away Gig. It's what you do best.
If you're pissed off because I accused you of being a puppet for propaganda-spreading purposes then you just reinforced my point. Thankee :)

J'aime parler français.
Ugh. Je n'aime pas le francophones. Mais, francais n'est pas.... uhh... it's not a foreign language. I just don't speak it worth half a damn. Of course, this poll obviously assumes we're all from countries with English as the only official language. Canada being bilingual, that already excludes one of these "foreign" languages as far as I'm concerned. In any case, I don't see how one language can be better than another.

English. Because it enables me to insult the Americans properly :p

Oh btw if you mean foreign language for members of the US Empire.. umm.. German. Because if they knew it, I could insult them in my native tongue, which would be much easier for me :)

You know, although this was in jest, you do have a point. The ability to understand what people around me say and respond appropriately increases my ability to function in society.
I live in Japan and have been known to deliver a good zinger in Japanese when insulted. It is an excellent means correcting the misguided idea that "no foreigner could possibly understand what we are saying about him, so it's perfectly ok to say the rudest things that comes to mind to his face". :)

Well I speak English, Cantonese, and I speak basic Mandarin and Italian :)

Wow that was off topic.

anyways I would say this is a stupid question. There is no "best" foreign language.

If you mean most useful though, it'd be either English or Mandarin, since they are the two most widely spoken languages in the world. Esp. with china's rapid surge in economic growth, you can expect that knowing Mandarin would be very helpful.

In fact, I'm trying to learn Mandarin right now :) Knowing cantonese actually makes it significantly easier, I already know all the grammar and such, just need to learn the actual words.

And the question is pretty silly, because you haven't indicated what you mean by best and because you assume everyone here is a native English speaker.

"Spanish - hey! Puerto Ricans speak it - how hard can it be?"
:rolleyes:

Ok there quiz kid. How the hell do you know how to pronounce Latin correctly? It will remain a mystery until we can get Augustus from the days of yore (ancient Rome) to give us all a lesson in Latin phonetics. As long as you can understand what someone is trying to say, that should be good enough. Unless you know something I have missed out on or have a time machine.

PS-Can I borrow said time machine (I have a killer investment to make). ;)

We'll I'm taking Latin and well quiz kid is right. Classical Latin (Latin spoken by Augustus, Caesar, Nero, etc.) was pronounced differently from Medieval Latin (Church Latin once spoken in the Tridentine Masses of the Catholic church, but now limited to rare prayers in the modern Mass)

For example:
the word excelsis such as gloria in excelsis deo (glory to god in the highest) was pronounced:

Classical : eks-KIL-sis
Medieval: eks-CHEEL-sis

Cicero:

English: Si-cero

Classical: Ki-kero
Medieval: Chee-cheero


How do we know? Researchers studying Latin texts figured it out.

As for the Church being stupid over Latin pronunciation, you have to understand that there was no hiatus between the time that Latin was "alive" and the time when the Church adopted Latin as the official language in Mass. The Church never intended to use Classical Latin. They intended to use the current Latin standard, which was Medieval Latin. So was the Church stupid for not pronouncing Latin correctly? No, because Classical Latin was not the standard. Medieval was.

Its like this. Look at the King James Version of the Bible and your everyday newspaper. Both are written in the English language, however the King James Version was written in an older version of English and the newspaper was written in everyday Modern English.

Does this mean that Modern English is wrong because it is different from the form of English used in the King James Version of the Bible? No, not at all.

The case concerning Church Latin is similar. It's the ordinary evolution of language. If the Church was wrong in using Medieval Latin instead of Classical Latin, then we too are wrong in using Modern English instead of some other form of archaic English.

French. 'cause it's the only one in the list that i can speak :p

german.

Korean, because words like mong chongi, goyangi and mulgoggi are cool. (idiot, cat, fish)
Maori, because hardly anyone outside New Zealand knows anything about it, and words like Whakatane sound rude even though they're not. (If you don't get that word, pronounce the "Wh" as "f")

The one I can speak best is french, but whether that makes it the best is doubtful.

Ma francais n'est pas fort, mais je peux parler en peu.

Auch, kann ich spreche ein bischen Deutsch.

We'll I'm taking Latin and well quiz kid is right. Classical Latin (Latin spoken by Augustus, Caesar, Nero, etc.) was pronounced differently from Medieval Latin (Church Latin once spoken in the Tridentine Masses of the Catholic church, but now limited to rare prayers in the modern Mass)

For example:
the word excelsis such as gloria in excelsis deo (glory to god in the highest) was pronounced:

Classical : eks-KIL-sis
Medieval: eks-CHEEL-sis

Cicero:

English: Si-cero

Classical: Ki-kero
Medieval: Chee-cheero


How do we know? Researchers studying Latin texts figured it out.

As for the Church being stupid over Latin pronunciation, you have to understand that there was no hiatus between the time that Latin was "alive" and the time when the Church adopted Latin as the official language in Mass. The Church never intended to use Classical Latin. They intended to use the current Latin standard, which was Medieval Latin. So was the Church stupid for not pronouncing Latin correctly? No, because Classical Latin was not the standard. Medieval was.

Its like this. Look at the King James Version of the Bible and your everyday newspaper. Both are written in the English language, however the King James Version was written in an older version of English and the newspaper was written in everyday Modern English.

Does this mean that Modern English is wrong because it is different from the form of English used in the King James Version of the Bible? No, not at all.

The case concerning Church Latin is similar. It's the ordinary evolution of language. If the Church was wrong in using Medieval Latin instead of Classical Latin, then we too are wrong in using Modern English instead of some other form of archaic English.

Researchers can not tell exactly how classical latin was spoken, as no one alive today was around back then, it is immposible to know. It is an educated guess, they may be right, but then again they may wrong. Many great latin scholars would agree with me. Illiud Latine dici non potest!

Klingon you steaming pile of bahktag

OH NOES!!!1

Ah, A minute after reading that and I am still giggling like a school girl. Good work.

I'm fond of German. And French. And American.

OH NOES!!!1 No "other" option.

I'm personally fond of Japanese.
HAI! ^_^ I like it as well! Especially in animé! Purr...those seiyuus really know how to bring a character to life!!

French because I'm fluent in it!

And American.
There is a language like that? :confused:

What a stupid question.

I speak American and Mexican.

What a stupid question.
What a stupid response.

Japanese.

English. Because it enables me to insult the Americans properly :p

Tsk! Jealousy is SUCH a negative emotion! :D

There is a language like that? :confused:

;)

Oh yes! It's a strange lanaguage spoken only by dwarves living under Boston. They are all named Mort. Or Mortimer.

I'm learning German. I think its a great authoritarian language! When I have children I plan to discipline them in German. :p

none of them, they're equivalent for most uses.

i can speak hindi and german. i think german is better because it is sppoken all around europe and if you know german then you won't have problem touring around europe.

Latin
The beautiful universal language of the Holy Mass and the Church.

Ok there quiz kid. How the hell do you know how to pronounce Latin correctly? It will remain a mystery until we can get Augustus from the days of yore (ancient Rome) to give us all a lesson in Latin phonetics. As long as you can understand what someone is trying to say, that should be good enough. Unless you know something I have missed out on or have a time machine.

PS-Can I borrow said time machine (I have a killer investment to make). ;)
Okay, technically there is probably no correct pronounciation of Latin because it changed over the centuries. Church Latin was similar to Vulgar Latin (Latin of the people) because that is how most people in informal situations spoke. However, there have been found ancient roman grammar and pronounciation books which time and time again tell students not to pronounce Latin in the ways that Vulgar latin was. In fact, even in the second century AD, the pronounciation of Vulgar latin had nearly evolved completely into Italian. The commonly accepted Latin was that of Caesr and Cicero, which books do tell us how to pronounce.

Latin
The beautiful universal language of the Holy Mass and the Church.

:cool: Very True! :cool:

"German ish teh sex"

Okay, technically there is probably no correct pronounciation of Latin because it changed over the centuries. Church Latin was similar to Vulgar Latin (Latin of the people) because that is how most people in informal situations spoke. However, there have been found ancient roman grammar and pronounciation books which time and time again tell students not to pronounce Latin in the ways that Vulgar latin was. In fact, even in the second century AD, the pronounciation of Vulgar latin had nearly evolved completely into Italian. The commonly accepted Latin was that of Caesr and Cicero, which books do tell us how to pronounce.

Caesarian Latin Pronunciation:

www.omniglot.com/writing/latin.htm The pronunciation is about half way down the page. For the picture, click here: http://www.omniglot.com/images/writing/latin_pronunciation.gif

why these languages? you're ignoring lots of "fun" languages.

Yea! "!Xu~"!

Well, I'd have to go with an extralistal choice, and our (Artoonia's) Official Language: Esperanto. Just watch Shatner in Incubus and try to argue otherwise!

(Church Latin once spoken in the Tridentine Masses of the Catholic church, but now limited to rare prayers in the modern Mass)

No, Latin is forever the universal language of the Catholic Mass.

French and German are tied for me. I've been learning German for a while, took a couple years of French, though it's quite some time.

I love the way each sound.

Hmm, I think I'm going to be the only person who voted for Latin without any religious reason. I just like learning a language with such a staunch logic behind it. It's also great that I'm not expected to speak it, so I don't have to rely on my terrible memory for nominatives. Learning it also teaches you a great deal of history and culture.

Icelandic

Spanish. fantastic language!