NationStates Jolt Archive

What language should I take in high school? I need to know by uhm.. Friday.

DAMN YOU LANGLEY! :headbang:

Spanish

What are the choices? For example, at my high school, you could take whatever language you wanted, so long as it was Spanish or French.

They are all good. Latin will help you a lot on the SAT, Russian will help you impress people, French or especially Spanish you might actually use.

Don't worry about Japanese. It is really really hard (trust me, I took it) and plus all Japanese people know English and will want to practice it with you. And they are as snobby about their language as the French. German is similar, though without the snobbish part, and then they won't have to practice, chances are their English will be better than yours.

In my opinion, Spanish or German are the easiest.

hmm i've heard spanish is the easiest and probably most useful.
at our school french is the hardest but that's just cuz the teacher's a nazi. which is ironic, cuz our german teachers are really nice. that's what i'm taking; german. and i got to go there as an exchange student and it was the best time of my life.

Take Japanese it is fun and might be useful. (How many years do you have to take a language?)

well if you plan on spending time in LA, Miami, southern Texas or Mexico (or Spain of course, as well as some Caribbean islands), Spanish could really come in handy.

French, imo, is not a language for men... not a manly language. GERMAN is very manly. Problem is, you'll end up spitting on people unintentionally.

Simply saying the word "Ich" naturally stirs up phlegm.

hehe

Don't worry about Japanese. It is really really hard (trust me, I took it) and plus all Japanese people know English and will want to practice it with you. And they are as snobby about their language as the French. German is similar, though without the snobbish part, and then they won't have to practice, chances are their English will be better than yours.

German is vastly easier than japanese for a native english speaker to learn, though.

Take German. I did. Since very few people opt for German you get small classes full of interesting people.

a friend of mine taught me this:

wa ta shi Tom des

I was told that this means, "I am Tom" or "I am Mr. Tom"

Take German. I did. Since very few people opt for German you get small classes full of interesting people.

very true.

I'm leanin' towards German...

latin will help you with most Western European languages and it helps if you want to get a medical degree

Latin will help you with french, spanish, italian, portugeses and romanian, as they derrive from it. I take french and italian, and I believe them to be the most beautiful languages, and you will have a lot back as you will see that many words in french are splled much like their enlish meaning. German is damn hard, especially if you're not danish, swedish or norwegian, as it has almost no connections with the english laguage. But, if you've got a talent for grammar, german will come easily to you. Russian, what's the point? Unless you have russian relatives or the like. Spanish, french or latin are the ones I would recommend. But latin is damn hard aswell, with itäs complicated grammar. SO, apnish och french. I go for french, just for it beauty, though id you're living in the US or close by (Except Canada), spanish has the highest probability to be utilised in the future...

Take a language that will serve you best. You speak english already... Learn Spanish. Second to English it is very widely spoken. Although you could take one of the three different chinese languages. Maybe cantonese or mandarin. Forget about French or German. They are a waste of time if you want to work in international biz.

German !!!

Latin will help you with french, spanish, italian, portugeses and romanian, as they derrive from it. I take french and italian, and I believe them to be the most beautiful languages, and you will have a lot back as you will see that many words in french are splled much like their enlish meaning. German is damn hard, especially if you're not danish, swedish or norwegian, as it has almost no connections with the english laguage. But, if you've got a talent for grammar, german will come easily to you. Russian, what's the point? Unless you have russian relatives or the like. Spanish, french or latin are the ones I would recommend. But latin is damn hard aswell, with itäs complicated grammar. SO, apnish och french. I go for french, just for it beauty, though id you're living in the US or close by (Except Canada), spanish has the highest probability to be utilised in the future...

The point to learning Russian is that you can sound cool... tell people that your parents are ex-KGB agents sent to your country as sleepers. They taught you Russian at home and how to kill people with a single punch. Now that the USSR has collapsed they've renounced their ways and taken up the local lifestyle. Of course, you can still kill with a single punch :D

I vote for Spanish because it is probably the most useful (at least around here anyway). That way when they are standing about two feet away from you and are talking about you, you can understand them and then make a bitchy comment back. lol.

However, my brain must suck, because i took it for 3 years in high school, and i dont remember much unless i am frequently around people who speak it.

If you failed spanish, your only hopes are english and esperanto. just take spanish again. its easy and usefull

German is damn hard, especially if you're not danish, swedish or norwegian, as it has almost no connections with the english laguage.

Let me tell you about something called the West Germanic language family, which consists of English, Dutch, and German. It is called "West Germanic because all three are derived from the language spoken by the German people in Medieval times.

Suggestion: Chinese or Arabic to expand your cultural horizons, and to have something that will be useful throughout the 21st century, not to mention the possibility of visiting exotic places (hopefully not to blow them up and burn them down ;) )

Japanese and Russian would be ok choices.

Spanish is damn useful, and very easy. But if you flunked it (and it is the easiest one of the bunch), I don't know what to tell you. Maybe it wasn't interesting enough? Try reading some Gabriel Garcia Marquez in the original.

French, German and Latin are has-beens ;)

I'm a slow learner is all. Blech.

Russian the other ones are too common. well besides japanese and latin.

DAMN YOU LANGLEY!

Yeah, I can't stand her. Asuka is so annoying.

a friend of mine taught me this:

wa ta shi Tom des

I was told that this means, "I am Tom" or "I am Mr. Tom"

Actually, it would be:

Watashi wa Tom desu.

Though desu is basically pronounced des because u and i are more or less whispered under certain conditions.

Since all the greatest works have been written by Russians and Japanese (such as Peter Kropotkin, Vladimir Nabokov, gotta love his psychological weapons, and Hideaki Anno), I'd recommend Russian or Japanese.

You flunked out of Spanish?!

Japanese is uber-coolness, but go with Latin. If your fluent in Latin, learning any of the other Romance languages will be a breeze. Take one course and in just one extra month you'll also know French, Spanish and Italian.

Well what are your strengths?
Do you prefer logic? To say things? Do you want to use this?
Where do you go on hoiday/plan to go?

French is fairly easy in my opinion, it's grammar rules are easier than German. At my school the smart kids tended to do German over Spanish. However the German words are closer to the English, so the vocab is easier.
Latin...well, it's a dead language. So it's a lot of logic and grammar rules.
The Oriental languages are based on an entirely different system. Your voicebox will not be able to do all the sounds as the formation time has passed. You certainly won't confuse words with English, but with each other.
Russian has a different alphabet. That's always fun to type.

Yeah..learn German. :) Easier to learn.

If you want to work for the government (esp the DOD) take Russian, Chinese, or Arabic.

If you want to work with the general public, take Spanish or American Sign Language.

If you want to work in technology, take Japanese.

If you want to work in the social sciences (esp. Sociology or Psychology) take French or German.

If you want to work in the sciences or law, take Latin.

I voted latin because its easy, and useful. The words are allclosely related to English, and the grammar rules make sense. It also makes it much easier to learn the other Romance languages, and is good for when you take the SAT and ACT, though you may not be looking that far ahead. Also, it often involves a lot of study of Roman history and culture, so it's like a second history course, only easier.

German is fun, if my school offered it, I'd take it.

French and Spanish are Romance languages, learn Latin and you've got them easily.

Russian would be cool, but now that the Cold war is over, there's not much point.

Japanese would be useful if you're planing to move to Japan. Otherwise stick to the European languages that are used almost everywhere: the Europeans did colonize/invade most of the world and force their language upon it.

I suggest Japanese mainly because I speak some Japanese and it's kind of a cool language. It's also completely different from English in every way I can conceive of, not to mention it can be very difficult to learn the finer points of it.

I think Russian or German, because Japanese would be too hard, and the other languages sound really bad in an american accent.

I would still take Spanish. It will be incredibly useful to Americans in the near future. And you have all those languages at your high school? Holy shit, we only have Spanish and French at mine. There is also German but only two teachers teach it.

I took Ameslan (American Sign Language) and Latin in high school.

Ameslan has proved the most useful.

I'd say if you want to be sensible, take Spanish. Where are you from? Just because you fail Spanish doesn't mean you haven't learned anything. Think of it this way, my friend who was Mexican and fluent in Spanish, was a year ahead of me in Spanish. He took Spanish 3 and I took Spanish 2. He took the class to "get an A". It was the only class he went to and did the work for, and he still failed.

Well I heard that Spanish was an easy one to learn, which probably isn't the best news for someone who failed it...

Also, if you decide to take a different language later on, it will be helpful to you. I take Spanish, French, and Italian. I started with French and then took a year of Spanish on my own, through my school. Starting with French or Spanish will help you because a lot of the words and concepts are similar to other languages.

Ok, well this might sound a little racist or whatever...

Although Spanish is and will be the most widely spoken language in America, I take French instead. Why? Because if I grow up to have a job where I work with people who only speak Spanish..I don't want that job. French, on the other hand, is a truly international language that one can use in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Oh and Canada.

I have a feeling that didn't make sense...

I would take Spanish for a language b,cause you will actualy use it!

p.s Spanish is the 2nd most spoken language in the world.FACT!

People tend to take Spanish more than French, and in my experience the kids in Spanish who didn't know much weren't quite as noticeable than in my French classes. Most of the kids in my French classes were A and B students.

Spanish because it is the most useful.

So what did you pick?

Russian, 'cause it's an emerging economy. Chinese would be good too. Japanese aint so good, as a previous poster said, most Japanese know english and are all too eager to practice it.

If you want to take an easy class go with Latin. You don't have to learn to speak it so no improvisation of any sort. Just translating texts.
From a functional standpoint, Spanish, French, German, or Chinese.

Well guys, I know none of you really care, but I went with Spanish.

I have some extra help (two nice computer programs and some tapes) and a little bit of a head start, since I already took a bit of it.

I had a hankerin' for German, but I think in the end, Spanish might be more useful and just as easy (if not easier).

Well guys, I know none of you really care, but I went with Spanish.

I have some extra help (two nice computer programs and some tapes) and a little bit of a head start, since I already took a bit of it.

I had a hankerin' for German, but I think in the end, Spanish might be more useful and just as easy (if not easier).
Spanish is a good choice. A language quickly growing in use, and not especially hard to learn either.

I just bought some computer software the other day to help me learn Arabic using the immersion method. I'm picking it up extremely quickly - although, to be fair, I am good with languages. I figure about 6-8 months and I'll have this one down decent enough for conversation (I'll get lots of practice with the brothers at Mosque).

That'll bring me up to five ... English, Cajun (which is really just a dialect of French), Hebrew, and soon to be Arabic. For #6, I want to learn that tongue clicking African Bushman language ... anyone know where one can learn that in SE Texas? :D

I take Latin, but I should've went with Spanish.