NationStates Jolt Archive

As we all know, english, (in most cases poorly spoken) rules modern Europe and North America, and influences most of the world. I have a severe fetish for foreign languages, keep this in mind.

Now, I have been studying german for 1.5 years now, and I have found it too be far too easy... I have started to study French on the side, and ladies and gentlmen, I have found my challenge.

But lets take the focus off me, fellow Nationstaters. Lets assume english is your native tongue. (forgive me non-english native speakers who visit this board) If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason. I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)

South American Spanish so I can communicate with people when I move to Northwest Louisiana. :p

First, I'd invest some resources in improving my Hebrew. Another language I would like to learn would be Arabic.

Russian.

I'm a big asia fanatic, expecially japan. I love anime and Manga and all that other stuff and I want to be able to see it without having to worry about english subtitles or horrible translations. So, yay japanese!

I like the sound and flow of Italian. I know a small bit but would like to learn more.

I'd go with Chinese. That way I can order direct from the sweatsh...I mean factory.

But seriously, Chinese because it's widely spoken and would help my understanding of the Japanese Kanji and would get me started on understanding Korean.

If I actually had to pay or attend classes to learn a language, I'd choose Spanish because its the most useful in the US (besides English, which I does speak good already).

If I could just magically learn a language, with no effort or money on my part, I'd like to know Icelandic. It seems to be the most medieval language.

As we all know, english, (in most cases poorly spoken) rules modern Europe and North America, and influences most of the world. I have a severe fetish for foreign languages, keep this in mind.

Now, I have been studying german for 1.5 years now, and I have found it too be far too easy... I have started to study French on the side, and ladies and gentlmen, I have found my challenge.

But lets take the focus off me, fellow Nationstaters. Lets assume english is your native tongue. (forgive me non-english native speakers who visit this board) If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason. I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)

German. I already tried, so I'll have a little background.

Dutch. *nods*

I'm a big asia fanatic, expecially japan. I love anime and Manga and all that other stuff and I want to be able to see it without having to worry about english subtitles or horrible translations. So, yay japanese!

Ill admit its tempting, but trust me its not as it seems.... -.-

With a system of phonetic-symbolism in the writing and several dialects, as well as differnt forms (such as the honorable and humble forms) in differnt social contexts seems daunting.

Dutch. *nods*

I looked into it. Its basically a very slurry German. =/

I'd go for Manderin because it's so very different from English.

I love learning German & French but I don't concider them foreign since their both part of my heritage(I'm a Multiracial American).For foreign languages I love me some Catalan and Arabic!

Why would French be a challenge if German is far to easy? Thanks to the huge number of French words in English, I can read the language semi-fluently having only been taught a basic level in High School.

But Mandarin would be my choice, seeing as it has a fair few speakers (simplified Chinese is a script, not a spoken language - and learning Hanzi would just be a complete waste of time)

Russian, I already speak a little (very little) and it would be nice to improve

I would learn Japanese in preparation for a move to Japan. I want to live there for a couple of years anyway.

Italian, cos the ladies love a stallion ;)

Italian, with Japanese at a close second

Korean. There are lots of East Asians where I live and Chinese is too difficult, and Japanese is too nerdy. So the next most common language is Korean. I want eves dropping skills

Well I speak/Sign BSL, German and Spanish and would love to improve upon all of them.

But a completely new language? Probably Chinese or Japanese

First, I'd invest some resources in improving my Hebrew. Another language I would like to learn would be Arabic.

I concur with him.

Chinese. About 30 percent of the local population can speak it, so it would be rather, um, practical.

Instead I was forced to learn French.

Dutch = German has lots of similarities with English, English lots of similarities with French = Spanish.

Spanish would be my first choice because it's the language I'd be most likely to use (I live in the USA).

Latin, because it was a major contributor to many European languages. And maybe Japanese. Maybe I'm a little biased because of my ancestry.:D

Italian. Spanish would be much more useful but somehow I like Italian more. I think I'd be better at speaking it, too. I definitely have the agitated hand gestures down pat. :p

German 'cause I don't know I just kinda want to learn it. French would be very usefull. So would Japenesse or Chinese I suppose.

Sanskrit, definitely.

The Cyrillic alphabet is crazy-simple and it should take you only about literally 30min to get used to it, plus it's very well-suited for Russian - don't let it be a factor in learning Russian or not.

spanish or polish.

Why would French be a challenge if German is far to easy? Thanks to the huge number of French words in English, I can read the language semi-fluently having only been taught a basic level in High School.

But Mandarin would be my choice, seeing as it has a fair few speakers (simplified Chinese is a script, not a spoken language - and learning Hanzi would just be a complete waste of time)

Well seeing as english is a Germanic language, alot of the words are cognative, and the sentence structure is pathetically easy to master. French uses cognates as well, however not nearly as many. Its pronunciation is also far differnt, and harder to assertain. The sentence structure isnt as difficult as German, but the words differ more, or they tend to. Therin lies the challenge.

The Cyrillic alphabet is crazy-simple and it should take you only about literally 30min to get used to it, plus it's very well-suited for Russian - don't let it be a factor in learning Russian or not.

Thanks, ive looked into it. It still would take quite the adjustment. Russian would be incredibly useful however, seeing as most Slavic countries have some sort of basic comprehension of it.

Yiddish.

German. Mainly because it has the best profanities ever.

thlIngan Hol.

This thread fails for lack of both that response, and Sindarin.

I am giving up on Japanese (it's hard!) and embarking on Swedish (it's funny!)

I did Spanish (easy), French (easy-ish) and a few others for varying amounts of time, I am not really what I would call fluent in any of them, but I can communicate on a basic level...if someone dropped me into a situation where I needed them, I would probably survive.

French, it impresses the ladies. :)

French, it impresses the ladies. :)

The romantic languages tend to do that.... Does anyone think Italian is more-so romantic sounding?

As we all know, english, (in most cases poorly spoken) rules modern Europe and North America, and influences most of the world. I have a severe fetish for foreign languages, keep this in mind.

Now, I have been studying german for 1.5 years now, and I have found it too be far too easy... I have started to study French on the side, and ladies and gentlmen, I have found my challenge.

But lets take the focus off me, fellow Nationstaters. Lets assume english is your native tongue. (forgive me non-english native speakers who visit this board) If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason. I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)

That's odd, I found German far harder than I found French... though I didn't take French for too long. I would've picked German, but I've spent four years in it, so I'll go with Chinese instead. I hope, by the end of college, I'm fluent in German, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic... that's my hope, anyway...

Pragmatic answer: German and Italian. They're awfully useful as a classical musician.

Totally unpragmatic answer: Welsh. It's darn near entirely useless, but it sounds neat!

Honest answer: Any language at all. I really enjoy studying languages, and I'd love to be fluent in more than my current 1.75-ish. (I used to be fully fluent in French, but it's been so many years since I've had any French speakers to talk to on a regular basis, half of my speech has turned into "Euhhh...." I can still read French just fine, but I sound like a moron when I try to talk.)

Klingon.

As we all know, english, (in most cases poorly spoken) rules modern Europe and North America, and influences most of the world. I have a severe fetish for foreign languages, keep this in mind.

Now, I have been studying german for 1.5 years now, and I have found it too be far too easy... I have started to study French on the side, and ladies and gentlmen, I have found my challenge.

But lets take the focus off me, fellow Nationstaters. Lets assume english is your native tongue. (forgive me non-english native speakers who visit this board) If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason. I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)

French, because being bilingual gets you the best jobs up here.

Well since I already basically know Spanish, I see no point to learn any other language. I would use said time and resources to do something far more entertaining. Like the circus.

Spanish considering I live in a neighborhood that's about 30% Latino and I speak only what I remember from the 2 years I studied in HS.

Second choice: Amharic.

Also, anyone considered the scandanavian languages?

As we all know, english, (in most cases poorly spoken)
Your grammar is terrible, I hope you know that :p
rules modern Europe and North America, and influences most of the world.
Huzzah!
Now, I have been studying german for 1.5 years now, and I have found it too be far too easy... I have started to study French on the side, and ladies and gentlmen, I have found my challenge.
German is super hard when you get past the "ich heiße Joe" stuff. The grammars r 2 much for me :(
But lets take the focus off me, fellow Nationstaters. Lets assume english is your native tongue. (forgive me non-english native speakers who visit this board) If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason. [b]I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)[/QUOTE]
Which dialect of German?


Personally, I'd like to learn some Chinese, I suppose. Might be useful.

I am giving up on Japanese (it's hard!)There's quite a learning curve. Still on the lower end, as I'll have to take quite a jump in terms of vocabulary to get further. But at least it's phonetically straightforward.
and embarking on Swedish (it's funny!)Not too useful, though, unless you go here. Still, the more languages you know, the more bad puns you can make.;) (and there's plenty of silly ones in Swedish. also, plenty of cross-language silliness between it and English)

Russian...after all, everyone in my politics class accuses me of being a Communist. Well, as long as this doesn't mean I have to have the stereotype Communist odd-looking beard :p

Note: I am aware that Russia is no longer Communist

As we all know, english, (in most cases poorly spoken) -snip highly illuminating rest-

..and I loves myself some good irony. I put a certain conscious effort into improving my written and spoken skills in my mother tongue as regularly as I can, and I enjoy that as much as I do learning other languages, which means immensely.

Anyhow, I think the first thing to do would be to brush up my French and Spanish to near-fluency level (in the productive skills) again, and to continue my sadly interrupted studies of Swedish, just because it's such a neat language, and I may or may not want to move to that lovely country one day.

I think I'll start to learn (basic) Russian, Turkish, Chinese and Arabic someday just because of their tremendous usefulness and significance (where I live), but I'm not sure yet when I'll have the time for that.

And, of course, I'll keep spamming NSG et al for eternity in order to take my English for a leisure walk around the block ;P

I already speak Spanish, decent Japanese, some German, some Italian, and some Gaelic. Russian looks interesting, and I've actually tried to learn, but that alphabet is killing me!

Also, anyone considered the scandanavian languages?

Yuppers, Swedish and Finnish are both high on my list of languages that I have no practical reason to learn but really like quite a lot. :)

Chinese. About 30 percent of the local population can speak it, so it would be rather, um, practical.

Instead I was forced to learn French.
Where did you go to school?

Your grammar is terrible, I hope you know that :p

Huzzah!

German is super hard when you get past the "ich heiße Joe" stuff. The grammars r 2 much for me :(
I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)
Which dialect of German?


Personally, I'd like to learn some Chinese, I suppose. Might be useful.[/QUOTE]

Erm seeing as youve never heared me speak, I simply cannot concur, mate.

Im well passed the n00b stuff. -.- Its basically talking like yoda, with far more phlem.

High Saxon, what is standard in most foreign study groups.

Tradional or simplified chineese?

..and I loves myself some good irony. I put a certain conscious effort into improving my written and spoken skills in my mother tongue as regularly as I can, and I enjoy that as much as I do learning other languages, which means immensely.

Anyhow, I think the first thing to do would be to brush up my French and Spanish to near-fluency level (in the productive skills) again, and to continue my sadly interrupted studies of Swedish, just because it's such a neat language, and I may or may not want to move to that lovely country one day.

I think I'll start to learn (basic) Russian, Turkish, Chinese and Arabic someday just because of their tremendous usefulness and significance (where I live), but I'm not sure yet when I'll have the time for that.

And, of course, I'll keep spamming NSG et al for eternity in order to take my English for a leisure walk around the block ;P


keep in mind my fingers were frozen from a 6 hour walk prior to authoring the post, so dont quite cream yourself yet mate. ;)

Where do you live? Id guess somewhere in western asia?

As we all know, english, (in most cases poorly spoken) rules modern Europe and North America, and influences most of the world. I have a severe fetish for foreign languages, keep this in mind.

Now, I have been studying german for 1.5 years now, and I have found it too be far too easy... I have started to study French on the side, and ladies and gentlmen, I have found my challenge.

But lets take the focus off me, fellow Nationstaters. Lets assume english is your native tongue. (forgive me non-english native speakers who visit this board) If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason. I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)

Your poll sucks. Neither Irish or Scottish (different dialects of Gaelic) nor any of the Scandinavian nations, are on it and there is no "other" option.

Your poll sucks. Neither Irish or Scottish (different dialects of Gaelic) nor any of the Scandinavian nations, are on it and there is no "other" option.

What you just wrote is the "other" option, mate.

I speak French well; were I to decide to do so, I'm sure I could become bi-lingual. I'm proficient at Latin, and can translate limited Ancient Greek.

I'd probably choose to learn Spanish; for the purpose of travelling, it is easily more useful than German, Chinese or Italian and the like.

Also, anyone considered the scandanavian languages?

No. Only a handful of people speak them, and German is an infinitely cooler variant. Unless I were to develop a spontaneous love of the Vikings or went to work at Ikea tomorrow, I wouldn't learn them.

What you just wrote is the "other" option, mate.

I guess I was rather blunt. But yeah, I'd learn either one of the Gaelic languages (Irish or Scottish) or one of the Scandinavian languages.

No. Only a handful of people speak them, and German is an infinitely cooler variant. Unless I were to develop a spontaneous love of the Vikings or went to work at Ikea tomorrow, I wouldn't learn them.

I disagree, I think that all the Scandinavian languages are infinitely cooler than German. And Icelandic is infinitely cooler than all of the rest of the Scandinavian languages.

I'm in my fourth year of studying Latin and I started studying French this school year. Aside from those two I'd love to learn Italian, and probably some other languages, too, although I'm not sure which. It would also be very practical to learn Spanish. I don't know if I'll get the chance to do so, though, not soon at least.

Latin is such an epic language. If only I had kept going in it...

I only remember: -us -a -um
-i -ae -a
.............
:confused:

I disagree, I think that all the Scandinavian languages are infinitely cooler than German. And Icelandic is infinitely cooler than all of the rest of the Scandinavian languages.

Well, I disagree with your disagreeing! I believe we've reached an impasse. ;)

I'm in my fourth year of studying Latin and I started studying French this school year. Aside from those two I'd love to learn Italian, and probably some other languages, too, although I'm not sure which. It would also be very practical to learn Spanish. I don't know if I'll get the chance to do so, though, not soon at least.

Latin is such an epic language. If only I had kept going in it...

Latin is such an epic language. If only I had kept going in it...

I love it. I'm studying the Aeneid this year. :) My test on Book IV is this Thursday.

I even convinced both of my younger brothers to start studying it, too, now that they're in high school. They both also seem to really like it and one of them was even quoted in the newspaper saying that learning it was fun in an article about the regional Latin competition we had at my school. I'm so proud of him, he got 5th place in Mythology I and 5th place in Derivatives I. I'm proud of myself, too, I got 1st place in Advanced Poetry Comprehension and 1st place in Advanced Vocabulary, and I'm especially happy about that because I was ahead of the person in 2nd place by six questions, on a test with 50 questions total.

:)

I only remember: -us -a -um
-i -ae -a
.............
:confused:

Hey, that's more than I remember. But I was really good at it when I was in it.

I guess I was rather blunt. But yeah, I'd learn either one of the Gaelic languages (Irish or Scottish) or one of the Scandinavian languages.

Gaelic looks somewhat interesting. Not so much a broad community, but interesting nonetheless

I can speak English, German and Spanish, can read Hebrew (not so well anymore), can understand some written Dutch and converse a tiny bit..but I'm really trying to teach it to myself. I've also just started Italian I and it's awesome. Knowing Spanish realllllly helps.

.....Dutch is my favorite language and I'm dying to learn it. It's quite easy and knowing German realllllly helps.

Would be cool to eventually have English, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch.

I can speak English (duh), some Hebrew, and one semester worth of Spanish.
I'd like to learn Japanese, but not Chinese; 'cause tones are ebil.
Also maybe German or Dutch, just 'cause they're easy.
Granted, my experiences with Hebrew and Spanish suggest Japanese will be hard as fuck. And that's not counting the writing system, either.

I can speak English (duh), some Hebrew, and one semester worth of Spanish.
I'd like to learn Japanese, but not Chinese; 'cause tones are ebil.
Also maybe German or Dutch, just 'cause they're easy.
Granted, my experiences with Hebrew and Spanish suggest Japanese will be hard as fuck. And that's not counting the writing system, either.

Interesting..... German is easy, but ive always heared spanish is equally as easy. Sure German and Dutch would have alot more cognates, but thier gramatic structure is generally a tad more complex.

Interesting..... German is easy, but ive always heared spanish is equally as easy. Sure German and Dutch would have alot more cognates, but thier gramatic structure is generally a tad more complex.


I can speak English (duh), some Hebrew, and one semester worth of Spanish.
I'd like to learn Japanese, but not Chinese; 'cause tones are ebil.
Also maybe German or Dutch, just 'cause they're easy.
Granted, my experiences with Hebrew and Spanish suggest Japanese will be hard as fuck. And that's not counting the writing system, either.

German and Dutch are only "easy" if you know one or the other...otherwise they are said to be very difficult. How much German have you guys had...because I'm willing to bet you havn't got past the basics if you think German is "easy" to learn.....

Spanish, however...is one of the easier languages to learn... Way easier than German or Dutch...

Welsh. It's the only non-english language I'll probably ever have the need to use.

Unless you're on about alternative english-based languages as well. In which case, C.

我希望学会讲中文。

Ik zou willen leren om het Nederlands te spreken.

Je voudrais apprendre à parler français.

Ich möchte erlernen, Deutsches zu sprechen.

Θα επιθυμούσα να μάθω να μιλώ τα ελληνικά.

Vorrei imparare parlare italiano.

私は日本語を話すことを学ぶことを望む。

나는 한국어를 말한것을 배우고 싶으면.

Eu gostaria de aprender falar o português.

Я хотел был бы выучить поговорить русского.

Y quisiera aprender hablar español.

keep in mind my fingers were frozen from a 6 hour walk prior to authoring the post, so dont quite cream yourself yet mate. ;)
I, uh, wont? Mostly due to an inherent physical inability to do what you suggested in quite the way you implied.

Where do you live? Id guess somewhere in western asia?

Again, not quite. Germany.

nihongo (japanese) because there's lots of things about that place that intrest me and i'd like to be able to read about them in their own perspective.

and nissinan maidu, because that is the real, been there the longest language, of where i happen to live.

if people are supposed to learn and speak the language of wherever they happen to be, the languages of the indinginous cultures of that place is what they need to be speaking in. something a very minute percentage of anyone in america actually does. (right wing loonies, least of all!)

=^^=
.../\...

Also maybe German or Dutch, just 'cause they're easy.

Actually, Dutch isn't that easy, mainly because the language has many incomprehensible rules and a plethora of exceptions to those rules (not to mention tricky pronounciation).

To know the whole language? Korean, 'cause Koreans are hot. X3

However, I'd like to know little snippets of phrases in various languages to indulge my random, selective racism.

For example:

I'd like to know how to tell the Mexican tourists on transit, "You don't have to shout when he's sitting right next to you, asshole!"

And I'd love to know Mandarin to tell the old ladies, "That was very VERY rude! There's no age you could possibly reach that could excuse you from being that that rude!"

Gaelic looks somewhat interesting. Not so much a broad community, but interesting nonetheless

Meh, it's one of the ones I'm most interested and sounds coolest to me. If I were to attempt learning another language, I would only succeed if I was doing it for it's own sake, just cause I liked it, than for it being a means to an end.

From German I remember: der, die, das, die
den, die, das, die
.......................
:confused:

exceptions: aus bei mit nach seit von zu
bis durch fur gegen um entlang

I know German (my native language) and English fairly wll, but I am trying to learn Tukish since it is so very different from German and English but still uses the Latin alphabet.

I'd definitely learn Russian. It's a much more beautiful language (and not nearly as violent as other slavic languages. Perhaps not useful or at all necessary, but still...

I should first read the post before answering the poll. The assumption is wrong (my native tongue is not english) therefore I should not be included in the statistics :p

Anyway, since I already happen to know Dutch, because it's my native tongue and I think my English is very good too. I know German and French well enough to survive, so I'll choose some other languages.

Russian (because the girls there are hot, oh, and because I'm going there tomorrow :D)
Romanian (because the girls there are hot, oh, and because I was there last summer :D)
Spanish (because sangria is nice... oh and the girls there are hot too ;) and i've been there so many times that I won't mention when I exactly was there)

I looked into it. Its basically a very slurry German. =/

It's not... German is a very slurry Dutch :p

Actually, Dutch isn't that easy, mainly because the language has many incomprehensible rules and a plethora of exceptions to those rules (not to mention tricky pronounciation).

Being comprehensible in Dutch is quite easy though. Your grammar will suck, especially where "de" and "het" are concerned and people will laugh at your pronunciation and accent - but they will understand what you say.

Priority list, in order of importance (for me) ;

1. Mandarin (Pinyin)... say that you're lost in a major foreign city, chances are that you could find a Chinatown or at least a Chinese restaurant and ask for directions there.

2. Japanese... uh for ... shady business. Most of those type of places of what I want to visit there has a "NO FOREIGNER" sign hanged outside.

3. Spanish, probably because for the heck of it,... eh,... esta bien...

4. German, probably because it has similarities with the Dutch and other Eastern European languages.

5. French, because I've heard that they hate English speakers.

But lets take the focus off me, fellow Nationstaters. Lets assume english is your native tongue. (forgive me non-english native speakers who visit this board) If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason. I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)

also in the poll:

Portugeese


I, as a non-native english-speaker, suggest you to take a course in english.
I also hope that you speak german better than you write english.

4. German, probably because it has similarities with the Dutch and other Eastern European languages.
Neither Dutch nor German have any similiarities with Eastern European Languages as neither ARE Eastern European languages. Eastern European languages are slavic (and in rare cases, Romance)...while Dutch and German are Central European Germanic.

Knowing Dutch or German will not help you with Eastern European languages...

Neither Dutch nor German have any similiarities with Eastern European Languages as neither ARE Eastern European languages. Eastern European languages are slavic (and in rare cases, Romance)...while Dutch and German are Central European Germanic.

Knowing Dutch or German will not help you with Eastern European languages...

It'll help you in Eastern Europe, though.

It'll help you in Eastern Europe, though.

That pretty much sums up my retort.

It'll help you in Eastern Europe, though.
Actually, I've found English to be a better help in Eastern Europe...It tends to be that only the old old old people know German in Eastern Europe...most of the adults learned Russian and now most of the kids learn English.

Actually, I've found English to be a better help in Eastern Europe...It tends to be that only the old old old people know German in Eastern Europe...most of the adults learned Russian and now most of the kids learn English.

Really? I found it was the other way round... I would always try English first, but most of the time just get blank stares. I just can never get my head around that most people there speak German rather than English, it's a always a very weird experience.

That pretty much sums up my retort.
No it doesn't because that is something totally different than what you said, which was:
4. German, probably because it has similarities with the Dutch and other Eastern European languages.

And that couldn't be more incorrect....regardless of whether or not it may "help you in Eastern Europe". (and Dutch certainly won't).

No it doesn't because that is something totally different than what you said, which was:


And that couldn't be more incorrect....regardless of whether or not it may "help you in Eastern Europe". (and Dutch certainly won't).

Of course, I that's why I said "retort"

1. To make a reply, especially a quick, caustic, or witty one.

,... as in "Atleast, there are a high probability of someone understanding German in Eastern Europe".

I didn't defend that my earlier statement was correct, and am stand corrected.

PS; Learning German won't help me in the Netherlands? Even when you're pidgeon-ing it? So much for your etymological similarities.

If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason.
I'm going for none of the above. I'm already studying French and German but if I had to choose to learn a new language, it would a more unusual language spoken by few people for the purposes of keeping it alive as well as for other reasons. Like Ainu or Basque for the novelty of them being unrelated to anyother language. Or Nuxalk for the novelty of syllables without vowels. Or Gaelic because I already know quite a bit, I like the sound of it and it's my national tongue. Learning Latin would be a bit silly because it's no longer spoken and not even because it's extinct but because it evolved into French, Spanish, Portugese, Italian, Romanian, Sardinan, Catalan and maybe more.
I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect.
I think here you mean connotations not dialect. Dialect is a regional (or sometimes class-based) version of a language for example Scottish English or American English as opposed to Received Pronounciation English, which is the term for standard English.
Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)I didn't find the Russian alphabet particularly difficult: it's just a case of learning 'instead of b, write б. instead of v, write в'. Some of them are even just the same as the Latin alphabet like A and K. It's not as difficult as the Arabic alphabet, where you have 4 forms for most letters or Japanese which is not even an alphabet but a syllabary or Chinese which uses logograms.
PS; Learning German won't help me in the Netherlands? Even when you're pidgeon-ing it? So much for your etymological similarities.I think he means Dutch certainly won't help you in Eastern Europe.

I think he means Dutch certainly won't help you in Eastern Europe.

Most of the time I think I need visual aids in communicating written ideas :D (Oh, the weakness of written language).

Most of the time I think I need visual aids in communicating written ideas :D (Oh, the weakness of written language).

Well... you do suggest an intriguing option not listed in the poll here: sign language.
A friend of mine is studying to be an interpreter, and the grammar and structure is quite fascinating*.

* For Dutch sign language at least. I assume English is similar.

I think he means Dutch certainly won't help you in Eastern Europe.
Correct.
Of course, I that's why I said "retort"



,... as in "Atleast, there are a high probability of someone understanding German in Eastern Europe".

I didn't defend that my earlier statement was correct, and am stand corrected.

PS; Learning German won't help me in the Netherlands? Even when you're pidgeon-ing it? So much for your etymological similarities.
Ok then...and like Umdogsland pointed out, I said Dutch will not help you in Eastern Europe.

Learning German would help you alot in learning Dutch, and the same goes for knowing Dutch and learning German...
Really? I found it was the other way round... I would always try English first, but most of the time just get blank stares. I just can never get my head around that most people there speak German rather than English, it's a always a very weird experience.
Hmm...well maybe we've just had two totally different experiences.:) Which Eastern countries are you talking about exactly?

My examples were basically from Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia and Croatia.

I wouldn't mind taking more German classes.
I'd like to learn Spanish, so I picked that one though, as I know less of it than German.
Perhaps Croatian also.

Why would French be a challenge if German is far to easy? Thanks to the huge number of French words in English, I can read the language semi-fluently having only been taught a basic level in High School.The spelling, I would assume.

Hmm...well maybe we've just had two totally different experiences.:) Which Eastern countries are you talking about exactly?

My examples were basically from Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia and Croatia.

Checz Republic, mostly Znaim, Budweis, Marienbad, Karlsbad and Eger.
Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Romania.

Very upset Tibeten was not on the list!

:P

I picked Chinese though.

Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hung

http://www.purifymind.com/Om.htm

Lojban, Russian, and Esperanto, in that order. I'm a bit of a conlang geek.

Checz Republic, mostly Znaim, Budweis, Marienbad, Karlsbad and Eger.
Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Romania.
Cool. So I guess I just had different experiences than you. Interesting to know and good for me, since I don't speak any Eastern languages, I can use English and German to help me out over there in the parts of Europe where God doesn't pay attention. :p
I wouldn't mind taking more German classes.
I'd like to learn Spanish, so I picked that one though, as I know less of it than German.
Perhaps Croatian also.

The spelling, I would assume.
Personally, I think French is waaaaay harder than German. Pronounciation, spelling and grammar ridiculous in French. (Though I wouldn't call German an "easy" language to learn).

I'm going for none of the above. I'm already studying French and German but if I had to choose to learn a new language, it would a more unusual language spoken by few people for the purposes of keeping it alive as well as for other reasons. Like Ainu or Basque for the novelty of them being unrelated to anyother language. Or Nuxalk for the novelty of syllables without vowels. Or Gaelic because I already know quite a bit, I like the sound of it and it's my national tongue. Learning Latin would be a bit silly because it's no longer spoken and not even because it's extinct but because it evolved into French, Spanish, Portugese, Italian, Romanian, Sardinan, Catalan and maybe more.
I think here you mean connotations not dialect. Dialect is a regional (or sometimes class-based) version of a language for example Scottish English or American English as opposed to Received Pronounciation English, which is the term for standard English.
I didn't find the Russian alphabet particularly difficult: it's just a case of learning 'instead of b, write б. instead of v, write в'. Some of them are even just the same as the Latin alphabet like A and K. It's not as difficult as the Arabic alphabet, where you have 4 forms for most letters or Japanese which is not even an alphabet but a syllabary or Chinese which uses logograms.
I think he means Dutch certainly won't help you in Eastern Europe.

Erm I rather did mean dialect, as the Higher Saxon one we're learning (which in most cases is indescrinable from other northern dialects) is commanding and rather inherently assertive soundsing by nature.

well, I have to show an opposite point of view. I speak english but my fisrt language is italian. So, I suggest you to learn my language while I'd like to learn japanese.

As we all know, english, (in most cases poorly spoken) rules modern Europe and North America, and influences most of the world. I have a severe fetish for foreign languages, keep this in mind.

Now, I have been studying german for 1.5 years now, and I have found it too be far too easy... I have started to study French on the side, and ladies and gentlmen, I have found my challenge.

But lets take the focus off me, fellow Nationstaters. Lets assume english is your native tongue. (forgive me non-english native speakers who visit this board) If you could commit and study a foreign language (assuming you had the time and resources) which would it be? Give a reason. I wanted German for one, I like the dialect and its commanding tone. I decided to also take French for its romantic dialect. Im also considering Russian, and ive decided no to Japaneese. (sorry, but I loves me the latin alphabet... this is affecting my choice for taking Russian or not)

I was about to say, you want a challenge, try Russian. And the alphabet is most definitely the LEAST of the problems, it's not hard at all. I took 6 years of French, dabbled in German, Spanish and Japanese, and 1 year of Russian. I dropped out when we started to learn the verbs for "to go". It was just too crazy for that quarter.

If I actually had to pay or attend classes to learn a language, I'd choose Spanish because its the most useful in the US (besides English, which I does speak good already).

If I could just magically learn a language, with no effort or money on my part, I'd like to know Icelandic. It seems to be the most medieval language.

If you could learn a language with no effort (like this will ever come up), learn Basque. Because effort alone will never be enough.

The Cyrillic alphabet is crazy-simple and it should take you only about literally 30min to get used to it, plus it's very well-suited for Russian - don't let it be a factor in learning Russian or not.

Unless you have the cursive of an eight-year-old, which I do in both languages. Sometimes even I don't know what I wrote. >_<

I'm in my fourth year of studying Latin and I started studying French this school year. Aside from those two I'd love to learn Italian, and probably some other languages, too, although I'm not sure which. It would also be very practical to learn Spanish. I don't know if I'll get the chance to do so, though, not soon at least.

If you can read French proficiently, you can read a lot of Spanish and Italian (and if you known Latin, even better). I can't understand spoken Spanish or Italian worth a damn, but I could decipher an amazing amount of the original text of Inferno.

(As stated before) I did six years of French and a year of Russian, but I remember so very little of the Russian. I'd probably learn Russian if I could choose one, but I love the study of languages in general.

A few no one has mentioned that I'd also like to learn:

Czech
Vietnamese
Punjabi
Kanienkehaka (language of the "Mohawk" people)

and of course

BASQUE! The most difficult language on earth.

Checz Republic, mostly Znaim, Budweis, Marienbad, Karlsbad and Eger.


You mean: Znojmo, České Budějovice, Mariánské Lázně, Karlovy Vary a Cheb. ;)

Znojemské okurky! Budějovický Budvar! Yoo-hoo!!!

You mean: Znojmo, České Budějovice, Mariánské Lázně, Karlovy Vary a Cheb. ;)

Znojemské okurky! Budějovický Budvar! Yoo-hoo!!!

Didn't remember how to spell half of them, and my pronounciation isn't up to standart either. People in Budweis usually just told me to call the town by the German name ;)

I think I'd choose either Mandarin or Cantonese as my 3rd language.

I would've chosen Icelandic

BASQUE! The most difficult language on earth.
I've heard Chinese and Finnish are more difficult.

Icelandic.... that is related to which language?

In addition, my french learning.... she goes slow....

Basque language hardest? What about those clicks and pops of the Bushmen language?

I vote Latin. It's the language of scholars since Greek fell out of favor until the industrial revolution. It's the root of a large part of English and very closely related to Italian, French, and Spanish. Old Norse would be cool, too.

Icelandic.... that is related to which language?

In addition, my french learning.... she goes slow....

Icelandic is basically old Norsk. Hasn't changed much in the last thousand years.

I went back to uni in my 30s as a mature age student and studied Latin, Old English and Middle English for fun.

Italian is the language of art and I'm part Italian anyway. I'm going to study abroad there some time.

I've heard Italian is also the easiest language for English speakers to learn, because the pronunciation is simple.

Cebuano.

Italian is the language of art and I'm part Italian anyway. I'm going to study abroad there some time.

I've heard Italian is also the easiest language for English speakers to learn, because the pronunciation is simple.

Ya just watch the godfather trilogy and your good.

But seriously, im convinced the German pronunciation is most friendly to english speakers.

Ya just watch the godfather trilogy and your good.

But seriously, im convinced the German pronunciation is most friendly to english speakers.

I tried watching RAI TV, but the dang channel has no subtitles!

Now German and English have many verbs that sound alike. Knowing english before learning german is a good help (as romance speaking people know it well)

But poor portuguese, nobody wants to learn it...Even Welsh was mentioned before it... :(

Franglais.

"A l'eau, c'est l'heure!"
Taken from Miles Kingston's joke about the French having a new naval motto

Gaelic.

I've started learning a bit of Polish and some other eastern European languages like Latvian and Slovenian.

But i've always wanted to learn Norwegian.

But seriously, im convinced the German pronunciation is most friendly to english speakers.

Definitely =P
alot of words sound or look the same as the English word too

Definitely =P
alot of words sound or look the same as the English word too

Very true. Ive been studying french. They have quite a few cognates as well, but its the pronunciation that'll throw you off xD

I tried watching RAI TV, but the dang channel has no subtitles!

Now German and English have many verbs that sound alike. Knowing english before learning german is a good help (as romance speaking people know it well)

But poor portuguese, nobody wants to learn it...Even Welsh was mentioned before it... :(

No worries mate, it got a few votes.

Icelandic is in the Germanic language family in the Nordic branch..related to Norwegian, Danish and Swedish...but not so much because it has been isolated. It is very close to old Norse.

Italian is very easy (I'm in my first semester now...but I do know English and Spanish).

If Anglo's find German pronounciation "the easiest" they probably sound awful when they speak German. I think it's easiest for Anglos to sound the most normal in Italian or Spanish...rather than German.

I want to learn french, got an A in high school, my oral exam was actually quite fun...but I thought I'd failed so I didn't apply to do it at AS.

Icelandic is in the Germanic language family in the Nordic branch..related to Norwegian, Danish and Swedish...but not so much because it has been isolated. It is very close to old Norse.

Italian is very easy (I'm in my first semester now...but I do know English and Spanish).

If Anglo's find German pronounciation "the easiest" they probably sound awful when they speak German. I think it's easiest for Anglos to sound the most normal in Italian or Spanish...rather than German.

Bleh my pronunciation is very good (compared to the sophmore idiots in my class.... so I spose the bar is a little low anyway)

So I guess its because I actually have an intrest in speaking the language properly.

But I disagree, the romantic languages should be harder to speak, as english is a germanic language....

Bleh my pronunciation is very good (compared to the sophmore idiots in my class.... so I spose the bar is a little low anyway)

So I guess its because I actually have an intrest in speaking the language properly.

But I disagree, the romantic languages should be harder to speak, as english is a germanic language....
Yeah but German has sounds that are very unnatural to English speakers. "ach", "ich", "ue", "oe" "ae"...and such...

Yeah but German has sounds that are very unnatural to English speakers. "ach", "ich", "ue", "oe" "ae"...and such...

Trust me, with french its nearly every word that can throw a native english speaker off.

Basque language hardest? What about those clicks and pops of the Bushmen language?

More difficult to actually say, maybe. But the Basque language has some 4,000 ways to modify words! Seriously, even the simplest sentence in English is about a lightyear long in Basque.

Gaelic.

Now that's a tough one. Trust me. Scots Gaelic or Irish Gaelic?