Language to learn

Makhaira said:
Have you considered not fully learning any ONE language, but rather learning a reasonable chunk of several?

There is reason to my comment...nearly all international businessmen speak English these days, and the sad truth is they tend to speak English better than we can speak their native language. What IS a good gesture though, is being able to converse a small amount in their own language, as it is often seen as a respectful and understanding gesture. To that end, being able to talk a small amount in a selection of the languages you deal with might be just as useful to you.
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I fully agree with this tbh. hmmm

German
French
Spanish then I think
 
I think realistically you have these options... in order of difficulty to learn for English speakers. What language you think is most useful is up to you really, there's a good case for all of them.

1. Spanish
1. French
2. German
3. Russian
4. Cantonese
4. Japanese
4. Arabic


These are all the major languages everything else is a waste of time imo (except maybe Portuguese and Italian). Unless you have a good reason to want to learn a language like Finnish or something they're just not spoken by enough people or economically important enough.

If you learn a Romance language it will be a lot easier to learn another one (The 'Latin' languages; Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian).

German is apparently harder because of the grammar, although pronounciation is supposed to be easiest for English speakers.
 
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alex_tank said:
I think realistically you have these options... in order of difficulty to learn for English speakers. What language you think is most useful is up to you really, there's a good case for all of them.

1. Spanish
1. French
2. German
3. Russian
4. Cantonese
4. Japanese
4. Arabic


These are all the major languages everything else is a waste of time imo (except maybe Portuguese and Italian). Unless you have a good reason to want to learn a language like Finnish or something they're just not spoken by enough people or economically important enough.

If you learn a Romance language it will be a lot easier to learn another one (The 'Latin' languages; Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian).

German is apparently harder because of the grammar, although pronounciation is supposed to be easiest for English speakers.
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Thank you very much for your reply
 
alex_tank said:
I think realistically you have these options... in order of difficulty to learn for English speakers. What language you think is most useful is up to you really, there's a good case for all of them.

1. Spanish
1. French
2. German
3. Russian
4. Cantonese
4. Japanese
4. Arabic


These are all the major languages everything else is a waste of time imo (except maybe Portuguese and Italian). Unless you have a good reason to want to learn a language like Finnish or something they're just not spoken by enough people or economically important enough.

If you learn a Romance language it will be a lot easier to learn another one (The 'Latin' languages; Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian).

German is apparently harder because of the grammar, although pronounciation is supposed to be easiest for English speakers.
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I agree with you that learning a Latin language is useful because it's easier to learn the others. I don't agree with you not including Portuguese and Italian in the list thou, Portuguese is the 7th most spoken language in the world and Brazil and Italy have a massive industry.

On a side note, the same can be said for scandinavian countries, Danish ,Finnish ,Swedish, Norwegian, Czech Republican, Latvian, etc, are very very similar languages.
 
I'd say if you know English, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese you can speak to 95% of the world. I already know English and Spanish, i know a little Japanese and i'm currently learning Chinese.
 
I am taking all this on board, but I really am struggling on finding out the best way to learn the languages. I live in Halifax and I am struggling to find courses, is Rossetta Stone worth it? any suggestions?
 
best way to learn - GCSE + A-Level + Year abroad.

I think I vaguely have German down after that lot.
 
CoxyBoy123 said:
This isn't possible for me at all. I am in work soooooo
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Yeah I was being unhelpful. I'd recommend evening courses for beginner learning - to get the grammar, alphabet, basic vocab, and sound of the language down.

Then things like Radio + Films + TV shows will help a lot. Things like giving yourself 10 words per day to learn help too (what I used to do at A-level).

I'd personally recommend German as I find it quite logical and similar to English- and also a good market to sell resin too!
 
Deadbeat said:
I hear Japanese is surprisingly easy to learn, once you get the alphabet down.
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A.) That is a pile of crap

Deadbeat said:
Edit: Of course, so many Japanese people speak English that it may be pretty pointless.
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B.) That is a pile of crap

edit : As said above, Chinese ' would be the smart option ' but I personally detest the way it sounds + you would be dealing with commies and their red ways. Japanese just sounds cooler!!
 
I'm interested in learning a new language, in my line of work, French would be the best language for me to learn and as it was the language I did in school, I think I might find it a bit easier to do.

I too am looking for a way to learn. Am going to buy a book soon, but as for audio guides, does anybody have any suggestions?
 
franco_22 said:
I agree with you that learning a Latin language is useful because it's easier to learn the others. I don't agree with you not including Portuguese and Italian in the list thou, Portuguese is the 7th most spoken language in the world and Brazil and Italy have a massive industry.
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On a related note my uncle, a fluent Spanish speaker, reckons once you have Spanish it's a piece of cake to learn Italian (which he can also speak but is not quite fluent) because they are both based on dog Latin i.e. the Latin spoken by the ordinary Roman soldier rather than the Latin spoken by the Roman nobility, which public schoolboys learn and which French and English are based on. Not sure how true that is, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.
 
Energize said:
German and English are both Germanic languages though, whereas the romance languages like French, Spanish and Italian come from Latin, so I can imagine German being the easiest to learn.
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I learnt German to a basic level, and know friends who have studied German as well as other European languages, and we all agree that French/Spanish/Italian are easier to learn due to the grammar. The only advantage German has is that the vocab isn't too bad.
 
scorza said:
On a related note my uncle, a fluent Spanish speaker, reckons once you have Spanish it's a piece of cake to learn Italian (which he can also speak but is not quite fluent) because they are both based on dog Latin i.e. the Latin spoken by the ordinary Roman soldier rather than the Latin spoken by the Roman nobility, which public schoolboys learn and which French and English are based on. Not sure how true that is, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.
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My friend who learnt Italian at uni agrees with this and can speak Spanish to decent level even though he never studied it.
 
I really am beginning to need this, struggled on the phone with a Malaysian and Romanian today. Boss offered to get me a rosseya stone tomorrow. Go???
 
Most public libraries have language learning CDs. Take out ones on the languages you are thinking of and give each of them a quick trial. I was always useless at languages but briefly studied both German and French at school. I found German much easier to distinguish words when hearing it and much easier to pronounce whereas French was just a blur. You may find you 'click' more with one language over the others.

Also think beyond your current job. A good language skill may open opportunities to travel or live in another country. Where would interest you most?
 
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