Pick a second language

FoxEye · 22 Sep 2014 at 10:31

platypus said:
However I'd love to be able to speak Japanese, my sister became fluent in 6 months which is impossible for the likes of me .

That's not normal, so your sister must have an affinity for language. Only very young children learn language that quickly for the most part.

TheBDog · 22 Sep 2014 at 10:31

platypus said:
I suppose I should be saying French because I now live and work here, and whilst I'm learning it's difficult.

However I'd love to be able to speak Japanese, my sister became fluent in 6 months which is impossible for the likes of me .

I took Japanese for 2 years (as an additional study) and barely scratched the surface. Would love to be fluent myself

Burnsy2023 · 22 Sep 2014 at 10:31

platypus said:
However I'd love to be able to speak Japanese, my sister became fluent in 6 months which is impossible for the likes of me .

With all respect top your sister, nobody becomes fluent in 6 months. She may be very competent but not fluent.

nitram100 · 22 Sep 2014 at 10:34

Spanish

Captain Fizz · 22 Sep 2014 at 10:37

Either Japanese so I can watch Anime without subs.

But if it was any and could be learned overnight...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit

As Sir William Jones said:

The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either: yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs, and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all without believing them to have sprung from some common source which perhaps no longer exists...

Apparently best language to be used for computer programming:
http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Sanskrit.htm

spoffle · 22 Sep 2014 at 23:02

Burnsy2023 said:
Because they're sociable?

Your post seemed to suggest it was something about your passport that made them want to make conversation.

ThestigGT999 · 22 Sep 2014 at 23:31

Japanese

to watch anime without subs or dubs

remy87 · 23 Sep 2014 at 00:01

English, Swedish and Vietnamese all quire useful so far.
Need to learn hindi so i can impress my girl lol. Maybe Spanish or French also.

Uther · 23 Sep 2014 at 08:16

German, because I have been learning it on and off for years.Other than that, Gaelic.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Sep 2014 at 10:19

spoffle said:
Your post seemed to suggest it was something about your passport that made them want to make conversation.

Many people on here know that I have a German passport, I've talked about it enough times

SoulWings · 23 Sep 2014 at 10:23

Spanish or Japanese

MooMoo444 · 23 Sep 2014 at 10:30

German

The Dread Pirate · 23 Sep 2014 at 10:36

I already know bad English, Bad German and a smattering of bad italian so Bad Klingon! Qapla'!!

Lima · 23 Sep 2014 at 10:55

I've been trying to grasp French so I can speak to my wife's side of the family but it's a big struggle.... If I had a choice I'd probably pick Spanish.

TrojanWhore · 23 Sep 2014 at 10:59

I can speak a little german, was at least conversational when I was school age, but hardly use it any more, so I'll be brushing up on that again soon (and whoever mentioned duolingo, that site is awesome!)

I'd also quite like to learn polish/russian, so I can chat up polish/russian birds

in terms of the OP, if I could learn one overnight with no effort, it would probably be swedish/norwegian, as I'd love to move to Scandinavia some day. also, if it were swedish, I'd know what robbaz was saying when he starts venting!

disco_hospital · 23 Sep 2014 at 11:40

German. Probably going to do a nightschool beginners course in it early next year. Would like to polish up on my schoolFrench too

Altaz · 23 Sep 2014 at 12:22

Mandarin, my wife speaks it, and so do my sons and it would make communicating with the in-laws a lot easier.

Raymond Lin · 23 Sep 2014 at 12:38

Mynight said:
English because it's one of the most widly spoken languages in the world.

Surely, in terms of population, it would be Mandarin ?

DAIR · 23 Sep 2014 at 12:43

Japanese...... So I could watch all the anime I want!

And German... Just because it sounds cool.

Judgeneo · 23 Sep 2014 at 12:44

Raymond Lin said:
Surely, in terms of population, it would be Mandarin ?

As a first language yes, as a first/second language maybe, but overall, its English.

UK, USA, Canada, Australia, NZ as primaries, and various business people the world over as secondaries.

As a thrid language though, you have a large part of: India and Pakistan, Urban China and Japan, Urban Nigeria and Kenya, and the upper/middle classes of the rest of the commonwealth.