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Anonymous
I personally suggest first doing a martial art that you find fun. That will keep you interested, and more likely to keep doing it and pick up a second martial art as well. I started on karate (Okinawan Goju Ryu, it's basically fast and close with some jujitsu thrown in), and I now want to do boxing (for the great defense) and jujitsu (for the ground). I also would like to do a form of kung fu, just because it looks fun as hell.
Karate, at least the form I know, emphasizes a lot of technique. You'll be learning katas and shorter sequences (we call them bukens, idk what others call them), then breaking them down and applying each move in the kata to a street-practical situation. The hard part is that there's a different technique for every move the opponent and you might make, and knowing those on the fly takes years of practice.
If you're looking for something quick and practical, I wouldn't suggest karate. It's great for the long term, though. If you DO pick karate, I highly suggest one where sparring isn't boiled down to who can get their foot closer to the other person for a point. It's not practical at all. Use that on a random dude, and you'll successfully whack the guy on the arm with your foot just before he tackles you to the ground (that's why I don't have much respect for TKD... it's maybe the least practical MA out there, unless you have lightning-fast legs of steel that can get from the ground to someone's chin in a few milliseconds).
So yeah, the obvious choice should be to take something that interests you. They'll ALL teach you how to calm your nerves and think rationally when facing an opponent, and that's hugely important.
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