File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
Dear /trv/,

I'm interested in languages. I can speak English and Spanish (I am am American). What language should I learn next?
>> Anonymous
whatever you're interested in.
>> Anonymous
I'm indecisive. I don't know if I should to Italian (which sounds fun), German (fun and useful), French (a logical next step), Russian (for reasons unknown), or Chinese (for usefulness)
>> Anonymous
french.
>> Anonymous
>>6544
I don't see how German would be a particularly useful language since they only speak it in...Germany? and maybe Belgium.
French is indeed useful for travelling. And Chinese is probably extremely difficult to learn. So my advice is go with French.

In fact, if you speak English, Spanish and French, you should be ok for almost every country in the world.
>> Anonymous
French
>> Hagbard Coin, Tripfag Extraordinaire !MbkX0ZR7RE
>>6551
Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein, faggot.
>> Hagbard Coin, Tripfag Extraordinaire !MbkX0ZR7RE
>>6554
And maybe even Luxembourg, but I don't know about that one.
>> Anonymous
1# German
2# italian, will be easy for you.
3# french
>> Anonymous
chinese
>> Anonymous
german, mandarin, then arabic!
>> Anonymous
>>6555
Luxembourg is mostly french
>>6554
What I meant is German is not "especially" useful because compared to french, there are not that many countries who speak it. Plus, the ones who does are completely uninteresting, except for Germany of course.
French is spoken in a lot of places and it's not really hard to learn IMO.

,faggot.
>> Anonymous
German, then Chinese.
German because it's badass.

Chinese because it's a challenge and it will be good to know in the future.
>> Hagbard Coin, Tripfag Extraordinaire !MbkX0ZR7RE
>>6560
Switzerland is hardly uninteresting. I guess I have to give you Liechtenstein, though. I mean, they only have 33,000 people or something. Still, no AIDS. Austria... I don't know anything about Austria, but they have Vienna and I hear it's a nice place.
>> Anonymous
Russian, perhaps. But most of all, what>>6543said.
>> Anonymous
Chinese is a good choice. It is fucking easy, dont get fooled. The grammar is the simpliest ever, just dont try to think in your own language.
>> Anonymous
I don't get why people think learning mandarin is important
>> Anonymous
>>6952

Well, about 880 million speak it.

And it's one of the official languages of the United Nations.

And it can be used as a gateway to many other asian languages...
>> Anonymous
>>6952
It's important because China is becoming more and more important economically.

Plus there's like a billion Chinese people
>> Anonymous
japanese, german, latin, turkish, hebrew

hmm...
>> Anonymous
>>6961
>many other asian languages

I hope you aren't including Korean and Japanese in that set, and honestly I don't believe learning Vietnamese would be of much value.
>> Anonymous
>Well, about 880 million speak it.
most of which are so piss poor you'll never want to talk to
>And it's one of the official languages of the United Nations.
who gives a shit, seriously
>And it can be used as a gateway to many other asian languages...
I'm sure everyone would rather just learn japanese from the start
>> Anonymous
>>6976
>I'm sure everyone would rather just learn japanese from the start
see
>>6972

Japanese isn't related with chinese at all, it is generally regarded as a language isolate, and some group it with Altaic languages (turkish etc.) due to similarities, but no, knowing chinese would essentially be useless for someone trying to learn japanese except in learning kanji.
>> Anonymous
>>6948
The grammar is easy but the reading and pronunciation are fucking hard. Also, one could argue that the grammar is so easy that it is actually difficult.
>> Anonymous
IIRC French is very similar to Spanish, so it should be very easy to learn if you're already fluent in Espanol.
>> Anonymous
If I were to learn a new language I'd learn Japanese. Partly because I'm weeaboo, partly because I believe that learning their entirely different grammar (as compared to most latin languages) would be a fascinating experience.

I don't think it would be easy though, but I'd be willing to give it a try.
>> Anonymous
>>6983
the problem is, as the ease of learning increases due to knowledge of a closely related language, its usefulness decreases proportionally.
>> Anonymous
>>6985
Not really. They're still mutually unintelligible; just some words are similar. The real similarity is in sentence and grammar structure. With a good chunk of the world speaking French and Spanish, I think it would be a great combination.
>> Anonymous
>>6987
dialect continuum, anyone?
>> Anonymous
>>6985
No, they're both useful. My mom (an Americunt) is fluent in English and Spanish, and she says that gives her "just enough French to get into really deep shit."
>> Anonymous
>>6559
what this anon said.

i fit japanese in between mando and arab, but yeah im fluent in all of those
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>i fit japanese in between Mando'a and arab, but yeah im fluent in all of those

fixed
>> Anonymous
>>7010
SU'CUY VOD
>> Anonymous
I'm learning Mandarin (in a university setting) and I love it; why not buy a cheap used paperback textbook, flip through it, see if it interests you? The grammar is insultingly easy; pronunciation and writing are hard but those are the things you need to travel to get a real head for, so could be a nice excuse for a trip to china in the future!
>> Anonymous
>>6976
Oh lawdy; ok here's the thing. China right now is two countries; rich China and poor China. The Chinese have the obligation to fix this fact, but rich china is fucking awesome. I've never heard of a westerner being punished for 'free speech issues', and you can usually land a cushy teaching job, and women will love you provided you aren't a pig-disgusting monster.
>> Anonymous
>>7021
>Chinese have the obligation to fix this fact
lern2capitalism
>> Anonymous
Key Languages for any bussinessman or world traveler (in order):

1. English
2. Spanish and French
3. Chinese
4. German
5. Japanese
6. Dutch
>> Anonymous
>>7037
What? All I said was that it was up to china to adopt policies that will bring urban-rural incomes to semi-resonable levels. How does that have anything to do with capitalism/communism?
>> Anonymous
>>7061
learn it and then it might become so fucking obvious
>> Anonymous
>>7061
I think what that anon is trying to tell you, is that china is a powerful country because it has loads of poor people. (See, low minimun wage)
So they won't "fix it".
>> Anonymous
>>7060
>Key Languages for any bussinessman or world traveler (in order):
>1. English
fixd.
>> Anonymous
>>7060
>Dutch
hahahahah
>> Anonymous
>>7060

What?

More liek:

1. English
2. Chinese
3. Russian - Strong market bitch
4. Arabic - Oil business is serious business
5. German
6. Spanish and French - Only here because of the "World Traveler" part. Business in Spanish and French? Lots of people speak Spanish, but you won't be able to sell anything more than some tacos to homeless Mexicans.

Japanese - Not nearly as important as you'd like to believe. It's just wishful thinking you weeaboos.
Dutch - What the fuck do you sell? Weed, wooden shoes and windmills? Nigger please.
>> Anonymous
>>7060
dutch lol. no one speaks dutch. apart from the dutch
>> cant touch this !AB5fTSvpY6
>>7092
now its funny you should say that cos im english and ive started learning dutch.most of belgium speaks it,and i thought it would be nice when i go there this year to try a bit of thier own language back at them lol.im sure i will fuck up occasionally but wth!
>> svenska
-french
-mandarin
-swedish

and you're good to go. swedish is closely related to norwegian, danish, and german, so it's very useful to learn.
>> Anonymous
>>7104
swedish = essentially useless
>> Anonymous
>>7104

If it's close to German, why not learn that instead, seeing that Swedish is absolutely worthless?

I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you're a Swede. What is it with all those Scandinavian folks thinking they're the most important people on earth when the rest of the planet has hardly even heard of them?
>> Anonymous
swedish is useless outside sweden, and you can get around in sweden using english too - therefore, it is of no value.
>> Anonymous
Portuguese. I can't believe you people forgot Brazil.
>> Anonymous
>>6539

If you want to learn a language to gain new experiences you should learn Welsh OP.

It is the only language other than English that really good poetry is still written in.
>> Anonymous
>>7186
i lol'd

>>7176
Who the fuck cares about Brazil? Portugal isn't much better either.
>> Anonymous
>>7186
Pablo Neruda, Nazim Hikmet and Bertolt Brecht said hi
>> Anonymous
French, abosolutely.
>> Anonymous
Mandarin Chinese.
>> Anonymous
For me:

Spanish, French, German, Russian, Arabic.

These five cover a pretty large area of the world right off the bat. I've chosen not to learn any of the North Indian or Dravidic languages as many people in India can speak simple English, and I don't want to go to China so Mandarin, Cantonese or whatever else isn't an issue either.

I may not learn all five, but I want to learn the first three at least. I might consider Portuguese down the road, but probably not.
>> Anonymous
>>7186
fuck sheep much?
>> Anonymous
French followed by either German or Mandarin. Also, I've found that if you understand a lot of French and Spanish, you can read Portugese without too much trouble.
>> Anonymous
With modern times and the current economic situation, Japanese is arguably less useful to know. I mean, probably in the 1960's-80's it would have been quite useful.

I suggest any other romance language (probably French) and then Mandarin for the other hemisphere. Everything else then is just a side step away unless you have ventures in africa/middle east or something.
>> Anonymous
>>6539
I speak German and English fluent and some Spanish.
If you already know Spanish, then learn either Italian or French. Spanish, Italian, French and Romanian are all roman languages and have the same roots. If you know one of them you can easily start one of the others without too much trouble.

If you want a challenge start German. It is one of the most complicated languages out there. The Grammar is horrible and the pronounciation sounds like a machinegun.
I'm studying at the University of applied languages in Munich. Some of my professors are native speakers from the US and live in Germany for more than 20 years and they still make mistakes. One of them had told us that we are lucky, because we grew up with German and don't have to learn it.
>> Anonymous
>>7629
Even Germans can't get the Dativ case right. My German teacher always got annoyed when his own people got it wrong.
>> Anonymous
>>7186
A foreigner learning Welsh would be hell

-Welsh speaker
>> Anonymous
>>7658
Anyone speaking Welsh is hell. Got Phlegm?
>> Anonymous
German sounds like shitting through your mouth.
French
>> Anonymous
>>7671
>German sounds like shitting through your mouth.
hmm...
>French
OH THE IRONY
>> Soni ?_? !!qeHmeAJM1a2
Spanish and English speaking here, I took on French as my third language and you should too. :<
>> Anonymous
>>7629

Romanian would be the odd one there. It has a more complicated grammar than the rest (there is no word for "the", we change the ends of words) and vocabulary borrowings from greek, slavic languages, and turkish. And it's useless, because anyone Romanian of value would know English or French.
>> Anonymous
PERKELE SUOMI
>> Anonymous
Italian

because it's basically spanish with different pronunciation
>> Anonymous
>>6539
Lojban
>> Anonymous
I speak English and (learning) Danish. I'd also love to learn Czech. It's a beautiful language.

Also, fuck useful languages, people don't always need to understand WTF I'm saying.
>> Anonymous
>>7723
Sometimes I'd like to know one of those obscure languages like Ojibwe or something so no one could tell what I was saying. The problem is I'd need someone else who also knew it ;_;
>> Anonymous
>>7726
>>7722
>> Anonymous
>>7719
the same could be said of all the romance languages. i speak decent french and i can understand most of what the italian tourists are saying when they come into my work.
>> Anonymous
>>7714
Finnish makes an epic intellectual exercize in language learning, adds a very interesting point to any resume, helps you understand the Elvish in Tolkien's literature, and not much else.

Learn Finnish, OP.
>> Anonymous
>>7722

Esperanto
>> Anonymous
I'm learning Klingon. I highly recommend it.
>> Anonymous
Learn sum German. It'll make learning other languages like Finnish or Swedish or maybe even French a lot easier. You might even understand parts of the Nordic languages. Plus German will be easy for you to learn if you're fluent in English. Also, if you're good with Spanish than that'll make learning French or Italian easy as well.

You could learn Farsi(Persian) or Greek as well, if you want to expand your linguistics and go for something fairly unrelated to what you already know. Farsi is IMO a beautiful language, very poetic, and is a root language to a lot of the Indo-European languages. Same could be said for Greek, too.

Unless you have the patience, balls, and resolve to waste your time, in which case you can go for Latin.
>> Anonymous
Why not learn Turkish? It is mutually intelligible with Azerbaijani, and you can understand central asians a bit, though learning Russian would be a better choice for doing business there. Also, it makes learning jap easier due to similar grammar.

No one?

Ok, I'll just go now.
>> Anonymous
If you want to make thinking easier learn Lojban.
>> Anonymous
>>7829
>Learn sum German. It'll make learning other languages like Finnish...

Let´s ignore how Finnish isn´t related to any other language on the planet (Estonia doesn´t actually exist btw).
>> Anonymous
Learn Armenian because they have a KICKASS alphabet.
>> Anonymous
>>7959
actually, it has grammatical similarities to altaic and japonic languages, but yeah.
>> Anonymous
>>7947
lol'd
>> Anonymous
>>6539
russian
>> Anonymous
>>7983
too gay, sorry
>> Anonymous
If you already know spanish learn italian, it would be very easy, che cazzo!
>> Anonymous
>>7999
bella ciao?
>> Anonymous
8000 get
>> Anonymous
>>7646
Der Dativ ist dem Genetiv sein Tod.
>> Anonymous
I personally thought Chinese was a fucking PAIN. I had no problem with the characters and the grammar was piss easy, but seriously fuck tonal languages. I am enjoying learning Japanese now.
>> Anonymous
>>7646
>Retarded Germans can't get the Dativ case right.
>> Anonymous
>>8040
>Retarded East Germans can't get the Dativ case right.

Now it's perfect.
>> Anonymous
>>8033
Potential chiaboos (my proposed term for those who are weeaboo for china); don't let the tones scare you off that much. They're interesting (few other langauges you'll learn even have them) and not that tricky. It might be petty exoticism, but I feel like a motherfucking alien speaking my crazy tonal language, up and down and up and down, who knows where i'll go next! It's pretty fun.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
ICELANDIC.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>8095
Marc Cohn speaks the truth, and walks in Memphis.
>> Anonymous
>>8106
This thread is now about Travel to Memphis.
>> Anonymous
>>8113
Nein.
>> Anonymous
>>8088

"Chinkaboos" is superior
>> Anonymous
Learn Arabic!

in b4 ???? ???? ???? ????
>> Anonymous
>>8479
???? ??? ???? ???? ?
>> Anonymous
>>6952

it's one of the real major world powers that is filled with people who could really give a shit about learning other languages (outside of the country's own regional dialects) or having any degree of accessibility for exclusively english speakers

it is also the largest of those nations (biggest bang for buck)

you would've totally been win if you learned it 10 years ago but now you'll be playing catch-up lol
>> Anonymous
Learn Garifuna. That way you can go Belize or Honduras and not worry about being hacked to pieces by crazy fuckers with machetes
>> Anonymous
>>8486
you're doing it wrong
>> Anonymous
Go for french or italian, as they are the worst english-speakers EVER, hence it is most useful. I speak german quite well, but a friend of mine said he could manage in germany with english and a dictionary with no problems.
I have been to russia as well, but it is hard to learn russian (Might be just me though) and if you want to see the cultural part its better get a guide that is cheap and knows EVERYTHING. And most young russian speak english, although they use it very rarely and some are embarrased when trying.
I dont know much about chinese, my grandma went there a couple of years ago, but again, with a guide, it all depends what you are going to use it for i guess.
>> Anonymous
I'd go with French ; nice and useful, and knowing Spanish will make this quicker.
And in contrast to Russia, Germany and Italy, France's population is increasing instead of decreasing, so it's a better investment in the long run ;)
>> Anonymous
???? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ????
>> Anonymous
>>9554
lol
>> Anonymous
>>8486
? or ?, who cares
>> Anonymous
>>9745
you fail at squibble-scripts.
>> Anonymous
>>9752
That's because I just began learning it.

Asshole.
>> Anonymous
>>10304

kol khara u kus ummak
>> Anonymous
>>10309
Sano tuo vaan päin naamaa niin saat kyrvästä perseeseen.
>> Anonymous
>>10304
I LEARNED IT IN FIVE MILISECONDS YOU FAIL

nah, it took me a month or so before I was writing without stopping to remember what character was what

fun fact about arabic script: it's so easy and fast to take notes, but at the same time it's so fucking hard to read what you wrote (fucking vowels)
>> Anonymous
>>7060

>1. English
>2. Spanish and French
Maybe not spanish, depends where you are.
>3. Chinese
No. Learn arabic instead. It's easy enough to read and understand the sounds you're trying to make, grammar is not too hard either. The only difficult thing is finding the proper words, to be honest. Also, since I assume you live in the US/Canada/West Europe, you're going to have to re-read what you're reading 3-4 times before hand minimum before it makes sense.
>4. German
Agreed
>5. Japanese
Maybe. Or Russian, or another slavic language.
>6. Dutch
Definately.
>> Anonymous
>>10628
English is so much easier to learn than Mandarin it's not even funny. Besides, half of China already speaks English.
>> Anonymous
Chinese

mandarin is probably easier for westerners


chinese will only gain importance in the future.
>> Anonymous
>>10629

Cappn', I think you hopped on the wrong ship.

Chinese is useless. Fucking chinese. Plus most of them are pretty much slaves to the US so who cares?

Russian is good, German or Spanish, Italian and French. I'd do Russian and French, french first if you're strong in spanish. Russian is like way off but it shouldn't be too hard.

Arabic is a bitch to learn depending on how you do it. In lebanon they use so much slang that arabic starts to make sense (azhabat becomes rehet) but all the other arab states speak how they write, so you're better off going that way in the long run. I've been at it for a few years now, and am able to hold myself up in a conversation, even able to figure out how to get around Lebanon (and the country is so ass-backwards sometimes it's not funny)...

Russian and other slavic languages are close enough too, so you can keep up with other people.
>> Anonymous
>>10628
For Western Hemisphere/Pacific Rim nations, Spanish is infinitely more important.
>> Anonymous
>>6539
For business/career-wise, Chinese is definitely the choice for you. However it is extremely difficult to learn to speak Mandarin and you can forget about reading/writing it.

If you already know Spanish, then the next language should be French.
>> Anonymous
Reminder to all the faggots here;

"If I'm selling to you, I speak your language. But if I'm buying, dann müssen sie Deutsch sprechen." - Willy Brandt
>> Anonymous
>>10634

So doesn't that make Chinese useless but makes Russian and Arabic, as well as French, useful?

As for German... Pretty much only Germany uses it. It's good to know a bit, and to understand how it works, but you don't need like massive skills in there, especially considering most of Europe knows French and or German.
>> Anonymous
If you want to learn a language and succeed with ease you should take one that you are interested in. I am taking French and Latin in school, and I've learned some Romanian in the past.
>> Anonymous
Mandarin Chinese. Although, effectively it's like learning 2½ languages as for one word you need to learn how to say it, how to write it, and how to pronounce it.
>> Anonymous
From an emergent market point of view mandarin is really the way to go. Needs a lot of practise too. And if you have no one to talk to it gets hard to remember.
German is not so bad. Considering that it is the biggest market in europe with the most money. (That is including Switzerland and Austria).
>> Anonymous
Swiss German is not German
>> Anonymous
>>10642

pizda lu mata
>> Anonymous
>>6539
How about Polish? It's very difficult to get a hang of the pronunciation but it's worth it in the end. Some say it's a bigger challenge than Mandarin Chinese.
>> Anonymous
>>11538
>but it's worth it in the end
lol no.

>>10661
No but they still speak "High German" which is normal German to the rest of us. They would still understand you just like Austrians. But then again, you may as well speak English to Swiss people.
>> vetivys !t9XjDa/XUM
>>7088
I've taken French and Japanese before. Let me say though that while Arabic would be *extremely* useful, it is hard as heck. Sure the first couple lessons no big deal but the learning curve is steeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
>> Anonymous
Filipino? Malaysian? British?
>> Anonymous
Bitches don't know about the german communities in Eastern Europe, virtually the only people with considering buying power over there.
Afrikaans is also just German with less grammar and different vocab.

>>7092
What about the East Indies?
>> Anonymous
Malay - because it's incredibly easy. The vocabulary, grammar and intonation are extremely simple. Good luck speaking it, though. Nobody speaks "correct" Malay.

Arabic - in a way, similar to Malay in its ease and simplicity. Now you can watch al-Jazeera.

Mandarin

Sanskrit - because it's awesome. Like Latin.
>> Anonymous
Afrikaans is Dutch, not German.
>> Anonymous
>>10631

You don't know anything about Arabic.

Sorry.
>> Anonymous
French if you want something useful.
Swedish if you want something easy.
Finnish if you want something fun.
Japanese if you want to rape someone hard.
Portuguese if you want aids.
>> Anonymous
>>11662
Mais pessoas falar Português que Francês.
>> Anonymous
>>7522

The same thing will happen with Mandarin.
>> Anonymous
>>11673
Isso não quer dizer que seja mais util.
>> Anonymous
>>7060
Revision (for the world right now):
1. English
2. (wide gap)
3. Spanish
3. Japanese
4. French
5. German (closer to French than you'd expect)
6. Chinese

I'm looking at it from a business standpoint. Travel is.. just use some smarts.
>> Anonymous
>>11692
I wish I still had the link.. I remember a German University did a study on what languages were most important for business now and 10 years from now. From what I remember, English dominates even more, Chinese supplements Japanese, Portuguese closes the gap on French... Geez I wish I could find it.
>> Gentleman
>>6539
The only good language is a dead language.
e.g. Ancient Greek, Latin, Sanskrit
>> Anonymous
>>7088
i lold
>> Anonymous
>>6539

Learn American Sign Language! You can use it where you live, and it only takes about two years to become fluent.
>> Anonymous
Not OP, but this is highly relevant to my interests. What sort of free (or "free") language learning courses would you recommend? I cannot fully immerse myself in a foreign language, but I can get plenty of reading and some speaking/listening experience in the course of a week.

Can you actually learn a language from foreign films? You always hear about people learning English from television and movies...

Also, dumb question but how would you approach the completely non-Latin character languages (like Chinese, Thai, Arabic, Hindi, etc.) to learn? Fuck, I've been trying to learn how to read Arabic but all the fucking letters look the same. It's like learning cursive writing before printing. Fuck.
>> Anonymous
If you're interested in reading literature or philosophy in it's original language French and German are the ones to go.
>> Anonymous
How long would it take me to become semi-fluent in Mandarin AND Cantonese?

Aren't they both essentially the same written language, just different vocal languages?
>> Anonymous
>>12409
They use the same characters and same basic writing patterns, but Cantonese tones are a wheelbarrow full of dicks. Seriously. Don't learn it. I've had Chinese teachers tell me they think it's harder for a native-cantonese to learn Mandarin than for a native-english to learn Mandarin. Don't learn cantonese. Don't learn cantonese. Oh dear god so many tones. THEY ALL SOUND THE SAME WHY WOULD YOU INVENT A LANGUAGE LIKE THIS ;_;


Seriously, though. Learn Mandarin. If I may exaggerate, learning Cantonese at this point would be like living in the Roman Empire and learning Gothic. You'll be a little useless in Hong Kong maybe, but even there English can get you around pretty well, and Mandarin is only going to become more entrenched as more people immigrate from the mainland.
>> Anonymous
learn Elvish
>> Anonymous
>>12406
If you are a beginner, I would recommend an Audio-Lingual style method of learning. That being something along the lines of the Pimsleur series, which is "free" if you know what I mean. It is by NO MEANS a good way to master a language, but it allows you to get pronunciation under your belt, and you do learn the basics. To actually become a decent speaker in the target language, you should either get a ***NATIVE*** speaker of the language to teach you, or, if possible, move to the country that speaks the language for a while.

As for learning non-Latin style characters, you just have to practise. I found it easy to learn Hiragana and Katakana (which are not that hard anyway) with flash cards, but then I've always been that type of learner. I suppose everyone would be different.
>> Anonymous
>>12409
Cantonese sounds like cats arguing.
>> Anonymous
Took me 2 years studying it in canton.
>> Anonymous
tex-mex
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Learning Arabic has been the best thing job opportunity wise.