File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
I am applying for the US state department critical language scholarship, and i have the following choices:

Arabic [in Cairo, Jordan or Tunis]
Bangla [Dhaka, Bangladesh]
Hindi [Jaipur, India]
Korean [Suwon, S. Korea]
Punjabi [Chandigarh, India]
Turkish [Alanya or Ankara or Izmir, Turkey]
Urdu [Lucknow, India]

Personally, I am learning towards Turkish, Urdu, Korean, or Arabic, but ill go with whatever i can get. What does /trv/ recommend? Pros/cons appreciated
>> ?Ascendent Gerbil?Æ !!e0hoFcdC0tq
hmm, all those arabic ones sound good. im trying to arrange one in the UAE by working at a hotel over the summer.
>> Anonymous
Where can I apply for this scholarship?
>> Anonymous
If it were me, i'd probably take Arabic in either Cairo or Tunis, but that's just me. Arabic will probably get you farther than the others.
>> Anonymous
OP here

clscholarship.org

fare well Anon
>> Anonymous
this thread belongs in /lang/

Arabic would be the most helpful for business. Turkish sounds cool though
>> Anonymous
im living 20 minuetes south of suwon now. suwon is great, right next to seoul, and if you are into language korean will probably amaze you
>> Anonymous
If you choose Turkish, I would recommend Izmir. Ankara is in the middle of nofuckingwhere, with a harsh continental climate, has next to no sights and is generally boring. Alanya is a major touristic area, I personally don't like spending much time in such places and German replaces Turkish as the most spoken language in summer, which kind of invalidates the purpose of going there to study the language. Izmir, on the other hand, is a nice coastal city with a lively social life, open people and a warm climate.
>> Anonymous
ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC

Seriously.

All the others are pretty limited languages.
Arabic is spoken all over the place, by lots of people (Africa, Middle East, Asia, Europe), what with being the langauge of the Qur'an and all.

You won't have to parlay your Arabic knowledge into translating al-Qaeda messages and helping Amerifags (I'm one, fyi) kill brown people, but it is nevertheless a language highly in demand and very important and lucrative.

Also,

ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC ARABIC
>> Anonymous
>>71831
Not the OP, but that kinda sucks for me, seeing as I'm an American Jew.
>> Anonymous
I concur, you should learn the language of the enemy. Learn Arabic and become a spy, then help rid the world of their ignorant scourge
>> Anonymous
Yeah, but then you have the trouble of WHICH version of Arabic. You could learn Modern Standard Arabic as used in newspapers, but you won't be able to understand people talking in the street.

You could learn Egyptian Arabic, and most people in the Arab world would understand (they all watch a lot of Egyptian movies and listen to songs), but they'll still use their own 'dialects' (actually stronger) in conversation.

Until they sort their asses out and settle on MSA, and everyone learns it, there's no point in learning any I reckon.
>> Anonymous
>>71831

But he'd have to live with dirty arabs for years and will probably die because a jewish family decided to have a cup of coffee in the same cafe he's in

Why don't Irish, Hawaiian or Australian count as critical languages?
>> Anonymous
>>71892
>Yeah, but then you have the trouble of WHICH version of Arabic. You could learn Modern Standard Arabic as used in newspapers, but you won't be able to understand people talking in the street.
You could make the same argument for English, Spanish, or just about any other language. That's not a really valid criticism against learning it though.
>> Anonymous
1. Learn Punjabi
2. Convert to Sikhism
3. Receive sword and turban
4. ????
5. PROFIT!!!
>> Anonymous
>>71895

dead best of friends, dead same nation, doesn't exist best of friends
>> Anonymous
>>71896
>You could make the same argument for English
Not really. If you speak one English, you'll be understood in every other place that speaks English.
>> Anonymous
>>71907
The point wasn't if the learner would be understood, it was if the learner would understand the different dialects spoken.
>> Anonymous
>>71785
This. Turkish is quite easy to learn btw.
>> Anonymous
>Arabic
Enjoy your terrist friends.

>Bangla, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu
PROTIP: India sucks

>Korean
Great shit, has its own alphabet, no funny signs like the chinese.

>Turkish
Probably useful in Germany and Turkey.
>> Anonymous
>>71934
>Probably useful in Germany and Turkey.

I for one welcome my new Turkish overlords.
>> Anonymous
>>71908

No: whereas English is pretty much entirely differentiated by accent, dialect is the issue in Arabic. Most Arabic dialects could be regarded as seperate languages. Learn English and you can speak to nigh-on any other English speaker; learn Arabic and you just learn it for a region
>> Anonymous
Arabic is probably the only one that could be of any use.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>71942
>> Anonymous
Korean would only be useful to read warning labels on cell phones, so I say Arabic.
>> Anonymous
Go to Cairoo my nigga
>> Anonymous
>>71940
One word: Cockney. Also, for a foreigner learning US English to go to the UK would take a bit of adjusting to UK English. So there. nyah.
>> Anonymous
Korean. Hot women, nice food. Not many suicide bombers.
>> Anonymous
If you learn turkish (turkey turkish) you can understand other turkic languages too. And with little study you can speak azerbajan kazakh turkmen uzbek and many others.
>> Anonymous
>>71737


Ukraine
>> Anonymous
Arabic will get you plenty of job opportunities.
Bangla, Punjabi, Turkish and Korean are too limited in scope. Don't listen to the Manhwa/weeaboo crowd, Korean is a niche language and most Korean speak English (and better than the Japanese).
Hindi/urdu is the second best choice since plenty of people speak them. In your list they're shown as separate languages but the only difference is the writing (Urdu is Hindi for Muslims and use the Arabic writing system).
Being a jew speaking Arabic is a huge advantage. You could work in intelligence gathering and still be trusted by your employer.
The thing about Arabic dialects is true but all the people that count understand and read classical Arabic.
>> Anonymous
>>72651
No. It's like saying that if you speak English you can understand German.
>> Anonymous
Arabic, but keep in mind a few things.

Speaking Arabic is not as useful as you think since there are so many regional dialects which aren't Standard Arabic. Knowing Egyptian Arabic, for example, won't help you communicate with a street merchant in Yemen. As for business, I think the fact that you are not a Muslim will be a much bigger obstacle in doing business in these countries.

However, I think you're better off learning Arabic than the other languages, unless you plan on doing business in those countries. If you plan on working for the gubment, Arabic is definately an asset these days.
>> Anonymous
krygyz

/thread
>> Anonymous
If you're looking for functionality, then Arabic would be a good bet.

But if you're looking for fun, and something actually 'different', you should go for Korean or Turkish - There are actually quite a few grammatical similarities between the two languages, and their functionality seem to be quite similar.
>> Anonymous
Seeing as the 3 languages of the future will be Chinese, Arabic and Russian, you best be doing Arabic nigger.
>> Anonymous
havent we had this thread already?
anyways korean would be my choice.
>> Anonymous
Turkish or Arabic. I would go with Arabic.
>> Anonymous
Arabic would be more useful, but Turkish would be more fun to learn. Korean too, if you have the yellow fever. By the way Turkish uses the latin alphabet while all the others have different stuff I think
>> Anonymous
>>73866
evet turkce de latin alphabasini kulaniyorus. Yeah they use the latin alphabet in turkish
>> Anonymous
Arabic if you're some world-changer, but I can't think of any fun career that results from it.
All South Asian languages remind of me of rare STDs.
Korean is like an indiefag's Japanese, but to be honest it sounds pretty cool. I'm a Chiaboo, but to be honest such a small country with so much money means that most are going to speak English. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be fun. Anyways, all of these languages would be major commitments to become fluent in, so choose whichever you like the most, not which you think would get you easy jobs/women.
>> Anonymous
Hindi, go suck on some nice indian toes.
>> Anonymous
You people are morons. How do you think international news work in Arabic countries?

OH I KNOW! MODERN STANDARD ARABIC! Every Arab who watches Al-Jazeera fucking understands MSA, and can make himself understood well enough.
Ask yourself this: do you really want to speak to some fucking nomad Berbers in the deserts of Libya in their shitty dialect, or some slightly more educated people in the standard one?

Besides, if you're going to Cairo, you'll pick up the Egyptian dialect pretty nicely, which most Arabs also understand because of the Egyptian film industry.

Also, loljew. Enjoy your stonings. If you're a believing Jew and a hardcore supporter of Israel, don't fucking learn Arabic in an Arabic country. If you're just a Jew because your mom told you so, then you can easily denounce or play down your Jewdom, and people won't care.
>> Anonymous
So, a auestion to Arabic-speaking anons - I'm learning MSA, will I be able to get around one day, if I study hard enough? I mean, from Algeria to Baghdad... I've heard that these dialects are so different that they are hardly mutually comprehensible.
>> Anonymous
>>73993
See>>73985

Again, if you wish to speak to filthy homeless people, you won't get far without knowing their dialect.

Everyone who most people wouldn't mind talking to, is cultured enough to know at least rudimentary MSA.

Think of it this way: MSA is to Arabic countries as English is to Europe. You're a dumb faggot if you don't know it.

Besides, while the dialects often aren't mutually comprehensible, they're more comparable to differences within a single subgroup of Indo-European languages (say, Germanic) than the differences across all Indo-European languages.
For instance, Syrian and Palestinian would be like Norwegian and Swedish; Levantine and Egyptian like Dutch and German; Gulf Arabic and Moroccan like English and Icelandic.

On top of that, the dialects aren't ever used in writing (except in really stupid informal settings, like YouTube comments), and nearly everything is written in MSA.
>> Anonymous
>>74027

Shukran.