43 messages over 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next >>
portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6254 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical)
| Message 1 of 43 23 April 2009 at 8:30am | IP Logged |
We have talked a lot on this site about which languages are the best for polyglots to learn. It is not surprising at all that there has been very little consensus. I get the impression that this is a very regional issue. So, what are the five best languages for polyglots to know where you live?
In the Central Valley of California, where I live, I think the best languages to know are:
1. English
2. Spanish
3. Cambodian
4. Fijian Hindi
5. Japanese
1 person has voted this message useful
| Sprachgenie Decaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5711 days ago 128 posts - 165 votes Speaks: German*, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese, Icelandic, Flemish, Persian, Swiss-German Studies: English, Belarusian
| Message 2 of 43 23 April 2009 at 10:44am | IP Logged |
It all depends on what you want to do with the languages. If your goal is to make money by going into business, the best 5 to know are:
English, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese
Arabic is really only of much use if you work for the government. Spanish, although very widely spoken, is not as important of a language in business as the above mentioned 5.
1 person has voted this message useful
| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6254 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical)
| Message 3 of 43 23 April 2009 at 5:28pm | IP Logged |
I'm purposefully leaving this open-ended. What are the best languages to know in your region? This could be for social reasons, financial reasons, literary reasons, etc. While this still leaves a lot to be decided by the forum members, it limits the contention produced by sweeping generalizations.
I just find it fascinating how different languages mean different things to different people in different places. For example, Sprachgenie's reasoning is very sound but doesn't apply to me. Spanish is a very important language for business where I live. I work in agriculture labor relations and could not do what I do if I didn't not know Spanish. Just because it's important to one person doesn't mean it's important to another.
I suppose I should ask: what languages are the best to know in your region and why.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6905 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French
| Message 5 of 43 23 April 2009 at 9:59pm | IP Logged |
In Poland:
1. Polish (it's obvious)
2. English (also obvious)
3. German (because of the proximity and because it's widely spoken in Europe, also as a foreign language)
4. Russian (here I wasn't sure but it's definitely not a bad choice for business and it's still quite useful in East Europe)
5. I don't have a good candidate but if I necessarily have to name something then it would be either a language from Central or East Europe (let's say Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian - but one has to have an idea what to do with it), or one of "big" European languages (preferably French, maybe Italian or Spanish).
Here in West Switzerland:
1. French
2. English
3. German
4. Swiss German
5. Italian
2 persons have voted this message useful
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jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6911 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map
| Message 7 of 43 24 April 2009 at 1:27am | IP Logged |
In my area (Visby, Sweden):
1 Swedish (obviously)
2 English (-"-)
3 German (lots of tourists)
4 Finnish (-"-)
5 Arabic/Kurdish/Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian/(Spanish) (the major immigrant groups, it seems)
2 persons have voted this message useful
| Whiskeyjack Newbie Canada Joined 5734 days ago 36 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Spanish, Russian
| Message 8 of 43 24 April 2009 at 5:20am | IP Logged |
In my Part of canada, in no particular order
English
French
Ojibwae
1 person has voted this message useful
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