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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Sidewinder Newbie United Kingdom last.fm/user/agraham Joined 6668 days ago 17 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 121 of 346 02 September 2006 at 1:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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1. English (mother tongue)
2. German 3. Swedish 4. Danish 5. Norwegian 6. Finnish 7. Dutch 8. Icelandic 9. Spanish 10. Italian The ten languages I would like to master during my life time. You gotta love the Germanics ^^ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Pilar Triglot Newbie United States Joined 6659 days ago 14 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, Italian | Message 122 of 346 02 September 2006 at 7:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Okay, I'll play...I just joined, so this is my first post. What fun to talk about language with such a bunch of smart, talented people!
Here are the 10 languages I would learn, and why. I live in the USA, FWIW. English (business and social reasons) Spanish (proximity of many speakers, worldwide usefulness) French ("chic" factor, wide use in literature, a "must" if you want to travel in France) Italian ("chic" factor, good if you want to travel in Italy) Portuguese (again, good for travel to Portugal and Brazil, opportunities to read current literature) Catalan (literary tradition; also cool to speak a "minority" regional language, useful for travel if you want to "go local"; also good if you want to go to Andorra) Mandarin Chinese (economic reasons; good for travel) Russian (economic reasons) Arabic (economic/diplomatic reasons. Might be a good skill for travel to the Middle East) Hebrew (literature and might be good for travel to the Middle East) My list reflects my bias toward my European heritage, which is what I'm most interested in. I'm also a little intimidated by the idea of learning a language based on a non-latin alphabet, so that also leads me to certain choices. Mostly I learn languages so I can talk with other people when I travel. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| el topo Diglot Groupie Belgium Joined 6761 days ago 66 posts - 71 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Dutch | Message 123 of 346 04 September 2006 at 9:33am | IP Logged | ||
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Here's a list of 10 languages I'd like to be able to speak. I know I never will, but if I could, those would be the languages:
1. English 2. Spanish 3. Dutch 4. Italian 5. Persian 6. Polish 7. Czech 8. Japanese 9. Hebrew 10. Latin Edited by el topo on 04 September 2006 at 9:36am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| The Headmaster Newbie United States Joined 6657 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Hindi, French | Message 124 of 346 04 September 2006 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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I plan on being a decaglot. Here are the languages I've chosen and why:
-English (mother tongue) -Spanish (I live in Texas. Enough said.) -French ('chic' factor, plus literature) -Russian (is useful in many different countries, plus I want one more Indo-European language under my belt before I set out into other families) -Hebrew (I am Christian and would like to read the Scriptures in their original language; I would also like to go to Israel one day) -Japanese (they have a large economy and an utterly fascinating culture) -Arabic (useful in many countries) -German (large economy and I am interested in psychology; a lot of psychology books are written in German) -Hindi (number of speakers) And for number ten, I will decide between Italian, Mandarin and Portuguese 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Demeter Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Portugal Joined 6657 days ago 10 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 125 of 346 05 September 2006 at 10:34am | IP Logged | ||
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If I had just been born and had a blank canvas, I think I might choose:
Because of Music and Art: +French +German Because I like codes: +Cantonese +Mandarin +Farsi +Arabic +Japanese Because I like logic, grammar and structure: +Russian +Latin +Ancient Greek 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6704 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 126 of 346 05 September 2006 at 11:45am | IP Logged | ||
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The strange thing about this thread is that almost everybody accepts the fact that they will never learn the 10 languages of their choice. Personally I need two lists: one is the list of languages I know plus those that I will try to learn or relearn within a reasonable time. That will be around fifteen languages (hopefully!). On the other hand I could mention 10 languages that I definitely will not try to learn (except maybe Russian in ten years' time, if I'm not dead and buried by then). And that list is as follows:
1) Russian - the entrance ticket to the Slavic languages (1a,1b,1c,1d...) 2) Kartveli (Georgian) - because it's a strange language with a pretty alphabet 3) One of the Celtic languages, maybe Irish (in spite of the ortography) 4) Basque - which is also a strange language (or rather dialect bundle) 5) Finnish - because it's the nearest non-Indoeuropean language (seen from DK) 6) Mandarin - because so many speaks it and even more use its writing 7) Tamil - to have at least one Dravidian language on my list 8) Turkish - to relax with a fairly regular language 9) Xhosa - because those click sounds are quite extraordinary 10) Swahili - because it is said to be not too difficult, but still very different from standard IE [EDIT]: everybody ----> almost everybody Edited by Iversen on 05 September 2006 at 2:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7016 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 127 of 346 05 September 2006 at 1:17pm | IP Logged | ||
I don't think this is necessarily the case...at least, not for me! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Demeter Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Portugal Joined 6657 days ago 10 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 128 of 346 06 September 2006 at 9:15am | IP Logged | ||
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I think that what Iversen is refering to is a glass half empy/glass half full aspect.
Optimists believe that everything in their life will work out in a way which will allow them to pursue their hobbies. Pessimists believe that everything will interfere with these pursuits. To assume that you will learn the 10 languages is to assume that you will have: 1. Health - you will not keel over suddenly, but actually live long enough to learn them. 2. Time - you will not give birth to quadruplets or juggle three jobs which require you to work 25/8. 3. Money - you will be able to afford to buy books and indulge yourself in your hobbies. 4. Interest - you will not suddenly find that you no longer care about Hainanese, but actually want to devote all your free time to learning how to play the harp, the cello and the piccolo. 5. Opportunity - you will be able to find enough resources to teach yourself the Dahalo click language, which is only spoken by about 500 people, without actually setting foot in Kenya. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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