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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5704 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes  Studies: Spanish | Message 233 of 346 18 November 2009 at 2:23am | IP Logged |
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If I could learn ten languages (and I intend to try!) I would learn:
01. Spanish 02. French 03. German 04. Italian 05. Esperanto 06. Arabic 07. Japanese 08. Mandarin 09. Hebrew (modern) 10. ASL Thats not in order of preference or relevancy, just numbering them to help me keep track. I would also love to learn: Korean, Portuguese, Dutch/Afrikaans, Wolof, Russian and Taiwanese. I'd like to take the time to lay a solid foundation in atleast 7 languages over the next 7 plus years. It would vary greatly depending on what regions of the world they are interested in and what they want to use the language for but assuming their main motivation is to speak to people and travel all over then the one language I would recommend they learn is Esperanto. Because the community of Esperanto speakers around the world are more likely, theoretically, to be interested in him or her as a person and interested in what they have to say etc. But Arabic, Mandarin, French, Spanish, Japanese are good ones too...its so hard to pick and choose... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChristianVlcek Bilingual Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5852 days ago 131 posts - 141 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Slovak*, Ukrainian, Irish, German, Russian | Message 234 of 346 02 December 2009 at 10:43pm | IP Logged |
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Slovak
Czech German Norwegian French Dutch Anglo-Saxon Korean Russian Irish 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5454 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 235 of 346 20 January 2010 at 5:28am | IP Logged |
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Hey Everybody,
This thread is awesome! I'm new to this forum, and I just found this thread the other day, but I've been thinking about it ever since. I could probably revise and re-revise this a hundred times, but until then, let me go ahead and give it the Ol' Community College Try (tm): Assumptions: 1. The learner in this scenario would be your average American guy or gal or guy/gal who is fluent in English, grew up speaking American-English in the home, and may or may not have taken some language in college or high-school. 2. The person is doing this of his/her own volition. If learning 10 languages were to be a punishment, my recommendations would change slightly. 3. These languages would be learned in the strict order presented below... I just want to be "strict". 4. The overall goal would be to actually be able to complete the 10-language task, in a reasonable amount of time, with the greatest outcome for being able to communicate with/understand/date/drink with/mock peoples of various other countries, regions, cultures, and backgrounds. #1. Spanish - This is a no-brainer number-1 language that anyone/everyone in America should be as fluent as possible in. If you disagree, you're going against my basic assumptions above and I would question why you are reading this thread in the first place. Already fluent in Spanish? >Bam<! one down, nine to go! You're doing great. But let me ask, are you really as fluent as you think you are? Can you watch a talk-show on Telemundo and understand who's doing what to whom? Can you read Don Quixote without a dictionary? More importantly, can you set your iPhone to "Espanol" and still be able to live? If not, luckily, as an American, you basically have unlimited Spanish-learnin' materials at your disposal. From non-credit adult-learning courses to immersion, you've got it all at the tips of your "dedos". #2. Portuguese - In addition to the fact that Brazil is awesome, Portugal is awesome, and Angola... well... they speak Portuguese there. Almost 200 million people speak some form of Portuguese, which is basically just beautiful-sounding Spanish. Learning Portuguese, after having learned Spanish, will be a great ego-boost for you to go from bi-lingual to tri-lingual with minimal effort and maximum gain. Plus, you'll be able to sing along with Seu Jorge's David Bowie covers in Life Aquatic. #3. Indonesian/Malay - I've heard that this is one of the easiest languages to learn... but then again, don't people always say things are easy, especially if they haven't done them themselves? If you count the languages together, you're talking about being able to communicate with about 60 million people who, almost without exception, live in places where you don't need a jacket or gloves to keep warm. #4. Hindi/Urdu/"Hindustani" - So, in order to be able to communicate with about 250 million more peeps in the Indian sub-continent and beyond, all you really need to learn is a few hundred words, some slightly tricky grammar, and two different but uber-cool writing systems. If watching Bollywood movies has taught me anything, it's that you can switch to English (and/or break into song and dance) and still be understood. I probably know 200 words of Hindi/Urdu, of which 190 of them are food related. Read "Dreaming in Hindi" by Katherine Russell RIch and just try to do exactly what she does... or the opposite of that, depending. #5. Turkish - I hear that if you learn Turkish, you'll be able to make yourself understood all the way from Turkey to Western China. Great news if you're thinking about re-establishing the silk route or putting together a few Mongol hordes to start invadin'! Game on! Waaaay funner than Farmville. #6. Arabic - Ok, now's the time that you might want to stop and re-evaluate this whole 10-language business. I mean, you've done so good up until now, and learning five language has been challenging, rewarding, and time-consuming. Why not just take the easy way out and (A) Quit. (B) Go for Italian, French, Romanian, Middle- English, and American Sign Language. (C) Take up an easier, more relaxing hobby. Haven't you always wanted to be a DJ? (D) No? None of the above? Well, then go ahead and learn Arabic. #7. Chinese - You really should have learned Chinese a long time ago. #8. Russian - This should be pretty easy after having just learned Chinese, right?... Wait, you didn't learn all those Chinese characters did you! That's hilarious, since they just voted to quit using them and switch to "regular" writing. Have you ever considered working as a tattoo artist? #9. District-9-ese - Well, by this time, I'm going to assume that some sort of Alien has invaded, or at least shown up on Earth for snacks. And I'm not saying that you should learn their language so that you can sell out mankind... but... hey, don't you kind of want to know what they're talking about when it looks like their getting ready to start eating all the humans? You could make a great living as a translator and prevent such feeble translations as "All your base are belong to us." #10. Baby-talk - Despite the tremendous work done by Dr. Bruce Willis in the early 90's, relatively little research into the communicative abilities of toddlers has been done lately. Although, American food-industry marketing and research executives seem to think that they are saying "Feed me more high-fructose corn syrup!" -Slacker 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| re4lover Groupie Egypt Joined 5438 days ago 63 posts - 66 votes Speaks: Arabic (Egyptian)* Studies: English, Russian, Modern Hebrew, Aramaic | Message 236 of 346 20 January 2010 at 11:09am | IP Logged |
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1)English (amazing language ; used in business and everything ; language of all great movies!!)
2) Russian : it's great language and great challenge ; love it! 3) French : i love France & Canada ; beautiful language 4) Greek : to make my Uncle proud ; love their culture 5) Italian : love it ; and love Italy 6) Spanish : I am really love Julio Iglesias and love Spain (real madrid and their culture) 7) Coptic : it is really cool and amazing language ; to make my family proud 8) Hieroglyph : to reed all sign language of Ancient Egyptians 9) Korean : love their culture and serials , movies 10) German or Hebrew or Farsi Edited by re4lover on 20 January 2010 at 11:10am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5386 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 237 of 346 04 March 2010 at 5:14am | IP Logged |
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My decaglot dream goes as follows. Trying to be realistic about the levels of proficiency though. In rough order that I'd like to study (as if one can predict such things at 26 years old).
1. English (native). Not a bad one to get for free. 2. Spanish (C2). So so so useful in the U.S., and the key to great music, fantastic literature, and wonderful people on both sides of the world. 3. MS/Levantine Arabic (C1). I would love a C2 here, but realism probably says otherwise. Amazing poetry and the chance to immerse myself in a culture very foreign yet very important to me. Also very economically useful nowadays, not that this is my main focus. 4. French (C1). If I'm native in English and C2 in Spanish, I'd be a fool not to give French a fair shake, non? Great for West Africa, also useful in the parts of Northern Africa where Levantine or Egyptian Arabic won't help. And maybe I'll go to France at some point too. 5. Mandarin (C1). Same with Arabic. I'd love C2, but that's only so realistic. Very economically valuable, and gives you access to a complete treasure trove of literature, history, and philosophy. And the tones scare me, so I'm intrigued. 6. Turkish (B2). I've dreamed of living in Istanbul since I was a little boy, and the Turkish language amazes me. And man, the food! Also the only language that I can learn in Roman script, but research traditional documents in Arabic script. Also helpful for Central Asia. Plus, the Mandarin characters and the Turkish grammar will prepare me for. . . 7. Japanese (B2). As a Zen practitioner six years running, I'd love to know what the heck I've actually been chanting all this time. And again, great literature and a pretty amazing country. Plus, tons of great pop culture to waste time with, yet an immensely deep history to explore. 8. Urdu (B2). I lived in India for a few months, in a Kannada-speaking area. So my impressions of India really don't involve the "Hindustani" language all that much. But after learning Arabic script it'd be fun to try to put it to use in a totally different language. Plus, I've always wanted to see Pakistan and Northern India, and the India diaspora makes this a surprisingly useful language in unexpected places. 9. Swahili (B1). African languages are mysterious to me, and Swahili has a reputation for being easier to learn than most. Plus, again, having a language that's written in both Arabic and Roman script is interesting to me, and it would help cover parts of East Africa that English and French won't. 10. Russian (B1). I'll admit this isn't the biggest of priorities for me, though Russian is very useful economically. But I'd love to see Russia and get a chance to read about life behind the Iron Curtain in its original form. Other dabbles might be had into Portuguese, Farsi, Indonesian, or a Native American language as well. Depending on life. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jon1991 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5366 days ago 98 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French, Russian | Message 239 of 346 23 March 2010 at 3:07pm | IP Logged |
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English
French Spanish Portuguese German Russian Arabic Chinese Japanese Hindi 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Carisma Diglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 5623 days ago 104 posts - 161 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC1 Studies: Italian, Mandarin | Message 240 of 346 23 March 2010 at 6:34pm | IP Logged |
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I have Spanish as my native language :)
I would recommend: 1) English (obvious reasons). 2) French (usefulness to travel and it is the language of the etiquette and the diplomacy. Language of elites). 3) Portuguese (Brazil is growing fast and could be useful for bussiness in the future). 4) German (The language of the richest country in Europe. And they are really intelligent, they fell in war and rebuilt everything again! You could learn lots of things from German people). 5) Japanese (Probably the next empire, lots of economic importance). 6) Mandarin (most spoken language in the world). 7) Latin (as a foundation for future language acquisitions). 8) Modern or Ancient Greek (Useful for ethymologies). 9) The language that the aspiring decaglot finds more exotic/chic/beautiful. I'd like to speak... Spanish (I already speak it) English (I already speak it) French (currently learning it) Italian Portuguese German Japanese Modern Greek 1 person has voted this message useful |
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