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Most useful second language for Americans | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| VityaCo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7092 days ago 79 posts - 86 votes  1 sounds Speaks: Russian*, Ukrainian*, English Studies: Spanish, Japanese, French | Message 9 of 14 24 November 2006 at 2:50am | IP Logged | ||
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With the Internet at our fingertips we do not live anymore in an isolated world. It does not matter anymore where do you live. This site is a very good example of that thought. When, about a year ago we had a gas crisis in the Ukraine I could not find from the English speaking world what is going on over there, they had the limited information and did not understand and still don’t politics and business over there. Then I went to Russian’s and Ukrainian’s sources online and found the problem.
Now, finally I started my French, as another source of the information on the world. I want to be able to see, hear and understand the world from its origin source. If I will be interesting in the Arabic world as I’m today my next language will be Arabic but, I did not decide on that yet. German, as well as French, Spanish, Russian, Sweden, Arabic, and many others are a very good choice for an American to study them, to be able to see the world by the different eyes, or from different point. http://www.netz-tipp.de/languages.html Internet Statistics: Distribution of languages on the Internet Chart of Web content (milions of webpages by language) 2002 English 1142,5 ; 56,4% German 156,2 & nbsp; 7,7% French 113,1 & nbsp; 5,6% Japanese 98,3 4,9% Spanish 59,9 & nbsp; 3,0% Chinese 48,2 & nbsp; 2,4% Italian 41,1 & nbsp; 2,0% Dutch 38,8 &nb sp; 1,9% Russian 33,7 & nbsp; 1,7% Korean 30,8 &n bsp; 1,5% Portuguese 29,4 &nbs p; 1,5% Swedish 15,1 & nbsp; 0,7% Edited by VityaCo on 24 November 2006 at 3:51am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6670 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 10 of 14 24 November 2006 at 9:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Of course the Internet makes a difference, but you could make an argument that any language can come in handy sooner or later.
I would have to factor in the likelihood of encountering a person who speaks a particular language in the USA and doesn't speak English. As far as I can tell, more often than not for the largest number of English-speaking people here, that language is more often Spanish than any other. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| orion Senior Member United States Joined 7032 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 11 of 14 24 November 2006 at 1:00pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, thank you, this was sort of what I meant. All Germans and Russians I have met in the US have spoken good, if not excellent, English. The exceptions to this have been grandparents or older relatives of my friends that are just visiting the US. Same for Mandarin speaking friends and their older relatives. I have seen many adult Spanish speakers in the US that seem to have no (or very limited) English ability. I find that a reading knowledge of German and Russian are much more helpful than my speaking ability, at least in the States. As someone pointed out, when I was in Yellowstone a couple of months ago, far and away German and Japanese were the most common foreign languages I heard. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| VityaCo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7092 days ago 79 posts - 86 votes 1 sounds Speaks: Russian*, Ukrainian*, English Studies: Spanish, Japanese, French | Message 12 of 14 24 November 2006 at 1:51pm | IP Logged | ||
Then do not think twice it is Spanish. I live in Denver metro. But I chose French, because I would like to learn that culture first, I like its sound. So I would say it is personal, everybody would have his personal preferences but. For anybody who is interested in the language distribution in the USA, you can check this site: http://www.mla.org/census_map Here you can change language and see whom you can expect encounter in you area. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AML Senior Member United States Joined 6836 days ago 323 posts - 426 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, German, Spanish | Message 13 of 14 25 November 2006 at 1:29am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with VityaCo and Sir Nigel. Spanish is not necessarily the most
useful. I very much depends on your situation. If you have essentially no reason to learn any particular language and simply want to learn one, then, yes, Spanish might be the best one to learn because it's kind of easy and there are many excellent resources. But Spanish for Americans isn't necessarily useful. I have lived in California for over 5 years (northern and southern), and I can honestly say that there has not been one situation in which I needed to know Spanish. Pretty much everyone normal people deal with on a normal basis speak at least passing English. Unless you are a farmer and need to hire workers or are a physician working in a hospital in a poor area, then it's unlikely you will ever NEED to know Spanish. So just learn the language that sounds cool to you or the language of your ancestors. Or if you are in a certain field of work that has top experts in a foreign country (Japan, Germany, where ever), then maybe you could learn one of those languages since you might need to learn from them. Whatever peaks your interest. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Snesgamer Groupie Afghanistan Joined 6622 days ago 81 posts - 90 votes Studies: English*, German, Spanish, Norwegian, Scottish Gaelic | Message 14 of 14 27 November 2006 at 6:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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It actually depends on whether you're discussing world communication or merely communication within your own country.
If it's the latter, then Spanish is definitely near the top of your list, if not #1. If it's the former, do remember that aside from Spain, I don't think Spanish really has much of a prescence in the Eastern Hemisphere. Procede with caution. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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