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Very hard languages for bragging | ||
Tags: Show-off | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6126 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 9 of 53 16 February 2010 at 10:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not sure if Americans have any idea how hard Finnish is. My friend asked me, "Finnish isn't going to be as hard as Japanese, right?" Uhh, well. I don't know. I think the most common reaction here would be "Finnish? huh? wha?"
If you want to impress the 'language learning civilians', I suggest learning a different alphabet for mystique and mystery. Georgian might be a nice candidate for this purpose. Pay extra attention to neat handwriting, and then at your next cocktail party jot down some quick notes in Georgian or Tibetan on a convenient napkin. Make sure to have a few grammatically correct set-phrases memorized, in case the napkin makes its way to a native speaker for verification. Also, don't bother acquiring deep knowledge of any one language, rather learn to beginner level a large number of exotic languages, but take special care to get the pronunciation down perfectly. Then, when the conversation inevitably drifts to America's latest overseas adventure, you can modestly drop a few phrases in Tajik or Pastho to emphasize your well-considered opinion on the matter. Stay away from more commonly studied languages, like German or French, as you're likely to run into one of those troublesome people who actually know the language. 15 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| JasonBourne Groupie United States Joined 5753 days ago 65 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Written), Turkish | Message 10 of 53 17 February 2010 at 1:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah, I'm sorry but knowing Xhosa or Igbo will get you zero bragging rights in America. Mostly, you will get blank stares. When you tell an American you speak "Georgian", they're going to think you're talking about a southern accent.
Even if they knew what part of the world one speaks Quechua and Avar (I don't), you would be perceived as being nerdy (or just weird) for studying such an obscure language. Languages that will get you the most "bragging points" are... 1. Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin (if you can utter a few sentences in these languages it instantly makes you a genius in America) 2. German, French (if you can speak these languages WELL, you're perceived as being cultured and worldly) 3. Latin (for some reason Americans think this is the toughest language in the history of mankind and if you speak it you're either really educated or really Catholic) A fluent Spanish speaking Caucasian is still considered pretty impressive (at least in the midwest). If you speak any other language besides these without a good, specific reason, your average American will only think you have too much time on your hands. I told my friends I was studying Turkish and they all think I'm an idiot... Edited by JasonBourne on 17 February 2010 at 1:36am 17 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kyssäkaali Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5554 days ago 203 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish | Message 11 of 53 17 February 2010 at 4:28am | IP Logged | ||
That's exactly what I came into this thread to say. It really depends on who you're trying to impress. If it's the bourgeoisie and you plan on using a language as some sort of party trick, a click language or some other obscure language with a twistedly complex grammar just isn't gonna work. Languages like German, Italian, and (especially) French is what will get some exclamations of "Oh wow!" out of people instead of blank stares. I remember telling some girl I was studying Finnish years ago when I first began studying and carried my "Teach Yourself Finnish" book to school like the nerd I was. Her reaction: "What's that?" 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| John Smith Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6043 days ago 396 posts - 542 votes Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 12 of 53 17 February 2010 at 5:12am | IP Logged | ||
Swahili. Exotic and hard. If you really want to impress people all you need to do is become fluent (in any foreign language). People admire people who sound like native speakers. No matter what language they speak. Edited by John Smith on 17 February 2010 at 5:18am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5568 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 13 of 53 17 February 2010 at 7:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Basically, anything that's really different from English. Any Native American language. Any language with clicks. Ancient Egyptian. Arabic. Pirahã. A sign language.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ennime Tetraglot Senior Member South Africa universityofbrokengl Joined 5905 days ago 397 posts - 507 votes Speaks: English, Dutch*, Esperanto, Afrikaans Studies: Xhosa, French, Korean, Portuguese, Zulu | Message 14 of 53 17 February 2010 at 12:13pm | IP Logged | ||
Ah actually Xhosa and Zulu are relatively easy from my point of view... I think Nama, or a Khoi language... those are the bragging ones in Africa... once you get used to Bantu grammar structures, they are all fairly similar and not all that hard. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JoshN Newbie United States Joined 5411 days ago 8 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* | Message 15 of 53 17 February 2010 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree with everything you said in the post. I will point out a mild backlash against some Westerners who are extremely fond of Japanese culture (otaku is the word usually used to describe them) to the point of obsession. So, if you're wearing a Sailor Moon shirt and carrying a backpack full of manga, speaking some Japanese might make you seem less than cool. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Johntm Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5423 days ago 616 posts - 725 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 16 of 53 17 February 2010 at 10:36pm | IP Logged | ||
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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