What language to learn

[Demonweave]

So me and a friend are thinking of learning a language. We are thinking French, Spanish or Italian. But can't decide which.

Any recommendations? Anyone know if one is particularly easier to learn?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

So me and a friend are thinking of learning a language. We are thinking French, Spanish or Italian. But can't decide which.

Any recommendations? Anyone know if one is particularly easier to learn?

Spanish is very easier to learn. But I prefer French, on account of me already speaking French. French is a wonderful language. And you can pick up girls with French. It's wonderful.

[Drynwyn]

I, personally, have found French to be my favorite. I would recommend it to anyone.

[Demonweave]

She did also say French would be her choice, but I did it at school, and Just couldn't Pick it up. Found German alot easier tho. Hmmm

[Temotei]

I like Italian. French is just fine, though. French really isn't that difficult to learn, I think. I've never tried Spanish, so I've no input on that.

[Icewalker]

I know very little about French.

Spanish and Italian are roughly the same language. (If you speak one, people who speak the other will be able to understand you fine). Personally, I like the sound of Italian more.

If you learn Arabic or Chinese you are instantly more employable in the job market, and they may end up being more useful. Also, more unusual, which means they may teach you more from a linguistic perspective. However they're also further from English phonologically, so it'll be harder to learn to pronounce.

Personally, I suggest you study Nahuatl. :smallbiggrin:

[The Vorpal Tribble]

I've always wanted to study a new language in each different major alphabet.

Hebrew, Mandarin, Greek, Hindi etc.

Just for awesome also wish to learn Gaelic and Cherokee. The latter am teaching myself.

Problem is, while I pick up on languages quite easily, rarely have anyone to teach me. I'm not good with simply reading about it. I pick it up like I do instruments, by ear and learning how everything flows.

Start going on about glottal stops and female ventriculars and all that crap and my brainfuzzes.

[Ranger Mattos]

Out of those choices, I prefer French. Seems to me to be easy to learn, as well as useful.

Out of any language, you should learn Quenya. Or Sindarin.

[Kumori]

Out of any language, you should learn Quenya. Or Sindarin.

I wonder how many people on this board recognize those as Elvish...

As for the topic at hand, I'd probably go with Spanish or Italian. I don't favour French much, probably on account of one of my friends being French.

[Haruki-kun]

As much as I hate to admit it, probably French would be most useful out of those.

Between Spanish or Italian, go with Spanish. Spanish is more broadly used. It is true that you can get a rough understanding of the other if you speak one, but they're NOT the same language, and you can't go around saying "I speak Italian because I speak Spanish."

Languages.... do not work that way. <.<

[InaVegt]

Nahuatl, I choose thee!

[PJ the Epic]

Spanish is fun if you have somewhere to use/practice it. Or someone to speak it with. Otherwise it can be a real drag to learn, unless you absolutly love language, which some people do.

[Jay R]

You left out all useful information for forming an opinion.

Where do you live? How many speakers of each language live near you?

Where do you want to visit?

What do you want to read? Don Quixote's in Spanish; Cyrano de Bergerac and The Three Musketeers are French; most opera is in Italian.

If you're interested in 16th/17th century fencing manuals, Agrippa and Capo Ferro are in Italian; Narvaez is in Spanish; Sainct Didier is in French.

I live in Texas, and Spanish is more immediately relevant. People near Quebec would have more use for French.

Languages are tools for communication and learning. Until we know who you want to communicate with or what you want to learn, we cannot advise you.

[Eldariel]

Difficulty-wise, all of those are rather even. French has a tad more rigid rules and a bit more complex pronunciation on account of having been artificially regulated for centuries (while the other two have developed relatively freely), but all of them have the same basic grammar and structure with the same cases and actually quite a large overlap on words.

If anything, learn all of them. Once you learn one, the other two will be really easy. I know French and studying Spanish has been really simple as a consequence; and through both you can actually make quite some sense of other Romance languages like Italian & Portuguese.

[KerfuffleMach2]

If you learn Arabic or Chinese you are instantly more employable in the job market, and they may end up being more useful.

Spanish applies here as well. It is one of the most widely spoken languages.

Spanish isn't too difficult to learn. Hardest part for me is remembering the various verb forms.

[Pokonic]

I found french to be hard, but chinese is more important in the jobe market. The again, I may be biased, as chinese is my native tongue.:smallwink:

[Lord Seth]

You left out all useful information for forming an opinion.

Where do you live?Underneath his Avatar it says "Location:
norfolk, england"

I don't know about England in particular, but I do think that after English, French is the most frequently spoken language in the U.K., so it might be most useful...

[ForzaFiori]

I've actually taken all three of those languages, and in my opinion, French is by far the hardest. Silent letters run rampant, and in many cases, 2 or more different conjugations of words will sound exactly the same. Italian and Spanish are about equal in difficulty. Each one has a couple of weird pronunciations to remember (rolling r's in spanish (or italian, actually), ll making a y sound, and x making an h sound in spanish, ch and z in italian (they make a K and ts sound, respectively, which are similar, but not quite the same.)

French also seemed to have more irregular verbs, as well as no easy distinction between masculine and feminine nouns (like spanish and italian's o and a endings.)

[Haruki-kun]

I found french to be hard, but chinese is more important in the jobe market. The again, I may be biased, as chinese is my native tongue.:smallwink:

Just a bit. :smalltongue:

Seriously, though, Chinese is a better option... but it depends a lot on what you're working on.

For Engineering, Japanese and German are priority.

For international relations, French and Spanish are a bit higher (though not much, as Japanese and German are important, too).

If you're getting into something very specific, like a career in Fashion or Culinary arts, French is THE language, followed by Italian.

Chinese is good if you're doing International business and Relations, and a bit in Engineering, IIRC, but not much use if you're in Fashion or cooking.

That's what I recall being told, anyway. Asking someone at school might be a good choice.

[arguskos]

I wonder how many people on this board recognize those as Elvish...
I did. :smalltongue:

I recommend Klingon, for the awesomeness factor. I also recommend a real language, such as French or Spanish, from your list and for the usability factor. I know if you lived here, in the States, it'd be Spanish, as Spanish is a rapidly growing language here, but in England, I imagine it's less useful.

[unosarta]

If you learn Arabic or Chinese you are instantly more employable in the job market, and they may end up being more useful. Also, more unusual, which means they may teach you more from a linguistic perspective. However they're also further from English phonologically, so it'll be harder to learn to pronounce.

Personally, I suggest you study Nahuatl. :smallbiggrin:

If you learn Chinese, you might as well go learn Japanese at the same time. It makes every vastly easier. If you aren't necessarily that good at learning languages, then doing them at the same time might not be advisable, but learning one makes learning the other incredibly easier. Also, Chinese is really, really nice for an employment standpoint, as Icewalker pointed out. And China/Japan has some amazing food.

[VioletRice]

If you learn Chinese, you might as well go learn Japanese at the same time. It makes every vastly easier.

I actually tried this, and found it more difficult, cuz I mixed them up too much. Of course, I only tried it for a year until I decided I'd learn Japanese later. I also was already studying Latin and French as well, so it might have just been too much.

To answer the OP, I prefer French, mostly cuz I live near Montreal and Quebec. I'd try to go for whichever is the most common in you're area, wherever you want to visit the most, or whichever sounds the nicest to you.

[Claudius Maximus]

Ancient Greek

Doooo iiiiiiit

[unosarta]

I actually tried this, and found it more difficult, cuz I mixed them up too much. Of course, I only tried it for a year until I decided I'd learn Japanese later. I also was already studying Latin and French as well, so it might have just been too much.

To answer the OP, I prefer French, mostly cuz I live near Montreal and Quebec. I'd try to go for whichever is the most common in you're area, wherever you want to visit the most, or whichever sounds the nicest to you.

As someone who is learning both, it helps me a huge amount. The Japanese pronunciations are fairly similar to the Chinese ones, and being able to compare characters and meanings to be similar is a very good way to learn the languages.

Take a couple of characters; 新 あたらし, Shin1. Atarashi, and Shin. They have a fairly similar structure, and I instantly recognized it in my Chinese class because I had learned it in Japanese. They also both have the same meaning. Also, atarashi is only the most common usage, the kunyomi. The onyomi is Shin, which has the exact same pronunciation as the chinese word.

心, こころ/shin， 心, shin. Kokoro is the kunyomi in this case as well, shin is the onyomi. Every Japanese character has a kunyomi and an onyomi. The onyomi are specifically taken from the Chinese pronunciation. So, the onyomi in this case is the exact same as the Chinese. You will notice this pattern repeat across most any characters and words you are learning in either language.

[VioletRice]

As someone who is learning both, it helps me a huge amount. The Japanese pronunciations are fairly similar to the Chinese ones, and being able to compare characters and meanings to be similar is a very good way to learn the languages.

Yup, they're quite similar, and I can read a fair amount of Japanese because of my experience with Mandarin, but for some reason Mandarin is a lot easier for me than Japanese. I guess it just didn't work for me (which, again, I will probably put down to taking four languages at once, plus an altogether busy year).

[unosarta]

Yup, they're quite similar, and I can read a fair amount of Japanese because of my experience with Mandarin, but for some reason Mandarin is a lot easier for me than Japanese. I guess it just didn't work for me (which, again, I will probably put down to taking four languages at once, plus an altogether busy year).

Probably a good point. But I must digress, no matter what the OP chooses, learning a language is an amazing absolutely fantastic, incredible, wonderful and beautiful experience.

[Mauve Shirt]

Learn German. It is the best.

[Eldariel]

Probably a good point. But I must digress, no matter what the OP chooses, learning a language is an amazing absolutely fantastic, incredible, wonderful and beautiful experience.

The best part is, after you know ~10 languages or so, learning a new one becomes incredibly easy. You can just mirror the grammatic elements off other languages and probably have quite a good command of the basics right off the bat along with efficient methods for picking up the vocabulary.

[unosarta]

The best part is, after you know ~10 languages or so, learning a new one becomes incredibly easy. You can just mirror the grammatic elements off other languages and probably have quite a good command of the basics right off the bat along with efficient methods for picking up the vocabulary.

I am so jealous of you. My life goal is to learn more than 10 languages. :smallbiggrin:

[Anxe]

As much as I hate to admit it, probably French would be most useful out of those.

Between Spanish or Italian, go with Spanish. Spanish is more broadly used. It is true that you can get a rough understanding of the other if you speak one, but they're NOT the same language, and you can't go around saying "I speak Italian because I speak Spanish."

Languages.... do not work that way. <.<

My experience in Italy was that Spanish and Italian were the same language. I could talk with people with occasional words not being understood, but sentences working.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I know some french, and I'm not particularly attached to it.
If I were you, I would learn Spanish.

[rakkoon]

I speak French which lets me visit some parts of Switserland, Belgium, Africa and Vietnam. If I spoke Spanish I could visit South America, Central America, Spain, Miami :smallsmile:

So where do you want to go?

[Moff Chumley]

Realistically, I'd go with Spanish, and then work towards picking up Italian and French (and Romanian! Romanian's in the same group too!) later. Spanish is the easiest, and once you know that, picking up the other two aren't all that difficult.

[Eldan]

I had 9 years of French in school and I can't stand it. At all. It's a grating, annoying, ugly language. So, I'm probably biased.

Learn something else instead.

[Demonweave]

First of all thanks for all the responses guyssly it is quite different for everyone.

I don't think I will be learning any form of elven or Klingon for now. :smallbiggrin:
Although I would love to learn Chinese, it isn't really an option for now.


You left out all useful information for forming an opinion.

Where do you live? How many speakers of each language live near you?

Where do you want to visit?

What do you want to read? Don Quixote's in Spanish; Cyrano de Bergerac and The Three Musketeers are French; most opera is in Italian.

If you're interested in 16th/17th century fencing manuals, Agrippa and Capo Ferro are in Italian; Narvaez is in Spanish; Sainct Didier is in French.

I live in Texas, and Spanish is more immediately relevant. People near Quebec would have more use for French.

Languages are tools for communication and learning. Until we know who you want to communicate with or what you want to learn, we cannot advise you.

I left out most of this because it isn't relevant Joe.
Where I live, there is very few people who speak English properly let alone another language too.
Next year I should be backpacking across Europe so all three would be handy. Equally so I should think.
The only things I read are Fiction Novels and Rule books (which are all writtten in English)
I want to learn another language simply because I think everyone should atleast attempt to. Simple as that.

[super dark33]

Learn hebrew, it has all the sounds of all the langueges, and it makes outer langueges easier to learn.

[Eldan]

Does it have both pronounciations of "ä" and all three forms of "ch" Swiss German has? (Throaty, rasping and hissing). Or clicking noises?

I doubt it has every sound ever, really.

[super dark33]

yep, it has it all

[Xuc Xac]

yep, it has it all

That's ridiculous. The International Phonetic Alphabet distinguishes between 35 different vowels. Hebrew has only 5.

[Asta Kask]

Swedish. Then we can talk in code on the forums! :smallwink:

[Themrys]

So me and a friend are thinking of learning a language. We are thinking French, Spanish or Italian. But can't decide which.

Any recommendations? Anyone know if one is particularly easier to learn?

In my experience, depending on how you learn languages, it is easier to learn languages that are related to your mothertongue.
I learnt English much faster than Spanish and Latin. (I can't speak the other two fluently and would only understand parts of a conversation)
English is a Germanic language while Latin, Spanish, Italian and French are Romanic languages.

So...easiest probably Dutch, it sounds like a strange mixture between English and German.

However, if you learn languages by learning the rules by heart, Romanic languages may be easier. (I learnt English mainly by reading a lot of English books)

For me, Spanish is much easier to pronounce than French. Italian, I never tried, but I guess it is about as difficult as Spanish.


For travelling in Europe, you should probably learn one of the Romanic languages, which makes it easier to learn a bit of other Romanic languages, too.

And in Germany, everyone understands English anyway. ;)
(At least everyone thinks they do. ;))

[Velaryon]

I was gonna recommend Klingon, but you said you don't want to do that. :smalltongue: Has anyone suggested Swahili yet?

Between French, Spanish, and Italian, the only one with which I have any experience is French. It's an okay language, but I found it annoying how you only pronounce like half the word sometimes. In that respect I much preferred studying German where there are absolutely no silent letters.

I'd say start with Spanish, and then if that goes well try and pick up the other two.

[rakkoon]

Caveat: you cannot learn (ki)swahili after the age of twelve. Don't go there. I know.
Backpacking through Europe...English is understood in most countries. Spanish would probably be best because Spain isn't that great in other languages. Though I'm sure the exceptions visit this forum :smallbiggrin:

[Fifty-Eyed Fred]

Underneath his Avatar it says "Location:
norfolk, england"

I don't know about England in particular, but I do think that after English, French is the most frequently spoken language in the U.K., so it might be most useful...

Er, no. French is considered a foreign language in the UK - Welsh is the 'second' language here in terms of what one finds in official capacities, though languages spoken in urban immigrant communities (I would venture a guess at an Indian language such as Hindi) are probably the second most spoken languages in the UK after English.
French is still the most useful second language for an Englishman to learn, though, so I recommend French.

[grimbold]

french has easy vocabulary
but the grammar is EVIL!!
you start fast but by the end you hate it

[Dallas-Dakota]

So...easiest probably Dutch, it sounds like a strange mixture between English and German.

I would not recommend learning Dutch,the basics are reasonably easy, but speaking it is well, nowhere as usefull as say French or Spanish.
It's only spoken(bastardisations of the language counted too) in the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Suriname and the Dutch Antilles.

Also mastering is incredibly hard, so far, no Dutch person has mastered it unless they've studied it in uni, perhaps.:smalltongue:

French is a good language to learn, also the French really like it if you can speak their language.:smalltongue: But beware, for they speak it really really fast. >.> Though most will speak slower if they know it's not your native language.

I'd recommend French> Spanish > Italian. Though I don't know about East-European languages.

EDIT: I completely forgot about German! It's a very good language to know if you're going to be around europe. It's aside from english one of the most spoken languages. Also, it might look like Dutch, but you don't speak the other if you know one.:smallwink:

I'd recommend French> German > Spanish> Italian

[Asta Kask]

Swedish! Swedish!

So fun even the Finns study it!

[Kobold-Bard]

You're all fools. Learn Sign Language. My sister and her mate learned it so they could talk during lessons in school, got her to teach it to me (forgot it all now admittedly).

[Murdim]

The best thing about learning French is that many French people (in teh Internets, at least) do not take the pain to speak English in international contexts.

The worst thing about learning French is that those same people who refuses to talk English are usually also the ones you do not want to discuss with, anyway.

Also, there's the horribly mangled text-language that seriously puts 1337-speak into shame when it comes to sheer indecipherability - despite not having been designed as deliberately cryptic. And it is absolutely everywhere.

All in all, I'm beginning to think my people like to talk so much, they don't really care about being understood.


Swedish! Swedish!

So fun even the Finns study it!
Also, knowing Swedish might be handy when it comes to buying furniture.

[Archonic Energy]

Perl
Ruby
C++
BASIC

any of those...
What? :smallamused:

[Themrys]

I would not recommend learning Dutch,the basics are reasonably easy, but speaking it is well, nowhere as usefull as say French or Spanish.
It's only spoken(bastardisations of the language counted too) in the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Suriname and the Dutch Antilles.

Also mastering is incredibly hard, so far, no Dutch person has mastered it unless they've studied it in uni, perhaps.:smalltongue:

That way, they won't notice if you make mistakes! :smallbiggrin:


German is one of the most spoken languages? I was under the impression no one outside of Germany learns it. Okay, they speak German in Switzerland and Austria, but that doesn't count, they don't have to learn it as a foreign language.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I had 9 years of French in school and I can't stand it. At all. It's a grating, annoying, ugly language. So, I'm probably biased.

Learn something else instead.

I spent three years in French immersion school and I didn't like it either. The whole language is a bit grating and has really bizarre and annoying grammar.

[Spiryt]

German is one of the most spoken languages? I was under the impression no one outside of Germany learns it. Okay, they speak German in Switzerland and Austria, but that doesn't count, they don't have to learn it as a foreign language.

That was my impression as well...

Not really sure where you can speak German outside of those 3...

As for learning, I was learning it for few long years. Not that the effect is very pleasing. :smalltongue:

[shawnhcorey]

I spent three years in French immersion school and I didn't like it either. The whole language is a bit grating and has really bizarre and annoying grammar.

Don't forget the snotty French attitude that comes with it. I had to sit through classes of it too and somewhere between, "You must learn this," and, "Isn't this the most wonderful language ever," I decided that I could live without it.

[GolemsVoice]

German is one of the most spoken languages? I was under the impression no one outside of Germany learns it. Okay, they speak German in Switzerland and Austria, but that doesn't count, they don't have to learn it as a foreign language.

I think the poster meant in Europe. Considering a big part of Europe is made up of Spain, France, Italy and Germany, you can't go wrong with those languages for travelling Europe. East of Germany is a huge shift in language, and it's actually a pity that most German schools focus on the western languages, so that quite few people speak the language of our eastern neighbours.

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

Really, you should learn Russian. :smallwink:

Of the three, I would choose to learn French first. As an English speaker, many words and devices will be familiar, and much of the literary canon of the language will be, as well; learning French and being able to read something like Camus in the original language is excellent. Of course, the same could be said for Borges in Spanish or Calvino in Italian, but they're probably not as familiar to American audiences and thus not as inspiring. Additionally, the body of modern criticism and philosophy in French is large and influential, and especially the more modern works lose quite a lot in the process of translation, often relying on double-meanings and puns which do not translate.

So, really, learn all three (they're similar enough to do so with little difficulty), but begin with French.

German is good to learn, too, since the majority of translations of Kant, Freud, and Nietzsche are all embarrassingly poor to the point of obfuscating/changing the meaning of the text, at times.

[paddyfool]

Er, no. French is considered a foreign language in the UK - Welsh is the 'second' language here in terms of what one finds in official capacities, though languages spoken in urban immigrant communities (I would venture a guess at an Indian language such as Hindi) are probably the second most spoken languages in the UK after English.

Very close. Actually, the second most-spoken language in the UK is probably Punjabi (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmhansrd/vo000307/halltext/00307h02.htm).



French is still the most useful second language for an Englishman to learn, though, so I recommend French.


It teaches you the most about the English language, given all the common roots. But French vs Spanish for travelling and general cultural purposes is a much trickier proposition... and Spanish would be more valuable in the UK job market, being less widely spoken as a second language in the UK than French. Both? (Especially since, yes, you can get by in Italy in Spanish, if you're happy to speak slowly and have people answer you slowly).

[Eldariel]

Swedish! Swedish!

So fun even the Finns study it!

It's totally not obligatory for us or anything :smalltongue: Really tho, Swedish is ridiculously easy if you're in any way fluent in English so that's an easy, if probably a less globally useful, option.

Heck, Swedish is easy in general; most inflections are logical and there's very little that doesn't go by the (exceedingly simple) rules.


It teaches you the most about the English language, given all the common roots.

They share little beyond vocabulary; grammatically they're quite a ways apart (Romance vs. Germanic language) and the artificial alteration of French becomes increasingly apparent with all the rules on which letters are allowed to be adjacent for pronunciation purposes and what kinds of forms can exist; something English is completely devoid of (which, in turn, means there's about 600000000 different ways to speak English all of which more or less equally correct).

They do have common history, of course, but for those purposes learning Latin may be more fruitful as that's the language at the root of all the Indo-European languages that have influenced English (of course, learning a Celtic language like Welsh would be exceedingly useful for these purposes too).

[Asta Kask]

It's totally not obligatory for us or anything :smalltongue: Really tho, Swedish is ridiculously easy if you're in any way fluent in English so that's an easy, if probably a less globally useful, option.

Heck, Swedish is easy in general; most inflections are logical and there's very little that doesn't go by the (exceedingly simple) rules.

Compared to Finnish, any language is easy. 15 cases... *shudders* :smalltongue:

[Jay R]

Where I live, there is very few people who speak English properly let alone another language too.
Next year I should be backpacking across Europe so all three would be handy. Equally so I should think.
The only things I read are Fiction Novels and Rule books (which are all writtten in English)
I want to learn another language simply because I think everyone should atleast attempt to. Simple as that.

If the goal is to get around Europe, English is most important, but French is probably second overall. Italian and Spanish are restricted to small portions, but French spreads out more.

More importantly, the French people would really rather speak to you in French than in English. This is less true in Spain and Italy. (Or it was two decades ago. Find more up-to-date info than mine.)

[Gaelbert]

Just for awesome also wish to learn Gaelic and Cherokee. The latter am teaching myself.


Which Gaelic? Irish, Scots, Welsh, Manx, Breton, or Cornish?
I taught myself a fair amount of Irish. Not really the most useful skill, I have to say.

[Mainlander]

Which Gaelic? Irish, Scots, Welsh, Manx, Breton, or Cornish?
I taught myself a fair amount of Irish. Not really the most useful skill, I have to say.

I'm currently taking Irish in uni and it is by far the most useless course :P I'm hoping to someday go to Ireland and speak it, but as a poor first-year student that's not happening anytime soon. Also, in regards to the Vorpal Tribble, I'm desperate to learn Cree. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who's chosen such a weird combination of languages.

[Gaelbert]

I'm currently taking Irish in uni and it is by far the most useless course :P I'm hoping to someday go to Ireland and speak it, but as a poor first-year student that's not happening anytime soon. Also, in regards to the Vorpal Tribble, I'm desperate to learn Cree. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who's chosen such a weird combination of languages.

If you go to western Ireland (Gaeltacht regions such as Gaillimh) there are places where you can speak Gaeilge. I can't imagine you would ever need to know it though. I mainly started learning it to understand some song lyrics and read certain literature.

[Mainlander]

If you go to western Ireland (Gaeltacht regions such as Gaillimh) there are places where you can speak Gaeilge. I can't imagine you would ever need to know it though. I mainly started learning it to understand some song lyrics and read certain literature.

Yeah, I know the language is rarely spoken in the country, and I'm pretty limited to where I could go because of dialectal issues. My professor's from Waterford, which has a pretty distinct dialect (notably saying 'Thá' in place of the more common 'Tá'). Also, in my home province of Ontario there's a small Irish speaking community; I might visit that while I'm home for the summer.

[Dallas-Dakota]

That way, they won't notice if you make mistakes! :smallbiggrin:


German is one of the most spoken languages? I was under the impression no one outside of Germany learns it. Okay, they speak German in Switzerland and Austria, but that doesn't count, they don't have to learn it as a foreign language.
It's learned standard in high school in The Netherlands, France, and west-Poland I think.

The thing is Europe* just has a lot of variation in languages. And as for most spoken, I would probably say English > French > German*

* I am only talking about Western europe at the moment

[Dallas-Dakota]

That way, they won't notice if you make mistakes! :smallbiggrin:


German is one of the most spoken languages? I was under the impression no one outside of Germany learns it. Okay, they speak German in Switzerland and Austria, but that doesn't count, they don't have to learn it as a foreign language.
It's learned standard in high school in The Netherlands, France, and west-Poland I think.

The thing is Europe* just has a lot of variation in languages. And as for most spoken, I would probably say English > French > German*

I say this, having gone countless time to Belgium,a lot to France, a couple of times to Germany, switzerland, Austria, twice to Italy, and once to Spain.

* I am only talking about Western europe at the moment

This is my oppinion, what I know, please do not take it as fact.

[Eadin]

It's learned standard in high school in The Netherlands, France, and west-Poland I think.

The thing is Europe* just has a lot of variation in languages. And as for most spoken, I would probably say English > French > German*

* I am only talking about Western europe at the moment

Belgium too.

Between Spanish, Italian and French I'd pick French.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

I'm currently taking Irish in uni and it is by far the most useless course :P I'm hoping to someday go to Ireland and speak it, but as a poor first-year student that's not happening anytime soon. Also, in regards to the Vorpal Tribble, I'm desperate to learn Cree. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who's chosen such a weird combination of languages.
Well, there is the fact I'm a welsh/cherokee mutt :smallwink:

It's two cultures I also plan to use in some fiction I'm working on. How cool also would it be to read fairy tales in their original language? Not to mention it sounds beautiful.

Cherokee is also one of the most historically significant of the native american languages.

[Asta Kask]

German is one of the most spoken languages? I was under the impression no one outside of Germany learns it. Okay, they speak German in Switzerland and Austria, but that doesn't count, they don't have to learn it as a foreign language.

In Sweden, you learn first English and then another language. Most schools offer French and German, although Spanish is also popular (or was, when I went to school 20 years ago. God, I'm old.)

[unosarta]

Cherokee is also one of the most historically significant of the native american languages.

I do note necessarily agree with this statement. In your area, Cherokee might be very significant, however, up in Minnesota, Ojibwe, which is also slightly dying out, is one of the largest Native American languages, and has far, far more to do with Minnesota history than Cherokee. And also offered by my school.

In the southwest, Navajo, which is also the largest Native American tribe in America, and whose language is most prolific, is inarguably more important than Cherokee.

[Serpentine]

Pish posh, Bahasa Indonesia is where it's at!
It'd be nice to see some aboriginal languages being taught in Australia, though...

[The Vorpal Tribble]

I do note necessarily agree with this statement. In your area, Cherokee might be very significant, however, up in Minnesota, Ojibwe, which is also slightly dying out, is one of the largest Native American languages, and has far, far more to do with Minnesota history than Cherokee. And also offered by my school.

In the southwest, Navajo, which is also the largest Native American tribe in America, and whose language is most prolific, is inarguably more important than Cherokee.
Well, considering cherokee have their own alphabet and were the first illiterates in recorded history to make up their own literacy and cherokee is spread farther than any other nation... I still defend it being the most 'historically' significant language.

Sure, in your area it may not be a big deal, but that's a very small area compared to the spread of the cherokee. Trail of Tears did wonders :smallannoyed:

Heck, you have street signs in cherokee in Okalahoma.

[unosarta]

Well, considering cherokee have their own alphabet and were the first illiterates in recorded history to make up their own literacy and cherokee is spread farther than any other nation... I still defend it being the most 'historically' significant language.

Sure, in your area it may not be a big deal, but that's a very small area compared to the spread of the cherokee. Trail of Tears did wonders :smallannoyed:

Heck, you have street signs in cherokee in Okalahoma.

Simply being the first to have a written language doesn't necessarily make a culture better or more historically significant than another. For instance, the Phoenicians, who are arguably more historically significant than any other culture, seeing as they developed and spread one of the first phonetic alphabets, but rarely does anyone I encounter know of them. Historical significance is an almost impossible thing to argue from a subjective standpoint, since the historical significance of a culture is going to vary wildly from person to person.

As for the sheer population size that speaks it; Navajo still has you beat, if I recall correctly.

There are street signs in ojibwe in Minnesota. Minneapolis means "City of Water". Heck, Minnesota itself means "Land of Water" in ojibwe. There is no current state that even is named in Cherokee. I am still not seeing your point.

[Gaelbert]

Simply being the first to have a written language doesn't necessarily make a culture better or more historically significant than another. For instance, the Phoenicians, who are arguably more historically significant than any other culture, seeing as they developed and spread one of the first phonetic alphabets, but rarely does anyone I encounter know of them. Historical significance is an almost impossible thing to argue from a subjective standpoint, since the historical significance of a culture is going to vary wildly from person to person.

I'm currently on a one man crusade to educate the world about Phoenicians. It's not going so well.

[Cogidubnus]

Italian has no pronouns. This is a wonderful thing, because pronouns mean extra grammar, and grammar is a bad, nasty thing.

[Xuc Xac]

Italian has no pronouns.

That doesn't sound right...


Italian features a sizeable set of pronouns.

[unosarta]

I'm currently on a one man crusade to educate the world about Phoenicians. It's not going so well.

The world really ought to know more about them, a fascinating culture and honestly a great history.

[Gaelbert]

The world really ought to know more about them, a fascinating culture and honestly a great history.

That's exactly why I mounted my crusade. Somethings just need to be said.

[Orzel]

Whatever you pick dont choose Chinese. My chinese has regressed bad since I no longer have Chinise speaking friends and my Grandpa died years ago.

Spanish is easy, I am decent in it. My Italian is a joke but its a cool language.

[Xuc Xac]

Whatever you pick dont choose Chinese.

Why the hell not?

[unosarta]

Why the hell not?

Seconded. I am taking Chinese, have very few Chinese friends, but my Chinese is passable (or so I am told.)

[Asta Kask]

Seconded. I am taking Chinese, have very few Chinese friends, but my Chinese is passable (or so I am told.)

What kind of Chinese? Aren't there like fifteen languages that share a single alphabet?

[Orzel]

Why the hell not?

Because of all the languages I tried to learn, Chinese is the hardest to retain without occasional conversation.

[unosarta]

What kind of Chinese? Aren't there like fifteen languages that share a single alphabet?

Actually, I think it is higher. I am currently taking Mandarin, and I don't think schools in the US even offer other dialects, for all I would love to take them. :smallsigh:

[Gaelbert]

Actually, I think it is higher. I am currently taking Mandarin, and I don't think schools in the US even offer other dialects, for all I would love to take them. :smallsigh:

I'd hazard a guess that the vast majority of schools in the U.S. don't offer Mandarin. There's a few with programmes, but not too many. Or so I've been told.

[unosarta]

I'd hazard a guess that the vast majority of schools in the U.S. don't offer Mandarin. There's a few with programmes, but not too many. Or so I've been told.

I know that there are at least 12 in Minnesota. Every year a bunch of schools with Chinese come to the University of Minnesota and hear a lecture from the dean of East Asian Languages/Studies, and then have a competition. Last year's theme was music, this years is Fashion.

Actually, it is in two weeks, now that I think of it.

And I am fairly sure there might be more programs like that in Minnesota. But I am sure that a vast majority of schools don't offer it, which is a shame.

[Xuc Xac]

I'd hazard a guess that the vast majority of schools in the U.S. don't offer Mandarin. There's a few with programmes, but not too many. Or so I've been told.

The vast majority of schools in the US are elementary schools. If you look at universities, it's a bit different. If they offer any Chinese languages at all, they'll offer Mandarin. A school with an actual "Language Department" that decides to offer Chinese will seek a Mandarin instructor first. A smaller school might offer Cantonese first, but it will most likely be because they happen to have a Cantonese speaker on the teaching staff already.

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

A few schools offer cantonese, I'm sure, but I doubt it's many. Most people I know haven't had too much trouble retaining passable Chinese with some practice.

[Starshade]

What about Portuguese?
Of cource its spoken in portugal, but also brazil, and its one of the biggest languages in the world, if you count how many who understand it or speak it.
And its spoken in a lot of countries, Sao tome, mosambique, cape verde, guiné bissau and angola.
Ok, for most people, the only countries anyone would want to visit would be portugal or brazil. :smallbiggrin:
For my part, i just walked into a gym one day, after hearing about something called "capoeira", then starting meeting brazilians, so my choice was easy. I liked the funny mix of dance and martial arts, so i just bought a self study kit right away almost and started learning. :smallsmile:

If you are into Martial Arts, you could get some "synergy effect" out of, say: Study Taekwon do and Corean, or Karate and Japanese (and happily watch anime!), or do some Kung fu and learn some Chinese. :smallcool:

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

Or French and savate. Perhaps Russian and самбо?

[Aedilred]

Which Gaelic? Irish, Scots, Welsh, Manx, Breton, or Cornish?
I taught myself a fair amount of Irish. Not really the most useful skill, I have to say.
"Gaelic" refers generally to Irish Gaelic, I believe. The Scottish version is generally referred to as Scots Gaelic, or pronounced "Gallic" to distinguish it. Manx is closely related but distinct. Welsh, Cornish and Breton are not part of the Gaelic (or "insular Celtic") subfamily and are really very different languages to the Gaelic ones. They're all Celtic languages, but referring to them all as Gaelic ones is a bit like referring to all Romance languages as French.

To answer the original question, there's no qualitative difference between the three languages you've earmarked. In terms of global utility, then Spanish is the most handy, followed by French, with Italian finishing a very distant third, but this shouldn't necessarily affect your decision, because the utility of a language is pretty location-specific.

I have found that enough people speak English in France, even in the backwaters, that English is sufficient, but the people understandably prefer it if you make an effort and will be much more polite to you if you do. In Spain I find that people have less of a tendency to look down their noses at you if you don't speak Spanish, but English proficiency is much less widespread and outside the touristy areas on the coast and the islands, you may struggle to find anyone who speaks English. I'm not so familiar with Italy, but it seems to be roughly halfway between the two.

French and Spanish are probably slightly easier to learn for an English-speaker than Italian. French was a great influence on the development of the English language so there's a lot of vocabulary crossover, while Spanish grammar is relatively straightforward to pick up. What is certain is that once you have one Romance language under your belt, the rest will become much, much easier to learn.

Have you considered Latin, incidentally? As the "root" Romance language, it would make it much easier to pick up any of the remainder were you to speak it. Speaking any of them will help with learning a new one, but none so much as Latin. It's also an excellent grounding in the rules of grammar (which many English-speakers are largely ignorant of, having learned them by idiom rather than rote), the literature is well worth the effort of checking out, and I find it's added some extra flourishes to my vocabulary too.

Really, it comes down to which language you most want to learn. Perhaps listen to some recordings of the language being spoken and see which one you like the sound of best. Work out why you want to learn a language- is it to improve employment prospects, to travel, to read literature from that culture?- and pick the one that's most suitable for your ends. Pick a language that you think you can love; while it's possible to learn a language you hate, it's a much less pleasant experience.

Personally, I find the most attractive-sounding of the major Romance languages are Portuguese and Catalan, but unless you have a particular yearning to learn either language or are about to move to a region where it's spoken, there's probably not a great deal of point.

[Kurai]

There are so many wonderful languages to learn...
I have no experience with Spanish or Italian, but after studying French for a year and a half I have to say the grammar is pretty complicated. And while the language as a whole sounds... well, funny, there are some very beautiful words and sentences in there.
If only they would stop to breath sometimes while talking, darn it.
So, I hope I can improve my French in the next years, but I think I'll learn Spanish next. And then Italian and Portuguese.
The more, the merrier!

[Dire Moose]

When faced with a similar decision, I want with Spanish, as it is much more widely spoken than French or Italian and thus more useful in the long run.

[Gaelbert]

"Gaelic" refers generally to Irish Gaelic, I believe. The Scottish version is generally referred to as Scots Gaelic, or pronounced "Gallic" to distinguish it. Manx is closely related but distinct. Welsh, Cornish and Breton are not part of the Gaelic (or "insular Celtic") subfamily and are really very different languages to the Gaelic ones. They're all Celtic languages, but referring to them all as Gaelic ones is a bit like referring to all Romance languages as French.

I've always heard Gaelic as referring to the three Goidelic languages in general. And while Welsh, Cornish, and Breton aren't technically considered Gaelic and are another branch of the Celtic language family, in common parlance enough people combine the two language subfamilies under the heading of "Gaelic" that I find it useful to specify.
However, Brythonic languages are considered part of the "insular Celtic" family. While Brittany is on the continent and has some continental Celtic roots, continental Celtic as a language family is dead and buried and the majority of the modern Breton language comes from insular Celtic influence.

[Irbis]

Why not Slavic language...?

Polish, Russian, whatever, we don't bite, you know, and they cover the largest continuous area of all languages... :P

[Dvandemon]

I know very little about French.

Spanish and Italian are roughly the same language. (If you speak one, people who speak the other will be able to understand you fine). Personally, I like the sound of Italian more.

Same goes for French apparently. IMO, what makes a language "easy" depends on how words sit in your mouth. I try my best to replicate a different language when I hear it (and hope to learn a lot of languages before I die). French and Spanish are both good depending on your language intelligence level. If you speak english, pay attention to the cognates and try to learn the semantics and culture (learning something and making it your own can be a great boon to memory). If you can, go the the extra mile learning the morpheme and phonemes of the language along with the syntax in comparison to your native tongue
I actually tried this, and found it more difficult, cuz I mixed them up too much. Of course, I only tried it for a year until I decided I'd learn Japanese later. I also was already studying Latin and French as well, so it might have just been too much.

*snip*

Beware the pitfalls of Interference. Trying to devote two things to memory can be a problem without proper strategy
EDIT: Learning another language apparently looks good on your resumé

[unosarta]

Beware the pitfalls of Interference. Trying to devote two things to memory can be a problem without proper strategy
EDIT: Learning another language apparently looks good on your resumé

Not necessarily. That poster was learning four languages at the same time (and I know people who do that >_>). I am taking Japanese and Chinese and it truly isn't that bad.

[Dvandemon]

I believed I used the word "can" right? :smalltongue:

[unosarta]

I believed I used the word "can" right? :smalltongue:


Not necessarily. That poster was learning four languages at the same time (and I know people who do that >_>). I am taking Japanese and Chinese and it truly isn't that bad.

Yay? :smallbiggrin:

[Thanatos 51-50]

After reading nothing but the title, I hereby suggest the following:

Sign Language.

Seriously. American Sign Language is the third most-commonly spoken language in the US and Sign Language, modified by region is one of the most commonly spoken languages the world over (I need to check my stats, which are lying around somewhere). You become instantly super-employable in medical or criminal justice fields (And quite probably others) for your ability to directly communicate with a disappointingly large swath of the global population, plus - and here's the kicker - it's almost completely silent, meaning you and your friend(s) can use it to communicate furtively if need be.
Also, being a visual language (For what should be obvious reasons) it's actually very easy to learn, which can only be made easier by your ability to speak in your native tongue while signing in order to reinforce the association in your head.

Sign Language! What the cool kids learn!