What Language Should I Learn??

Enkidu

For an English speaker, with no additional information on their circumstances, Spanish would be the language which maximises practical utility and ease, by a long shot.

That said, to learn a language you really do need to find it interesting. Of all the languages I can read, the hardest for me to stay good at is French, even though it is the easiest of the languages I know, simply because I don't find it interesting.

Mance Rayder

mikemac1 wrote: »

Russian

It's very interesting, I did a short course on it

Of course there is the alphabet issue but it's one to consider

The good thing about Russian is that it's useful in understanding several Slavonic languages, The jump from speaking Russian to Ukrainian and Polish for example, is not huge.

I know Russian speakers who can understand Polish and vice-versa. The weirdest thing is to listen to them talking, ones speaking Russian, the other Polish and they can get along just fine, even though they cant actually speak the other language.

So alot of Eastern Europe actualy opens up to you when you can speak Russian, not just Russia and Ukraine.

A formidable chunk of Europe and Asia speaks Russian. The cyrillic alphabet in Russian is used phoneticly. One letter = One sound, so none of this combining of vowels for new sounds like in French and English. In that sense Russian is easier to learn.

I don't speak Russian well but i am getting there, My wife is Russian-Ukrainian so I hear it all day every day and have picked up quite a bit. Sometimes I even come out with something in Russian that I didn't even know I knew!

When I visit Ukraine with her I am fairly confident when it comes to getting around and in basic conversation with people in shops and public transport etc. I have been told on more than one occasion that my accent is perfect .

The first thing I noticed about the Russian accent, particularly when they spoke English, is that they sound nothing like the stereotypical Russians portrayed in movies as I expected. They sound more like a French person speaking English than a bond villian:P

It's sort of like how the Irish were portrayed in older Hollywood movies, all "top o' da mornin to ya!" and " Ah to be sure to be sure!"

Nobody actually speaks like that or has that accent in the Real Ireland. Just as that hard Russian accent in movies is very very far from the truth.

I think If I was to spend a year living in Ukraine or Russia I would pick it up no problem, as I already have established a good foundation.

I have been working on German using Rosetta stone. I think it's another fine language to learn, not only is it used in countrys with jobs and decent economys! it's also a good base for getting to grips with other similar Languages.

I think being multilingual and in IT will really stand for me one day, when I finally build up enough knowledge and confidence in the languages I'm learning.

long range shooter

Ficheall wrote: »

The languages on my list to learn are Spanish and Norwegian. Spanish, because it's easy when you have French, and Norwegian because it sounds pretty, and more importantly - Scandinavian women are fierce attractive, as a rule. Finnish and Icelandic are beautiful sounding languages, but seem to be much more difficult than the other two.

Norwegian sounds pretty,lol,first time i heard of that:D:D:D
Greeting from Norwegian in Ireland.
I who thought English with an Irish accent sounded pretty.;):D
Atleast i speak with an accent know after 13 years in Ireland.
Besides Norwegian and English i also know the other scandinavian languages cause they are also very similar.
And i know some portugese after working offshore in Brazil for a cople of years.

Capt'n Midnight

byte wrote: »

Would sign language not be difficult too, due to the likes of Irish ... sign languages being different (I'm not sure to what degree).

IIRC Irish sign language has both Catholic and Protestant versions.

But with sign language is supposedly easier to communicate with people from different countries than with a written / spoken language

VEN

Enochian, followed by German.

dd972

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Why would you do that? When foreigners speak English they speak it in their respective accents. Unless you're Jan Molby or something, its rare for a person to speak with the local dialect when learning the language.

If you're living in the area where they speak the language you pick up the local dialect and idioms, ie; I speak Dutch with a Maastricht accent having lived there, I've heard Eastern Europeans here with Cork and Donegal twangs in their English, again due to proximity to the dialect.