Languages...

aine-maire

I've been thinking about learning a new language for the summer........


Strategically, what would be the best language to learn?
Which would look best on a cv?

Already have French and German.:)

Opinions. Please.

Stev_o

Business sense would say Chinese.

aine-maire

Yeah, I was thinking about that,but the writing's very off-putting!

So, I presume you mean Mandarin, yeah?

spurious

Give Polish a lash, go on, you know you want to.

Walsh

I'd say spanish, 4th most spoken language in the world or something? It's also similar to French so would be a doddle for you to learn it seems.

Pygmalion

Learning Chinese would involve learning hundreds, if not thousands of characters, and even then you'd still probably regularly come across ones you need to look up.
Japanese is easier in that once you know about 90 basic characters (along with the more common Kanji for very common words) you can write things phonetically and understand a lot of it, but has far less speakers so wouldn't be nearly as useful.

Spanish would be the best as it's the 2nd most used language in the world I think.

the_god_swan

Has to be Spanish and then go visit South America and mingle with the locals...

phasers

+1 for Spanish, also I've heard that it's not too hard to pick up, especially if you have French

Piste

Go for Spanish, it's really easy if you know French.

Anthem

I'd agree with the Spanish option - rather similar to French, and doesn't involve the entire new alphabet and writing system of Chinese, despite being widely spoken.:rolleyes:

You could always go against the grain and learn Latin though! I did it for JC and definitely found it the most interesting of any languages I've ever studied. (Irish, German, Spanish..)

Piste

I'd like to learn Polish at some point. Seems like a cool language.

Professey Chin

Japanese

Or Klingon

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

I'll jump on the Spanish bandwagon here, language spoken by hundreds of millions of (mostly quite sexy) people, and having French is a definite advantage for it.

**Timbuk2**

Dutch

It has similarities to both French and German, both of which you know!

TheManWho

I would go the opposite direction, millions of people have Spanish or Japanese or Russian on their cv's, if you want to show off and set yourself apart, go for Ancient Egyptian.

The problem with Ancient Egyptian is that the spoken language isn't exactly known, only a modern interpretation of the sounds (the last time I checked, anyway).

Go for Attic Greek (ancient Greek), I've started to try learn it this summer and it's good so far. A bit confusing, though.

Once you already have a few modern languages, adding more is a bit boring (in my opinion). Go for something exotic and esoteric.

djcervi

Spanish..Spanish...Spanish!!!

Why?
3rd most spoken language in the world.
Spain and Latin America are interesting countries to visit.
The people are generally friendly and good fun.
Spanish actresses: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona much?), Paz Vega (spanglish)....
Great cinema and some good directors (i.e. almodovar is of spanish origin)
....(need anymore?:P)

Personally I have Irish, French and Spanish. I think my next one should be Italian. I'll see

Krusader

Gaeilge, nothing like speaking your own tongue

OLP

If you're going to learn an eastern european language just learn Russian as you will be able to communicate with most people from those countries

aine-maire

Wow,shoulda added a poll

Crosáidí,tá Gaeilge agam, féach ar m'ainm úsáideora

Hmm, I think Spanish or Russian are looking the most appealing now...Ancient Egyptian would be amazing, but I was kinda hoping to learn a living language, so to speak...I have a few words of Latin anyway, lol

Shacklebolt

Theres an aine-marie and an Anne-Marie... I'm confused

Stev_o

Shacklebolt wrote: »

Theres an aine-marie and an Anne-Marie... I'm confused

One's from Dublin the other some place in the middle of nowhere??? Think they called it Sligo or something.

aine-maire

Shacklebolt wrote: »

Theres an aine-marie and an Anne-Marie... I'm confused

Well, we're different people, we're not allowed the same username, what's the confusion?

Stev_o wrote: »

One's from Dublin the other some place in the middle of nowhere??? Think they called it Sligo or something.

I'm not from Sligo or Dublin?

Talk about dragging the thread off track for no reason...:pac:

Stev_o

aine-maire wrote: »

I'm not from Sligo or Dublin?

Talk about dragging the thread off track for no reason...:pac:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=211054 < That one.

aine-maire

Stev_o wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=211054 < That one.

Yeah,she's from Sligo. I'm still not from Dublin!

There's not a third one, is there? :eek:

Mr Maroon

djcervi wrote: »

Spanish..Spanish...Spanish!!!

Why?
3rd most spoken language in the world.
Spain and Latin America are interesting countries to visit.
The people are generally friendly and good fun.
Spanish actresses: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona much?), Paz Vega (spanglish)....
Great cinema and some good directors (i.e. almodovar is of spanish origin)
....(need anymore?:P)

Personally I have Irish, French and Spanish. I think my next one should be Italian. I'll see

Yep, Spanish. It's an easy language to get the basics of too.

QueenOfLeon

Shacklebolt wrote: »

Theres an aine-marie and an Anne-Marie... I'm confused

Stev_o wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=211054 < That one.

Yup, that'd be me, Ive got the very distinctive "!!" aswel Bit of random off-topic-ness going on here eh? Ah i feel so loved...talked about behind my back lol :cool::p

Stev_o wrote: »

One's from Dublin the other some place in the middle of nowhere??? Think they called it Sligo or something.

Shh you....we've already covered this....Sligo>Leixlip. Fact :D

aine-maire wrote: »

Yeah,she's from Sligo. I'm still not from Dublin!

There's not a third one, is there? :eek:

Na its just us :D Hi!


As for languages, id go for Spanish! Probably not too hard to pick up since you've got french...and if you're into travelling, you're opening up opportunities for speaking it in so many other countries. And the sound of it...amazing

challengemaster

Anne-Marie!! wrote: »

Shh you....we've already covered this....Sligo>Leixlip. Fact :D

Ok, so Sligo is better than Leixlip....that really doesn't say much anyway tho! :pac: 'bout the only place it is better than

As for languages.... Aside from that, you already kinda know American* too....just change the spellings of a few words...leave out a few u's here and there... :pac:

I'd go for Japanese or something like that - Japanese is just awesome.



*I'm totally cringing writing this

QueenOfLeon

challengemaster wrote: »

Ok, so Sligo is better than Leixlip....that really doesn't say much anyway tho! :pac: 'bout the only place it is better than

Ooh, i can think of ALOT more places that sligo is better than....dont make me reveal YOUR fabulous location mister! :D

challengemaster

I'm sure anyone who speaks Swedish or knows the lyrics (in english) to some Basshunter songs will clearly know my location....

(Sitting on ventrilo playing some DoTA)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OzWIFX8M-Y

:pac:

Clearly better than sligo!

(And I for some reason know all the lyrics in Swedish o.O )

Gear9992

why not try something different like chinese or japanese, we'll all be speaking chinese in a couple of years anyway

challengemaster

Chinese is pretty good in fairness, weird, but cool, much better than Sligo language :pac:

Korean is cool too

p1akuw47h5r3it

Russian go on do it!!

I'm doin it next year ha.

I'd say prob Spanish if ur teachin yourself but if ur gettin proper lessons u mite aswell do a different language like Polish or Japanese or sumting.

I think it's cool to know a language outside of the "norm" lang like french, spanish etc.

Gud luck wit watever u choose.

KeyLimePie

Irish................

p1akuw47h5r3it

So which Language did u pick

Futurism

What's the best way to go about learning a language alone? Can anyone recommend helpful books/cds/websites? I'm going to try learn some Spanish before the summer is over.

djcervi

Futurism wrote: »

What's the best way to go about learning a language alone? Can anyone recommend helpful books/cds/websites? I'm going to try learn some Spanish before the summer is over.

Well I think the best way to learn Spanish during the summer is to get a Linguaphone. I don't think a grammar book alone would be fun to read during the summer:pac:(but use one for learning verbs and sentence structure- get Spanish for Dummies). A dictionary would be good as well. Also get a hardback and split into sections for the vocab e.g. house vocab (kitchen, etc), town (Supermarket,etc), if you are very dedicated to do so.
Linguaphone can be contacted in Ireland. Also you probably might be able to get one in Easons or a language bookshop. Get one that is Spanish from Spain first and not Latin America, as the Spanish accent is clearer and easier to understand imo. Michel Thomas is another audio course which I've heard to be great.
Also check out your local area and see if there are any language exchange sessions. A lot of Spanish come to Ireland so it may be possible to practise/ learn Spanish from them. If you need any help you can PM.
Buena Suerte! (Good Luck!)

JSK 252

I think arabic would be a handy language to know.

wireless101

JSK 252 wrote: »

I think arabic would be a handy language to know.

Why so?

almostnever

I was just about to say Arabic. I think Modern Standard would be more useful than Egyptian Arabic,just because it's used in a lot more countries. It'd be hard to learn but personally I hope to try in a few years,it's a fascinating language

JSK 252

wireless101 wrote: »

Why so?

The middle east and egypt will be a formidable force economically in a couple of years despite the recession.

wireless101

JSK 252 wrote: »

The middle east and egypt will be a formidable force economically in a couple of years despite the recession.

Nobody knows for certain though!