What Language Should I Learn??

SharpshooterTom · 16-06-2012 02:56PM #1

I want to learn a new language.

Its something that will give me a hobby over the summer and get me off the computer and maybe stop me thinking about my social life/depression. But I haven't figured what I which one I want to study/will be beneficial to me.

I already know some basic forms of German and French. So I could expand upon those.

I'm interested in learning an asian language, like Mandarin, Korean or Japanese but because I'm probably never going to live there or go there too often I'm not too sure how useful thats going to be. But Mandarin is becoming the global language along side English that EVERYONE must speak in 50 years.

I'm interested in learning a Scandinavian language, but because I'm not sure how useful it will be given nearly everyone speaks English there anyway.

I was born in England to Irish parents and lived there till I was 14, I speak with an English accent. I live in Ireland now currently, so I could even learn Irish, given my father and his father were both fluent in it. It would be seen as tradition. Infact I would be the first "son" in line not to know any of it. Would it be weird for someone with an English accent learning Irish? It would be wouldn't? :P

I could even try an eastern european language for a challange. But thats the thing, should I be prioritising learning a language that I enjoy, or a language that is beneficial?

Any suggestions??

retalivity · 16-06-2012 02:57PM

Mandarin, definitely

im invisible · 16-06-2012 02:58PM

COBOL

16-06-2012 02:58PM

I'm having fun learning german
might as well get better at it before you start a new one

1ZRed · 16-06-2012 02:59PM

Irish?

Eathrin · 16-06-2012 03:00PM

Maybe try and actively learn a new language by living in it for a few weeks, take a trip somewhere in Europe.

FairytaleGirl · 16-06-2012 03:00PM

Mandarin is being pegged as the Language to Learn alright.

Spanish is a HUGELY spoken language in many countries ~(Mexico/Brazil/Spain/Parts of Portugal)

And its not a difficult language to learn at all.

Otherwise Id say go for sign language. It would be a real asset to you employability wise. Unique.

Zebra3 · 16-06-2012 03:01PM

OP, which country do you think has the fittest birds?

Jen Pigs Fly · 16-06-2012 03:01PM

Swahili

aaronjumper · 16-06-2012 03:01PM

Binary. Or French.

Schism · 16-06-2012 03:02PM

FairytaleGirl wrote: »

Mandarin is being pegged as the Language to Learn alright.

Spanish is a HUGELY spoken language in many countries ~(Mexico/Brazil/Spain/Parts of Portugal)

And its not a difficult language to learn at all.

Otherwise Id say go for sign language. It would be a real asset to you employability wise. Unique.

And Spanish is reputably easy enough to pick up.

Micky Dolenz · 16-06-2012 03:06PM

French.

60% of their words are used in English. You only need to learn around 600 words and you can read French papers, have basic but good conversation.

John Doe1 · 16-06-2012 03:08PM

Cuneiform

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform

christmas2012 · 16-06-2012 03:08PM

russian

Scanlas The 2nd · 16-06-2012 03:12PM

Don't learn Mandarin, too difficult and you will never need it, not now or in 50 years. It's just fashionable now to say its the language to learn. My teacher told us in 2000 to learn it as it would very important in business. Guess what it's not.

Kamjana · 16-06-2012 03:18PM

Im learning Thai at the moment,i have been learning it on and off the last few years but this year i really want to do my best and learn it fluently.

fleet · 16-06-2012 03:22PM

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Don't learn Mandarin, too difficult and you will never need it, not now or in 50 years. It's just fashionable now to say its the language to learn. My teacher told us in 2000 to learn it as it would very important in business. Guess what it's not.

Do you know how laughable that sounds to an Irish person sitting on his sofa, in Xi'an, with his Chinese girlfriend yabbering away on the blower in Mandarin?

The Chinese are coming lads (so long as they can keep sourcing cheap energy).

markie29 · 16-06-2012 03:22PM

FairytaleGirl wrote: »

Mandarin is being pegged as the Language to Learn alright.

Spanish is a HUGELY spoken language in many countries ~(Mexico/Brazil/Spain/Parts of Portugal)

And its not a difficult language to learn at all.

Otherwise Id say go for sign language. It would be a real asset to you employability wise. Unique.

i would agree on spanish and its spoken in central america and every country in south america apart from Brazil they speak portuguese there.

SharpshooterTom · 16-06-2012 04:08PM

You see this becomes an issue of practically over what you like.

If I'm basing on what I like, German or Japanese would be up there. But Spanish or Mandarin are more 'useful'.

My father speaks Irish fluently, he was the oldest of 5 and him and his father are the only ones who could (his grandfather would have as well etc). So in theory I break the line because I was born in England. Would be weird for someone to speak Irish with an English accent? How common is it?

My dad says Irish is useless now (he says it with deep regret) and that its dying.

16-06-2012 04:23PM

Spanish is incredibly useful and fun to learn. French and German are always useful for business. Personally, I would stick to European languages if you're learning a language for work - languages like Chinese and Japanese need much more work and take much longer to become proficient in. You could be fluent in Spanish in the time it takes to get to pre-intermediate level in Chinese. IMO.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 16-06-2012 04:25PM

Faroese.

mikemac1 · 16-06-2012 04:27PM

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

1ZRed · 16-06-2012 04:33PM

Gnobe wrote: »

You see this becomes an issue of practically over what you like.

If I'm basing on what I like, German or Japanese would be up there. But Spanish or Mandarin are more 'useful'.

My father speaks Irish fluently, he was the oldest of 5 and him and his father are the only ones who could (his grandfather would have as well etc). So in theory I break the line because I was born in England. Would be weird for someone to speak Irish with an English accent? How common is it?

My dad says Irish is useless now (he says it with deep regret) and that its dying.

It wouldn't be any weirder than an Irish person speaking French or any other language tbh.

Well if you think about Irish being useless, just think if you were to learn mandarin but never got to go to china or utilise it (you couldn't really here or in England to its full potential) wouldn't that be a useless language as well?

It's your own choice to make. I'm a fluent Irish speaker and I'm starting to appreciate it more now than when I was at school and the way I see it, I'm more Irish than a lot of people who can't speak their country's language.

But if you feel you would like a more mainstream language learn French. It's relatively easy to learn and sounds way better than German!:p

Vicar in a tutu · 16-06-2012 04:34PM

Learn Latin. or gibberish.

UrbanSea · 16-06-2012 04:36PM

I've wanted to learn Arabic for a while but it's supposedly ridiculously hard

Ficheall · 16-06-2012 04:42PM

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.

Scanlas The 2nd · 16-06-2012 05:16PM

I'm learning Spanish and Italian at the moment. Hope it doesn't get too confusing. Also trying to become fluent in German, though I could hold a conversation in German 10 years ago, it's faded since then.