what language should i learn?

[Ghost1986]

In order to get my bachelor of arts in political science, I am required to learn a 2nd language. I have already tried Spanish with no luck. I can’t learn a language I have no real interest in. At least not right now. I also have to think about the future. My future will involve me hopefully working for one of the intelligence agencies.

So here are the language iam looking in to in terms of inertest and utility

Russian
Arabic
Japanese
Chinese
German
Spanish (Mexican Spanish)/Castilian (Spain Spanish)
French

I really have no interest in French but a lot of people know it. Spanish would be useful to talk to my family or go to Spain. I have interest in germen but I doubt the government would care about it unless I try to become an ambassador. I have interest in Chinese but I hear it’s a major pain to learn. I have a lot of interest in Japanese but I doubt it will be a pulse in getting a government job. I have interest in Arabic and the government puts out the impression that all arub speakers are terrorists (terrorists are not that big of a threat in my opinion). I am also often approached by people asking if iam Palestinian (iam half Irish and Mexican 0.o). As for Russian, I have the most interest in it and I don’t think its importance has gone down at all fallowing the cold war. I also took one course a year ago and got a C+ in it, yet I feel like I failed.

 

[Latro]

Chinese.

 

[Beat Mango]

This is why I've never learnt a language - I can never make up my mind on which one to learn. I've tossed up between Greek (my heritage, would be easier to learn because I could speak it with relatives), French (sounds nice) and Spanish (also sounds nice, but in a different way). Never really thought about an Asian one although that would be cool too. I should really just pick one randomly and stick with it.

 

[Enne]

Well, which cultural / heritage influence interests you the most? You could also try the cryptographic route; start with a language you're familiar with to ease yourself into the new language based on similarities between the two. Finding cross patterns will help the language stick. Or, with the initial method, you could find that the histories of the culture will help you account for the grammatical and dialect driven whys of the language structure (you will need to learn dialects fast if you are interested in Arabic or Russian). If you're interested in language learning based on CIA relocation / assignments, consider what region of the world you would enjoy living in best. You mentioned that people often mistake you as a Palestinian. If you are selected for field agent work, you may be chosen based on looks to travel to the Middle East over Russia, in which case you'd want to focus your study on Arabic (Palestinian / Levantine(?) Arabic as opposed to the Saudi 'standard').

Otherwise, if you can't choose one, why not two? You could have fun learning two at a time, and comparing / contrasting them as you go along to help reinforce both.

 

[Anling]

I've only taken a little of Chinese (Mandarin) but I didn't find it all that hard to learn. If you don't have anyone to speak it with, any language becomes hard to learn. At least that's how it is for me. If I don't use the knowlege it doesn't get remembered later.

 

[JoeJoe]

My sister is learning Russian at the moment and she says it's extremely hard.

I think (esp for Engilsh-speaking ppl) French and German have a very complicated Grammar.

Can't speak for the rest though.


I think the best way to practice/learn a foreign language is by reading books and watching movies with subtitles in the same language.

 

[del]

Between Chinese and Japanese -- I've read from several sources that Chinese has easier grammar but hard vocabulary, and Japanese has difficult grammar and easier vocabulary. These means that most teachers will tell you they have inverse learning curves: Chinese gets easier after the vocab is down and Japanese gets harder.

If you're looking to travel, I might suggest French (spoken widely in West Africa), Spanish (for South America), or Arabic.

If you're looking for practicality, I might suggest Chinese because there's a good chance they're going to be our new overlords.

For government work, I have read that they're having a hard time finding Arabic translators. You could probably go far with Chinese, too; and don't discount Russian, either. The Cold War is technically over but there's a ton of organized crime over there and enough poorly guarded nuclear stockpiles floating around that I bet intelligence agencies still keep a close eye on them. Plus their government is shady as hell.

 

[Kidege]

Why would anyone want to go into that kind of work?

*K is a firm supporter of learning languages mostly for enjoyment and foolishly believes in multiculturalism for better human understanding*

 

[Ghost1986]

Why would anyone want to go into that kind of work?

1 i find it interesting.
2 i would feel useful for once.
3 in theory that career would consume my life, thus leav no time for social interaction.

 

[Anling]

I like reason 3.

It seems to me that any of your language choices could be useful. If you have the most interest in Russian then go for that one. Interest is probably a big factor in how easily you will pick up a language. Beyond how difficult the language is itself or how readily you learn such skills. I'm fascinated by language, so I've always been pretty motivated to learn different languages and I've never had much of a problem with it. But I can't retain the knowlege if I don't use it on a regular basis.

Basically I'm saying pick one that you would actually like to learn and speak. Maybe listen to each of the languages and then pick the one that sounds more fun to know.

 

[Kuu]

I have the same issues with language learning. I just can't decide, and after a while I loose interest, which has left me with a dabble of french, a speck of german, and some basic japanese...

IF you're really serious in learning, I'd suggest a basic course to get started, and then go 1 - 3 months (or more if possible) to a place where it is natively spoken... for a full immersion education. Fastest way to learn is by doing. Like Anling said, if you can't practice, and don't use it constantly, you'll forget everything from a class.

 

[phantome]

Well, Russian is a very interesting language, however, it is extremely hard to learn (the pronunciation is hard- especially for people who speak English) I would think that it is worth it though. (I speak Russian)

 

[zephryi]

Just in case my personal experience would help any, I'm a 4 year Japanese student and a 1 year French student, though I'm attempting to skip into French III next school year.

The major difference between the two (I assume whatever I'm saying about the two will most likely translate over into all/most romantic and asian languages) is time to be able to speak. I went into French I knowing nothing more than "Bonjour," "Merci" "Un deux trois" and came out being able to improvise in basic (Names, ages, times, weather, hobbies) conversations and with help of guesswork, translate bits and pieces of the Little Prince. In my Japanese IV class, I understand a good deal of what is going on, but the moment you ask me to actually speak, I will stumble over words like crazy. Although your brain adapts to the odd grammar structure, it can be hard to snap quickly to it, especially under pressure. Something that constantly amazes me is hearing the Spanish students jabber away in comparison to our speaking tests.

Also, vocab acquisition. With french, in the beginning stages at least, you can practically say the english word with a french accent, or at least look for familiar word parts. Compare the word park, for example: le parc v. kooen, except the latter will look like this: 公園 or こうえん .

Then grammar. "This is [a] park." would be C'est le parc. or Kore wa kooen desu. (これは公園です）(This [subject indicator] (public) park is.)

If you want to see your progress quickly, take a romantic language, seriously. >>

However, interest makes a huge difference. Despite some of the challenges in Japanese, I don't find it a pain at all because I have an active interest in Japanese culture. I am rewarded whenever I understand a new line in a song or anime. French, on the other hand, becomes boring because I picked it for its ubiquiousness and sound.

So, after typing all of that out, my advice to you is go for something you have a deep interest in; it'll make slogging through vocab and grammar that much sweeter.
--

 

[Carnap]

Go for the one you have the most interest in. I know French fluently ( moved here to perfect my French ) and I am totally in love with Persian, which I try to teach myself to no avail but plan on taking a course. I also love Slavish languages because they are so caustic and sassy and easy/fun to pronounce !

Go by how it sounds to you, if you like pronouncing it, hearing it, etc. Do NOT do something you are not interested in. I did Arabic for a year because Onece again, I listened to my family who advises me to do "practical" things as opposed to what I love, "impractical" things. What happened is that I got bitter about it. I didn't put any effort into it and dropped out of the course.

Not to mention that when I went to buy the Arabic books, the Persian ones were right next to the Arabic ones and I literally started crying.

I'm so sick of people telling me what I should do with my life. What religion to follow even though I can defend my own with an ease they will never have while stumbling and stuttering on about their religion, what career to take, etc. I do what I want !

Do what you want ! That is my new motto since my entire family is bent on discouraging me at the moment from doing more philosophy.

 

[Beat Mango]

^ I wish my family told me to do something, so I would have something to rebel against. My dad just said, "whatever you do, I'll support you". Well first of all he didn't support me much at all, and second, it just left me aimless.

Anyway two or three weeks since I posted in this thread and I still haven't started learning any language.

 

[walfin]

Russkiy FTW!

It's the only one with a cool character set that isn't hanzi/hanja/kanji.

You can always pick up more Spanish from your Mexican relations.

Any Esperantists here?