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11-16-2009, 05:55 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cornwall, UK. | | | Help me decide which language to learn.
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I can't decide what language to learn, and I only want to try my hand at one so I don't confuse myself. Here's what I am having trouble deciding between:
German, Mandarin, French and Japanese.
I know that German would probably be the easiest to learn as I wouldn't have to learn a new alphabet and German and English are sort of like "sister" languages and a lot of words are similar but I would really like to learn an Asian language and Mandarin or Japanese would be the ones I'd want to learn. Oh, and my girlfriend likes going to France so that's really the only reason I'd learn that.
Anybody got any thoughts or experiences of learning these languages that could help me decide?
Cheers,
Asa.
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11-16-2009, 06:12 AM
| | | | Spanish and Mandarin are the most useful languages IMO.
Japanese is a pretty fun language and challenging.
German is just kinda ordinary but easy to learn, i took 5 years of german it wasn't very difficult.
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11-16-2009, 07:12 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: New York City | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Absentia  Spanish and Mandarin are the most useful languages IMO.
Japanese is a pretty fun language and challenging. | I would add that Japanese is probably just as useful as Spanish & Mandarin, at least in a commercial sense. You almost have to speak Spanish to work in any service industry in the US. If you're involved in manufacturing operations, Mandarin will probably be mandatory within a decade.
But there are a bazillion Japanese people looking to learn English, and if you can teach them English as a second language you can practically write your own paycheck. I had a friend who 25 years ago was making >$50/hour teaching English to Japanese executives & Japanese to American executives. In 2009 dollars that's some serious coin. |
11-16-2009, 07:24 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: France | | | depends on what you want to do after. But perhaps mandarin would be a good thing in a future commercial perspective. |
11-16-2009, 07:56 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada | | | If you have no experience with tone languages, Mandarin will be significantly more difficult than the other three.
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11-16-2009, 08:17 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: VA Beach | | | Seeing as youre in Europe, Spanish wouldnt be as important to learn as if you lived in North America, so I think you have some good choices on the table. The trick with picking a language, is figuring out what is most helpful in the 'real world' as it is shaped around you.
I would look at Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, and Russian if I were you. Lots of places in the world you can go to knowing those languages, both literally and figuratively. |
11-16-2009, 08:19 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: VA Beach | | Quote:
Originally Posted by CrispyDelicious If you have no experience with tone languages, Mandarin will be significantly more difficult than the other three. | But it can be done. I have a friend from Virginia who went to college and got his BA in Chinese. He is now living in Hong Kong making a killing as a translator for American markets. |
11-16-2009, 08:50 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Fort Worth, Texas | | | You might consider French, in that many Japanese and some Chinese learn French as a second language, so you could communicate with English, French and Japanese in business (or pleasure). |
11-16-2009, 09:19 AM
|  | The Lowdown Diggler | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Huntington Beach, CA | | | It really depends which language has the hottest tutor. Choose wisely. Stay classy. |
11-16-2009, 10:17 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cornwall, UK. | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar It really depends which language has the hottest tutor. Choose wisely. Stay classy. | That is also a big plus of learning an Asian language - lots of sexy Asian chicks to talk to 
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11-16-2009, 10:20 AM
|  | Online | | Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Sunapee, New Hampshire | | If you move to Taos, New Mexico....don't bother learning Spanish. You'll never get a job at the new hotel in town.
-Mike |
11-16-2009, 11:34 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cornwall, UK. | | | I don't really fancy learning Spanish TBH.
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11-16-2009, 11:53 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Millcreek Township, UT | | | Serbian.
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Originally Posted by Kwesi Atoz, forever the inside spoon. | Rickenbacker #19, Mediocre Bassist #3, Mark Wilson Fail #Onion
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11-16-2009, 12:17 PM
|  | is, against all odds, still a scuba viking. | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Alta Loma, California | | | depends, where will you most likely be traveling?
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Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese It is never the duty of the oppressed to make a bigot feel comfortable. | |
11-16-2009, 12:43 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cornwall, UK. | | Quote:
Originally Posted by IconBasser depends, where will you most likely be traveling? | Well, My girlfriend and her family go to France a lot but I really want to visit China (I'm a big fan of Chinese Martial arts).
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11-16-2009, 12:44 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: New-brunswick | | French no reason but I love that language |
11-16-2009, 12:45 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cornwall, UK. | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Atoz Serbian. | I don't think I'll ever need to use that so I think I'm going to pass one that one.
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11-16-2009, 12:56 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Francisco | | | French
Why? French chicks aren't that far from the UK. |
11-16-2009, 01:02 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cornwall, UK. | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Gubna French
Why? French chicks aren't that far from the UK. | But Asian chicks are way sexier.
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11-16-2009, 01:02 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Colo Spgs, CO-I hate it here!! | | Chinese since they are going to take over the US. 
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