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Learning A New Language

Posted by Creepy • 6/09/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: languages

If you had the time or the opportunity to learn a new language which language would that be? Would you consider Chinese?

User Comments

6/09/08

calais50

I have taken Spanish, French, and Arabic classes, but out of those 3, I only speak Spanish fairly well. If I were to learn a new language, I think it WOULD be Chinese.

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1. 7/06/09
  
  Haver
  
  El español es mi lengua materna. ¿Es bonito el idioma español para ti?
  Al momento de cantar, el español es mi segundo idioma preferido. El primero, el inglés. Y aparte de español e inglés, no sé hablar otros idiomas, jajajaja. Saludos.
6/09/08

carlgalloway

I love learning languages, not only does it improve my ability to communicate, its also fun. I am currently learning German and Spanish, but I have studied Italian, French and Dutch. Whilst I am not fluent, and may never be, its a matter of pride to me that I am not just an English language native.

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6/09/08

XanthePat

Since moving to Morocco, I need to learn Arabic. but its just so hard.

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1. 6/09/08
  
  carlgalloway
  
  Mmmm, I love Arabic pop music and listen to Beirut Nights radio quite a bit, and trying to figure out what the songs are about can be a challenge. One day I'd love to learn Arabic just because.
6/09/08

calais50

The thing that's a pain about learning Arabic is each country has their own dialect that is very different from the others. It's kind of like learning Latin and thinking that you will be able to speak to Italians, French, and Britons b/c their language is Latin based.

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1. 6/09/08
  
  XanthePat
  
  Thats so true, Moroccan Arabic is a mad mix of Classical Arabic,French and Spanish.
6/09/08

Manictastic

I have learned English, French, German, Latin, Ancient Greek and currently in the midst of learning Spanish. I'd love to be able to talk Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Arabic and Brazilian are also high on my wishlist. Oh and Russian, Lingala, Swahili and Afrikaans (i so adore Afrikaans).

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1. 7/06/09
  
  LearnThai
  
  If you can speak Chinese - you should have no problem learning Thai.. :-)
6/09/08

carlgalloway

My ultimate dream would be to have a chip in my head that can automatically translate and allow me to enjoy every single language on the planet. That would be awesome

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6/09/08

marlyms

I like to learn Spanish and Japanese.
I would consider chinese too.

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6/09/08

voodooKobra

I can read and write in German, but my pronunciation is horrible.

I think I'm going to learn Cherokee next, and then study dead languages like Phoenician just so I can come up with better names for when I get around to building an RPG.

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6/09/08

flamingpoodle

I taught myself German by watching DVDs in German audio and I learnt basic Polish with CDs.
If you want to learn a new language quickly, pick one from the same branch of languages as your first language. My mother tongue (Afrikaans) is also Germanic, so German comes easily.

I would definitely consider Chinese and Russian as the next languages to learn, since they aren't Germanic and they would be more challenging.

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6/09/08

Manictastic

The difficult thing about Chinese is that it's a tonal language and that most European languages aren't. In Chinese there are a set of different meanings just for ma based on the tone with with it is produced. European language speakers will find it excruciatingly difficult to hear the differences in tones and to produce them. That's why Westerns say dumb things in Chinese without even realising it.

Other difficulty with Chinese is the vaste amount of characters, but you all knew that

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6/09/08

neoauteur

I know several languages -- only 2 fluently. I'm better off improving on the languages I already know.

Chinese is a difficult language to master. I would love to learn it, but don't think it'll be a success.

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4/28/09

archiegottlieb

i've always wanted to learn farsi, japanese, and swedish.

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7/06/09

trailofpen

I'd love to learn a Chinese dialect, but I'm afraid I don't have the tongue nor do I have the ear for the language. So many of the sounds, although slightly different, sound the same to my ear. I'd probably say things I didn't mean.

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7/06/09

celticmusicfan

I am struggling with Irish Gaelic. I do plan to expand into Scottish, Welsh and Manx. These are beautiful Celtic languages.

Slainte!

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7/06/09

greencurmudgeon

I speak German and Dutch, and have a smattering of Russian, as well as some French, Latin and Hungarian.

I'd like to learn Czech.

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7/06/09

FredSr2009

In the language of technology English is it and will be for many, many years to come. In America learning Spanish would be more practical because it is already almost a secondary language.

Languages that have alphabets are a lot easier to learn, unlike Chinese that have pictures and symbols.

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