Learning a European Language
 

I have been debating learning a European language(s) but I don't know which one I would need/use the most lol any ideas?

learning Japanese has proven very difficult(which I should have expected) I wish my Grandma would have taught me Swedish when I was young :bawl:

Depends on where you live. I mean, I think French is the most practical European language, though German and Russian are my favorites.

Florida USA lol, I've got Spanish pretty much down but I really don't like it

If I were you, I'd learn Italian. Then again, if I were you, I wouldn't be an Italian, and wouldn't have any of my own interests. Scratch that, If I was in your situation, I'd learn Italian. Why? Because I come from an Italian family, and, I'd love to know what they're saying, besides that, it does seem like a cool language to learn, sounds very pleasant.

I'd say the most dominant european language is English. :lookaround:

Otherwise, go with French or German, as it's spoken in many other countries too.

It really depends. If you're getting into center of business & trade, then the answer is Russian or German. If you want to learn a European language that is most widely spoken in the world in addition to English, then I suggest French or German. Learning languages like Polish, Portuguese or Italian is just a waste of time, no offense for anyone.

Go with Danish ;D you cant use it for shite, but kudos to you if you can;D

I would think that next to English, Spanish would be the next most spoken language, especially if you ever intend on living or visiting for any amount of time the entire western hemisphere...

In the future I will be dealing in IT and Computer Networking hopefully for a global company, most likely having places in Europe and/or Asia(Japan)

German of course :P

Hard to say really. If you want a European language, Spanish and French are the most widespread, although within Europe Spanish is useless outside Spain, and French, although useful outside of France, is not really necessary since Belgians and all those folks all speak English anyway.
The French themselves often don't, however.
German is good for Germany, Austria and Switzerland and is fairly widely understood in former Habsburg monarchy countries (Hungary, Slovakia, etc.)
Russian is obviously good for any former Eastern block country, which is quite a lot.

But it really depends on why exactly you want to learn a language.
If it's for business, then Russian is probably a good choice, since although there are a lot of German speaking global businesses, they all speak English anyway.

I concur, forgot to mention Spanish for some reason :lookaround:

Even though Russian, Chinese, Japanese etc. businessmen can/could speak English, it's always better to talk with their own language (at least to some extent, chit-chat if nothing else) as it gives impression that you care & respect them in addition of helping them to find certain English words/phrases.

Most people in the Nordic countries understand Swedish if you were to travel in those areas.

I vote German or Russian, just because both are so cool, haha.

German is probaly one of the most important business languages to learn, plus I found the similarities to English made it very easy to learn. Otherwise Russian or French would probaly be the next best to learn, with Russian being the most awesome.

I think it sounds horrible and it's hard for me to understand why some people regard it "cool". However that didn't stop me from taking one course of it at high school.

How did the course go? :)

Personally, I don't think Russian sounds cool nor beautiful.

I sucked so bad that I won't reveal any details ;)

I have also read two courses of German and they went a little bit better. If I could just find some spare time I would study it independently but the politics takes quite a bit of my time.

I'd go with German or Italian. You can find someone who speaks English just about anywhere, so learning another language is just bonus points with whoever you're speaking to. German and Italian tourists are everywhere, so you'd do yourself a favor learning their languages, especially if you want to make acquaintances.

I'd stay away from Russian unless you're thinking of going to far eastern Europe. It requires too much work for a language not as widespread in Europe.

Scandinavian languages are kinda useless unless you're going to be spending time up there, because you're going to find A LOT of English speakers. But, then again, you're going to find a lot of English speakers everywhere.

Basically, just find a language you're comfortable with.

EDIT: Finnish is especially useless. =P

Well the amount of those tourist groups really depend of a country, but learning a language for some Italian tourists here and there isn't worth it.

True, there's only some 5,2 million people speaking it as first language but at least it's logical language, to certain extent. For example a word "kirves" ("axe") is pronounced exactly the same way, "kirves" without any turning or twisting.

I've seen more Italians and have had more encounters with Italians than any other group (besides Germans). It's more logical to know Italian than any other European language in my eyes, unless you're going to do business.

It's not a waste of time when your family speaks it or live there, or plan to live there.

I once had French and English burned in my head, when i moved to the U.S. i never had to use French, and i frogot how to speak it , so my french is quite rubbish. My english is almost flawless, i just type too fast on keyboad, its better to learn anything while young.

The reality is, if you can speak English, you can travel anywhere. Language learning for a native English speaker should be about desire, not what language you think will be most useful. If you don't enjoy it, then you won't learn it.

I've tried learning Spanish, Polish, Korean, and French - and if I had more time I would continue with them, because I enjoyed all of them. I was made to learn Mãori, and not only do I remember anything from my lessons, but I have no desire to learn it, or speak it.

Thanks :)

That's a whole different thing of course.

Try travelling to Latin America or China and get well by with English, I can assure you that it's not that convenient but right on the contrary.

Though that really depends about an individual.

I've been to Latin America, and could have avoided speaking Spanish if I wished.

And I've known people who have lived in Korea and Japan - one guy lived in Korea for 5 years, and couldn't say more than hello, yes, no, please, thank you. I will assume much the same is possible in China.

Obviously if you go right into the rural areas, you will encounter language problems, but you could always find a translator.

where at if you dont mind? Having been to the Dominican republic, Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Honduras. i can say that at no point during any of my visits could a visitor do anything more than stay within 100 yards of a hotel without knowing a bit of spanish. Might be different hanging around the resort areas but those are not an accurate reflection of the countries visited anyway.

Chile and Argentina. Central city hotel in Buenos Aires, and homestay in Chile, with a bit of travelling. Obviously while there was not always someone to talk to in English, you could almost always find someone to talk to that someone, or communicate well enough with a handful of phrases and signs.

I guess we should learn sign language, then. :)

Sure, even a person who can't speak at all can "get by" almost anywhere in the world but it seems that you didn't see the word "well".

GERMAN!
It's used a lot, it's easy to use, and it sounds cool.
I've only been in German class for a year, and i've learned an insane amount of it.
Just a hint, when learning a new language, use music to help you, get the song in a certain language, and the ltrics in english, then you can learn pronunciation
:p

Don't pick Rammstein though, if you start sounding like them you might freak out some old lady ;)

LOL, although they are one of the easiest German bands to understand.
Them and Mega-Herz.
Oh and Die Toten Hosen.
yupp.
:P

The German music I listen to is Rammstein, Die Aerzte (and Bela B), and a little Die Toten Hosen and Fettes Brott.

I don't know much German, but I've been told that my pronunciation is relatively good.

We got French and Spanish at Apopka High.

I wish we had Russian though....

I took German for 3 years before I moved to Florida. Very easy to learn, and was also very fun to learn.

Well, if your goal is to travel, then I don't really see the point in learning several years of a language.

If you are passionate about a language, that's a different matter.

I like Fler, a German rapper, is it a good idea to learn German from him? lol

I enjoy learning German, but it isn't really the most important language to know if you know English. I'm aiming for (mastery) of my English, good German, and passable Russian. I'm also trying to learn Arabic, and I'm a Californian, so I know a very small amount of Spanish...

Spanish is great for the Western Hemisphere, although it isn't necessarily the best language for a businessperson to know, due to the relative lack of funds available in Central and South America.

I'd suggest learning Russian, then German, and if you have to deal with the French, learn French, but it is not as important a language to know as English or German or Russian.

Hee, it seems to me like you Finns just don't like the Russian language. It's perfectly simple to learn, at least it is on the same tree as the Indo-European languages. Try learning Thai or Hmong, then complain=p

I have always wanted to travel out of the USA and I never have (with the exception of Mexico). I just wanted to get some ideas from non-US citizens who actually live outside of the USA. I really want to get out of here for a vacation and wanted some tips of nice places to visit. I don't really want to go to a resort or tourist location because it seems like it would be watered down as compared to the actual culture of the location


Any opinions/advice would be nice. I am really looking forward to doing this in the next year

as long as you can keep up to speed with him and know what hes saying, it might actually be better because you have to listen more and then you will get more from it.
I've used tic-tac-toe to learn a little, and it helped quite a bit
:p

I don't know about you but I rather study a language for some weeks to actually communicate with local people in areas where English isn't that usual language rather than run around trying to find an English-speaker or spend most of my time at the hotel or its immediate surroundings.

Perfectly simple for some, not that simple for others you know. Still I can't see how some can regard Russian language as "beatiful" or "awesome" but that's just my opinion. By the way, Be4viz didn't say that he don't like the Russian language: he said that he doesn't find its sound beatiful.

You forgot foreign investments on these countries due to cheaper labour & material costs.

Well that really depends what exactly you're looking for?

A. Cheap prices, warm climate, lot of parties and women? Bulgaria
B. Beatiful countryside, rich history, lot of beer and sausages? Germany
C. Easy to communicate with local people, pounds, tea & bobbies? England
D. Rich food & drink culture, old historial buldings & Colosseum? Italy
E. Beatiful & clean nature, people talking strange language while eating rye bread & salmiac, sauna & Santa Claus? Finland

Checking out the public transportation services, price levels, people's ability to speak English and determining the purpose of the trip (sun & parties, museums & historical sites or wandering around in a peaceful nature?) is a good idea, where ever you travel to.

P.S. If you like to hear more about Finland, I'm happy to tell more with a sense of factual objectivity in my mind.

Finland sounds nice :) Has anyone heard about what New Zealand is like?

I heard they gots lots-o-sheep.

I've heard it has 50 sheep for every Orc.

From what I've seen of it, it looks very nice, albeit perhaps a bit chilly this time of year, I'm trying to think of analogous locations elsewhere, and I'm coming up with Ireland, Scotland and inner parts of the Hawaiian Big Island...

English is european, and nobody speaks french outside France and the walloon part of belgium.
Some people do, some decently, most basically, speak french in the flemish part of Belgium.
Forget it for the rest of europe. ;)
English is the most practical.:p

I've been to inner parts of the Hawaiian Big Island. It's quite interesting really, although very remote and small-townly. The little towns are quite reminiscent of pictures from Columbia or something.

Personally I would say:

English > German > Russian > spanish > french

Though you probably would be better off with knowing:

English > Spanish > French > German >

Have you driven on the "Saddle Road?" It cuts right through a naval artillery range, if I recall correctly, and the swirling clouds made it look like a flat part of Mordor, or the location of a gateway to another world. I really regret not having my camera with me when we drove on it...

I keep hearing things about it. Sounds alright.
A few.
Should be about 10-20 degrees Celsius, winds light to variable, occasionally rain. Skiing's good this time of year.

Language wise, before I go wherever I go, I would like to have an intermediate to advanced knowledge of their language, just a thing of mine.

But to the Hawaii comment, I live in the USA and don't want to stay in the "USA" if you know what I mean lol


My girlfriend went to Scotland and she said it was nice, but I am not really sure I want to go there because it seems like everyone I know has been there. I want to go somewhere out of the ordinary