Which languages should I take?

[Stelok]

I speak fluent English, French and German, some Italian, some Klingon and a bit of Tagalog.

I am considering some more languages to take.

Ilocano- a Filipino language that my dad used to speak because his family lived in Ilocos region.

Cebuano- the most widely-spoken Filipino tongue.

Cantonese Chinese- I am a full-blooded Chinese. Everyone in my family except me speaks Chinese.

Spanish-one of the most common languages on Earth.

Japanese- I'm considering this language because I want to read Japanese in Sakura Taisen games and several untranslated manga.

Arabic- I'm interested in this language because its phonology fascinates me.

Russian- another language that fascinates me because of its gendered concepts.

[Lunay]

I'd say Ilocano since you live in the Philippines and it might come in handy. Otherwise go for Japanese. Since you watch anime.

[Soaker87]

Japanese is always good for anime fans to know, especially if they need to be able to translate things. Spanish would also be useful to learn because of how widely spoken it is.

[Onv]

Chinese and Spanish would be most useful I think. If you decide to learn Chinese I've heard Cantonese is pretty hard. I'm trying to learn Spanish, it's gets easier to pick up as you learn more vocabulary and sounds.

[Sora N]

go for Japanese! ;)

[animefan88]

If I was you, i would learn chinese. How do you not know it if everyone in your family speaks it? Plus its spoken by about a billion people...

I'd like to learn Russian though. I plan on moving to Ukraine within the next 5 years and I'd like to know the language of my heritage :D

But whichevar one you pick, have fun learning a new alphabet (except spanish) :lol:

[Little-Q]

I say go for either Spanish, Japanase or Cantonese.

If you have a understanding of the Italian language, then Spanish will be easier to learn, since the two languages are very similar. ^_^

[animefan88]

If you have a understanding of the Italian language, then Spanish will be easier to learn, since the two languages are very similar. ^_^

Because they are both in the Romantic branch of the Indo-European language. Along with French :D

[Jake]

Maybe you should become fluent in Tagalog... just my opinion.

[Stelok]

Thanks for all of your suggestions, everyone-san. You guys are right about Spanish and Japanese. They would prove beneficial for my education.

animefan88-san, actually my family never encouraged me to study Chinese. All of my sisters and my niece and my nehew go to schools which teach Chinese but I studied in a school with no Chinese language classes because I am deaf. True, Chinese is the language of a billion people.

Lunay-san, I am sure Ilocano is worth pursuing.

[Lord Dagoth]

I know it's not on your list, but learn Quenya!

[Ladyceres]

Learn Spanish it'll be easier since you already know German

[Dorktron2000]

I said Arabic, that's a language that governments want and need translators for, and it is probably one of the most relevant languages in the world today. You should probably get your Tagalog up since your in the Philippines and I'm partial to Ilocano since my mother spoke it as a child.

[Stelok]

Jake-san, Dorktron-san, you are both right. I should study Tagalog more often. And I hear U.S. government and some ther gov'ts are in desperate need of reliable arabic translators

[Animematt55]

Japanese or Chinese. Dont learn Spanish, <every language is useful to someone> But that is just my Opinion. Study a language of a country you wanna visit. Nothing i hate more when people are in a country and dont speak the language. I consider it very very rude.

Every try telling a Mexican family why something is a price that it is (i work in retail) but they dont understand at all? it is impossible.
If you are going ot Mexico, learn Spanish
Japan...Japanese
I would learn Chinese, sine you are, and your family already speaks it and can help you.
Chinese would also help with japanese with the Kanji i think

[Shakuras]

Wow , you're fluent in all those languages and I'm still trying with French.

[Stelok]

Nah, those languages seem pretty relatively easy for me.

[Stelok]

Every try telling a Mexican family why something is a price that it is (i work in retail) but they dont understand at all? it is impossible.
If you are going ot Mexico, learn Spanish
Japan...Japanese
I would learn Chinese, sine you are, and your family already speaks it and can help you.
Chinese would also help with japanese with the Kanji i think

Hmmm, yeah, you're right. A Chinese proverb says "Speak the language of the place you go."

[Shakuras]

It's not the reading and writing that's hard,(that's the easy part) but the listening and speaking(to a lesser extent) that gets me. When people speak to me in french, I only catch certain words/phrases and ask to repeat slowly.

[Animematt55]

Hmmm, yeah, you're right. A Chinese proverb says "Speak the language of the place you go."
ezactly, i am learning some basic japanese because i want to go to japan.
i will never go to mexico or china (maybe hong kong, but i believe the main language there is English).

I remember i got in trouble at work for not being able to understand a mexican guy that was asking a question

[Leader Desslock]

I know it's not on your list, but learn Quenya!
:lol: Very nice!

I'd vote for any of Japanese, Chinese or Arabic. Those will be the most different from the languages you know, and thus will be the bigger growth opportunity.

[Fobb]

Arabic. Caz it's cool like that!

[Jae Hoon]

Learn spanish, its quickly becoming the second most spoken language.

[EternityOfPain]

Do you need to ask? Ever day I ask myself why wasn't I born a japanese! ^_^

[Leader Desslock]

Regarding Spanish - eh, it shouldn't be that hard to pick up if you already know some Italian. I mean, if you want to fully OD on the romance languages, then by all means do so. If you just come fully up to speed on your Italian, you shouldn't have any problem getting the gist of anything you read in Spanish, though. Most of the native Italians with whom I've worked say there are more cultural barriers than linguistic barriers when dealing with Spanish-speaking folks.

I still recommend non-romance languages for the learning experience, but I guess it depends on your goals for learning a new language. Are you going for practicality or for the academic experience? Just curious.

Learn spanish, its quickly becoming the second most spoken language.
According to whom? It's quite unlikely to surpass English any time soon. Here's an interesting article:
http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm

I would caution folks to read ALL of the tables, see what each table represents, and see the conclusions (and aggregate tables) at the bottom of the article. It's pretty interesting.

[Smith]

I speak fluent English, French and German, some Italian, some Klingon and a bit of Tagalog.

I am considering some more languages to take.

Ilocano- a Filipino language that my dad used to speak because his family lived in Ilocos region.

Cebuano- the most widely-spoken Filipino tongue.

Cantonese Chinese- I am a full-blooded Chinese. Everyone in my family except me speaks Chinese.

Spanish-one of the most common languages on Earth.

Japanese- I'm considering this language because I want to read Japanese in Sakura Taisen games and several untranslated manga.

Arabic- I'm interested in this language because its phonology fascinates me.

Russian- another language that fascinates me because of its gendered concepts.

Don't you also know and are fluent in ASL(American Sign Language)?
If I were you, I'd take on Japanese. Reading manga straight from Japan, or even living\visitng there would be cool, espeically if I knew Japanese.

[Jake]

I voted for Dutch, just because it sounds cool. There's thins modern Dutch composer who rocks!

You know my vote is for Tagalog though...

As for Athena acting so violated because someone said Spanish is stupid: if I got all worked up every time that someone degrades American English, I would be dead. I don't knwo why you feel as if someone who doesn't like Spanish is attacking you personally, because they're not. I don't like the Spanish language too! I don't like German either. I don't like how they sound. French is prettier... in my humble opinion.

[Shakuras]

French is prettier... in my humble opinion.

Quoted for truth.

[Stelok]

I voted for Dutch, just because it sounds cool. There's thins modern Dutch composer who rocks!

You know my vote is for Tagalog though...

I don't like the Spanish language too! I don't like German either. I don't like how they sound. French is prettier... in my humble opinion.

True. French is a very romantic language. But I don't like Spanish, although I like German.

Don't you also know and are fluent in ASL(American Sign Language)?
.

Yes, I forgot that American Sign Language is considered a real language. I am fluent in ASL due to a few years of studying at Gallaudet University but I am more proficient in SEE (Signed Exact English) because I've been using it since childhood. My institute for deaf teaches SEE since we Filipinos did not develop our own sign language.

I didn't start learning ASL until Gallaudet. But I keep using SEE as a habit even at Gallaudet.

[Smith]

SEE (Signed Exact English) IMO breeds better english awareness due to how english is integrated in sentences. ASL is almost like ebonics in a way. I also grew up with SEE in Oregon until I moved to California and went to the deaf school in Fremont and learned ASL there when I was 9. From my experience, ASL users often do not have even decent english, and it is often the most hated\despised subject of ASL users. Math seems easier for people who grew up using ASL. I happen to be the exact opposite which is a rarity in the deaf community.

[DazzleKitty]

Wow, I'm so jealous of you, Ichirou. I'd love to be able to speak multiple languages.

Anyways, I'd go with Japanese. I'm planning on learning it myself as soon as I graduate from high school.

[Stelok]

Wow, I'm so jealous of you, Ichirou. I'd love to be able to speak multiple languages.

Anyways, I'd go with Japanese. I'm planning on learning it myself as soon as I graduate from high school.Awwww.
Don't be jealous. You can do it, too.

[Anchalis Kinei]

animematt: "Japanese or Chinese. Dont learn Spanish, it sucks, and is useless, But that is just my Opinion. Study a language of a country you wanna visit. Nothing i hate more when people are in a country and dont speak the language. I consider it very very rude.

Every try telling a Mexican family why something is a price that it is (i work in retail) but they dont understand at all? it is impossible.
If you are going ot Mexico, learn Spanish"

Look, it doesn't bother me when you say something sucks. But when you call it *useless*, then it chaps my ***.

We all know that when it comes right down to it, Chinese could very well be the most spoken language on the planet. But where is the mass of that concentrated? IN CHINA. Spanish goes far and wide: In the US, The Caribbeans, Spain, Portugal (Portuguese can be comprehended, like Italian, if you know Spanish very well); when it comes down to it, Spanish is more *widely known*, but Chinese is know by more people. And about how you consider something 'very very rude'? Yeah, not all hispanics are mexican, you short-sighted <not helping>. There's cubans, spaniards, puerto-ricans (which I fall under), nicaraguans... sooo many. Just 'cause America knows that Mexico is right nest to them, it automatically means that they are the only existing hispanics. That's why people hate America so.

By the way, I don't recall IO saying he was going somewhere specifically. And even still, your dumbass reasoning is flawed. "Duuhhhr, Japan = Japanese, Mexico = Spanish". I'd bet that 'Brazil = Brazilian' or 'Haiti = Haitian' would've been next. Terrible logic and terrible diversity. You've the fine makings of a politician, good sir; I mean, you get mixed up in your reasoning, and when you try to tie it all together, you mess up worse, and you sound like you could 'blah blah' your way through anything... so long as the person didn't speak your language. Oh yeah, and it seems like sexual favors wouldn't be out of the question, either.


Okay, so THIS guy's an idiot. Now I'll help you, IO.

SPANISH is an excellent language to know, for reasons previously mentioned. And since you know Italian, you can get a good start.

Seeing as you're Chinese, that would probably be best for you to know in YOUR case. But if you're only going to do Cantonese... well, you might as well learn Mandarin, too. I know they aren't much different (Like Puerto Rican spanish and Cuban spanish... OHHHHH, so it varies from country to country? Retard.), but understanding each dialect couldn't hurt, could it?

If you're interested in them all, then go for them all. But I'd say take them in this order:
*Cantonese/Mandarin Chinese - Learn your native tongue.
*Spanish - Learn a WIDELY SPOKEN language.
*Both Filipino dialects/Japanese (Choose one)
*(Take the second choice from above)

I'd give what *I'd* do, but this is asking about you.

[SabakuKuniGaara]

If you take such an interest in Russian, why don't you try and learn Bulgarian. They are similar, and Bulgarian is a much more beautiful and easy language! Here is a spoiler for you Това е нещо малко на български, което да му се радваш докато не решиш да научиш езика...

[Keldran]

If I was in your situation I'd go for either Arabic, Russian, or Mandarin, all rather difficult in their own regard. To be honest I wouldn't consider Japanese to be that useful unless you plan on working in a field where you'd need it. Maybe Japanese tourism to the Philippines will increase, but I wouldn't bet on it personally.

On the issue of Spanish, look at the statistics for 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants. A good portion of them speak English only and never learn their "native" language. This has held true for past immigrant groups and this is holding true for Hispanic groups as well. Spanish will never be even close to as widely spoken as English in the US, no matter what sort of fluctuations there are in the population.

[Leader Desslock]

To be fair, regarding this whole "Americans should learn Spanish" thing - it always seemed silly to me. I grew up in Maine. Pretty much every high school I ever saw taught English (mandatory), French and Spanish. A few also taught German, and ours taught Latin as well. I never understood why anyone took Spanish, because quite honestly, it's not that useful a language to know in Maine.

Why? Roughly a quarter of the state speaks French (well, Quebecois -_-; ), Maine was settled by the French, and Maine shares a border with Quebec. The few people who spoke Spanish were statistical anomalies (more people spoke Passamaquoddy or Penobscot in my area) that were mainly there due to the close proximity of the state university. For the 95% of the population that remains in Maine for the rest of their lives, Spanish just isn't that useful to learn except as an academic exercise.

Later, I moved to Cape Cod. Was it important to know Spanish then? Well, not really. It would've been handier to know Portugese or Greek, since those are the most common languages among those for whom English is a second language.

It wasn't until I moved to Colorado that I saw any sizeable population of Spanish-speaking people. Working in the tech field, however, I can say that Spanish isn't the language that comes in the most useful in my field. German, Russian and Italian would be the top on that list for my particular company, but quite a lot of other folks in my field view Japanese, Chinese or (increasingly) Hindi as quite useful. I work in a very culturally diverse company, and almost everyone who speaks Spanish is a local (to Colorado) person who learned it in high school just as I'd learned French.

One tech field in particular that can be quite lucrative (and pay for a significant anime habit) is the area of software localization. If IO wanted to leave his options open for this field, Spanish would be about the last choice I'd make on his list. Instead, I'd choose Japanese, Arabic, Hindi or Chinese, probably in that order. Why? Because Spanish can be treated programmatically like most other European languages, while the others can't. In that field, it makes more sense to know the languages that have to be handled differently from a programming perspective, unless one is doing the actual Spanish translation. Also, since Spanish-speaking countries aren't the primary tech markets, it's really not the in-demand tech language to know.

That's just my perspective as an American who's travelled quite a bit internationally and driven across the country countless times (many times through the southwest). Except for occasionally talking to the locals downtown in their native tongue, I can't say I'd have had a use for Spanish in the almost 40 years I've been around. Lots of other people might have, but I'm pointing myself out as a fairly common example of why it's not that important for every American to learn Spanish particuarly.

Don't get me wrong - as a linguist, I'm a staunch advocate of the US school system adopting multilingual programs starting as early as possible, to capitalize on kids' innate learning abilities at younger ages. Spanish is one of the languages I'd recommend throwing into that mix, especially in the southwest or in large metropolitain areas. I'd also recommend French, German, Russian, possibly Arabic (given current events), Chinese and/or Japanese. I don't think such an educational reform will be made in my lifetime, but I can dream. I think it'd give the US a muh better standing internationally, and it would certainly remove a competitive handicap we currently have as a nation.

Regarding whether someone who doesn't speak English 'should just leave' - that's just asinine. If people who didn't speak English were forced to leave the US, most of the immigrants who came here would never have been able to set foot on shore. My ancestors certainly wouldn't have, and we'd have had to deport my grandmother. However I do think it's common sense that any immigrant should seek to learn the language of any country he or she has chosen as an adopted home. I've know quite a number of both Irish- and Italian-Americans in Boston who've reported that speaking either of those languages at the table was strictly forbidden, and would get a quick rap across the head from the head of the household who wanted the children to fit in and be successful in their new country.

Oddly (to me when I came here, at least) I don't see that same focus in the Spanish-speaking households to which I've been exposed. Maybe it's something cultural, or maybe it's just the times we live in, but the Spanish-speaking folks I've known in the American southwest have shown more resistance to the idea of 'blending into the melting pot' than the other groups (Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, German) I know.

Anyway, I just wanted to give my opinions, as a US citizen who doesn't speak Spanish, why it wasn't high in my recommendations. It's possible that those in this thread who have been perceived as bashing the language or culture are speaking from a similar perspective as my own, albeit with less tact. Just pointing that out.

[sys2021]

No surprise that the majority voted for Japanese.

I don't think you could go wrong with Mandarin, Russian, or Arabic. Japanese is just too over-hyped (esp. in this community), but if you want to learn it, it's not too bad. You may find learning Chinese after studying Japanese somewhat easier than if you started from scratch. But yeah, Mandarin is easier to learn than Canto from what I hear, but if you think you can handle it, go for Cantonese.

Go for Chinese, either Canto or Mandarin. Since China is growing, it'll be good for business opportunities in the future.

[Keldran]

You'd be surprised on how wrong that is. For someone who is in South Texas, it holds even more true. With the passage of NAFTA and the closer ties between the US and Latin American countries, the US is becoming more Spanish than ever. I have to also say that the Spanish music format is also becoming ever more popular too thus meaning more people are interested in Spanish more than ever. Hispanics will soon be the majority of the population in Texas too by 2020, anbd I'm not even counting the people who want to learn Spanish too. Believe me, I did a research paper on this before I graduated from HS. ;)



Quick 2 minute google search found me this (http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&safe=off&q=cache:dEQ2aPu5vfwJ:www.reprohealth.ucs f.edu/articles/Latino.imm.pdf+3rd+generation+immigrant+ language) link and this link (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12282084&dopt=Citation) , as incomplete as they are showing the actual language trends as they are subject to change. Here's (http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&safe=off&q=cache:6IFGsHDrr3IJ:www.jsri.msu.edu/RandS/research/irr/rr30.pdf+generation+immigrant+spanish+la nguage) something better, and I'll quote from it.

C o n s e q u e n t l y, the bilingualism of these children
becomes increasingly uneven and unstable. The data
vividly underscores the rapidity with which English triumphs
and foreign languages atrophy — even in a city
like San Diego with the busiest international border
crossing in the world, or in Miami, the metropolitan area
with the nation’s highest percentage of foreign-born. The
second generation is not only strongly encouraged to
speak, read, and write English fluently, but prefers it
overwhelmingly over their parents’native tongue. These
results occurred while the youths still resided in parents’
home where the non-English mother tongue retains primacy.
Once they leave the parental fold, particularly
when living outside dense immigrant enclaves, the degree
of English language dominance and non-English language
atrophy accelerates.

This pattern of rapid linguistic assimilation is constant
across nationalities and socioeconomic levels. It
suggests that, over time, the use of and fluency in foreign
languages will inevitably decline results providing information
which directly rebut nativist alarms about the perpetuation
of foreign-language enclaves in immigrant
communities. The findings suggest the linguistic outcomes
for the third generation — the grandchildren of the
present wave of immigrants — will be no different: they
may learn a few foreign words and phrases as a quaint
vestige of their ancestry, but they will most likely grow
up speaking English. It is for this reason that the United
States has been called a “language graveyard.”

Not to bash your high school paper, but the papers I wrote in high school are absolute rubbish compared to the sort of stuff I have to write now. High school teaches an idea of multiculturalism, which is great, but not when it comes at the expense of the facts, which I believe points more towards an Anglicization model.

By the way, I live in Los Angeles county with a 45% Latino population as of 2000, so you'd think my outlook would be along the lines of "OMG Spanish is everywhere!" but for one to think the rest of the country is like Los Angeles is a fallacy, and two, I don't automatically assume that if you're Latino means you're fluent in Spanish. I'm also not going to ignore that most of my friends are second generation Mexicans, perfectly fluent in English and losing a grip on their Spanish fluency. It just so happens that my personal experience coincides with the data I've looked at, but I wasn't going to espouse my personal experience as a fact without something stronger to back it up.

[Leader Desslock]

(from the article)...The second generation is not only strongly encouraged to speak, read, and write English fluently...
I presume this refers to being encouraged at home, and if so, I'm glad to see that something offsets my own personal experience in the matter. Very good article. Kind of harsh to hear the states called a "language graveyard", but I certainly can't dispute it :)

[Scandiadream]

Spanish. It is spoken as a first language in the greatest quantity of countries. However, English and Chinese do have more speakers overall. Being able to speak Spanish will get you more jobs in certain parts of the USA. Cause where I used to live before this AN city there were so few Spanophiles that you got Latin food at Taco Bell and the days where I had off from Target NOBODY could translate for Spanish speaking customers.

[Jake]

It was to my surprise to find that the US doesn't have an official language. That's one thing. There isn't any requirement to learn English to live in the US other than it's hard to function. But because our state is such a "melting pot" type state, official government things are available in different language, even though English is 99% of the time the most common.

I don't think Spanish would be useful for me. The place that I live is so black and white. We have 1% asian/hispanic/international... maybe less. I chose French because I like the culture. I'd much rather eat croissants than tacos. haha. More people at my school take Spanish than any other of the languages.

Me gusta cantar!

Si je mange du merde, j'aurai mal au coeur.

Hahaha! I love speaking in French!

[Gejutsuka]

Choosing a language to study is harder than it seems. Personally, I say choose one that you will have at least a 75% chance of speaking with another person with it.

When I was much younger, my Puerto Rican friend and I learned how to read, write and speak Mandarin Chinese. We did this purely for cultural and martial arts purposes, because at that time, we were very much interested in gaining grace with our fellow Chinese friends and classmates. It worked fabulously because it opened doors of friendhsip and helped tear down a few stereotypes prevalent in my area and during that time. Amongst my kin, aside from English, there are those that spoke French (Mom and sis), Tsalagi(Cherokee)(older brother), Spanish(myself), and others were speaking other tribal languages. Later on, I started to pick up Irish due to my love for the music as well as the country, also my American born Irish kin lonnnnng since gave up wanting to continue Gaelic. To date, I only have one friend in Dublin that I correspond with in Gaelic, but I am not sorry. Nowadays, I collect languages, both dead and living purely for fun. I have some Norwegian tapes I am dying to try out, and hope to find Icelandic, purely because structurally, that languange has not changed much since the times of the Norse that brought it to the Island.

I guess what I am saying is that although you should never limit yourself, ever, in learning anything, especially a language, it helps ahead of time to know how much you are going to use it to help keep your learning and comprehension fresh.

[Animematt55]

That is very rude to say! :$%&#!: How dare you say that about my native language and how you treat Spanish speakers. Spanish is anything but what you say, and it's a very useful important language both in the United States, and in many other parts around the world. Your anger won't do you any good, and me nor my cousin Melissa (Meliz-chan) are going to forgive you for this discrimination. <_<

EDIT: I would highly suggest Spanish myself, it's one of the most important languages, and would be very use when speaking to Latin Americans. If you know other European languages, Spanish shouldn't be hard to learn.
SPanish is only useful in Mexico and Spain and other latin countries
America it is ENGLISH
Japan it is JAPANESE
like i said, learn a language of a place you wanna visit, and that interests you
EDIT: plus it is my opinion that spanish doesnt flow enough
French, now THAT is a beautiful language

[Leader Desslock]

America it is ENGLISH
And French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portugese, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Polish, Norewgian, Turkish...

Of course, if you ask most folks from the UK, they'll insist we don't speak English at all here in the states. :)

Any reason you're such a rabid anglophile? Or you just enjoy stirring up the coals?

Personally, I say choose one that you will have at least a 75% chance of speaking with another person with it.
Then we're decided. IO should learn Quenya. :lol:

[Animematt55]

it is easier in a country if everyone speaks the same language.
you know how many times i have run into language barriers at my work (i shouldnt have to learn a foreign language so people can talk to me).
the old saying...when in roman, do as the romans
Granted there are communities in some states, but that is a COMMUNITY, they share a culture (which includes language) but outside of that culture, if they are going there, they should learn that culture (which includes language)

[Gejutsuka]

You know what is comical, with regards to Romans and languages, Romans didn't dictate that Latin was the language of the realm. They only felt that the peoples conquered or assimilated were, with limits of course. But they delved and encouraged lanugages to thrive because trade and commerce is easier when your market can cater to all.

That said, all languages are useful, and there will be no more derogatory statements thrown about other's languages, cultures, or Ways.

Quenya?(chuckling) I'd go Sindarin. It flows off the tongue better. But secretly, and to great amusement to my wife, I have been studying Drow which adds a flavor to our gaming.

[Animematt55]

You know what is comical, with regards to Romans and languages, Romans didn't dictate that Latin was the language of the realm. They only felt that the peoples conquered or assimilated were, with limits of course. But they delved and encouraged lanugages to thrive because trade and commerce is easier when your market can cater to all.

That said, all languages are useful, and there will be no more derogatory statements thrown about other's languages, cultures, or Ways.

Quenya?(chuckling) I'd go Sindarin. It flows off the tongue better. But secretly, and to great amusement to my wife, I have been studying Drow which adds a flavor to our gaming.
again, like i was saying, if you are going to a different culture, then learn the language.
a Salesman in Asia would be a smart idea to learn various asian cultures.

[Gejutsuka]

But that same mindset can also be applied to those very same smaller communities you stated here. I get far better service and smiles with a smiple xie-xie, or dou xie in Chinatown or a Chinese restaurant, than just throwing out my native Brooklyn, NYC "Yeah, 'tanks" at them. There is no rule or law dictating one should, but a little interest makes one memorable, sometimes for the better.

That said, coming from NYC, with our cornucopia of communities where the entire business signs can range from Korean, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Yiddish, the list goes on and on, it would be rather rude of me to go stromping around with a "English, love it or leave here attitude". I grant you, take our "English" to the UK and see how long it takes before you are corrected that American English is indicative of the melting pot that the country is, than of its Old English/Celtic/ and Welsh rootstick.

The thread originator should learn whatever they are interested in.

[Animematt55]

I assume you ment that you talk like that when you are in Chinatown? that goes along with what i was saying. Your in a Chinese community, so it woul dbe handy to learn the language

[ablo]

Why isn't Greek on there??! Seriously though, take Cebuano, I know a bit of Tagalog, but never Cebuano. It should be good experience to learn it.

[Stelok]

Well, I'm not exactly interested in Greek, ablo.

[Stafal-chan]

:blink: i've never even heard of the first two...:lol: i would take japanese!!!!! :D

[Japhyl]

I would take Mandarin Chinese.

[Salainen]

Russian...I am learning it now, it is an amazing language :P

[Evil_Koala]

Russian...they are becoming Communist again slowly and we will need spies. :(

Don't learn Spanish. I hate that language...Sorry

and why would you ask on an Anime forum? It's like "LOL JAPAN! LOL! JAPPPPPAAAAAAN!!!!"

[Salainen]

and why would you ask on an Anime forum? It's like "LOL JAPAN! LOL! JAPPPPPAAAAAAN!!!!"

...XD Nick is correct in this XD

...What I would choose second is Arabic, because I wish to learn it at some time (supposedly it is quite difficult)

[Haro!]

Not sure if i answered already. Pick Mando. Maybe Japanese. Learn Spanish if you want to know when the guys at the pizzeria are making fun of you. But definitely Mando, 'cause lots of American companies are looking to set up branches in China or looking for Americans to fill in positions over there (my dear Citigroup for example). Oh and it sounds much better than Canto.

[superplough]

Russian...I am learning it now, it is an amazing language :P
repeat: you have amazing language learning skills

[Chousho]

<every language is useful to someone>
<not helping>
Last Activity: 06.14.2006 08:07 PM
Somebody likes to make it known they're back, :P
Yes yes, I'm sure a reason for editing was given, I was just pointing it out.
AND IF THIS IS EDITED, I SAY LAMENESS IS AFOOT!
As far as languages go, I would say Japanese as a base. From there, Chinese and then maybe Spanish or French.

Japanese is a fairly straight forward language and will help you develop skills in reading and writing other scripts. As Kanji is basically Hanzi with variants here and there, it will also help you if you go for Chinese, in knowing about radicals and the such.

In the end, what would you rather do? Learn a language to be able to communicate better with relatives (which is a great thing), learn one for fun (which is never a bad thing), or learn one out of need (which is usually a must for those travelling)?

[The Million Dollar Prons]

Stelok should learn Japanese so he can translate for me. It's easy as hell compared to the nonesense languages, like Vietnamese.

[Atriede]

Choosing a language was a toughy.
If you wanted to understand anime first hand, I would say learn japanese.
If you wanted a language that is pleasant, easy and nice to learn, I would say spanish.
If you wanted a language to do bussiness abroad I would say cantonese chinese, because it is the official language of Hong kong ,the richest region in what is predicted to be the most dynamic economy of the 21st century (though I hold reservations). Being able to communicate with foriegners for bussiness would give you an edge over your bussiness peers and cantonese would be my first pick.
However roughly 16 times as many people speak Mandarin chinese as speak Cantonese.
Take your pick.

[Alice Catherine]

Well, Ichigo...
I say Chinese or Spanish. Perhaps Arabic, if you ever want to serve in an army that goes to the Middle East or something.
Spanish because of how widely it's spoken. Chinese for the same reason.

[Victory]

holy thread resurrection
PICK JAPANESE 可愛いですね　^_______^

[Samourai]

português,since you know french already, it will come pretty easy. there are alot of similarites

[Stelok]

Sorry to revive this thread, but after reading this thread again, I felt like replying to this. AMERICA is the entire WESTERN HEMISPHERE, not just the UNITED STATES. Plus, the UNITED STATES is a diverse country where many languages are spoken even though English is the official language. Anybody who wants to learn a new language there would find that very useful. Spanish is very important, especially in the larger cities of the country and the entire Southwest US. Spanish will become even more important in tue future as time goes on as the hispanic minority will grow even more. Heck, even English is quite a popular language here in Northern Mexico. Please do no discriminate. <_<
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v636/stelok/ilocano.jpg

Stelok should learn Japanese so he can translate for me. It's easy as hell compared to the nonesense languages, like Vietnamese.

It's better for me to translate manga instead of anime since I can't hear dialogue, unless the anime were closed-captioned.

But I suspect that reading Japanese kanji is more difficult than reading Japanese in romanji alphabet.

[The Million Dollar Prons]

A lot of manga have kanji with furigana (the hirigana above the kanji), that's the easiest because it makes things easy to look up. Be sure to PM me sometime about how the Filipinas are going!

[animeotaku99]

I speak fluent English, French and German, some Italian, some Klingon and a bit of Tagalog.

I am considering some more languages to take.

Ilocano- a Filipino language that my dad used to speak because his family lived in Ilocos region.

Cebuano- the most widely-spoken Filipino tongue.

Cantonese Chinese- I am a full-blooded Chinese. Everyone in my family except me speaks Chinese.

Spanish-one of the most common languages on Earth.

Japanese- I'm considering this language because I want to read Japanese in Sakura Taisen games and several untranslated manga.

Arabic- I'm interested in this language because its phonology fascinates me.

Russian- another language that fascinates me because of its gendered concepts.
ARabic would be great to learn, our military needs more people that can speak it. And the two Filipino and CHinese would also help im a miltary/crime fighting setting. Japanese would just be a lot of fun

[Samourai]

mandarin, its more widley spoken in china,written they are the same but pronunciation is way diffrent, so learn mandarin,im taking it right now.

[sailornyanko]

Regarding Spanish - eh, it shouldn't be that hard to pick up if you already know some Italian. I mean, if you want to fully OD on the romance languages, then by all means do so. If you just come fully up to speed on your Italian, you shouldn't have any problem getting the gist of anything you read in Spanish, though. Most of the native Italians with whom I've worked say there are more cultural barriers than linguistic barriers when dealing with Spanish-speaking folks.

Very true. Knowing spanish fluently allows me to read many other languages on the web. I'm actually visiting an anime site in French right now and I can understand at least half of it easily without using a translator. I don't even need to translate to read italian or portuguese though it takes me a bit of a while to read in either language.

Català and Gallegan are about 95% identical to spanish (and I doubt there's that many people who can distinguish either language quickly like I can because I visit lots of random sites). I can read either language almost as quickly as with spanish.

Català as I have been told many times by friends is a real pain in the rear language. If you want to visit the Andalucía region of Spain, you have to learn it. The locals give their backs on you if you DARE speak to them in spanish. Hahaha. I've heard horror stories a plenty of friends suffered from who were denied food from restaurants because they didn't speak Català.

By the way, I don't recall IO saying he was going somewhere specifically. And even still, your dumbass reasoning is flawed. "Duuhhhr, Japan = Japanese, Mexico = Spanish".

Actually the native toungue Mexico should be most appropriately referred to is nahuatl since it was the language of the Aztecs aka Mexicas aka the name of the race the country is officially named after (though some will differ saying this country should of been called "Anahuac" to cover all Indian tribes equally, but that's another story).
Too bad nahuatl is underrated though. It's a crazy language to hear (in the coolness sense) and extremely difficult to learn. I personally prefer Huichol myself, but that's just personal taste. Frankly I'd looooooe to learn Huichol. I'm considering going to Nayarit or SLP to do my final year of my university career to be exposed to native speakers of it. With some luck I could catch up the basics of that language. O_O

---

I'd say for the heck of it, you could learn spanish if you consider visiting the US (sorry, but America is becomming a dual language country, in 50 years spanish might become an official language because it's so heavily spoken in many select regions. I actually didn't have to even speak english that often when I was in Los Angeles because most people understood spanish perfectly well), Spain, North Africa or most countries of Latin America. It was fun as hell to speak spanish right out loud in a KFC joint in kansas City with my mom. All of the white people were looking at us with awe thinking we were weirdos speaking the language of the savages. Some mexican janitors actually came up to us and began to chit-chat out loud in spanish. I guess they were happy as hell to see other people speak spanish in public.

You don't have to be pin-pointed perfect in spanish to communicate with people in Mexico City since english is an obligatory school subject. It's now an obligatory subject in public schools. You can't even enter several university careers (including Medicine) if you can't speak english. You can't continue Medicine past 6th semester in my university if you can't get at least a 600 on the TOEFL.
You'd be surprised how many people will understand you if you speak to them in english (don't speak too fast though). However if you do this, be warned that a lot of people can be jerks and play tricks on you for being naive. I've heard several funny but really bad pranks done to american tourists like this teenager girl who was tricked saying the Mexico City subway can take you all the way to Los Angeles. You'd have to be an idiot to believe this, but the girl believed it and checked out of her hotel room 1 day too early and didn't know where to go since she had no family or friends in the city.

However, this is a country where over 100 different indigenous dialects are still actively spoken. There's plenty of villages everywhere where nobody speaks spanish, much less english. Prepare to get lost. ^^' Even in southern Mexico City there's lots of people who can only speak nahuatl, mixteco and whatever language the mazahua tribes speak.

Given that you seem to already know a bit of italian, spanish wouldn't be hard. I personally like Portuguese more than spanish, but nobody can speak it in this city.

Though if you want to be a more practical person, learn the languages that you'd think would be most useful like Japanese.

--

Frankly I feel sad 3rd gen americans with obviously mexican physical features aren't learning spanish. Warning: If you're name is Jorge González González, you look mexican and the only word in spanish you know is coyote, don't visit Mexico City for your safety. You will be beaten up.
I'm sad my dad didn't allow my mom to teach me spanish when I was 5 years old. I can speak spanish great and I can read medical books in spanish as easily (actually I find spanish medical books to be easier and faster to read) than in english. Sadly since I learned it at age 9, I speak with a strange accent, I can miss some minor tidbits when I speak too fast and I can't pronounce a couple sounds correctly. Not learning the languages of your elders just because you live in da U where english is da only right language hurts you in the long run if you want to go to other countries. It's easier to learn 3,4,5, etc.. languages if you already learned a second language as a kid.

---

Plus, spanish is the language to go to watch anime in. I wouldn't trade Victor Ugarte or Gerardo Reyero's divine voices for anything. Arturo Sian Vidal's voice is heavenly as well. *slobbers*

[RPGQueen]

from what I have been told from my German instructor is that German is the closest european language to Asian languages, so I would take Japaneese, cause you can use it to watch anime ;)

[The Million Dollar Prons]

mandarin, its more widley spoken in china,written they are the same but pronunciation is way diffrent, so learn mandarin,im taking it right now.

And then you can easily leap into Cantonese and be the master of China.