Which are the best languages to learn?

tandeetaylor · January 10, 2003, 22:06

As you may know, this has to do with my son, which is why Arabic and English are not included. Pick as many as you want, but stick to those you think are important for some reason (economics, classical education, world culture, etc...), and please post why below. Sorry if I forgot your language, I just put as many as I could think of.

Bereta_Eder · January 10, 2003, 22:17

i didnt vote
but since you're american and you live there, id say definitely spanish

if want to travel to europe and want an alternative to english, it is french

for classical education latin

these are the most useful IMO and i have traveled quite a bit.

Berzerker · January 10, 2003, 22:20

Spanish, most common language in the western hemisphere except for possibly english. Kinda depends on where you live and your career choice.

tandeetaylor · January 10, 2003, 22:25

OK. America, region unknown, with possibility of travelling to Lebanon once every one or two years, and undetermined career, but optimal choices.

Jon Miller · January 10, 2003, 22:25

Russian

Jon Miller

Jon Miller · January 10, 2003, 22:27

oh to the why question

for reasons of physics and mathematics and history

and I didn't mark Japanese down, but it is probably getting more important

Jon Miller

Jon Miller · January 10, 2003, 22:28

to make it easier

Russian, English, French, German - Math and Physics
Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Latin - History

Jon Miller

Pekka · January 10, 2003, 22:28

Definitely NOT finnish. It's tough to learn and you won't get any use for it. Though it sounds like the elves language in LOTR though.. where Arwen and Aragon talk, well they speak finnish. But that's it. If you don't know any elves, don't bother learning it.

In the real world though, Spanish is pretty widely spoken, so that would be a good choice, and it sounds cool too, and not too tough to learn. Lots of hot spanish chicas out there!

Also french is spoken by many, so that could be one too, language of love.

But I'd go with spanish

Pekka · January 10, 2003, 22:29

I agree 100% with Jon Miller.

orange · January 10, 2003, 22:32

for your son - definitely Spanish.

I'd like to know French, Ancient Greek, Latin, and some form of Chinese (probably Mandarin)

Evil Knevil · January 10, 2003, 22:33

I learnt Greek. Hasn't done me any good. I mean, I turned down bloody arabic for it.

tandeetaylor · January 10, 2003, 22:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Evil Knevil
I mean, I turned down bloody arabic for it.

I agree with Jon Miller too. I almost didn't include Spanish because it's pretty much a given. The ones I'm mostly debating are Italian, Japanese and Korean.

General Ludd · January 10, 2003, 22:40

French, German, and Russian. In that order.

Mostly because those are the languages, cultures, and countries that I find most interesting. (well, that's not really the case for germany - it's just an all around good language for central Europe, I think)

Evil Knevil · January 10, 2003, 22:41

Japanese or Korean. It's good to learn a language thats from a completely different group than English.

General Ludd · January 10, 2003, 22:41

An African language would be nice too, now that I think of it.

Bereta_Eder · January 10, 2003, 22:51

i remember i had such a thrist to learn foreign languages

after english and french it was quenched though, i guess

St Leo · January 10, 2003, 22:56

Latin, German, or Ancient Greek would be great. Latin helps you understand English grammar, German sounds cool, and Ancient Greek is, well, Ancient Greek.

French and Spanish are dead.

OneFootInTheGrave · January 10, 2003, 22:59

When I think of it French or Spanish would be useful... in my case German or Italian would be useful too (and I can speak a bit of German even... had it for 8 years before... ) perhaps Chineze or Japanese would be nice but after learning English me thinks I will rather wait for others to learn English too

Wraith · January 10, 2003, 23:00

Japanese.

Why? For anime of course ^_^

More seriously, yes Spanish would be a good choice. After that is kind of up in the air depending on a lot of things.

--"Japanese or Korean. It's good to learn a language thats from a completely different group than English."

This is true (and if you're going to go for a lot of the romance languages, latin would probably be a big help). However, I wouldn't pick Japanese on that basis. It's kind of off in it's own branch, not particularly closely related to anything else. Cantonese or Mandarin might be better choices if that's your goal, but again "best" is such a vague term here.

Wraith
"Ecchi nano wa ikenai to omoimasu."
-- Mahoro ("Mahoromatic")

Caesar the Great · January 10, 2003, 23:17

Latin, German, Italian (but i'm a little biased)

for something more challenging Russian, Japanese

Ramo · January 10, 2003, 23:21

Spanish of course is an excellent choice. I'd recommend that over anything else, easily.

There also is a large amount of Chinese and Indian immigration to the US, which is likely not to stop any time soon, so Mandarin or Hindi might not be bad secondary choices.

Urban Ranger · January 10, 2003, 23:27

If you want your son to learn a language that is difficult yet widely used, learn Chinese (Cantonese). The written form is the same as Mandarin, the spoken form is quite different.

Greek and Hebrew are too specialised, and Latin is useless unless he's into languages. Russian is pretty much a toss-up now, so I say either French or German.

Zkribbler · January 10, 2003, 23:31

Japanese. Because someday they're going to pull out of that recession, and they'll be a lot of job opportunities for anyone who speaks Japanese.

Jon Shafer · January 11, 2003, 00:07

Spanish because you just might use it.

Latin because it helps you understand English better.

German for the same reason as Latin and also because it's cool.

Urban Ranger · January 11, 2003, 00:47

Quote:

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Japanese. Because someday they're going to pull out of that recession, and they'll be a lot of job opportunities for anyone who speaks Japanese.

Not for Westerners, they don't need to speak Japanese.

LDiCesare · January 11, 2003, 04:13

Quote:

Not for Westerners, they don't need to speak Japanese.

I know some Westerners speaking Japanese, and it does help when they have to deal with Toyota, because Japanese aren't really good at foreign languages (like English) in general.

I voted Spanish and French in that order. I included French only because you spoke of Lebanon and French is spoken a bit over there. Not as useful as Arabic of course, but it would definitely help.

DRoseDARs · January 11, 2003, 05:39

English - Well, already have that, so in no particular order...

Spanish - I live in Nevada = large Spanish-speaking populations in the western United States; took classes, may take again = limited comprehension

French - Like English, French is a lingua franca of sorts; took a class, may take again = limited comprehension

Chinese - Mandarin, 1+ Billion Chinese

Hindi - 1+ Billion Indians

Farsi - Islam is fastest growing religion, so arabic languages likewise grow in influence

Hebrew - Israel major influence in Middle East political arena; Took a class, may take again = limited comprehension

Other: Swahili or other African language - They've largely been neglected by the Northern Hemisphere historically; importance may grow over coming century