Taking up a second language.

[Dex]

I'm considering taking up a second language and just wanted some input. I know a decision like this has many variables such as where would you be working, what time of career etc. But I'm just looking for some general feedback. I know Spanish but I'm not fluent and would need to take it over. However I know languages such as Arabic, Mandarin and German are useful as well. Thoughts?

[KSpan]

For fun and to get the ladies? Italian. For money/business reasons? Japanese or Mandarin.

[g5jamz]

thinking about Latin so I can learn it with my kids

 

 

[PandaPancake]

Italian and Spanish are similar.

German may not be as useful as you think. We have two German guys who speak in English because they can't get through each other's accents

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[Sapper]

I have about 6 in my arsenal. But Spanish is the easiest to learn.

[Darth Biscuit]

Klingon.

 

 

Or... Dothraki.

 

[Ja Rhule]

Thai

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They got the cheapest hookers... gotta communicate for the best experience.

[Ja Rhule]

I took Russian in college, it was pretty easy and fun.

[Captroop]

I took Russian in college, it was pretty easy and fun.

 

...Said the Ukrainian guy.

 

Fug it's hard. It wouldn't be so bad except most of the time when I ask a spelling, grammar, or conjugation question, the answer is always, "There's no reason behind it. Don't try to make sense of it. You just have to learn that it's like that in this case."

[thefuzz]

I have been wanting to try Spanish on rosetta stone, but have not pulled the trigger yet.

[Ja Rhule]

...Said the Ukrainian guy.

 

Fug it's hard. It wouldn't be so bad except most of the time when I ask a spelling, grammar, or conjugation question, the answer is always, "There's no reason behind it. Don't try to make sense of it. You just have to learn that it's like that in this case."

 

Russian is my first language ;)

 

There are no rules against native speakers taking their class.  As an international business management major, I was required to take foreign language (3 classes).  Russian language was one of the hardest and was worth 4.0 credit hours.  Of course I took it.  Teacher told me to go sit in the corner by myself.  I did and watched poor none native struggling to master Russian language.  All none natives hated my ass but wanted to be my friends cause I could do their homework in 10 seconds.  Btw, there were 3 Russian native speaking students in the class including myself.

[PhillyB]

nice. do you have any particular travels that you'd want to take up that would influence you in one direction or another?

 

spanish is useful cause you can get all around central and south america with it, as well as spain (though you'd pretty much have to learn latin spanish or proper spanish, since they sound completely different.) german is cool but nobody speaks it outside of germany. learning mandarin would absolutely be a wise choice, a huge bolster to any resume. arabic is going to be your hardest, your easiest would actually be something like indonesian: non-tonal and grammatically simple with a romanized alphabet, and at times indistinguishable from malaysian, so you kill two birds with one stone.

 

good luck!

[dos poptarts]

Italian and Spanish are similar.

German may not be as useful as you think. We have two German guys who speak in English because they can't get through each other's accents

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I've got that accent problem, but it is with some of my Scottish friends. Maybe we should switch to Spanish.

 

 

[Chimera]

there are more differences between American English and British English than between American Spanish and Spanish Spanish.

The hardest part for me is that many people will say "th" when there should be an S sound. Also Catalan is spoken in much of Spain, but usually you can figure out what is being said - they are similar but not as close as one would think.

You can also figure out what Italians are saying if you understand Spanish. However, it doesn't seem to help Italians understand you if you speak Spanish.

Arabic wouldn't be as hard as it looks. The alphabet is crazy and sentence structure is completely different, but many words are similar in English... especially words with a Z (magazine, mezzazine, etc)