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Native English speakers, what 2nd language would you learn?
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Saint Michael
Golden Member
Unfortunately not really. Although many languages (the Romance languages) descend from "Latin", they actually descend from a colloquial form of Latin that hasn't survived in any literature or texts. The Latin we know today is also called Classical Latin to distinguish it from Vulgar Latin, the Latin of the people. Vulgar Latin had many alternate words for various daily objects and concepts, as well as a simplified and otherwise modified grammar. Most of the Romance languages have diverged heavily in pronunciation which also obscures the connection between them and Latin, so you tend to have to learn them from scratch. Knowing Latin will give you a decent edge on memorizing vocabulary, but it still has to be memorized with a great deal of effort. Of course, learning Latin will give you a deeper insight into language in general, as studying a language with any more complicated grammar will. As for Greek, it is a language isolate, and no other languages have descended from it, so it will give you even less of an edge on any other European languages. And Hebrew isn't even a European language.
Actually, more than anything else Latin gives you a much greater insight on English, seeing as how many of our words have been derived from it.
JohnOfSheffield
Lifer
I'd vote German but if you spell mum as mom then first English. Serbocroatian is another langurage i've picked up, it's close to a mix of Finnish and Russian, i speak both of those too, i also Speak German, French and Spanish, the other Scandinavian languages are harder to learn, Finnish is just... so different, close to Hungarian but not quite, you can't actually make yourself understood in either language if the other party is speaking the opposite language.
After you studied English and Spanish, try German, it's easy as heck to learn and believe it or not, you will have a lot of work aleready done for you since you studied Spanish.
I've found French to be a wonderful language to learn. (I took it for four years in high school and 2 years at community college. It came in real handy when my wife and I went on our honeymoon to Europe)
I've also been very interested in learning Italian and Latin.
I want to learn Japanese as well.
Saint Michael
Golden Member
If you already know German (and obviously English) the other Scandinavian languages shouldn't be so difficult. They are probably more similar to English than any other language. In fact, the main difficulty is the heavy retention of Germanic words, which English has replaced with Latin derivations. But knowing German you're already familiar with most of them.
nanette1985
Diamond Member
I accidentally minored in Latin in college - the classics prof was fantastic so I just kept taking classes.
The main use of Latin in my life is that it really helps in crossword puzzles.
imported_yovonbishop
Golden Member
Greek.
I know | | that much Spanish.
I know | | that much Spanish.
SpunkyJones
Diamond Member
Chinese.
Japanese, then I would move to Tokyo.
KT
KT
How is it ignorant? What fact am I unaware of?
In all the countries I've been to, I've never needed to know another language. Even when I was negotiating in the Hong Kong Jade market by typing numbers into a calculator, I communicated just fine. I just don't see a need in the current world and with my current lifestyle to be fluent in anything other than English.
Obviously, some people's needs may differ. Is that difficult to understand?
BlahBlahYouToo
Lifer
i know a family with an american father, has a chinese wife, with kids born and raised in central america. the kids are fluent in 3 languages, english, spanish and chinese.
they can communicate fluently basically all across the globe.
a little OT but i thought that was pretty cool.
they can communicate fluently basically all across the globe.
a little OT but i thought that was pretty cool.
Obsoleet
Platinum Member
Interesting responses.
I expected more love for French. Only one reply with that. I'm in negotiation stages for employment with a French company so that was one uncited reason I'm starting to look at that with a keen eye. 😛
I agree with Minjin that American English is taking over and at an increasing rate as people continue to see supposed inevitability. Communications / the internet, science, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy to name a few of the benefits. In my studies, I've failed to put together a rival list for other languages that can match this or even come close.
I see the Mandarin craze not totally different from Japanese in the 80's, when people were ranting how we were all going to have to learn it because they were taking over. The facts I've seen aren't exactly promising for the Mandarin takeover so many are hoping for. It's probably too difficult to leave the asian continent, more people are learning the language of the Americans in China than in America itself, and Mandarin is not secure in all stretches of China there are many unintelligible Chinese dialects are still rampant. Regardless of progress forward in China for Mandarin, this is a reality. I'd like to know it myself though, of course. It'll never happen for 90% of us here though, I was a decent student and I don't really want to attempt it without living there.
Though what I think matters to languages outside of pure economic necessity and usefulness like what English's hold is, the cultural importance is the next draw to a language. One of my major failings to keep learning Spanish is that I prefer American movies and music by a margin of about 20 to 1.
I think I'll find French easy as well to learn, but I'll find more books I want to read in French. The only book in Spanish I've had my eyes on is reading Don Quixote, while I can think of at least a dozen French works I became familiar with while in the university that
I suppose a hispanic girlfriend would go a long ways in that cultural attraction.. seems to be a common thread holding together the 2nd language Spanish speakers here... 😀
For me French close relation to English and their stunning array of cultural works throughout history they've donated to western culture makes it the language I probably should've first studied to begin with. I think those of us who natively speak the international language should pick our 2nd one based off of our work, Spanish is a necessity for any sort of social work like medicine. French for anyone with a deep interest in culture.
As far as "heritage" languages (outside of American English), German, French and Russian would be those for me (probably Gaelic along the lines somewhere too considering I have a Gaelic Scottish surname). I'm not hung up on the heritage thing. I do like how the French identify as descendents of Celts/Gauls so I'm a little intrigued with the culture there, but that doesn't factor into my interest of the language much.
French literature from the past 500 years does it for me, probably more so than any other language on earth for the time period prior to the 20th century.
The guy who said that everyone else is coming to English is correct, but I always wanted to gain near native fluency in another language someday for the sake of it (and I enjoy it). As the world continues to get smaller though, anyone who speaks only 1 language will be increasingly isolated but obviously the English speaker has the upper hand.
BTW, someone said German would be easy with knowledge of Spanish and English... I've never assumed German to be an easy language to attempt, anyone shed light on this?
I expected more love for French. Only one reply with that. I'm in negotiation stages for employment with a French company so that was one uncited reason I'm starting to look at that with a keen eye. 😛
I agree with Minjin that American English is taking over and at an increasing rate as people continue to see supposed inevitability. Communications / the internet, science, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy to name a few of the benefits. In my studies, I've failed to put together a rival list for other languages that can match this or even come close.
I see the Mandarin craze not totally different from Japanese in the 80's, when people were ranting how we were all going to have to learn it because they were taking over. The facts I've seen aren't exactly promising for the Mandarin takeover so many are hoping for. It's probably too difficult to leave the asian continent, more people are learning the language of the Americans in China than in America itself, and Mandarin is not secure in all stretches of China there are many unintelligible Chinese dialects are still rampant. Regardless of progress forward in China for Mandarin, this is a reality. I'd like to know it myself though, of course. It'll never happen for 90% of us here though, I was a decent student and I don't really want to attempt it without living there.
Though what I think matters to languages outside of pure economic necessity and usefulness like what English's hold is, the cultural importance is the next draw to a language. One of my major failings to keep learning Spanish is that I prefer American movies and music by a margin of about 20 to 1.
I think I'll find French easy as well to learn, but I'll find more books I want to read in French. The only book in Spanish I've had my eyes on is reading Don Quixote, while I can think of at least a dozen French works I became familiar with while in the university that
I suppose a hispanic girlfriend would go a long ways in that cultural attraction.. seems to be a common thread holding together the 2nd language Spanish speakers here... 😀
For me French close relation to English and their stunning array of cultural works throughout history they've donated to western culture makes it the language I probably should've first studied to begin with. I think those of us who natively speak the international language should pick our 2nd one based off of our work, Spanish is a necessity for any sort of social work like medicine. French for anyone with a deep interest in culture.
As far as "heritage" languages (outside of American English), German, French and Russian would be those for me (probably Gaelic along the lines somewhere too considering I have a Gaelic Scottish surname). I'm not hung up on the heritage thing. I do like how the French identify as descendents of Celts/Gauls so I'm a little intrigued with the culture there, but that doesn't factor into my interest of the language much.
French literature from the past 500 years does it for me, probably more so than any other language on earth for the time period prior to the 20th century.
The guy who said that everyone else is coming to English is correct, but I always wanted to gain near native fluency in another language someday for the sake of it (and I enjoy it). As the world continues to get smaller though, anyone who speaks only 1 language will be increasingly isolated but obviously the English speaker has the upper hand.
BTW, someone said German would be easy with knowledge of Spanish and English... I've never assumed German to be an easy language to attempt, anyone shed light on this?
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