What is the best language to learn?

best language to learn?

  • Total voters
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Plies

Plies

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
Obviously the question is a little ridiculous, but by best I mean most interesting, fun, and rewarding. I am asking this completely subjective question because I love hearing all the different opinions on the enjoyment they got out of their second language. Personal preference is obviously a factor as of course there isn't an objective best.

How about Chinese? It seems so handy to have, I would love to hear if people are happy with learning Mandarin.

Has learning some a smaller language with less speakers such as Finnish, Greek, Swedish, or Czech been fun to enjoy from home when you aren't traveling or is really more trouble than it's worth?

Just enriching content that makes you feel like you are in the language and cultural. It's hard to tell which languages will be the most enjoyable in the long run. I'd love to hear which languages people enjoyed the most.

Tell me about the interesting stuff you have enjoyed in your language learning experience and about.
 
I started studying Japanese a few years ago. I didn't expect to uncover such a rich wealth of culture beyond anime and manga. Its been super rewarding, and in a few months I'll be taking my second trip to Japan.
 
Did Chinese in duo for a bit and the character representing specific words is tough. Japanese is easier because it more forgiving, literally have options with the characters. Arabic would be fun to learn for me
 
I think they should still teach Latin in schools, it gets you half way there for half of Europe.

In terms of worldwide utility English is obviously the one to go for on the poll, but depending on region Spanish, Chinese or Japanese would serve you best on the global scale.

On a personal level I think Italian is a beautiful language and Japanese is the hard mode choice but would be useful for games and if I ever visited what appears to be an extremely picturesque country.
 
Plies said:
Obviously the question is a little ridiculous, but by best I mean most interesting, fun, and rewarding. I am asking this completely subjective question because I love hearing all the different opinions on the enjoyment they got out of their second language. Personal preference is obviously a factor as of course there isn't an objective best.

How about Chinese? It seems so handy to have, I would love to hear if people are happy with learning Mandarin.

Has learning some a smaller language with less speakers such as Finnish, Greek, Swedish, or Czech been fun to enjoy from home when you aren't traveling or is really more trouble than it's worth?

Just enriching content that makes you feel like you are in the language and cultural. It's hard to tell which languages will be the most enjoyable in the long run. I'd love to hear which languages people enjoyed the most.

Tell me about the interesting stuff you have enjoyed in your language learning experience and about.
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Swedish? How about Danish. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to land some blond, scandinavian CPH chick.



At the least, you'll get to impress some folks at home pronouncing a difficult and fast spoken language.
 
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Ive been learning Norsk for a year and some change and I'm really digging it. I'd say it's actually easier than English in some ways, though the pronunciation can be tough at times. Not a particularly useful language to know for the grand stage of business though; I'd say English, Mandarin, Spanish, French, and Japanese would be the languages to learn for fiscal advantage.
 
poodaddy said:
Ive been learning Norsk for a year and some change and I'm really digging it. I'd say it's actually easier than English in some ways, though the pronunciation can be tough at times. Not a particularly useful language to know for the grand stage of business though; I'd say English, Mandarin, Spanish, French, and Japanese would be the languages to learn for fiscal advantage.
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Cool. My native tongue is old Norse.

I started to learn Spanish. Quite similar to French so far in grammar so should be easier than German.which I only learned to scream at people

 
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p_xavier said:
Cool. My native tongue is old Norse.

I started to learn Spanish. Quite similar to French so far in grammar so should be easier than German.which I only learned to scream at people
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When you say that's your native tongue, were you raised speaking that or what do you mean?
 
If you speak English, Chinese is the long term answer.

Pros:

- Very few people speak it (outside China)

- It's a beautiful language. Very rewarding to learn.

- Studying it makes you smarter (the learning curve really puts your brains at work)


Cons:

- It demands full time / dedication. like an university degree.

- One of the most difficult languages, since you have to learn how to speak and how to write completely different stuff.

- You won't be able to talk anything until 4-5 years of hard studying.



However, if you need another language to learn in 1-2 years, French will do. Extremely easy language except for verbal tenses.
 
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Moving forward, knowing Chinese and Spanish will give one a leg up in the world, similar to knowing English in the later half of the 20th century was.
 
poodaddy said:
Ive been learning Norsk for a year and some change and I'm really digging it. I'd say it's actually easier than English in some ways, though the pronunciation can be tough at times. Not a particularly useful language to know for the grand stage of business though; I'd say English, Mandarin, Spanish, French, and Japanese would be the languages to learn for fiscal advantage.
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wow-woah.gif


Poodaddy on the path of becoming a Northman. More scandinavian lang enjoyers/talkers is neato. Btw, the barrier from Norsk to Danish is low. You've essentially been learning a dual language, if you catch onto the pronounciation and dialect of the other.
 
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Learning mandarin isn't that hard personally, and the people usually want to speak with me which is nice, but I'm not that interested in the language or culture, so my level isn't what it should be. I've always liked Japanese, so I'm sticking with that. My second choice would be korean since they both sound a bit similar with all the vowels.

In terms of utility I'd say mandarin is still a good option given the size of the country and how much it's developed. Depends on what you want to do really
 
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English would be the clear answer but i'm always impressed everytime i travel in a foreign country and a shitload of people doesn't know english, i thought that we italians were particularly ignorant but it is like this everywhere...

I guess spanish and chinese are the 2 other best options.
 
To be fair, with AI translations so good nowadays, learning a new language is just to respect people where you travel. For me Spanish is because I intend to retire in South America.
 
p_xavier said:
To be fair, with AI translations so good nowadays, learning a new language is just to respect people where you travel. For me Spanish is because I intend to retire in South America.
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South America?

I thought they spoke Portuguese there. 🤔
 
Hypereides said:
wow-woah.gif


Poodaddy on the path of becoming a Northman. More scandinavian lang enjoyers/talkers is neato. Btw, the barrier from Norsk to Danish is low. You've essentially been learning a dual language, if you catch onto the pronounciation and dialect of the other.
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I'm not sure you understand how happy what you just said made me lol.

I would explain, but there's too much, so I'll just say thank you very much for informing me of that; it is extremely relevant to some long term goals of mine. If you were here, I'd kiss you.
Episode 2 GIF by The Simpsons
 
The timing of this topic is fortuitous.

My mental health doctors have recommended I take up something for my own edification to keep my mind occupied and also give me a personal sense of accomplishment. Learning either French or Italian has been on my bucket list for damn near 25 years. I've just never gotten around to it. When I was in college, I never had enough free elective credit hours.

What suggestions do people have for learning languages as an adult? I've tried Duolingo but something about it just doesn't really "click" for me. Feels more game-y than learning. My nearest community college only offers Spanish courses (and English courses for Spanish speakers).
 
Nydius said:
The timing of this topic is fortuitous.

My mental health doctors have recommended I take up something for my own edification to keep my mind occupied and also give me a personal sense of accomplishment. Learning either French or Italian has been on my bucket list for damn near 25 years. I've just never gotten around to it. When I was in college, I never had enough free elective credit hours.

What suggestions do people have for learning languages as an adult? I've tried Duolingo but something about it just doesn't really "click" for me. Feels more game-y than learning. My nearest community college only offers Spanish courses (and English courses for Spanish speakers).
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Dude, going to a community college is fantastic.

Not only are you learning a new language in a good environment, you're meeting and socializing with like-minded people.

It's a win-win, in my opinion.
 
I love how German let's you remember what you meant by making long words. Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese are cool to me because of tones. But IMO English is the best.
 
I feel like English Mandarin and Arabic are the big 3

Honorable mentions to Spanish and french

Last place tied for Portuguese and Italian even though they sound the coolest IMO
 
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12Goblins said:
Last place tied for Portuguese
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To my ears Portuguese sounds closer to Italian than to Spanish in certain ways, or maybe a 'cleaner' version of Spanish with a melodic intonation.
 
For a non-English native it is always English.
For English natives it's likely Spanish, or possibly French or German.
 
Mandarin is a beautiful language.

I learned some of it while living in Japan alongside Japanese. I found Chinese a lot easeir to learn given it's not got three entirely different fucking writing styles xD and words are a lot easier to pronounce at least for me personally. Japanese has multiple ways to pronounce the same symbols, the Onyomi and the Kunyomi and it gets really confusing really fast...

It would be a great language to learn since, China is fast becoming the new world leader in technology.
 
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They always said learn Chinese for opportunity and I think the case has returned again with how fast paced their tech output is in AI and robotics.

Any language is fun if you initially like the sound of it though.

Japanese is normal and not that special, anime is mainstream such that it's common to find people who might learn it now. It's like the Asian version of Spanish, in that everyone is trying to learn it and says they speak it after a couple phrases.

Arabic is another language I'd put just behind Chinese to learn. I just see those areas becoming stronger in the next 10+ years.

Then there's Hindi, because of India growing economically, but they all learnt English so... maybe no need.
 
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