Bradylama said:
That already exists. It's called 'sex'.
Foreign Language
- Thread starter Dapper Dan Man
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That already exists. It's called 'sex'.
Hellion
Antediluvian Lurker
AFAIK if you learn to speak one latin-originated language you can speak all of them, kind of. I learned Italian and can now understand Spanish and Portuguese quite well (most common words are the same, with different endings).
Of course, the original LATIN language still PWNZ all of these...After I started studying Latin, Italian just seemed...well...gay
Of course, the original LATIN language still PWNZ all of these...After I started studying Latin, Italian just seemed...well...gay
Hmm.. I see many commonalities to French grammar...Member of Khans said:
Anyway, it's right... the French are the only ones who refuse to learn English.
Bradylama
So Old I'm Losing Radiation Signs
Jebus said:
And for those of us that don't use ruffies, we still need a way to get there.
Well, I took several years of Latin in middle school, as well as several years of Spanish in high school. Obviously, I have a pretty good grasp of English, but I want to learn another useful language. That, besides the requirements at my university requiring the learning of said language 
. I mean, I understand Spanish fairly well, though I am by no means fluent. I just was curious what the major language of Europe was, besides English.
. I mean, I understand Spanish fairly well, though I am by no means fluent. I just was curious what the major language of Europe was, besides English.
Would mean:mr freak said:
Hello!
These foreign languages are not as bad as they seem. See - even I can!
It's Estonian. *shows off*
Yup, definitely Dutch; the Flemish variant.Fireblade said:
John Uskglass
Venerable Relic of the Wastes
Hypothetically. The theroy is called Super-Altaic; it includes Turkish, Mongolian, some of the NE China languages, Korean and Japanese.Jebus said:
I generally agree with it, as I have some expiriance in both languages and they are quit similar, if not in terms of vocabulary then structure.
Briosa, do you know if that table is for native language ("First Language", "Mother Tongue" etc) or if it includes secondary languages?Briosafreak said:
(I am assuming the former, or the figures would seem a little low)
As far as I know, Mandarin is not very widespread outside of China and possible some of SE asia. Whereas English, Spanish and French are much more widespread. This obviously make them much more likely to be understood.
As much as I dislike the status quo of English being understood (at least partially) all over - it breeds a large amount of arrogance, particularly in Brits and Americans - it would seem to be the case. At least in the areas of the world with a lot of tourissm and/or international business.
Ah, by the way. I'm planning to take Spanish next semester. I was deciding between Spanish and French, and chose Spanish because of simpler spelling and pronunciation. Your thoughts? Am I entering the Kingdom of Heaven, or fucking my future up beyond repair?
EyeMaster7
A Smooth-Skin
DJ Slamák said:
Spanish? Good choice. The french grammar is complex and you are going to lost most of your time trying to memorize a bunch of conjunctions and prepositions.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_261.html
Wu looks a promising language.
http://www.trireme-international.com/Wu/whatis.htm
Buxbaum666 said:
negative.
spanish people (except the ones near the coast & hence thrive on tourism) are too chauvinist (like the french) to learn any other language than their own mothertongue. even if they can speak it, they'll act as if they don't. spain is not a nice country to travel through in an alternative fashion (leaving the tourist hotspots behind & going hunting off the beaten path)
anyhow, i'd say forget german... it sucks bigtime. the official languages in my country are dutch, french & german, but i cant speak german & i'll never learn it because:
1) even though it vaguely resembles dutch, it sucks to learn
2) it's a peasants language (or maybe a military one too), no sense of refinement whatsoever.
i'd say for general utility, go spanish (although not so many people in the EU speak it) or french.
Starseeker
Vault Senior Citizen
Big T said:
Where did you get that idea?
Mandarin is like English to the Chinese people. China is like Europe in the sense that almost every single major city/province/state/town have their own language. This does not include the 56 officially recognized minorities group that spread through out the place.
Every single Chinese person outside the China will need to be able to speak Mandarin to some degree just because it would be almost impossible to communicate otherwise.
The website isn't entirely correct either. Mandarin has 5 tones instead of 4, it's just that the last one is more hidden tone/mute sounding one.
WTH are JinYu and Wu suppose to be?
I believe I have a basic grasp on most of the major Chinese languages, but I am not sure about this. Where does it originate? It would help to see the characters. Edit: Never mind. I figured out what they did. I tend to localized dialects by geographical location, but they actuallly used the names of the languages to classified them. Hangzhouese is actually within the family of Wu and Shanxiese is within the family of Jinyu. Of course, they made all of it very confusing because they did not provide the characters.
Interesting - I speak Mandarin, Beijinese, Min Nan, and English fluently. I can understand Cantonese and Shandonese better than Japanese. I know some basic Hangzhouese. I used to be able to pick up a few words of Spainish, Italian, and Russian.
But the best way to learn any language is getting into the environment. When I was with my Japanese girl friend, my Japanese improved dramatically. It's the same with others. My Cantonese improved when I was with my HK friends.
You have to like it though. If you don't like the language or culture, you will have a tough time trying to learn it.
Briosafreak
Lived Through the Heat Death
Mother tongue Big T, there´s a new index from the UN by now i think.
Another fellow countryman eh?SuAside said:
welsh
Junkmaster
I would go with French. The language of diplomacy and international law.
Spanish may be spoken in more countries, but unless you want to focus on Latin America and Spain, it's not going to do that much for you. On the positive side, it's a chance to get started in the Romantic languages. Learn Spanish and you cna learn Portuguese, Italian, French...
German- if you wanted to do hard sciences. Otherwise- it's good for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Chinese- Mandarin- nah. I speak it and it's damn hard and not as useful as you may wish since many people speak Chinese dialects. Truth is, most of the people in China don't really mean all that much in the scope of things. Sorry, I know that sounds harsh.
Spanish may be spoken in more countries, but unless you want to focus on Latin America and Spain, it's not going to do that much for you. On the positive side, it's a chance to get started in the Romantic languages. Learn Spanish and you cna learn Portuguese, Italian, French...
German- if you wanted to do hard sciences. Otherwise- it's good for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Chinese- Mandarin- nah. I speak it and it's damn hard and not as useful as you may wish since many people speak Chinese dialects. Truth is, most of the people in China don't really mean all that much in the scope of things. Sorry, I know that sounds harsh.