# Languages to consider learning.



## chanteuse

Mandarin Chinese is my mother tongue. I put a lot of time and effort in mastering English for some years. Since 2005 I allocated more time in Chinese by reading newspaper daily and writing journal in Chinese. I was surprised that it came back rather quickly. Growing up we had to memorize famous letters, poems, and writing by heart (reciting without text was a must in class). This was how e got idioms and historical reference. 

Although English is my daily language, if I'd write a fiction, I can better achieve my aim using Chinese.


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## Bergid

Čeština - Czech

I always wanted to learn another language (even though I'm not a language orientated type person, word games are my doom), have a Slavic background, and it's a my favorite country to visit in Europe. So, thought it's the language for me to learn and because not everyone decides to learn it.


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## Mr. Demiurge

He's a Superhero! said:


> Downloaded and installed it, but not sure how to work it?


Takes some getting used to, but it's not hard at all once you know how and once the basics have been set up you can make a new deck and start adding cards in a space of seconds.

The basic manual is here, accompanied by videos at the start, and there are a bunch of Anki tutorials on YouTube covering general stuff.

Example:






Let me know once you've got some of the basics down and I'll show you how to add in specifically Chinese-centered features. The way I have it set up would likely be confusing, since I'm a bit more experienced with the characters, but there are much simpler ways to do it.


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## koalaroo

Arabic.


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## Schema B

He's a Superhero! said:


> Unfortunately some people don't try to learn any of a certain language even if there are lots of speakers of that language in their area...Learning languages truly opens doors.


Proximity is partially what made me curious about Spanish. It was my second major in college until I realized I was already fluent from immersion experience, so I walked away with a minor. Just felt like a waste of time and money past a certain point. 

If I learned a third language, it'd be Finnish. I'm American by birth with primarily Finnish ancestry. I wouldn't want to dedicate time to learn another romance language because I can read and understand most of them after Spanish.


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## He's a Superhero!

CroolUniqorn said:


> Proximity is partially what made me curious about Spanish. It was my second major in college until I realized I was already fluent from immersion experience, so I walked away with a minor. Just felt like a waste of time and money past a certain point.
> 
> If I learned a third language, it'd be Finnish. I'm American by birth with primarily Finnish ancestry. I wouldn't want to dedicate time to learn another romance language because I can read and understand most of them after Spanish.


I hear that the Finnish are real tech-xperts, so it could be a useful language for business and technology. Similar for Japanese, being a tech focused culture.


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## He's a Superhero!

Nabbit said:


> I should learn Spanish since I'm planning on becoming a business owner someday... But I'm horrible at foreign languages. My dad's side of the family are all like that. We're a bunch of history/business brains. I guess I'll start worrying about that as I come to that bridge...
> 
> Meanwhile, only know English.



I've seen some people who seemed hopeless at language - like not learning any Chinese in two weeks of living in China - pick up on a new language. It takes longer, but it is very much possible, and so worth the effort.


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## FakeLefty

I want to learn Russian someday. Everything sounds more badass in Russian.


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## He's a Superhero!

FakeLefty said:


> I want to learn Russian someday. Everything sounds more badass in Russian.


It's also a pretty important international language, especially since it's the official language of the largest country on the planet, which borders many other countries. I really do like the sound of the Russian language too...You should totally go for it!


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## FakeLefty

He's a Superhero! said:


> It's also a pretty important international language, especially since it's the official language of the largest country on the planet, which borders many other countries. I really do like the sound of the Russian language too...You should totally go for it!


I'll consider it once I have the time to learn it.


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## He's a Superhero!

Really nice to see that quite a lot of PerCers can speak other languages as well as English!


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## FourLeafCloafer

Apart from German, I also speak Dutch and English. (And a little French. I can order in a restaurant, talk about the weather, and read a simple children's book, but it doesn't go beyond that. So that's not included here.)

My Dutch is _just_ better than my German and English, (In spelling and grammar, when to use _dem and den_ to be precise.) and and my German is better than my English.

Although I am German, and I speak the language like any native speaker, my writing isn't that great because I never went to a German school. I naturally have a Dutch accent when speaking English, but I sometimes switch to a German one for comedic purposes (it's surprising how often accents come up in a multinational environment.)

I would like to learn French and Russian in time. I've made some headway with French, but it's not high on my priority list right now.


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## FourLeafCloafer

He's a Superhero! said:


> I'm learning Mandarin, and I can speak Auslan (Australian Sign Language), and *some Dutch too.*


Dat is trouwens vet cool! Hoeveel is _een beetje?_


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## He's a Superhero!

stultum said:


> Dat is trouwens vet cool! Hoeveel is _een beetje?_


Umm...Ja, ik kan overleven...mijn schrijven an grammar (?) is zo slecht! Lol.. :S


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## FourLeafCloafer

He's a Superhero! said:


> Umm...Ja, ik kan overleven...mijn schrijven an grammar (?) is zo slecht! Lol.. :S


Grammatica.:wink:

Dat is best aardig. Het is 'en' natuurlijk, niet 'an' (al spreek je het fonetisch wel hetzelfde uit als je vanuit het Engels denkt) en 'zijn', omdat 'schrijven en grammatica' meervoud is! Maar het is begrijpelijk, en heel goed voor iemand die er niet mee opgegroeid is!

Did you know that 'lol' is the Dutch word for 'fun' and much older than the acronym?


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## He's a Superhero!

stultum said:


> Grammatica.:wink:
> 
> Dat is best aardig. Het is 'en' natuurlijk, niet 'an' (al spreek je het fonetisch wel hetzelfde uit als je vanuit het Engels denkt) en 'zijn', omdat 'schrijven en grammatica' meervoud is! Maar het is begrijpelijk, en heel goed voor iemand die er niet mee opgegroeid is!
> 
> Did you know that 'lol' is the Dutch word for 'fun' and much older than the acronym?


Oh goodness...I needed babelfish translator for some of that sentence, lol! ("Fonetisch" went right over my head)  Ja, Engels grammartica (;P) en de way of thinking always seeps in when I'm trying to speak Nederlandstalig...en ik vergeet hopen..
- So ends up more of a "double Dutch" or pidgin language. Luckily a lot of Dutch people understand English too!

Dit is geweldig! You helping me improve on my very limited Dutch language skills! 

Yeah, I had forgotten that, but I recall it now that you mentioned it...Luckily "lol" can be taken either way there. 

Bedankt!


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## Jagbas

My mothertongue is Italian but I studied english and spanish at school...and also german but I just remember some words, so it's like I can't speak it at all. I would like to know some portuguese and maybe italian sign language.


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## nO_d3N1AL

Persian/Farsi, but I wouldn't recommend learning it. I think Spanish is the one to learn though, since there are so many Spanish speakers in the world.


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## He's a Superhero!

nO_d3N1AL said:


> Persian/Farsi, but I wouldn't recommend learning it. I think Spanish is the one to learn though, since there are so many Spanish speakers in the world.


Why wouldn't you recommend learning it?

Tho yeah, Spanish is an ideal language for just about anybody to learn.


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## Nerian

I wouldn't vote on which language someone else should learn. There are too many factors involved. My advice on picking a language however is to pick one of the world's major languages. That includes the world's top spoken languages (top 15 or so), and those that are the official language of a country. Icelandic, for instance, is not spoken by many people, but you can still consider it because it is the official language of Iceland. Now, yes, I would suggest not learning such a small language, but I wouldn't rule it out, and here's why. After you know English, and the language of the country you plan on living in, then there's really no need to know any others. If you don't know English, learn English, but you already know English because you are reading this. If you plan on living in a foreign country, or country do, learn that language, it is the most important to you. If you living Korea, learning Mandarin really makes little sense. Also, languages are really not that remunerative, and when they are it's because you know it very well. Bilinguals and trilingual are the links in the global economy. *You should learn the language that interests you most, or the language of the country that you are most interested in*. *Because the usefulness of a language is mostly down to how well you know it. *And the language you like the most is the one you will _actually learn_ _well_.

Here are some languages to consider that are not in the poll.

Korean. - If North Korea and South Korea ever unite, there will be a boom there. There's also kpop, strong movie output, and dramas if you are into that, and Hangul is so logical and pretty. There's also Samsung and LG and technological innovation pouring out. It's cheaper over there than Japan too.

Norwegian/Danish/Swedish/Finnish. - Scandinavia is pretty important yet fairly ignored

Romanian. - Relatively ignored even though Romania has a population of 19 million.

Burmese. - Myanmar is where China was in 1980. It used to be the richest country in asia before it was closed off to the world. Now it is reopening again. The people who most benefited from knowing Chinese were those who knew it before it was in vogue. Same principle.

The languages that I'm most interested in learning apart from French which I already know quite well are: Japanese, Norwegian and Russian.


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## WaffleSingSong

He's a Superhero! said:


> *I wonder if native Arabic speakers feel that way about English writing?*
> 
> Latin would be interesting, and no doubt helpful if you intend to learn Italian or Spanish as well, tho I have to wonder how much use Latin by itself has in our modern world? Well maybe helpful to some degree within the Scientist community.
> 
> Great work with learning French! At least I can say to people that I cannot speak French in French, lol!  Such a beautiful sounding language!


Actually, I bet they find the English (and other Latin) alphabet(s) a relief in this instance! The thing about Arabic is that you never write down the vowels when your writing, only the consonants. For example: Ths s wht nglsh wld lk lk f w fllwd th rbc wy f wrtng!

Not only that, but you actually have to write the exact same letters completely different compared to where they are in the word, and where other letters are in the word as well (even the hidden vowels.)

Latin is mainly for the fact that it'll be easier to understand more academic language, such as with the sciences, and as a base to learn Spanish/Italian if I learn those (but most likely Spanish.)

French does sound beautiful for the most part, but every once in a while you get that French "ARYRE" back of the throat sound in some words that makes you feel as if you need to wear a bicycle helmet (no offense to the Francophones.)


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## He's a Superhero!

darker said:


> My language is Italian. As for foreign languages, I'm fluent in English, and I'm studying French and Mandarin Chinese. In the future I'll probably drop French and learn Japanese, though.
> 
> To the ones in the previous posts wondering about Latin (which is mandatory at lots of schools in Italy), it's mostly useful to understand the original meaning of words. And it's a way to improve your knowledge of grammar because sentences were written following very strict rules. In real life Latin helps you in medical areas, along with Ancient Greek, because of the origin of the words. I don't think it's that helpful to learn romance languages, in the end so many Italians get horrific marks in Latin since it's quite complicated :rolling:


Ah yes, it would be handy in medicine! That's quite an important field of knowledge too.


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## He's a Superhero!

WaffleSingSong said:


> Actually, I bet they find the English (and other Latin) alphabet(s) a relief in this instance! The thing about Arabic is that you never write down the vowels when your writing, only the consonants. For example: Ths s wht nglsh wld lk lk f w fllwd th rbc wy f wrtng!
> 
> Not only that, but you actually have to write the exact same letters completely different compared to where they are in the word, and where other letters are in the word as well (even the hidden vowels.)
> 
> Latin is mainly for the fact that it'll be easier to understand more academic language, such as with the sciences, and as a base to learn Spanish/Italian if I learn those (but most likely Spanish.)
> 
> French does sound beautiful for the most part, but every once in a while you get that French "ARYRE" back of the throat sound in some words that makes you feel as if you need to wear a bicycle helmet (no offense to the Francophones.)


Same with Hebrew, tho I'm sure they are very used to it, and English would feel weird for them, even if somehow easy to learn...I know that learning English spelling isn't the easiest tho, as it's several languages put together!


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## stiletto

I would love to learn German. Followed by Spanish and Hindi.


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## He's a Superhero!

http://personalitycafe.com/advice-c...lating-into-other-languages.html#post21040434


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## Morfy

He's a Superhero! said:


> Unfortunately some people don't try to learn any of a certain language even if there are lots of speakers of that language in their area...Learning languages truly opens doors.


yea the former head of my party once said that if he could have one super power it'd be to be fluent in all languages =D


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## Blackknight72

ideally i'd learn latin. i would like to read some ancient roman texts. since it's not up there, although I know spanish already, i'd still choose to become more proficient in it(reading/writing). so spanish


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## He's a Superhero!

Morfy Kitty said:


> yea the former head of my party once said that if he could have one super power it'd be to be fluent in all languages =D


That would be quite the super power! I'd be tempted to choose that as my super power too if I was given the opportunity to choose one...tho then I'd have to give up other super powers I want, like a healing ability would be so handy! Also flying would be awesome...It's so hard to pick just one super power!


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## Morfy

He's a Superhero! said:


> That would be quite the super power! I'd be tempted to choose that as my super power too if I was given the opportunity to choose one...tho then I'd have to give up other super powers I want, like a healing ability would be so handy! Also flying would be awesome...It's so hard to pick just one super power!


pick the super power to be able to create super powers =D


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## He's a Superhero!

Blackknight72 said:


> ideally i'd learn latin. i would like to read some ancient roman texts. since it's not up there, although I know spanish already, i'd still choose to become more proficient in it(reading/writing). so spanish


Latin is a good choice in its own right, with its own area of importance. Unfortunately I had to really narrow down the list of languages a lot, and focused on absolute most important and influential international languages (there are heaps more!), and did my best to find out which languages should make the list. This list is simply a list of especially ideal languages for the general population of our planet, but depending where you are depends on the arrangement of the list and which languages even go on the list...This list is my best go at making a list from an international angle.
Interestingly, the top five on this list are outstanding (Mandarin, Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese (English is number 1, but this is an English speaking forum, so no real point in adding it)), and are recommended to basically everyone on the planet to learn some words of at least one of those languages (English is recommended for everyone already wherever you are), if not to put in the effort to actually learn the language, which would be way better.


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## He's a Superhero!

Morfy Kitty said:


> pick the super power to be able to create super powers =D


...And this is why I have you as my (secretly good) evil-villein mastermind adviser. ^.^


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## Cosmic Hobo

I'm bilingual in French; understand it as well as English; and give me a couple of weeks in a Francophone country (rather than a goddamn Anglophone one), and I'll be speaking it like an indigène.

I have some German (ich habe's gelernt in die Schule, ich hor sehr gut, aber ich hab' zu viel vergessen, durch mein Deutsch ist schreklich*), and some Italian (haven't learnt it formally - tried learning it: first week - go up to the next class; second week - go up to the next class; third week - go up to the next class; fourth week - this clashes with improv, so I'm dropping it).

*: Ja, Gewiss; no accents - sue me.

For me, the most important languages to learn are to improve my German, and to learn Dutch and Spanish (which opens up Latin America). Russian would be awesome; I can read Cyrillic, and I've picked up a few Russian words - my father speaks it, and I like Russian opera and the bylinas. I know a few Arabic words, and there was a time when I could read Arabic script.

Yeah, Dutch is the language to learn; I grew up in Belgium (Francophone commune), so not being able to speak Flemish is shameful; and Dutch'd be a really useful language for future employment.


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## He's a Superhero!

Cosmic Hobo said:


> I'm bilingual in French; understand it as well as English; and give me a couple of weeks in a Francophone country (rather than a goddamn Anglophone one), and I'll be speaking it like an indigène.
> 
> I have some German (ich habe's gelernt in die Schule, ich hor sehr gut, aber ich hab' zu viel vergessen, durch mein Deutsch ist schreklich*), and some Italian (haven't learnt it formally - tried learning it: first week - go up to the next class; second week - go up to the next class; third week - go up to the next class; fourth week - this clashes with improv, so I'm dropping it).
> 
> *: Ja, Gewiss; no accents - sue me.
> 
> For me, the most important languages to learn are to improve my German, and to learn Dutch and Spanish (which opens up Latin America). Russian would be awesome; I can read Cyrillic, and I've picked up a few Russian words - my father speaks it, and I like Russian opera and the bylinas. I know a few Arabic words, and there was a time when I could read Arabic script.
> 
> Yeah, Dutch is the language to learn; I grew up in Belgium (Francophone commune), so not being able to speak Flemish is shameful; and Dutch'd be a really useful language for future employment.


Awesome! Dutch is kinda a first language for me along with English, but I never developed it properly like English (mum spoke the languages together as a sort of pidgin, and everyone else only spoke English), and forgot some of it over time, and now it's just at a basic level...Would like to get better at it. I can do all the throat sounds easily enuf.

Portuguese would be more important in South America than Dutch tho, even tho at least one country there has Dutch as an official language. Dutch is handy for South Africa, and apparently is still used in Indonesia. Dutch nearly did make the list too...would have certainly if it was 20 languages rather than just 10.


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## Northcrest

I took 2 years of spanish in middle school, then 3 years of japanese in highschool. I wouldnt say im fluent or could really carry a conversation with either languages to be honest. Im taking japanese again in college as its part of my curriculum as an english major to take a foreign language. Hopefully it will stick beyond the hiragana and katakana haha.


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## He's a Superhero!

Northcrest said:


> I took 2 years of spanish in middle school, then 3 years of japanese in highschool. I wouldnt say im fluent or could really carry a conversation with either languages to be honest. Im taking japanese again in college as its part of my curriculum as an english major to take a foreign language. Hopefully it will stick beyond the hiragana and katakana haha.


Good luck with learning Japanese! If you put the effort into it you will really see progress - Of course it helps a lot when you get to use it in real life situations tho.


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## Contemplato

German is my native tongue. I consider myself mostly fluent in English but other than that I don't speak any language.

I'd like to learn Japanese if I had the time/motivation and Finnish would also be nice since I know a few people from Finland.


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## Nick_

So far I can fluently talk/write in English, Spanish and basic German. I would like to add French and Italian to that list.
Japanese? Sounds hard to learn just by hearing it, I really appreciate people with the motivation to learn about different cultures and languages.


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## Despotic Nepotist

He's a Superhero! said:


> Sweet, somebody voted that they can speak Hindi!


Make that two people. I can speak Hindi.

I'm learning Spanish right now, but I hope to get around to German at some point in my life.


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## He's a Superhero!

Ire said:


> Make that two people. I can speak Hindi.
> 
> I'm learning Spanish right now, but I hope to get around to German at some point in my life.


Are you fluent in Hindi? Can you write in Hindi characters on your computer?

I'm seeking out translators.


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## Despotic Nepotist

He's a Superhero! said:


> Are you fluent in Hindi? Can you write in Hindi characters on your computer?
> 
> I'm seeking out translators.


If you want me to be technical, I speak Urdu, but linguistically, it is literally the exact same as Hindi. No, I cannot read Hindi or type it on my computer lol, but I guess if you find a way to write it in Latin characters or in Urdu script, I might be able to help.


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## Benny

Italian is common? Wow, I'm learning a lot of things in this thread today. I reckon I need to get out more, where are all these Italian and Latin students I've never met:tongue: 


I mean, there's a lot of Italians around so it makes sense to have it as a heritage language, but are our ties to Italy really that close? The pasta in my cupboard was grown and made in Australia and I'm pretty sure Domino's and Eagle Boys are as foreign in Rome as they are here... if not more-so. You could say the exact same thing about Spanish though and even French so I don't doubt it at all. It's the old Aussie dilemma: we want to be Asia but we can't escape how European we are. Personally I'd love to see any language offered where there's demand - There are 20 students of Slovenian heritage at an inner city Melbourne school who want to learn the language? Great! Find a Slovene who can teach and we're all set. More variety can only be a good thing.



He's a Superhero! said:


> Cool, I hope so!
> 
> I think what may make Japanese slightly more difficult is the 3 alphabets...but then again Chinese lacks an alphabet altogether? :S Also...5 tones!! Hard for the ears to get used to the differences, but good training.



Japanese isn't as hard as it's made out to be. Two of those alphabets are a walk in the park compared to the horrors of learning Chinese characters. There's 48 hiragana and 48 katakana, for a total of 96 characters that you could probably memorize in a week if you're really dedicated. Once you know them, modern Japanese spelling is almost totally phonetic so you'll be able to read a lot of Japanese right off the bat. Compare that to Chinese, where you get a solid wall of hanzi with nothing inbetween to give you a breather. The ancient Chinese weren't completely bonkers either; their writing system has quite a lot of sense in it when you look closer. Most of the scarier looking hanzi are just a combination of two simpler characters: one for the meaning and one for the sound. So I can read something in Japanese (assuming it's a Chinese loanword, if it's native Japanese you're out of luck) or Chinese and go "It means something to do with this, and it rhymes with that.... a-ha! I know this word!". You can figure out a lot of words this way and it's kind of fun, like solving a 4000 year old riddle.


Tones are the hardest part of Chinese and Vietnamese for me. I can barely even distinguish them, let alone repeat them consistently. It was right towards the end of my stay in Vietnam and I was sooo thrilled when I could finally recognize tones and write down anything I heard with correct spelling, and even more thrilled when people finally started to understand me! I still couldn't say full sentences but it was so nice to be able to add in a little word to the conversation every now and then and get people to understand and laugh.

Then I came back to Australia... and I can't really hear the tones again and I struggle to understand even the simplest sentences on SBS Vietnamese. I guess it all goes to show you get what you put in. You can learn anything you want but you really have to put in the hard work everyday :frustrating:


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## He's a Superhero!

Gilly said:


> English and Dutch, always trying to improve the ones I've got.
> I feel like knowing the more languages the better, but I find after learning it, it loses some of the beauty...


For me, learning a new language makes it all the more beautiful.


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## He's a Superhero!

@Benny - post quote fail, lol! 



> Italian is common? Wow, I'm learning a lot of things in this thread today. I reckon I need to get out more, where are all these Italian and Latin students I've never met:tongue:
> 
> 
> I mean, there's a lot of Italians around so it makes sense to have it as a heritage language, but are our ties to Italy really that close? The pasta in my cupboard was grown and made in Australia and I'm pretty sure Domino's and Eagle Boys are as foreign in Rome as they are here... if not more-so. You could say the exact same thing about Spanish though and even French so I don't doubt it at all. It's the old Aussie dilemma: we want to be Asia but we can't escape how European we are. Personally I'd love to see any language offered where there's demand - There are 20 students of Slovenian heritage at an inner city Melbourne school who want to learn the language? Great! Find a Slovene who can teach and we're all set. More variety can only be a good thing.


Italian is a fairly common first and second language in certain areas - I keep finding out that schools everywhere teach it, tho more so last generation...Recently it has shifted to Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian, and Auslan, but not so much when I went to school unfortunately. It was more likely for me to learn Italian back then. Personally I've always been more interested in the languages now being taught, so feel like I missed out on that. Luckily I've learnt Auslan on my own initiative, and started to learn Mandarin.



> Japanese isn't as hard as it's made out to be. Two of those alphabets are a walk in the park compared to the horrors of learning Chinese characters. There's 48 hiragana and 48 katakana, for a total of 96 characters that you could probably memorize in a week if you're really dedicated. Once you know them, modern Japanese spelling is almost totally phonetic so you'll be able to read a lot of Japanese right off the bat. Compare that to Chinese, where you get a solid wall of hanzi with nothing inbetween to give you a breather. The ancient Chinese weren't completely bonkers either; their writing system has quite a lot of sense in it when you look closer. Most of the scarier looking hanzi are just a combination of two simpler characters: one for the meaning and one for the sound. So I can read something in Japanese (assuming it's a Chinese loanword, if it's native Japanese you're out of luck) or Chinese and go "It means something to do with this, and it rhymes with that.... a-ha! I know this word!". You can figure out a lot of words this way and it's kind of fun, like solving a 4000 year old riddle.
> 
> 
> Tones are the hardest part of Chinese and Vietnamese for me. I can barely even distinguish them, let alone repeat them consistently. It was right towards the end of my stay in Vietnam and I was sooo thrilled when I could finally recognize tones and write down anything I heard with correct spelling, and even more thrilled when people finally started to understand me! I still couldn't say full sentences but it was so nice to be able to add in a little word to the conversation every now and then and get people to understand and laugh.
> 
> Then I came back to Australia... and I can't really hear the tones again and I struggle to understand even the simplest sentences on SBS Vietnamese. I guess it all goes to show you get what you put in. You can learn anything you want but you really have to put in the hard work everyday :frustrating:


Actually Chinese characters are not all that hard, and some are super easy...






In fact, I wrote down some Chinese characters and showed them to Japanese people, and they understood the hanzi - sometimes with variation.

Tones are difficult, as you have to learn to hear the difference, and learn to use the right tone as well - and there are up to five tones per sound!! :S I didn't realize Vietnamese was like that as well, but that's cool. I actually appreciate it, even tho it's quite difficult.

And yeah, being surrounded by speakers of the language is the best way to learn! In China I was learning so fast, but back in Australia the progress slowed down heaps. Must take another overseas trip...


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## Gilly

He's a Superhero! said:


> For me, learning a new language makes it all the more beautiful.


Double edged sword, I feel. You might find beauty in how the intricacies are highlighted from learning it. 
Yet one loses the ignorant bliss of listening to the melody of it. 

German, I know a bit. Enough to get the rough meaning of things. But i never want to be fluent. 
Listening to it without thoughts is like magic to me.


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## He's a Superhero!

Gilly said:


> Double edged sword, I feel. You might find beauty in how the intricacies are highlighted from learning it.
> Yet one loses the ignorant bliss of listening to the melody of it.
> 
> German, I know a bit. Enough to get the rough meaning of things. But i never want to be fluent.
> Listening to it without thoughts is like magic to me.


Fair enough, tho still worth learning. There will always be languages we cannot understand when listening to anyway.


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## PandaBoo

I might consider learning Japanese and improve on Chinese.

Speaking the tones in Japanese sounds easy enough to me. It's probably the different way of speaking (i.e., female vs male) and the formalities that would be new to me.


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## Red Panda

RedPandas said:


> I might consider learning Japanese and improve on Chinese.
> 
> Speaking the tones in Japanese sounds easy enough to me. It's probably the different way of speaking (i.e., female vs male) and the formalities that would be new to me.


Impostor!


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## PandaBoo

Red Panda said:


> Impostor!


Excuse me? :[


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## Red Panda

RedPandas said:


> Excuse me? :[


Just kidding, RedPandas 
The more of us, the better.


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## PandaBoo

Red Panda said:


> Just kidding, RedPandas
> The more of us, the better.


I know you're not kidding, fellow Red Panda. (´◕ω◕`) I know you want to join my ranks *pokes my siggy* You know...the thing...? :wink: 

It's meant to be! (ノ・◡・)ノ Join us, kindred one. We have multiple red pandas. You don't have to be singular anymore! (~≧◡≦)~


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## Wartime Consigliere

Quick question: Do you consider what are considered to be dying languages to be not worth learning due to impracticality?


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## Red Panda

RedPandas said:


> I know you're not kidding, fellow Red Panda. (´◕ω◕`) I know you want to join my ranks *pokes my siggy* You know...the thing...? :wink:
> 
> It's meant to be! (ノ・◡・)ノ Join us, kindred one. We have multiple red pandas. You don't have to be singular anymore! (~≧◡≦)~


Yes, I want in! The world is ours for the taking!!


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## PandaBoo

Red Panda said:


> Yes, I want in! The world is ours for the taking!!


You're my new best fwend! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ✧ Come, come, we have bamboo leaves.


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## Red Panda

RedPandas said:


> You're my new best fwend! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ✧ Come, come, we have bamboo leaves.


This is so amazing, I love munching on bamboo!


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## He's a Superhero!

Binge Thinker said:


> Quick question: Do you consider what are considered to be dying languages to be not worth learning due to impracticality?


Good question to ask!

If the language is still used by a population, then there can certainly be reason to learn it (for instance, if there are some speakers in your community, or some speakers who need help, or some speakers who do not know other languages themselves, or to learn about the culture associated with the language, etc...). Just because the population may be quite small, doesn't mean that one should not learn it - if it still is alive, then it should not be viewed as dead.
Sure enough, it may be considerably less practical that some other languages, which you need to consider personally when choosing a language to learn. The languages listed are simply some of the most practical international languages, and/or have a huge population of speakers, and/or have a lot of Internet users - and there are many other languages that also tick all of these boxes too.


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## He's a Superhero!

Red Panda said:


> This is so amazing, I love munching on bamboo!


Lol.. XD

By the way, how fluent are you in Chinese?


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## Red Panda

He's a Superhero! said:


> Lol.. XD
> 
> By the way, how fluent are you in Chinese?


that's the other panda, not me


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## He's a Superhero!

Red Panda said:


> that's the other panda, not me


Well I'm looking for someone who's willing to translate a list of tips on fighting depression into Chinese Mandarin, as I wish to be able to reach as many people as possible with the information. Know anyone who could do this?


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## PandaBoo

He's a Superhero! said:


> Well I'm looking for someone who's willing to translate a list of tips on fighting depression into Chinese Mandarin, as I wish to be able to reach as many people as possible with the information. Know anyone who could do this?


Unfortunately, my Mandarin is not up to par to be able to tackle this task alone. I do have resources and an alternative site that I use that I can ask for assistance from a bunch of native speakers with the translation, but it probably needs to be edited and revised many times. Perhaps if you can assemble a group of people to achieve this goal...?


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## He's a Superhero!

RedPandas said:


> Unfortunately, my Mandarin is not up to par to be able to tackle this task alone. I do have resources and an alternative site that I use that I can ask for assistance from a bunch of native speakers with the translation, but it probably needs to be edited and revised many times. Perhaps if you can assemble a group of people to achieve this goal...?


Ok, if you find anyone who could then please let me know - or a group of people who would, that would be great! I'm eager to get this done.


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## throughtheroses

I recommend Latin for everyone!


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## Soul Kitchen

throughtheroses said:


> I recommend Latin for everyone!


My opinion of Latin is the same as my opinion of Sanskrit. I respect the linguistic value of Latin, but it is a language with little practical use as it is more read than it is spoken. However, as someone who is learning Italian, I would probably be able to read a substantial amount of Latin anyway by the time I eventually reach fluency.


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## throughtheroses

@Soul Kitchen

Latin is helpful for anyone seeking to study any Romance language(s). It is also beneficial for medical students, law students, and people who want to understand English vocabulary on a deeper level. Although it may not be "spoken" these days, Latin is no less worthwhile to study than many other languages today.

Also, Italian is a dressed-up and simplified version of Latin. I doubt you'd be able to understand much of it right off the bat (no offense).


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## EmmaGold

French


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## DoIHavetohaveaUserName

Soul Kitchen said:


> Indo-Aryan languages, I'm presuming. India's very much a linguistically diverse country, and I find it fascinating how twenty-two recognised languages are able to co-exist in a country where no single language is spoken by so much as half the population. Especially when coming from a westerner's perspective of one country having one majority language.
> 
> Hypothetically speaking, if I were to learn an Indian language I'd go with Hindi first, and then maybe learn Sanskrit from there. Much like how a Romance language learner would learn one Romance first before learning other ones, and then use their knowledge of Romance languages to understand Latin.


I did some research on the languages and the tradition of different states there , i even had been at the ASI and many of the argue about the evidences of aryan invasion theory . But actually they say Hindi originated from Sanskrit ,Hindi is considered to be a direct descendant of Sanskrit, through Sauraseni Prakrit and Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa. It has been influenced by Dravidian languages, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Portuguese and English .


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## Arawan

Why do so many people consider German to be an important language? If you should ever travel to Germany, chances are high that the majority of people you'll encounter can at least do basic English communication. You can in fact come surprisingly far here with English. Considering that German apparently is stupidly hard to learn, at least that's what I'm being told, I doubt that it would pay off to attain fluency.

I've personally started learning Russian a few days ago. Apart from German and English, I can do basic communication in Dutch and still know a little Latin from my school days, although I mostly use it to make myself look like a smartass.:laughing:


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## Flaming Bassoon

I learned Spanish in high school. I can read it fairly well, but speaking to other people is a challenge. I'm also taking Arabic in college and I really like it, it's so much different than English.


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## WamphyriThrall

Arawan said:


> Why do so many people consider German to be an important language? If you should ever travel to Germany, chances are high that the majority of people you'll encounter can at least do basic English communication. You can in fact come surprisingly far here with English. Considering that German apparently is stupidly hard to learn, at least that's what I'm being told, I doubt that it would pay off to attain fluency.
> 
> I've personally started learning Russian a few days ago. Apart from German and English, I can do basic communication in Dutch and still know a little Latin from my school days, although I mostly use it to make myself look like a smartass.:laughing:


It really isn't (a step or two above French). If someone is interested in say, engineering, it could come in handy. Then, some simply fall in love with the language, country, or people, for whatever reason. 

Also makes pronouncing your favorite beer correctly a lot easier!


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## Fleetfoot

Mandarin, Spanish, and French are what intrigue me most which seem to be the most useful imo. Russian and German are also on the list but I don't think they'd be as practical.


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## Klaro26

Learn German. In Europe at least, it constitues an enormous advantage on the job market.


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## Soul Kitchen

The majority of Germans have a working knowledge of English, but that's not to say the majority are necessarily fluent in English to the same extent that the Dutch and Scandinavians are. Thus German is much more useful if you want to do business in Germany or with Germans or German companies than it is simply for travelling in Germany. That said, if you do plan to live in Germany for a year or more it's still worthwhile to try and pick up at least some of the basics anyway to make yourself more at home. Another incentive to try and become fluent in German is all the great philosophical books that haven't been translated to English.
@Sangam swadik Exactly; Hindi is descended from Sanskrit like Punjabi and Bengali are, like how Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese are descended from Latin. I'm curious to as to whether you consider Hindi and Urdu separate languages or dialects of the same language? The core vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar are the same, but the writing system and advanced vocabulary differ. Hindi was basically an attempt to make Hindustani a more conservative language by using a much larger amount of Sanskrit vocabulary and the Devangari script, whereas Urdu is, in a way, the original Hindustani language used in Mughal India.


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## DoIHavetohaveaUserName

Soul Kitchen said:


> The majority of Germans have a working knowledge of English, but that's not to say the majority are necessarily fluent in English to the same extent that the Dutch and Scandinavians are. Thus German is much more useful if you want to do business in Germany or with Germans or German companies than it is simply for travelling in Germany. That said, if you do plan to live in Germany for a year or more it's still worthwhile to try and pick up at least some of the basics anyway to make yourself more at home. Another incentive to try and become fluent in German is all the great philosophical books that haven't been translated to English.
> @Sangam swadik Exactly; Hindi is descended from Sanskrit like Punjabi and Bengali are, like how Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese are descended from Latin. I'm curious to as to whether you consider Hindi and Urdu separate languages or dialects of the same language? The core vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar are the same, but the writing system and advanced vocabulary differ. Hindi was basically an attempt to make Hindustani a more conservative language by using a much larger amount of Sanskrit vocabulary and the Devangari script, whereas Urdu is, in a way, the original Hindustani language used in Mughal India.


Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit (another ancient language in India) , I consider Urdu as a form of Hindustani language , but it is more Persianized , Sanskrit and Greek are almost similar , But looking at the Grammer , i'm Supremely confident that Sanskrit beats Greek Or English at being more structured , What do i mean by this ;
What is a tree called in English and Hindi ?
In English, a tree is called Tree.
In Hindi, a tree is called पेड़.
There is no word in Sanskrit for a tree!
No! Let me explain in greater detail. ""Words in Sanskrit represent properties of objects and not objects themselves"". And, since a tree is an object, there is really no word in Sanskrit for a tree. In fact, there is actually no word in Sanskrit for any object (barring some exceptions, which are finite in number).
What then, is वृक्ष ? I heard that वृक्ष in Sanskrit means a tree.
A) Ah! now you asked the proper question. वृक्ष is a Sanskrit word that may be used to represent a tree. As said and repeated earlier, Words in Sanskrit represent properties, so वृक्ष also represents a property.

वृक्ष = something that is cut and felled down

The word वृक्ष can be used to denote any object that has this property. If something is usually cut and fell down, then it can be called वृक्ष. That object need not be a Tree.
Similarly, there are many other words in Sanskrit that can be used to denote a tree. For example, तरु and पादप also may denote a tree. But even these words don’t necessarily mean a tree.
तरु = something that floats
पादप = something that drinks using its feet
And one more thing , If the words That form a meaningful sentence are Interchanged , Then the sentence is still meaningful in Sanskrit , where as in English it is not . It is bad and wrong that some say That Sanskrit is a dead language , when it is the otherway . There are some notable works in Sanskrit , The Vimanashastrah( It is about Anatomy of Aeroplanes Wri9tten at around 1900s (Said to be derived from the vedas)) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaimānika_Shāstra.(Ignore the fullstop/period) .


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## Soul Kitchen

@Sangam swadik Sanskrit being the oldest preserved Indo-European language has meant it retained many features of the original Proto-Indo-European language, such as a pitch accent with a tone on the emphasised syllable, and the grammar has retained many genders and declensions. The declension system - otherwise known as "cases" - is still retained in Slavic languages, so I'd be curious as to how intuitive my understanding of Sanskrit would be if I knew Russian. I think Sanskrit's use of describing nouns with their properties was most likely inherited from Proto-Indo-European.

I take back what I said about Sanskrit being a "dead language", since it is self-reportedly spoken as a living language by some 15,000 people - most of them in India; not to mention that Sanskrit has a very long literary tradition that still continues up to the present day. In addition to the Vedas and various sutras, there are also some great Sanskrit poems such as the epic poems of the Ramayana and Mahabharata that are on my reading list, even if their literary value might be somewhat diminished in translation to English.

However, as much as I respect the Sanskrit language, it's not going to be much use if I was to travel to India or watch Bollywood films. I have a more pragmatic focus in my language learning of wanting to converse in the languages of those places I want to travel to, which is why I've already learnt some French and am learning Italian as well.


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## He's a Superhero!

Interesting language vids...


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## Michael.INTJ

I haven't exactly taken lessons to learn other languages, but over the years I have casually been picking things up from speaking with natives online whilst gaming, I can say hello in English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Latvian, Danish, Chinese, Japanese. Among'st other various words including Korean, Thai and Arabic , I can hold a basic conversation in Spanish, make statements in German and Dutch. 

I'm pretty good at retaining what I learn though, for example, when I was 15, I was friends with a native Dutch guy who taught me one phrase, and I have never forgotten it "Ik kan nederlands praten, ik ben Mike, ik ben 27, jij?" Ironically saying, "I can speak Dutch, I am Mike, I am 27, you?" The irony is, that is all I know, so, I can't actually speak Dutch. Doesn't help when I say it to a Dutchman for him to reply and then for me to go silent thinking, uhmm? Lol. 

I think out of all the languages, I know more Spanish than any other, let's say for example, I've learnt 100 words, 50 statements/phrases, I have probably retained 85 words, 45 statements/phrases, which isn't too bad considering it's all on a casual level, I know it's not a lot and I'm far from fluent. I'm at a very basic level in Spanish, but I've learnt a lot of important basics.

That's pretty much my level of skill when it comes to languages.


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## Flow Ozzy

He's a Superhero! said:


> Here are 10 languages to pick from that most English speakers should consider learning...at least the basics of anyway. All of these languages are spoken internationally, have very large populations of speakers, are or have been influential on other languages, and are great for business and travel:
> 
> *Mandarin Chinese* - The largest population of speakers out of any language on the planet.
> 
> *Spanish* - Second largest spoken language if including non-native speakers.
> 
> *French* - Growing in importance.
> 
> *Portuguese.
> 
> Arabic.*
> *
> Japanese.
> 
> German.
> 
> Russian.
> 
> Hindi.
> 
> American Sign Language (ASL)* - most widely spoken sign language, as well as most influential, and among the most spoken sign languages in the world.
> 
> (Many other languages are very useful to learn and know as well! The more the merrier!)
> 
> 
> What languages can you speak? What languages are you learning to speak?


I can speak/understand Urdu/Hindi and can even write good enough Hindi using google, learnt Sindhi at school and google has made it a part of it's translation tool too but with the Perso-Arabic script which is dominantly used by Pakistani Sindhis I guess.


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## Vahyavishdapaya

I want to learn Japanese


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## DAPHNE XO

I picked other because I can also speak.... the language of lurrrrrve


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## Riven

Interslavic ? Med?uslovjanski ? ???????????????

Screw having to learn the irregularities of each Slavic language


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## He's a Superhero!

R.E. Amemiya said:


> I want to learn Japanese


Go for it! 



DAPHNE LXIV said:


> I picked other because I can also speak.... the language of lurrrrrve


Ha! Nice! XD


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## fighterxkit

I adore Mandarin. I took French 6th grade through 10th. In my first semester of college I saw Mandarin Chinese was available so decided on a whim to register for it and discontinue French. I love it a lot. Other than that I like foreign languages in general. I can speak a little Tagalog and Visaya because of my mom's family and can tell the difference between them (standard language and dialect). I guess I know some Japanese phrases although how accurate to real life is anime really....?? I have been ATTEMPTING to learn and speak Korean. So challenging. Russian alphabet, another challenge if you're not disciplined about it. So yeah I'm really bent on actually becoming fluent in Mandarin though and really wanted to go to China for two weeks this Winter. But my family shot that down. Ah well.


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## angelfish

I'm fluent in English...
Pretty decent in French...
Could probably struggle my way through in Spanish...
And know bits and pieces of Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, Finnish, and ASL.
Oh, and Quenya. 

Right now I'm working most on improving my Japanese because I would like to go visit my friend in Hokkaido soon.


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## iblameyou

English, Hmong (tonal language), and learning Spanish. Once I conquer Spanish I prefer picking up Italian or something similar.


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## He's a Superhero!

thisgirl said:


> English, Hmong (tonal language), and learning Spanish. Once I conquer Spanish I prefer picking up Italian or something similar.


Italian will be easier to learn too once Spanish is mastered. Good luck with that, as both those languages are worth learning! Also, very cool that you can speak Hmong!


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## iblameyou

He's a Superhero! said:


> Italian will be easier to learn too once Spanish is mastered. Good luck with that, as both those languages are worth learning! Also, very cool that you can speak Hmong!


Thanks. I will consider that option. I know this gal who speaks Italian, Portuguese, French, English and was learning Spanish during our time in Mexico. 

Have you heard of Hmong before?


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## He's a Superhero!

thisgirl said:


> Thanks. I will consider that option. I know this gal who speaks Italian, Portuguese, French, English and was learning Spanish during our time in Mexico.
> 
> Have you heard of Hmong before?


Yes, I've heard of Hmong - altho unfortunately I cannot speak it. It's a language of an ethnic group in parts of Asia. How did you come to learn it?


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## iblameyou

He's a Superhero! said:


> Yes, I've heard of Hmong - altho unfortunately I cannot speak it. It's a language of an ethnic group in parts of Asia. How did you come to learn it?



Nice. From where did you hear the language? I speak Hmong. Native language.


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## He's a Superhero!

thisgirl said:


> Nice. From where did you hear the language? I speak Hmong. Native language.


You likely know that there are lots of populations of Hmong people outside of Asia, as many moved overseas. I have been to different parts of Asia too, however I don't recall hearing it there (then again, maybe I did without recognizing it).


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## WamphyriThrall

thisgirl said:


> Nice. From where did you hear the language? I speak Hmong. Native language.


Whoa! ^5


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## iblameyou

He's a Superhero! said:


> You likely know that there are lots of populations of Hmong people outside of Asia, as many moved overseas. I have been to different parts of Asia too, however I don't recall hearing it there (then again, maybe I did without recognizing it).


Yes I am aware of that. However Hmong people do not have a history of being known like Koreans or Chinese. I know they live in some European countries like France and Germany. Mostly in Southeast Asia. I recall a friend told me there's a small Hmong population somewhere in Latin America but I could be wrong.


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## He's a Superhero!

thisgirl said:


> Yes I am aware of that. However Hmong people do not have a history of being known like Koreans or Chinese. I know they live in some European countries like France and Germany. Mostly in Southeast Asia. I recall a friend told me there's a small Hmong population somewhere in Latin America but I could be wrong.


Indeed, but still many people outside of Asia do know about them.


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## School

Other: Norwegian and a tiny bit of German (from school). I can understand Swedish and Danish.

Edit: I obviously also understand _some_ Dutch and Afrikaans, but not much.


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## Perso Uno

Sadly I can only speak English at the moment, and some very basic Spanish. 

Though I do plan on learning more languages as I get started on my flag theory plans! 


If anyone wants to learn other languages the resources that I found most useful were Duolingo and Benny Lewis


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## Advoc8

I'm fluent in English, not fluent but pretty close in Spanish, intensive experience in French. 
Right now I'm just working on solidifying the Spanish and French, and starting to learn Esperanto. I'd like to get into the (other) Germanic languages as well- and Portugese.


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## Black Bear

I'm just a casual native English speaker... However, I also know Japanese! My school offered classes and I'm glad I took them. I love the alphabet, especially because there's so much to learn, not even starting with kanji. I'm hoping to study in Japan one day.


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## loveislovelove

Por qué Español es tan difícil? ):


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## He's a Superhero!

loveislovelove said:


> Por qué Español es tan difícil? ):


El español es fácil, no es difícil.


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## Peppermint Mocha

Currently I'm only fluent in English (native language) but regarding other languages:

Currently learning:
Spanish

Intending to learn:
French
Portuguese
Italian
Swedish
Arabic


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## Laguna

Me gusta hablar en espanol. Y escribir. Me gusta aprender Arabe.


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## SummerHaze

There are so many languages that I wish to know. Unfortunately I have not much time 'cause of work. Now I am trying to learn Russian when I have free time. I have found a good online teacher on https://www.tutoronline.net/russian-tutor . Elena is a real pro in her field. I have already seen good results.


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