• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

If you were to learn to speak a language...

I like foreign language just for novelty purposes and have learned some of German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Old Norse (very little) and Chinese (very little).
In my opinion, the best languages to learn, to be a better English speaker and reader are German, Greek, Old Norse and Latin.
Not necessarily in that order.

The easiest language to learn, for a native English speaker (imo), is German and the Scandinavian dialects.

If I were to continue, I'd like to finish up my Portuguese and German.
 
Japanese
 
I've been studying Mandarin Chinese for over a year - and some people think English is difficult? :shock:

I grew up hearing the various Slovanic languages, so I can mostly understand someone who is speaking Hungarian, Polish, Czeck or Serbian since many of the words are similar to Slovak. Akosamas means "hello, how are you" in Slovak, and you would answer "mam sa dobre - a ty", which means "I'm fine thanks - and you?" This is a generic greeting when you know someone really doesn't want to know how you physically feel, much like we say "Hi, how are ya?" :mrgreen: I also learned Russian at the request of the company I worked for, and they paid for the classes, but that was some years ago, and I've forgotten a lot, unfortunately, because it sure would be interesting to hear and understand firsthand what Putin is saying these days. :thumbs:
 
My line of work requires me to know several, but I started with the one whose culture I was most attracted to, so I picked Spanish.

polgara said:
I've been studying Mandarin Chinese for over a year - and some people think English is difficult?
Click to expand...

Reading and writing it are hard, the spoken and grammar are easy. Try Cantonese ;)
 
Sweden said:
American. This forum is a really swell (see, I can already use some American idioms!) teaching aid. I'm gonna get real good bye'n'bye. Thanks y'all.
Click to expand...




Once you master American, I'll teach you to speak Southern. Now a swede speaking English with a Deep South redneck accent would be hilarious! :D




Repeat after me: "That thar is a big-ol' boy!"
 
We have a rather large population of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotians in my county, mainly descended from war refugees. Some of the younger ones have gotten to the point that they speak English like a native... a native South Carolinian, that is. :D



It is HILARIOUS to hear Asians talking and sounding just like a Southern Good Ol' Boy...
 
radcen said:
If you were to learn to speak a language...

...that you don't already speak... which language would be first on your list to learn?

Me: German... then Spanish.
Click to expand...

German then Japanese for me.

I started German years ago but didn't stick with it now only remember a few words. Japanese would be very handy now - my boss is Japanese. :)
 
radcen said:
If you were to learn to speak a language...

...that you don't already speak... which language would be first on your list to learn?

Me: German... then Spanish.
Click to expand...

Me: Spanish then French then German.
 
Last edited:
Northern Light said:
My line of work requires me to know several, but I started with the one whose culture I was most attracted to, so I picked Spanish.



Reading and writing it are hard, the spoken and grammar are easy. Try Cantonese ;)
Click to expand...

Same with Japanese grammar. Excepting the extensive use of honorifics and humble language, the grammar is dead simple and very regular. There are no genders to deal with, verb conjugations are logical and regular, though there are many more of them than in English, there are only a couple of irregular verbs. It's just very different from what westerners are used to.

Biggest problem with the spoken language is that they speak very quickly compounded by a huge number of homophones and that proper Japanese removes everything from a sentence that can be inferred from context. If you lose the context you quickly degenerate to "wtf did he just say??" For that reason I actually found reading and writing it to be easier than conversing.
 
Last edited:
Polish.


I learned Spanish from my paternal grandma and my maternal grandma spoke Polish but never taught me much but a couple words. I'd do it for her.
 
WCH said:
English is the universal language of business. I speak Texan as a first language.
Click to expand...

But why restrict yourself to only English? Also Texan is at best a dialect not a language, no matter how much you want it to be.
 
americanwoman said:
Polish.


I learned Spanish from my paternal grandma and my maternal grandma spoke Polish but never taught me much but a couple words. I'd do it for her.
Click to expand...

Greetings, americanwoman. :2wave:

My maternal grandmother, all 4'8" of her, :mrgreen: taught my sister and me, starting when we were young children, how to bake Slovak pastries, because she didn't want the knowledge to be lost, and while she was doing that, she also often spoke in Slovak and explained what those words meant in English. Since we were a captive audience sitting on high backed stools watching what she was doing with the pastries, she accomplished two goals at the same time. Smart woman, and I thank her today for both lessons, since the knowledge has come in handy on both. To this day, I still remember how it was such a treat to spend "overnights" at her house in the Summer! RIP, beloved grandmother....
 
I'd like to learn as many languages as possible. Languages have always fascinated me, but I've never been very good at picking them up. Tried both Spanish and Hebrew. Can barely pass with the former and not at all with the latter.
 
americanwoman said:
Polish.


I learned Spanish from my paternal grandma and my maternal grandma spoke Polish but never taught me much but a couple words. I'd do it for her.
Click to expand...

Yeah but if they're the right words you can go far. My grandma taught me just about every swear word there is in Italian. Oh wait. No she was calling me those..............
 
polgara said:
Greetings, americanwoman. :2wave:

My maternal grandmother, all 4'8" of her, :mrgreen: taught my sister and me, starting when we were young children, how to bake Slovak pastries, because she didn't want the knowledge to be lost, and while she was doing that, she also often spoke in Slovak and explained what those words meant in English. Since we were a captive audience sitting on high backed stools watching what she was doing with the pastries, she accomplished two goals at the same time. Smart woman, and I thank her today for both lessons, since the knowledge has come in handy on both. To this day, I still remember how it was such a treat to spend "overnights" at her house in the Summer! RIP, beloved grandmother....
Click to expand...



LOL, I learned to cook Polish food and speak some of the language the same way. My Gwumke are to die for
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
I'd like to learn as many languages as possible. Languages have always fascinated me, but I've never been very good at picking them up. Tried both Spanish and Hebrew. Can barely pass with the former and not at all with the latter.
Click to expand...

I have a similar problem. If I live among people of whatever language I can pick up enough to get by. I was almost bi-lingual [spoken] when I lived in Montreal, but when I moved west there were no French speaking Canadians then. so I picked up a bit of Mandarin and a lot of Cantonese. But now that I have retired I don't use either so I am loosing it.
 
Gaius46 said:
Yeah but if they're the right words you can go far. My grandma taught me just about every swear word there is in Italian. Oh wait. No she was calling me those..............
Click to expand...

In every language I have come to know even a little bit, swear words are always the first words you learn...except in French where "la même chose" comes first. It means "another round".
 
Fearandloathing said:
In every language I have come to know even a little bit, swear words are always the first words you learn...except in French where "la même chose" comes first. It means "another round".
Click to expand...

The first German I learned was "Eine grosse bier bitte" :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom