What Languages Do You Want to Learn? (And Why?)

Okay, so you all probably know I'm re-teaching myself Portuguese. Being a really visual learner I actually learn better with modern software than I ever did in a classroom setting. I'm lucky to live in a really portuguese are that, once I get back to a conversational level, I can probably maintain my lingual skills just through my daily life.

However, I really want to at least learn the basics of another non-latin based language.

I really want to learn either Korean or Mandarin. The former for trashy soap operas (they are legendary in asia and a lot of them have found success in other countries when dubbed) and pop music, the latter for, well, really really cheap shopping and imported crap right from the source.

But then I thought it might be fun to learn Gujarat, but I've heard there's so many dialects that you may end up only being able to speak to a small amount of the population with formal schooling.


So basically I can't make a decision. So let's make it a discussion and maybe I can be swayed. Mello posters, what language do you wish you could learn/ learn more of and why do you want to learn it?

In addition to improving my Spanish, I would like to learn German because it seems like a handy third language to have if I do more traveling in Europe.

Germans also have some good soap operas!

I've learned a tiny bit of Japanese and I would like to take that to a level that is actually useful for something.

I regret that I didn't take Mandarin instead. That would have been so much more useful.

In the long run I would like to learn an additional language but I don't really know which one.

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Germans also have some good soap operas!

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Oh yes, when you are finally able watch Verbotene Liebe without subtitles, then you know you didn't waste those years.

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Originally posted by Feirefiz

I regret that I didn't take Mandarin instead. That would have been so much more useful.

(...)

Oh yes, when you are finally able watch Verbotene Liebe without subtitles, then you know you didn't waste those years.

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I worry about not fully comprehending the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese. Before I commit to learning I wonder if I shouldn't do some research. I know in the Hong Kong area a lot of Cantonese is spoken, but from knowing a native Cantonese speaker apparently the two languages are utterly incompatible. And because China is so huge and the language spoken there so old that northern and southern Mandarin speakers can sometimes not understand one another at all. I mean, in Portuguese I know enough from being, well, portuguese in a super portuguese area, the differences between the areas and the dialects.

Also, as a gay who loves the gay I love Verbotene Liebe. Or at least parts of it.

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Originally posted by Panther Squad

I worry about not fully comprehending the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese. Before I commit to learning I wonder if I shouldn't do some research. I know in the Hong Kong area a lot of Cantonese is spoken, but from knowing a native Cantonese speaker apparently the two languages are utterly incompatible. And because China is so huge and the language spoken there so old that northern and southern Mandarin speakers can sometimes not understand one another at all.

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The impression I got from foreigners who went there and Chinese people was that usually (Beijing area) Mandarin makes most sense. That's the usual choice for things aimed at a nation-wide audience and at least the educated people speak it in all parts of the country.

I chose Italian in college based on where my school's study abroad program sent you. I would have studied Spanish for the trip to Spain, but my school sent folks to Mexico (pfft, I'm from Southern California -- I could have walked to Mexico) and some other country that wasn't Spain. Maybe three months ago I decided to dust off some of my old books and brush up on my Italian, and was surprised by how much of the language I'd learned so quickly, and how much of it I'd forgotten.

So in short, I have nothing to say that will sway you, and sadly regret that I no longer know a group of people who will give me a free trip to a different country because I tried to learn a new language. Being a grown up is stupid.

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Originally posted by Feirefiz

Oh yes, when you are finally able watch Verbotene Liebe without subtitles, then you know you didn't waste those years.

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You speak truth. Whenever I want to try to keep from forgetting German entirely, that's my favorite way to force my brain to remember it all again.

I want to bone up on my Japanese. I spent a year studying it in college, but I don't remember a whole lot.

You should learn Klingon, and be the belle of the ball when you go to Star Trek conventions.