Which language to learn?

[ninwa]

Or try BBC Languages (my uni lecturers recommended it to us):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

[kendraaaaa]

Thanks a lot for all your replies guys, have been very helpful.

[akira88]

An interesting aside about French:

I have a friend in Canada who speaks French and he says he can only understand Canadian French. When he was in France, he could barely understand European French because it had different pronunciation as well as other subtle differences (I think there are a lot of subtle differences at the informal, conversational level that arise from different social attitudes?).

If you're considering picking up French, it may be interesting to look at how universal French is and whether or not there are any significant geographic differences.

Haha my boyfriend is Canadian French (from Quebec) and yeah there are subtle differences in the languages, but he can still understand France French It's just the different ways they express themselves I guess

[vexx]

GOGOGO FRENCH!

Or try BBC Languages (my uni lecturers recommended it to us):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

some of the videos says that it's not available in your area

[*ryan777*]

but I disagree that Japanese is THAT useful... however do learn it if you're interested in it

But Japanese people can't speak English

at all.

+1

[kyzoo]

(Image removed from quote.)

WTH IS THAT  :buck2:

That's like 5 times more complicated than the next most complicated character I know.

[Fyrefly]

(Image removed from quote.)

WTH IS THAT  :buck2:

That's like 5 times more complicated than the next complicated character I know.

I just tried to draw that and ended up scribbling all over my page.

[minilunchbox]

(Image removed from quote.)

WTH IS THAT  :buck2:

That's like 5 times more complicated than the next complicated character I know.

I just tried to draw that and ended up scribbling all over my page.

What does that even mean? I'm trying to like decipher the meaning by reading the little words inside it and yeah that does't quite work.

[Gloamglozer]

(Image removed from quote.)

WTH IS THAT  :buck2:

That's like 5 times more complicated than the next complicated character I know.

I just tried to draw that and ended up scribbling all over my page.

What does that even mean? I'm trying to like decipher the meaning by reading the little words inside it and yeah that does't quite work.

Read ninwa's Wikipedia link on the previous page.

[ninwa]

Apparently it's a noodle.

[jejak]

Apparently it's a noodle.

LOL.

If you'll forgive me one moment of language geekery, the weird thing about the Wikipedia article is that fails to mention that the word "biang2" might be Shaanxi dialect or something - because I don't think that syllable is a "legal" syllable in Mandarin, and yet the article could easily lead you to believe that it is. AFAIK, the syllable "-iang" can only occur with the initials "n-", "j-", "l-" and "q-" - i.e. there can be words pronounced niang, jiang, liang, qiang, but not "piang", or "miang", for instance. If I type either of those into my pinyin-to-characters thing, it just dings at me in impotent fury.

I dunno, it could just be a very uncommon but nevertheless valid word in Mando. I'm just sayin'.

[ninwa]

Good point... I had so much trouble pronouncing it... I was sitting at the computer going "biang... biang... biang? That really doesn't sound like a real word wtf"

[herzy]

ahaha im not sure statistics-wise, but it is used in the olympics and UN etc. if you want international languages (for conferences etc.), french, english and mandorin would be the way to go.

french speaking countries include mauritius, morocco, switzerland, like a gazillion african countries, canada etc.

spanish is like south america (cool, true)... and probs a few others.

[iffets12345]

I'd say FRENCH . I dropped it because I didn't need it, but it's a fantastic language to learn and the culture is interesting. Plus, it's grammar is very structured so you can learn it easier, and it's similar to english! Vocab is relatively a cinch.
ASIAN LANGUAGES ARE A NIGHTMARE. Being a Chinese myself.

[kyzoo]

ASIAN LANGUAGES ARE A NIGHTMARE. Being a Chinese myself.

Haha I have yet to associate the word nightmare with learning Asian languages.