Which Language Should I Learn?

[Eli]

Spanish has a much easier pronounciation than french, and the spelling system is almsot completely phonetic, you see a word for the first time and always know how to pronounce it.

I think that this is the main thing going for Spanish right now. After all, for the next few years I'll be mostly reading and writing, not speaking.

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by Eli

I think that this is the main thing going for Spanish right now. After all, for the next few years I'll be mostly reading and writing, not speaking.

That's a methodological mistake IMHO. The best way to learn a language is to go to the country, alone and without a penny in your pocket. Man, you learn the language in no time. Still if that's not possible: talk, talk, talk.

[Barnabas]

I learned english in message boards


:P

[Heresson]

Originally posted by Eli
Heresson:

I believe we've been through the fake and unimportant languages part.

You're not. You know modern hebrew

[Chilean President™]

Originally posted by Wernazuma III

I had the disputable joy of learning Inglich and fransé at the Liceo B-17, Santa Cruz de Colchagua. Our Inglich miss was a complete failure. On a more general side, the English teaching in Chile is a disaster, unless you have a former-exile teacher. French wasn't that bad, actually.

What can I say, our public educational system is like crap in some areas, so I wouldn't qualify the "English teached in Chile is a disaster" 'cause it depends on where you learn it.

[Meticulous Man]

French pronunciation actually follows certain rules rather strictly and it's not that hard after some practice. So I'd not choose not to learn French because of pronunciation.

Also, France is something like the epitome of "culture" and everybody knows that anything somehow farly or nearly related to France or the French language is filled with sublime beauty and élégance.

[Eli]

Originally posted by Wernazuma III
That's a methodological mistake IMHO. The best way to learn a language is to go to the country, alone and without a penny in your pocket. Man, you learn the language in no time. Still if that's not possible: talk, talk, talk.

Of course, but I don't really have a choice. So a language in which learning to pronounce is easy fits right in.

[LordShiva]

Learn one of the following

1. Hindi: 337 million
2. Bengali: 70 million
3. Telugu: 66 million
4. Marathi: 62.5 million
5. Tamil: 60 million
6. Kannada: 44 million
7. Urdu: 43 million
8. Gujarati: 41 million
9. Malayalam: 37 million
10. Oriya: 28 million
11. Maithili: 25 million
12. Punjabi: 23 million
13. Bhojpuri: 23 million
14. Assamese: 13 million
15. Gondi : 2.1 Million
16. Sindhi : 2.1 Million
17. Konkani: 1.7 Million
18. Meitei : 1.2 Million
19. Nepali : 1 Million
20. Kashmiri: 0.5 million
21. Sanskrit: <0.1 million

[Eli]

Sorry, the language must be spoken in at least second world countries. That rules out all your list together with French.

[LordShiva]

Think of it as an investment. Especially since, once the US withdraws from the ME and the Saudis and Iranians kill each other, we'll be there to fill the void

[DaShi]

Then he shoud learn Chinese

[Spiffor]

Basically, since it's down to Spanish and French:

If you want more opportunities in Europe, learn French
If you want more opportunities in South America, learn Spanish.

French is also very useful in West Africa, if the area is of interest to you, because French is the lingua franca there, not English.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Basically, since it's down to Spanish and French:

If you want more opportunities in Europe, learn French
If you want more opportunities in South America, learn Spanish.

French is also very useful in West Africa, if the area is of interest to you, because French is the lingua franca there, not English.

well if you exclude Nigeria and Ghana and Liberia and Sierra Leone.

[Az]

And? That's not a big attraction. Besides, I already know that I'll be doing engineering stuff in the IDF. They paid for my degree and I cant back out now.

you know that?!

[Barnabas]

If I recall correctly the j sound in spanish is of semitic origin and came from arabic, and hebrew also has that sound.

According to wiki it would seem that the vowels in spanish and hebrew are pretty much the same, hebrew also has a schwa sound (which spanish lacks) but many israelis only pronounce 5 vowels and having merged schwa with e as in "café"