What Language Should I Learn?

[The Felonius Pope]

I am learning a new language next year, and I figured I would get some other people's opinions on the matter. What should I learn: Russian, German, or Japanese?

 

[WarK]

German would be the easiest of the three for you. It is a germanic language, just like English. It uses latin alphabet too. Russian would be harder but at least it uses an alphabet, unlike Japanese.

Do you have family/friends that you could converse with using any of those languages? Would your career benefit from knowing any of those languages?

Do you listen to music, read books or watch films in any of those languages? Learning a language that you won't use is pointless to me, you'll forget a lot of stuff unless you use the language.

 

[The Felonius Pope]

German would be the easiest of the three for you. It is a germanic language, just like English. It uses latin alphabet too. Russian would be harder but at least it uses an alphabet, unlike Japanese.

Do you have family/friends that you could converse with using any of those languages? Would your career benefit from knowing any of those languages?

Do you listen to music, read books or watch films in any of those languages? Learning a language that you won't use is pointless to me, you'll forget a lot of stuff unless you use the language.

Well, two of my friends speak German, but if I can ever save up the money I plan on traveling to east Asia and Japan. Then again, lots of people in Europe speak German, so that would be useful there. On the other hand I've always had a fascination with Russian culture. :|

 

[)O( Hytegia )O(]

The way I choose anything to fill my idle knowledge is this:
-Which one of these provides the easiest route to getting laid?

It used to be German and Spainish - however, it's now Japanese given my current duty station.

And,boy, has it been fun learning new languages with all of those kind tourists who, in exchange for helping you with your Japanese/Spainish/German will gladly accept a tour around the area. And possibly dinner and a few drinks.
And If you've made it this far and you can't close the deal there's really nobody to blame but yourself.

 

[The Felonius Pope]

Not to derail the thread, but you're in Japan, Hytegia?

 

[CommonEnlightenment]

Not to derail the thread, but you're in Japan, Hytegia?

Yeah, this should be good......

 

[)O( Hytegia )O(]

Not to derail the thread, but you're in Japan, Hytegia?

Yeah, this should be good......

OPSEC.

How about this - a place where Japanese people go to feel guilty about things they had no control over, and where Americans go in mourning of a terrible event and a great sense of AMERICUH~ FUCK YEAH! located in an area that's basically a global hotspot for tourism, surfing, and beaches.

There's a movie named after it.

No more posts. Let's get back to the main topic.

 

[The Felonius Pope]

Darn. You sound fascinating Hytegia. Getting back to the topic, I have to decide what language to learn within the next five months and I am having a hard time deciding.
Reasons why I would learn this language:
1.German-Number of speakers in Europe, I could talk to my friends in a foreign tongue
2.Russian-I love the vocabulary, I wish to go to Russia some day, I am fascinated by Russian culture
3.Japanese-Career opportunities, I am going to travel their some day, Japanese women

 

[Anachronous Rex]

Darn. You sound fascinating Hytegia. Getting back to the topic, I have to decide what language to learn within the next five months and I am having a hard time deciding.
Reasons why I would learn this language:
1.German-Number of speakers in Europe, I could talk to my friends in a foreign tongue
2.Russian-I love the vocabulary, I wish to go to Russia some day, I am fascinated by Russian culture
3.Japanese-Career opportunities, I am going to travel their some day, Japanese women

A few things to consider:

You will scarcely ever run into a German person who doesn't speak English. If you travel to Germany you will find that almost everyone will immediately try to practice their English on you, and your German may actually deteriorate.

[Edit: Fiancée informs me that when she was in Germany, the Germans really appreciated her attempts to speak German. I think they were just hitting on her, but it is worth consideration.]

Japanese might have uses, but don't expect to pick up Japanese women with it. Typically people who date foreigners are looking for something exotic, an escape from their own culture, if you are overtly infatuated with things Japanese this will probably backfire.

Japan and Russia constitute some of the most openly, flagrantly racist societies in the developed world. Simply speaking their language may not be enough to escape this unless you can also look the part.

Russians and Germans can hold their liquor, the Japanese can't. Choose wisely.

 

[The Felonius Pope]

Thank you for the info Rex. I did consider many of the things you suggested, and though I would not stick out in Russia I am leaning towards Japanese. Not because of the women or anything.

 

[CommonEnlightenment]

You could learn the language of Love.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

Thank you for the info Rex. I did consider many of the things you suggested, and though I would not stick out in Russia I am leaning towards Japanese. Not because of the women or anything.

Ah, in that case remember:

Vocabulary is easy. Pronunciation is easy. Rhythm is easy. Literary, grammar, and idiom are very, very hard.

Most people who try to learn Japanese plow through the beginner stage in no time, and then stuck on things like how to correctly form a sentence. If all you need the language for is to ask where the bathroom is or understand what food you're being served this is fine, but if it's proficiency you're after expect to put in a lot of work.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

You could learn the language of Love.

Sounds a bit like this:



about a minute five.

 

[)O( Hytegia )O(]

Going back to my original formulae -

German: Lots of people speak it, ergo easier to get laid. Bonus: You can play it as the suave American and you can just hear what they say about you in general. Plus it's kinda a cultural hotspot for a variety of different people.

Russian: Russian chicks are freaky as fuck, plus it sounds badass when you speak it correctly. American women will always fall for a Russian accent. I once convinced one that I was from Russia while I only had an accent, and I made up words and cities at random.

Japanese: Traditional. Great language to watch anime in. Awesome women.

====================

Every language is the Language of Love - you just have to know how to use it.
Except Sanskrit... Gods - that language is so round-about in the way it sounds. D':

 

[Visaki]

...
You will scarcely ever run into a German person who doesn't speak English. If you travel to Germany you will find that almost everyone will immediately try to practice their English on you, and your German may actually deteriorate.

[Edit: Fiancée informs me that when she was in Germany, the Germans really appreciated her attempts to speak German. I think they were just hitting on her, but it is worth consideration.]
....

My father, who basicly made his career in German trade, always says that if you want to buy from Germany you can do it in any language but if you want to sell to Germany you have to do it in german. Germans, specially the older people who remember the time of two Germanys, really appriciate if you speak german even if you speak it badly. Every time my parents go there (they usually go through Germany twise a year when they drive to Italy and back) my father finds at least one little gasthaus who's owner doubles the quality of service just because they are foreigners that can speak german (in my fathers case flawless german),

So not to disrespect your fianceé but they might actually have really just been appriciative about her attempts to speak german.

 

[The Felonius Pope]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

...
You will scarcely ever run into a German person who doesn't speak English. If you travel to Germany you will find that almost everyone will immediately try to practice their English on you, and your German may actually deteriorate.

[Edit: Fiancée informs me that when she was in Germany, the Germans really appreciated her attempts to speak German. I think they were just hitting on her, but it is worth consideration.]
....

My father, who basicly made his career in German trade, always says that if you want to buy from Germany you can do it in any language but if you want to sell to Germany you have to do it in german. Germans, specially the older people who remember the time of two Germanys, really appriciate if you speak german even if you speak it badly. Every time my parents go there (they usually go through Germany twise a year when they drive to Italy and back) my father finds at least one little gasthaus who's owner doubles the quality of service just because they are foreigners that can speak german (in my fathers case flawless german),

So not to disrespect your fianceé but they might actually have really just been appriciative about her attempts to speak german.

He could learn Finnish!

Except don't you guys have some insane number of cases? That might be a tad tricky.

 

[Inferno]

I'm an Austrian, so my advice might be a bit biased: Learn the Germanic language. It's not too hard, many people speak it and you can enjoy Nietzsche in its original tone.

If you have the chance though, do Chinese.

 

[Noth]

Which Germanic language, Inferno? German? Dutch? (Just teasing)

In all seriousness, pick the one that you would love learning the most and that you'll have the opportunity with to actually speak it semi-regularly.

 

[televator]

It comes down to either German or Japanese IMO. I however base this totally on my own interests and biases. Living in Germany with some fluency in German sounds appealing to me. So does Japan, but not to the same extent, though I thoroughly enjoy the technology they produce. Some of that tech would be easier to acquire if I knew Japanese.