SRL Archive - NOTA

I've always been interested in both Human and Computer languages. However, it has been quite a while since I've studied a spoken language thoroughly, so I want to pick it up again. Looking at my local university, the following options are offered:
Ancient Babylonian(really), Arabic, ASL, Chinese, Coptic(no idea what country this belongs to), Dakota(idk the country), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hmong, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Norwegian, Ojibwa(idk the country), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Scandinavian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Of those, I am already capable of speaking (at least casually, but not professionally) in ASL, Spanish, and French.

So, do I continue improving my current capabilities, or pick up something new? If I go with something new, I'm leaning towards Arabic, German, or Japanese; with Chinese or Korean following after those. Does anyone else have any thoughts or recommendations on what I should try and go for?

Were do you live?

From: RJJ95
Were do you live?

Currently, I live in the USA; more specifically, in Minnesota (north, central portion).

From: nivek1989
Currently, I live in the USA; more specifically, in Minnesota (north, central portion).

I was going to suggest Spanish then saw you already knew it, then I was going to suggest French… saw you already knew it.. so I figured if your going to invest a large amount of time in something you will might aswell learn a "useful" language (e.g not Swahili) so I guess knowing Chinese would be very good for getting a good job.. because they are slowyl westernizing and us USA people will need people to communicate with them or Latin so learning any other language would be easy.

If you aren't fluent in Spanish/French, get a course on that. If you already are, then learn something that would be of use to you. (ie. if you are interested in history you could learn Icelandic and go read thousand year old Icelandic Sagas, because the language changed so little) Do not learn something that wouldn't be useful (ie. Turkish- I am from Turkey and this is the only country that it's useful to you in)

From: RJJ95
I was going to suggest Spanish then saw you already knew it, then I was going to suggest French… saw you already knew it.. so I figured if your going to invest a large amount of time in something you will might aswell learn a "useful" language (e.g not Swahili) so I guess knowing Chinese would be very good for getting a good job.. because they are slowyl westernizing and us USA people will need people to communicate with them or Latin so learning any other language would be easy.

Latin is the base for most 'Romantic' languages. Learning Latin wouldn't help very much as the main Romance languages are Spanish, French, Italian, and English (which is also partially Germanic in origins) - and Latin wouldn't help at all with non Romantic languages.

Chinese wouldn't be a bad idea, but their economy is mostly driven by many workers, with a few business men who are focused entirely around the ability to speak to everyone else. Although, I hate the idea of intonation mattering when I speak, and the loss of verb conjugation would be weird to get used to. However, speaking Chinese would remain impressive for them, I don't really foresee ever visiting China or entering a situation where I will end up speaking to something who natively speaks Chinese. Japanese is huge in the technological fields and I would love to visit them some day, so that may be a fair direction to go as far as Asian languages go.

From: litoris
If you aren't fluent in Spanish/French, get a course on that. If you already are, then learn something that would be of use to you. (ie. if you are interested in history you could learn Icelandic and go read thousand year old Icelandic Sagas, because the language changed so little) Do not learn something that wouldn't be useful (ie. Turkish- I am from Turkey and this is the only country that it's useful to you in)

I can carry on typical conversations in Spanish, as well as some basic professional (computer related work) conversation. And in French, I'm fairly meh. I've been unpracticed for quite a while, and even my basic conversational skills are becoming more akin to what a tourist would accomplish. My worry with French is that even with the tremendous African influence it has, it isn't known to be much of a business language anymore and amongst those that do speak it, they are typically multi-lingual as well. I would definitely be up for improvements to my Spanish however. I do like some portions of history, but I like practical use as well. Is Icelandic used outside of Iceland?

Rosetta Stone I hear is a great program to aid you in learning a new language. I know you want to take a course, but extra help can never hurt.

I personally would like to learn Japanese or Korean.

some US universities offer free online programs ie. rosetta stone

Chinese is the most useless language to learn. I've lived in China for over 10 years and don't speak it.
In business it's not the language that matters, but the customs, traditions and ways of the people. Read poorly made in China if you want to know how things work over here. That being said, the last place you want to end up working in is China and the last people people you want to work with are Chinese.

Might also take into account, if you ever wanted to move from Minnesota to Germany or Japan, perhaps for a new job, what culture would you enjoy more.
Just throwing some thoughts out there :)

From: Neznam
Rosetta Stone I hear is a great program to aid you in learning a new language. I know you want to take a course, but extra help can never hurt.

I personally would like to learn Japanese or Korean.

Isn't Rosetta Stone fairly expensive? I admit I have heard wonders about it, but knowing myself, I find it hard to do the work unless there's either a grade behind it, or somehow competitive.

From: Runehack123
Chinese is the most useless language to learn. I've lived in China for over 10 years and don't speak it.
In business it's not the language that matters, but the customs, traditions and ways of the people. Read poorly made in China if you want to know how things work over here. That being said, the last place you want to end up working in is China and the last people people you want to work with are Chinese.

Business isn't just about the capability to speak the language of your partner, but also to seem as impressive and capable as you can. At least as far as garnering attention and improving relations goes, that is.

From: Le Jingle
Might also take into account, if you ever wanted to move from Minnesota to Germany or Japan, perhaps for a new job, what culture would you enjoy more.
Just throwing some thoughts out there :)

I do like German and Japanese cultures a lot, but I'm not sure if I'd want to move to another country permanently. At least for now, I want my language skills to be based around being able to converse comfortably and perhaps be able to travel without worries of any sort of language barrier.

Is anyone around here fluent in a non-Romance (latin based) language group for recommendations on where an easier start would be? I admit I'm a little timid in trying to determine a stepping stone language as I try to broaden my knowledge base.

German or French would be interesting to learn.
Dutch also has some similarities with German but the grammar of both is hard to learn.

From: J J
German or French would be interesting to learn.
Dutch also has some similarities with German but the grammar of both is hard to learn.

I completely agree! French is a very interesting language and is really fun to learn, as most languages though, it twists your mind a little. And German is a lot of fun as well. Mostly fun when you can say stuff to people and they have no idea what your saying… Muah ha ha! XD

From: nivek1989
Isn't Rosetta Stone fairly expensive? I admit I have heard wonders about it, but knowing myself, I find it hard to do the work unless there's either a grade behind it, or somehow competitive.

Yes it is very expensive, however (I don't condone this but) like all pirated things it too can be gotten if you know where to look. I'd recommend taking a College/University course AND use Rosetta Stone. Could give you a head start in getting the grade you'd want.

From: nivek1989
I've always been interested in both Human and Computer languages. However, it has been quite a while since I've studied a spoken language thoroughly, so I want to pick it up again. Looking at my local university, the following options are offered:
Ancient Babylonian(really), Arabic, ASL, Chinese, Coptic(no idea what country this belongs to), Dakota(idk the country), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hmong, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Norwegian, Ojibwa(idk the country), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Scandinavian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Of those, I am already capable of speaking (at least casually, but not professionally) in ASL, Spanish, and French.

So, do I continue improving my current capabilities, or pick up something new? If I go with something new, I'm leaning towards Arabic, German, or Japanese; with Chinese or Korean following after those. Does anyone else have any thoughts or recommendations on what I should try and go for?

Fuck humans speak horse.

Hungarian

I would say further your french knowledge or learn German. I think french is still a very powerful language in the world and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Other than English I speak fluent French and Welsh, if I was to learn another language it would definitely be German.

From: the flea
I would say further your french knowledge or learn German. I think french is still a very powerful language in the world and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

Other than English I speak fluent French and Welsh, if I was to learn another language it would definitely be German.

I am not fluent in French or German, but they are great languages. I have taken classes in both languages and i would have to say that it is a blast.