Which language should I learn to speak?

Question

I would like to learn another language. English is my 'mother' tongue - although my mother's language is Punjabi (an Indian language, which I speak badly with an English accent)! I work in the computer industry as a consultant, when I do travel it is to mostly European countries. Spanish is widely spoken in the world, China (Mandarin?) is up and coming and I've always fancied learning Japanese but have never travelled there!

So, which should I go for? Can you comment on usefullness in business, social situations, potential future popularity, ease of learning or just fun use? Are there any good e-learning sites or societies to join? I live in England, about 25 miles SE of central London.
Thanks in advance for your answers :)

Answer 1

If you're just looking for fun: Portuguese or Italian

If you're looking to foreward a business outlook: Chinese or Japanese (any Asian language, really)

If you're looking for usefulness in everyday life: Spanish or French

If you're looking for a challenge: Russian or Arabic

If you're looking to be special with a rare language: Macedonian or Slovak



These are just some of my favourites. For some help on 'traveller's languages' check out BBC's websites. They've got some free and easy web bits. Now, if you'd like to be EXTRA special and only be able to speak with some extreme geeks, (trust me, this will make you look like a serious but really awesome geek) give Tolkien's Quenya a shot (bloody hell, it's hard!). It's completely worthless, but it's great fun! (go to www.Ardalambion.com for lessons on Quenya.)



Have fun!

Answer 2

Spanish, would be good for you although I think you should go for an European language cause you travel a lot over there.

I Honestly, don't know of any sites or societies to join, but let me give you my example, I am from Mexico, I learned English in 2 years, and I liked always to chat with English speakers even if my English was limited, and that was they way I learned grammatically (including slams) how to use and speak the language.

If you join a chat room, perhaps you can learn and practice some of the language you chose to speak.

Answer 3

Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world. If you spoke this you could get a job in government and trade.



Considering the Middle Eastern situation, you could definitely get a job if you read and wrote Arabic. There is a high demand for English-speaking people who can speak Arabic.

You could get a job in government, trade, business or with the UN.



If you work in medical circles, then German would be your best bet. Go to the Goethe Institute for this.



You could use Spanish in South America, but as for Europe, not much is spoken outside of Spain.



The best way to learn a language, quickly, is to visit that county. When you need a washroom or something to eat, you learn, quickly.



Perhaps you should travel for awhile and see where you would like to spend your life. More than language is to be considered here, such as lifestyle, rights and community prejudices.

Answer 4

Spanish would be the best choice as it is a Romantic language (that is it is descended from Roman times) it would be a useful base for having an understanding of the other Romantic languages:French, Spanish, Portuguese. I understand that large parts of central and or South America speak Spanish.Remember the Latino countries are called Latino because the the language originates from Latin the original ROMAN-tic language. Whilst the China economy is up and coming coming it is unlikely that its language will be as dominant as English (that includes American English) because it is the language of choice for global media and entertainment. That is why every other country can speak better English than any other language (blame MTV)! Moreover if you wished to use it in your local take away then that is Cantonese. Different language. I have been told by an ex Royal Hong Kong police that it freaks the waiters if you hide in the restuarant and order in Cantonese.

Answer 5

Try esperanto.



"Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international language. The name derives from Doktoro Esperanto, the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof first published the Unua Libro in 1887. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy and flexible language as a universal second language to foster peace and international understanding."



"Esperanto is much easier to learn than any other language. In fact, it can be learned in about a quarter of the time needed to learn a national language! The spelling is easy: each letter has exactly one sound. The pronunciation is easy, and the accent is always on the next to last syllable. The grammar is easy. (That means, for example, that there are no irregular verbs.) "



"Today, Esperanto is employed in world travel, correspondence, cultural exchange, conventions, literature, language instruction, television (Internacia Televido) and radio broadcasting. Some state education systems offer elective courses in Esperanto; there is evidence that learning Esperanto is a useful preparation for later language learning"

(Wikipedia)

Answer 6

I would tell that you have to start speaking with native people. Otherwise, it is extremely difficult. Listening and speaking are the best ways to learn and use any language. You should force yourself to speak in that language with those native speakers even if you have an option to converse in a different (say french or english) language.

Answer 7

Each language has its own musical cadence and color. To some people, German sounds harsh to the ear while English is more like staccato. French and Spanish may sound melifluous while Italian is characterized by its singsong intonations.



Probe your hearing, buy one of those CDs with multiple language resources and listen to each language. See how your ears react to the sounds of a particular language. That should help you narrow down the field considerably.



In short, study a language you can readily practice with neighbors or friends in your city. If you study Chinese, for example, and have nobody to practice it with or don´t plan on traveling to China in the foreseeable future, you´ll be wasting your time.



I am a translator, so I know things about languages. :)

Answer 8

Hey! You are to be congratulated for desiring to learn another language. At the moment, with bigoted undercurrents circulating around the world, you stand out as a positive person.



First of all you ought to learn Punjabi really well - it is part of your heritage and you should always remain cognizant of, and conversant in, your ancestral tongue.



Secondly: what language(s) to choose?



What you need to do before you decide what language(s) to acquire, ask yourself whether you will need - let's say - Chinese because you will be

speaking directly to Chinese business people, or because you will want to immerse yourself in that country's culture. That decision will steer your choices.



If you need the languages principally for business, and you are going to speak one-on-one with foreign nationals, Chinese, Spanish, German and Russian all would be useful.



If you want to acquire a language for cultural exploration, ask yourself which foreign authors you'd like to read in the original, what films, etc.

Let's say you are enamored of Dostoievski, Turgenev etc - Russian;

if the South American authors are your first choice - Spanish and Portuguese.



Good luck and enjoy your learning experience.

Answer 9

If you learned Chinese that'd be it for me. I don't think Chinese is all that difficult; there are the tones which kind of stops me ( you have to have someone to talk with and practice speaking to learn them.) The writing is pretty hard until you get to a level where everything that you write is included in somewhere else... it is still difficult but it starts to make sense. Finally, China has that asian weirdness I think it is called culture that you run into if you are learning Chinese and It can only make things more difficult.

Answer 10

Chinese is good if you fancy travelling around Asia, but nearly every time you come across a Chinese person they will speak very good English, besides it's only spoken as a first language in China.



German is a very good language to learn, especially now it's considered the main European language by the EU. It's actually fairly similar to English (I've been learning it for 3 years now, it is NOT hard to learn), and is good for business.



Japanese is a very smart language and is fairly useful (I bet most of your electronics are Japanese!), however IS quite hard to learn, but worth it. Again a good one for business.



Russian is an up and coming language in European business, but again, hard to learn.



Spanish, besides being spoken in Britain's most popular holiday destination (Spain!), is spoken largely around the world in countries like Mexico and even in the US.



French is getting less useful and is usually spoken by awkward French people who pretend not to understand you.



Finally, one of the languages of India (Punjabi, Hindi, etc) are becoming increasingly used (just phone your bank's call centre) and a few new business are based in India.

Answer 11

Spanish is probably most common so it'd probably be most useful. I hear Japaneese is fun to learn tho. Logicly Spanish would be best, but learn a language from a culture you're interested in learning more about so it'll be more fun for you and you can immerse yourself.

Answer 12

Go with Spanish, its an easier language to learn, and is more worldly spoken as well as being a more recognised language... i.e. more likely to find Spanish help through books etc compared to Chinese... Good Luck!!

Answer 13

If you should chose among those three, I you should learn Chinese. It's the language of the future, everybody says so. And it will certainly show you a completely different paradigm of life, since the Chinese culture is so different from English culture, and language is always a reflection of a culture and way of life. You may experience sth very different and exciting.

Answer 14

Learn ur Mother's language fluently-but spanish it the more widely spoken. Here in my country spanish was adopted as a second language.

Answer 15

Honestly?...Spanish! There are more and more spanish speaking people coming here every day. It would be very wise of you to learn the language. My husband is mexican, and I speak spanish too, it's really fun to learn!

Answer 16

I say that either French or an Asian language will be useful. Plus it's kind of fun to say some of the Asian words around your English speaking friends.

Answer 17

French

Answer 18

Oh, if only it was so simple! If only there was some one language that was _the_ next, _the_ most interesting, _the_ easiest, or anything else like that. Try a bit of each: they won't all come equally easily. You might take to Chinese, or you might find it horrendous; same with the others.

Answer 19

A good friend of mine is in the computer industry and frequently travels to China to buy components, keyboards etc. China is the big growth area in computers at the moment so Chinese will probably be very important in the future in your area of interest.



Most Europeans, particularly in business and industry, speak good English anyway and all you probably need is a few words to show politeness.

Answer 20

Definitely Mandarin.

Answer 21

Chinese and Japanese are apparently pretty similar, such that if you knew one, you could probably get by, conversationally, in the other.



However, they're both quite a lot of work.



But for career prospects, learning Chinese would probably be a very good move.

Answer 22

Learn Chinese. They're bloody everywhere now, and if you can become reasonably fluent you'll find you can strike up conversation with about half the people on the planet.

Answer 23

Hi there,

To be able to speak spanish in few weeks, you can start from here http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=313

It's surely the leader program of its type

Hope it helps.

Answer 24

learn Spanish! it is very beautiful, a Spanish speaking girl is telling you!

Aprende español! :D



Los mejores deseos = Best Wishes!

Answer 25

German, although difficult is fast becoming one of the most useful languages around, especially for business...

Answer 26

German-hard to learn though

japanese-eben harder

french.nice language

spanish-great to learn if you already speak french or italian

Answer 27

1

Answer 28

French or Spanish. I learned french and it helps me alot and my sis learned spanish and she has a good job. Your choise.

Answer 29

the language which u can speake well should u learn first and if u learn u will definately speak it.......ok

Answer 30

Brush up what you already know, and learn Mandarin.

Answer 31

I reckon arabic, there are so many jobs around that require arabic. You'd be snapped up.

Answer 32

why dont you try to learn greek?the most ancient and rich language?

Answer 33

German



It's hard but important

Answer 34

if you learn chinese it will open up doors all over asia.

Answer 35

french

Answer 36

i think spanish but if you want help with japanese i will be happy to study with you

Answer 37

spanish..google a good school

Answer 38

spanish cuz it's really fun

Answer 39

you have answerd your own ? chinese is the most or has the most potential.

Answer 40

french or italian