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What Language would you love to learn?

    • 224 posts
    September 11, 2017 7:30 PM EDT

    So recently I have been helping people, looking at you Paws, Gwen, and maybe future others, with their projects in which they use Latin, which I know just as well as English though I still make a few mistakes here and there. And I got thinking what languages do other people want to learn? I myself am learning Greek, Caelic, and Japanese for they are three of the other languages I would love to learn. So I would like to know if you are interested in learning another language and if so why?

    I want to learn Greek because it was pretty much the language that formed Latin and they had a great empire, Japanese because my girlfriend is half Japanese and I would like to visit Japan one day because you know I am a weeaboo (this is a joke since I get called that anytime I mention being a fan of Anime and Magana), and Gaelic because the Celtics were cool and Braveheart. 

    • 278 posts
    September 11, 2017 8:20 PM EDT

    I can speak a bit of german, if you want. :D

    • 224 posts
    September 11, 2017 8:26 PM EDT

    Wulf said:

    I can speak a bit of german, if you want. :D

    I can speak some German, as while, but I can understand it better than actually speak it. XD

    • 278 posts
    September 11, 2017 8:33 PM EDT

    I know what you mean!

  • September 11, 2017 9:29 PM EDT

    Oh dear, languages. It took me sixteen years to master English and even then my spoken English is ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. Japanese, eh? I don't have much difficulty with it because my native language is Chinese (Cantonese dialect), which Japanese draws heavily from, and my grandfather is from Hokkaido, but I respect a 外人 (ekekeke, sorry, couldn't resist) willing to learn even more. Learning a language outside of the Germanic-Latin-Romance languages you're used to takes a lot of work. Good luck!

    And yes, the Celts were cool. Stabby stabby :3


    This post was edited by The Sunflower Manual at September 11, 2017 9:29 PM EDT
    • 1217 posts
    September 11, 2017 9:31 PM EDT

    As long as I can keep my Portugese, I'm fine, but I would also relish the opportunity to learn Japanese and Chinese.

    • 224 posts
    September 11, 2017 9:37 PM EDT

    A Shadow Under the Moons said:

    Oh dear, languages. It took me sixteen years to master English and even then my spoken English is ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. Japanese, eh? I don't have much difficulty with it because my native language is Chinese (Cantonese dialect), which Japanese draws heavily from, and my grandfather is from Hokkaido, but I respect a 外人 (ekekeke, sorry, couldn't resist) willing to learn even more. Learning a language outside of the Germanic-Latin-Romance languages you're used to takes a lot of work. Good luck!

    And yes, the Celts were cool. Stabby stabby :3

    Ahh don't feel bad Latin took me six years to master and I still make mistakes from time to time. Yes, like I said Japanese many because I would love to visit and girlfriend has family there. Huh, that is cool. Ah, Gajin the dreaded name of foreigners who visit Japan, and it doesn't bug me because I have been called worse. :) Thank you and I know because I have been struggling with Japanese, not such much Greek and Gaelic, but hey that is all the fun.

    At least someone gets it. :)

    • 224 posts
    September 11, 2017 9:38 PM EDT

    Borommakot said:

    As long as I can keep my Portugese, I'm fine, but I would also relish the opportunity to learn Japanese and Chinese.

    I really should learn Portuguese just to have all the Romance Languages done. Why Japanese and Chinese?

  • Mr.
    • 763 posts
    September 11, 2017 10:12 PM EDT

    I speak both Brazilian Portuguese and English fluently (or so I think). I also know very basic French and know how to count... can't write at all though... Soixante-vingt quatre? Oui?

    But I love languages. If I had the time and the means to do it, I'd want to learn all of the following: French, German, Japanese (for no reason, I just love their history - pre-Meiji - and culture) and maybe Latin and Spanish.

    • 1217 posts
    September 11, 2017 10:13 PM EDT

    David said:

    I really should learn Portuguese just to have all the Romance Languages done. Why Japanese and Chinese?

    Culture is the strongest motivator, and I'd be lying if I didn't say pop-culture wasn't part of that. The westernized presentation of Chinese and Japanese culture has a the intended, exotic appeal to it, but also motivated interest in the reality behind them, which has appeals of its own. Having lived for a number of years in Europe and South America, Asia now holds my attention as "the unknown" that I would like to experience.

    • 224 posts
    September 11, 2017 10:30 PM EDT

    Mr. Edd said:

    I speak both Brazilian Portuguese and English fluently (or so I think). I also know very basic French and know how to count... can't write at all though... Soixante-vingt quatre? Oui?

    But I love languages. If I had the time and the means to do it, I'd want to learn all of the following: French, German, Japanese (for no reason, I just love their history - pre-Meiji - and culture) and maybe Latin and Spanish.

    I can speak French somewhat fluently though I stop and think about it for I always end up speaking Latin since French borrows from Latin heavily. At least you wrote Sixty Four and Yes correct. :)

    Why do you love languages for,  I am curious? I do agree to learn another language can be very time consuming and even frustrating. I speak French, some German, very basic Japanese, and Latin and Spanish are pretty much my second tongue.

    Borommakot said:

    David said:

    I really should learn Portuguese just to have all the Romance Languages done. Why Japanese and Chinese?

    Culture is the strongest motivator, and I'd be lying if I didn't say pop-culture wasn't part of that. The westernized presentation of Chinese and Japanese culture has a the intended, exotic appeal to it, but also motivated interest in the reality behind them, which has appeals of its own. Having lived for a number of years in Europe and South America, Asia now holds my attention as "the unknown" that I would like to experience.

    Ahh, I can kind of relate. I only learned Latin mainly because I became obsessed with the Roman Empire and everything they did that still influences us to this very day and their ancient culture became interesting to me. So I get it.

    • 34 posts
    September 11, 2017 10:37 PM EDT

    Hmm. German, actually. I'm working on it now. It's not for any particular motivation, except that I've been going to university in central Europe. In English, thankfully, but I now command some proficiency in German anyway.

    • 224 posts
    September 11, 2017 10:44 PM EDT

    soly said:

    Hmm. German, actually. I'm working on it now. It's not for any particular motivation, except that I've been going to university in central Europe. In English, thankfully, but I now command some proficiency in German anyway.

    Man, a lot of people want to learn German for some reason, and that makes sense.

    • 295 posts
    September 11, 2017 11:15 PM EDT

    For me, my career demands that I have some working knowledge of Italian, German, French, Spanish, and Latin. For German, French, and Italian, I understand it and read it way better than I speak it, but I can get through airports, get food, rent a room and translate the songs I study. My Latin knowledge is mostly ecclesiastical in orgin because I sing a lot of liturgical music. My Spanish is from my family background and I can understand it and read it. Speaking accent is awful in all the language though, cause I don't practice conversation often enough. However, when I sing in the languages, it's a different story.  I also know IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) 

    • 224 posts
    September 11, 2017 11:38 PM EDT

    The Long-Chapper said:

    For me, my career demands that I have some working knowledge of Italian, German, French, Spanish, and Latin. For German, French, and Italian, I understand it and read it way better than I speak it, but I can get through airports, get food, rent a room and translate the songs I study. My Latin knowledge is mostly ecclesiastical in orgin because I sing a lot of liturgical music. My Spanish is from my family background and I can understand it and read it. Speaking accent is awful in all the language though, cause I don't practice conversation often enough. However, when I sing in the languages, it's a different story.  I also know IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) 

    Thanks for mentioning Italian because that is another language I know, and you know as many as I do. German and French are like that for me I understand it and read it, but sometimes I get tongue tied or missay a word, which is always bad. The fact you know Ecclesiastical Latin is pretty awesome and is pretty much the basis for Italian. My Spanish is from me having to learn it in high school and me wanting to impress a girl I like, I know that is lame but hey. Knowing IPA is cool as well.

    • 1595 posts
    September 11, 2017 11:49 PM EDT

    Thanks Davey, it's fun picking up these latin crumbs you drop me :) I'd like to learn something utterly useless in day to day lfe, like Old Norse or something and read the sagas as they were written, but would like to learn Spanish for real. It must surely be one of the most widely-spoken languages and it does sound nice too.

  • September 12, 2017 12:50 AM EDT

    Borommakot said:

    Culture is the strongest motivator, and I'd be lying if I didn't say pop-culture wasn't part of that. The westernized presentation of Chinese and Japanese culture has a the intended, exotic appeal to it, but also motivated interest in the reality behind them, which has appeals of its own. Having lived for a number of years in Europe and South America, Asia now holds my attention as "the unknown" that I would like to experience.

    The thing to keep in mind if you visit any Asian countries and want to experience actual, local culture is to visit the lesser-known areas. Hong Kong had already been extremely Westernised by the time I was born (I'm not complaining, though, I'd much rather wear a T-shirt than Hanfu robes!), and growing up I saw a lot of European/American tourists go to the larger city areas (Central and Kowloon Tong, for example, are popular tourist traps) and go back home disappointed (Central is so much like New York that we even built a Times Square after it >u<). The hotels, restaurants and shopping districts are all modelled after Western civilisation, and that's true for most East Asian countries nowadays. If you want the actual feel of Chinese/Japanese culture, I advise you to make a close native friend (if possible) and have him show you around the town and residential areas. People show their roots at home, and the food is tailored to our local taste and not that of Westerners. You'll be able to eat traditional noodles, dumplings and meat skewers you'd be hard-pressed to find in business areas. You also get - for my hometown at least, not sure about other cities - far more street performers, with people playing zithers and flutes on the side of the roads, that sort of thing (which is usually restricted in the city areas).

    Damnit, all this talk is making me homesick... sniffles. Luckily I get to go back in December. I hope you get to come too, Borommakot-jo~! (•ᴗ•)

    • 321 posts
    September 12, 2017 1:26 AM EDT
    For me, it's Italian and German. My dad actually bought home a book on how to speak Italian during his business trip to Italy. Been practicing a bit, but still sucked at some of the pronunciations. :P
    I'm also interested in learning Japanese but so far all I learned is some basic words... from watching anime. (Yes, I'm a Weeabo, deal with it)

    • 1217 posts
    September 12, 2017 1:36 AM EDT
    I definitely hope to do something just like that, Shadow! I envy your upcoming trip home and hope it thoroughly scratches the homesickness itch.
    • 203 posts
    September 12, 2017 2:13 AM EDT

    For me, that would be Gaelic and Occitan.

    Gaelic sounds absolutely awesome, which is probably the main reason I want to learn how to use it. That and the fact that I wouldn't mind spending some time in either Scotland or Ireland and I think it could come in handy in both cases.

    Occitan is a far more personal thing. I've spent a lot of time in Aquitaine (Southwestern France) and used to consider it the local language for old people and bus drivers. Recently, however, I've looked into it some more and it's actually quite beautiful. It's a very old language that the French education system has been doing its best to kill over the last two centuries. From a more modern perspective, it looks and sounds like a delightful mix of French, Catalan and some hints of Spanish with a very distinct Celtic imprint most likely dating back to Gaule. As one may expect from a language that used to be spoken throughout the south of France and the North of Spain it's quite poetic. I understand why the Spanish and French governments like the idea of not having any local languages to have to bother about, but it saddens me to see such a beautiful language disappear.

    I'm actually a fluent speaker of Dutch, English and French already and can understand German and Spanish, which I can read without a problem but you'll have to slow down if you're speaking to me. It has however come to a point where I haven't gotten enough practice out of any of them to stay perfectly fluent at them. I use English here and for University, speak Dutch to my family and friends and the same counts for French (simply a different set of friends), never getting the time to use each enough for them to become flawless.

    • 184 posts
    September 12, 2017 5:33 AM EDT

    I'm a new learner of Russian and German at the moment, but I would love to be able to learn Chinese and Te Reo Maori, Nahuatl or Cree. Not for particularly cultural reasons - I just want to have a keen understanding of all the different ways a language can develop, and into what, and the most practical way to do that seems to be to explore real languages.

    • 224 posts
    September 12, 2017 6:48 AM EDT

    Paws said:

    Thanks Davey, it's fun picking up these latin crumbs you drop me :) I'd like to learn something utterly useless in day to day lfe, like Old Norse or something and read the sagas as they were written, but would like to learn Spanish for real. It must surely be one of the most widely-spoken languages and it does sound nice too.

    You are welcome, Phil. Language is only useless if you don't use it or if you have no love for it, and I believe you are right about Spanish being a widely spoken language though it makes sense when at the height of your Empire you rules half of Europe.

     

    KaiserSoSay said: For me, it's Italian and German. My dad actually bought home a book on how to speak Italian during his business trip to Italy. Been practicing a bit, but still sucked at some of the pronunciations. :P I'm also interested in learning Japanese but so far all I learned is some basic words... from watching anime. (Yes, I'm a Weeabo, deal with it)

    Italian is fun and it makes French and Spanish, probably Portuguese as well,l easy to understand since they all come from Latin. Man, a lot of people want to know German. I feel you man on the Japanese (Also, I am a weeaboo so no judgement)

     

    Teineeva said:

    For me, that would be Gaelic and Occitan.

    Gaelic sounds absolutely awesome, which is probably the main reason I want to learn how to use it. That and the fact that I wouldn't mind spending some time in either Scotland or Ireland and I think it could come in handy in both cases.

    Occitan is a far more personal thing. I've spent a lot of time in Aquitaine (Southwestern France) and used to consider it the local language for old people and bus drivers. Recently, however, I've looked into it some more and it's actually quite beautiful. It's a very old language that the French education system has been doing its best to kill over the last two centuries. From a more modern perspective, it looks and sounds like a delightful mix of French, Catalan and some hints of Spanish with a very distinct Celtic imprint most likely dating back to Gaule. As one may expect from a language that used to be spoken throughout the south of France and the North of Spain it's quite poetic. I understand why the Spanish and French governments like the idea of not having any local languages to have to bother about, but it saddens me to see such a beautiful language disappear.

    I'm actually a fluent speaker of Dutch, English and French already and can understand German and Spanish, which I can read without a problem but you'll have to slow down if you're speaking to me. It has however come to a point where I haven't gotten enough practice out of any of them to stay perfectly fluent at them. I use English here and for University, speak Dutch to my family and friends and the same counts for French (simply a different set of friends), never getting the time to use each enough for them to become flawless.

    Aye, another Gaelic person.

    That is cool you brought up a local language used in a specific region. I kind of always wanted to learn Breton as well just because I would like to visit Brittany, which is the northwestern part of France, for the fact when I traced my ancestors both my mom and dads side came from there so I know that seems lame, but I think it is cool

    On here I speak mainly English, with some Latin thrown around, in person I speak whatever comes out of my mouth first. Whether it be Latin, Italian, French, etc. 

     

    The Wing said:

    I'm a new learner of Russian and German at the moment, but I would love to be able to learn Chinese and Te Reo Maori, Nahuatl or Cree. Not for particularly cultural reasons - I just want to have a keen understanding of all the different ways a language can develop, and into what, and the most practical way to do that seems to be to explore real languages.

    Again, another German. I use to always to know Russian because when I was younger I was obsessed with their culture and history. "have a keen understanding of all the different ways a language can develop" that right was why I began to learn other languages besides Latin because I wanted to see how language and even words changed throughout the ages. 

    • 184 posts
    September 12, 2017 7:02 AM EDT

    My sister and I are both doing German courses, mainly because we find it funny. XD No offence meant to Germans; I make fun of English just as often for other specific reasons... *cough* English grammar is a bunch of excrement *cough* :I

    • 224 posts
    September 12, 2017 7:44 AM EDT

    I mean the English language was never solidified and is always changing those why the grammar rules for it is weird and somewhat still evolving. In the united states alone you have five or six different ways of speaking English plus when you add regional dialects it increases even more because Languages evolves and always has. I would always get in trouble for saying hisself when it should be himself, but if you look at grammar hisself would be correct. There is an episode of Adams Ruins Everything that explains this very well. 

    • 284 posts
    September 12, 2017 10:47 AM EDT

    I was always interested in Latin. I tried learning Italian (picked it as a subject in school) but I didn't get very far. It took me about 4 years to master english, altough I still make mistakes sometimes. I am also interested in Japanese (I like the culture) and also Chinese.