[leahnic]

Well I'm English and want to learn a new language

I'm wondering what people think would be the most useful to learn in the modern age?

I pick up languages pretty quick (I was nearly fluent in German and french after a year, but have forgotten a lot because I didn't keep studying)

But, I really think it'd help me in the future to have a second language

So, what's the most useful?


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[porcelainwhite]

Mandarin and Spanish.

[CintiaMarina]

Portuguese

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Why the negs people? Even though it's the most gramatically difficult language to learn, it's quite a catch!
Meh, sod you lot
#Portuguese'n'Proud!

[super_kawaii]

Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi

[boumavilla]

Spanish will grow in the future as it is widely spoken.

[_becca]

Mandarin

[Einheri]

Icelandic.

[JaguarCello]

I do Spanish and French (and Latin) and have taught myself conversational Russian, Hungarian, Dutch, Irish and German, and a small amount of Welsh.

I think French in a way because it is many peoples' second language - although Latin is surprisingly useful! In Romania I used it because obviously Romanian is a Romance language, but I didn't know any Romanian, and people knew Latin!

But yes, French.

[Olive12]

You should start French again and then maybe a language that's become more useful like Mandarin

[Pinkool14]

Spanish......It's in the top 3 most spoken language in the world

[TheHansa]

Mandarin
Arabic
Russian
Hindi

End of

[Electronica]

I want to learn Norwegian. Such a cool language.

But that just goes to show, it's really down to personal preference.

[Ra Ra Ra]

(Original post by Electronica)
I want to learn Norwegian. Such a cool language.

But that just goes to show, it's really down to personal preference.

Me too! I bought a CD of key phrases and everything

(I want to live in Norway, though, and the fact that it sounds so lovely - like German, but softer. Bonus in that it's a hell of a lot easier to learn than other languages. In the end it's what you want, OP. Do you want a language to broaden career prospects or a language for the sole purpose of learning one?)

[Electronica]

(Original post by Ra Ra Ra)
Me too! I bought a CD of key phrases and everything

(I want to live in Norway, though, and the fact that it sounds so lovely - like German, but softer. Bonus in that it's a hell of a lot easier to learn than other languages. In the end it's what you want, OP. Do you want a language to broaden career prospects or a language for the sole purpose of learning one?)

Ah, lykke til!

I think I will find a class when I start university.

[Gales]

French is also expected to have 600 million speakers by 2050, so French is still a very useful language.

[21stcenturyphantom]

Oh here we go again. The best language to learn is the one YOU find most interesting. There is no point simply looking at wikipedia tables for total speakers per language and deciding it on that. Sure, Hindi is widely spoken. Do you want to learn Hindi? No, well then you will not learn it. It is pointless choosing to learn a language solely for economic purposes, as if you have no interest in the culture, language or country then you will not learn it. You have to ask yourself; which language do I find the most intriguing, the most appealing? Whose history/literature/culture/customs am I most interested in? How hard would it be to learn? Do I have the dedication/commitment to maintain regularly study? There is no answer to this question, and just quoting total speaker numbers as a prerequisite to a languages usefulness is a ridiculous notion.

[leahnic]

Well, I love languages and I'm interested in learning the one that will benefit me the most in the future, no point in learning say, Arabic, because I'll never have a real use for it in my career choice.

I'm thinking something either European or an Asian language

I started to teach myself Japanese for a while, which went pretty well, but got too bogged down learning French, German and Japanese all at the same time

[KickingKat88]

(Original post by leahnic)
Well I'm English and want to learn a new language

I'm wondering what people think would be the most useful to learn in the modern age?

I pick up languages pretty quick (I was nearly fluent in German and french after a year, but have forgotten a lot because I didn't keep studying)

But, I really think it'd help me in the future to have a second language

So, what's the most useful?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Spanish, it's beautiful. Otherwise, Greek or Arabic.

[xmarilynx]

(Original post by leahnic)
I pick up languages pretty quick (I was nearly fluent in German and french after a year, but have forgotten a lot because I didn't keep studying)

I find this very hard to believe.

[rach2012x]

I think mandarin chinese because it's the most widely spoken language in the world.