Which language?

hebrew. did you know the hebrew word for shower is "douche"?

The same's the case in French (la douche), and she already speaks that!

which is exactly my point, dear. *pat*

Oh.

Where's the Icelandic in there, Anatheme?!

I can't study Icelandic

Do you understand Latin? As a classicist, I should surely be putting that forth (even if I am disregarding your list in so doing)!

Lingua mortuus it may be, but it's very interesting (especially in terms of the culture and literature to which it would give you unmediated access). As a native French speaker, you're also in an excellent position in terms of the vocabulary, and, honestly, the grammar isn't as hard as some people may suggest. Once more, this wouldn't be a module choice and you most probably wouldn't be able to get lessons, but there are some excellent self-teaching books.

Actually, on second thoughts, I bet that you could take it as an "outside module". I seem to remember that there have been people on unrelated courses in my language classes. If you could do that, I've found that the classical language lectures and classes at Manchester have been pretty well organised (and don't seem to have quite the same problems that I remember you mentioning that your Russian and Arabic classes can have).

Obviously, you'd need to be interested in the language, but I just thought that I should mention it...

Right, so I'm trying to have a look at what I'd like to do next year and was thinking of doing a 3rd language module. My problem is my list of languages I want to learn is rather large and I'm having troubles deciding. I do not care about how much a language is useful (given that I'm already studying Russian, Arabic and can speak French and English, I believe I'll be fine), I just want a language that will be interesting and culturally challenging. The choice offered at my university is impressive, however, only 4 of them appeal to me.

I - Hebrew
Right, first, there's the alphabet. But as many already knows, the alphabet is often the easiest part of a foreign language, and having studied Greek and now doing Russian and Arabic, I'm pretty sure I can cope with another alphabet. It's a semitic language, and even if easier than Modern Standard Arabic, it's not a walk in the park in comparison with some other languages. However, I really love the sound of it and I have a genuine interest in the Middle East, so combined with Arabic, I'm sure it could give me a rather large knowledge (linguistically speaking) of the region.

II - German
I fell in love with German when I went to Germany for a week, two years ago. I know a couple of words like "hello" and "thank you", but that's about it. German has cases, though, and even if I'm now used to them, I'm a bit scared I'll get them confused with Russian. However, there are lots of similarities between the two languages and it may be easier when studied in English, given the common roots. It's also a country sharing a border with France and the language is of some interest if I want to work for the EU.

III - Portuguese
I studied Italian and speak French, so I'm pretty sure this one won't be as hard as the first two if I want to learn it. However, there's not that many levels offered by the university and I'm afraid it'll be packed with Portuguese people than can't speak it (as it seems to be the case for the degree course). It sounds a bit weird and even if I like it, I'm not quite sure the culture will interest me as much as for the other languages.

IV - Italian
Finally, Italian. I've studied it for 5 years, at school, didn't get a very good grade for my final exam and now, despite being able to understand and translate it quite easily, I can't really speak or write it at all. It'll deffo be easier than any other languages I could study and it'd mean that the workload wouldn't be too heavy. However, it isn't a new language for me and I kind of want to have a look at something else. The culture amazes me, I love their literature and history, and even if I've never been there, I'm pretty sure I'd love it.

Btw, no need to ask, I don't want to learn Spanish, I have no remote interest in the culture, I'm not a big fan of the way it sounds and despite wanting to go to Argentina, I'd rather have an original combination of languages, rather than just Spanish. It also applied for Catalan. Plus I think it wouldn't too difficult to learn it if I ever need it, so at the moment, I'm not considering it. I don't want to learn any Asian (as in Mandarin, Japanese, Urdu) language either, because I don't want to have to cope with something as difficult as what I'm doing right now and I don't have any particular interest in any of the cultures. Dutch and Turkish are out of the way too, I don't know any of them and I'm not sure I really want to, anyway. Polish and Greek are of no interest either, and well, that's pretty much all.

In the end, I think I'm more attracted to Hebrew and German as they're a bit more challenging for me than Portuguese and Italian. However, I don't know which one would be the less hassle given my current combination of languages, and there are some other things to be taken into account: German may be easy for English natives, but I'm French and it doesn't have much in common with German, so I'm guessing it won't be as easy for me as for English students that would be with me in the lessons. Also, I don't know which one would be the easiest to pronounce. Anyway, that's about it, so if you can help me, don't hesitate!

Sorry, a bit off topic, but what do you plan do to with a degree in Arabic and Russian? I'm interested in similar language combinations.

Thanks

don't you have enough on your plate already with Arabic and russian!?