Best language to learn?

I have a lot of spare time and can only speak English. I've been thinking about learning a new language :smile:

I wanted to learn something different like Greek, Russian, Egyptian etc, but although that would be cool, it wouldn't be practical.

French is too common, and i like German. However, i've just read that French and Italian are easier than German. Now i'm confused :P

Which would you recommend me learning? I love Italy but i'm not sure about the language. I have a French friend and it would be cool to learn her language, and i did like it when i did GCSE's (i've forgotten everything now though), but for some reason i want to learn German. It is the most unsexy language as my friend pointed out, but it's different. Well, more so than Italian and French.

What's the easiest?

Reply 1

username1305705

10

Original post by snowystarks

I have a lot of spare time and can only speak English. I've been thinking about learning a new language :smile:

I wanted to learn something different like Greek, Russian, Egyptian etc, but although that would be cool, it wouldn't be practical.

French is too common, and i like German. However, i've just read that French and Italian are easier than German. Now i'm confused :P

Which would you recommend me learning? I love Italy but i'm not sure about the language. I have a French friend and it would be cool to learn her language, and i did like it when i did GCSE's (i've forgotten everything now though), but for some reason i want to learn German. It is the most unsexy language as my friend pointed out, but it's different. Well, more so than Italian and French.

What's the easiest?

Well, I'm Italian, and believe me, the grammar is really difficult for a Brit xD I've studied French but, because of bad experiences with teachers, I sort of hate it right now lol (I'm forgetting it very quickly).
German, on the other hand, is the most accessible language imo for someone who speaks English. You will find that many words are similar (Vater, Mutter, Tochter, etc. - father, mother, daughter, etc.), the grammar is organised in a logical way and tends to repeat some structures :smile:

I didn't find it that difficult at all, despite common stereotypes!
The pronunciation is not too difficult, it doesn't take too long to get used to it :smile:

I'd say go for German, it sounds like it's the language that interests you more anyway :smile:

If you like, you can PM me to ask about Italian - I can give you some examples of what it's like! :h:

Reply 2

snowystarks

OP

12

Original post by Heimdallr33

Well, I'm Italian, and believe me, the grammar is really difficult for a Brit xD I've studied French but, because of bad experiences with teachers, I sort of hate it right now lol (I'm forgetting it very quickly).
German, on the other hand, is the most accessible language imo for someone who speaks English. You will find that many words are similar (Vater, Mutter, Tochter, etc. - father, mother, daughter, etc.), the grammar is organised in a logical way and tends to repeat some structures :smile:

I didn't find it that difficult at all, despite common stereotypes!
The pronunciation is not too difficult, it doesn't take too long to get used to it :smile:

I'd say go for German, it sounds like it's the language that interests you more anyway :smile:

If you like, you can PM me to ask about Italian - I can give you some examples of what it's like! :h:

Thank you! I was just thinking about going to French but i'll try German and see how it goes :smile:

And maybe i'll spend a day listening to Italian to see if i've made the right choice :P

Reply 3

username1305705

10

Original post by snowystarks

Thank you! I was just thinking about going to French but i'll try German and see how it goes :smile:

And maybe i'll spend a day listening to Italian to see if i've made the right choice :P

That's a good idea! Good luck then :smile:

Reply 4

CharlieTT

4

In this world, it would be useful to learn Chinese. Although both forms of Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) are pretty complex and you'll have to learn a completely different writing style too. I'd go with Spanish as that is the third most spoken language in the world.

Reply 5

Mackay

17

I think German is the easiest language to learn for Brits personally.

Reply 6

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

19

Original post by snowystarks

I have a lot of spare time and can only speak English. I've been thinking about learning a new language :smile:

I wanted to learn something different like Greek, Russian, Egyptian etc, but although that would be cool, it wouldn't be practical.

French is too common, and i like German. However, i've just read that French and Italian are easier than German. Now i'm confused :P

Which would you recommend me learning? I love Italy but i'm not sure about the language. I have a French friend and it would be cool to learn her language, and i did like it when i did GCSE's (i've forgotten everything now though), but for some reason i want to learn German. It is the most unsexy language as my friend pointed out, but it's different. Well, more so than Italian and French.

What's the easiest?

Id learn spanish.
It will be a useful as there are quite a few countries who speak spanish (as well as spain), for example all countries in south america speak spanish- except brazil who speak portugese.
Also if you learn spanish- it might make it easier for you to go on and learn portugese, as portugese is similar to spanish.

Reply 7

ruti_p

Not too sure about German. I'm Austrian and I can tell you that I know many people who found it extremely difficult to learn our language haha. I think easiest would be Spanish or Italian, that makes the understanding of those languages much easier :smile:

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Reply 8

Asolare

20

German is not easy grammar-wise. I assure you out of French and German you will spend a lottttt longer learning German grammar as their system is far more complex and involves 4 grammatical cases (which will have you going "whoa what the..." when you first encounter them). Their word order is also fairly different to English and you will spend a lot of time learning the different adjectival endings/definite articles/indefinite articles/personal pronouns etc.

If you want a small example there are 16 different combinations of saying "the" in German:
________ Masculine Feminine Neutral Plural
Nominative ....Der.........Die.......Das.....Die
Accusative ....Den........Die.......Das.....Die
Dative ..........Dem........Der.......Dem....Den
Genitive ........Des.........Der.......Des.....Der

The same table can be applied (with different words) for saying "a", "this", adjective endings, relative pronouns etc.

There are also a huge number of prepositions to learn and forming the plural is ridiculous. You will also have to consider the various forms of German - Swiss German, Austrian German and also learning the words that are used in Southern Germany (e.g. Grüß Gott ) but not in Northern Germany.

However, I know the French language has an insane number of tenses + moods. Someone from a different forum can help me explain this;

E.g. take the verb 'to buy', we only have to remember 'buy', 'buys' and 'bought' whereas in French they have to know achète, achètes, achetons, achetez, achètent, acheté, achetai, achetas, acheta, achetâmes, achetâtes, achetèrent, achetais, achetait, achetions, achetiez, achetaient, achèterai, achèteras, achètera, achèterons, achèterez, achèteront, achèterais, achèterait, achèterions, achèteriez, achèteraient, achetasse, achetasses, achetât, achetassions, achetassiez, achetassent... and more..........

--
I'm sorry I've just made both languages sound terrible haha! People are correct in saying that German vocabulary is very similar to that of English (I sometimes say German words in my sentences instead :frown:

) and once you understand how they word their sentences, it should start becoming a lot easier for you. The main benefit of German over French is their lack of tenses - "I go" and "I am going" are the same thing, there are also only 2 forms of past tense in which one is only used in written speech.

However, I still find the German language beautiful. It's one I'm absolutely determined to become proficient in and I would recommend it over French, but then I'm being bias.

If you want an "easy" language, Esperanto (auxillary language) is meant to be one of the easiest.

Reply 9

goldenfish

15

Original post by snowystarks

I have a lot of spare time and can only speak English. I've been thinking about learning a new language :smile:

I wanted to learn something different like Greek, Russian, Egyptian etc, but although that would be cool, it wouldn't be practical.

French is too common, and i like German. However, i've just read that French and Italian are easier than German. Now i'm confused :P

Which would you recommend me learning? I love Italy but i'm not sure about the language. I have a French friend and it would be cool to learn her language, and i did like it when i did GCSE's (i've forgotten everything now though), but for some reason i want to learn German. It is the most unsexy language as my friend pointed out, but it's different. Well, more so than Italian and French.

What's the easiest?

Just learn Korean, problem solved :pierre:

Reply 10

jord089

7

I started using a free app called Duolingo it is really good i am leaning Spanish

Reply 11

snowystarks

OP

12

Original post by jord089

I started using a free app called Duolingo it is really good i am leaning Spanish

I've started Duolingo too :biggrin:

French for me...

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Reply 12

jord089

7

Original post by snowystarks

I've started Duolingo too :biggrin:

French for me...

Posted from TSR Mobile

That's cool ,I wish they had some other ones like Thai or Japanese or something that would be great :biggrin:

Reply 13

Swanbow

19

German is easy up till a certain point. Perfecting the grammatical rules can get a bit cumbersome.

Easiest for an English speaker is meant to be Dutch/Afrikaans.

Reply 14

ryan9900

18

If you ever fancy a career with NASA, Russian would be useful bordering mandatory. If you don't want a career with NASA (probably guessing you don't) then Russian wouldn't be largely useful of practical unless you were thinking of going there for an extended period of time. Other European languages like Spanish, German and French are probably easiest and still somewhat practical.

Reply 15

Sir Fox

18

German is cool and I recommend it. Because it's my mother tongue :biggrin:

Italian is not very useful outside Italy (damn Italians didn't manage to establish a colonial empire and lost the little they had), but absolutely beautiful and full of passion.

Reply 16

jord089

7

If Anyone is on Duolingo add me on it jord089 is my name on it :biggrin:

Original post by snowystarks

I've started Duolingo too :biggrin:

French for me...

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Reply 17

matthewslemaster

Italian language is easy to learn and study. You as your wish. :smile:

Reply 18

captainquofi

Original post by snowystarks

I have a lot of spare time and can only speak English. I've been thinking about learning a new language :smile:

I wanted to learn something different like Greek, Russian, Egyptian etc, but although that would be cool, it wouldn't be practical.

French is too common, and i like German. However, i've just read that French and Italian are easier than German. Now i'm confused :P

Which would you recommend me learning? I love Italy but i'm not sure about the language. I have a French friend and it would be cool to learn her language, and i did like it when i did GCSE's (i've forgotten everything now though), but for some reason i want to learn German. It is the most unsexy language as my friend pointed out, but it's different. Well, more so than Italian and French.

What's the easiest?

i think Spanish is coolll