Which foreign language is difficult to learn and speak?

Which language should I learn to speak?

  • 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:

    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!

Hardev S at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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Other answers

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.

moon light

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.

Wax Crayon

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.

kerangoumar

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.

roxya153

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.

cityexplorer

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.

BlackHawk

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

sam l

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

Inugurl3

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.

wool s

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