What language to learn?

[Sam the Wiser]

I had a teacher that would always go on about how we should be teaching the children Chinese. Since they be the up and coming big market according to him.

[Deleted]

Assuming he's Latvian, I'm not sure how marketable any Asian language can be. As a translator/interpreter, it's extremely unusual to work with two non-native languages at the same time. In a conference setting, for instance, people prefer to do relay interpreting when there's an exotic language combination with no L2>L1 interpreters available. In translation, it just isn't going to happen, ever.

[Reeve]

Japanese has less clarity of word due to their limited vocal pronunciation. Mandarin has more vocal pronunciation and they have pitching of words too, hence better clarity. Naturally, Mandarin has more Kanji/Hanzi. However, most of the pronunciation would be rather similar with different left or "Zi pang" which sometimes can hint the context.

Snorlax, maybe you can help me. I've been wondering how different Mandarin/Cantonese/Shanghainese are from each other. Is it like the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, where there are clearly lots of different words, but the sound is similar enough that a Portuguese speaker can clearly understand a Spanish Speaker? Or is it more like the difference between Louisiana English and Scottish English, where the language is the same, but has lots of different pronunciation/slang? Or is it totally different with some similarities like French and Spanish?

[Taurenburger]

Portuguese. Also, get your German and Spanish fixed.

[Deleted]

Italian, no reason, I just love the language <3

[Thelxi]

I'd perfect german and spanish first. French is also a useful language.

[Reeve]

Portuguese. Also, get your German and Spanish fixed.

Ewwww Portuguese. Portuguese es solo espanol mala fallada. It's just not as common as Spanish, yet can understand Spanish, so why would you choose Portuguese? Yeah, Brazil is a major up and coming market, but if you ever needed to go there, you could learn the Portuguese on the fly using your Spanish.

[Deleted]

I'd recommend getting fluent in Spanish because it's an easy language to master (I know from experience) and I think it's one of the top 5 spoken languages in the world.

[Shâréz]

I'd increase your skills in Russian and Spanish first, followed by German, before you learn another new language. Probably easier to get fluent in those since you've already got some understanding of it.

As for Scandinavian languages, don't bother unless you plan on working or living in any of the three countries. It's nice to be able to speak the languages, but almost everyone understands and speaks English.

[semaphore]

Japanese has less clarity of word due to their limited vocal pronunciation. Mandarin has more vocal pronunciation and they have pitching of words too, hence better clarity. Naturally, Mandarin has more Kanji/Hanzi. However, most of the pronunciation would be rather similar with different left or "Zi pang" which sometimes can hint the context.

Not a whole lot more though, the number of characters needed to be functional in daily life (read newspaper) is more or less around the same ballpark figure.

[Deleted]

I have considered translating for EU but I don't see that happening in the near future. I am only 23 now, need way more experience. Any other public institution or private sector would be less stressful imo. Well, so far I guess becoming fluent in Spanish and then German would be a wise choice while slowly learning Norwegian (just in case).

[Deleted]

do you want some challenge? Italian

does not matter how good you speak it, you won't understand what most people say

But then you can just move your hands and be quiet, and everyone will understand you

[Aqua]

I'd go for Mandarin (standard), very handy to know given the percentage of people on this planet who speak it.


3 handiest languages to know: English, Spanish, Chinese.


If you want to learn a language for fun though... Japanese.
Swedish is borrrring, plus there's no fun in knowing it outside of Sweden, no one cares. (Half Brit Half Swede here)

[semaphore]

Snorlax, maybe you can help me. I've been wondering how different Mandarin/Cantonese/Shanghainese are from each other.

If I may intrude, were I to hazard a guess (since I don't actually know Dutch...) I'd say it's about the difference between Dutch and English.

Is it like the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, where there are clearly lots of different words, but the sound is similar enough that a Portuguese speaker can clearly understand a Spanish Speaker?

Definitely not.

Or is it more like the difference between Louisiana English and Scottish English, where the language is the same, but has lots of different pronunciation/slang? Or is it totally different with some similarities like French and Spanish?

French and Spanish aren't totally different though =P

[Lazy Gecko]

Portugese will definitely give you an edge as Brazil is growing into an economic giant, but few within the mainstream acknowledge this trend.

[Reeve]

If I may intrude, were I to hazard a guess (since I don't actually know Dutch...) I'd say it's about the difference between Dutch and English.


Definitely not.


French and Spanish aren't totally different though =P

True, but they're different enough that a French Speaker wouldn't understand a Spanish Speaker without a lot of effort. To me, French is as different from Spanish as English is different from Spanish.

[SnorlaxJeng]

Snorlax, maybe you can help me. I've been wondering how different Mandarin/Cantonese/Shanghainese are from each other. Is it like the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, where there are clearly lots of different words, but the sound is similar enough that a Portuguese speaker can clearly understand a Spanish Speaker? Or is it more like the difference between Louisiana English and Scottish English, where the language is the same, but has lots of different pronunciation/slang? Or is it totally different with some similarities like French and Spanish?

Taking my previous example. 勉強.
Mandarin = Mian Qiang
Cantonese (Hong Kong) = Min Keong (Total Different Dialect)
Hokkien (Taiwan) = Can't quite recall it (Total Different Dialect)
Shanghainese = Mian Qiang (Think it more as a Scottish/Texan accent/slang)

There are if I'm not mistaken more than 10 more dialects which, if spoken to me, I would have no understanding whatsoever. But basically you should be able to live in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan with Mandarin. To blend in you would need to speak their dialect. And it's funny that Japanese borrows the Kanji pronunciation from the many Chinese dialects.

[FathomFear]

Portugese will definitely give you an edge as Brazil is growing into an economic giant, but few within the mainstream acknowledge this trend.

I'm Canadian and have been taking the Portuguese lessons on DuoLingo. I mostly want to learn it because the language just sounds nice to me aesthetically.

[semaphore]

True, but they're different enough that a French Speaker wouldn't understand a Spanish Speaker without a lot of effort. To me, French is as different from Spanish as English is different from Spanish.

Yeah, the Southern and Northern "dialects" of Chinese are mutually unintelligible like that.

[Forfax]

True, but they're different enough that a French Speaker wouldn't understand a Spanish Speaker without a lot of effort. To me, French is as different from Spanish as English is different from Spanish.

I'm french myself , I have a few Spanish friends that i hang out with , they sometime speak Spanish to each other , if i concentrate enough i can understand most of what they're saying.