I'm going to learn both languages eventually (for fun) but don't know which one to start with, so humour me and vote BUT give a reason for your opinion. The best-argued answer gets the 10 points, but can't guarantee it'll have any major bearing on my decision.
In case you find it relevant - I'm Norwegian, live in Spain but will probably be moving to the UK this fall, and have taken some German in school so along with the similarities between Norwegian and Dutch that makes Dutch a much easier language to learn for me (besides the obvious fact that Hungarian is different to any language I know)... But I'm torn between the exotic and the familiar.
2006-06-25 00:16:13 · 12 answers · asked by _jellybaby 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Just so it's clear, I'm not really looking for usefulness here, I mostly learn languages because I love learning them - but if it's useful too then that's cool. Not a requirement but a plus, I suppose, but there's always something kinda charming about learning a language that will be totally useless to me but learning anyway simply because I love it.
2006-06-25 00:21:54 · update #1
thinker bell - just looking for a more-or-less educated opinion and reasons why I should choose either language, for and against. But in the end the decision is mine - I will take the serious advice I get into account.
I'm getting used to getting random rants like yours as answers here, so decided to put in a little disclaimer about what kind of answer will get the 10 points, to see if that would help. Congratulations on wasting a minute or two judging without reason. Have a nice day.
2006-06-25 00:34:25 · update #2
Ok, you are going to learn eventually, so there is no point in convincing you you shouldn't learn Dutch or Hungarian.
Perhaps surprising for a Dutch person I would recommend you to start with Hungarian. You already know some German and speak Norwegian, so learning Dutch should be easier for you than learning Hungarian.
In order to be able to speak both languages well, you would need to invest more time in learning Hungarian. So start with that one and save Dutch for later - after all, they say that the younger you are the better you are able to learn a new language.
2006-06-29 12:41:21 · answer #1 · answered by lambada 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Since you are speaker of English, Dutch will be easier to start with. Much grammar and vocabulary will be easier for you. Hungarian is not related to English, so the grammar is very different and the vocabulary will be quite unfamiliar. For example, in Dutch you would say "ik breek" for "I am breaking" and "ik brak" for "I broke". The words are similar and the way to make past tense is the same by changing the vowel. "I have broken" is "ik heb gebroken". Again similar by using the auxiliary verb "have/hebben" to make the perfect. But in Hungarian, "I stand" is "én állok" but "I stood" is "én álltam"; "I see a dog" is "én látok kutyát" but "I see the dog" is "én látom a kutyát". The conjugation of the verb changes depending on whether the direct object is definite or not. Dutch uses prepositions like "in Haarlem" (that's Dutch, not English, BTW), but in Hungarian the same is expressed by postpositions "Haarlemben". Start with Dutch and then move to Hungarian.
EDIT: By the way, there are many more languages than just Finnish related to Hungarian--Estonian, Lapp, Mordvin, and the other two dozen Uralic languages.
2006-06-25 07:26:59 · answer #2 · answered by Taivo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hungarian is definitely more “exotic” than the languages you’ve been studying so far, so that is an argument for it.
For Dutch, I would say it’s better because when you learn a language you also get to know about much of her culture. Regarding your residency, the Netherlands is more accessible and they have a wealthier country.
2006-06-26 02:50:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Learn Hungarian.
I think you can learn a lot more about how languages work and the beauty & diversity of language itself by learning languages that are in no way related to your own.
I took a course in Non-Indo-European Lingustics and even though I recall basically nothing about the languages we studied (There were Turkish, Swahili, and Somali--I think I'm forgetting one or two) I came out of the course impressed with the variety of it all.
2006-06-25 07:54:18 · answer #4 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm going to say Hungarian. Hungarian is very different so it would make you more diverse. Saying "I speak Dutch" in English doesn't really impress anyone, but, on the other hand, saying "I speak Hungarian" in any language, impresses ANYONE!
2006-06-25 09:20:35 · answer #5 · answered by estperfatum 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Dutch would be easier, quicker & probably more enjoyable.
To be truly exotic, why not learn a non-Indo-European language that uses a different orthography. e.g. Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic. This will really exercise your linguistic abilities.
2006-06-25 07:38:07 · answer #6 · answered by J9 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Dutch is better because it is sorta like english, they're related languages so the it is easier to learn them.
2006-06-25 08:25:50 · answer #7 · answered by JepJep92 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
not only you are saying you dont give a ### about the advise you are going to get you also so busy telling about yourslef those wonderfull stories that I have to say: learn dutch so you can go to amsterdam and smoke some weed and be less busy with your ego trip
2006-06-25 07:24:24 · answer #8 · answered by thinker bell 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I couldn't tell you which would be better to know.
but the only language related to hungarian is finnish. no one knows how or why.
2006-06-25 07:19:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know
2006-07-06 10:12:12 · answer #10 · answered by Koken 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋