Hi I am an English university student and would like some advice regards to which new language I should start learning over summer. I am currently studying Spanish and already know the language at a pretty advanced level and also have a post A level knowlege in both Italian and portuguese and a basic knowledge of gujarati from my boyfriend. Now I would like to learn a language different from the romance family group that is useful job wise that doesnt take too long to master but is also the language of (a)country/countries that are rich in culture and beauty. I am trying to decide between Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Greek and Turkish. Please feel free to suggest any others that you feel are interesting and different.
2007-05-26 03:32:58 · 12 answers · asked by halo 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Spanish , Start with an online program and books , like check http://www.learnspanish.co.nr , the best thing is you get so much programs , books , and audio stuff , its so helpful
Good luck
2007-05-29 02:01:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Before I answer your question I just want to say that I think it's really cool that you are taking the time to learn foreign languages. A lot of English speakers feel there's no need to bother learning another language since so many people are already learning English. But I too enjoy learning foreign languages. I'm majoring in Spanish, but also am teaching myself Portuguese with plans to learn French and Japanese.
Well, if you plan on picking out a language based on ease of learning then I think that Greek would be your best bet out of the bunch. Once you learn the basics of the writing system there are no tricks or suprises in terms of writing. It has an alphabet just like English. Mandarin on the other hand is based on symbols so you would have to memorize thousand upon thousand in order to be considered fluent. Plus much of English vocab has been taken from Greek so you will se some similarities there.
If you want to learn a language based on need however then I would say learn either Mandarin or Arabic. While both of these languages will likely be a lot harder than Greek the amount of jobs you can find using one of these two will be more abundant. Plus Arabic and Mandarin Chinese both have far greater numbers of speakers than Greek so you will be able to converse with many more people.
So, if you are learning a language based on ease and for the simple fact that you enjoy learning go with Greek. If you are trying to learn one for your career go with Chinese or Arabic. Whatever you choose though have fun and enjoy it.
Good Luck
2007-05-26 07:58:25 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hindi, since Mandarin is a bit more difficult to learn and has lesser aplication in countries other than China. WIthin 20 yrs India and China will become the key players in world economy. India will have more interactions with the foriegn countries due to its service oriented development compared to China where the development is more on the industrial and production areas. Your Hindi will be useful later in your life. Go for it.
2007-05-26 04:08:17 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mandarin will probably be very practical in coming years, that might be a very good choice. I found Japanese enjoyable to learn, that too is practical. Arabic could also be very useful. Congratulations on having a good mind for languages, I wish I did!
2007-05-26 03:40:35 · answer #4 · answered by jxt299 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
let me tel you that mandarin chinese won't take little time.. i've tried to learn it for 11 years and still can't master that.. it's so difficult.. good luck if you'll do that.. chinese, arabic and hindi use characters that are not alphabets... this would be hard for you i guess.... they do use alphabets but their main writings are in characters that you'll need to learn... and for chinese, there is NO chinese alphabets...
for example, in hidi, there are hindi alphabets and you'll still be able to read something by reading the alphabets but for chinese you'll have to know all the characters to be able to read everything and understanding everything.
2007-05-26 05:50:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mandarin, that's the language of the future.
2007-05-26 07:14:57 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Greek or Chinese.....(Turkish---awful language)
2007-05-29 12:11:58 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
arabic!!!
<3 =D
mandarin is spoken by the most people in the world...but its soooo hard, believe me!! arabic is the second most popular in that list and is pretty easy i think. (maybe i'm being a bit biased cause i speak it..)
2007-05-28 23:55:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think Persian would be much better than Turkish.
2007-05-26 08:21:50 · answer #9 · answered by Sara 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
French, its very uselful and kinda similar to english so u can learn it easily
2007-05-26 03:40:56 · answer #10 · answered by Funky Monkey 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋