what should be my choice?:learn 2 foreign language skillfully or learn 4 or 5 languages in a low level?

Question

due to explosion of information now adays and it's vast territory
there is no culture and language that can clain that it contains
all datas,information,sciences and we all need to each other's
knowledge when being wise.internet with the vast coverage ,
labs all over the world ,you know?
i am planning to study and improve my knowledge in the field of "history of science" beside my study and am exteremly feeling the lack of knowing some more foreign languages.
i need your valuable ideas.thank you all in advance.

Answer 1

I highly recomend learning French and Latin for your field of study. Higher education contains many, many, many French and Latin terms, so having a slight background there will be advantageous. A vocabulary of verbs and nouns will suffice for your purposes.

If you're talking about travelling, I suggest learning some basics in a few lanuages. You'll be able to get around in more places, and a basic understanding will be easier to build on (You'll pick up stuff when you go). Plus, Romantic languages build off each other. My French helps me with my Spanish, which helps me guess and stumble my way through Italian and Latin.

You should consider Chinese and a romantic language (Latin-based, Spanish being the most spoken) to start. Having a basic understanding of Arabic could come in handy in many ways as well. German is beneficial to improve your understanding of English, as English has Germanic roots.

Answer 2

1. Spanish 2. French 3. German 4. Italian 5. Japanese I'm from the U.S. so obivously English can't be considered a commonly studied foreign language. Language that are gaining a lot of learners here in my country however are Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. The govermnet issued a report a few years ago about critical languages that Americans need to know and Arabic and Mandarin were both at the top of the list. A few other languages that are government says are important to be learned are Hindi, Korean (mostly because of N. Korea), and Russian. I currently speak English, and Spanish, and Portuguese (although this one is the weakest of the bunch). I also have begun to learn Japanese and eventually want to move on to Arabic and Mandarin as well Hope this anwers you question.

Answer 3

I'm not sure, but regardless of what you decide, I'd recommend a new service called Livemocha:
http://www.livemocha.com

From what I've seen, it covers most of what you're after and, best part, it's FREE. Good luck!

Here's the marketing email I got from them:
If you're learning a new language, you'll see immediately how Livemocha is different:
• Enroll in Courses: With our fun and holistic online language courses you'll develop all the skills and confidence to begin conversing with native speakers.
• Make Friends: The Livemocha community is full of friendly, like-minded, and motivated language learners looking to practice their skills. Don't be shy - introduce yourself and start practicing!
• Receive Tips from Native Speakers: Have your speaking and writing submissions reviewed and scored by native speakers. They will rate their proficiency, give you tips for improvement, and help you meet your language-learning goals.
• Stay Motivated: Learning a new language is tough! Track your weekly goals, earn points for completing exercises, and compare your progress with that of your friends for some friendly competition.

Answer 4

It depends on the demands of your field of interest.
I think you need to have to master and focus one common (universal) language aside from your native language and learn many other languages little by little.

Consider English as the one to be mastered since it is much used in the Internet. It has also lot of resource materials to study.

I think having good English will not put you inferior with the others.

Answer 5

English is (or used to be) the most used language of commerce ... I believe it does really pay to know it well ...of course, it's the only language I know ... many scientists were more fluent in German or Russian ... the fast start would be to learn a few languages at a low level. the more thorough approach would be to learn one at a time from the roots up ... takes more time ... but your knowledge has a better chance of being accurate ... I guess it boils down to what you want most ...

Answer 6

I would say that it depends on the languages you learn. If you could learn one romance language, then you'll have an easier time understand the basics of the others. Maybe you could even try a Sino-Tibetan one. I have less knowledge of those, but learning other languages isn't always that hard if you want to.
I admire you for your desire learn!