Best language to learn?

[Rhythm Thief]

Hmmm, no idea. Giz a clue.

 

[mr_hippo]

Well done! I'm dead impressed.

Nobody's got me sig yet though. It's been over a week and it's dead easy too.

No Googlecheating though!

Without searching - Steely Dan's 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number'

 

[Dave5N]

Without searching - Steely Dan's 'Rikki Don't Lose That Number'

Yes! Told you it was easy!

 

[Dave5N]

Time for a new one.

 

[mickle]

You should learn Chichewa, second language of Malawi. I'll get you started.

Bicycle Mutetwe; 'Mulebwange!'
Monday Mzuzu; 'Mulebwange. Tilebwino kyeno?'
Bicycle; 'Tilebwino, zikomo.
Monday; 'Zikomo kwanbini Bambo'.
Bicycle; 'Machendi aku eway'!!

 

[Andy in Sig]

Come on!! Spanish sounds barbaric ?? German sounds barbaric!.The Romans called the Germanic tribes barbarians for a reason. Spain was a part of the Roman Empire then.

Well that's an interesting proposition. Romans hear the Germans beyond the Limes and say "Ooh I don't like the sound of that, best call them barbarians."

I'm afraid that my purely subjective reaction to Spanish is that it is a horrible language full of petty cruelty. They seem to do disgusting things in their throats. It's probably the Arabic influence.

German on the other hand is solid and well structured and I particularly like southern German accents. A girl from, say, Regensburg would only have to read the phone book to me and I would be in seventh heaven.

Er ... you're not Spanish by any chance, are you?

 

[davidwalton]

So, the best language to learn is English it seems?

 

[Andy in Sig]

Perhaps but seeing as we've all already done that, it seems only reasonable to consider a second language otherwise matters foreign would never get a look in.

 

[davidwalton]

Perhaps but seeing as we've all already done that, it seems only reasonable to consider a second language otherwise matters foreign would never get a look in.

Many still appear to be learning English, including me though

I do still remember some German from when I was living in Germany years ago, but only good enough in a bar now probably

 

[yello]

My sister speaks Maori. She learnt it at school.

I'm in the process of learning French as it's kind of useful around here. I speak a little Spanish and have found that in equal measure both useful (grammar) and annoying (vocab - the Spanish words sometimes leap forward before the French ones!).

I would say French is slightly trickier than Spanish grammar wise, Spanish seems more regular in it's conjugations. But you can guess a number of French words using your knowledge of English, the origins being the same. It's often just a question of accent. Damned annoying thing is though, whilst the words maybe the same, the meanings may be slightly different!

I remember Ron Atkinson saying of Spanish, something like <it's just the posh words in English with an 'o' on the end>! Not so far from the truth!

What I am finding, in all seriousness, is that the French you learn is a different beast to that that is actually spoken by some French people! I can understand (-ish!) the news on the tv and radio, and get by with a lot of people but some of the locals... not a chance! Whether it's accent or dialect (or both!), I don't know but there are some people around here that I honestly have no clue what they are saying!

 

[Andy in Sig]

A linguistics lecturer told me recently that the Academie Francaise has effectively frozen French at some time in the 17th (if I remember correctly) century but the spoken language has tended to go on developing at something like a natural rate hence the dichotomy - and that's without even considering dialect, accent etc.

 

[Melvil]

My sister speaks Maori. She learnt it at school.

I'm in the process of learning French as it's kind of useful around here. I speak a little Spanish and have found that in equal measure both useful (grammar) and annoying (vocab - the Spanish words sometimes leap forward before the French ones!).

I would say French is slightly trickier than Spanish grammar wise, Spanish seems more regular in it's conjugations. But you can guess a number of French words using your knowledge of English, the origins being the same. It's often just a question of accent. Damned annoying thing is though, whilst the words maybe the same, the meanings may be slightly different!

I remember Ron Atkinson saying of Spanish, something like <it's just the posh words in English with an 'o' on the end>! Not so far from the truth!

What I am finding, in all seriousness, is that the French you learn is a different beast to that that is actually spoken by some French people! I can understand (-ish!) the news on the tv and radio, and get by with a lot of people but some of the locals... not a chance! Whether it's accent or dialect (or both!), I don't know but there are some people around here that I honestly have no clue what they are saying!

That's interesting - if you don't mind me asking, what bit of France do you live in?

 

[yello]

I live around 100km NNE of Limoges. The area is known as the Berrichon. It's also the name of the local dialect and, I am told, is the French equivalent of Geordie! 'Mother tongue' French speakers struggle with it too so I'm in good company!

I have since discovered that French, as a language, is relatively new and different regions of France still speak their centuries old language/dialects - Berrichon being just one. Much like Spanish is Castilian (as mentioned earlier) and not the native tongue of Andulucia, Galicia, etc. I remember when the realities of this hit home - in a pensione in Orense around 20 years ago. It was late, I was tired and the brain had stopped - I asked "hablas ingles?"... "no" came the reply "hablas gallego?". Fair enough, I thought, we'll speak (Castillian) Spanish.

 

[Melvil]

I live around 100km NNE of Limoges. The area is known as the Berrichon. It's also the name of the local dialect and, I am told, is the French equivalent of Geordie! 'Mother tongue' French speakers struggle with it too so I'm in good company!

I have since discovered that French, as a language, is relatively new and different regions of France still speak their centuries old language/dialects - Berrichon being just one. Much like Spanish is Castilian (as mentioned earlier) and not the native tongue of Andulucia, Galicia, etc. I remember when the realities of this hit home - in a pensione in Orense around 20 years ago. It was late, I was tired and the brain had stopped - I asked "hablas ingles?"... "no" came the reply "hablas gallego?". Fair enough, I thought, we'll speak (Castillian) Spanish.

Ah, I see. Yes, the Spanish really are into their regional variations. I remember going into a tourist information office in the Catalonian town of Figueres - we were only in there about ten minutes but somehow the conversation strayed upon regional independence - the tourist information woman exhorted us - as Scots - to fight the yoke of London and seal the borders, as they were trying to do with the hated central government in Madrid. 'Yes, you might be right,' I eventually said, 'but, really, we only wanted to know how to get to the park'.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Holidaying in Spain some year ago it was very apparent that I needed to learn some of the language. We ended up lost near Gibralter and stopped to ask directions. The chap we asked spoke no English, and conversely I spoke no Spanish... we did meet up in German though and managed to get directions back to the main road.

I keep telling myself I'll learn Spanish because, as someone has already said, it opens up quite an array of places a bit further afield.

Is it too late for a New Years Resolution?