Quote: (06-07-2014 07:22 PM)fokker Wrote:
There are quite a few languages I want to learn:
* Indonesian
* Serbo-Croatian
* Bulgarian
* Hebrew
I'm not sure which one I should do first, so am reaching out to other RVFers for their advice.
Do you have a specific reason for learning one of these languages? If you're not planning to move to the countries in which they are spoken or work as a translator, I would not recommend them until you have already mastered a second language.
German
I have a degree in this language. Many people recommend German because English is a "Germanic language" and German should, therefore, be "easy to learn." Nothing could be further from the truth. It is, like any foreign language, difficult to learn. I would also argue that because of the heavy influence the Romance languages have had on English, that Spanish would be easier (and more useful) than German for a native English speaker to learn.
Also, English penetration in the German-speaking countries is high so speaking German will at best be a novelty and probably won't help you get laid or paid.
Russian
This would be an excellent choice. Russian is the langua franca of the ex-USSR states. If you are interested in working in the oil and gas industry, Russian would be useful.
Be aware that Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet (not that hard to learn) and that, although it is an Indo-European language, it has fewer cognates in common with English than German, French or Spanish. This is the language I'm working on.
Spanish
Not sure why you skipped Spanish. If I could go back in time, this would my first foreign language.
As long as you are serious about learning (I'm not talking High School or Rosetta Stone) this would be the most practical foreign language to learn.
You would also need to travel and read Spanish language websites to keep up on things. Ordering a enchilada from one of the 30 million illegals in this country doesn't count as "having a conversation in Spanish."
It's a shame that the illegal situation in this country has brought such a shame to the Spanish language. Kind of turned it into the "language of the slaves" to quote The Mummy. lololzlzlz