Languages? (1 Viewer)

[Ashleet]

just wondering if anyone here does a language, esp. German. Are they worth doing? Want to do German or French, but ive heard german is more practical in europe (most used language in european union). Anyone any advice or suggestions/comments?

 

[cro_angel]

im going to do a language at uni (croatian) out of interest
obviously im croatian.. and i like to keep in touch with my culture
which ever one you are interested in, you choose to do
im sure either language has the same amount of people speaking it... and even if they did speak their language most people speak english now a days.. so on the basis of learning it to live in the country or something.. dont choose it for that choose the one you are more interested in
living in another country for about 3 weeks or a month its pretty easy to be fluent with no prior knowledge.. just hearing everyone speak it heaps

 

[Courtenay]

I've learnt German since i was 10. It is very effective to learn, particularly if you want to move overseas and work in science, research, or engineering because Germany has huge research grants, and pays scientists well.
You probably wouldn't be fluent after a month if you had no prior knowledge. At HSC continuers level, the expected standard is equivalent to if you have been on exchange for 6 weeks, and they don't expect you to be fluent.
Yes, they mostly speak english, but they prefer it if you speak their languag, based on global domination etc, which is quite understandable. It shows respect if you speak the country's language if you aer in the country.

 

[reynaldo]

I recommend Portugus. (personal bias)

although only spoken in Brasil/Portugal and former colonial outposts (Cape Verde, So Tome e Principe, Angola, Moambique, Corsica and Macau), its an exquisite language.

However if you decide to learn any latin-influence lngua, it will become much easier for you to pick up a 2nd or 3rd latin-language (such as Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Creole (influenced by French) and Romanian).

If your looking at a language "practicality" wise then i would suggest;

French for Europe, Western Africa, Quebec D)
Arabic for North Africa, Middle East
Mandarin/Nippon for Asia (Hindi for India)
Spanish for Central/South America
Russian for Eurasia/Balkans


Going ahead with German would be recommended. From what i have studied of the language, its much similar to English than many languages (i.e. easier..)

however, other than on a political basis, its not used so greatly, compared to English and French.

 

[jogloran]

http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html

 

[Majesty]

I'd do Spanish, only to find out it's not offered.

 

[bubz :D]

i'm going to do japanese (i've always wanted to and my school didn't offer it), can't wait! and might do chinese as well, my mandarin is hideous

 

[Cape]

I think that Spanish would be a good language to learn, even thought i would love to learn german. Spanish is spoken all over the world, and it is one of the most popular languages.

 

[spunkycheezle]

russian in the balkans?
...u learn a new thing every day...

 

[fitz33]

if you want to live, travel or work in europe then german would be the best language to learn. i used to live in switzerland and can speak german and quite a bit of french but german is much more widely understood than french in europe (french and some swiss people are the only people who speak it). german is used in switzerland, germany, austria and if you were fluent, you could get by in denmark and holland.

that been said, if your working there for any sort of tnc or anything, english is the business language and everything within the company will be done in english.

 

[bubz :D]

yeah, wouldn' tmind learning spanish... and french....

 

[santaslayer]

i heard european languages are fun to learn but people find that once they finish their language and go on a vacation to the country, they are dissappointed to learn that most of the people there know english anyway...lol

 

[Aaron1911]

In a practical sense, the best language to learn if you intend to go to Europe is French I think.

 

[leiara]

Originally posted by Aaron1911
In a practical sense, the best language to learn if you intend to go to Europe is French I think.

yeah thats pretty true, i'm doing french at school 4 the HSC, and not to mention its the language of love lol corny, i know...

 

[fitz33]

Originally posted by Aaron1911
In a practical sense, the best language to learn if you intend to go to Europe is French I think.

its only spoken in one country in europe.. well switzerland as well, but you wont meet a swiss person who doesnt speak german as well

german is spoken in switzerland, austria and germany (and liechtenstein if you could call that a country)
it is the most widely used language in the EU
it is the second most common language used in business in europe (after english)

in a practical sense, german is a better language than french to learn if you intend to go to europe (unless your going to live in france )

 

[Majesty]

Also speak French in Canada, but that's not exactly Europe now is it.

 

[krn_boy]

French is only really spoken in Quebec Province in Canada. The rest of Canada(like 80% of population) speaks English.

Anyway, thinking of doing Japanese as a minor.

 

[Ashleet]

thanx everyone - ive decided to do german, i want to travel around europe so it seems the best option (plus it helps that my dad lives there)

 

[reynaldo]

heres some statistics, in case you are interested;

http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/LPRU/newsarchive/Art2342.txt

To illustrate, a 2001 Eurobarometer survey for the European
Commission showed that besides their mother tongue, 41 per
cent of people in Europe tend to know English, compared to
19 per cent who know French, ten per cent German, seven per
cent Spanish and three per cent Italian.

Overall, the language most often spoken as a first foreign
language in Europe is English, by 32.6 per cent, followed
by French, by 9.5 per cent.

 

[Ashleet]

meh - German is interesting, everyone does boring old french