Second Language (1 Viewer)

[Jon_B]

I would like to learn a second language sometime in my lifetime. Watching foreign movies and HBO's band of brothers has increased my interest in learning a second language.
What language would you choose as your second language and why? I know that quite a few people on this forum are from a different country and thus already know a second language.
I guess I would choose Spanish. I've heard that Spanish is practically USA's second official language.
Jon

 

[Gilbert Galindo]

Hey, you gonna close this thread too!!!!!! I learned a different one...it's called english.

 

[Nick Sievers]

Whats up with you Gilbert?
Anyway when I get around to it I would like to learn Sweedish as I have a lot of friends who live there and go there about twice a year on business. I've always wanted to learn another language but always find an excuse not to
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-Nick Sievers
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[Kristian]

Well, I'm already bilingual, but I'd love to learn either French, Mandarin, Cantonese or Japanese.
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[Neil Joseph]

Spanish is a good choice. Next is French.
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[Howard Williams]

Another vote for Spanish, then French
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[Rain]

I'm actually thinking about taking French for the sole purpose of watching films without subtitles. I do watch films in other languages, but French is by far the most common after English.
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[Nathan_R]

A vote for French. And then Russian.
~~Nathan
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...just lost drunken men who don't know where they are and no longer care.

 

[John Besse]

Does Pig Latin count as a second language. I would love to learn sign language with a few friends. I think you could really throw some people off with that. I also want to learn Spanish.
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[Jason Whyte]

I know a little bit of french but I still rely on subtitles when watching said films (though, I just watched "With A Friend Like Harry" last week and didn't need the subtitles at times), and would very much like to learn the language completely. Maybe even the Quebecian dialect, too.
Jay-Francias
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[RicP]

I speak Spanish, German, and enough Japanese to be dangerous
I used to know French but lack of use has entropied my French muscles.
I'd love to learn Russian and Cantonese.
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Ric Perrott - My DVD's

 

[Jon_B]

That's awesome Ric.

How did you learn all those languages? Did you take special language classes, learn it on your own, go overseas and learn?
Jon

 

[Bill Catherall]

I started to learn French in high school (took 3 years but it didn't do any good because I still couldn't carry on a conversation in French).
After high school I lived overseas for a couple years in Taiwan and learned to speak Mandarin Chinese quite well. It's been a few years since I've used it so I'm beginning to forget it.
I'd like to learn German because I think it's the coolest sounding language, but I'm afraid that if I learn another language then I'll forget Mandarin completely (that's what happened with what little French I knew). I'm very fond of Mandarin and don't want to lose it completely. I can still almost keep up with the Chinese "soap operas" on TV, but I'm completely lost in the news. Even after my return home when my Chinese was still fresh I couldn't understand the Taiwan news broadcasts. They speak way too fast and use vocabulary I'm not familiar with. I'd say I'm "conversationally fluent."
In college I was going to minor in Mandarin, but my engineering courses were so demanding that I really couldn't dedicate the time I needed. So I began to learn to read and write Chinese, but have since completely forgotten what characters I did know. I was at a basic reading level when I quit.
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Bill

 

[Alex Spindler]

I've desperately wanted to learn German, so maybe I should get off my butt and get started. I agree, it is often the coolest sounding (I loved my trip to Germany) and I love the word structure.

 

[Steve Christou]

I have a second language, Greek, my parents are Greek Cypriots, but my Greek isn't great.
What I really want is a good firm grasp of German (evil hand is typing this btw..),
if only so I won't have to reach for my little German/English book every time I get screamed at...
"Die Faterland...Die Faterland.."
[Edited last by Steve Christou on November 07, 2001 at 07:11 PM]

 

[RicP]

That's awesome Ric. How did you learn all those languages? Did you take special language classes, learn it on your own, go overseas and learn

Thanks.
I learned Spanish and French in high school and college, German because my family is German and I took a course on it in College.
Japanese I essentially taught myself through study, the Pimsleur method, and lots & lots of anime and manga
Japanese is actually a lot easier than youd think it is, it's based on a syllabry rather than an alphabet. It is virtually impossible to mispronounce a word in Japanese, and the sentence structure is very loose.
German is very much like English, and ine can pick it up rather easily.
I have to really brush up on my French though
Once you get one language down (other than your native one), the rest come along fairly easy.
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Ric Perrott - My DVD's

 

[Dome Vongvises]

How about a little Thai to go here folks?

But seriously, any European or Asian language will do.
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