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The last language you would want to learn

  Tags: Usefulness
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
346 messages over 44 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 15 ... 43 44 Next >>
Nea Vanille
Diglot
Newbie
Korea, SouthRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5960 days ago

28 posts - 48 votes
Speaks: German*, EnglishC1
Studies: Korean

 
 Message 113 of 346
16 January 2008 at 12:52pm | IP Logged 
Oh, there's plenty!

1) all and any ancient languages no longer in use.
2) all and any artificial languages including Esperanto, Klingon and Elvish.
3) all and any languages spoken by less than, say, 20 million people, and all and any languages for which no material such as novels, literature or TV shows/movies are available. The major exception to this rule are Swedish and Norwegian which I have been oddly fascinated with for a very long time and plan to pursue at one time or another regardless of their relative usefulness.
4) Middle-Eastern languages, including Turkish, Syrian, Hebrew... as I have no interest in the culture.
5) Italian. Horrible Teacher in High School Syndrome!
6) Most African languages. I'm not especially interested in Africa, either.
7) Turkish, for having been turned off to it by immigrants who won't assimilate and learn our language back in Germany. It may be unreasonable, but my bad experiences make enjoyment from this language seem quite impossible.




Edited by Nea Vanille on 19 January 2008 at 11:35pm

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rggg
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Mexico
Joined 6120 days ago

373 posts - 426 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Indonesian, Malay
Studies: Romanian, Catalan, Greek, German, Swedish

 
 Message 114 of 346
16 January 2008 at 1:48pm | IP Logged 
I'm not quite sure yet.

Out of the languages spoken in Europe I'd say that Hungarian would be the last language I want to learn.
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jody
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6033 days ago

242 posts - 252 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian, Bulgarian

 
 Message 115 of 346
16 January 2008 at 2:36pm | IP Logged 
I can't imagine ever needing to speak Lao, Kyrgyz, or Somali (just to name a few).
But then, ten years ago I would have never wanted to learn Bulgarian. Yet now it's on the top of my list. Life often changes our plans. :)
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Seth
Diglot
Changed to RedKing’sDream
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7019 days ago

240 posts - 252 votes 
Speaks: English*, Russian
Studies: Persian

 
 Message 116 of 346
16 January 2008 at 8:14pm | IP Logged 
I would have said the same a year ago, but Kyrgyz actually sounds pretty cool.
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PolyglotNZ
Pentaglot
Groupie
New ZealandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5999 days ago

71 posts - 91 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, German, Mandarin, Japanese
Studies: Polish, Swedish, Hungarian, Russian

 
 Message 117 of 346
17 January 2008 at 12:13am | IP Logged 
rggg wrote:
I'm not quite sure yet.
Out of the languages spoken in Europe I'd say that Hungarian would be the last language I want to learn.


How about Estonian, Finnish or Basque? Hungarian has more speakers.
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uliuliuli
Triglot
Newbie
Finland
Joined 6107 days ago

22 posts - 22 votes
Speaks: German*, English, French
Studies: Norwegian, Finnish

 
 Message 118 of 346
17 January 2008 at 6:40am | IP Logged 
Nea Vanille wrote:

3) all and any languages spoken by less than, say, 20 million people, and all and any languages for which no material such as novels, literature or TV shows/movies are available.
4) Middle-Eastern languages, including Arabic, Turkish, Syrian, Hebrew... as I have ZERO interest in the culture. And as another German before me has said, the constant exposure to Turkish by immigrants back in Germany is really off-putting. I'm glad to be living in Korea now! :)

Languages I would like to learn (in order of importance): Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian.


Uhm. You know that there are much less than 20 million people who speak Norwegian or Swedish..? Even if you assume that all the countries' inhabitants are fluent in these languages (which is not the case) and that Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are actually the same language (which is not the case), they'd still belong to those "all and any languages" you'd never want to learn.
Besides I hope that Koreans won't find it off-putting to have Germans living in their country, and that ignorance makes happy at least.
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jody
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6033 days ago

242 posts - 252 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian, Bulgarian

 
 Message 119 of 346
17 January 2008 at 7:54am | IP Logged 
I don't think it's so important how many people speak a language. To me, it's more important WHERE those people live. For example, according to Wikipedia, Uzbek has 20 million speakers. But this language is mostly limited to two or three countries. On the other hand, most of us consider languages like Swedish, Africaans, Danish, or even Basque to be more useful, and they all have fewer speakers.

Again, however, a language is only "important" if you need or want it. If you plan to move to Uzbekistan, or marry an Ukbek, then this language is on the top of your list.
2 persons have voted this message useful



rggg
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Mexico
Joined 6120 days ago

373 posts - 426 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Indonesian, Malay
Studies: Romanian, Catalan, Greek, German, Swedish

 
 Message 120 of 346
17 January 2008 at 8:26am | IP Logged 
PolyglotNZ:

I can't really say why .... so far whenever I've watched a Hungarian movie o when I've listened to someone speaking in Hungarian, I just don't like it....and I'm truly unable to identify the reasons.

Maybe with a little more exposure and time, I'd find that beauty I'm sure the Hungarian language possesses.

About Finnish and Estonian, even though they belong to the same Finno-Ugric family .... well ..... I just don't get the same feeling as with Hungarian, I guess I could say that even if similar or related, they sound different enough to me.

Take care!!!


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