What languages do you speak ? > need some advices

[GirlFriday]

English and Russian. I won't say I'm very fluent in Russian, because I can't have a high level conversation (well maybe if the person I'm speaking with speaks slowly), but I can get by living here in Moscow. In about a month I'm going to start learning Spanish because we will live in Spain for three years.

[noon]

wow so many people speak/know arabic - I wouldve never have thought it!
My first language is english but I speak arabic as well. Its not the easiest language to learn by any means but I think its a good choice. Ive always wanted to learn Farsi or tagalog for some reason - they both seem like really interesting languages to learn and very handy!

[simmmchen]

I speak German (mother language), English, and Turkish (conversational, cannot spell for the life of me!). I tried learning Spanish and Polish. I find Spanish and Italian boring, because I know Latin. I love Polish, Czech, Russian, ect! They sound so cool and different from all of the languages I know/speak. I would lvoe to get back into Polish! I also like Swedish. I think it would be a fun language to learn.

[ShimmaPuff]

I think the most important thing to consider if you're thinking of acquring another language is that it's a very simple process that we like to make complicated.

We learn the languages we hear. Whether we are 2 or 102, contrary to popular myth, the basic events are the same, but for many of us, the thing that undergoes the big change is our attitudes, opinions and beliefs on the subject!

I have known people in their teens who were so convinced that they were "too old already" to learn a new language that they were truly unable to, and I have watched people who decided, after over a century of life, that they could and would learn a new language, and proceeded to successfully do so!

Belief and confidence in ourselves will always affect our ability to learn anything, but it seems to me to be especially true with languages.

Anyway - once you choose a target language, your most important step is arranging to hear it. This can involve anything from staying glued to your iPod, watching only TV shows and movies in that language, and most importantly, getting yourself into an environment where you will be around people speaking that language.

Every time you are hearing anything that is not your target language, mentally snap a rubber band on your wrist and exclaim - I already speak THAT language, why in the world am I listening to it? I want to learn a different language!

And change, by any means necessary, what your ears hear.

Your brain will magically do the rest. Classes are great for asking questions and working out things like grammar rules, tips, and tricks, but languages are learned in life, not in classrooms.

An exception would be a situation where someone just wanted to learn "about" a language, pass written tests on it for academic or job-related ticket-punching purposes, or learn, as someone said, to ask where this or that is.

So in addition to choosing a language, I guess I should have said at the beginning, to what extent do you wish to learn it?

Do you want to live in it, feel and think in it, hard-wire it into yourself as totally as any other language you already have, or just speak it enough to get around, give a respectable accounting in a job interview or on a test...

[Liberté]

Depending on whether your future prospects only you can decide which language would be most profitable to start learning. IMO globally the first language to learn would be english, then (in random order) french, japanese, chinese, german, russian and probably spanish and arabic and perhaps portuguese.

Other than these, there aren't that many important border crossing languages that you would have to deal with as most of the people in the world, at least the ones you would meet in a professional environment, would know either of the above.

You must also decide how proficient you would like to be in that language. Some languages allow you to communicate with people who speak related languages, but not conduct serious business.

The most important part is your own motivation though, especially when it comes to languages with a distinct vocabulary from the languages you know already and very different alphabet and grammar. As you are still very young, taking on a very different language than the ones you already know would probably be more profitable, as it's musch easier to pick up on related languages, no matter which age. As you already know romance and germanic languages, chinese would probably be the biggest challenge along with japanese and then russian.

Good luck!

(Also, when you've worked your way to a basic vocabulary and conversational skill, getting a BF that's a native speaker fo the language you want to learn is a great idea LOL!)

[bipolarbear]

Ooooh...I'm so jealous of people who have learned other languages and agree that in the US, we do a horrible, horrible job of teaching languages (even English) - our emphasis is grammar, not conversation, which just doesn't work.

In the past I have been able to communicate in basic Thai and Italian when I spent time there, but now could barely scrape out a few phrases in either. I do use Spanish a good bit at work and spend time in Argentina each year so my Spanish is fair-to-middlin'. For language learning, I've found Pimsleur somewhat useful, but Michael Thomas is fantastic - I highly, highly recommend these CD's.

[flowerbobon]

arabic is an interesting language. I learnt arabic when I was in HS and it is quite hard I believe because you have to pronounce the word clearly.

[ShimmaPuff]

Originally Posted by bipolarbear

Ooooh...In the US, we do a horrible, horrible job of teaching languages...

Well, in the US, it can be something of a sensitive issue.

On the one hand, I've heard people express your view, but I've also heard mainstream demographic parents express displeasure that as a result of some major demographic shifting, their children are becoming bilingual in the complete absence of any "foreign" language classes whatsoever - just by simply living life as a tile in that shifting demographic mosaic!

And as far back as nearly a decade ago, I remember some economist or humanresourceologist or something on CNN who had a more pragmatic take:

If you want your kids to be employable as adults, he advised parents, and they are not learning Spanish in school, demand to know why not.

[Ania]

I'm bilingual (Polish and English), I also speak German and Russian, and have just started learning French. I did Spanish for a bit but didn't like it. I think after I master conversational French I'm going to start on Italian (it sounds so pretty)...

I tried to pick languages I liked and which correspond with my interests and are useful in my career (I'm a military historian)

[Edwardia]

English, French since age of five as my uncle lives there.
4yrs of German at school, 1 term of Italian at uni (elective) never used either
Tourist phrases in Welsh,Greek,Spanish from holidays
Learning Arabic

Learn languages you love rather than because you think they will be useful.

[MichelleAntonia]

fluent in polish & english, know some spanish

grew up speaking polish, technically my first language, but now i'm more comfortable with english. learned spanish for 5 yrs, but haven't practiced in a while. can hold a simple conversation and understand the basics.

i would love to learn another language. anything, really.

[ilovetoshop2]

I speak portuguese and english. Portuguese was my first language even though I think I speak english a little better :P. I also take spanish, I can understand it pretty well but I dont speak it, lol.

[Wentworth-Roth]

I am fluent in German, Italian and English. I know some French as well, but I don't really like to speak it, because I am not that good at it (vicious cycle). If I had to learn a language for my job, I'd learn Czech.

[Designer_Love]

english is the only one i speak fluently. however i do know a little spanish, a little italian and a little french.

[mattking2000]

I think it really depends on your lifestyle and other factors that affect your ability to practice.

I speak english, french, german, and chinese (cantonese), and I found it really hard to learn german simply due to the fact that there was no one to practice on! I speak chinese at home and french is rather easily found here in canada, so it's easy to get the practice, but there are much fewer german speakers that I know of and consequently I don't get the practice (three or four hours a week spent in a classroom setting learning a language won't really get you anywhere).

I'd suggest you look over your friends/co-workers/acquaintances list, and find a common ground! Is there a language that you may wan to learn that many of them speak, and will probably be willing to help you learn the language and practice verbally? I'd start from there.