Languages of the World

[grandjackal]

Welkommen.

Come in, and share your knowledge of foreign languages. I figured this isn't exactly a serious discussion, but rather just exchanging information. Besides, why not?

So come on, find out the other ways the world talks outside of English...Er...Reads and writes, I suppose I should say.

[Phoenix Wright]

What about ones we'd like to learn?

Arabic.

[grandjackal]

Well I'd hardly imagine one would talk about a language they don't want to learn...

As for Arabic, I'm just starting to look into it...Certainly doesn't seem simple on the outside looking in ;;>>

Edited August 19, 2009 by Pretty Boi Wolf

[Phoenix Wright]

Well I'd hardly imagine one would talk about a language they don't want to learn...

As for Arabic, I'm just starting to look into it...Certainly doesn't seem simple on the outside looking in ;;>>

I think it's more difficult to learn than most Asian languages. Old style Chinese is probably harder though.

Though, the Chinese-exchange students in my class make it seem easy. They told us that we Americans are creative for having letters, instead of symbols. XD

[grandjackal]

Well I'd hardly imagine one would talk about a language they don't want to learn...

As for Arabic, I'm just starting to look into it...Certainly doesn't seem simple on the outside looking in ;;>>

I think it's more difficult to learn than most Asian languages. Old style Chinese is probably harder though.

Though, the Chinese-exchange students in my class make it seem easy. They told us that we Americans are creative for having letters, instead of symbols. XD

Some I guess, I'm also studying Japanese, and I'm finding it to be a breeze. Memorizing Kanji is annoying, but you can get it down easy.

I couldn't imagine learning Mandorin/Cantonese(Do I got the spelling right on Mandorin?), let alone Old style Chinese. It just seems so cluttered.

I'm finding Arabic (at least basic Arabic, or whatever it's called) to be very interesting to say the least. The way the letters change as you write and that it's right to left will take some getting used to, but...I dunno. I guess I just get that way at times. Oh well, curiosity's never a bad thing.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Pretty Boi Wolf

[Phoenix Wright]

Well I'd hardly imagine one would talk about a language they don't want to learn...

As for Arabic, I'm just starting to look into it...Certainly doesn't seem simple on the outside looking in ;;>>

I think it's more difficult to learn than most Asian languages. Old style Chinese is probably harder though.

Though, the Chinese-exchange students in my class make it seem easy. They told us that we Americans are creative for having letters, instead of symbols. XD

Some I guess, I'm also studying Japanese, and I'm finding it to be a breeze. Memorizing Kanji is annoying, but you can get it down easy.

I couldn't imagine learning Mandorin/Cantonese(Do I got the spelling right on Mandorin?), let alone Old style Chinese. It just seems so cluttered.

I'm finding Arabic (at least basic Arabic, or whatever it's called) to be very interesting to say the least. The way the letters change as you write and that it's right to left will take some getting used to, but...I dunno. I guess I just get that way at times. Oh well, curiosity's never a bad thing.

Mandarin, but yeah, I see what you mean.

Any European languages you're interested in? I'm not sure if it's true (since I can't test it at the moment), but I read (on Yahoo! news, obviously not a great source) that German was easy for someone who knows English. It also said Spanish was, but Spanish takes a lot of memorizing, and I have memory problems. XD

[Fei Mao]

Well I'd hardly imagine one would talk about a language they don't want to learn...

As for Arabic, I'm just starting to look into it...Certainly doesn't seem simple on the outside looking in ;;>>

I think it's more difficult to learn than most Asian languages. Old style Chinese is probably harder though.

Though, the Chinese-exchange students in my class make it seem easy. They told us that we Americans are creative for having letters, instead of symbols. XD

Some I guess, I'm also studying Japanese, and I'm finding it to be a breeze. Memorizing Kanji is annoying, but you can get it down easy.

I couldn't imagine learning Mandorin/Cantonese(Do I got the spelling right on Mandorin?), let alone Old style Chinese. It just seems so cluttered.

I'm finding Arabic (at least basic Arabic, or whatever it's called) to be very interesting to say the least. The way the letters change as you write and that it's right to left will take some getting used to, but...I dunno. I guess I just get that way at times. Oh well, curiosity's never a bad thing.

Mandarin, but yeah, I see what you mean.

Any European languages you're interested in? I'm not sure if it's true (since I can't test it at the moment), but I read (on Yahoo! news, obviously not a great source) that German was easy for someone who knows English. It also said Spanish was, but Spanish takes a lot of memorizing, and I have memory problems. XD

Chinese is pretty hard yeah for it takes a lot of memorization like Spanish (and yeah I can't remember too well also) in Chinese some word in English has two or three symbols in Chinese that means it, like 水稻=Rice, and I noticed that some Japanese words share some of the symbols of the Chinese symbols and the some of the Japanese symbols have different spelling. Like 三 equals three in both Chinese and Japanese, and 冰mean Ice in Chinese and 氷 means Ice in Japanese. I'm not very good with my language in Chinese, but that's pretty much what I have to share.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Jason W.

[grandjackal]

Mandarin, but yeah, I see what you mean.

Any European languages you're interested in? I'm not sure if it's true (since I can't test it at the moment), but I read (on Yahoo! news, obviously not a great source) that German was easy for someone who knows English. It also said Spanish was, but Spanish takes a lot of memorizing, and I have memory problems. XD

Well Spanish I suppose I'd have to learn eventually due to location, but for some reason I just feel I could ask anyone and learn it quick. It's a weird mindset to have, and I should just kick it.

Considering I could just learn Spanish quickly, I suppose otherwise the only one left is French as I have studied a bit of German. Well I suppose there's Dutch, Gaelic, Welsh and various Crylic languages of Eastern Europe. All I can say about French is that it's an incredibly annoying language to learn ;;>>

Deutch? Eh, Es ist leiber leicht. Deutche spreche nicht schwierig auswendig lernen.

Then again, I might be a tad rusty there...

Chinese is pretty hard yeah for it takes a lot of memorization like Spanish (and yeah I can't remember too well also) in Chinese some word in English has two or three symbols in Chinese that means it, like 水稻=Rice, and I noticed that some Japanese words share some of the symbols of the Chinese symbols and the some of the Japanese symbols have different spelling. Like 三 equals three in both Chinese and Japanese, and 冰mean Ice in Chinese and 氷 means Ice in Japanese. I'm not very good with my language in Chinese, but that's pretty much what I have to share.

It's weird to know Japanese knowing this, as it seems for the word rice, the symbol for Water in Japanese is used. Probably would make sense if I knew what the other symbol meant.

Otherwise yeah, lots of Kanji are in fact Chinese characters. They borrowed quite a bit.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Pretty Boi Wolf

[Inactive Account]

Apart from English, I speak fluent Internet, Lolcat, and Troper.

In all seriousness, I speak a fair bit of Mandarin, can write a little and read a little more. I want to learn Japanese (not just because OMG IM AN OTAKU AND JAPANESE IS TEH WINZORZ, but because it may actually be useful to me if I make my career goal of working in game design.)

[Phoenix]

I only want to learn the languages of the ethnic groups who have model quality women I'm attracted to. So that includes the following:

Japanese

Chinese

Korean

Russian

English 3.4.2

English 3.4.3

Body Language

Combat Expression

I might not accomplish everything on the list, but I can get at least half of them if I work on it harder. So here's to never giving up on complicated goals! *downs a cup of old water*

[Agro]

It's weird to know Japanese knowing this, as it seems for the word rice, the symbol for Water in Japanese is used. Probably would make sense if I knew what the other symbol meant.

Otherwise yeah, lots of Kanji are in fact Chinese characters. They borrowed quite a bit.

If your Japanese teacher ever told you anything about culture, the Japanese adopted Chinese symbols after some invasion or takeover of some sort. Also, the character for "Water" is used most likely because rice is planted in water. The second character doesn't exist in the Japanese "alphabet".

I'm doing Japanese at school at the moment, and thanks to overexposure of Japanese culture and a natural aptitude for languages I'm semi-fluent in it.

[grandjackal]

It's weird to know Japanese knowing this, as it seems for the word rice, the symbol for Water in Japanese is used. Probably would make sense if I knew what the other symbol meant.

Otherwise yeah, lots of Kanji are in fact Chinese characters. They borrowed quite a bit.

If your Japanese teacher ever told you anything about culture, the Japanese adopted Chinese symbols after some invasion or takeover of some sort. Also, the character for "Water" is used most likely because rice is planted in water. The second character doesn't exist in the Japanese "alphabet".

I'm doing Japanese at school at the moment, and thanks to overexposure of Japanese culture and a natural aptitude for languages I'm semi-fluent in it.

I'm self-studying, and thus I didn't know that. I thank you for the info though.

Forgot rice was planted in water.

[Phoenix Wright]

水稻

So, is the first symbol the word for "water" and the second symbol the word for "grain"? Or is it possibly "plant"?

Water grain, and water plant may both work, though grain is a little more specific.

[Wist]

水稻

So, is the first symbol the word for "water" and the second symbol the word for "grain"? Or is it possibly "plant"?

Water grain, and water plant may both work, though grain is a little more specific.

稻, 稲, and 米 are effectively equivalent in meaning. As far as I'm aware, 稻 on its own has the same meaning 水稻, but I don't speak Chinese and I may have made that up.

[...] the Japanese adopted Chinese symbols after some invasion or takeover of some sort.

Japan lacked its own writing system until some of the higher class Japanese began learning Classical Chinese from immigrant Chinese scholars (I don't know if the characters saw any use in Japan when the Japanese were first exposed to them via Korea). Japanese as a written language evolved from the use of Chinese characters, either by their sound or meaning, to represent spoken Japanese.

I'm not sure if it's true (since I can't test it at the moment), but I read (on Yahoo! news, obviously not a great source) that German was easy for someone who knows English.

Transparency is a double edged sword. Relying on it as a foundation for one's grammar, and perhaps vocabulary, can put one at an unnecessary disadvantage if one is not wary. The mixing up of tren and treno in Spanish and Italian respectively is the classic, although probably not the best illustrative, example that I've seen of one of the kinds of hiccups which transparency openly invites.

From my own experiences and discussions with a few other autodidactic language learners, I've come to believe quite strongly that the manner in which one studies and how he or she makes use of potential resources will have had a much more sizable impact on one's ability to comprehend and use a language after a year or two's study than whether a language is alleged to be easy or difficult for a native English speaker. I am under the impression that a not unnoticeable percentage of students content themselves with a painfully slow language class or rely on a single teach yourself language program only to later lose interest or give up in frustration, blaming a language's difficulty or their own apparent ineptitude for their lack of progress instead of a piss poor regimen of study.

My goal is to be able to write and converse in the languages I study in a manner that is indistinguishable from that of an educated native speaker. I won't lie and pretend that I can speak any languages "fluently," but I can read and comprehend Spanish and Italian books and newspapers without trouble.

[grandjackal]

Japan lacked its own writing system until some of the higher class Japanese began learning Classical Chinese from immigrant Chinese scholars (I don't know if the characters saw any use in Japan when the Japanese were first exposed to them via Korea). Japanese as a written language evolved from the use of Chinese characters, either by their sound or meaning, to represent spoken Japanese.

This is what I remember reading, but it's nice to know a more depthful look at it.

Transparency is a double edged sword. Relying on it as a foundation for one's grammar, and perhaps vocabulary, can put one at an unnecessary disadvantage if one is not wary. The mixing up of tren and treno in Spanish and Italian respectively is the classic, although probably not the best illustrative, example that I've seen of one of the kinds of hiccups which transparency openly invites.

From my own experiences and discussions with a few other autodidactic language learners, I've come to believe quite strongly that the manner in which one studies and how he or she makes use of potential resources will have had a much more sizable impact on one's ability to comprehend and use a language after a year or two's study than whether a language is alleged to be easy or difficult for a native English speaker. I am under the impression that a not unnoticeable percentage of students content themselves with a painfully slow language class or rely on a single teach yourself language program only to later lose interest or give up in frustration, blaming a language's difficulty or their own apparent ineptitude for their lack of progress instead of a piss poor regimen of study.

I can relate with French, though even though I'm self studying, I'm finding Russian and Japanese pretty simple for some reason. Would be better if I had a class though.

Arabic won't be easy just on my own.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Robo Ky

[Rei Rei]

Well, other than my native language(Portuguese), I just know English, and a minimun of spanish

[Roxas]

I know:

-English (duh)

-Korean (fluent)

-Mandarin (sort of fluent. I suck at writing though. <_<)

-French (school subject)

I want to know:

-Latin (I want to do something with medicine when I grow up)

-Cantonese (Just enough to get by in Hong Kong. XD)

[Tino]

I live in Holland, so obviously I speak Dutch. Fluently, too. Then I speak English, French and German. Though, the latter two only to a certain extent. Though, I know German well enough to know that this:

Deutch? Eh, Es ist leiber leicht. Deutche spreche nicht schwierig auswendig lernen.

Then again, I might be a tad rusty there...

is quite an understatement. It's seriously hard to tell what you're trying to say. I guess you're trying to say it's not difficult and not hard to memorize or something. Something like this would've sufficed, I guess, if I understood you correctly:

Deutsch? Es ist nicht schwer. Die Deutsche Sprache ist nicht schwer zu merken.

The difficulty with German isn't in "der Wortschatz" (vocabulary), especially if you already speak Dutch (many German terms resemble Dutch terms and vice versa) but in "die Grammatik", so in the grammar. The four cases in particular are incredibly difficult. To most people, at least.

[Agro]

水稻

So, is the first symbol the word for "water" and the second symbol the word for "grain"? Or is it possibly "plant"?

Water grain, and water plant may both work, though grain is a little more specific.

The word is "character", not symbol. I just stated that the second character does not exist in the Japanese alphabet; it's a Chinese word.

[XxFeaRLeSsxX]

I know English, Taiwanese, and Chinese very fluently. :D Even though Chinese is my native language, I do have to admit it's a hard language to learn. My mom is teaching me Japanese, but I'm not making much progress because I'm too lazy to memorize lol.

[grandjackal]

is quite an understatement. It's seriously hard to tell what you're trying to say. I guess you're trying to say it's not difficult and not hard to memorize or something. Something like this would've sufficed, I guess, if I understood you correctly:

Deutsch? Es ist nicht schwer. Die Deutsche Sprache ist nicht schwer zu merken.

The difficulty with German isn't in "der Wortschatz" (vocabulary), especially if you already speak Dutch (many German terms resemble Dutch terms and vice versa) but in "die Grammatik", so in the grammar. The four cases in particular are incredibly difficult. To most people, at least.

Ugh...It realy has been too long since I looked into it x.x

[Zanarkin]

Spanish (native language)

English

some italian

[burning_phoneix]

I know Arabic and English. I'm trying to learn German and maybe some Russian after that.

Arabic..is hard. Not speaking or writing but the general grammar is confusing as fuck.

To give you an example, I once failed a grammar test after studying hard. Next text I didn't even study at all and I passed simply by playing it by the ear.

[Icon of Sin]

French is my native language, but I picked up English quickly by watching TV before I entered school ( Sesame Street and Barney, mostly ), though later on I watched other shows.

I don't know which language I should learn first since there's a good number I'd like to try, from Spanish and German to less known ones like Swedish and Norwegian.

[Kintenbo]

I live in Holland, so obviously I speak Dutch. Fluently, too. Then I speak English, French and German. Though, the latter two only to a certain extent. Though, I know German well enough to know that this:

Deutch? Eh, Es ist leiber leicht. Deutche spreche nicht schwierig auswendig lernen.

Then again, I might be a tad rusty there...

is quite an understatement. It's seriously hard to tell what you're trying to say. I guess you're trying to say it's not difficult and not hard to memorize or something. Something like this would've sufficed, I guess, if I understood you correctly:

Deutsch? Es ist nicht schwer. Die Deutsche Sprache ist nicht schwer zu merken.

The difficulty with German isn't in "der Wortschatz" (vocabulary), especially if you already speak Dutch (many German terms resemble Dutch terms and vice versa) but in "die Grammatik", so in the grammar. The four cases in particular are incredibly difficult. To most people, at least.

For me, verbs can get sort of hard to remember, at least the tricky ones.

Anyway, I take German in school, and while me and my sister have always been by far the best students in the class, it will probably take a while to speak fluent German. I want to learn pretty much any language around that is still used, but obviously I'd probably not live long enough to accomplish that. I have a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands in my homeroom, so I might try and see if she could teach me some Dutch, once she's more comfortable with the English language. (she's fluent enough to talk comfortably, but not exactly enough to understand advanced English) I'm guess Dutch isn't overly too different from German, though it obviously does have it's differences.