Best Language(s) to Learn

Jaro   Saturday, October 11, 2003, 07:09 GMT
Yeah, they have a Communist Government, and that's what is keeping me away from Chinese borders, as I would get jailed there quickly for my rebellious opinions. And why learn a language you can never put into practice?
The one   Sunday, October 12, 2003, 20:56 GMT
Jaro,what is your nationality ? I suppose, you might be Hungarian or Czech, am I right ? How can you say that any language sucks or not because of their goverment ??!! It's bullshit. Russian is beautiuful language and chinese too. I like chinese because it sounds like a song.
Well, to me, slavic languages are very easy to learn.
I would like to learn Dutch and German much. I learn German at school and it sounds nice to my ears. The same situation is with Dutch. My school mate is from Belgium and she speaks Dutch very well.Once I asked her to tell me something in that language. That what she said seemed to sound pretty good.But the most I like English :) especially so called 'posh English'.
A.S.C.M.   Sunday, October 12, 2003, 21:20 GMT
Thank you for the info, Californian. I live in Fremont and I attend Mission San Jose High School.

What ho, Jaro, are you so rebellious? Do you proudly proclaim yourself in public to be a practitioner of Falun Gong or march in democracy protests? If you do, of course you'll get into trouble in China. However, I've never seen anybody but fanatics act in such a radical way. If you maintain a low profile in public (99% of people do) and express your opinions in the privacy of your own home, you'll be as safe in China as a rock on the moon.

Did you know that less people go to jail in China than in the United States? Well, more people are executed in China but that's only because there are more capital crimes and you can interpret that as either a good or bad thing. Here are the statistics: Only around one out of every 900 people in China get sent to jail. If you're a normal chappie, the chances of getting jailed are very slim. If you're a radical, I don't know what to say to you except that a tough government would probably be necessary in such a large country accustomed to 4000 years of authoritarian rule.
Jaro   Sunday, October 12, 2003, 22:50 GMT
Of course I'm not that rebellious that I'd go and march in democracy protests, neither I'm a fanatic. I'm a normal chap, but my way of thinking and opinions would be interpreted as rebellious by the communistic party, as I would probably ask improper questions. Concerning the low crime rate in China: Well, in my country, there was a very low crime too. People were fearful of the goverment and the repercussions their conduct might have resulted in. It is however generally known that USA have a very high crime rate.

I haven't said Russian language sucks just because of their government. Russian language isn't very popular here. During the pre 1989 era, Russian language was mandatory for pupils to learn. But after the revolution, Russian language was quickly replaced by English and German. You won't find many primary/high schools offering tuition of Russian language, because of the simple fact that noone wants to learn it anymore. And it doesn't sound pleasantly to my ear either. It might sound diffrently to english ear however.

I'm a Slovak living in Czech republic.
messire lavoisel   Sunday, October 12, 2003, 23:05 GMT
>>a tough government would probably be necessary in such a large country accustomed to 4000 years of authoritarian rule.<<

What make you think that people are not fed up with this authoritarian governement, now?

I'm sorry but I can't see what is good in a dictatorship...

Though, that is true that you can't simply decide "from now on, this country will be democratic". It takes a lot of time for all the minds to be prepared to this idea in order to settle a steady democracy. The exemple of Iraq unfortunately confirm this statement :(

Jaro => In the other hand, I think A.S.C.M is right to believe that nothing would happen if you went to China. When you are aware that you need to be carreful, well... you are. That as simple as that. ;)
sima   Sunday, October 12, 2003, 23:35 GMT
I like English, French, Spanish, German and Italian.
I am not really interested in learning Russian. It sounds too hard to my ears. I don't like to hear Dutch. It sounds tough and makes me bored and there are too many /kh/ sounds like in /Buch/ in it. Althought, It's interesting to learn Dutch as a lot of English words have roots in it.
Simon   Monday, October 13, 2003, 10:54 GMT
To learn about Europe if you already speak English...

Well Latin and Greek are the cornerstones of European culture. French, German and Russian are all good ones. A Celtic language might be interesting, mainly just to fill in the picture as the first language speakers of Celtic languages are quite small in number. Basque could be interesting. etc.
British Maria   Monday, October 13, 2003, 16:42 GMT
I never really realised how difficult it would be to learn a different language so to understand a film lets say. We watched a French speaking film today, well part of one, and it might as well have been in double dutch apart from a few words and pharses I could pick out! I'll have to get working harder lol! As for a nice language, French and German are good, but to be fair those are the only ones I've looked at.
radha   Tuesday, October 14, 2003, 09:13 GMT
well ! just now i saw this discussion forum..
its really interesting.........!

to me, english that too british english is a good language to learn other than this is hindi (India).

what do u think?
radha   Tuesday, October 14, 2003, 09:16 GMT
well ! just now i saw this discussion forum..
its really interesting.........!

to me, english that too british english is a good language to learn other than this is hindi (India).

what do u think?

as a non native english speaker, i prefer to choose british english. Because now a days world is moving on english language.

do u agree...
Simon   Tuesday, October 14, 2003, 09:29 GMT
Don't worry Maria, this is difficult. Try to catch a film on TV5 if you can - There the films have subtitles.
Daphne   Wednesday, October 15, 2003, 12:55 GMT
I'm really interested in your discussing. And sorry, I want to some something about Chinese. I am Taiwanese. I agree that Chinese is a very difficult language to learn because there is a long history in China. And European language and Chinese language are not the same language system at all, so Chinese is a strange and difficult language for Indo- europe language speakers.
I like English, French, and Spanish. I major in English in school. My second language is French. I hope I can learn those language well. I enjoy learning other languages because you can learn other culture of those countries. I wish I can go abroad to open my eyes and enjoy beautiful language I like.
My English is not so good as well, and hope everyone forgive me.
Maria   Wednesday, October 15, 2003, 17:54 GMT
I'll shorten it to Maria from now on because my other name is too long lol! It was 3 colours red (Trois couleurs rouge) and it was really good..rather passionate! lol I think we've got TV5..there's a French language channel around 825 with the Foreign Stations.

Hey Daphne, Your English sounds fine to me! You're like a native speaker!
Californian   Thursday, October 16, 2003, 01:14 GMT
Nearly a native...... still some errors though. Where are you from Daphne?
;-)
Duh!   Thursday, October 16, 2003, 05:50 GMT
Daphne writes, "I am Taiwanese." I can only conclude that she comes from Taiwan.