French? Italian? Spanish? German? Arabic?

Tâi-Oân-Lâng   Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:56 am GMT
Hello, everybody. I'm a native Taiwanese, I speak Mandarin as native language, and my major is English, my 2nd foreign lang. is Japanese, actually I've always wanted to learn a 3rd foreign lang. on my own, but as for me, it's really a toss-up about which language should I choose to learn among German, French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, in fact, I love either of them, but I don't have abundant energy or sufficient time to learn them all, even if in proper sequence, and I have to keep improving my English & Japanese continuously. Therefore, I'm afraid that I'll only be able to learn a 3rd foreign lang. (Not 4th, 5th, any more) in future. And I haven't got any detailed plans such as going abroad for further study or settling down there, in this case, Which one should I learn then? OK, would anybody like to give me some advice on this question? Thank you very much!

Native: Mandarin

1st: English
2nd: Japanese
3rd: ?
4th: ?
5th: ?

Please rank a list of languages like above manner. Thanks again!
Guest   Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:45 am GMT
1. Russian.
Guest   Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:49 am GMT
Depends on what you are learning it for. Pleasure or business?
Guest   Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:51 am GMT
Russian is an excellent choice.
Guest   Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:58 am GMT
For business, French is an excellent choice. For love (for me at least), Italian is a great one to choose. Then again, it all depends on what you are learning it for. Just choose the one you know you will enjoy learning. We all have different tastes.
Guest   Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:16 am GMT
It depends on several things: business or pleasure.


I give you the top 5 languages to consider which one you prefer:


1. Speakers (native): Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic

2. Economic power: English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and German

3. Internet users: English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese and French

4. Countries: English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian.





Also, you need to know which country you prefer to go:

French: France, French Belgium, French Switzerland, Quebec, French Africa, etc

Spanish: Spain, Mexico, USA, Central America, Caribbean, South America, etc

German: Germany, German Switzerland, Austria.

Italian: Italy

Arabic: Arabic World.




Finally, it is very important that you study easy languages. The easiest are (American point of view):

1. Spanish
2. French
3. German
4. Italian
5. Russian

http://ezinearticles.com/?Which-Is-The-Easiest-Language-To-Learn?-Rating-The-14-Most-Popular-Course-Offerings&id=656519
Tâi-Oân-Lâng   Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:35 am GMT
Unfortunately, I just found Spanish more harsh and sharp than Italian, French and Portuguese, especially when Spaniards pronounce θ, ð, x, s, that run through the speech. Sometimes it even sounds a little like Arabic, if you listen to the Italian Radio carefully, you're likely to feel that, Italian sounds more latinized than Spanish, because of melodious rhythms, moreover, French and Portugese sound much more softly and mildly than Spanish, although some people don't like nasal sound so much. In fact, I've always wondered whether Spanish could be eulogized as the most beautiful one of Romance languages. Everybody. What do you think about Spanish pronunciation? And I really hope Hispanic people won't join us to talk about it. Thank you very much!
Guest   Thu Aug 14, 2008 3:22 am GMT
Spaniard Spanish may sound harsh because of the way they pronounce the J's, but Latino Spanish pronounce them softer.
Guest   Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:50 am GMT
Yes. It is a matter of pronunciation, the most obvious difference being the "lisped" s in Spanish and the frequent labials and more numerous vowel endings in Italian. Also the general intonation and stress, particularly the Italian emphasis on the penultimate syllable of the word.
Italian is more fluid and harmonious. Spanish is harsher on the ear and sometimes gives the impression it is delivered by a machine gun or that the talker is spitting at you.
Guest   Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:24 am GMT
Italian because it is much more culturally refined language with history, music and many other things that enrich your experience during language learning as well as when you're already a speaker.

Although Portuguese is spoken more, what do you get out of it? Most people that speak Portuguese around the world are poor, from Brazil or Africa. The langauge doesn't have such a rich heritage as any other Romance Language, except Romanian. The number of people who speak a language should never be the reason why to learn the language. It should be how useful the language will be amongst the things you want to do with it and what specific people you want to speak to.

Learning Portuguese is easier for a Spanish speaker than Italian . A French speaker will learn Italian easier than Portuguese.

Why are people so offended over this? It's the truth that Brazil and Africa are impoverished. Look:

Unemployed, self employed and informally employed have higher poverty rates. Of the self-employed in Brazil, only 20% actually have their own shops and the rest operate out of their homes, vehicles or other public spaces.
Poverty rates increase with the amount of dependents in the household.
22.6% or 34.9 million Brazilians live below the poverty line.
Over half live in urban areas.
52% do not have canalized water.
68% have no garbage collection.
78% do not have proper sewage connections or septic tanks.
25% do not have electricity.
74% live in households where the head of the household has less than four years of schooling.

The statistics of Africa are much worst. I don't see why being so offended. The truth is the truth. You can't pretend facts don't exist because you don't like them.

It is also a fact that Italian has a much richer history. Portugal never had the impact in world history as did Italy and other European nations. For Christ sakes, have you heard of Christianity? It originated in Italy, and have you heard of the Roman Empire? That's Italy too. Even currently Portugal is of lesser status amongst the European countries.

.
Guest   Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:39 am GMT
I think you should learn French. It is a beautiful language and is an official language of many organizations.
JIAJIA   Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:05 am GMT
你好!我来自中国大陆。

Hello! I come from Mainland China, I speak Mandarin as my native language, too.

I suggest that you should concentrate on learning French, after you're good at it, then turn to learn Italian. IMHO, the package of "French+Italian" would probably be enough for you to comprehend the soul of Romance languages.

In conclusion: French first & Italian second...
Tâi-Oân-Lâng   Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:01 am GMT
真感謝!Chin Kam-Sia!
Guest   Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:22 am GMT
>> Italian because it is much more culturally refined language (etc. etc.)

Have you heard of Latin? The modern Italian language itself is relatively unimportant. Spanish has just as much (rich) history behind it, and other elements like music to enhance your learning experience. These things are all subjective anyway.
Guest   Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:41 am GMT
"The modern Italian language itself is relatively unimportant. Spanish has just as much (rich) history behind it, and other elements like music to enhance your learning experience. These things are all subjective anyway."

What a fucking dumbass...

And Italian doesn't have music to enhance your learning experience?
What about the Opera?
What do you think words like: tempo, concerto, sonata, orchestra, soprano, and adagio, come from? ... to name just a few!

Check these link and learn something, for once:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_musical_terms_used_in_English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_terminology


How dare you compare the history of Spanish with that of Italian?
Italian was the language of the Renaissance!