For English Native Speakings. What language to learn? *NEW*

[Ge-may]

Hi
I have often thought about this topic myself, and i wanted to hear your opinion on the subject.
I apoligise first hand if i sound like I'm rambling on.

What i will start of with is this, in many other countries who own language is not english it is quite simple what their second language should be. English.. (now i know people will disagree that English is not the biggest language as Chinese is also one of the biggest.. + i am not saying that English is the most important either).
What i mean is that English is spoken nearly everywhere and so it seems obvious to me that if you first language is errm lets say french then you should learn English as that seems a sensible Language to learn as your second.
But for people who already speak English as their native language. I Believe it is Much difficult to choose. ( Some people may say.. "well pick the language that is in the country you are going to )
But for example lets say you learn French, thats not really Practical in Germany is it? and Vise Versa.
Other people may say, "choose the one you like the best" but from a practical/work/business point of view. That doesn't work. :]


To summarise i have heard many people believe that that native English Speakers are Lazy and that we are ignorant.
*I don't agree with going to a foriegn country and not trying to speak their language. Thats Stupid.
But Many Foriegn countries get there children to learn English from a young age at school , etc.

As german exchange students came to my school and Most of them could speak Amazingly well in English.

:]

Thank you for reading. Please don't attack me or anything. Plus i am not try to justify not learning a language . I am just saying that it is more difficult for a Native English Speaker to Choose a Language. :]


Before anyone points out. I am very interested in Language and i hope after lots of learning i can try and become fluent in French and then aybe move on to German, Spanish or Italien.  

[snubsnub]

I've always wondered what the easiest language for a native English speaker would be.

 

[Henneth Annun]

snubsnub

I've always wondered what the easiest language for a native English speaker would be.

That would make a good thread topic...

Scotts maybe? xd

In all seriousness though, speaking in general, in no particular order, I would say one of these:

1) Afrikaans/Dutch
2) Norwegian/Swedish
3) Spanish/French

German is not on here because of the wonderful grammar of the language, and Danish is not on here because I'm not sure that I would call it easier than Swedish or Norwegian for native English speakers...

I think Scotts would also be easy, but I'm not sure if it's considered a seperate langauge or not.

If we're going by "easy" as in how easy it is to obtain material on the langauge and so learn it, then the list changes a bit, though it depends how hard you look.  

[DavidGemmell]

XWraith_LordX

In all seriousness though, speaking in general, in no particular order, I would say one of these:

1) Afrikaans/Dutch
2) Norwegian/Swedish
3) Spanish/French

German is not on here because of the wonderful grammar of the language, and Danish is not on here because I'm not sure that I would call it easier than Swedish or Norwegian for native English speakers...

I've often thought that Dutch makes a good stepping-stone from English to German... it seems to lie somewhere "between" the two in a lot of ways.  

[PiercedPixie2]

XWraith_LordX

snubsnub

I've always wondered what the easiest language for a native English speaker would be.

That would make a good thread topic...

Scotts maybe? xd

In all seriousness though, speaking in general, in no particular order, I would say one of these:

1) Afrikaans/Dutch
2) Norwegian/Swedish
3) Spanish/French

German is not on here because of the wonderful grammar of the language, and Danish is not on here because I'm not sure that I would call it easier than Swedish or Norwegian for native English speakers...

I think Scotts would also be easy, but I'm not sure if it's considered a seperate langauge or not.

If we're going by "easy" as in how easy it is to obtain material on the langauge and so learn it, then the list changes a bit, though it depends how hard you look.

As a new learner to the Scandinavian languages...I'm going to say you made a good call, pronunciation wise: Norwegian is definatley easier than Danish for a native English speaker.  

[Ge-may]

PiercedPixie2

XWraith_LordX

snubsnub

I've always wondered what the easiest language for a native English speaker would be.

That would make a good thread topic...

Scotts maybe? xd

In all seriousness though, speaking in general, in no particular order, I would say one of these:

1) Afrikaans/Dutch
2) Norwegian/Swedish
3) Spanish/French

German is not on here because of the wonderful grammar of the language, and Danish is not on here because I'm not sure that I would call it easier than Swedish or Norwegian for native English speakers...

I think Scotts would also be easy, but I'm not sure if it's considered a seperate langauge or not.

If we're going by "easy" as in how easy it is to obtain material on the langauge and so learn it, then the list changes a bit, though it depends how hard you look.

As a new learner to the Scandinavian languages...I'm going to say you made a good call, pronunciation wise: Norwegian is definatley easier than Danish for a native English speaker.

Can i ask. How is Norwegian an easy language. What about it? :]  

[PiercedPixie2]

Ge-may

PiercedPixie2

XWraith_LordX

snubsnub

I've always wondered what the easiest language for a native English speaker would be.

That would make a good thread topic...

Scotts maybe? xd

In all seriousness though, speaking in general, in no particular order, I would say one of these:

1) Afrikaans/Dutch
2) Norwegian/Swedish
3) Spanish/French

German is not on here because of the wonderful grammar of the language, and Danish is not on here because I'm not sure that I would call it easier than Swedish or Norwegian for native English speakers...

I think Scotts would also be easy, but I'm not sure if it's considered a seperate langauge or not.

If we're going by "easy" as in how easy it is to obtain material on the langauge and so learn it, then the list changes a bit, though it depends how hard you look.

As a new learner to the Scandinavian languages...I'm going to say you made a good call, pronunciation wise: Norwegian is definatley easier than Danish for a native English speaker.

Can i ask. How is Norwegian an easy language. What about it? :]

Well i wont say Norwegian is an EASY language, but it's easier than Danish pronunciation wise.

If you'd like to know more Norwegian vs Danish comparisons, or just more about Norwegian, send a PM to Koko.Dk - he is very good at explaining things, where as i am not.  

[shall she sail seas]

Well, it depends on your intention of learning the 2nd language....

• If you're trying to cover a greater diversity in the long run, it's probably best to go with an Asian language. Chinese MIGHT be ideal since Japanese and Korean also use some Chinese characters so you can get away with some educated guesses. Another one would be Arabic although I don't know enough to list examples. (Iran, Afghanistan, Palestine, etc?) If you're extremely proficient in English, chances are you've already got away with educated guesses (with some hits and misses of course) in most romance languages anyway so there's no need for German, French, etc.
  
  
• But it might be a good idea to go with romance languages... or European languages in general if you're trying to expand your own EXISTING knowledge base. It's also easier because you're working only a bit outside of your comfort zone rather than plunging yourself into something completely new. An extra European language under your belt means your guesses are going to be more accurate for the other European languages that you're not studying.
  
  
• Finally, there's immediate practical usage. This one's easy. Just chose the one you're going to be using the most for whatever reason. Unlike the last two, which are broader and for long-term goals, this one is quick.

 

[lili of the lamplight]

Where I live, we are very near to the border with Mexico and also have a VERY large Spanish-speaking community, many of whom speak little or no English, so the second language is almost always Spanish.

Then again, I went for French and German instead until recently. If something is especially interesting to you, go for it. You will be more motivated to study and learn. If you don't care, then pick the one you will have the most opportunity to practice.  

[randomnessensues]

If you're looking for practicality, look around where you live. For example, if you live in the US (and in the southern US especially) Spanish is incredibly practical. You might also want to look more locally. For example, if you live in Chicago you might want to learn Serbian as there's a huge Serbian immigrant population there.

If you want to learn a language that would be beneficial to your current or future career, then see what kinds of names people have in your field. That's what I did. I looked in a textbook I use for my major and saw a lot of Japanese and German names, so I'm learning Japanese as my second language.  

[Da_Nuke]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in USA, as far as I know, second language is usually French or Italian if in the east coast, German or Russian in the midwest, and Spanish in the south.

Amirite? redface  

[Kalathma]

Well, in central New York, the second (or first!) language is Spanish. I only know one person who speaks Italian, but he's actually an immigrant and grew up in Italy. The only French speakers I know around here are teachers.  

[Woglinde]

Esperanto would definitely have to be one of the easiest languages I have tried learning. (I'm a native English-speaker, so therefore my opinion counts 3nodding )  

[Dragonfire Goddess]

I have no idea what would be easiest to learn, probably something that doesn't have many words/terms that are not equivalent to anything in English.

As for what TO learn I definitely think you should learn what you're interested in. As someone else said the most practical ones would probably be an Asian language or Spanish, but I never really seriously considered either of those. Honestly, I never seriously considered anything other than German to become my second language. If I have the time and opportunity there are other languages I would like to study, primarilly Russian and Italian, but German is my main interest. I plan on going to Germany, hopefully for an extended period of time and I have the distant dream of perhaps living there someday, so my language choice is practical for my life. It's probably not the most practical in general, but I don't care. I'm enjoying studying it to the point that if I can't for awhile I miss it and get upset. I don't remember feeling nearly the same level of enthusiasm when I was in Spanish class a few years ago.  

[Mustafah Monde]

Honestly, it all depends on what languages you live around; I like in a part of California with concentrated Japanese and Portuguese cultures, and I'm used to hearing it and can get the gist of what people are saying.
As you said you're from Germany, so German would be an excellent language to learn, no?