Language Choosing Trouble!!

[parisx]

Hi. I'm having trouble choosing which language I'd like to learn next. I have an interest in all in the poll, though I would like to choose one to focus on as of right now. It's Summer for me, which means lots of free time and no school. Please help me!!! I'd love to learn one with, as my friends and I say: "lit" (meaning very upbeat and fun) music, modern films, books, active social media users, and native speakers willing to engage with learners, as well as other things.

Which do you think would be best to learn first? And why?

Thank you for your help and suggestions!!

[vijayjohn]

I think Russian might be your best bet because I think you're most likely to find all of the things you're looking for with that language. And of course, Russian has more native speakers than any of the other languages you've listed, and there's even a Russian social networking service called VK (which is also the largest in Europe).

[Meera]

Do Swedish. It is fun.

[Antea]

Well, I think it depends on your commitment to that language. For example, Russian it's great (I'm learning it myself ), but it's a difficult one, because of the vocabulary and complex grammar rules. You will need some time before you could understand it. Croatian is also a slavic language, but you won't need to learn the Cyrillic alphabet (although I think that's not very difficult). I think Hungarian, should need also quite some time of learning before you could be fluent in it.

Afrikaans and Dutch are very similar. Swedish it's also an interesting language without complex grammar rules. And Romanian, I have never learned, but I suppose that vocabulary should be easier because it's more similar to ours.

So, I'm not helping very much there . Which one do you like best?

[linguoboy]

Afrikaans and Dutch are very similar. Swedish it's also an interesting language without complex grammar rules.

I disagree that Swedish doesn't have "complex grammar rules". You may simply not recognise how complex the rules are because (a) many of them are similar to English (whose grammar is very complex, regardless what people might say) and (b) for whatever reason, you find them more "intuitive" than the grammar rules of other languages.

[vijayjohn]

Maybe by "complex grammar rules," she means noun cases?

[Levike]

Romanian, Swedish, Hungarian, Dutch, Croatian and Afrikaans are not useful at all unless you live in the country or around it.

On the other hand Russian is big (it's even one of the languages of the UN) and you'll certainly have way more resources for that then let's say... any other language in the list. So if you want it to have some purpose and to be more or less useful learn Russian.

And if you want to learn a language just for the sake of learning it or for linguistic interest then pick the one you find the most interesting. In that case I'd recommend Hungarian just because.

[france-eesti]

Well actually you'll find learning a language for its country isn't always the reason for it.
I know I won't use Hungarian outside of Hungary (except maybe a bit in Slovakia and Romania), but once you learn the language's logic, you can understand easily how other languages work.

That's why I wished I had chosen German as a second language instead of Spanish, because German's logic is closer to others in my opinion, while Spanish's logic is just like French's and so it didn't allow to discover a whole new set of grammar, sentence construction...

I dunno if I'm being very clear here

[Levike]

Maybe by "complex grammar rules," she means noun cases?

For an English speaker I'm guessing the harder languages are going to be Russian, Croatian and Hungarian.

[Antea]

Maybe by "complex grammar rules," she means noun cases?

Well, yes, I mean noun cases. Is there anything more complex in grammar? And now I'm sure that someone is going to mention Xhosa Zulu with the cliks and other things....

[Levike]

Well, yes, I mean noun cases. Is there anything more complex in grammar?

Yes. Unpredictable genders or plurals are the most annoying thing ever.

[vijayjohn]

Maybe by "complex grammar rules," she means noun cases?

Well, yes, I mean noun cases. Is there anything more complex in grammar?

In principle, I think pretty much anything in grammar can be made complex. Russian has a lot of cases, Basque has polypersonal verbs, Chinese just has a lot of rules that aren't very clear and that native speakers don't necessarily agree about, and so on. They don't have to be that intimidating, though.

And now I'm sure that someone is going to mention Xhosa Zulu with the cliks and other things....

No way! Clicks are easy! Well, at least some of them are easy.

[Antea]

Yes, there's plenty of annoying things in grammar So, maybe it will be better to choose the language just by your own interests

[parisx]

Ahaha thanks everyone the comments really made me laugh And I love the advice everyone gave. In all honesty, I can read Cyrillic just like Latin, but the Russian Grammar really scared me. But now I see that I'll take my time to tackle it first then venture into the other ones. Thanks so much!!

[linguoboy]

Maybe by "complex grammar rules," she means noun cases?

Well, yes, I mean noun cases. Is there anything more complex in grammar?

Distinguishing seven different categories of inflectional marking in your verbs?

Just to choose something totally at random...

[Antea]

Maybe by "complex grammar rules," she means noun cases?

Well, yes, I mean noun cases. Is there anything more complex in grammar?

Distinguishing seven different categories of inflectional marking in your verbs?

Just to choose something totally at random...

Nooo, come on ....Spanish is sooo easy....

[vijayjohn]

Maybe by "complex grammar rules," she means noun cases?

Well, yes, I mean noun cases. Is there anything more complex in grammar?

Distinguishing seven different categories of inflectional marking in your verbs?

Just to choose something totally at random...

Nooo, come on ....Spanish is sooo easy....

But see, whether it's easy or not depends on your perspective, and that's true of any other language as well. Malayalam probably looks harder than Basque for most UniLangers, but for a South Asian person, it's just another Indian language. (If you think Spanish is easy, just ask anybody who doesn't speak a Romance language natively and has had to (try to) learn the difference between the imperfect and the preterite!).

[ceid donn]

I've lived around native Spanish speakers for decades, I hear Spanish virtually every day but I personally find Spanish confounding. I absolutely cannot get the hang of the pronunciation and the cadence of the language, and some of its vocabulary just will not stick in my head. It's not a complicated language, I agree, but for how I think about language and with my own language learning background, I have a lot of obstacles to get over before I could learn Spanish to any degree of fluency. It's not the grammar. It's not how it's a Romance language. It's how it's NOT like Latin or French (both of which I've studied extensively), in its vocabulary and its sound, that throws me.

So yeah, how easy a language is for someone is rather subjective to some degree. I found Scottish Gaelic super easy, but I know some learners who have been stuck at A2 level for years because it's confounding to them in ways it never was to me. And there are plenty of people on Duolingo pulling their hair out over how Irish spelling and syntax is nothing like anything they've ever seen before and I'm just like, dude, that's the EASY part...

[Antea]

Yes, I agree. Of course, I suppose that for a non native person person every language coud be difficult, etc. But, from what I see around me, foreigners who come to live here never have too many complications to learn and speak the language, or at least that's what it looks to me. And then, Spanish it's pretty much spelled just as it is pronounced (which is not the case for French or Catalan), so there's not much difficulty from this side, neither. And, ok we have plenty of verb tenses, but I was thinking yesterday about it, and I only use the more common ones, not making usually very complicated or literary constructions in my everyday life

[Bubulus]

So yeah, how easy a language is for someone is rather subjective to some degree. I found Scottish Gaelic super easy, but I know some learners who have been stuck at A2 level for years because it's confounding to them in ways it never was to me. And there are plenty of people on Duolingo pulling their hair out over how Irish spelling and syntax is nothing like anything they've ever seen before and I'm just like, dude, that's the EASY part...

I always try to shut my mouth about this when I see Latin learners similarly struggling with the inflectional morphology (cases, verb tenses). That's the stuff you learn at the beginning precisely because it's the easy, fundamental part... Then come all the years learning more vocabulary, learning uncommon uses of the vocabulary you already know from beginning Latin, learning about alternative readings of passages...

Yes, I agree. Of course, I suppose that for a non native person person every language coud be difficult, etc. But, from what I see around me, foreigners who come to live here never have too many complications to learn and speak the language, or at least that's what it looks to me. And then, Spanish it's pretty much spelled just as it is pronounced (which is not the case for French or Catalan), so there's not much difficulty from this side, neither.
And, ok we have plenty of verb tenses, but I was thinking yesterday about it, and I only use the more common ones, not making usually very complicated or literary constructions in my everyday life

Yeah, but even after taking the passive tenses out of the way (es destruido, eran inculcados, seremos vistos...) along with the literary tenses (hubimos venido, cometiere), the remaining common ones are still quite a number...

(The subjunctive tenses and the perfect tenses might sound funny to you in isolation, but consider uses like Antes de que vengas (subj. present) / Ya lo habré terminado para entonces (future perf.) / Si lo hubiera hecho... (pluperfect subj.) ...no me habrías hablado después (conditional perf.).)