New language

[Caoimhin]

Well, next year I'm going to a new school and there I'll be learning 2 foreign languages. One of them will be English and the other one is free to choose. I don't know exactly which school I'm going to go to, but the other languages are most frequently: German, French, Italian or Russian.
I could choose German for good grades, because I already know it (almost perfectly), but I love French and I'd really like to learn it. It's such a beautiful language.
What do you think of it?

 

[lagman]

If you learn Italian you can learn French, Spanish and Portuguese very easily.

 

[Mewgia]

My second language is going to be Japanese, lulz.
I'm considering learning Spanish as well since there is a largish Spanish-speaking population here in Florida.

 

[bladetears]

Any of the romance languages would be fine, I took Italian before and it was pretty easy.

 

[skullstatue]

German is badass, you want to stay badass don't you?

 

[FAST6191]

For the record most school language courses are nigh on useless wherever I have been: my oft touted example French phrase "dans ma chambre il y a une chaise rouge" (in my bedroom there is a red chair) is the sort of thing they want (it shows use of grammar, adjectives, correct verb usage and the like), completely useless if you really want to do anything.

To this end I say stick with what you know and get a book and some films and teach yourself, then stump up some cash for an exam at a college or even your school if you really want a bit of paper. I am gutted they get to teach you Russian though, I had to work on that one myself.

 

[111111111]

For the record most school language courses are nigh on useless wherever I have been: my oft touted example French phrase "dans ma chambre il y a une chaise rouge" (in my bedroom there is a red chair) is the sort of thing they want (it shows use of grammar, adjectives, correct verb usage and the like), completely useless if you really want to do anything.

To this end I say stick with what you know and get a book and some films and teach yourself, then stump up some cash for an exam at a college or even your school if really want a bit of paper.

I'd agree with this - just do the german at school for the grades, and then teach yourself whichever language you prefer at home. (and if you can, go and live in a country that uses that language for a month - far more useful than 5 years worth of reading books).

 

[megatron_lives]

FAST6191 hit the nail on the head there. All we really learnt at school with our German language is stuff like

"this is my brother, he is tall, look how tall he is, isn't he tall. his name is Hans. His hobbies are...."

That's great, just what you need when you alone in Germany with no money and need to find a way home!

Since leaving school however, I've learnt a bit of japanese and I think, althoughh difficult, it's a great and inspiring language to learn

 

[enarky]

My advice is: don't ask random people on messageboards for advice. Especially not on issues as important as this. You'll only get crap replies like the ones above this. Don't fucking listen to people who want to tell you that learning a language outside of school is ridiculously easy - as it is *not*.

 

[FAST6191]

Nobody said learning a language is easy enarky, just that school courses are typically less than stellar (until you get to a reasonable level you can do well by being a parrot).
I have however been on one or two business language courses that were passable if you really want regimented learning, naturally the were focused on business rather than stuff you may find more useful but they got the basics down.

I agree with 111111111 about the books thing and living in the country (part of the reason I suggested films).

 

[Veho]

I'd say, choose German for the grades. You won't really learn anything in those classes. If you're really interested in foreign languages, take a language course elsewhere. Language courses focus on conversation, speaking, writing, actually using a language. What you'll learn in school is mostly grammar, some vocabulary, but you won't get to use it much.

 

[OSW]

enarky, you've taken the comments in the wrong way.

Most of the advice is really good.

They never said it's easy to learn a language outside of school, just that if you want to learn a language learn it at home and choose the one you're already proficient at for school. Because you really don't learn that much at school.

Although it can depend on the school. At final year of school at my shcool you do have to learn a fair bit of useful language to get good marks in a language dubject.

I did french for a few years at school but i dropped it because i found it extremely difficult (languages aren't really my forte).

 

[tjas]

Tu parler un petit peu francais? Je detest d'allemand! C'est un dommage

I really really dislike the german language! I did exams in:

French
German
Dutch
English

Thats what you get on the dutch schools.. And I past them all with high grades!

 

[TLSpartan]

Im learning german now and I hate how theres the die,der and das. Just have one you craaazy Germans

 

[Veho]

Im learning german now and I hate how theres the die,der and das.

Yet you use "a" and "the" on a regular basis

 

[Deleted User]

French is a terrible language. Better not talk than to speak french.

 

[DaRk_ViVi]

Im learning german now and I hate how theres the die,der and das. Just have one you craaazy Germans

We have something similar in italian too.

However i think the best thing is to choose German, so you'll have high grades.

In the School you don't learn so much about a foreign language (lol i remember my german classes, i'm still stuck at Hallo after 5 yrs XD).

However if you want to choose another language choose italian because.... i am italian and i want you to learn it!

 

[Deleted User]

Im learning german now and I hate how theres the die,der and das. Just have one you craaazy Germans


We have something similar in italian too.

However i think the best thing is to choose German, so you'll have high grades.

In the School you don't learn so much about a foreign language (lol i remember my german classes, i'm still stuck at Hallo after 5 yrs XD).

However if you want to choose another language choose italian because.... i am italian and i want you to learn it!

Don't learn italian , learn french and add -o and -a suffixes everywhere. With a similar technique you will know how to speak spanish.

Also don't learn german or english, learn dutch and stroke one word out of two in a sentence.

Easy and wrong jokes

 

[iamwhoiam]

French is a terrible language. Better not talk than to speak french.

French is sexy! Italian is sexier! My girlfriend speaks both... WIN

 

[miikes]

Ich lerne sehr gut Deutche im meine Universitat (how do I get that "a" umlaut?)

Yeah well if you can speak English pretty good then it's easy to learn German. Actually, I'm taking a minor in German and hopefully I can get some sort of scholarship in Germany from our embassy

btw, my German prof said that more Europeans speak German than any other language so it's a pretty good second language to English