Poll: French vs Italian vs Latin vs Spanish

[ScarrDragon]

Which should I learn and why?
Incidentally, I know some German and intend to learn Japanese in the near future. I am absolutely certain about learning those languages. Maybe a certain language can work well in conjunction with the aforementioned languages. I'm also remotely interested in etymology, which is why I'm considering Latin. Plus, it just sounds badass.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Latin, definitely!

As you said, etymology... all the other languages you've listed are Romance languages and are direct descendants primarily of Latin. And while you're at it... Greek! =P

Still, depends on how much you intend to use it. Who do you want to speak to, I guess... God, men, women... or horses! ¬_¬

 

[Queen Michael]

French. The only language that can make "My hovercraft is full of eels" sound sexy.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'd recommend Spanish. Not because I'm a Spanish speaker, I just think it's more useful than Italian or French, which are only good for Italy and France (and the lil Benelux countries, and parts of Canada, though I don't know how exclusive ze French are there). Spanish gets you Spain AND South America (minus Brazil, but Portuguese is close enough) AND Central America AND I think it's the second most spoken language in USA.

Latin is a good option though, specially if you're into etymology (of Romance languages).

 

[Akjosch]

Start with Spanish or French (depends a bit on where you intend to travel and live), plan to get the other, along with Portuguese and possibly Romanian, on a basic level once you did - they'll come in very easily.

 

[San Martin]

If you're interested in the etymology of romance languages, learn Italian or Portuguese. They are the two languages (along with Galician) whose vocabulary has remained closest to Latin over the last couple of millenia. That way, you'll learn a lot about the etymological relations between words, and also be able to speak a living language, whereas Latin, though useful if you're into your classics, isn't a language you're going to be able to travel and meet new people with.

 

[Squilookle]

French. The only language that can make "My hovercraft is full of eels" sound sexy.

Sure that wasn't Hungarian? I could be wrong here but I've got a pretty strong suspicion it's Hungarian..

 

[Dimitriov]

French. The only language that can make "My hovercraft is full of eels" sound sexy.

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but that was English you just wrote there. English is by far the sexiest language ever spoken. French just sounds like you have a head cold and can't get your consonants out properly.

And mucus is not sexy!

Oh right! On to the actual topic. Latin, you should definitely take Latin. If you are interested in English at all and its etymology, Latin is the most useful language by far. Weird as that may seem.

Also the way Latin is taught is perfect for learning grammar, because you have to learn proper grammar.

Edit: Also it's not just the Classics that you can read with Latin! Latin was the common written Language for all of western Europe for almost a thousand years after the fall of the Roman empire. Indeed it remained the common language of academia through the 19th century!

 

[Subbies]

Don't pick French, NEVER PICK FRENCH! French is the most horrid language ever to roam the tongues of human kind. It's some sort of bastard Latin that got so smug with its ancestry that it became riddled with rules and extra letters that make no sense. One of the first things you learn in French is : "C'est l'exception qui confirme la règle" (the exception that confirms the rule). But the thing is there's more exceptions than rules. Also when you play scrabble in French you always get screwed by the extra 'e's or the double consonants... (I play a lot of scrabble with my grandma, sue me). Plus you have less useful words in French then English but a lot more synonyms. Did you know there's no such word as "shore" in French? No chose something useful like Spanish or Italian. I'd pick Spanish. It's as easy to learn as Italian but more useful.

In any case, good luck with your choice, cause learning new languages is never easy.

 

[San Martin]

Edit: Also it's not just the Classics that you can read with Latin! Latin was the common written Language for all of western Europe for almost a thousand years after the fall of the Roman empire. Indeed it remained the common language of academia through the 19th century!

Good point! There's a lot you can read in Latin.

However, I do believe the OP would be better off learning Portuguese. You get most of the etymological goodies Latin offers, and on top of that you can order banana daiquiris on the Algarve. I imagine the same applies to Italian, however I don't speak it so can't comment. Obviously you're free to disagree with me, but that's just my two cents.

That said, I'm not sure what you mean about the grammar. Latin grammar has very little to do with English grammar. If anything, the cases and declinations would be more helpful for Polish (and probably others, but Polish is the one I know) than for English.

 

[Saetha]

Are you American? Because if yes, then frankly, learning Spanish is probably the most practical move. Spanish is easily the most popular language in America (After English, naturally) especially in the southern bits. So, knowing how to speak Spanish would probably be very attractive to potential employers and just ease communication in general with a large chunk of the populace. This is especially important for people-related fields. My mother's (Kinda sorta) a nurse who complains all the time about how some of her patients speak better Spanish than English and she has difficulty communicating with them.

HOWEVER... All the languages posited here are Romance languages. They all descend from Latin. So, if you want to learn ALL of them, learn Latin first. It'll significantly ease learning the other three. Hell, learning Latin gave me a rudimentary understanding of Spanish and Italian.

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

Learn some other languages like Sanskrit , greek , etc

 

[sextus the crazy]

Arabic or nothing, scrub.

But seriously, I'd recommend spanish for practicality or Latin for learning. Latin will teach you how to learn other languages, especially romance ones, very well. All of those are relatively easy, so if you want to switch, there's not much of a problem.

 

[Dimitriov]

That said, I'm not sure what you mean about the grammar. Latin grammar has very little to do with English grammar. If anything, the cases and declinations would be more helpful for Polish (and probably others, but Polish is the one I know) than for English.

Ah, well. It's mostly that Latin has such specific grammar, and that it's now a language which is almost entirely written and read, so that when one learns it the entire focus is on grammar. And because you aren't simply learning how to order a coffee in Bolivia or speak to people, but rather are usually being taught to render Latin into your own native tongue (in my case, and I guess the OP's, English), you are absolutely required to render the Latin into equally grammatical English. Therefore, you are effectively required to master the grammar of both languages. Certainly that was my experience.

Additionally, while Latin grammar is obviously different than English, it's not unrelated. If nothing else most of the terminology we use to discuss grammar comes straight from Latin.

You'll learn all about prepositions that's for sure!

 

[MysticSlayer]

If you're from the United States and have even a remote interest in Spanish, then learn Spanish. It is by far the most useful language to learn here (minus a few areas), especially in some states like Florida.

Otherwise, you might want to go with Latin given your interests. French may also work just it is French.