What is a good second language to know?

[SuperUberBob]

Mandarin Chinese will be useful when they take over the world in 2022.

Probably the most spoken language... Mandarin (Chinese is NOT a language).

It's a bit more complicated than that.

Chinese is a compilation of a group of languages that come from several different language families such as Sino-Tibetan and Hong-Mien and a few others. So technically, Chinese is not a language. But at the time, it is not a language family as the multiple Chinese languages are often unrelated to each other.

In modern culture, Chinese is often used in reference to Mandarin Chinese.

 

[crazypsyko666]

Depending on where you're moving in California, you may want to learn either Spanish, Redneck, or every variation of asian languages ever.

California isn't really a redneck state...American Liberals, Suburbanites, Rich Folk, and Surfer Dudes/Dudettes make up a large portion of the population.

I don't know if you know this, but I live in California. There are some minor pockets of fairly redneck activity going on here. It's worth brushing up on some of their slang.

EDIT: For some reason, I bothered to read past the 'American Liberals' part of your sentence after replying. Have you ever been to California in your life? Do you have any fucking concept of how few actual 'surfer people' there are here? Also, rich folk? What the fuck are you talking about? Yeah, we have beverly hills, and the cost of living is jacked up through the roof, but that doesn't make everyone and their grandma Donald Trump. Where I live, half of my friends parents don't have jobs. Half of them don't have cars. Half of them don't even have computers. Maybe you shouldn't make stupid stereotypes and pretend to know more than someone on the fucking internet next time, eh?

 

[DrEmo]

Although it pains me to say it.....chinese or "mandarin".....sigh.

Please elaborate on this incredibly vague post.


OT: Learn Spanish. It's not very easy, but if you learn it you can go on to learn French, Italian, Portuguese and any other language that comes from Latin a lot more easily.

 

[Arsen]

That depends upon many circumstances.

Do you plan on communicating with the illegal alien population?
Are you learning it for fun or travel purposes?
Maybe in terms of business?

These are the things to consider before making such a decision. However, being that you live within the US and are planning on moving to the capitol of illegal immigration, it might be to your benefit to learn Spanish for some reason or another. Then again it matters if you plan on staying there.

Me personally? I'd study German or another European language. With German and something else under your belt (with English) you pretty much have an all access pass to Europe at that point. At least the Western portion of it.

 

[snowman6251]

日本語はとてもたのしいです。べんきょうして下さい。

Seriously Japanese kicks ass.

 

[Talal Provides]

If you want a government job, Farsi is probably the way to go.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

For practicality's sake, Spanish (go for the Mexican/South American dialects instead of the original Spanish dialects) is probably the most important one for the US right now, especially if you're moving out toward the west coast.

Also, Chinese will become increasingly important in the business world.

For fun, I don't think you can go wrong with Latin or Gaelic. Latin, although a dead language, still crops up in a lot of scientific terms, so it's cool to know where the names came from. As for Gaelic, I'm Irish so something about the language just fits right with me, and you'll be able to understand some of the greatest folk songs ever written.

Táim ag foghlaim gaeilge fosta. (or is it chomh maith...all these "too"s confuse me)

I started learning a year ago here at university (Bochum, Germany) and i love it. Great teachers here, a week abroad every year for free, only few students. Great thing to do.

 

[Ashcrexl]

considering the fact that China is taking over the world, probably Chinese (mandarin). but my personal favorite language is Russian. Spanish is useful if you plan to visit the Southwest sometime in the next 5,000 years.

 

[TheMetalGuy]

Danish?

It's not very usefull since only eight millions knows it world wide.
But if you are up for the challenge just try, it's freaking hard.

The language itself isn't very differnt from english, since it only have three extra letters: æ, ø and å. Also we don't have: W in any words. The hardest thing really is to pronunce it.

Only people who grew up talking it will be able to say: ø, æ or å without months of pratice.
The most common test is to say: Rød grød med fløde. Which means: Red stuw with cream.

It's not worth the effort. =X

 

[Shoggoth2588]

If you're moving to the mid-west, Spanish would likely be the most practical. Maybe you should wait until after the move too: figure out who all lives around you. Maybe you will be entering a Greek neighborhood? Or Laotian? Another factor is your family. Maybe you would like to learn an old language from your family's history.

Personally, I went for Japanese. Not yet fluent and, mainly went for that language because of anime and a small shopping center run mostly by Japanese families. It would have been more practical to do Spanish though, in my case.

 

[Artorius]

French if your feeling romantic.
or Japanese if your feeling geeky.
but yeah french easy to learn and sound just plain awesome.
-Vous allez aimer il.

 

[Nimcha]

I've found English is a good second language for me. German is a good third.

You should try to learn Dutch, it's one of the most richest languages when it comes to tone!

 

[standokan]

Fluid Latin, that'll show my old asshole teacher (I mean an old teacher who's an asshole, not a teacher with an old asshole)

 

[Vendayn]

Great responses so far, thanks

I did always like the European cultures...being that my dad's side of the family lives in the UK. Mandarin and Japanese may be a bit hard from what I've seen in the thread...I think I might want something a bit easier. I like a lot of the suggestions though.

If I get trips to other countries of the language I'm learning... then if its a place I'm interested in or want to visit, that may be a deciding factor too.

 

[ArchAngelKira]

Learning Japanese is worth it after you look at all the honorifics and what not it can be very rewarding in more ways then one

 

[ace_of_something]

The most common foreign language you'll have to deal with in the midwest is Spanish by a wide margin.

In my town I'm really wanting to learn Nuer because Sudanese it's our 2nd largest immigrant population.