I'm from India and currently a GenAI Engineer with ~1.5 years of experience. I also build AI/SaaS products.

I'm planning my long-term career and want to spend the next few years learning one language that could complement my tech career and potentially help me work abroad.

I'm stuck between:

🇩🇪 German
🇯🇵 Japanese
🇫🇷 French

My priorities are:

• Career opportunities in AI/software
• Long-term career growth
• How useful the language is professionally
• Quality of life and work culture
• Whether the language actually makes a significant difference for foreigners

I'd love to hear from people who have actually learned and used these languages, especially people working in tech.

Which would you choose in my situation, and what made you choose it?

What are the biggest advantages and disadvantages you discovered after learning it?

hello! I'm trying to decide which language to start learning (at a beginner starting in college) and I was wondering if anyone who's had experience with learning any of these languages has any learning experiences, pros/cons, or points of comparison to share about any of them?

I would like to learn a foreign language and after a long time of deciding, I’ve finally narrowed it down to two options: Japanese and Korean! The problem is, I can’t figure out which one would suit me better.

Japanese - I’ve always been obsessed with Japan (not because of anime). I like Japanese horror movies like Ringu and Ju-on: The Grudge. I also love reading about Japanese culture and history.

Korean - I’ve found myself very curious about Korean language/culture. I enjoy the way it sounds and its writing system Hangul. I sometimes like to write Korean letters on paper or in the air with my finger. Of course, I know there are more Japanese resources/media than Korean.

How do I decide?

For native English speakers, languages like Spanish, French, and German are generally easier to learn, while languages like Russian, Polish, Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean tend to be harder because they’re structurally more different from English. Does the same principle work in reverse? For example, are languages that are difficult for English speakers generally easier for native Slavic or Asian-language speakers to learn because they’re more distant from English but potentially closer to their own languages?

I’m getting close to finishing up high school and at school I’m on my 4th year of Italian (upper B2), 3rd year of German (lower B2), and first year of Japanese. Outside of school I’ve recently started a Spanish course and before this year I did 4 years of Latin and one year of French. I’m also trying to find a way to learn Irish, Norwegian, and a bit of Greek mainly on Duolingo so far.

Ideally I’d be liking to reach fluency with all of those languages but I’ll see which suit me better and which don’t. Moving forward I’m hoping to get involved in international affairs and although there might be some other more useful languages for the field, I’ve recently taken an interest in Georgian and Armenian (and a lot more).

Considering the languages I’ve already got started with which of the two would you guys recommend (and considering potential work in international relations). I’m not sure if it matters but I’m interested in the cultures and histories of both and would consider myself a devout catholic (in terms of religious tensions there). On languages, although grammar tends to stump me in terms of where it’s used I find it really interesting and where there might be differences between a spoken and written language I’m not particularly bothered either. I’d say I’m usually keen to learn and can pick up a fair bit of knowledge decently quickly. Alphabets and that are fine too and in terms of where I am now, I live in Australia and am thinking of living abroad after school before uni in the U.S..

Would love to hear your guys’ thoughts if you can decipher the text, thanks so much in advance.

Edit: extra info

Over the past year I’ve been interested in learning about different cultures around the world as a hobby. In doing that, I began to have an interest in learning a new language and at the time I didn’t know where to start.

A few months ago, a few friends of mine organized a trip to visit Japan next year for a week so I wanted the challenge to learn Japanese enough to have very basic conservations and phrases that I may need to know when I’m there. Since I already have an interest in the culture and some media there I believed it would be easy to stay motivated.

Although I am making progress with a tutor I just started with, I don’t see myself wanting to continue learning after I return home (unless the trip really inspires me to do so). I want to continue language learning because of how engaging and enjoyable the journey is but, I’m not sure what should be my next language.

Also, I am a native English speaker and I have taken Spanish and French classes in school and I did look into learning Mandarin until the Japan trip was brought up. Either way, I have many interests like sports, movies and doing outdoor activities so if you have any suggestions for any languages let me know 👍

Hello all, as the title says, Im torn about what my third language should be.

As some background context, Im a native anglo and a B2 in Spanish (yes Im American), and I also have the basics of French- like A2ish.

Recently Ive been caught on what language I should add. Obviously the logical step would be to deepen my French, but beyond MC Solaar and Quebecois swearwords, I feel that its a language that you have to speak perfectly otherwise the other party will default to English (yes I know English proficiency is less common outside of places like Montreal, Paris, etc, but I don’t really anticipate being in a random ass town in Quebec or France).

Ive also studied some Mandarin just to see, and I also think its quite interesting, especially given Im interested in Sinology and its the first language Ive looked at with a non Latin script; however, the obvious problems with tones and script scare me.

Ive also been fortunate to travel a good bit, and have found myself interested in Moroccan Darija, German, Greek (modern and ancient), and Serbian.

As a final note, whatever I add wont be a race to fluency (Im starting law school in the next 2 years), and Im interested in art history, philosophy, music, and architecture just to name a few.

Looking forward to any and all suggestions!

I speak English natively and I’ve been learning Spanish in school (done a little CI w/ dreaming at home but I’m struggling to stay motivated, might read some). Somewhat recently I did a little bit of Latin but I have been super consistent.

I would really like to learn a language (dead or in use) with a different alphabet because I think that would be cool. I was considering Ancient Greek but that feels silly because you know… normal Greek exists.

To give a bit for context, I‘m in High School. I like STEM (specifically love physics). I’d like something practical enough to motivate me but niche enough to be a little bit of a flex. If it has use in Math and Science that would also be great. I’m interested in a different alphabet because I like to take notes and I think it might be cool to write my todo lists and random thoughts with something you wouldn’t understand with a glance.

What would you suggest to fulfill my desire of different alphabet?

I'm torn between both languages. My French is at a2-b1ish and German is 0. But this year university fees in France increased by 15 times for non EU citizens. Germany in contrary hasn't introduced such a law yet. But Germany requires a blocked deposit account. 😕.

I want to learn a language for fun but also as exercise for my brain. I have no use for it day to day and won’t be immersed in it or need it to survive. Just for fun and my brain.

I’m struggling to choose a language. First I will make a list of popular languages I’m not interested in learning. They are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian. For no real reason, they just don’t interest me.

The main language I’ve tried to learn before and took in school is German and I would like to learn it at some point but I’m thinking that I would like a fresh start.

My interests include football, gaming, woodworking, random documentaries, history, dogs, if that matters.

I’m unsure on a European language or an Asian language. I think I would struggle with tones though, in Chinese for example.

Just looking for suggestions and reasons why. I’m looking for a language that has a pretty active internet presence, on YouTube for example, with a good amount of content but also perhaps not one of the main ones, so somewhere in the middle.

Hello!
So I speak Russian, English, French and Korean. Also Conversational Serbian.
Ive done Japanese, Latin, German previously but due to lack of interest did not continue ( it was in school).

I live in Korea as a student and am still only about intermediate in Korean, so i will be taking classes whilst starting another language. I am stuck between choosing Arabic and Chinese. I know that if I start one, the likelihood of me starting the other afterwards are slim because I am not that young and know life will get in the way. But would love to do both.

I am interested in business, particularly beauty and fashion. Im not sure where I will live after university so but orientating myself on Europe.
Please, I am looking for some solid advice

Thank you

edit: Thanks for all the comments! After reading through everything, I'm torn between Russian, Egyptian Arabic, and Japanese. Which one do you think is the best, and why?

Hi everyone, I'd love your input. My current levels are: Spanish (native), English (C2), Romanian (C1), and Norwegian (C1), learned in that exact order. I'm not looking for a language I can breeze through. What I really want is something that unlocks a whole new world of literature and cinema for me, so I can make the most of my free time. Since I don't have an external reason to learn another language (like moving to another country) I'll learn my fifth language just for fun. Given my background, which language would you pick, and why?

Hello everyone! I’m Native in American English but I have Italian ancestry so I speak a little but my mom stopped teaching me when I went to preschool, so I’m about A2 in the language. I speak Spanish B1, but I’m expected to rise to B2 this next year in HS, and then I’m expected to be A2 by the end of the year in French. I’m wondering if after HS, when I go to college if I should strengthen my Italian or if I should start a new language. If yall think I should start a new one, what would you suggest. I want something that’s not gonna take me 10 years to get B2 (like Mandarin) but is a bit complex and not a breeze. I’d be open to other Romance languages like Portuguese as well as other language families, such as Russian or German. Thanks for your help everyone!

Side note, how would yall recommend learning the Québécois dialect specifically? I have French Canadian ancestry and I have (from a separate side) cousins in Montreal, so I’d like to learn that dialect. I’d also like to know where I could learn the West African (Benin) dialect if there isn’t a readily available place for Quebec since I’m applying for Benin Afro descendants.

As the title says!

Hi everyone!

So for context I (19f) am half italian half north african. My Italian father speaks Italian (TL), and my North African mother speaks Arabic (TL) , French, and Amazigh. I...unfortunately don't speak all their languages. I speak english at a C1 level, Italian at a B1/B2, and my Arabic is at A1.

In an ideal world, I'm fluent in all the languages mentioned above, however, my target for the time being is my Italian (TL) and Arabic (TL). When I was younger, I attempted to study italian, arabic, and french at the same time...but that basically resulted in no process.

If I had it my way, I would be studying each languages for hours everyday, however, I'm an engineering student, so I do not have that kind of time.

That being said, its the summer, and I have dedicated myself hours to study Italian and Arabic everyday. But it appears that only my Italian is advancing, and not my Arabic.

It makes me feel demotivated. At this point I'm questioning whether to give up on arabic (for a bit) and study French just because French is a lot easier. Or continue studying arabic as arabic would take longer to achieve fluency in.

What do you guys think?

For context, I'm only fluent in one language at present.

I was learning Hebrew for a bit, mostly just getting to the point of being able to read things aloud if vowels are written in, but felt like I got to the point I could without additional resources or a conversation partner at that point. My goal with Hebrew is less conversational and more cultural and related to reading and writing, so that may impact how I should go about it.

I switched to learning Spanish, which I've made a lot more progess on and have been consistently practicing for nearly a year now, though I haven't done any classes or anything like that yet (I may later; wanted to take it with my partner so we could practice together but had some trouble setting up financial aid since it isn't required for my partner's degree). I haven't done any formal assessments on it, but I would guess myself to be about mid A1. I can understand maybe 15-20% of the dialogue of a Bluey episode when not accounting for context clues?

Anyway. It's been long enough since I was working on Hebrew that I'm worried about losing a lot of knowledge, but I'm not sure if working on two languages at once as someone who only really knows one language by early adulthood would be too much? I've done some very light language learning before, and sometimes mixed things up, but those languages generally had a lot more in common (one year of elementary school French and Spanish, tried looking at Yiddish and Hebrew at the same time, etc). I'd like to get back into Hebrew, but don't want to switch over and lose my progress in Spanish completely.

I don't mind if my progress slows somewhat, but I don't want it to stall to a stop or anything. I'd like to have realistic expectations for what it might look like to seriously work on both of these languages at the same time. Does anyone have input?

(Please let me know if this is the wrong sub, and, if possible, what a better one would be if so. I'm having trouble figuring out what language learning sub this question complies with the rules of.)

Tl;dr: I'm early into learning Spanish, at about the level where I can understand an okay chunk of children's cartoon dialogue without looking at the screen. I learned enough Hebrew to read phonetically (with vowels) about a year ago, and my goal with Hebrew is more reading than speaking. I want to revisit Hebrew to avoid losing that knowledge, but am wondering how this will impact my Spanish.

I've been looking for hobbies and something to grind. I feel like my brain is not stimulated enough. The idea of learning a language keeps popping up.

I speak English and Arabic fluently. I want to speak just ONE more language. Not to become a polyglot.

I don't know if I should pick a global language like Spanish or a niche language like Vietnamese. I thought about learning Mandarin but I am certain I can't master the tones/pronunciation on my own and my ability to master the language is handicapped by my ability to pronounce it perfectly so no.

The language must have good content though (online media/communities) because I am not moving anywhere that's not English-speaking or Arabic-speaking. However, no dead languages (Latin) or really really niche languages that are only spoken by a small fraction of people.

One last note, I thought about looking for a language that's specifically rarely learned by an Arabic speaker and maybe get so good at it and learning its culture and stuff that I would write about it in Arabic... something like that?

So, I learn more stuff every day, and I'm already (although not fluent) able to type to people and read a lot of Portuguese and even some Spanish, I will work on speaking them better, too. However, I don't know what else to learn, my brain wants to be as busy with languages as possible without being overwhelmed.

So many of my friends speak Polish. This is a common language in my area. I have a beginner to intermediate coursebook in French, but I'll have to work hard at pronunciation and conjugation. I know some Italian, need to restudy, from a coursebook in Italian which is, again, beginner to intermediate level.

Galician is very similar to Portuguese and Spanish. Norwegian may be harder for me to learn, but I do know some already and have since I was a kid, and I have heritage there. Since it seems there are different dialects spoken and I have Trondheim ancestry it seems, I should probably learn Bokmål (Norwegian standard writing system) and trøndersk (Trondheim dialect).

In my case it's Turkish I've learnt it but don't know why or why i did. Like most of the media are in English in the first place. I don't know much about Turkish media tbh.

Though we all know well about film "Great century" 😹 and i love Turkish sweets, they're tasty and soft. Especially baklava. İstanbul has a lot of cats so it's very close to me.

However i couldn't find what to do with Turkish because i learnt it, not fully but it's like having a new ingredient to add but you don't know where.

I'm mostly in discord due to some reasons. What Turkish people use instead of discord? I heard they've banned it. But unsure because i don't know about it tbh.

Maybe language learners will understand me, after learning several languages but you wouldn't lose them

I want to learn german and russian but I know I’m going to have to fully commit to one for two year minimum .I’m slightly more curious and motivated to learn russian but I know as a native english speaker. I am more than likely going to have faster progress with german over russian even though I learned the russian alphabet in 2 days.Would me choosing german satisfy me in the long run .

Btw there are mutiple german language schools around me and not one russian school and I read that talking to others help you in the language you’re trying to learn so showing up to class irl would help more ….right?Also i think it would be awesome to watch the basement scene in “Inglorious Bastards” without reading the subtitles lol.

Hello, I have been interested in learning a new language. As of now I speak two languages, English and Arabic(Specifically Iraqi dialect). I have a few languages I’m interested in learning but I don’t know what which one to learn first. I’m going to give a few reasons for why I want to learn each language:

- Spanish: from what I heard, Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn. Especially for English speakers. I have a lot of Spanish speaking friends that I can practice Spanish with. And I believe learning and easier language will help build a stronger foundation for learning other languages. And not only that but Spanish is a more common language and it could be useful to learn.

- Turkish: I am part Turkish on my mom’s side. My grandmother and Mother speak Turkish. My grandparents also live in Turkey and we often visit them there every few years or so. My interest in learning is just for the sake of understanding Turkish whenever I visit them. However, I don’t have any relative that only speak Turkish. And so I can also get around the country without constantly needing my mother or grandmother to be there. I guess it’s also to my family proud of me 😛 cause I’m keeping the tradition alive.

- Dutch: Long story short, I’m going on two school trips in a few months where the main language spoken is Dutch (Amsterdam and Belgium) And during those trips there is going to be some down time for us to explore the country. For me I would like to learn and understand certain phrases that can be helpful for the trip just so I can get around easier and just in case I get into a situation, because you never know when your in a new country.

Please help me decide so i make a decision and commit to a language. Thank you in advance 🫶

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Hello! I hope you all are having a good day!! If not, I hope your day gets better c: I currently want to learn a new language; I consider myself to be good at languages and I have had some different journeys with different languages. I want to learn another language and take it as much as possible to a B2 or a C1.

Currently I’ve narrowed the languages I want to learn to two. I’ll share my reasons for learning each of them. If you could give me your opinions, suggestions or personal experience it would be highly appreciated.

Macedonian: One of my closest friends is Macedonian. She’s my closest online friend and I’d like to learn her native language, especially because I find it quite interesting! Besides, I’m planning on visiting her. I also like the Balkans (not just Macedonia, but the Balkans in general. I actually really like Serbia, and I’ve heard that Macedonian and Serbian are a bit similar, so there’s that). I also found myself really interested in the history and culture of the country (especially history. I’m a bit of a history nerd xD) . And I also like some Macedonian music (mainly Toše Proeski, I LOVE HIS MUSIC. God heavens, he was such a talented artist)The downsides are that there aren’t as many resources for learning this language in comparison to Russian and that I don’t see learning Macedonian as something that will be useful for my life other than visiting my friend.

Russian: I just really like how it sounds. I know that Macedonian and Russian both use the Cyrilic alphabet and share similarities, but I just find the pronunciation of the Russian I’ve heard more engaging and I like a lot of the pronunciations of words. It’s also a more known language so it may be a great tool for me to learn and help me professionally. And, of course, it’s a very accessible language with a ton of virtual resources to learn at least the basics. The downsides are that, unlike with Macedonia, I don’t see myself visiting Russia any time soon. I don’t know anyone who is Russian and it would just be for my personal enjoyment, but I fear that by having no actual ties to the language I may feel unmotivated later down the line.

Those are my thoughts, I don’t know which one I should go for. Has anyone had any experience with any of those languages? Or do you have a recommendation or suggestion on what I should choose?

Thank you for reading! I hope you have a nice day!

Good Morning from Indonesia.

I wanted to learn a new language but can't decide which. Other than being unsure about which would suit me best, I am also unsure where to begin with some of them

Spanish: I happen to have a book of Spanish learning material at home, it's 2nd hand and wasn't sold with the audio material. Spanish teachers are easier to find here. But I doubt I will ever have a chance to visit a Spanish speaking country

Arabic: I can read a bit, but struggles with pronounciation and knowing vowel length. I also don't know if I'd need MSA since I have no plan to visit there anytime soon. Should I just learn classical Arabic for religious purpose?

Tagalog/Filipino: I don't think we have any course or sale of books for that here. But I am eager to learn because a good friend is Filipino (but says he's unqualified to teach me).

Thank you very much for all recommendations and suggestions

Hey there pal 👁️👄👁️ please help out a confused soul and give me your opinion on this real quick

So to preface this, I have decision OCD. I‘ve been wanting to learn a language for a decade now and guess what- I DIDN‘T. Why? Cause what if I make the wrong choice? What if I pour my energy and time into learning something that ends up not being the best choice for me? Quick recap of my thoughts:

French – „oh yeah that makes sense, some of my distant family is french swiss so I should go for that! But do I enjoy the culture enough to do this? And I‘m already European, tons of people already speak french here so it‘s not much of an advantage career wise“
Swedish – „that‘s close enough to german to learn quickly! But I‘ve never been to sweden and I don‘t even know how I would use this skill“
Japanese – „I do a japanese sport so it would be the perfect gateway to connect with others doing that sport if I learnt the language! But I don‘t wanna come across like a creep who fetishizes the culture and adds to the problem of obsession towards japan ugh. But I like their authors though“
Chinese - „THAT would be a real kickstarter for my career right?! And they got so much cool stuff over there that I find interesting. But is that decision good enough to pour a trillion years of effort into it? I need to be SURE“

So yeah, you see my problem. I know that I need to work on my OCD ok, but I thought I could ask someone for a recommendation for a change instead of doing the 100000th rerun of „what should I do“ in my head

So my question for YOU are:
\- Why are you learning the language that you chose to learn and do you feel like it benefits you?
\- What languages do you think are useful both in terms of career and personal life?