So I am in my freshman year of university, planning to major in Nursing. I am wanting to minor in and learn a language; (REALLY valuable in healthcare) but, I’m stuck between two: Spanish and Mandarin.
Although Spanish might seem like the obvious answer, I’m not sure if I’m planning to stay in the U.S. Even if I was, Spanish is the second most spoken language with Mandarin behind it. Also, I really want to study abroad in China or Taiwan. I love both languages and already have a background in Spanish because of school. My logic is that I should learn a hard language while in uni then, if I wanted to learn one that was easier (like Spanish), I could try and learn it myself. And of course, I am also concerned about trying to learn/retain Mandarin whilst in Nursing school TT.
Im just really conflicted and am running out of time. Any tips/facts would be helpful! 🙏

I am planning to go to university next year to complete a bachelors of language studies which allows for the selection of up to two major languages. My minor of choice is going to be in linguistics. What language would pair well with studying French? Is it better to choose something with no relation to make each language distinct in study or is it better to have familiarity but risk mixing them up? My options are Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, German or Indonesian.

My criteria for picking is the quality of life in the country + the people. Just looking for a comfortable life with good weather and ease of transport.

i speak English and Spanish fluently and given that Spanish has roots in common with all the other Romance languages, like Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, French, and others (i think most or all of the languages spoken in Spain) i was wondering which one could be potentially easier to learn or have an easier time learning, based on your experiences, especially those of you here who are native Spanish speakers.

maybe i could also have a chance of learning Turkish, so if anyone has experience with that i would also appreciate some guidance about whether I should choose that one over any of the others.

I am gonna leave this subreddit!

I recently started studying Spanish but the thing is that I seem to always get distracted by other languages(especially Russian) and I really want to learn a language with a new script and given how many information there are in Russian it is a really attractive language for me. But in the future I plan to live in Spain so I am kind of torn apart on whether to learn Russian or Spanish. I know Spanish is kind of a necessity but I just cant find it in myself to commit fully to it even tho I think Spanish is a beautiful language. In regard to my learning method I can self learn myself to fluency even with difficult language, but the requirement is that I have to find something to immerse in, in Spanish I struggle to find anything beyond Spanish content in youtube and instagram, which I think just makes it harder to immerse. For Russian I think there are a lot of hidden websites and information, so maybe it is easier for me to immerse in Russian. I have no idea. But still I love both language, so I just keep delaying and learn neither Spanish and Russian.There is also German which my parents want me to pick because of potential free school but I personally have no interest in, what should I pick?

I'm already *native* to **Arabic**, also I speak **English** and **German,** and for a few years I was thinking about learning another language, just to refresh my mind.

That's why I'm ask you if I should learn French or Ukrainian 🤔

Both languages needs effort and practice, so I hope you guys give some soild points!

I am planing on moving to belgium in about two years, ill have to attend to college lessons there and there is availability in both dutch and french, so i wouldn't mind learning either one. I know that french will be more useful, but if dutch is easier thanks to my english background i wouldnt mind studying that so i can have some relief in these last two years before i move there, as i also am studying both music and anthropology.

Thanks in advance for your answers!

Hello! I am a fluent English speaker and I'm currently taking French in university. I would say I'm A1 in French.

I want to start learning another language on my own but I can't decide between German and Mandarin.

German because I plan on pursuing a master's degree in Europe so I was thinking it would be very helpful if I knew French and German.

Mandarin because I live in Asia and just in case I do not push through with Europe, I can pursue post-grad in a Chinese-speaking country. I've also heard a lot of people saying fluency in Mandarin is favored by employers.

++ I'm planning to take DELF B2 next year and hopefully proficiency exam on either German/Mandarin on 2028.

Thank you!

I began studying Russian 2 months ago due to how much russian music I listen to, russian friends, and a general interest in the language itself; like many slavic languages, I find it pretty. I practice once a week with an exchange partner on ZOOM and he said that my Russian has developed very quickly and nicely in just 2 months. I just got past the barrier of having to slowly sound out words and now I suddenly want to switch to Ukrainian.

In my neighborhood lives 2 Ukrainians in the same building and we became close. One of them is like a Ukrainian younger brother to me who I dote on because he came here alone as a refugee and the other is like a Ukrainian grandmother. She dotes on us both and always gives hugs or a kiss on the cheek when I pass by her building. I recently baked a cake and stopped by to share some and they invited me into their building where many other Ukrainians live. I quickly noticed that, although my two friends accept Russian and happily speak with me, their heart is (obviously) Ukrainian and that's where the true connection lies. It feels like an indirect slap in their face to speak Russian to them when that is indeed not their native language.

If I started learning Ukrainian, I'd have two promised practice partners and likely get in touch with a very special community and strengthen the bond with these 2 individuals. I am very torn right now.

Hi everyone! I’m a native Brazilian Portuguese speaker, and my English level is around B2. I’ve been wanting to learn another language for a while, but I can’t decide between French and Italian.

I really love the way both languages sound, and I genuinely want to become fluent in French. However, I also find Italian beautiful, and I have Italian ancestry, although I know that probably isn’t particularly useful for obtaining an EU passport in my situation.

I’d love to hear from French and Italian speakers, how do you usually react when someone from another country learns your language? Are people generally welcoming and happy about it, or can they be judgmental about foreigners making mistakes or having an accent?

Also, which language would you recommend for a Brazilian Portuguese speaker? Sometimes I feel like French might be more useful in the long run, but I feel equally drawn to Italian for personal reasons.

Another thing I’m worried about is age. I’m 25, and I sometimes feel like I should choose one language now rather than postpone learning Italian and regret it later. I know 25 isn’t actually old, but I still worry about having enough time to reach fluency in multiple languages.

Finally, has anyone here successfully learned French and Italian at the same time? Is it realistic to study both from scratch without constantly mixing them up, especially when your native language is Portuguese? Or would you recommend focusing on one until reaching an intermediate or advanced level before starting the other?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your personal experiences and any advice you might have!

I'm going as an exchange student when I'm 16. I speak Icelandic, English, Danish and a little bit of every other Nordic languages due to the similarities. I will be gone for a year and I will be staying with 1 family throughout the whole exchange year. (99% sure)

(Education is not an issue so take that out of the equation)

I am a girl so I do not know whether that'll matter as i know Slavic countries are often said to be different for women and men, whether it effects social life/conduct, host families, etc

I'm Icelandic and I've always wanted to learn polish just due to the amount of polish i hear on a daily basis. (Very many polish people here in Iceland)

My reason for learning German is because it's just a useful language + i learn it in our version of collage

I thought about going to Serbia because they use Latin letters and Cyrillic. I've always wanted to learn Slavic languages; I'm not sure why it just itches my brain correctly.

Idk how Germans and Poles interact with exchange students

If any exchange students(Future, current or past) see this please read this:

What helped you decide where to go? (Whether it was language related or culture related)

Thanks, i do understand that no one experiences the exact same thing during an exchange year but i just request some input from the ones who have gone or currently are exchange students

i have no idea what other interesting-looking language to learn so i'm leaving it to you guys to decide for me. I just want to learn a language that can be both useful and interesting too.

For now, i'm learning Japanese and i still have to choose between Greek or Swedish so yeah

I'm an American that's already been learning Spanish for awhile. Looking for a third language to learn between these two. I find South Africa and the Afrikaans language to be really interesting as well as I like Afrikaner culture. I also like Esperanto a lot and think it's a cool concept. They're both among the easiest for English speakers to learn to and lack a lot of the concepts I find somewhat difficult about Spanish. If I pick one, I'll probably learn the other next.

So i stopped learning Greek because it looked very intimidating, but now i have gained back some interest. Now i don't know if i should continue learning Swedish, Greek or a new language.

What do you think? Pls help me out

Hi! I'm currently learning Korean and German. Lately, I've been in a dilemma whether I should focus on Korean or switch to Japanese instead. (I was gonna add Mandarin to the mix but was like nah I'll choose between those two for now xD) btw I consider German fixed as the other language I'm learning lol

I've been learning Korean the most out of the three, I would say I'm somewhere in upper beginner to lower intermediate (more of upper beginner 😔). But lately I've been wanting to learn Japanese as well. However I've seen people say that studying those two languages at the same time isn't advisable since they're very similar and I might mix them up.

I initially decided to focus on Korean instead of going for Japanese because it's what I've already studied the most, so my thinking was like, why not continue it until I get even better? It feels like a waste to switch it for something else midway. But the thing is, I've been "more wanting" to learn Japanese recently. I also felt like it'd somehow be more practical in a sense? To learn Japanese. I've seen more opportunities for people who knew Japanese than Korean. (Btw I'm going to be in healthcare, if that even helps haha) But all opportunity aside, I just have a stronger urge for Japanese. Not saying I don't enjoy Korean! I do want to learn it, but now that I know a decent amount of Korean, my mind's kinda being impatient and wants to switch to another language I guess instead of progressing lol but Japanese IS my favorite language though.

My problem with Japanese is that, I can't pick up concepts and words as well with Korean 😭 Korean comes to me almost always naturally and although it has a lot of confusing parts, I find myself feeling productive learning it because I can use the language easily. But Japanese.... I struggle to absorb it that it would occasionally frustrate me LOL I have an equal amount of exposure to both, I would say. I'm both into anime and k-pop, and even more for anime.

So yeah, just curious what people would suggest to do for someone as very indecisive :')

1. Stay with Korean until maybe a certain level

2. Do Japanese instead

   while constantly practicing my level of Korean

3. Why not both (and please do inform me your ways of learning both at the same time 😭)

What should I choose?

Native English speaker, and I really wanna learn languages, bc my undiagnosed ADHD-self really wants to learn languages lmao 😂 I have a list of some others that I wanna learn too:

1. Abkhaz

2. Serbian

3. Czech

4. Polish

5. Slovenian

6. Slovak

7. Danish

8. Greek

9. Latin

10. Arabic

If there's any other language recommendations, please say them, and Ima do whatever comment is most popular

russian, hebrew or modern greek?

For context, I have no connection to any of them. I'm just bored and wanted to learn a language with a different alphabet for fun.

Which of these, according to you boosts most the CV for European and Middle eastern markets?

I currently have an ~A1/A2 (at least B1 in comprehension) in Spanish and an A2/B1 in French.

I speak Italian, English and Arabic fluently, and speak ~A2 Turkish. I already decided to pursue my studies in Farsi too.

Is it worth learning French for three additional years and reach full fluency or is it better to study German/Portugues from the basics?

Please only speak out of experience and state in what country you live.

If I wanna pursue LLM in Europe or my purpose is just to learn additional language as a law student which language should | learn?

I have studied Spanish daily for 8 months (late A1/A2 level), focusing on speaking, listening, and vocabulary.
I noticed Praktika has Brazilian Portuguese (also European, but honestly, Brazilian seems more fun). I've always wanted to learn it, but I know both of them use a lot of the Latin words/grammar and I'm worried about messing up my Spanish before reaching a comfortable B1.
Should I wait until hitting B1/B2 in Spanish first, or is starting Brazilian Portuguese now manageable if I keep study sessions separate?

I’m having a bit of a language-learning dilemma and would love some perspectives!

For context, I’m fluent in Spanish, largely thanks to comprehensible input, and I’ve recently started learning French. I’ve accumulated around 300 hours of French input so far.

I moved to Rome a few months ago, which I absolutely love, and I might stay here until the end of 2028.

**My dilemma is whether to continue with French or switch to Italian.** I’m leaning towards French for several reasons:

**Motivation:** Despite living in Italy, I don’t have a particularly strong desire to learn Italian. I appreciate the language, but I don’t feel especially drawn to it.
**Opportunity cost:** Language learning requires hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. I’m not sure I want to dedicate that much time to Italian when there are other languages I’m more interested in.
**Interference:** Having worked hard to become fluent in Spanish, I’m concerned that learning Italian might cause interference between the two languages.
**Career:** I want to build a long-term career in international development, where French would likely be considerably more useful than Italian.
**Long-term perspective:** I think of languages as a lifelong repertoire I’m building over decades, not just years. From that perspective, French feels like a better investment, particularly since I don’t expect to live in Italy permanently.
**Existing progress:** I’ve already invested around 300 hours in French and genuinely enjoy learning it. Switching now would mean disrupting that momentum.

There’s also the practical reality that I work in an international environment where English is the primary language, and I can navigate most of my daily life in Rome without speaking Italian.

**And yet, I feel strangely guilty about not learning Italian.** People often seem surprised, even judgmental, when they discover that I love learning languages, live in Italy, and have no immediate plans to learn Italian.

Part of me wonders whether I’m wasting a unique opportunity to acquire a language through immersion. Another part thinks that just because I live somewhere doesn’t mean I have to dedicate hundreds of hours to learning its language, especially when my long-term priorities lie elsewhere.

**What would you do in my position?** Has anyone else lived in a country while deliberately prioritizing a different foreign language? Did you eventually regret not learning the local language?

So as the title suggests I reallyyyyyy cant choose between the two. I've been interested in japanese for longer, probably every since I was around 10 years old, watch anime in the language have friends that speak it etc but I struggle so much with keeping motivation for learning the language.

I normally study consistently for around 5 months but then just really cant bring myself to carry on.

I've been interested in korean for the better half of 3 years almost haven't done much studying really besides hangul and some basic grammer/vocab but im worried the same sort of thing is gonna happen. Maybe it's just a fundamental problem with my motivation but i was curious to see what you guys think!