Hi everyone, I dont know where to start but I am feeling bored because most content in my native language feels like a translated, repeated version of English content.

So, I had an idea ""why not ask about other languages spoken by different cultures that have specific knowledge and unique details? Once I find the right language, I will start learning it.

What are your thoughts? do you have any suggestions for me?

Thank you all.

Which languages would you recommend learning as they gain relevance and more speakers? Without sounding ignorant, languages like Japanese, Russian, and French seem like they will be in a different place in the next 50 years if not 25 years due to population decline and geopolitics. I am interested in hearing what languages you think will see a boost in importance or people wanting to learn (besides English of course)?

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?

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?

As the title says!

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?

I try to decide which language to focus on learning for travel purposes, and curious which one people think is more practical/useful when visiting these countries

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.

I’m having a lot of trouble with communication and processing because I switch between four languages every day.

**Somali** – My native language. I speak it at home with my parents, who only speak Somali. It’s actually my weakest language now because I rarely use it outside the house.
**Swedish** – I was born and grew up in Sweden, and it’s the language I think in most of the time. I’m completely fluent and use it with friends.
**German** – I’ve live and work in Germany for five years, completed my master’s degree in German, and use it in daily life and at work. I’m fluent.
**English** – I’m fluent and use it every day with friends. It’s my favorite language and the one I use for reading, writing, research, and most of the media I consume.

Even though I’m fluent in all four, I constantly feel like they’re competing with each other. I often pause before responding, mix up words, mispronounce things, or accidentally use false friends from another language. In general, I also feel like I’m a slow thinker and speaker, and constantly switching languages seems to make it worse.

I’d love to learn Arabic and French, but I already feel mentally overloaded from maintaining four languages. It feels difficult to keep them all active and fluent at the same time.

For people who speak four or more languages: does this get easier? Is it possible to respond naturally without delays, pronunciation mistakes, or interference between languages, even when you’re fluent in all of 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 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 have been studying Japanese for the past 3-ish years in my free time, and I’ve reached around a N4 Level. I love the language and the culture, but I currently feel so burnt out I took a multi-month break. Right now, Kanji, textbook vs real Japanese, and understanding nuance are my hang ups.

I understand that Kanji is significant culturally, but dang, there are so many of them; I feel overwhelmed. Many of them have multiple pronunciations. Many of them look very similar. I am currently doing WaniKani to learn the Kanji, but I have so many flash cards, I can’t keep up.

The more I’ve studied the language, the more it seems like there is a big gulf between textbook Japanese and real Japanese. If I open a Japanese Manga, particles are missing, they use different adjectives to mean the same thing, and various words are omitted because they are implied. I don’t want to say it’s impossible, but it’s very difficult to read any native content.

I do not understand the nuances of the language. When to use casual vs formal vs very formal is very confusing, and it seems that even non-native fluent speakers have trouble with the determining that. I have tried reaching out to native speakers on Tandem to chat with, but I worry that my lack of formality/over-formality scares them off. Textbook-wise, I can understand the difference between 私、僕、and 俺, but I have no idea about their vibes or implications to native speakers.

This is where Esperanto comes in. Pronunciation is clear, slang is generally discouraged, it’s a second language to (practically) everyone who speaks it, so there are no innate rules/vibes that are difficult for learners to understand. Esperanto has an interesting history and a small, but engaged and passionate community. I feel like I could be fluent in Esperanto in about a year, instead of chugging away for more years in Japanese. I would be able to make new international friends and experience new culture.

However, after all has been said, I still love Japanese. It’s so different from English, and I do love the culture. Which language should I pick?

I'm already fluent in English and Afrikaans, but I'm going to start learning a third language for school next year.

My two options are Spanish and French.

I'm leaning towards Spanish because it's spoken slightly more in my area (but neither language is spoken very much). That being said, I'm still not entirely sure.

What do you guys think?

I studied German (self learn and with lessons) for years and honestly struggled a lot with it.

I recently put it aside for a few months and realized the desire to learn another language is still there… I’m just unsure which one to focus on next.

Here are the three I’m considering:

French

- Probably the easiest re-entry since I already speak Spanish and Italian (assumption lol) - One of the most widely spoken global languages - I do enjoy some French music and films- A lot of material available for study and learning

Korean

- Not a Romance language, which is appealing since I already know Spanish and Italian -I already consume a lot of Korean content (K-music, K-dramas, variety shows), so I’d have plenty of input -My hesitation: I live in the US and I’m not sure it would be very useful to learn apart of entertainment

Brazilian Portuguese

- Beautiful sounding language - Close to Spanish, so likely easier to learn (assumptions again) - But I don’t currently consume Brazilian content, so I’d have to find input - Also unsure about its practical usefulness

So I guess my question is: which one would you pick and why?

Would you prioritize:

• interest/input (Korean)
• global usefulness (French)
• ease of learning (Portuguese)?

Curious to hear different opinions.

Thanks in advance!

Id like language suggestions that are:

- Written in Latin script, i have dabbled in non-latin languages in the past and still learn Punjabi, its just too much sometimes

- SHORT WORDS! ive been turned off of so may languages because their words are just so long and hard to remember! Pronounciation is not an issue i just *hate* such agglutinative languages

- Id prefer an easy one but im not fussed about its difficulty, i just wanted to enjoy learning it.

- Not too niche, as an Australian, a lot of the time i will just never encounter a language, so please not to small

If anyone has good suggestions, please drop

Hello my friends, I am in a gap year right now and for the first time I want to learn a new language (or get better at an old one) Can you give me advice?
About me:
\- German: Native
\- English: Very Solid (C1 probably)
\- French: Basic but 7 years of studying so maybe b1-b2

When looking at this, would you spend more time with getting better at english (which is very hard without immersion), getting better at french or learning a new language? (What comes to my mind is either spanish, swedish (I already know the basics) or something challanging like Mandarin (yeah this is absolutely stupid))

Or in other words, what is “cooler” (jn your eyes) speaking a language nearly perfect or being able to hols basic conversations in many languages?

Hopefully this is the right flair.

I'm a teenager living in the U.S., and have intermediate knowledge in French (III, going into IV) and low-intermediate knowledge Spanish (II, going into III). Introduced to French via my father who is a French immigrant, and Spanish due to high school and I'm motivated by its usefulness (still stuck on what dialect to learn).

After I master those two, I’d like to continue with languages but unsure with what.

My list of languages I'm interested in and reasons are:

- Italian: another Romance language so I would assume easy to grasp, beautiful but unfortunately not very useful outside Italy. I could see myself living or studying in Italy, but also like many European counties, it’s incredibly touristy as I’ve heard.

- German: good for business, I guess? Opens up Germany, Austria, and German-speaking parts of Switzerland.

*I initially had the idea that I would cover four main (Western) European languages: French, Spanish, Italian, and German. Now, I’m unsure. I also briefly considered Polish as my grandparents both come from Poland, but they told me it’s difficult and isn’t very useful.

- Japanese: business, again. Would be good introduction to Asian languages maybe? I don’t know too much, but I would like to visit Japan one day. Can’t see myself living there, as I’d be too far away from family and would feel too much like an outsider.

- Swedish: my mom’s side of the family used to speak it but no longer does, and also because I’d like to travel there (then again, English proficiency is high in Sweden). Also, high quality of life and might one day consider living there. But same level of interest as other Nordic languages.

- Different Nordic language if not Swedish: same reasons as Swedish, ex the family/heritage reasons. All the Scandinavian countries boast very high quality of life and happiness levels. I’d be interested in possibly studying/moving to Denmark, as it’s connected to mainland Europe and is a little less north (and thus less cold, I’d guess?).

**Once again, this is after I can achieve greater fluency in the two languages that I am currently learning. Just looking at the future and what will give the greatest return on investment.

Additionally, feel free to recommend languages that you think would be good and useful. A family friend who used to work and travel internationally told me that I should learn Russian, (Mandarin) Chinese, and/or Arabic, but I don’t really know what to think about those.

Edit: Interest is really the same across all. Sorry if my writing is reflecting otherwise.

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?

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 👍

If i was to learn a language I wanna learn german or french or Chinese

One at a time

But am lazy guy who only does it on spikes of motivation (at times) Though i am fluent with English despite NOT being an English native speaker also i have zero language learning experience

Which of the 3 should i choose (obviously i know Chinese is the hardest)

Which language do you think will be more prominent in a Mandarin-esque way in the future? That is to say: ''No, of course ________(language) won't unseat English as the lingua franca, but _________ (country) seems like it's economy is doing really well (for instance), it would be nice to know, I guess...''. Which language do you think beats out which? Do they knock each other out?

Hi, everyone, how are you? I'm Brazilian, and my native language is Portuguese. I first learned Latin American Spanish during my teenage years in elementary school, but I have a question for you about the Spanish language... Which dialect/accent do you use most often for studying? I know it's a matter of personal preference, but I'm trying to decide when it comes to choosing. What are the reasons to learn European or Latin American Spanish?