>have to pick a foreign language to learn for college
>want to pick one that will give me access to a wider range of literature
Is there even a point to pick a language on this basis? I mean, I probably won't ever be able to understand the nuances of any language I learn...
What do you guys think? We haven't had this conversation in a while.
Russian
Russian
Have it multiple times every day.
You're nearly wrong about anything.
Pick a language that has a lot of lit you want to read. Learning new languages is helpful on so many levels, really dive in to lad, feels great.
>>7641401
Castellano, muchacho
definitely german, i mean come on, lots of interesting lit. but on the other hand its all old stuff and therefore you might not understand a single thing, because the language was different in that times.. also it must be a pain in the ass to learn the der die das rule
Völapuk, Esperanto, Ido, Interlingua. All extremely useful
>>7641401
I love Cy Twombly.
Russian or German. Latin is good aswell.
I know what you mean and in the end I think it's a great reason alone.
Most literature is written to be easily understood and you'll be able to appreciate it even as a beginner.
And you're bound to find something else that interests you about the culture of which language you're learning so just go for it.
>>7641451
Same. I nearly shit myself when I found out that I lived 45 minutes away from the Twombly Gallery at the Menil Collection.
I don't live near Houston anymore, but whenever I'm home, I plan on going there just to think.
Spanish actually. Russian translations are very good and Spanish authors are pumping out great lit. Spanish is also very easy to learn
>>7641401
You're retarded, son.
Pick German, Russian or French (I'm biased toward Russian myself). Why do you think you wouldn't be able to pick up on the nuances? It takes time and a chunk of dedication but it's possible
I was considering continuing my, albeit limited, french or starting Russian, and came to the conclusion that french would be better to learn first atleast due to the tendency for Russian authors in particular (atleast from what I've read) to insert quite a bit of french. Is this just the product of a tiny era of Russian lit (admittedly my grasp on Russian lit only includes tolstoy and doestevsky at the moment) or is it an over arching theme for most pieces in Russian?
>>7641401
>choosing anything besides French
>even considering Russian
Honestly most people only want to learn Russian to read a select few authors (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Lermontov, Chekhov, Gogol. If you learn French you'll be able to read much more literature that also covers more movements and styles than the Russians.
>>7641401
English literature PhD students used to have I learn French, and either German or Russian, with most having decent Latin. I'd stick to those of you interest involve literature in the western tradition.
You may learn languages by studying grammar and vocabulary, but you pratice languages by speaking to people. I started on Arabic because of a love of the script and poetry but gave up when I realized I had nothing to talk about with Arabs. Choose language based on realistically who you want to talk to and learn from, and what sort of entertainment the native speakers indulge in, rather than just literature you find interesting.
>>7641955
>even considering Russian
>not considering Russian
Autism
Latin, french, german bro here. Learn these three especially. Ignore all the Russian shit posters. Learn Völapuk in your spare time as was mentioned before.
>>7641444
>der die das
Overrated. Once you learn the patterns you'll know the correct article automatically better than 50% or 60% of the time.
Learn German, I'm reading Die Leiden des jungen Werther in the original language now and it is amazing.
Fühlt gut man.
Also, french and maybe spanish for the chicks.
>>7642040
Yeah, it is a good book.
>>7641401
twombly :')
obviously the answer is French
>>7642023
>man
Ach, Ich lache.