What languages do you speak? Was learning them worth your effort?
My mother tongue is Russian, I'm learning English now. What language should I learn next and why?
>>8258945
>What languages do you speak?
English, French, German reasonably well, bits and piece in other languages
>Was learning them worth your effort?
not really. i tend to communicate mostly in grunts and snarls
>>8258945
Interslavic
>>8258989
Aren't classics written in old chinese wényán, a separate language? Do you speak chinese?
Just English at the moment.
Would like to learn Spanish, maybe French or Italian. Considering Mandarin as well. Problem is i'm quite lazy.
How do you guys learn? Duolingo?
>>8258945
>What languages do you speak?
English, Spanish, French fluently or near fluently, and can read Ancient Greek. Currently studying German and Latin. In the future I plan to learn Russian, but it's pretty tough from what I understand.
>Was learning them worth your effort?
Yes, I've always found the language learning process to be incredibly enjoyable.
>>8259004
I watched Sponge Bob, then Futurama, then a shitton of Youtube videos. I also read lotsa Wikipedia articles and shitposted on 4chan. (I'm OP)
>>8259004
If you're naturally an autodidact, learning on your own through Duolingo isn't difficult. But you say you're lazy, so I'd be concerned with you getting started only to give up when things became challenging. It might be beneficial to take a formal class so you're held accountable. I can only speak from a US perspective, but in my experience they're not difficult to find almost anywhere.
>>8258945
English and going to study Finnish because I'm moving there
>>8259011
>it's pretty tough from what I understand
Well, at least it's indoeuropean. There are some cognates
nose - nos
brow - brov'
cheek - sheeka
milk - moloko
son - syn
etc.
There are also a lot of latin, french and recently english loanwords.
>>8259038
No classes around here for the ones I want to learn. So if I want to learn Spanish I have no choice but to do it solo.
Ukrainian, Russian and English, but English for a fact seems to be so much inferior than my mother tongue, I was really frustrated with its pretty rigid word order and absence of adjective diminutives. Wish I learnt something like German or Spanish.
>>8259048
That's encouraging. Perhaps I let former instructors get in my head about it. Thanks.
>>8259053
Don't live near any colleges/community colleges (I assume you live in the US)? They'll usually offer language classes, and they'll certainly have Spanish instruction.
But if not, Spanish has a vast amount of resources available to anyone wanting to learn it. Duolingo should be just fine, provided you dedicate yourself to it.
>>8259092
I'm not in the US and not really. The two closest ones don't do Spanish.
>>8259092
Is French more useful than Spanish?
>>8259113
Only if you wanna convert to the religion of peace
(in rough competence order):
English (native)
Korean
French
Italian
Ancient Greek
Mandarin
totally worth the effort. looking forward to putting more effort into them and into many other languages in the future. if I wasn't doing what I'm doing I think I'd want to go into linguistics (of which second language acquisition is only a small part, of course, but you queers get my point,) or some shit like that.
>>8259130
knowing how to say several words and phrases doesn't mean you can speak the languages
>>8259130
Did you learn Korean for doramas and KPop or is there interesting lit in it?
>>8259158
just wanted to come to your shithole and ravish your women
>>8259145
thx for the wisdom anon, I owe you a nickel.
>>8259158
>>8259162
to watch movies mostly. 박찬욱 is the goat, and I hate reading subs. plus I wanted to challenge myself.
>>8259175
this is weird then because our language is so unimportant and our women are the most ugly ones on the whole planet. You must be merely kidding me.
>>8259106
Ah, then it seems like Duolingo it is. Don't worry, Spanish isn't that difficult to learn.
>>8259113
Honestly, it depends on what your goals and interests are. For example, do you plan on using the language purely for literature? Do you actually want to use it in everyday conversation? If so, do you live in a certain area of the world where Spanish/French speakers are more prevalent?
It's tough to say which would be better for you to learn because I have no idea what it is you want from a language. Once you figure that out, deciding which to learn shouldn't be too difficult.
>>8259183
>Don't worry, Spanish isn't that difficult to learn.
but harder than that simplistic English
>>8259183
>do you plan on using the language purely for literature? Do you actually want to use it in everyday conversation?
Oh, I just though it could increase my chances of getting laid in France
>>8259194
>>anon attempts to get a rise out of a korean while not realising that not all are hopelessly nationalistic
assuming if Koreans eat dogs and rats then all do the same
>>8259204
>I'm gonna be honest with you, fluent language acquisition for 20+ year olds is a near impossibility.
And this is based on what exactly?
>>8259204
>I'm gonna be honest with you, fluent language acquisition for 20+ year olds is a near impossibility.
Absolutely agreed except for the part about age. It IS impossible for a person to master any language after one's turned 14
>struggle through a novel or two
forget about it, If he hasn't been exposed at the age of up to 13 it is not possible.
>>8259215
>And this is based on what exactly?
Critical Period Hypothesis, look it up yourself
>>8259204
defeatist wimp
>>8259234
forget about reading novels and intelligent conversation on a native-like level
>>8259239
okay
I speak Finnish, English and a bit of Swedish
learning English has been worth the effort, Swedish not so much.
>>8259260
Tell me about your mother tongue a little bit and about its literary heritage, how hard is the grammar? I wanna learn it and move to Finland.
What's the language to get into if you're in it just for the literature?
>>8259278
this. Answer, polyglottofags
>>8258945
>What languages do you speak?
German (native), English (fluent), French (near fluent), I can read and understand Latin, I can understand Low German and Dutch
>Was learning them worth your effort?
no one needs french, the other ones were given
>>8259308
Isnt there a hufe amount of literature and philosophy in french?
>>8259278
learn mandarin, they write really good internet novels
>>8259290
English tbqh. great native lit, great translations of most everything else.
>>8259313
well everything is translated
>>8259319
translation is distortion tbqhfam
Nobody controls the quality amd its shitty
>>8258945
How do you guys (especially non-European) learn new languages?
I always try and self-teach but it never really seems to stick.
>>8259351
no wonder why it's so when you're over 13
I speak English, Spanish, and French fluently. I'm interested in learning Russian or Japanese next but worried that I'm too ~old~ to learn properly now like >>8259204 said
>>8259394
Das bullshit mane, don giv up on yo dreamz
>>8259398
I appreciate the encouragement. I'm definitely going to try, most likely Japanese because none of the colleges around me offer Russian
>>8259394
>but worried that I'm too ~old~ to learn properly now
good, at least you realise that i's impossible now
>>8259422
look at that 20+ body over there, you're so pathetic, and you WON'T make it
>>8259464
fluency is dependent on the time you spend actively using it, and it can even worsen no matter how long ago you had stared learning
Spanish
English
Indonesian
I can read and (more or less) communicate in French and German
>>8258945
Spanish and English
Learned English
Literally don't need to learn other languages. Maybe would pick up Russian just for the huge after-CCCP literary boom.
>>8259482
you're right. Despite being my mother tongue, my Spanish is extremely rusty right now. It is quite embarrassing desu.
French (mother tongue)
English (I study English)
Spanish (quite limited)
A few words in Breton
I tried to learn Japanese once. I was very drunk. Don't remember a thing
>>8259004
I just get a girlfriend that speaks other language, I've learned a couple languages that way.
English is mandatory in school.
>>8259559
I've had a Polish girlfriend in the past but I honestly didn't learn much seeing as she lives in the UK and is fluent in English (I'm French)
That and Polish is retardedly hard too
>>8259559
>English is mandatory at school
Kek, that doesn't prevent most French people from having a rubbish mastery of English
>>8259567
I've dated a polish girl for some time bit didn't learn a word...
But I learnt some latin with her
>>8259580
are you Lord Byron
Finnish (native language)
English (fluent, I was an exchange student in Minnesota during 2015-2016 )
Swedish (small talk, etc.)
German ( ^ )
Spanish ( ^ )
English was the easiest to learn (video games, movies, the internet), Swedish and German needed the most effort, Spanish was fairly easy
I know German, Ancient Greek, and Latin. For you, I'd suggest Latin and German. Ancient Greek is great to know but there's more works in Latin worth reading, and it's nice to know one dead language. German would be recommended more so to learn because it has the most literature and philosophy worth reading and operas worth listening to over other living languages.
Native: finnish
Fluent in: french, english
Basic communication: estonian, scandis (danish, swedish, norwegian)
Some words and phrases: german, russian, italian
I'd like to learn russian and north sami. Karelian would be cool too, but it hasn't been able to get formed into a book language
>>8259576
You're right, you learn as much as you're willing to learn
>>8259270
Another Finn here, there are a lot of different accents and dialects all over Finland, but the most commonly spoken accents are to be found in the Southern parts.
There is the official language which in Finnish is "Kirjakieli", which basically means "book language". That is used in formal speech (letters, job applications, etc.) and then there are the accents, dialects and slangs, which are used in talking. "Book language" is very long and slow to use for speaking, and you might sound amusing speaking it. So whatever your plans in using Finnish are, start learning either "book language" if you want to find a good job for example, or start learning the "slang" of the location you end up in Finland (for example the southern slang), and that is for making connections and socializing. Please learn both too if you want, but it will most likely be extremely confusing.
And of course, I'd say about 70-80% of the people form the southern parts of Finland are mostly almost fluent in English, so don't stress about talking to people. Not sure about middle, or the northern parts of the country.
>>8259630
Miten olet noin hyvä enkussa? Tips pls ;_; tai oikeastaan ymmärrän kaiken mitä sanot mut en ite osaa noin hyvin tuottaa tekstiä.
>>8259587
She was doing Erasmus and studied philosophy. My mother tongue is a romance language so her homework was easier for me than for her.
Anyway, she drank too much, I drank too much to keep up with her and had filthy sex and intersting conversations.
Also, I've always wanted to fugg a jewess so how could I resist.
>>8258959
>he fell for the meme
>>8258945
English speaker, currently learning German
WAGNER
A
GOETHE
NIETZSCHE
E
R
Ainoa paljon Suomalaiset, milloin aloitin katsoa...
>>8260319
what were you trying to say?
Ainoastaan paljon suomalaisia, kun aloin katsoa...?
>>8259001
Yes but translations from Old Chinese to Modern Chinese are far more accurate than translations to English (generally)
>>8259759
Ylis on kyllä paskaa. Kuvalauta ajat olivat paljon parempia ;_;
order of proficiency
>fluent
Dutch
English
>able to have conversations at reasonable level
German
French
>basic
Japanese
>meh
Latin/Greek
>>8259077
>I was really frustrated with its pretty rigid word order and absence of adjective diminutives
>Wish I learnt something like German or Spanish.
>Spanish
>frustrated with its pretty rigid word
English, French and Italian fluently. Can read Spanish and understand spoken Spanish. My mother tongue is Albanian. Currently slowly learning Russian.
Each and every language you learn is worth the effort, a wholr new world opens up and not only in terms of literature.
Wow, the thread is still alive. Some messages were deleted for no reason, strange.
I doubt anyone in this thread actually speaks more than a couple of languages with some degree of fluency, and even that may be a stretch. Why aren't you people working as professional translators? One can make a considerable amount of money providing real-time interpretation.
>>8262881
Working as a translator is really hit or miss. My sister did Swedish English translation for some video game company and got paid decent money. A lot of the time they are just looking to translate basic stuff, and there is a huge surplus of people who are fluent in languages such as Spanish and French and German
>>8262881
Oh and I forgot to add that translator work is usually contract based or short term, good luck finding a steady job unless you have lots of prior experience
Anyone here learn a language with out classes? What did you use and how did you find it?
>>8262999
Me, learned french by living in francophone Switzerland. It was great
>>8259316
Got any links?
>>8262881
There are four aspects to a language. Written, read, spoken and heard. You can be pretty fluent in reading a language, but have a lot of trouble writing, and since you do not hear it you can have problems with that as well. But if I could read whole novels in French and someone where to ask me if I was fluent in French I would say yes.
Also being a translator requires a very strong grasp of at least two languages, as well as creativity and literary skills. It would be like saying to anyone and can read and write in your native tongue. How come you don't become a writer.
>>8258945
i am fluent in Tamil (mother tongue), English and telugu.
Ive been learning french but I have no motivation with me being a NEET desu.
>>8263142
>Google Tamil
>See bunch of qt Indian girls
Booking the next flight to India desu
>>8263199
I don't see any.
>>8263142
So is there interesting literature in tamil?
>>8262881
Kenapa? Aku obrol indo dengan teman2ku, bahasa ini lebih lucu dari bahasa inggris, dan aku suka bahasa populer... Ngga kerja alihbahasa kalau kamu tau bhs pplr dong
>>8258945
Mother tongue is English. Had to learn German out of obligation to my Swiss half. Hate the language.
I want to learn an Asian language. There's no point in learning any European language since basically everyone here speaks enough English these days. I would love to pick up Korean.
>>8259130
How good are you in Korean?
And how much time/effort did it take you to reach that level?
I would love to pick up Korean. A very good friend of mine is Korean and I basically everything of the Korean culture I've experienced (apart from their insane hierarchy of people) is great.
I went so far as to study the alphabet and I can read it/pronounce the words ok but no idea of what I'm saying.
English and Latvian.
I know a little bit of German and even less of Russian.
I genuinely want to learn Latin. I know it would be of little use, but I really want to, just so I can read some old texts in the original language.
>>8263266
>I basically everything of the Korean culture I've experienced (apart from their insane hierarchy of people) is great.
Fuck off koreaboo
English and Nihongo.
Regarding the latter, I am fluent and not bullshitting when I say so. As to why I learned it? Well, you can put that down to a good ol' fashioned /pol/-inspired gut feeling that Japan will be one of the few places still standing when the shit hits the fan for the West.
No longer a /pol/ack, but I do think that was one of the things they're right about.
>>8263266
not who you replied to but check this link out: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/korean/index.html
i am a korean learner at intermediate level. it takes a long time. good textbook(s)== korean grammar in use (beginner, intermediate, advanced). its an agglutinative language so the 'grammar' is essential.
>>8263286
I got news for you, buddy.
Japan is nothing more than an American proxy in Asia. It's basically occupied with the number of US Army bases there.
>>8263206
kek, you wont find many pictures of pretty indian chicks online as there are plenty of dumb creeps on facebook.
>>8263199
i think most of what you are seeing are B-movie actresses.
The letters are curvy as fuck and most literary works are archaic in the sense that they put a lot of emphasis on sounding poetic. The culture is pretty conservative and is pretty opposed to any influence on it by the other languages especially hindi (its akin to french in Canada). I think a few decades back there was a "revolution" of sorts and they purged a fuckton of borrowed words from other languages.
>>8263241
there are plenty as its an ancient language but i havent read much, it doesnt really have the literary diversity that you'd come to expect of english or french.
This is highly revered: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirukku%E1%B9%9Ba%E1%B8%B7
heres a translation, if you are interested: http://www.gokulnath.com/thirukurals
Its a collectin of "poetic proverbs" if you can call them that.
Heres an recording if you wan to hear what the language sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHBcBWsNuXo&list=PLC3B1659436A3F02B&index=1
>Spanish
>French
>Latin
>German
>Russian
>anon you are a liar
Nope, just didn't grow up in the United States of Ignorance.
>>8263266
I'd say I'm fairly advanced, though of course it's hard to quantify this kind of thing.
50% of the challenge of Korean is that there are almost no good resources in English, and many of those that do exist are out of print. I recommend Vincent/Yeon's "Complete Korean" as a beginner book. Teach Yourself books are notoriously hit or miss, but this one actually gets you through the door pretty nicely.
I've been studying for about 3 years. how long it will take you depends on lots of factors: do you have any experience with language learning? do you know Chinese? (vocab discount.) do you know Japanese? (almost parallel structurally, grammar discount.) anyhow it's hard af, so you'll need to be patient. your friend should be a great resource, too (I didn't have any help in the beginning.)
>>8263309
A poднoй кaкoй?
>>8263383
Why is Cyrillic so ugly?
>>8263396
It's derived from the greek alphabet, if I'm not mistaken. Are you saying the greek alphabet is ugly?
>>8263396
why does Cyrillic even exist?
>>8263383
?Que? Ich bin eine Frau und amour frommage, libera te tutemet ex inferis.
>>8263406
So, you see it as a degenerate form of the Greek alphabet, because the squiggly lines of a cyrilic alphabet aren't aesthetically pleasing to you?
>>8263415
It's an angry-looking font, amigo: whether in upper or lower case.
It's like someone applied smoke and mirrors to Greek/Latin alphabets, and Cyrillic was the result.
>>8263427
But that's subjective, surely? How does a line of text look "angry"?
>>8263434
Compare Cyrillic to other alphabets.
It's just ugly and angry bro.
>>8263436
That's a subjective opinion.
Just because you don't like it, doesn't make it objectively ugly.
>>8263454
Stop shitposting. This is a serious board. All things being relative.
>>8263442
>"that's like, your opinion man"
>literally this level of argument
never mind Cyrillic, but people at your depth of stupidity are the reason the world is bad.
>>8263479
What other argument could possibly be presented, you imbecile? Someone deciding that a piece of writing is somehow "ugly" is a stupid thing to say to begin with.
>>8263486
we make subjective judgements all the time. the whole point of this board is subjective judgements (you don't judge a book based on its objective measurable physical qualities, after all.)
never mind if his opinion is fair or not; saying that a judgement is invalid just bc it's subjective is much more foolish than any particular subjective judgement could ever be.
>>8263512
Well, here's my subjective opinion:
You're a faggot.
>>8263524
hey you sure learn quick
I am a native English-speaker. I learned Spanish through high school, and on my off-time I taught myself Portuguese and Turkish (and I'm dabbling in other languages at the moment, namely Albanian and Italian). In public Spanish has proven very useful, Turkish has been mostly a conversation-starter (I'm not very good at it, to be honest), and I've yet to meet a Portuguese-speaker.
As for literature, I took a Spanish Lit class in high school and I've continued to read spanish literature on and off. Miguel de Unamuno is my favorite author, followed by Borges. Apart from Os Lusíadas, I don't know much Portuguese literature that I'm interested in reading. I will read some Turkish lit when I'm good enough at it. İnce Memed, Benim Adım Kırmızı, and Beyaz Kale are on my to-read list. The reason I learned Turkish was out of interest in the Epic of Manas, but I sure as hell didn't want to learn Kyrgyz to read that, so I picked Turkish instead.
So far it seems learning Spanish was well worth my effort, and Portuguese might have some value down the road but for now it hasn't paid off much. Turkish is pretty, but it remains to be seen whether it will have been worth the effort.
english
used to speak japanese when i dated a japanese girl after high school. Was fluent and only spoke with it back then, but man that shit fades fast. 2 years after i had trouble reading and forming complete sentences and now that its 10 years after, im not sure im even introducing myself right.
>>8258945
is Dostoyevsky really better in Russian, OP?
How does /lit/ learn langagues?
I'm a spanish native speaker trying to improve in english.
>>8264178
For learning languages in general:
http://4chanint.wikia.com/wiki/The_Official_/int/_How_to_Learn_A_Foreign_Language_Guide_Wiki
Para ti, amigo, recomiendo Duolingo y iTalki. Duolingo es un juego, pero tiene lecciones de la gramática que son simples y efectivos. Sin embargo no hablarás cómo nativo solamente con Duolingo. Si vas a iTalki puedes encontrar profesores quien te enseñarán lecciones por Skype para mejorar tus habilidades de conversar (pero te cobran para cada lección).
