Thread: Becoming multi-lingual.

Scandinavian languages are germanic. English is also germanic

If you want to learn a Scandinavian language, Norwegian will be the easiest I think. Also, if you understand Norwegian, learning Danish or Swedish will be relatively easier, since you got the pronounciation right, mostly.

start with Latin. a lot of languages, or rather a certain group of them (like Italian, Spanish, French) are based on it, I think.

oh, also it would help to know it if you read thick, scholarly books, as they are often peppered with Latin phrases.

I'm pretty sure the difference in the chineses languages is largely tone. If you can speak one you will be able to understand and speak the other ones, perhaps without as much fluency because you'll need to focus on tone. For instance, there are 5 ways to say a lot of words in China. The difference in tone could mean you are saying buy instead of sell. I was also wanting to pick up on atlest 1 language, although I think I could do two. At first I was thinking about Japanese, largely due to switch's thread. But I'd like to learn French so I could speak both languages in my country. Italian would be great to learn as well, I've heard once you learn one of the romance languages it's eaiser to pick up on the other ones. So by the time you learn french and italian you could probably understand a good chunk of spanish.

I don't think you should learn latin. Sure, lots of languages are based on it, but learn one of them (Italian/Spanish/French as nerve said) and you can learn the other 2 very easily, and at least you've learnt a language which you can use in practice. Latin isn't usable in practice really, and Italian/French/Spanish are BASED on latin, but that was hundreds to thousands of years ago.. Languages change a lot in such a time.

Also, learn Dutch.

If you learn Spanish, you'll be able to learn Italian and Portuguese in a flash.

Yeah, I would learn Spanish and Mandarin. It doesn't sound like you have a real want to learn Italian, and you could benefit by learning Spanish which then as CB said will let you pick up Italian quickly if you decide you want to pursue that one too.

Also, agree with don't learn Latin. If you learn one of the romance languages the other ones won't be hard anyway, and you can actually practice them pretty easily. Also latin sucks balls, I took it for two years, it's no fun and nobody speaks it.

I do have a strong desire to learn Italian. But Spanish is used much more in my city so I'm torn between which to learn.

And I'm not gonna learn Latin. There's no practical reason.

Probably gonna take Spanish I think.


Could/should I even start working on the second language at the same time. I know the sooner I start learning the better, but will learning 2 languages negate each other or be harder to grasp?

Originally Posted by Marvo

Also, if you understand Norwegian, learning Danish or Swedish will be relatively easier, since you got the pronounciation right, mostly.

I have recently learned that people of these three languages even understand
each other. So if you learn one of them, you'll be able to understand and speak
to people of the other two as well. It's more like different accents.

Originally Posted by Bearsy

Could/should I even start working on the second language at the same time. I know the sooner I start learning the better, but will learning 2 languages negate each other or be harder to grasp?

I'd say start with one and as soon as you feel like you have
gained enough basic understanding and security in it, you can
add another one. In school I think we usually learned one
language for 2 years before adding another one.

Originally Posted by CoLd BlooDed

If you learn Spanish, you'll be able to learn Italian and Portuguese in a flash.

True, BUT. Spanish is much easier than Portuguese or French or Italian. And by "easier" I mean "simplified". It might be better to start off with unsimplified versions, so that you don't have much of a shock later on, like consonants were you didn't think there was, sounds you didn't learn to pronounce, etc. The hardest I find in knowing similar languages is mixing their grammar/orthography/vocabulary. If you only intend to learn Spanish as latin-derived language, go for it. If you plan on more, I suggest leaving Spanish for the last one.

Originally Posted by dajo

I have recently learned that people of these three languages even understand
each other. So if you learn one of them, you'll be able to understand and speak
to people of the other two as well. It's more like different accents.

Our vocabularies are very different sometimes actually. I have a very hard time understanding swedish. Norwegian is much easier, since the accent is simpler and it resembles danish more than swedish does.

However, learning our languages is not particularly easy, and even if you understand one, it'll be some time before you understand the others.

I see. On the net I've read that most can understand each other when spoken
slowly. What I have seen was that a friend of mine from Norway and a friend
of mine from Sweden were talking to each other and being able to perfectly
understand one another. That surprised me.

First of all, great idea Bearsy! I love languages =)

Norwegian and Swedish is extremely similar. Being a Swede, I would say I can understand about 98% Norwegian but definitely not as much Danish. I can understand some Danish if it's spoken slowly but when Danes talk at a normal pace I really can't keep up. So yeah If you wanna aim for a scandinavian language, go for Norwegian.

If you live in the south of west of the US I would learn spanish. That is pretty much a given. Other than that I would say learn what you love, or is what you think you will have a clear use for. Wanting to live in that country, would rank it higher than thinking china owns american and you wanting to learn it for business, in my opinion.

Its possible to learn as many languages as you want. There really is no limit on it. It is just a matter of spending enough time practicing it, and then using it often enough to remeber it.

If you go 5-10 years without speaking a word of it, your probably going to forgot a great deal of the language(though it might come back to you quickly with some practice).

As for learning more than one at once, I say it depends on how much time you have. If you can spend a full hour each day, working on each language then you can probably pull it off just fine. If you can spend two hours a day or something, on each language then you are good.

That time doesn't all have to be studying though. Listening to the radio or watching tv and stuff like that in the other language counts.

Originally Posted by Marvo

Our vocabularies are very different sometimes actually. I have a very hard time understanding swedish. Norwegian is much easier, since the accent is simpler and it resembles danish more than swedish does.

I think Swedish is easier to understand than Danish, but I understand Danish when I get used to it. When I get past all those strange sounds you add :p

Originally Posted by Marvo

However, learning our languages is not particularly easy, and even if you understand one, it'll be some time before you understand the others.

Yeah, this is true. We who've got it as our native tongue does of course have a pretty good grasp of the language. Also, in Norway at least, they air Swedish and Danish shows with subtitles. That helps you learn too.

But I'm not so sure our languages are all that hard to learn. They've got a pretty simple structure, no cases or verbs changing depending on who's doing the action and so.

I was often told when I was young, that danish is one of the more difficult languages around. An example is that you have to learn what to put in front of all nouns, and it is completely random. For example:

et hus
et kort
et glas

en bil
en stjerne
en telefon

Those "en" and "et" basically mean "a" in English, however they do not resemble the "a" and "an" system. It's simply something you need to learn. Our grammar is pretty complicated too. Much more complicated than English anyway.

Originally Posted by Marvo

et hus ... en telefon

Those "en" and "et" basically mean "a" in English, however they do not resemble the "a" and "an" system. It's simply something you need to learn. Our grammar is pretty complicated too. Much more complicated than English anyway.

But if someone screws up the gender, it doesn't really matter, cause you'll still understand what they're saying. It'll just sound a bit strange. Is the grammar really that complicated? I've tried to think it through, and I've never been able to think of much that's very hard. But then again I'm probably biased.

BTW, in Danish, how to you inflect nouns (Think that's the word, you know "bøye dem"). Is it en bil --> bilen or en bil --> den bil?

Originally Posted by Marvo

I was often told when I was young, that danish is one of the more difficult languages around. An example is that you have to learn what to put in front of all nouns, and it is completely random. For example:

et hus
et kort
et glas

en bil
en stjerne
en telefon

Those "en" and "et" basically mean "a" in English, however they do not resemble the "a" and "an" system. It's simply something you need to learn. Our grammar is pretty complicated too. Much more complicated than English anyway.

It's the same with Swedish. I haven't heard one single foreigner getting this right entirely. Even after living in sweden for several years. I think its pretty terrible >_>

Maybe you should make your language easier to learn then, neh?

Originally Posted by khh

But if someone screws up the gender, it doesn't really matter, cause you'll still understand what they're saying. It'll just sound a bit strange. Is the grammar really that complicated? I've tried to think it through, and I've never been able to think of much that's very hard. But then again I'm probably biased.

BTW, in Danish, how to you inflect nouns (Think that's the word, you know "bøye dem"). Is it en bil --> bilen or en bil --> den bil?

Both, actually. It depends on the situation.

From what I hear, Norwegian is easier than Danish.

And yeah, foreigners always get the "et" and "en" wrong, and while it's a very small detail, you hear it instantly. One of the 'stereotypes' of middle eastern people is that they will talk with a stupid accent, screwing up the genders and the word positioning.

Originally Posted by Marvo

I was often told when I was young, that danish is one of the more difficult languages around. An example is that you have to learn what to put in front of all nouns, and it is completely random. For example:

et hus
et kort
et glas

en bil
en stjerne
en telefon

Those "en" and "et" basically mean "a" in English, however they do not resemble the "a" and "an" system. It's simply something you need to learn. Our grammar is pretty complicated too. Much more complicated than English anyway.

Hehe. Same goes for me for the same reasons.
I was often told when I was young that German is particularly difficult,
because of the articles in front of nouns (der,die,das,ein,einer,eines).
There is no rule, you just have to 'catch on'. And the gramma is also
more complicated.

And what I find always funny is, how difficult the pronounciation is to,
say, native-english speakers. Certain things they just can't say.

Originally Posted by Marvo

Both, actually. It depends on the situation.

Oh. How inconsistent :p
But I think I can guess when you'd use which. We've basically got the same thing, only we'd say "den bilen" instead of "den bil".

Originally Posted by Marvo

From what I hear, Norwegian is easier than Danish.

That's possible.

Originally Posted by Marvo

And yeah, foreigners always get the "et" and "en" wrong, and while it's a very small detail, you hear it instantly. One of the 'stereotypes' of middle eastern people is that they will talk with a stupid accent, screwing up the genders and the word positioning.

Yeah, I know. It's stereotypical here too.

Originally Posted by dajo

Hehe. Same goes for me for the same reasons.
I was often told when I was young that German is particularly difficult,
because of the articles in front of nouns (der,die,das,ein,einer,eines).
There is no rule, you just have to 'catch on'. And the gramma is also
more complicated.

There are some rules in German. For instance, everything that ends with -chen is neuter, and everything ending in -in is female. There are more rules, but those are all I remember.

Originally Posted by dajo

And what I find always funny is, how difficult the pronounciation is to,
say, native-english speakers. Certain things they just can't say.

Yeah. But then again, non-native English speakers doesn't manage all the English sounds either, so there's balance.

As a dane, I find german pronounciation easy actually. Norwegian and swedish is more difficult for me.

Originally Posted by khh

There are some rules in German. For instance, everything that ends with -chen is neuter, and everything ending in -in is female. There are more rules, but those are all I remember.

Yeah, a few.

And the rules you mentioned are different, since the words coming
from them are not the pure form of the noun. The reason that nouns
ending with -in are feminine is that it is used to make a female version
of the word. For example Arzt (doctor) - Ärztin (female doctor).

There are a few rules, but that doesn't make it easier, because so
many words don't apply to them. So in the end, this will just be
more confusing. The rules are used to 'cover up the majority'.

Yeah. But then again, non-native English speakers doesn't manage all the English sounds either, so there's balance.

This case is different though. There are things like an accent. I have yet
to meet an American, who can pronounce the 'r'.. like.. at all. Any other
European or Asian speakers had a lot less difficulties.

Originally Posted by Marvo

As a dane, I find german pronounciation easy actually. Norwegian and swedish is more difficult for me.

I could believe that.

Originally Posted by Bearsy

Could/should I even start working on the second language at the same time. I know the sooner I start learning the better, but will learning 2 languages negate each other or be harder to grasp?

Start with one. This is why:

Originally Posted by dajo

I'd say start with one and as soon as you feel like you have
gained enough basic understanding and security in it, you can
add another one. In school I think we usually learned one
language for 2 years before adding another one.

And yes, just start with spanish:

Originally Posted by Kromoh

True, BUT. Spanish is much easier than Portuguese or French or Italian. And by "easier" I mean "simplified". It might be better to start off with unsimplified versions, so that you don't have much of a shock later on, like consonants were you didn't think there was, sounds you didn't learn to pronounce, etc. The hardest I find in knowing similar languages is mixing their grammar/orthography/vocabulary. If you only intend to learn Spanish as latin-derived language, go for it. If you plan on more, I suggest leaving Spanish for the last one.

The reason being that after you become proficient in one language, it will be easier to pick more up, and this is because you will have the mindset for language learning and will understand the linguistic terminology and how languages are put together. So, start with one that is easy, you will cruise through it and have a good mindset going, then move on to the harder ones.

Some things to keep in mind:
1. It is easier if you actually like and want to learn the language
2. Listening to the language is just as important (if not more vital) than sitting down and studying vocab, so flip to the Spanish Channel
3. If you want to see any success, you need to study every day, even if it's just for five minutes and it's just skimming through a dictionary