Suggest me a 3rd language

[Vellrad]

Hi.
Since this Autumn, I will have more time than during last couple of years, so I though about learning some new language.
I speak Polish and English, and unsuccesfully tried Russian and French in past, both was too hard for me (1 for having weird letters, other for beign too complicated).
What is easy and popular language world-wide?
I heard German is not too hard, but I don't like how it sounds.
I though about Spanish, a lot of people says that if I know English, Spanish is easy.
So what do you, people from all arround the world think?
What is useful and easy language to learn in your opinion?

[blkcat1028]

French, Spanish, and Italian are commonly considered the 3 most useful "second languages" for English speakers.

Next to Mandarin, Spanish has the most native speakers.

[Bodic]

If you learned English(Kings or American) I will assume Kings. High German and /roll d20 for Spanish Dialect should be very easy.

If you choose Spanish the next feat would be to learn Spanglish namely a Southern California, USA dialect that is not officially recognized.

if you want a challenge try learning to read Japanese, Chinese, or Arabic.

[Therigar]

I would think that Chinese would be a logical option if you are just expanding the number of languages you speak. Obviously a hard choice if you are also trying to learn to read the language -- something suggested by your reference to Russian and alphabets. But, China is a huge market so knowing Chinese could give you an advantage in the job market.

German. A lot of similarities to English (and a lot of differences). Going from English to German might not be that difficult. I realize you didn't like the sound of German so maybe the similarities to English aren't enough to convince you to give it a try.

I would have thought Russian since you speak Polish. At least it is a related language. Not quite sure on the economic ties to Russia but it might be useful in the job market as well. OTOH, you already mentioned giving it a try and not liking it.

Spanish. Like Chinese it is a major language but, unlike Chinese, it is the dominant language in many different countries. Knowledge of Spanish will give enough to get by in reading at least in France and Italy -- or at least it worked for me (and my Spanish is from high school more than 40 years ago).

I guess if I were learning for the job market I'd go with Russian or Chinese. If for travel I'd probably go with Spanish (or French or Italian -- but Spanish is spoken in a bigger part of the world). If for ease of learning I'd probably go with German or Russian since you already speak languages that are close to these (English and Polish).

[katz]

English has Latin roots, but a germanic sentence structure. i don't think Spanish is easier to learn if you know English. the grammar of it... word order and all that, is reversed in alot of cases. Spanish, French, Portugese, and Italian (and Latin) are all "Romance languages"... they're all related. learn one, and its easier to learn another.

i would say start with Spanish. as someone else pointed out, there are a LOT of people who speak it, and as i said, once you know that one, you can pick up others of the same "family" more easily.

I am an American English speaker, but... yo hablo Español tambien.

and Spanglish. when i need to.


lol

[voodoogroves]

If I could, I'd learn Arabic, Chinese or Korean.

[Therigar]

English has Latin roots, but a germanic sentence structure. i don't think Spanish is easier to learn if you know English.

I speak English and understand a fair amount of both German and Spanish. I normally say I speak kinderdeutsch -- which is to say that I speak enough to get by in emergencies and to get the general meaning of things I read. After 40 years of not using Spanish I have about the same proficiency there.

German sentence structure isn't always like English sentence structure. In fact, it is enough different that trying a direct translation doesn't normally work out very well.

I find the sentence structure in German and Spanish to be more similar to one another than either of them is to English. So, from a grammar POV I wouldn't suggest either on the basis of similarity to English sentence structures.

What I find easiest in German is the large number of words that have similar sounding equivalents in English -- wasser, weg, fussball, untergrund.... For an English speaker with no German experience at all it is probable that you can figure out the meanings of those words.

And, there are many, many words that are like that. So many, in fact, that at times I suspect German of being one of the biggest influences on modern English. I do agree that at times it is confusing -- does tor mean gate or door or goal (as in fussball -- soccer). But, no more confusing than if fire means something burning, to shoot (a gun or similar) or you don't have a job anymore.

[Bodic]

You could always take up Pig-Latin, but if you know english that take 10 minutes to learn and a lifetime to master.

Understandway hatWay Iway Amway ayingSay udeDay.

[Uska]

I dont know why anyone would say knowing English would make spanish easy they arent related Spanish is related to French, I wish I had time to learn a language I would like to know Romanian since my wife is Romanian but would proably have to go with Spanish to help me deal with all the ilegals I have to deal with bujT I wouldnt be happy about it.

[Uska]

English has Latin roots, but a germanic sentence structure. i don't think Spanish is easier to learn if you know English. the grammar of it... word order and all that, is reversed in alot of cases. Spanish, French, Portugese, and Italian (and Latin) are all "Romance languages"... they're all related. learn one, and its easier to learn another.

i would say start with Spanish. as someone else pointed out, there are a LOT of people who speak it, and as i said, once you know that one, you can pick up others of the same "family" more easily.

I am an American English speaker, but... yo hablo Español tambien.

and Spanglish. when i need to.


lol

You forgot a Romance language Romanian

[GotSomeQuestions]

I recommend C, it's a reasonably foundational programming language, and would let you branch out into C# or Java later.

More seriously, unless you're learning a language for your job, the best use will be when you travel. So figure out where you are likely to go (and where you want to go) and work on learning that language.

[katz]

You forgot a Romance language Romanian

my bad.

[Futility]

I do not think languages are your thing.

You have just tried learning the easiest and most logical to choose languages and failed.

Russian should be very close to Polish, belonging to the same group of languages (Slavic).
You should be able to understand at least 30% of the words. Yes, Cyrillic alphabet is a bit
different, but most letters translate easily into Latin alphabet. What is a pain is the
conjugations and all the suffixes and word endings.

As far as French goes, of you have a knack for languages, you should be able to understand,
at least, half of the all the words right off the bat, as they are pretty much the same as English,
just spelled and pronounced differently.

If I were you I'd either go back to trying to master one of those languages,
or give up altogether and be happy you managed to learn English.

[MsEricka]

I suggest Esperanto, it was Rimmer's language of choice