If you could learn one more language, what whould it be?

United States
April 19, 2007 3:01pm CST
We all know that everyone of us have our own native language, my native is Tagalog because i was born in Philippines but my second language is English. If i have a chance to learn one more language, i would like to know Spanish, even though i knew a little bit of it, i want to be fluent in speaking it. I have Spanish friends and co-workers so it would help me a lot to communicate with them if i know Spanish. If you could learn one more language, what would it be and why?
4 people like this
59 responses
@patgalca (18366)
• Orangeville, Ontario
19 Apr 07
French is not only our country's second language, it is my husband's family's language. Every time we go to visit them we have to listen to them carry on in French until they get used to having English only people around. I know some French since I have been around it a lot and studied it in high school. I would like to learn to speak French fluently.
3 people like this
• United States
19 Apr 07
I have a a co-worker which is a French and he speaks a good English. So every time we are having some conversations, i asked him to say it on French and translate it in English, I learned a bit from him but i find it hard to learn. Good luck to your French and hopefully you learn it smoothly.
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18366)
• Orangeville, Ontario
19 Apr 07
It's not that easy learning French from my husband's family. As French Acadians they speak a lot of slang which means they stick a lot of English words in their speaking as well as use lousy grammar. I'm the one that helps my kids with their French homework.
1 person likes this
@patgalca (18366)
• Orangeville, Ontario
19 Apr 07
It's not that easy learning French from my husband's family. As French Acadians they speak a lot of slang which means they stick a lot of English words in their speaking as well as use lousy grammar. I'm the one that helps my kids with their French homework.
@eipril (401)
• Philippines
20 Apr 07
i would like to learn chinese language ..but i've learned some chinese words ,.because my mother is an ex-factory worker in taiwan ,.she taught me some coomon chinese words .,
2 people like this
• United States
20 Apr 07
That's good though, good luck for learning Chinese, even though i know it's really hard. Keep it up=)
1 person likes this
@eipril (401)
• Philippines
20 Apr 07
haha yeah ..and i was wondering how can i learn that language ,.hehe i hope that i can do it .,^_^
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 07
You need someone to teach you really, it's hard to learn it by your self, just thinking where to start gives me a headache so maybe a friend that who knows the language is a perfect tutor=)
1 person likes this
@roniroxas (10560)
• Philippines
20 Apr 07
i am from the philippines too rockmeister, and yes the second language we Filipino knew is english. i learned spanish during my college days, i still remember a few but i dont have someone to talk to in spanish. i also know how to speak japanese. i am a band singer and had a chance to work there and we are all forced to speak their language. some of my band members hate it but an additional language to learn is another feather to my hat. my answer to your question is french. i want to learn how to speak french. they say this is the language of love lol.
2 people like this
@roniroxas (10560)
• Philippines
21 Apr 07
yes i think it is a plus factor, now im trying to apply in a cruise ship where they are looking for staff that knows how to speak japanese. isnt that cool? muy bien muy bien.
• United States
20 Apr 07
French is really popular, OMG. Maybe i'll try to learn it if i can. About the Spanish thing, because we all Filipinos have language similarities in Spanish so we speak it a little but a lot of us are not aware of that. So for us, it's much easier to learn the Spanish language because some of our Tagalog words belongs to Spanish language. It's good though that you know few languages besides from the very common ones, that's a plus factor in the near future=)
@alexsis (2149)
• United States
19 Apr 07
If I could learn one more language it would be Spanish. It seems like their is more people speaking that language here, so it would help me out to understand what they are saying.
2 people like this
• United States
19 Apr 07
Yes, I agree. Actually i bought an English-Spanish dictionary, and the funny thing before was, i have a friend from Peru and while we are having a conversation, he doesn't know to speak English, not a single word when we first met, I have my dictionary on me and every time he speak, i look at the dictionary to understand what he is saying=)
1 person likes this
19 Apr 07
I would love to speak french, i think it sounds beautiful and i wish i had of tried harder at school and then pursued it afterwards, but unfortunately high school was the highest grade i got for it. I suppose its never too later to learn again! I might look into this! Thanks for the thoughts :)
• United States
19 Apr 07
Sure, maybe go back on learning it and who knows what will happen next. Maybe next time you could speak French fluently and after that happens, maybe you could teach me too=)
2 people like this
19 Apr 07
lol good thinking! :)
2 people like this
• United States
19 Apr 07
Yeah, I'll pray for that! and i am the first lucky person that you will teach for free right? lol!
1 person likes this
• China
20 Apr 07
I 'd love to learn French. I think French is the most beautiful language in the world.
2 people like this
• United States
20 Apr 07
Yeah? and French is very popular too, i wonder why is that so popular that a lot of people want to learn it=)
1 person likes this
@limcyjain (3516)
• India
19 Apr 07
I would like to learn italian as the major part of the machinery where i work is from italy and would love to help the managers in understanding the catalogues for better performance of the machines.
2 people like this
• United States
19 Apr 07
I know if you are working in a foreign country, you need to learn their culture and language. That's great though, if you are sincere with it, you are going to make it. Just set a goal, that you want to learn it so bad and you will get it. Good luck=)
1 person likes this
@gifana (4833)
• Portugal
20 Apr 07
I already speak English, Spanish and Portuguese and understand a little French and Italian....at least enough to get by. I tried learning Vietnamese when I was in Saigon but I got no where with it even though I spent 4 years there. It had always been somewhat frustrating when I was travelling around the world not to be able to communication with the local people. There are some who pick up languages like we "pick up sticks" but some languages are very difficult unless you were born to them. It used to gripe the hail out of me when I saw children just old enough to walk spouting off in a "foreign" language. Over the years, however, I got over the gripes....time heals all wounds. But to answer the question I would probably pick Ukranian as I have a neighbor who comes to the house every day and I could practice with her. It has another benefit as it is very much like Russian so I could get two for the price of one.
@gifana (4833)
• Portugal
23 Apr 07
It's not necessarily a case of liking to learn languages....when I was working and living in foreign countries it was a must in every day life. I have been told that I am fortunate in that I have a musical ear and am able to imitate sounds well. I have had several experts tell me this. I found it easier to learn french from Spanish than from English...both of those are romance languages with roots to Latin.
• United States
20 Apr 07
Good thinking, and that's pretty cool if you have known few languages already. That's a plus for you, i think you like to learn languages don't you? if you want it bad, set a goal then you'll get it, that simple. Good luck to you and thanks for sharing=)
1 person likes this
• Philippines
20 Apr 07
if i could have the means, i'd like to learn french as an additional language. i find it so complicated at the same time elegant. and since i have been wishing to travel in french-speaking countries, i'd like to learn their language so that when i get the chance to travel, i can easily interact with the people.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 07
Yes, that's right. Good luck to your French learning, I know it's hard but if you'll put your heart on it, everything is going to be easy=)
• United States
19 Apr 07
it would be spanish i am in california and lots of people speak spanish...a few of them can speak spanish and only spanish so if i could could learn one more language then it would be spanish
2 people like this
• United States
19 Apr 07
Same here in New York, a lot of Spanish people here. So I think it's a plus to learn Spanish here in America.
1 person likes this
@KupoSin (680)
• United States
19 Apr 07
i want to learn manderine(chinese) as my second language. i have tried taking classes for it, but i dont get enough exposure to the language to make it proficeient why chinese you ask? so i can talk to over one billion people
2 people like this
• United States
19 Apr 07
You know what, for me it's hard really! i am just looking to their writings and i am giving my self an instant headache. But if you want to learn it, really bad and you will get it. I have a Chinese friend and she thought me few words, but i easily forget it. Good luck to you.
1 person likes this
@whywiki (6066)
• Canada
19 Apr 07
I speak English but know swear words in many different languages. In school they taught us French as this is a bilingual country. I have forgotten most of what I learned and have no desire to learn it again. The language I would choose would be Punjabi. I work for a company that is mostly owned by East Indians, I hear the language so often it sounds normal to me but I don't know everything they are saying. I would like to learn it so when new employees come to this company I could speak to them in their native tongue.
• United States
19 Apr 07
Yeah i know about that, because the place i am living in is an Indian Community. Every time i pass by the street, they are making conversations and i am observing the way they speak. I think it's not that hard to learn their language. And that's a plus for you if you learned that, as i said before you can set a goal to your self that you want to learn it so bad and you'll learn it.
1 person likes this
@jemimay (38)
• Philippines
19 Apr 07
I wanna learn Japanese coz most of my relatives live in Japan and French because it sounds so ellite and saucy.. ;-p
2 people like this
• United States
19 Apr 07
Yeah, i admire Japanese people a lot and i want to learn their language too. I like to watch Animes that is on Japanese language, a helpful thing if i will learn it=)
1 person likes this
• Philippines
20 Apr 07
The need to learn language other than your native tounge depends really on your interest or the call to learn that particular language. If we are surrounded by people speaking spanish or Japanese or french, we feel it is necessary to learn that language for the simple reason of understanding one another clearly. Like what you said, because you have a spanish friends and colleagues you chose to learn spanish. For me, if im to learn one more language, I would like to learn to speak chinese. I am looking at it on a business perspective. China is the fastest growing economy in the world, and to be able to do good business with them, it is imperative to learn their language.
1 person likes this
@gifana (4833)
• Portugal
20 Apr 07
Welcome to myLot. bienvenido a myLot. I hope you enjoy your stay with us. I agree with you that China is the up and coming country these days and there are a couple of billion inhabitants speaking some sort of dialect of Chinese. So you would have to choose whether you want Mandirin Chinese, Cantonese Chinese or some other that I can't think of right now. However, I believe that Manderin is the most widely spoken in China....but please do not quoteme on it.
• United States
20 Apr 07
We have a new one here, welcome! and about your comment, Absolutely. It depends on the surroundings and interest of people. Whatever you want to learn, the only reason is that you want it, like it and need it so thats how it goes. Good luck to you though=) Thanks for sharing.
1 person likes this
@chiyosan (30184)
• Philippines
20 Apr 07
there are so much to learn, actually but i would like to rate my language preference in learning them: 1. French 2. Mandarin - i know how to speak chinese fookien 3. Japanese 3. Spanish there. i will really try to start learning now. hehe
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 07
That's pretty cool though, good luck to you dude=)
@Qaeyious (2357)
• United States
20 Apr 07
I tried from a book, to learn Sanskrit, being the language allegedly closest to the mother-language Indo-European, but the book needed to write the characters bigger -- the double and triple consonents were just one blob on the page. Perhaps if I learned Hindi first ... at least the alphabet ...
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 07
You need to start from the very beginning if you want to learn a certain language. Just like in grade school. We cant go 3, 4 or 5 steps at a time, start from the lowest, one by one, that's the proper way of learning it, and little by little that's were you will notice your progress. Good luck to you=)
• United States
20 Apr 07
It will be URDU. I will like to learn Urdu and write sher i.e. Urdu ballads.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 07
Maybe it will be much more appreciated if you'll add more info about that, Don't have any idea about that really. Thanks for the share though=)
@itkasp (266)
• Australia
20 Apr 07
I would like to learn Mandarin and Japanese because I admire their cultures. It will also help me since they are now very advance in economics and technology.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 07
Cool... Yeah certainly. Thanks for the share and good luck=)
• Australia
20 Apr 07
Japanese language, i don't know why i like it just because i like it.For me Japan is a beautiful country and i want to visit there
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 07
I like Japanese too, in fact i am an avid fan of Animes originally made by Japan and i find it interesting though so i will try to learn it. Good luck to you=)
@jlara_gtr34 (3491)
• Philippines
20 Apr 07
id like to learn chinese.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 07
Cool, thanks for the share and good luck=)