What language would you like to learn?
By Denise
@petatonicsca (7070)
Japan
July 10, 2020 6:56am CST
I have studied (and can read or use) several languages. I just love learning languages, but since coming to Japan I have focused entirely on Japanese. Last summer I realized it would be fun to start another one-- as a useful hobby. I happened to be at the Sakurajima Visitor Center at the time as an English guide and translator. Until the pandemic, we had people from all over the world, but usually they knew more English than Japanese so English was useful.
Sometimes, though, we had visitors from mainland China or Taiwan who couldn't speak much English. I thought, wouldn't it be fun to learn Chinese? But which kind of Chinese? We get people from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan etc. Our information video is in Japanese and each viewing can pick their subtitles from : English, Korean, Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese. There are about equal groups who choose the different Chinese ones.
On the other hand, I think Spanish sounds really cool. I speak and read French, so other Romance languages are partially understandable to me, but it would be fun to learn Spanish.
Then again, I really value languages that are not used much any more, and I'd like to encourage their speakers. I love the sound of Hawaiian, and I live in Japan so studying Ainu would be a good cultural thing, and I'd love to learn a Native American language....
So many languages, so little time, and I'm not likely to get around to any of them until I retire.
6 people like this
9 responses
@Luacsadel4 (158)
• Hungary
10 Jul 20
I also love to learn foreign languages. It amazes me to speak a language that others don't understand :D One day, if you have the time, I suggest you to try and learn a little bit of hungarian. It's kinda hard, but if you have enough time, it can be learned. ;)
1 person likes this
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
10 Jul 20
I would love to do that! Actually, once I had a flute teacher from Hungary. He was spending a year in Japan teaching at a music college near me.
1 person likes this
@Luacsadel4 (158)
• Hungary
10 Jul 20
@petatonicsca That's nice, good luck! I also met a japanese teacher (she taught japanese at another school) who spoke hungarian fluently, althought she had an adorable accent :D It was a good experience
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104628)
• United States
10 Jul 20
I have a love of languages too but not the patience to learn. I'd like to one day learn Spanish. I think I can understand a lot of it, but there's still a lot more that I don't understand. I've also wanted to learn Welsh and Irish too. I learned a little French and Dutch at one time too but don't remember a lot of it.
I think Mandarin is understood throughout China.
1 person likes this
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
10 Jul 20
Well, I also want to learn Welsh because my father's side is from Wales. It's fun to listen to.
@pumpkinjam (8771)
• United Kingdom
10 Jul 20
I'd love to be fluent in any language. I have spent time learning various languages but never enough to be of any use. I didn't travel abroad until last year so didn't have any reason to use another language. As a result, I forgot most of everything anyway, although I did have a couple of pen friends who would converse in German, French and, on occasion, Arabic. I took French and German at school, then German and Spanish at college. Since then, I've tried to learn Welsh, Polish, and Mandarin with my children. I'd actually like to learn one of the Indian languages like Urdu, and to become more proficient in Polish and Welsh as those are the languages that are often required for translation.
@gr8nana6 (6614)
• Conyers, Georgia
10 Jul 20
I have always wanted to learn French, Italian and Spanish. I speak, read and write fluent english and my mother tongue german. I guess that's enough for this old woman
@amitkokiladitya (171927)
• Agra, India
10 Jul 20
I know two languages and I don't want to learn any other Language at present
@peachpurple (13961)
• Malaysia
10 Jul 20
Chinese language , best to learn simplified Chinese because traditional chinese is a thing of a past.
However in Hong Kong, people mainly speak dialect. Cantonese for them. Taiwan speaks Teochew dialect whereas CHina speaks Mandarin
@Butterfingers (66583)
• India
10 Jul 20
That's great I never thought about trying any foreign language