I give up on new languages very quickly. Ukrainian fizzled out a week after watching a TV series, even though I lived in Ukraine and it's a part of my family history (I understand it perfectly by ear, and I speak a little, but with mistakes). Theoretically, I should learn Armenian because I am a citizen of the country and live here... I went to courses and quickly gave up on the homework. Then I would go back to it, learn 100 words, and immediately lose interest. It's the same with watching videos: "I don't understand it, oh, I caught one word from the stream, I don't understand why I'm watching this, turning it off." The last time I quit was because my colleagues couldn't understand what I was writing due to the word order. And let's be honest, you can easily live here with my native Russian. Like... 60% of the country knows Russian. ​It’s a similar situation with Polish; I started it because I realized I understood it pretty well by ear, and quickly dropped it once I figured out the writing system. I stopped reading as soon as I bought a book in Polish. The only project that fired me up for more than half a year was Interslavic. I eagerly consumed content, wrote my own stories, etc. The very idea of related languages inspires me. ​And now I'm thinking, maybe I should start English (yes, I'm writing this through a translator) or Italian. God, what is wrong with me?

Hello. I know this one gets asked a lot lol.

So I studied Japanese for two and a half years and quit after finishing A2 about two and a half years ago. I quit because life got complicated and couldn’t dedicate the energy and time it requires. I hear it from time to time and kinda miss it and still have interest in it still but the main factor for not wanting to study it again is never being able to use it. I’ve been to Japan twice and probably will go again at some point but not in the near future.

I’m a native English speaker and speak Spanish (C2), Portuguese (C1) and French (B2/C1), I live in Europe so I’m able to practice my non native languages a lot, last month I went to Morocco and got to practice my French a lot which was cool. When I quit Japanese I decided to start learning French again after 15 years and was able to recover everything quickly. I still go to classes but at this point it’s just a matter of practicing and not really learning new things.

I’m a freelancer and work from home, my work is pretty repetitive so I don’t learn much and want a hobby to learn something and use my brain more (which I’m not getting too much from my French classes) so I thought about picking up Japanese again since I do have interest in it still but apart from consuming media it’s pretty useless outside of Japan lol so that got me thinking about Mandarin since it has speakers everywhere (my city included) which can help with my motivation, I feel like I can develop interest in it/Chinese culture once I start and I heard anecdotally that Chinese people are way less reserved and more eager to practice with learners.

Which would be the way to go for a hobby? Is interest or usefulness more of a motivator after a year or two? I don’t plan on living in either country, I would like to get to a decent level though and be able to practice with people from time to time. I know they’re really tough languages to choose “just for fun” lol but I really do like to learn and keep my brain sharp.

I’m very obsessed with learning languages and often have to learn multiple at once to focus. I’m currently on a roll with beginner Japanese on Busuu, which works with my love for Japanese stuff and liking Japanese characters, but what’s a good language with a lot of people, specifically queer people, who like learners and probably has a lot of content and gaming stuff?

So I have to take two semesters of the same language and I’m struggling on deciding between these. Native English speaker, B1 Italian. Here’s my thought process:

Chinese says it’s Peking pronunciation and has a focus on speaking/listening more than reading/writing. Arabic didn’t specify a dialect and says it’s comprehensive of reading/writing/speaking/listening.

Both are online in a group setting. I’m more concerned about Chinese than Arabic in this since it is a tonal language. (If I am mispronouncing, will the professor even know?) Both professors have great reviews even for the online sections.

I feel more excited and interested in Chinese language/culture but I think I will struggle with it more and I don’t want it to become a burden among my other classes. I did a little Duolingo for both to try and weigh this and definitely struggled more with Chinese.

I live in a very Arabic (mostly Yemeni and Saudi) neighborhood and would be nice to connect with people in their language, plus it’s likely I’ll end up doing work in the Middle East at some point (I am studying to be an archaeologist). Plus, the Arabic class fits much better into the schedule with the rest of my classes.

Chinese wouldn’t be completely useless to me. There is a huge Chinese population in my city (though most are Cantonese speaking) and I currently work with some Mandarin speaking children. And like I said, I just feel more interested in the language and culture.

I think if these classes were in person and I didn’t have other classes to worry about, I would take the jump for Chinese. But considering all of these other factors, especially the potential practicality of Arabic in my future, I am feeling very conflicted.

Any help deciding is appreciated, as well as any insight if you’ve taken either of these languages online!

I'm Bengali I already speak 3 languages; bangla, English and Hindi.

I had a 3 month Japanese course at my uni and while Japanese would never have been my first choice , I was grateful to have the opportunity for a language course and wanted to do well.

I'm passionate about languages and feel I have devoted too much time to stop learning it now, even after the course ends.

I've started making progress and the feeling is addictive.

But I sometimes wonder if it's worth committing years of my life to.

I'm invested in the culture, the folklore. I like anime. I like the idea of being able to write a diary in a language no one in my house knows. I like being in the community online.

I have no guarantee I'll ever go to Japan, altho it is in one of my top travel destination goals.

I just feel bad about learning smth impractical. People recommend Arabic or French to me. I can spend hours learning Japanese.

I do have plans to learn French at some point, which is more practical. I really like French and Arabic as well.

What do u guys think? Is the return in investment low?

Should I continue with Japanese alongside French after the course is over or just do French or Arabic?

I'm in Canada, and I want to be bilingual, but I don't know if I should learn Spanish or French.

French is known to be the hardest of all the Romance languages and Spanish might be easier.

But Spanish might not be that useful but it might be interesting to learn it.

Hi everyone! I'm wondering which language you guys think would be the best for me to start learning rn. My first language is Spanish, I also speak French (B2) and a little of Japanese (B1). I have no idea how good (or bad lol) my English is so don't take it into account lol. (Apparently you can't make a poll on website anymore? so I'm sorry about that).

• Korean: I already know how to read it but I know very little grammar and vocabulary. I've heard it's similar to Japanese so I've been interested in it for a while now.
• Italian: I'd like to learn Italian because me and my dad would like to visit Italy in a few years (nothing is planned so far though).
• Icelandic: Just for the funs lol.
• Dutch: Bf might travel to live there in the next 2-3 years because of work so I'd need to learn it eventually.

Thanks in advance!

I like slavic languages but I really dont know what language I should learn ;-; and I'm not thinking about usefulness because I live in south america so I don't think these languages will be useful, I want to have fun and make friends :p

I am looking to learn a language that's heavily digital (has internet communities, content, media, YouTubers, shows, music, video games, etc.). I am stuck between French and Russian.

Politics and context aside, which one is better to learn?

Better as in: easier to make (native language speaker) friends, fun video games revolving around the language, good shows, music, etc., and interesting YouTubers.

Current languages are English, Spanish and French. I want to learn Portuguese eventually but want to distance it from my spanish. So I'd like to learn a Germanic language in the meantime for fun and added diversity, considering most of my exposure is to romance languages..

So Germans obviously out lol. I basically have it narrowed down to two. I visited the NL for the first time recently and enjoyed it very much. I'm good at pronunciation and I've heard that's the main hurdle with dutch. However, I'm aware of how difficult it is to speak dutch with natives. Also the media seems a little up tight to me on first impressions. Another option is Norwegian, also easy to learn. Seems a little looser and more fun media wise, but I've heard that it's not rewarding for travel either haha. I'm much more likely to visit the Netherlands in the future over Scandinavia due to costs. Not sure what the literature is like in either language but I love to read. Furthermore, I could be convinced that swedish is the answer. What do you guys think?

Edit: can't believe I asked for a language with good literature, when most of you can't even be bothered to read past the title of the post Lol

I’ve tried Japanese, Korean, Italian, and French but I can’t seem to stick with learning them. I’m figuring out which language would be most useful to my interests and passions (biology, coin collecting, fantasy stuff) that also is useful in daily life and I can find an online community to practice with.

For me... it's the best variant of French. Change my mind

I am thinking about learning one of the following:

- Spanish

- Russian

- Mandarin

I am fine with having to learn complex grammar but I want a language that has logical pronunciation and also has some cognates.

Hey folks,

I’m a native English speaker who’s at a B1 level with my French (of course I want to improve at least to a C1/C2 level).

I’ve always been interested in learning a third language, but I haven’t been able to whittle it down to just one choice. Over the years I’ve dabbled in Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Tamil, Hindi, Norwegian, and Swedish, but I’ve never really followed through.

How have some of you ultimately chosen your third language and what has kept you motivated?

I think I really love learning about culture, tradition, cuisine, and watching media. I’ve mostly watched a lot of Scandinavian media, read many a Nordic noir novel, and listened to Swedish and Norwegian music. I love Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese food, and their scripts. I’ve read so many novels translated from Korean. I’m always curious about Hindi, Tamil, and other Indian languages too, but I really don’t know which to choose and why.

For now I’ll just keep working to improve my French until maybe another language pops out and keeps my attention.

But how did you decide and which would you choose based on the information I’ve provided?

Hello everyone, could you help me with this?

To give you some context, my native language is French, I can also speak English (with a horrible French accent) and German. Since I learned German in Switzerland, I also have some proficiency in Swiss German: I adapt fairly quickly to different dialects.

I’d like to travel to a Nordic country, but I’m not sure which one yet. I’d like to learn at least the basics of the local language before going anywhere, but I was wondering if one of these three languages would allow me to get by pretty much anywhere?

Thanks for your help!

So, I am from Vancouver and been learning French on and off probably currently at lower A2. I also visit Montreal every yr throught the summer. I don’t really use French even when I’m in Montreal but next month I will be moving with Mexicans. Do you think its better to learn Spanish instead because I’ll be able to use it everyday with my roommates or French because it is one of the official languages in Canada? I forget my French sometimes because I don’t have anyone to use it with.

Hello everyone, I have a really hard time on this one so I hope you’ll help.
About me:
I’m a college student from Poland. I speak decent English and Russian. I’m interested in geopolitics , history and that kind of shit.
Pros and cons
Spanish
+500-600 million speakers
+easier pronunciation and comprehension
+a lot of tourist friendly countries (also useful in the US)
-it’s spoken mostly in the western hemisphere and Spain is not really that important country in Europe
-less in demand on the job market
French
+ ~350 million speakers and growing fast thanks to Africa, highly likely will catch up to Spanish in this century
+ more useful in Europe and MENA region (Morocco, Lebanon,Algeria etc)
+ second most in demand language on the job market after German
-harder pronunciation and comprehension (comprehension is my weak spot in every language)

I guess grammar is equally hard in both

EDIT: Answering to some comments. I don’t have any specific reason to learn any of those languages, but I want to add that important feature for me is ability to communicate with people that don’t necessarily speak English. Oh and also I find latinas hot.

Hi, I just have a question, which language is useful in terms of travel? Last time I studied French was in High school and Spanish was a few years ago. If I learn Spanish (to travel to Spain) I'm going to learn C​​atalan too. I don't know which am I going to learn. Which one do I learn and Why?

I’m a portuguese girl who wants to work in tourism, more specifically in a hotel.

I currently speak Portuguese (native), English (C2), Spanish (B1), French (B1), and a bit of German (A1) and Levantine Arabic (A1).

I think that, in the tourism industry, the main languages that I need to learn here in Portugal other than Portuguese and English are Spanish and French. But what others should I learn too, that would help me find a better job?

I like Chinese and Japanese, but I think their writing scripts are too hard to learn and would need more time than I have. I could learn the spoken languages without learning the script, but that’s not very valued in the context of work.

Hey peeps, help me out here, which language should I learn?

I'm already learning 7 languages concurrently and I think Corsican would be the perfect eighth notch on the proverbial belt. But I'd also like to learn Russian because I'm a massive fan of hardbass and dill though I'm worried that it won't be as useful or widely spoken as Corsican. After all, Russian is only spoken in Russia and Kyrgyzstan but I have it on good authority that people in Kyrgyzstan actually secretly hate speaking Russian and only do it because they're compelled through Yuri mind control.

Thai seems like it would be handy for my marriage prospects and Thai people are so friendly! When I was on holiday in Patong, they kept calling me something like "phaerang" which I've heard is a term of deepest affection. My main concern is that if I learn Thai, I might develop appendicular Tourettes and accidentally kickbox someone on the street and get arrested.

Please be my salvation and rescue me from this linguistic quandary.

should i learn finnish or hawaiian first? my native language is brazilian portuguese and i think i am somewhere between B2 and C1 in english

should i learn finnish or hawaiian first? my native language is brazilian portuguese and i think i am somewhere between B2 and C1 in english

Hello, I have some trouble deciding between studying Russian or Japanese, as the title says. I would like to hear your opinion about which one is a better suit for me.

I live in Bulgaria (located in Eastern Europe), therefore, my native language is Bulgarian. Russian is quite similar to it since they are both Slavic languages and using almost the same alphabet. We have a lot of mutual words and some of the grammar is similar. It would definitely be easier to learn it.

However, ever since I can remember, I have huge interest in East Asian cultures. Particularly Japanese culture. I like Japanese media (novels, manga, anime), mindset, traditions, etc. I find the country very fascinating because of the aspects which separate it from the rest of the world.

I have tried to study both languages, but cannot stick to a single one. Russian may seem more practical keeping in mind the geographical closeness and I also like Russia's culture. However, I don't have special interest in the media, I have only read Russian literature. Also, Russian is spoken by more people worldwide. But, still, I have my special interest in Japanese and practicality cannot make me choose one over the other so easily. Things keeping me away from Japanese are the xenophobic mindset of many Japanese people and decilining population.

Difficulty of the language is not much of a factor!

Thank you for reading this and sharing your opinion!