What languages would you like to learn, and why?

[Tyrion]

Okay, so I'm kinda tired of having my threads closed for no reason, so I figured I should just stick to really innocent topics like this, for a while. So here goes... What languages would you guys like to learn before you die, and why? (Also, what languages do you already know?)

Heres my list of language I'd like to learn:

1.) Arabic - Because it's just a really awesome language with tons of depth, and also because it's tied so closely to Islam. I would absolutely love to understand the Qur'an in it's original Arabic as well. I'm currently in my first year of studying the language, and I'm loving it. I'm mostly just interested in formal Arabic, and I don't have that much of an inclination to learn Dialectical... Maybe one day though, if I end up going to an Arabic speaking country.

2.) Farsi/Dari - This is the language of my parents, and while I have a very basic knowledge of the language (enough to have simple conversations with family) I wouldn't consider myself totally literate. What I do know is very informal, and my reading/writing isn't very strong. It might be difficult to learn this formally though, since most classes here only focus on Iranian Farsi, which is essentially the same language, but I find the accent too weird. I'll probably just ask my parents to review it with me whenever we have some free time.

3.) Japanese - I've already taken one semesters worth of classes in Japanese, and I find the language and culture really interesting. Also, growing up I was really into Japanese video games, cartoons/anime and books/comics... (Still kinda am I guess ) I would love to go to Japan one day, so I might continue studying the language by myself.

4.) English - I'm a native English speaker, since I was kinda born and raised here in America, but I want to improve my knowledge of the language even further. I don't have much confidence in my writing ability, and while I have a decent vocabulary, It's nowhere near where I would like it to be. Hopefully I can just improve naturally with some practice writing and tons of reading.

5.) Spanish - I took 3 years of Spanish in high school, but I don't remember any of it since I wasn't really interested in it at the time... I kinda wish I took it more seriously, since it seems like a really useful language to learn. It's not too high on my list, but I'd definitely like to take a few more classes in it in the future if I have the chance... Or maybe I'll just get a few books and teach myself... After 3 years, I'm sure I'll pick it up somewhat quickly...


Looking forward to your responses. Lets hope this thread survives longer than my last two...

[CosmicPathos]

1- Arabic, language of Quran and also one of the most expressive Semitic languages,
2- Urdu ( I already know this but need to perfect it, it is also expressive and depressive)
3- Punjabi ( I already know this but need to master it and attain greater appreciation, a pretty spiritual language)
4- Farsi, beautiful Indo-European language with a long history of poetry
5- Chinese, pretty interesting
6- Sanskrit, ancient yet intriguing
7- Pashto, pretty interesting as well
8- Turkish, also a deep history of poetry and expression

the language I DONT want to learn is Finnish :S what a lang ... tokko kokko

[Tyrion]

1- Arabic, language of Quran and also one of the most expressive Semitic languages,
2- Urdu ( I already know this but need to perfect it, it is also expressive and depressive)
3- Punjabi ( I already know this but need to master it and attain greater appreciation, a pretty spiritual language)
4- Farsi, beautiful Indo-European language with a long history of poetry
5- Chinese, pretty interesting
6- Sanskrit, ancient yet intriguing
7- Pashto, pretty interesting as well
8- Turkish, also a deep history of poetry and expression

Ohh, I totally forgot about Pashto... Haha, it's also one of the two languages of Afghanistan, so I'd definitely be interested in learning it as well. I'm pretty sure my grandpa speaks it fluently, and I think my dad knows it fairly well. However, Pashto is probably the language I'm least interested in.

[Maryan0]

I would like to learn:
Arabic- because it's the language of the Quran. I can read and write it but I can barely understand it.
Somali- because it's a shame I can barely speak my mother tongue.
Swahili- Just because.
Italian- 1)because I was born in Italy and 2)my parents speak it when they're trying to hide stuff from us.
French- better job prospects in the country I currently live in. Currently taking it in uni.
Salam

[GuestFellow]

Salaam,

I can speak Urdu very well but I want to learn how to write it too. I want to learn Arabic because I want to understand the Qur'an. I want to learn one more language but not sure which one.

[Woodrow]

I speak a few languages well enough to carry on a conversation. But I love the study of linguistics and would like to learn as many as I can.

I would like to master Qur'anic Arabic, to gain a better understanding of the Qur'an I do speak fairly good Darija Arabic but it has enough differences from the Qur'anic Arabic I am not always certain if I am understanding things properly.

Also want to learn Lakotah as most of the people I now know speak it.

Would love to relearn one of my birth languages Lietuva (Lithuanian) I spoke it until I was 5 years old and then was forbidden to speak it and forgot most of the little I knew.

[Ramadhan]

Arabic, for obvious reason.
and one of those romance languages, either spanish or french.

the language I DONT want to learn is Finnish :S what a lang ... tokko kokko

Isn't finnish unrelated to any other european languages, apart from possibly hungarian, which is almost as useless?

[Tyrion]

Isn't finnish unrelated to any other european languages, apart from possibly hungarian, which is almost as useless?

the language I DONT want to learn is Finnish :S what a lang ... tokko kokko

Aww, what's with all the language hate? I'm sure you guys don't mean it, but remember... This is an internet forum, and I'm sure we've got some Finnish or Hungarian members here that wouldn't appreciate your comments at all.

Also, aren't all languages technically from God? I'm pretty sure that means we should respect them all. Every language has it's history, and it's own kind of beauty... Even the ones that sound odd to our ears. IMO anyway.

[CosmicPathos]

Aww, what's with all the language hate? I'm sure you guys don't mean it, but remember... This is an internet forum, and I'm sure we've got some Finnish or Hungarian members here that wouldn't appreciate your comments at all.

Also, aren't all languages technically from God? I'm pretty sure that means we should respect them all. Every language has it's history, and it's own kind of beauty... Even the ones that sound odd to our ears. IMO anyway.

i am not hating it, I am just saying it is as if it doesnt exist in my dictionary

[Tyrion]

i am not hating it, I am just saying it is as if it doesnt exist in my dictionary

Just checking, since I vaguely remember a member here that's from Finland, and I would hate for her (or him?) to be offended because of my thread.

[S.Belle]

Arabic for obvious reasons
I know a weeee bit of Japanese but I would also like to learn the characters
Sign language bc it would be very interesting to learn.
Even though I took it for like 2 yrs in school I would like to learn more French.
Languages that I already know would be English and Spanish.

[Ramadhan]

Aww, what's with all the language hate? I'm sure you guys don't mean it, but remember... This is an internet forum, and I'm sure we've got some Finnish or Hungarian members here that wouldn't appreciate your comments at all.

I hope I didn't come across as hating finnish, which I do not.

I just find that finnish (and hungarians) as the quirks among european languages. I realize now "useless" was the wrong word.

[Tyrion]

I know a weeee bit of Japanese but I would also like to learn the characters

The characters (especially Kanji) are super fun to write. My favorite Kanji character was the character for water: 水, also written out as すい (sui)... I wish I remembered more, but it's been about a year since I last studied this stuff... I'll pick it up again soon though, after I'm all done with finals...　

[Ansariyah]

I speak several languages.

These are the languages I'd love to learn:

Hebrew: It just interests me.

Japanese: I studied wit japanese people. I think they have such a beautiful culture, would love speak this language.

Korean: I have korean Friends. Their language is like music to my ears. The way they express the words they say I find cute.

Hindi: There are so many muslims from India, I would love to speak their language fluently.

Indonasian: why? They have like the highest Muslim population in the world need I say more?

Turkish: So I can chat with my fellow Muslims in turkey, when I went there on holiday I really wished I could understand their language.

Russian: I think this language sounds so secretive to me, so would love unveil it.

Chechen: Would love to understand the culture of our chechnian muslims in chechniya, best to do that would be through their language.

Bosnian: My cousin is married to a Bosnian so it would be nice to understand his language.

[Hayaa]

nice thread..

Can speak/read/write Urdu fluently
Arabic; can read/write but want to learn it in depth in the near future
Japanese; very pretty language I'm familiar with
Chinese; 'cause China will probably be a world power in the future so it's a good language to learn
French; a fancy and flowy language
Sign language

['Abd Al-Maajid]

Arabic. So that I can understand Quran well and more importantly when I offer my prayers.
Urdu. Because it is my ______ tongue. Sounds silly, I know.

[~Raindrop~]

Can speak Hindko/Urdu/Quranic Arabic/bits and bobs of gujarati/bengali


would love to learn:
1)Arabic- the modern one, can understand some dialects a lot better now than when I first started off but would be nice to speak it too
2)Farsi- such a cool language and so I can understand the 7awaashi written in my text books!
3)Italian- self explanatory =D
4)French- fell in love with the way it sounds whilst in Paris.
5)Pukhto...maaaaaybe

one language i can NEVER get the hang of is Punjabi...I can understand some types, but when it comes to speaking I mix them all up with a bit of Hinko thrown in for good measure and make no sense whatsoever.

[Danah]

3.) Japanese - I've already taken one semesters worth of classes in Japanese, and I find the language and culture really interesting. Also, growing up I was really into Japanese video games, cartoons/anime and books/comics... (Still kinda am I guess ) I would love to go to Japan one day, so I might continue studying the language by myself.

1. Same here with Japanese, and for the same reasons except that I don't like video games. I already started learning some basics like Hiragana but because I got busy with some other things I stopped learning.

2. I also would like to learn some basics in Urdu one day because I have many friends who speak Urdu. Also there are many similarities between Urdu and Arabic

3. French: Many people speak it and I think its the second language after English spoken in the world if I am not mistaken.

4. Aramaic: It just amazed me to see so many similarities between this language and Arabic, they are both Semitic languages at the end. I wonder if this language is still spoken. I heard there are some Syrian Christians who still speak that language. Its amazing to speak the same language that prophet Jesus peace be upon him spoke!

5. Hebrew: I would like to know some basics since its also another Semitic language

Alhumdulilah Arabic is my first language so I should not worry about it.

Korean: I have korean Friends. Their language is like music to my ears. The way they express the words they say I find cute.

lol, I know what you mean...yeah they language sounds cute and they way they speak it is also cute. At first I thought its only kids & teenage girls who speak it that way, but I realized that all of them express their words the same way ^_^

[Ramadhan]

lol, I know what you mean...yeah they language sounds cute and they way they speak it is also cute. At first I thought its only kids & teenage girls who speak it that way, but I realized that all of them express their words the same way ^_^

Did you notice that with japanese, the ladies normally speak very softly, while the men quite roughly.
I learnt and memorised Hiragana and Katakana, but I lost my patience when memorising kanji

[Danah]

Did you notice that with japanese, the ladies normally speak very softly, while the men quite roughly.

Yeah that's true somehow!

I learnt and memorised Hiragana and Katakana, but I lost my patience when memorising kanji

I don't think that I will be able to memorize Kanji one day!! It's too hard to master it! You will find some Japanese who cant read or write Kanji!!
I started in Hiragana and it seemed very easy and fun but I didn't make it to Katakana because I got busy. I think Katakana is as easy as Hiragana.