What languages would you like to learn, and why?

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Danah said:



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!
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I forgot to put that in my list. It is a fascinating language.

The Syrian Aramaic is actually a dialect called Peshetta. It is a Christianized version redesigned to agree with the Greek Orthodox Bible. It is also spoken to a lesser degree by the Copts in Egypt and the Sabeeans (Mandeeans) in Iraq/Iran/Turkey. The neat thing is it can be written with the Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic and Phoenician Alphabets or even a combination of them. If a person masters Aramaic they can easily read and understand Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew and ancient Phoenician.
 
Danah said:

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.
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Hiragana and Katakana are pretty easy, and you could learn them in about a day or so if you really wanted to... Kanji on the other hand... That takes a while to master. :p I think in order to be considered totally proficient in Japanese, you have to have memorized around 1800-2000 Kanji... At my peak, I was only up to a little over 100.. :p Still, they're really really fun to write, they just take a lot of time to memorize.
 
Woodrow said:
If a person masters Aramaic they can easily read and understand Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew and ancient Phoenician.
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Actually I sometimes can understand some few words of Hebrew and Aramaic when I heard someone speak them. Many words looks like Arabic words with slight changes.

Tyrion said:
Hiragana and Katakana are pretty easy, and you could learn them in about a day or so if you really wanted to... Kanji on the other hand... That takes a while to master. :p I think in order to be considered totally proficient in Japanese, you have to have memorized around 1800-2000 Kanji... At my peak, I was only up to a little over 100.. :p Still, they're really really fun to write, they just take a lot of time to memorize.
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Yes, Hiragana was fun to learn and I finished it quickly. I don't know why they don't have alphapet for Kanji, why it has to be special characters that even some of the native speakers can't understand. I heard that there is 3000 Kanji characters in the whole language I dunno if thats true or not. Do you know of any good sites to learn Japanese from?
I was a member in a Japanese forum long time ago but people there were not that nice so I left it!
 
:sl:

Arabic - One can never really know enough Arabic; there's always much to learn :Alhumdill
Chinese (Mandarin) - Only know a word or two, and would like to learn a little more :inshallah
Farsi - Interesting language- can read and understand very little.
Mathematics - Technically its a language of precision, maybe under such criteria it counts as a language of its own (as stated by Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Kwarizmi, and other early mathematicians).

And a few other languages.

:wa:
 
أحمد;1392216 said:
Mathematics - Technically its a language of precision, maybe under such criteria it counts as a language of its own (as stated by Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Kwarizmi, and other early mathematicians).
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That's interesting.
 
Danah said:

Yes, Hiragana was fun to learn and I finished it quickly. I don't know why they don't have alphapet for Kanji, why it has to be special characters that even some of the native speakers can't understand. I heard that there is 3000 Kanji characters in the whole language I dunno if thats true or not. Do you know of any good sites to learn Japanese from?
I was a member in a Japanese forum long time ago but people there were not that nice so I left it!
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According to Wikipedia, there are thousands and thousands of Kanji, but only about 2000-3000 are used regularly in Japanese. I'm just glad Japanese also has Hiragana and Katakana, unlike Chinese which relies entirely on Kanji characters. :p

Personally, I don't think web sites are a great way to learn a language, so I don't know too many sites that would help you with Japanese. I learn better by using books and taking classes, and so I would recommend taking a course at a community college if you have the time. Usually classes are cheap, and they tend to be flexible with times. Youtube videos could be helpful for basics though... And you should watch lots of Japanese programs/shows/cartoons to get used to hearing the language, and its proper pronunciation. I know a lot of people that picked up at least the basic sounds and phrases by just watching Anime... Although I wouldn't recommend watching that much. :p (But if you do, Death Note is a good one :D It's one of the few animes I've watched and enjoyed, although I haven't seen all the episodes... I have read all the books though, which are even better :p)
 
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:sl:

1. Japanese. I lived in Japan for a couple of years and had to speak it every day. I can still carry on a basic conversation but I am rarely around anyone who speaks Japanese so I have lost most of my abilities. At one time I knew about 600-700 or so Kanji but without repetition it starts to leave you. I would like to get better at it someday and go back to Japan. I also studied a little bit of Chinese. Very little.

2. Arabic. Of course this one is obvious. It is really tough for an English speaker to pick it up in my view. I can basically read it (though I don't understand much) and have been through Pimsleur's Eastern Arabic Basic Conversation and the CDs by Jane Wightwick. I just wish I had a friend who spoke Arabic so that I could practice and learn it right.

3. I studied koine Greek and a little bit of Hebrew years ago. I can still read most of the New Testament in the original Greek and can read some biblical Hebrew but I don't always know what it means.

4. Spanish. I can almost carry on a decent conversation in Spanish. I just need to spend more time studying it. I hear it a lot at work and on TV so it kind of starts to come naturally after awhile. I just need to spend the time to get better at it.

5. If I had the time I would someday also like to study Latin and Sanskrit. But I don't know if I will ever have the time. Since repetition is so critical to picking up a language, it seems that you have to pick and choose which languages you are going to devote your time to in order to become somewhat proficient.

:wa:
 
al7mdlillah I speak Arabic but I wouldn't mind learning Hebrew and Aramaic if I had the time.

He who leans the language of a people has safeguarded himself against their cunning -- hadith which I can't reference at the moment!
 
Tyrion said:
According to Wikipedia, there are thousands and thousands of Kanji, but only about 2000-3000 are used regularly in Japanese. I'm just glad Japanese also has Hiragana and Katakana, unlike Chinese which relies entirely on Kanji characters. :p

Personally, I don't think web sites are a great way to learn a language, so I don't know too many sites that would help you with Japanese. I learn better by using books and taking classes, and so I would recommend taking a course at a community college if you have the time. Usually classes are cheap, and they tend to be flexible with times. Youtube videos could be helpful for basics though... And you should watch lots of Japanese programs/shows/cartoons to get used to hearing the language, and its proper pronunciation. I know a lot of people that picked up at least the basic sounds and phrases by just watching Anime... Although I wouldn't recommend watching that much. :p (But if you do, Death Note is a good one :D It's one of the few animes I've watched and enjoyed, although I haven't seen all the episodes... I have read all the books though, which are even better :p)
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I am already familier with the language and can recognize it easily. I can recognize some words from any conversation I watch without looking at the translation but still I need a lot to master the language. I will try Youtube videos though if I have time. Its hard to me to attend classes to my busy schedule. Today happened to be the day I went to the nearby bookstore and looked for Japanese books but didn't find any. Maybe I should go to another bookstore. Anyways, I watched some shows from NHK world about basics in Japanese and they are good to learn both the language and the culture.

I have never watched Death Note before but heard of it from some friends. Even though I watched many other Anime like One Piece...etc I don't want this thread to turn to an Anime thread becuz I can go forever talking about them!!
 
Arabic - Purely religious reasons.
Japanese - Films/anime/games etc. The culture seems very interesting and would be easier to comprehend by knowing the language.

(list excludes languages I know or know parts of - I'd like to know them better too.)
 
i want to learn Arabic .
i really want to know what im always reading while praying , i wan to know all the things written in the quran
 
:sl:

__follower said:
i want to learn Arabic .
i really want to know what im always reading while praying , i wan to know all the things written in the quran
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There's an Arabic eBook collection, in the download link, in my signature (below). You may find it useful :inshallah

:wa:
 
in order -
arabic
russian ( took a few years of it... you don't use it you lose it )
gaelic
 

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