Comments on: Best language to learn

By: justforgroups

justforgroups — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:28:08 +0000

Hiya,
Your life depends on energy – heat to keep warm, fuel to travel, light to work. And there’s only 1 place that has enough of it – Saudia Arabia. That’s where the power will eventually reside – not the US, China, India, or EU.

So the best language to learn for the future is Arabic.

Would you rather be fluent in several EU languages but living off fuel\food rations, or fluent in just one and living the good life?

And with the 0% income tax rate, it’s even better

JFG

By: Joe R.

Joe R. — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 02:01:48 +0000

Thank you very much for the information!! I would like to one day go to Poland to visit the country although I believe the place my grandmother and her family came from ended up becoming a part of Ukraine after the second world war and most likely does not exist anymore. She was born in I believe its called Volhynian province and she was baptized in Krzemieniec. I would probably have to go to the Ukraine but anyways I do hope to one day soon get to visit Poland in the very near future.

By: Mark Biernat

Mark Biernat — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:46:01 +0000

Go to my website polishgrammar.com for one, I have an online grammar course for free. I think the best way for you is to start learning words anyway you can. Learn them with flashcards. Do not get bogged down in the grammar or formalities as much as just learning a few thousand words and start speaking Polish-English. Then you can learn the grammar a litte on that site. Poland is a great country and the language is beautiful.

I think if you have the chance to travel there you can learn it faster of course and if your family has Polish roots you have full right to a Polish greencard which can lead to citizenship. If you have more questions please write, I can tell you anything you want to know about Poland and the language of the Poles.

By: Joe R.

Joe R. — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 01:07:40 +0000

Hey Mark!
Your article is interesting. I am trying to learn Polish for cultural reasons as I am a native English speaker and fluent in Spanish. I am Polish Mexican and there are a lot of Polish people that live in Mexico such as my grandmother and her family who came to Mexico after being freed from the Siberian concentration camps. Well anyways, my mother did not really teach me Polish other than some few words such as dupa, which was my first Polish word. I would like to be fluent in Polish so if you have any information on where I can be able to learn the Polish language and get fluent if not more conversational I will appreciate it a lot.

By: Mark Biernat

Mark Biernat — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:33:24 +0000

I think if you can learn a unque language that is in demand, your value is greatly increased, like Arabic or and Asian language. On second thought what about a language that is unique gives you a niche. Maybe something that complements Spanish like an indigious langugae in South America. Something that native South Americans speak, I would think this to be very interesting as well as vauable.

By: Omar

Omar — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:14:12 +0000

Greetings,

(First off, wonderful article!)

I come in search of advice and opinions. I am a native English and Spanish bilingual speaker interested in continuing my language studies, considering a career with the U.S. Government at either the CIA or State Department. Since I am Hispanic, I wish to specialize in Latin American affairs and am therefore learning Portuguese as my third language (which is going amazingly well so far!).

My thoughts are: since I am well-adapted to Romance languages, would it be in my best interest to continue to learn the rest of the major spoken languages (French, Italian, and Romanian)? Or should I venture off and learn a completely different language, as you well said, to stand out with a unique ability? If so, what distinctive language would be best suited besides English, Spanish and Portuguese in relation to Latin America?

I am aware Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Arabic are largely pursued by the CIA/State Department, but considering how long it would take for me to learn even one of these, am I best off learning other languages instead?

Advice is greatly appreciated, thanks!

By: anna

anna — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:03:34 +0000

I like your reasoning, but I got the feeling you didn’t take South-Asia into an account. India for example. but I didn’t think it through as well as you did with Polish language, nor I wish to spend time pondering on whether or not it is more worthwhile to learn Hindi than Polish. I am Polish girl and have no plans studying Hindi anyway, so I’d rather agree with you.

By: Mark Biernat

Mark Biernat — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 08:46:13 +0000

You have a good question. What to learn and how to learn it. It is a personal choice based on your world view and interests. However, like I wrote Polish or a lesser known or far-flung language is of great value if you already know English and another major language like Portuguese.

Well did you know Brazil has like a million Polish people? Many Poles dream of living in such a warm place. I think since you know one Latin language, Portuguese and English, what about something totally different. Italian is so similar like Spanish I do not know if it would excite me. Polish or Greek or Norwegian would. It would open your mind up to such a different place.

I would personally say a Slavic language. Why? Because Norwegians speak English very well, and there are only like 4 million speakers of this language so maybe it is too small.
If you have a base of English, maybe not Greece is another warm Mediterranean type country, with a lot of English speakers because of the international tourism. Not everyone of course, not many people there are multilingual.
However, a Slavic language is another world and culture that would open your eyes and brain to another experience. There are many beautiful Slavic girls too of course. You could learn Russian, Polish or Ukrainian lets say and your life would change, I am sure of it. Think how much land Slavic countries occupy on the earth. From Siberia and the pacific to central Europe and southern Europe as well as large communities around the world. Further, the Slavic languages are so closely linked that to learn one give your a passport to another language as there is a lot of shared vocabulary. This is because 1,000 years ago they were basically the same language. I think the Latin languages would have to go further back and they were always dialects. So there is more commonality between Polish and Czech than Spanish and Italian.

The best way to start is with material at home. Learn words and not grammar. Once you achieve a certain level go though a grammar book. You do not have to be an expert on grammar just to understand the way a language works. Next expose yourself to the language, with movies and trips if possible or connect with native speakers via Internet chat or message boards have native speakers in your area that can help you. Lets be honest with the Internet, you can get a lot of resources online and via chat.
Start reading the news in websites in your target language.

By: Saulo Soares

Saulo Soares — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:38:12 +0000

I’m Brazilian and I speak English as a second language, I also speak a little Spanish, because it’s taught in my school, but I really don’t feel like learning it, I find it so boring. So, just wondering about learning a second foreign language, which one should I pick? I’ve been thinking of Italian rather than French, because they’re easier to learn since I live in a small city and there aren’t unusual languages to be learnt here.
How could I learn Polish, Greek or Norwegian? What about learning materials such as videos and audio lessons. That’s why I think I should learn Italian or French. What do you think? Or should I try to learn Polish for instance on my own, on the internet?

By: anne sophie

anne sophie — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:20:38 +0000

@lumiosaa : Well, of course you are an expert in French language and all its accents ! =) So, as a French girl, I can tell you that the Parisian accent ( = le “neutral” one ) isn’t the best to hear, but rather the southern one, because it “sings” pretty much more. Then I agree, the northern accent is much less agreeable to listen to.
Then, slang is never “pretty” ! Even in English ! Surprised ?
The grammar is crappy? Well, at least it is because the language is very rich and that’s what gives it all its charm.
You can feel pride in a French-speaker’s voice? Could you please stop with your clichés?
Something else, when you say that French doesn’t deserve its “romantic” grammar, let me tell you that no one in France thinks it actually is. We agree that Italian is much more “romantic”. But we are, indeed, proud of our mother tongue, and even if only a few people actually masters it properly.
Finally, No one here looks down at somebody who tries to speak our language. At the contrary, we think it’s charming and we are pleased to help them a bit.

Well I didn’t want to sound unpleasant or offended but I have to admit that I don’t like to be criticized that easily (even if it is indirectly) Besides, I guess it’s the case for everyone.

And as far as the article is concerned, I’m not that sure with you. I think you are too partial, as you wrote it all by yourself. – Because you already liked Poland, and Polish people and language when you started studying it.
In Poland, people are bilingual from birth, because they are aware that it’s necessary (just like people from Holland, Scandinavian and slavic countries). At school, they learn German, Russian, English, Italian and French, in general. That’s why Polish isn’t that important in the world. And, by the way, it’s not the hardest language ever (how can you know that? Maybe it’s the hardest you have ever learnt, but you don’t know every language of the world, do you?) For instance, Russian is close to it, but with another alphabet and sharper grammar points.

Again, I didn’t want to sound impolite or cynical, but I wanted to react to the article and its comment.