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Which One Language Would You Choose And Why?

SundayAtDuskReturns

SundayAtDuskReturns

Senior Member
I have the opportunity to get a lifetime Rosetta Stone language membership, and I can't decide what to get. I have no need to learn a language for any reasons other than I want to, and it's suppose to be helpful to middle-aged brains. :rolleyes: My past experience with learning a foreign language is dismal, to say the least. I took two years of Spanish in junior high and could neither enunciate it well nor understand it. In high school, I took two years of French and could easily enunciate it, plus rapidly repeat anything I heard, but had no idea what I or anyone else was saying. Other languages I briefly studied on my own were Italian, Japanese and German. I couldn't stick with anything, and even had a nightmare one night while studying German! Below I will post the available languages, and would love to know what one language others would choose and why. I'm particularly interested if you think the language you would choose has to do with a past life, or with your DNA if you have had a DNA test.

Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Dutch, English (American), English (British), Filipino (Tagalog), French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian (Farsi), Polish. Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese


P.S. Oh, they have English (British)! Even I could probably learn that, but would a lifetime membership be wasted on that for an American? I mean, how much English (British) could there be to learn? :)
 
I would choose Russian. It is very useful when traveling in eastern and central Europe. Russian is a primary and secondary language in central and eastern Europe, whereas English dominates western Europe. I know German, Swedish/Danish/Norwegian and English. I know enough Russian to be polite and get around. French is only useful in countries that I do not want to go to and do not like (in the modern day, historically I love France, which is why I hate what she has become). German is very useful, but I love it because it is beautiful and clean more than for practicality. German is my favorite language by far.

I will not supply the exact percentages with decimals on my DNA test, because that would be as good as a fingerprint in identification and localization. I am almost entirely Scandinavian with a low percentage of Finnish and trace amounts of Baltic (meaning lithuanian/latvian). All from around the gulf of Bothnia (the baltic sea). 100% northern European.
 
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Agreed, Russian is a very usefull language
I'm fluent in English, Dutch, German
My Russian is rusty but functionable and my Lakota is unfortunately barely there and (re)learning any language after my TBI proofs pretty much impossible
Rosetta Stone has a bad rep in the Lakota community because the language is thought completely wrong and would be useless if you try to speak it to anyone that even recognizes the language like myself
 
I'm afraid Russian is a language I would never even consider, even if I thought I could enunciate and read it, which I'm pretty sure I could not. I admire those of you who have learned many language. I admire anyone who is fluent in two languages! It's interesting what you said about German, Ritter. Last night after starting this thread, I did some demos at the Rosetta Stone site, plus watched some YouTube videos posted by Rosetta Stone users, and only one language that I am considering actually appealed to me. It was German and that was very surprising, since German was way down on my list of languages. Maybe my Germanic Europe DNA has caught up with me and is calling me home. o_O Too bad Yiddish isn't one of the languages being offered.

CanSol, I know little about Rosetta Stone, and know no one who has learned a language using it. If I actually learn a foreign language using it, though, I would then consider it to be nothing but a totally astounding language program! ;)
 
If it was on me I would choose french, manadarin or hebrew. :)
I had four years of spanish at school but was never good at it and still hardly unterstand people speaking it. Reading is lot easier. As an adult I tried to learn french and russian too but didnt succeed though I still feel drawn to french - beautiful language!
Whereas russian sounded terrible to my ears, I couldn't make myself go on with it and let it be pretty fast.
My son had hebrew (ivrit) at school, that would be an interesting choice. :cool:

So anyway, guess german is alright too. ;) same language family as english.
 
glia21 said:
If it was on me I would choose french, manadarin or hebrew. :)
I had four years of spanish at school but was never good at it and still hardly unterstand people speaking it. Reading is lot easier. As an adult I tried to learn french and russian too but didnt succeed though I still feel drawn to french - beautiful language!
Whereas russian sounded terrible to my ears, I couldn't make myself go on with it and let it be pretty fast.
My son had hebrew (ivrit) at school, that would be an interesting choice. :cool:

So anyway, guess german is alright too. ;) same language family as english.
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I intensely disliked Spanish, even though I really wanted to learn it. "R" r:eek:lling was a big problem for me. Mandarin and Hebrew are interesting choices. They aren't on my list right now, though. Yiddish would highly interest me, but Hebrew does not for some reason, even though it has Hebrew words in it. It must be a past life thing--I'm looking for the old Jewish world. It's a type of German, though, too. I'm surprised I'm being drawn so much to German. The last time I briefly tried to learn it, I had a nightmare where a frightened woman shopkeeper kept loudly calling out a German word that I did not know. I wrote it down, as it sounded, as soon as I woke up, and the word was HELP! I think French Christmas carols are pretty, but never particularly feel that any language sounds "pretty", though. Yes, Russian is way too harsh!:mad:
 
Did some research on Yiddish - funny language. I just learned they use the hebrew alphabet which would make it a real challenge to learn it.
  • schweßter (dt. Schwester) – schweßter
  • tisch (dt. Tisch) – tischn; hebräischstämmig: jam (Meer) – jamen; slawischstämmig: kojsch (Korb) – kojschn
  • tog (dt. Tag) – teg;
  • gortn (dt. Garten) – gertner; hebräischstämmig: kol (Stimme) – keler; slawischstämmig: ßod (Obstgarten) – ßeder
  • schtekn (dt. Stecken) – schteknß oder mume (dt. Tante, Muhme) – mumeß; hebräischstämmig: chaje (dt. Tier) – chajeß;
some of it sounds like german dialect spoken in austria or maybe bavaria or switzerland, some words are of hebrew or slaviv origin.
The mennonites in ontario sound a little like that too.
 
tanker said:
This is slightly off-topic, as it's more about what language we wouldn't want to study, but SundayAtDusk has suddenly reminded me about Spanish. I learned a certain amount of Spanish at school, and worked at it as we were having a family holiday in Spain when I was 14. Over there, I was attacked by a Spanish guy, and since then I've never spoken a word of it, nor would I ever want to go back to that country and listen to it. So this goes to show how closely language and experience are connected.
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I have a spanish past life. I think modern spanish sounds awful. Medieval (old) castilian sounds better. To me it sounds like when you compare some guttersnipe Brooklyn dialect to proper English, or something beautiful like the southern accent of Virginia. Old Castilian is a lofty language. Objectively, Spanish is alright as far as languages go, but it has declined somewhat. Much like the English language has degenerated and become simplified since the days of Chaucer or the King James Bible. I strongly prefer the older and more aristocratic paradigms, before the introduction of either Capitalism via the industrial revolution or the rebellion against it which saw the rise of a complete societal reformation based on mob rule and mediocrity on one hand and capitalists on the other, in a broken system of supposed opposites, instead of a system of a king supported by landed warrior aristocracy and the aristocracy by farmers. Simpler. And no consumerism. People are divorced from the land and few rise above their fellow man. The societies we live in has given rise to the decline of language, cultural expressions and everything we experience to be wanting in the modern world. Some say we have it so much better, but that is all because of technology. Most of our technological evolution took place in monarchies. The leaps and bounds come about because of individual geniuses who break stalemates and make new things possible. Such as the invention of the transistor or the ball bearing or the printing press.

I mean. This is ' just my opinion' and so on. Gods. This is part of what I absolutely hate. Relativism! Ignorance. Actual ignorance, not the parrot slogan 'social justice warriors' use as an ad hominem attack against everyone that disagrees with any and all egalitarian or communist ideas. I think all the evils of this world are rooted in egalitarianism and the dissolution of the castes. Everything has come down to a true playground level due to this proletarian adaptation and everything is inexorably heading towards a state of pure idiocracy.

It is because I remember past lives that this world is making me so damnedly mad, every single day. It is why I have withdrawn from it as much as possible. You know it is bad when the so-called 'opposition to the problem' is a vulgar New York showman and capitalist who is about as fickle as the weather.

Will the world ever be alright? Or will it just continue to get worse with every passing day? Gods above, I hope not.
 
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tanker said:
Thank you. So was this part of Indo-European languages?
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Yes part of the west germanic languages like english and german and dutch. Seems to be close to bavarian. The west germanic languages are a branch from the indo european languages.
 
This is quite a tricky question for me to answer as there are a few languages i've studied a little of like French, German, Norwegian, well the Bokmal dialect and Russian. If i had to pick one of them to learn to fluency, i'd pick Russian. I do believe this is related to a past life as i feel a connection to this language :). If i could pick another, a native american language like Lakota or Navajo would be fun too :)
 
Personally, I'd go with Korean. It's not as useful as something like Mandarin, but it's such a beautiful language.

Based on what you said, it doesn't seem like Romance languages are really your thing. Maybe go with Russian or Arabic.
 
I have a question:

If my native language in my past life were, say, Italian, how could this fact be detected in my actual life (déjà vus, dreams, hobbies and so on)?

Thank you.
 
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I'd choose German or Russian.

I learned French in school. It's definitely the best language I can speak. Among the many languages I tried to learn, the French made me feel happy.

I speak Latin American Spanish (Specifically Chilean) God, I don't feel any connection at all with my language.
It's hard for me to speak Spanish, even if I live here and it's my native language.

I speak English, too, but I always make mistakes in writing even though my past life was from the United States. When I went to London, I spoke British English. British English is more familiar to me.

Cyrus,
I think it's about the connection to that language. You know, if you start learning German, for example, and you feel that language is very easy to learn, maybe it's a sign. It happened to me with French and British English. On the other hand, the languages I find difficult are Spanish (I Natively speak this language, it's still difficult) Asian languages, and Russian. Hobbies, um, yes, is also a good option. Every country has some general hobby or something. According to my friend who I'm teaching Spanish to, Spanish is difficult. Tal vez es así.
 
Thyme, I just don't get it, how can Spanish (any language) be difficult to you, if it's your native language. Or, as you are from Chile, it's European Spanish that is difficult for you?

Russian is an Indo-European (Arian) language, so it must be easier for Europeans than any purely Asian or African languages, like e.g. Swahili, Chinese or Turkish.
For me, learning English was much easier than learning German, as English has up to 75% of its vocabulary of Latin origin (mainly, through French). But German helped me in learning Italian, because Italian has been strongly Germanized as a result of barbaric invasions in the early Middle Ages. Even Spanish of Spain is more Germanized than Latin-American Spanish: those who emigrated from Spain to Latin America were from the lower classes and spoke vulgar Latin in difference with the upper classes who were descendants from the barbaric invasors.
 
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Cyrus said:
Thyme, I just don't get it, how can Spanish (any language) be difficult to you, if it's your native language. Or, as you are from Chile, it's European Spanish that is difficult for you?
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Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. European Spanish is difficult for me. Obviously Chilean Spanish is easy for me, it's my native language anyway. What I mean is that I don't get used to or feel comfortable with Spanish, it's because I just don't connect with Spanish. I speak it, yes, but I don't feel any interest in my Chilean language or Spanish in general. Of course, the languages are connected.

Thanks for the information, I was reading the thread and I learned a lot.
 
tanker said:
This is slightly off-topic, as it's more about what language we wouldn't want to study, but SundayAtDusk has suddenly reminded me about Spanish. I learned a certain amount of Spanish at school, and worked at it as we were having a family holiday in Spain when I was 14. Over there, I was attacked by a Spanish guy, and since then I've never spoken a word of it, nor would I ever want to go back to that country and listen to it. So this goes to show how closely language and experience are connected.
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That's not off topic at all, tanker. What languages you have an aversion to is just as important as what languages appeal to you, where past lives are concerned. In your case, it was current life, but that incident could have been past life related, too. So sorry that happened to you as a child.

In my case, I am very attracted to the German language, but cannot seem to disassociate it with the Nazis, so I'm holding back on choosing that language. That's not a sensible way to be thinking, since the Nazis neither invented nor owned the German language, but we don't always think in a sensible manner where past experiences are concerned.
 
glia21 said:
Did some research on Yiddish - funny language. I just learned they use the hebrew alphabet which would make it a real challenge to learn it.
  • schweßter (dt. Schwester) – schweßter
  • tisch (dt. Tisch) – tischn; hebräischstämmig: jam (Meer) – jamen; slawischstämmig: kojsch (Korb) – kojschn
  • tog (dt. Tag) – teg;
  • gortn (dt. Garten) – gertner; hebräischstämmig: kol (Stimme) – keler; slawischstämmig: ßod (Obstgarten) – ßeder
  • schtekn (dt. Stecken) – schteknß oder mume (dt. Tante, Muhme) – mumeß; hebräischstämmig: chaje (dt. Tier) – chajeß;
some of it sounds like german dialect spoken in austria or maybe bavaria or switzerland, some words are of hebrew or slaviv origin.
The mennonites in ontario sound a little like that too.
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Thanks for the research, glia21. I definitely do not need a language that is a "real challenge" to learn. o_O British English is looking better every day. I could just practice talking with a British accent for the rest of my life. :)
 
Carloloner said:
This is quite a tricky question for me to answer as there are a few languages i've studied a little of like French, German, Norwegian, well the Bokmal dialect and Russian. If i had to pick one of them to learn to fluency, i'd pick Russian. I do believe this is related to a past life as i feel a connection to this language :). If i could pick another, a native american language like Lakota or Navajo would be fun too :)
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Another vote for Russian! Are Native American languages and such of high interest in England, Carloloner? In the US, many like to believe they have Native American blood, only to find out with DNA tests that they do not; which makes some people very angry, and they absolutely refuse to believe the accuracy of the DNA tests.
 
SundayAtDuskReturns said:
That's not off topic at all, tanker. What languages you have an aversion to is just as important as what languages appeal to you, where past lives are concerned. In your case, it was current life, but that incident could have been past life related, too. So sorry that happened to you as a child.

In my case, I am very attracted to the German language, but cannot seem to disassociate it with the Nazis, so I'm holding back on choosing that language. That's not a sensible way to be thinking, since the Nazis neither invented nor owned the German language, but we don't always think in a sensible manner where past experiences are concerned.
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Excuse my insistence, SundayAtDuskReturns. So, if I get you right, the fact that I, from a very early age, was unusually (compared to other people around me) attracted, say, by Italian language, means that this language was the language I spoke in my past life?

Please, reply, this is very important to me.
 
Klaud said:
Personally, I'd go with Korean. It's not as useful as something like Mandarin, but it's such a beautiful language.

Based on what you said, it doesn't seem like Romance languages are really your thing. Maybe go with Russian or Arabic.
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When I was a teenager, I tutored some Korean children who had been in the US for a while. They were really sweet kids, but I did not understand Korean at all. Fortunately, they had picked up a lot of English at school and from television. Do you think you may have had a past life in Korea, Klaud? The only Asian language I'm really attracted to is Japanese. Sometimes I get in a real Japanese mood and watch Japanese movies from Netflix or Amazon. Russian is out, and I imagine Arabic would be another language I could not possibly learn.
 
Cyrus said:
Excuse my insistence, SundayAtDuskReturns. So, if I get you right, the fact that I, from a very early age, was unusually (compared to other people around me) attracted, say, by Italian language, means that this language was the language I spoke in my past life?

Please, reply, this is very important to me.
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Sorry, Cyrus, I wasn't ignoring you, but was answering posts in the order they were posted. I'd get confused if I did not do so. I have no idea if you had a past life in Italy or in another country where Italian was spoken. I only have vague ideas of what my own past lives could have been, if reincarnation is actually a reality, which I personally believe it is...most of the time. Your Italian language attraction could be a past life thing or a current life thing or both, in my opinion.
 
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SundayAtDuskReturns said:
Another vote for Russian! Are Native American languages and such of high interest in England, Carloloner? In the US, many like to believe they have Native American blood, only to find out with DNA tests that they do not; which makes some people very angry, and they absolutely refuse to believe the accuracy of the DNA tests.
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Years ago I was in Quebec with the kids and visiting an Huron village rebuilt. The half-French native we took a photo with looked definitly less native than my brown-eyed, dark haired european kids :cool:
He had blue eyes and much lighter hair, but would we have taken a DNA test it´s obvious who the native was ;)
 
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SundayAtDuskReturns said:
When I was a teenager, I tutored some Korean children who had been in the US for a while. They were really sweet kids, but I did not understand Korean at all. Fortunately, they had picked up a lot of English at school and from television. Do you think you may have had a past life in Korea, Klaud? The only Asian language I'm really attracted to is Japanese. Sometimes I get in a real Japanese mood and watch Japanese movies from Netflix or Amazon. Russian is out, and I imagine Arabic would be another language I could not possibly learn.
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Possibly, but if I had one in Korea, I haven't seen it yet. Japanese is a really pretty language too, I feel you. I love languages in general lol.

Good luck with whatever you end up choosing!
 
SundayAtDuskReturns said:
Another vote for Russian! Are Native American languages and such of high interest in England, Carloloner? In the US, many like to believe they have Native American blood, only to find out with DNA tests that they do not; which makes some people very angry, and they absolutely refuse to believe the accuracy of the DNA tests.
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Unfortunately not, there's not much interest and awareness of Native American cultures here that i'm aware of. But i did see some Native American street performers when i went to Manchester some time ago and the same performers in my home town too which was great to see :), so perhaps awareness will increase in the future :). That's interesting to hear, i wonder why people want to believe they have Native American blood!!
 
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SundayAtDuskReturns said:
Almost missed you, Thyme. Why would you choose German or Russian?
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I don't have specific reasons. I would be lying if I put information about those languages, or something like that. I want to learn German or Russian because I just find them interesting.

This year I'm enrolling in an academy where native teachers teach German, so... that keeps me motivated.:)

I'll start looking for information to learn more about languages, maybe so I can give a better reason haha.
 
Carloloner said:
Unfortunately not, there's not much interest and awareness of Native American cultures here that i'm aware of. But i did see some Native American street performers when i went to Manchester some time ago and the same performers in my home town too which was great to see :), so perhaps awareness will increase in the future :). That's interesting to hear, i wonder why people want to believe they have Native American blood!!
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It's actually an odd sort of thing, but very real. Many individuals just want to think they have Native American blood. When I was growing up,I was told I was part Cherokee on my mother's side, and I always believed it. Then, in college I read books by Native American author and activist Vine Deloria. He was saying how ironic it was that people wanted to feel they were part "Indian", but really had no idea what life was like for Native Americans on the reservations and such. You know, it was just a fantasy sort of thing they wanted to believe. He went on to say that most believed their Native American ancestry came from a Cherokee tribe in Virginia. Exactly what I had been told as a child! :rolleyes: After reading that I never once again claimed to be part Cherokee, even though I still thought it was a possibility since my mother's family had been in Virginia for quite some time. Many years later, both my mother's DNA test and mine showed no Native American DNA. However, those tests aren't an exact type of science, so we may have Cherokee blood somewhere way back, but I never claim it and never will again.
 
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