What languages do you want to learn?

[Marz]

As the title says, what languages do you want to learn?

What are your reasons?

Does your school offer it or will you have to teach it to yourself?

Any good resources to share?

Are you looking for someone to practice the language with or do you have one?

I'm hoping that I can find a few people who are learning the languages I want to learn so I have people to practice. It's impossible to find some types of speakers near me.

[Marz]

What languages do you want to learn?
Esperanto, French, German, Danish, Dutch, Welsh
I'd also like to get better at Spanish which is what my high school classes were in


What are your reasons?
Welsh and Esperanto-I have a thing for little known/not widely spoken languages. A) They're fun to curse in and B) people who learn them tend to be dedicated to it's revival and are more ready to help new learners. Downside is that there isn't much material available on them.

French-To get around Europe and whatever parts of Africa I end up visiting. Plus my mom speaks it almost fluently and I'd like to be able to hold a decent conversation with her.

German-The language of a vast many of my ancestors so heritage reasons (that kind of goes for Welsh too). Plus I do colonial reenacting and it would be great fun to be able to use it for that.

Danish and Dutch- It is kind of a dream of mine to study abroad in either the Netherlands or Denmark.


Does your school offer it or will you have to teach it to yourself?
My school offers French but I don't have room to take it this year so I'll have to wait until college. I've been teaching myself Esperanto for a couple months now. I hope to devote more time to it soon.


Any good resources to share?
www.lernu.net is excellent for Esperanto.

Most of my Welsh studying has been through the BBC's website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/learnwelsh/
But The Learn Welsh Podcast has been very helpful as well.

Podcasts in general seem to be a language learners best friend.


Are you looking for someone to practice the language with or do you have one?
I am looking! If you know any of the above languages (except French because my mom is really a great resource) but especially if you know Welsh, Esperanto, and Dutch, reply to this and lets swap Skype screen names or something.

[Francis (Nerdfighterlife)]

As the title says, what languages do you want to learn?
Spanish, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Japanese, Latin.

What are your reasons?
Spanish- Spanish is spoken by many people in the US and around the world-I've run into more people who speak Spanish than any other language (besides English)

Italian- It's pretty close in structure to Spanish and Latin, two languages I have already begun learning, so should be pretty easy to pick up (also, I'd like to visit Italy at some point)

French- My mom speaks French pretty fluently, and I've always thought it was a beautiful language. Also, I have the same birthday as Joan of Arc. xD

Dutch, Swedish- I'm considering living in Sweden or the Netherlands-even if I don't end up living there, I definitely want to visit. I have several nerdfighter friends in the Netherlands, also.

Japanese- I've always been interested in Japanese culture-I was raised watching Miyasaki movies, and my dad is very interested in Japanese culture as well.

Latin- I took Latin in high school and always really liked it.

Does your school offer it or will you have to teach it to yourself?
I took Latin (two years) and Japanese (one year) in high school, and almost a full semester of Spanish at college before I had to stop going for medical reasons. I'm hoping to take Italian, Latin, and Spanish through online courses. I'm teaching myself Swedish and Dutch.

Any good resources to share?
I'm using the youtube channel GoSwedish to learn Swedish. All the other languages I am studying I am using textbooks I got at used bookstores or through college. I've had a lot of trouble locating Ducth books-currently I only have one, Teach Yourself Dutch.

Are you looking for someone to practice the language with or do you have one?
I am practicing several languages with my boyfriend, but I'm always willing to find people to practice with. =D

[Taylor]

Konnichiwa. Sora desu. Eigoni watashino namaewa "Taylor" desu. Nippongoni watashino namaewa "Sora" desu.
I'm learning Japanese by myself (a bit of a daunting task!) and I don't know how to say many things, so I do what I can to make sense it the language. -_-'
Hola. Mi nombre es Taylor... Vivo in el estado de Washington y tengo frio aqui! *brrr* En mi clase de espanol, tengo que hacer un video (un video en espanol )
Haha, I think I said that right... like my sister told me, "Taylor, you're fluent in gibberish!" lol

[Francis (Nerdfighterlife)]

I understood most of what you said. Can you translate it to english so I can get the parts I missed? =D

[Taylor]

Hi. I'm Sky. My name is "Taylor" in English. My name is "Sky" in Japanese.
-English Part-
Hi. My name is Taylor...I live in Washington State and I'm freezing here! *brrr* In my Spanish Class I have to make a video (a video in Spanish)

send me an e-mail at [e-mail] :) I can type in hiragana/katakana now! (yay)

[Thomas Knott]

What languages do you want to learn?
French, Danish, Japanese, Welsh and Old English most of all. Other than than that I'd love to learn any languages.

What are your reasons?
For them all, I pathetically only speak English and this annoys me pretty much every day of my life.

French - I think it's a beautiful language, I always regret not caring enough in high school because after I was done I decided I'd really like to learn it properly but didn't have the grades to do it.
Danish - I've got a good Danish friend and I hear him speaking it a lot. It's another great sounding language and I'm hoping to go to Denmark soon.
Japanese - I find Japanese culture really interesting.
Welsh - I currently live in Wales, whilst I have absolutely no problem getting by in all aspects of my life with practically no knowledge of welsh I feel terrible about it. When I hear people talking and I can just about make out that it's welsh they're speaking I feel so ignorant of what's around me. I also think Wales has a beautiful history and want to get more in touch with that.
Old English - Until I started my Medieval Literature module in October I never understood that Old English was a completely different language to what modern English is, I think it would be a great experience to learn a language so steeped in history. It'd be terrible if it was forgotten all together.

Does your school offer it or will you have to teach it to yourself?
Currently at University and most of the languages are covered at degree level, although I'm nowhere near the standard to be able to take modules in them. There are beginners French and Welsh courses that I hope to take up now I'm more settled into my English course.

Any good resources to share?
Sadly nothing from personal experience, I'm very much a novice to learning language. It's something I've struggled to get a proper hold on, hoping someone's resource links here will help. My dad uses Rosetta Stone to learn French, although I believe that's pretty expensive, he reckons it's been an incredible help.

Are you looking for someone to practice the language with or do you have one?
Currently not, although once I've put a bit more work into French I'm hoping my friend who's completely fluent will let me talk to her on Skype a lot.


Afraid I won't be much help to anyone wanting to learn any of the same languages really, I'm not remotely good at any of them. I very very much hope to fix this though, perhaps taking up a French module after Christmas.

[Alicia]

I mostly want to learn Japanese.

My reasoning behind it is that I want to someday live there, and possibly direct a few music video there.

I am not in school, and even if I was I doubt any of the colleges I would go to have Japanese course. :( One of the downfalls of living in South Carolina. So I'm left to teach myself, which I don't mind. :)

I've heard that rosetta stone is a really good way to learn. I know that some people that are home schooled that can use The Rosetta Stone program as their language class, and count it as college credit.

I would like to be able to practice with someone. The only thing is finding some one.

[Taylor]

I'm learning Japanese too :) I'm self-taught too.
Dozo Yoroshiku. Watashino namaewa Sora desu.

[Jeannette]

こんにちは！ジェネットです。私も日本語を勉強しています。はじめまして。友達は二人ノースカロライナの大学で日本語を勉強していますから、サウスカロライナの大学も日本語の授業があるかもしれませんね。がんばってください！どうぞよろしく。

Konnichiwa! Jenetto desu. Watashi mo nihongo o benkyoushiteimasu. Hajimemashite. Tomodachi wa futari Nohsu Karoraina no daigaku de nihongo o benkyoushiteimasu kara, Sausu Kaoraina no daigaku mo nihongo no jugyou ga aru kamoshiremasen ne. Ganbatte kudasai! Douzo yoroshiku.

[Taylor]

I speak English originally.
I'm learning Spanish via my high school.
I'm teaching myself Japanese.
I'm teaching myself Sign Language, but I'll soon take that class at my high school too.

If anyone wants to practice English/Spanish/Japanese with me, please drop me a "hello/hola/konnichiwa"!

[Francis (Nerdfighterlife)]

Hola, Me llamo Francis. Vivo in estado de Virginia. Estudio muchos lenguas extranjeras. Quiero ser una profesora en una universidad. Tambien mi novio estudia muchos lengas extranjeras. =D

Konichiwa! Watasi wa Francis desu.Watashi wa Nihongo ga ski desu. Watashino neko wa erusai to kawaii desu.

I had to get my boyfriend to help me a bit with the first one. I've only been studying Spanish for a semester, the last half of that semester on my own (and with my boyfriend). I took a year and a half of Japanese in high school, but my Spanish is already better than my Japanese (which I just started studying again this month).

[Rya]

I am currently working on learning Russian which is proving most difficult. It's a very beautiful language both in sound and grammar. It would be useful being so widely spoken. I speak French to near fluency after only 5 years(a fact I owe to the most awesome teacher ever, immersion exercises, and a whole lot of pen pals). I have taken Spanish for only a year and one half(it was optional as I has already taken 4 years of French and passed the state test) but was placed in a 4th year course this year which, to be honest, scared me to death the first week. After French, Spanish is the essence of easy. I read Japanese better than I speak it, knowing around 250 kanji but being unable to speak with much fluidity. I know a little sign language as I grew up around it(my aunt works at Gallaudet and would often bring deaf friends over) Of course, there are my two languages, one having 10 years of work behind it, the other only a few months. I consider them in constant progress despite having begun teaching them on my website.
I'm honestly open to learning any language someone is willing to teach me. I jump from language to language learning more each time. I have at least one conversational phrase memorized for many languages including Gaelic and Xhosa. My dream is to be an archaeological linguist. Therefore, I hope to someday learn some ancient languages.
I have many Japanese resources compiled on a website that I would be happy to share on request. I am available to answer any French questions as well. And...*wink*...I'd be happy to help you learn my language which is awesome in every way...or so I like to tell myself :P