When someone plans to learn 1 or more foreign languages, he usually has to take 3 factors into consideration. Usefulness (for a good career & chance), Interest (for personal passion & taste), Learning Materials (abundant or not, such as good dictionary, course book, grammar book, colloquial book). Which of these factors would be of great importance for us to weigh gains and losses, so that we wouldn't regret choosing it someday or give it up halfway. Do you think that Learning Materials is the key point for making the right decision? How would you rank these 3 factors in your list according to priority? Recently, I've always wavered between such options as Persian (Farsi), Arabic (GulfーKhaliji), Turkish (Turkey), Norwegian (Bokmål), German (Germany), Dutch (Netherlands), Swedish (Sweden), Spanish (Castilian). And I've just wanted to learn 2 of them by myself, but almost each language seems to lack necessary learning materials, except German and Spanish. Actually, I wouldn't like to spend more time and energy thinking about which 2 languages I should start to learn with heart and soul, unfortunately, even myself, I don't know very clearly about detailed motivation for having to learn them as a mission. Thanks!
Usefulness, Interests, Materials.
Gulf Arabic would be the best choice for you...and then Persian (Farsi).
Which language sounds more pleasant or appealing to your ears between Persian (Farsi) and Turkish? Which one is of greater value for Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans.
Would you kindly comment on the premise that I don't intend to study or live abroad (either Iran or Turkey). Hopefully you won't be fed up with this stereotypical question.
Would you kindly comment on the premise that I don't intend to study or live abroad (either Iran or Turkey). Hopefully you won't be fed up with this stereotypical question.
I have a gut feeling that the Turkish are very hostile towards the Chinese.
Certainly Persian (Farsi) sounds more pleasant and appealing to my ears.
You mentioned Japanese. Are you in Asia? Do you know Japanese?
NHK has German, Spanish, and Arabic courses (or did, last year).
You can find Farsi (or Persian) courses from Teach Yourself, Pimsleur,
Colloquial, and on the Audioforum site. Audioforum is somewhat on the higher end of prices for me, but they have many languages.
For used books, try Amazon, Half.com, or Alibris. You can find new books as well on these sites.
There are sufficient Norwegian courses written for English speakers from the easy 10 minutes a day workbook-like intro, to the traditional Teach Yourself courses.
On the LingQ site, there are some podcasts at a different levels in Swedish and some other learning options. It could be a supplement if you get a Teach Yourself Book. Steve K. is a Canadian whose first language was Swedish. The site is called The Linguist.
I've seen a lot more Arabic materials in bookstores recently, so ask around. How-to-Learn-Any-Language is a site (probably doesn't allow links here.) with a forum where you can ask just that kind of question about m
aterials. Google "Learning Languages" to get there.
The Living Language Arabic (Ultimate?) has a good-looking course, plus samples of other dialects of Arabic. Pretty interesting.
The downside for me, always, is when religion starts coming up in language learning and this seems to happen in relation to Arabic.
Turkish: Rosetta Stone has it. The Learning Languages site I mentioned has at least one speaker of Turkish. You could ask him. Look at the profiles. Turkish may be available on the FSI language site for free, but I haven't checked.
That leaves Dutch. You can get TY Dutch courses on the internet and buy vocabulearn for vocabulary building. Dutch is the closest big language to English. After you get basic vocabulary, you can watch Dutch videos, news, on the internet.
Without knowing the reason behind your interest in these languages, I cannot give you more advice. How you learn may or may not be important.
Generally a textbook and a recording (CD, Mp3, or even old cassettes) is all you need to get started. Some people think they need a lot of bells and whistles, but it's really not necessary.
Berlitz has schools if you are in Japan. Not an inexpensive method, though.
NHK has German, Spanish, and Arabic courses (or did, last year).
You can find Farsi (or Persian) courses from Teach Yourself, Pimsleur,
Colloquial, and on the Audioforum site. Audioforum is somewhat on the higher end of prices for me, but they have many languages.
For used books, try Amazon, Half.com, or Alibris. You can find new books as well on these sites.
There are sufficient Norwegian courses written for English speakers from the easy 10 minutes a day workbook-like intro, to the traditional Teach Yourself courses.
On the LingQ site, there are some podcasts at a different levels in Swedish and some other learning options. It could be a supplement if you get a Teach Yourself Book. Steve K. is a Canadian whose first language was Swedish. The site is called The Linguist.
I've seen a lot more Arabic materials in bookstores recently, so ask around. How-to-Learn-Any-Language is a site (probably doesn't allow links here.) with a forum where you can ask just that kind of question about m
aterials. Google "Learning Languages" to get there.
The Living Language Arabic (Ultimate?) has a good-looking course, plus samples of other dialects of Arabic. Pretty interesting.
The downside for me, always, is when religion starts coming up in language learning and this seems to happen in relation to Arabic.
Turkish: Rosetta Stone has it. The Learning Languages site I mentioned has at least one speaker of Turkish. You could ask him. Look at the profiles. Turkish may be available on the FSI language site for free, but I haven't checked.
That leaves Dutch. You can get TY Dutch courses on the internet and buy vocabulearn for vocabulary building. Dutch is the closest big language to English. After you get basic vocabulary, you can watch Dutch videos, news, on the internet.
Without knowing the reason behind your interest in these languages, I cannot give you more advice. How you learn may or may not be important.
Generally a textbook and a recording (CD, Mp3, or even old cassettes) is all you need to get started. Some people think they need a lot of bells and whistles, but it's really not necessary.
Berlitz has schools if you are in Japan. Not an inexpensive method, though.
Usefulness: Arabic and Spanish (in your list there are only 2 World languages)
Easy languages: I don't know your mother tongue, but you probable speak English. So, European languages with latin alphabet are a better choice (Arabic, Persian and Turkish are more difficult).
Learning materials: German and Spanish have more and better materials.
German, Spanish and Arabic are a good choice, but in my opinion you need a teacher for a language like Arabic.
Easy languages: I don't know your mother tongue, but you probable speak English. So, European languages with latin alphabet are a better choice (Arabic, Persian and Turkish are more difficult).
Learning materials: German and Spanish have more and better materials.
German, Spanish and Arabic are a good choice, but in my opinion you need a teacher for a language like Arabic.
Z.J.J Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:25 am GMT
Which language sounds more pleasant or appealing to your ears between Persian (Farsi) and Turkish? Which one is of greater value for Chinese?
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Persian sounds more pleasant, and is of greater value than Turkish.
Which language sounds more pleasant or appealing to your ears between Persian (Farsi) and Turkish? Which one is of greater value for Chinese?
=====================================================
Persian sounds more pleasant, and is of greater value than Turkish.
Which language sounds more pleasant or appealing to your ears between Persian (Farsi) and Turkish? Which one is of greater value for Chinese?