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[theinevitable]

So, I'm going to Uni in the fall. And I have to pick which language to take. i am a language freak. I have already decided that I must take at least one more Latin class. But I also want to learn a language that I can theoretically use.

However, I am only interested in wierd/difficult languages. And Arabic is, as far as I can tell, really interesting.
Have any of you ever attempted to learn it, or taken classes, or anything? Basically I am asking if it is so difficult that it breaks your mind and spirit.

although apparently it isn't as hard as Latin. Not sure where that site was getting its information.

[KeithHernandez]

What site? 

And, I had a couple friends that took Arabic and didn't do well, but they were fuck ups, so that doesn't really tell me anything.  Sorry.

[AugustWest]

It seems really counter-intuitive that it would harder for an English speaker to learn Latin than Arabic.  At least in terms of vocabulary, English has many more Latin derived words than Arabic ones.

[AlohaDawg]

What a cool goal! For a weird and obscure language, Basque gets my vote.

For a language that may be career enhancing later, Chinese.

Arabic would be pretty challenging. Good luck.

[theinevitable]

I forget what the site was. it was something about How to Learn Arabic. It may have been this site.

and the "latin is harder" comment was in reference to grammar, not vocabulary. They conceded that the vocabulary is much harder.

and yeah, Chinese is the Language to Learn. And Spanish is the Language To Learn So My Family Won't Be Disappointed In Me (not reallly, but it would make my extended family glad if I could talk to them).

[wombat]

I doubt that Latin grammar is harder than Arabic for an English speaker.  It is a related language.  Verb forms in Arabic in particular are very different.

Somewhere, there is a chart of relative difficulty they use when they are teaching people languages in the military - they have a lot of experience of exactly how long it takes English speakers to learn foreign languages.  I can't put my hands on it right now, dammit. Maybe someone who's more alert than me right now can find it on the web.

Of course I doubt they include Latin but they probably rate the relative difficulty of Chinese and Arabic. I think Arabic would be just as career enhancing as Chinese.  But motivation is so important that I think your relative interest in the two is the most important factor.

[wombat]

This page has the chart I was talking about at the bottom.  I can't find a more official reference, but it looks accurate as far as I remember it.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wbaxter/howhard.html

[theinevitable]

yeah. basically I am deciding on Arabic because it is the only language that has no Tick Marks against it.
I am at a loss. I love languages sooo much. But I don't think I'll be a language major. So taking more than 2 is rediculous. Especially because I also want to take music classes, and film, and economics, and psychology, and sociology, and and and *passes out*

Basically I cannot decide which language to take. I am now Snooty from taking Latin, so the romance languages are probably out. Farsi... come on. Hebrew, not particularly useful. Neither is Russian. I have always wanted to take Japanese, but they only speak it in Japan. Chinese would probably be cool, but it scares me.

[misterqueue]

Chinese would probably be cool, but it scares me.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Chinese not actually a language whereas it's just Cantonese or Mandarin with various (and numerous) dialects? 

I am not trying to be all Pat-like, this was just my understanding.

[theinevitable]

yeah. But they're all versions of the main Tongue (if I understand correctly.)

apparently it is the same way in Arabic, but everyone also knows "Standard Arabic." The same as how it used to be in Italy.

[Ben-San]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Chinese not actually a language whereas it's just Cantonese or Mandarin with various (and numerous) dialects?

Different Chinese languages are as strongly distinct as any other languages with a shared family: they have some common roots, but they are much more than dialects. Learning one makes it easier to learn the others, but the spoken languages are not intercomprehensible more than a very little bit. They do, however, share a common written language for the most part.

[wombat]

What westerners refer to as different 'dialects' of Chinese are different languages.  They are not mutually intelligible when spoken.  However, they use the same writng system, and the Chinese writing system does not represent the pronunciation but something closer to the meaning of words.  Therefore something written by a speaker of Cantonese can be read by a speaker of Mandarin.  But if they talk to each other they won't understand each other.

This is what we tell you in introductory linguistics, anyway.  I have no personal experience of Chinese and can't comment on the details.

Arabic is a little different.  Again, the local languages that we call 'dialects' are basically different languages.  But there is another spoken language, Standard Arabic, that many educated people can speak.  This is different from Chinese where it's really the writing that everyone has in common.

[wombat]

Right, what Ben said at the same time.

But enough about other languages.  Do you kids today really call it 'uni'?

[slink]

I don't even ask questions anymore...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_dialects

As for Arabic. Ummmmm...

[theinevitable]

no, they don't. I just call it that because I am wierd.

Actually at some point there was a reason I started doing that, but now I forget what it was.