discussion For those who speak a 3rd language, why did you choose to learn that language?

[Before Today]

Apart from your native tongue and English, what's the story behind you choosing to learn your 3rd language? Is it business? Is it personal attraction to one country's culture?

 

And by speaking a 3rd language I mean where you can hold conversations and not just know some words in it. I tried learning several languages, but I'm torn between French and Spanish.

[Jotham]

I can speak a little bit of Japanese. I'm not sure if it counts as a third language because, although I can probably hold a conversation, I'm not super confident about it and I still need to study a lot of kanji.

 

I took Japanese in high school because Japanese pop culture fascinated me as a kid (particularly Godzilla films and Nintendo games) and I wanted to learn a new alphabet. It was never for business purposes (though it probably made me stand out when applying to college), but I guess it can help if I ever visit Japan or decide to work there.

[Kummercell]

I just really like J-pop and anime

[Before Today]

1 minute ago, Jotham said:

I can speak a little bit of Japanese. I'm not sure if it counts as a third language because, although I can probably hold a conversation, I'm not super confident about it and I still need to study a lot of kanji.

 

I took Japanese in high school because Japanese pop culture fascinated me as a kid (particularly Godzilla films and Nintendo games) and I wanted to learn a new alphabet. It was never for business purposes (though it probably made me stand out when applying to college), but I guess it can help if I ever visit Japan or decide to work there.

 

Just now, Kummercell said:

I just really like J-pop and anime

I gave up in japanese because the writing system confuses me so much I could never memorize them.  The language is so pretty but the Japanese society itself can feel a bit exclusive to foreigners.

[Apolonio]

I don’t even speak a 2nd language.  

[Asscatchem]

im a weeb

 

[tili33]

go with Spanish... watch a couple of telenovelas and you're set!

[Kayseri Mantisi]

my main language is Turkish, i'm like fluent in English and now trying to learn Spanish

[Before Today]

4 minutes ago, Kayseri Mantisi said:

my main language is Turkish, i'm like fluent in English and now trying to learn Spanish

Why Spanish?

[Kayseri Mantisi]

2 minutes ago, Before Today said:

Why Spanish?

because I stan ROSALÍA and she made me love it + there are some similarities to English in it

[Happylittlepunk]

I only speak 2 languages English and Spanish but I would like to learn a 3rd language. I am most likely going to to learn French or Italian. 

[Dragonfly]

Technically, English is my 3rd language. But I chose Spanish as my 4th. I knew I wanted to study English linguistics and literature at uni, and combined it with Spanish, so that I had 1 Germanic and 1 Romance language that are widely spoken. If I had to pick a 5th, it propably would be Swedish or Japanese.

[Navy4Life]

I’m learning Spanish rn because I fell in love with the culture the first time I visited. The Spanish people truly know how to enjoy life and the government is one of the most progressive when it comes to work-life balance, LGBT rights (also a huge community) etc. I’m definitely moving there as soon as I pay off my apartment back home and collect enough money for a deposit on a property in the south of Spain.  

 

Also any Spanish speaking nation has the hottest men so it’s gonna be much easier to get that dick once I’m fluent. 

[Before Today]

6 minutes ago, Navy4Life said:

I’m learning Spanish rn because I fell in love with the culture the first time I visited. The Spanish people truly know how to enjoy life and the government is one of the most progressive when it comes to work-life balance, LGBT rights (also a huge community) etc. I’m definitely moving there as soon as I pay off my apartment back home and collect enough money for a deposit on a property in the south of Spain.  

 

Also any Spanish speaking nation has the hottest men so it’s gonna be much easier to get that dick once I’m fluent. 

The last part is literally me  Well for my case Latam/Spain culture is more vibrant than the other language I'm currently learning (French) but I'm not so sure about the business prospects. Ik if we're talking business most would say Mandarin but the language is just very hard for me to master. The pronunciation/tonal alone is a nightmare.

[Before Today]

 

36 minutes ago, Dragonfly said:

Technically, English is my 3rd language. But I chose Spanish as my 4th. I knew I wanted to study English linguistics and literature at uni, and combined it with Spanish, so that I had 1 Germanic and 1 Romance language that are widely spoken. If I had to pick a 5th, it propably would be Swedish or Japanese.

What's your first and second? I'm jealous that some people could speak more than two languages (their native & English) fluently like how does your brain process that? 

[Zeferino]

I’m just that girl 

 

Jokes aside, I’m naturally inclined towards linguistics and philology 💀 but I wasn’t able to pursue a career focused in that

 

…and my favorite childhood cartoon was a French one

[popmusicisdead]

i've always loved Japanese culture since i was a child so it was just natural that i learn it. i started learning on my own when i was 19 just as a hobby but eventually i got a job in Japan and that's where i became fluent. 

it's a very useful skill because my last job paid incredibly well and i barely used Japanese nor did i do much work. i was basically just hired to be there 

Edited October 10, 2023 by popmusicisdead

[Navy4Life]

34 minutes ago, Before Today said:

The last part is literally me  Well for my case Latam/Spain culture is more vibrant than the other language I'm currently learning (French) but I'm not so sure about the business prospects. Ik if we're talking business most would say Mandarin but the language is just very hard for me to master. The pronunciation/tonal alone is a nightmare.

I never had any inclination to learn Asian languages because I know I want to settle down in Europe. As much as I like going to Japan and Korea I would never live there let alone China. 
 

Tbh the business prospect of Spanish is meh but it’s not my main concern since I plan to be retired when I move to Spain. 

[Støned]

I’m learning Portuguese and Chinese rn because I have been to Macau several times already (I live in Southeast Asia) and there’s a lot of Portuguese speakers there.  I intended to work there soon, so learning both would tremendously help me gain more friends there.

[-brian]

To speak to all the latinos around me 

[Dragonfly]

2 hours ago, Before Today said:

 

What's your first and second? I'm jealous that some people could speak more than two languages (their native & English) fluently like how does your brain process that? 

As a Dutch-speaker in Belgium, I got French in elementary and secondary school; and then English in secondary.

It's a bit frustrating, cause we are expected to learn French, but French-speaking children barely get taught Dutch...

Not that I am super fluent in Frech these days. But I can spend the weekend in Paris and be fine in basic conversation.

 

Luckily English and Dutch, and French and Spanish are closely related. So a lot of knowlegde carries over.

And I just LOVE languages. I also had 6 years of Latin in secondary school, and 4 years of German.

Not that my German is great. I can kinda follow Drag Race Germany without subtitles, but speaking it is a different thing.

edit: I also had 2 courses 'Afrikaans' at university, but the focus was mostly on the history, culture and literature

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Dragonfly

[ariananext]

3rd and 4th learnt in school, not fluent at all tho lol

[Pendulum]

The third language I've ever studied was German in high school but I don't remember anything other than parroting "ja ich spreche Deutsch sehr gut, ich habe Deutsch in der Schule gelernt". 

 

Other than my native language and English, I speak Dutch, Russian and Czech to various levels. Dutch because I live in the Netherlands, Russian at uni and Czech because I want to move to Prague in the near future, perhaps. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Pendulum

[Jotham]

4 hours ago, Before Today said:

 

I gave up in japanese because the writing system confuses me so much I could never memorize them.  The language is so pretty but the Japanese society itself can feel a bit exclusive to foreigners.

Yeah the writing system can be really overwhelming. What I found helpful learning it was just focusing on one alphabet at a time. First I learned hiragana, then katakana, and then the most important kanji.

 

But I can understand how exclusive it can be, and tbh I'm not as interested in Japanese anymore as I used to.  Now I'm interested in learning something else instead like Russian since I used to help teach English to Russian students and the alphabet looks fascinating, or maybe Spanish just because of how useful it is and its connections to my native tongue (Tagalog).

[ScorpiosGroove]

idk i picked up the 5 i speak naturally