The languages you want to learn

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

Hello everyone

I've had the idea of creating a new topic that resembles a bit 'What languages do you speak', but that is slightly different. This time, I'd like you to tell us about the languages you'd want to learn - the ones you haven't a lot gotten into yet, but that interest you. Hints, opinions and suggestions about the languages one should start off with or the best way to start, for instance, could also be discussed here.

~

For my part, here are the two languages I'd really like to learn:

· Elvish [Sindarin]: I'm a crazy Lord of the Rings fan, and I think Tolkien was a fascinating man with an incredible linguistic genius. Since I also love the Elves and think Sindarin sounds great, I'm telling myself since months that I should learn it, but it's unfortunately never gotten far at all.

· Swedish: Well, learning this awesome language is a wish I have since what.. 4 years or so? Ever since I've heard Swedish for the first time, I've fallen in love with it and jumps on any occasion to hear it or to hear about Sweden. It seems like it would almost be the perfect language for me - it's got everything that I like. I find it amazing the way it sounds like a song all the time!

However, with Na'vi that I'm also starting off with (and German that I'm still developing), I have the feeling that French, English, German, Na'vi, Swedish and Elvish would perhaps be a bit too much all at the same time.. *cough* I don't really know what to do!

What about you all?

~

Here is a list of the languages that have came up in this thread.

Languages that are well-known

Dutch
French
Gaelic
German
Hungarian/Magyar
Icelandic
Irish/Gaeilge
Japanese
Korean
Latin
Norwegian
Old Greek
Old English
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Welsh/Cymraeg

Languages you might not know

Brythonic/Brittonic one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family |1|2|
Classical Nahuatl or Aztec |1|2|
Hawaiian |1|2|
Māori spoken by the indigenous population of New Zealand|1|2|
Mohawk Iroquoian language |1|2|
Navajo Southern Athabaskan language |1|2|
Pirahã spoken by an indigenous people of Amazonas, in Brazil |1|2|
Rapanui/Rapa Nui used in Chile (Eastern Polynesian) |1|2|
Rongorongo glyph system related to Rapanui |1|2|
Tocharian extinct Indo-European language 1|2|
Swahili Bantu language |1|2|

Fictional languages

Klingon invented for Star Trek |1|2|
Lobjan constructed Human language |1|2|
Sindarin created by J.R.R. Tolkien |1|2

MOD EDIT: The link that break this page has been modified.

[Yayo]

I have no idea why, but I have had an instantaneous obsession with anything Russian. Just ask my mother, she's very close to strangling me. So, I'll probably learn Russian next.. or German.
It's actually rather hilarious; I had always found languages boring but since I began learning Na'vi, I've had an instant fix..

[Tsamsiyu92]

I have, since I heard the sheer awesomeness of Italain, wanted to learn
it. And possibly will if I can at university.

Perhaps actually fulfill German, which I failed miserably at when I learned it at school - damn teachers taught us about pronouns and the der/die/das-thing, but no, no way he was going to tell us what the hell a case was, maybe it would have made sense what ever a nominative pronoun or what a accusative is. After learning Na'vi I advanced to another level or german during two months.

I have no idea why, but I have had an instantaneous obsession with anything Russian. Just ask my mother, she's very close to strangling me. So, I'll probably learn Russian next.. or German.
It's actually rather hilarious; I had always found languages boring but since I began learning Na'vi, I've had an instant fix..

I too have had an facination for language after I began learning Na'vi. I even wanted to understand the things behind my own language - even my own dialect. As I can safely tell someone that's somewhat linguistically compentent, what strange sounds exist in my dialect.

[Yayo]

I too have had an facination for language after I began learning Na'vi. I even wanted to understand the things behind my own language - even my own dialect. As I can safely tell someone that's somewhat linguistically compentent, what strange sounds exist in my dialect.

Yes; I have recently begun to understand the foundations of English

[Kxeyo]

Tse, I'm one of these weirdos who can't get enough. I may tell you I speak German (yeah), English, some French (not much, not good) and I learned Latin in school. After making experiences and such, and discovering lì'fya alor, I fell in love with the languages that are very different from what I know. Also, these languages aren't very common, but look so interesting. If I had the chance, I'd learn Cymraeg or Gaeilge. Another wonderful difficult language is Magyar. Different alphabets however aren't appealing to me - I bet it's a pain in the neck to learn 400 different symbols to write in Japanese. Apart from those, I regret learning Latin instead of Spanish, it's not a language for people like me. Finally, if my school offered a Nordic Language, I'd study it immediatly. Worse luck. And I don't know if I'll ever learn one of all these mentioned languages...

[Eana Tanhì]

I would like to learn Japanesse... don't really know why, I just like it...
and Na'vi of course I'm working on it every day to get better 

['Awpo]

I have been busy studying languages since I was a little boy I guess And at the time of writing I can speak Dutch, English and German fluently. Got some basic understanding of French, Latin and Old Greek. I'm also teaching myself some Swedish and Norwegian too in my passtime...
And of course some Na'vi if I have the time, although I do like spending time on here better than actually learning the language just because I lack the discipline. But if I ever get to the point at which I have mastered Swedish, Norwegian and Na'vi, I think I'll start doing some Russian.

[Lance R. Casey]

It seems like it would almost be the perfect language for me - it's got everything that I like.

Do elaborate!

As for the topic, I would like to be able to speak and comprehend the Sámi tongues; I have some knowledge of them, but not to such a point.

[Reiey fpi Sìtaron]

Firstly I'd like to learn my own native language - brittonic - alot better, next Na'vi obviously
Then Icelandic, Welsh, Gaelic and Old English.

[wm.annis]

All of them.



More realistically, some day I would really like to be able to keep up my motivation to learn Latin.  After ancient Greek, it's a breeze, but it's harder for me to get passionate about Latin.

In recent decades there has been a lot of good work done on Classical Nahuatl (the language of the Aztec empire and the immediately post-conquest period).  Unfortunately, most learning materials in English are horrrriiiibble.  But, a decent-looking new textbook comes out in a few months, so I may dig into that for a while.

If I ever find a patient Navajo in Madison, WI, I would really like to get better command of that language, but it really is the most difficult language I have ever encountered in my life.

[Dreamlight]

As many as possible. 

But Finnish is high on my list.  Also Welsh.  And Portuguese.  And Korean.

[Eyamsiyu]

Right now, what I have on my hit-list:

Na'vi (obvious)
German (Taking a entry level college course next semester because it just might help with Na'vi, plus I have intentions of moving to either Germany or Austria)
Spanish (Took it in high school, want to re-learn, and is a useful language)
French (My mom once spoke it, since she comes from Quebec, so I thought I'd learn it as part of a "heritage" thing)
Swedish (because I promised a certain popular member here that I would learn it.  I still intend to keep my promise)
Russian (because I said to Kemaweyan that it interested me, and also because it uses different characters...)

After that?  We'll see where things are...

[Nyx]

I have so many on my list I don't know where to start. I definitely want to learn Hungarian (looks fascinatingly weird in writing), Welsh and Italian. I want to improve my Dutch (I learned it from hanging out with natives, I need more grammar) and get back into struggling with Sindarin. Oh and French and Spanish are high on my list too. If I ever have time I'd like to get into Klingon too (as if I'm not enough of a nerd). Finally, I took some beginner Swahili in the summer and it'd be fun to learn more of that.

In recent decades there has been a lot of good work done on Classical Nahuatl (the language of the Aztec empire and the immediately post-conquest period).  Unfortunately, most learning materials in English are horrrriiiibble.  But, a decent-looking new textbook comes out in a few months, so I may dig into that for a while.

Eltur tìtxen si ^^

[Seykxetskxe te Vawm 'Ewan'ite (Kalin Kato)]

Oh langauges, what a love Well, since little, I always wanted to learn English, got that down. I am working on improving my Na'vi. And I want to learn more Japanese. Also German, Swedish, Irish,and Italian. I can understand some Italian and Portugese, but mostly because the are alike sort of. I would love to learn Russian as well.

[Kì’onga Vul]

But Finnish is high on my list.

Do it!!!  Oppiminen suomea on todella mielenkiintoinen ja hauskaa!
I started learning Finnish in August, and it's the most beautiful language I've come across.  The cases and agreement and all that are hard and have a lot of variation, but they make the language more colorful.  Also look into Finnish folk music (Värttinä, Loituma, JPP, Sanna Kurki-Suonio).  It's literally my favorite music, perhaps because of the sounds in the vocals.

Anyway, I would probably consider Finnish a language I would like to learn because I'm still a beginner, but at least I've taken the step and started.  There are some languages I know I probably won't have the time to learn, which is a shame, but I hold out the possibility that I will grow up to be lonely and bored and have lots of free time to do those types of things.  So, Lojban I would like to know, because I think it gets to the bones of what we actually mean to say.  A community member actually teaches a Miniversity class on Navajo at my college, so I would like to think I have time for that.  There are so many concepts in that language I feel I wouldn't be exposed to anywhere else.  I'm also going to be taking a class on the structure of Maori, which I would like to apply to learning Rapanui, which I would like to apply to working on the decipherment of Rongorongo.  But that's more of a dream like becoming an astronaut or something, probably unlikely.

[Dreamlight]

Finnish is a beautiful language, and from what little I know of it, I'm guessing a very subtle language.

Another language that I'd like to learn is Hawaiian, which I think is a very beautiful language.

['Oma Tirea]

All of them.

Why did I not predict this one?

Imma start out with some of the major languages first... when I get the chance, that is.  I learned only a little Spanish in elementary school, and that was pretty much it

[Taronyu]

Annis, you might be interested in this site on Nahuatl.

For me, I would like to really learn Japanese. While we're wishing, though, German would be nice, and Tocharian, and Pirahã, and maybe another european language thrown in for good measure. Wouldn't mind learning Mohawk.

[Txantslusam Skxawng]

I would like to learn ( besides Na'vi ), Spanish and maybe some Latin, I had two years of Deutsch, I'm okay with, my dialect makes it easier to understand Deutsch anyway

[Eywa'eveng-tìranyu]

I would like to learn ( besides Na'vi ), Spanish and maybe some Latin, I had two years of Deutsch, I'm okay with, my dialect makes it easier to understand Deutsch anyway

If you speak Deutsch you can understand most of Nederlands anyway.