How to choose a language to learn

There's over 7,000 languages in the world. How do you choose one to learn?
Use my code JONESAUGUST or click this link to get 25 USD off when you sign up for Lingoda: try.lingoda.co...
How to learn, once you've decided on a language to learn: • How to REALLY learn a ...
Edited with Gling AI: bit.ly/46bGeYv
#languagelearning #linguistics #polyglot

[@ethanburton6676]

American SHOCKS Persian lawyer with his PERFECT Persian into WINNING a court case!

[@Rilows]

Funny thing is it's not even clickbait

[@SigismundsWrath]

Definitely thought this was hyperbole, before I got to that part of the video 😂

[@Aaaaaaarrrpirate]

honestly sounds like one of those "and then everyone clapped" lies that people make up on the internet lmao

[@thomasryan825]

I can almost see the thumbnail now 😂

[@lamMeTV]

For those chronically online Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian and Spanish are very rewarding

[@scartyz762]

I believe Russian was either the third or the second most used language on the entire internet.

[@raics101]

Sure, I picked up Russian mostly by watching their youtube channels on cars and machinery restoration. There's also great reading potential with their classics and fantasy novels, english translations can miss the mark a bit or there might not be any in the first place.

[@cyancat8633]

​@@raics101 alright spell it out tell us those channels

[@raics101]

@@cyancat8633 Sure, Star Factory, Combat Crew, AcademeG, OffroadSPB, Полигон-98, МАШИНАТОРЫ, 808

[@raics101]

@@cyancat8633 Sure, AcademeG, Combat Crew, OffroadSPB, STAR FACTORY, МАШИНАТОРЫ, Полигон-98

[@TakaD20]

As German I can confirm that we even think in German. It's mostly the words 'Bier', 'halt' and 'schnell, schnell' though.

[@languagejones]

That was 90% of what I used when I lived in Germany as a child.

[@erikbreathes]

bier as well? ​@@languagejones

[@TyphonBaalHammon]

Concerned by the lack of Kartoffeln and bratwurst

[@JeanieD]

Hey, I know those!

[@Robostomp]

Wait, but don't people usually think in their own language (unless they're keen on learning a foreign one)?

[@realgeorge]

I think I may be a fourth type of language learner. In choosing a language, yes, I'm drawn to a few and, yes, I'd be interested in traveling and meeting those speakers but, primarily, I'm motivated to learn a language to forestall cognitive decline. I am 71 years old and I've read many experts who advise language learning for old people for precisely this reason. Really enjoyed the expert witness story, BTW.

[@sarahshawtatoun6492]

Also 71 and that's another one of my motivations- but it's not enough unless I really fall in love with the language.

[@falafelbrincess]

This is a good one. My mother-in-law is 76 years old (Arabic speaker) and I'm helping her learn English for this reason. What language(s) are you interested in learning?

[@five-toedslothbear4051]

Just turned 61, and I'll add that to my list of reasons, too. It was one of my motivations when I started years ago.

[@seabrookel5037]

My mom is 72 and learning Norwegian for this reason, too. She’ll probably never go to Norway or have a conversation with a native speaker, but she’s been enjoying learning the language.

[@MyriamSchweingruber]

Yes! I knew that me learning Ukrainian at 66 was not just for the anthropological reason alone, it also keeps my brain "flexing", so to speak 😂

[@wombatpandaa9774]

Lawyer actually said you're a linguist, name every language.

[@langobard4x4]

"There's an entire world between wishing you spoke a language and actually speaking it". What an absolute truth bomb. I am experiencing this right now with Ukrainian. I can read really really well, I can write simple sentences without having to check with a translator. I feel like I can listen fairly well. I know a ton of vocabulary but when I try to speak it's like I forget everything. The words just don't come to me. All in due time I guess. I just need to keep trying.

[@julio_is_coolio]

Every week I sit in front of my laptop, turn on my webcam and speak about whatever's on my mind for as long as it takes for me to say all that's in my head. I've been doing this for French and Mandarin, and every video has been shit, but each one is less shit than the one before it. I really recommend it.

[@langobard4x4]

@@julio_is_coolio Actually, I'm glad you mentioned that. At one point, I was recording short 30 second clips of audio several times a day but I stopped for some reason. I really need to start doing it again.

[@julio_is_coolio]

@@langobard4x4 it's really worth it, I also learned a lot of English just by talking to myself. Good luck, friend! Discipline is key.

[@arrunzo]

@@julio_is_coolio That's actually a really cool, unspoken benefit of language learning now that you mention it! Yes, it doesn't feel as natural as your native language, but the fact that you're straining yourself to communicate in another language lowers your inhibitions in talking about certain topics *precisely* because it's less personal. It's in this ironic sense that you learn more about yourself. So it's like a way to journal.

[@tabby7189]

Producing the language is different from deciphering it. There a substantial overlap in the competencies but also skills unique to each side.

[@MTimWeaver]

Your expert witness "you never know when it will be handy" story reminds me of the German tourists who pulled into the gas station I worked at, back in the mid-1980. At that time, I'd been teaching myself German and had taken 3 semesters at our Junior College, for what that's worth. Anyway, it's near closing time on a Saturday, and they come pulling in, and the father gets out and in halting English asks me if I know where the place he was going was (their hotel in the next town over). I knew it and asked if he was German, since he was having difficulty understanding me. He said yes, so I started giving him directions in German, and drawing a map (we were out or I'd have given him one). He asked a couple of questions, I answered. He said thank you and walked back to the car. They sat there a moment, and he apparently told them what happened, because everyone was looking at me...then they all waved and drove off. That was my best "you never know" story, but I've had a couple of others in Spanish, too. It's a really good feeling when you can help someone in their own language.

[@vitorsantis6356]

The deposition story is probably one of the coolest things i've ever heard

[@languagejones]

It was so surreal!

[@vitorsantis6356]

Using your knowledge for good like this is so inspiring to me. Congratulations!

[@chrysshart]

Right? I hope he tells the whole story (or at least as much as is feasible given that it's a legal matter) one day.

[@evancurran3438]

@@languagejones What was this case?

[@JohnnyLynnLee]

It deserves a movie and I'm being dead serious.

[@AtenaNajafi-i5n]

Hi ( I hope you read my comments) I’m Iranian and Persian speaker I know language English and I’m trying to learn a third language. I felt so happy when you said you like Persian because I believe Farsi is one of the most beautiful language in the world. If you are interested I suggest you to read a little about Korosh. I know living in Iran is hard now because of the horrible government but we were not like that 40 years ago (you know Iran is the oldest country with a dip history) You said that you don’t like to travel to Iran but if something changed your mind we are always ready to welcome you.❤ Your video was very helpful , thanks

[@Mitomisha]

I went to UPenn for engineering and as such wasn't required to study a language. I like languages though, so I decided to study one anyway and ended up studying Russian for two semesters. I enjoyed Russian, but in retrospect I feel like chose it in part because I felt embarrassed to learn the language that I was actually most interested in, which is Japanese. I had this idea of the cringe white person learning Japanese because they like anime, and somehow convinced myself that this wasn't a good enough reason. I still wanted to learn something that was a bit more "out there" than, say Spanish or French, and I thought I should learn something potentially "useful", so Russian it was. Fast forward a few years and I've finally ditched that reasoning. I've been studying Japanese for about a month now and in reality, the idea of being able to engage with the shows, music, and games that I _already like_ in their original language makes me more excited and motivated than I ever could be for Russian.

[@tabby7189]

I admittedly can't relate to your hurdle because fully Japanese people have asked me to my face before whether I'm Japanese (they probably thought I might have been born 海外 because there's no way I don't have a foreign accent). However, I picked up kana for a video game when I was a teenager and around ten years after that I studied Japanese grammar because I was unsatisfied with the available translation of a character song or maybe found one with no translation published online. This language has gone on to change my life. I never expected it would connect me to meanings, some of which I needed to hear, others which I needed to speak, and that was only the beginning. Let nobody underestimate the power or value of quality artistic output nor, by extension, the ability to access their message directly.

[@swk258]

You deserve to be happy 😊

[@tal_cohen]

I'm definitely the anthropologist! I truly feel like I'm living multiple lives through each of the languages I speak, and the feeling of speaking to someone in their native language and having a deep understanding of a different culture is unparalleled and invigorating

[@DP-hi9yo]

Can you make as many videos as possible where you just tell stories? You're an amazing raconteur and I could listen all day. I've never forgotten your story about meeting the possible time traveller in Grand Central Station. Anyway, I learn French because I love it. That's it. Merci

[@languagejones]

You are in for such a treat. I’m launching a podcast and video series on culture, communication, and conflict later this year, with a friend and colleague who is an even better raconteur

[@sarahshawtatoun6492]

@@languagejones Oh- I'm so excited to see this! I looked up a couple of your papers after watching your video on African American English. Also, did you see the reaction video to that by the African American couple?

[@m3talhe4d72]

Even if you're only studying a language to be happy, it's still benefiting you immensely; language learning is great for your brain, and even if it wasn't, being happy is!

[@zenbrandon]

Your channel is the best. I find myself thinking about a topic and somehow you read my mind! I've been learning Japanese for a year now, and i find myself fighting the urge to jump ship and go all in on Chinese haha. This video will help me stay on track

[@languagejones]

I'm so glad to hear that! This was taking a leap of faith on a KZbin suggested topic. I told someone I was making one on "how to choose a language" and they were like "what is there to even say about that" and I found myself rambling for 10 minutes...I realized yeah, there's something to say!

[@mechanarwhal7830]

I learnt Swedish at university and had the best time doing it and completely fell in love with Sweden, Swedish culture and every sound the language makes. (Side note, I would argue this is actually the easiest language for a native English speaker to learn.) I now use it in my job, but every time I tell a Swede that I, as an English speaker, speak Swedish, their initial response is always - in immaculate English - "But WHY??" I'm now learning Russian and Japanese because I guess I'm a masochist. I know which one I prefer and find easier but sunk cost fallacy and a love of literature are enough to persuade me to continue with the other.

[@ace2459]

I actually transcribe depositions for a living and I would fucking love to read that transcript. Funny story about how that probably went for the transcriber, we transcribe commonly known foreign words, so initially I would have written it as the French merci, but then when you clarified that he wasn't speaking French, I would have gone back and changed it to (Speaking Persian.) because I would not consider the Persian version to be commonly known. At which point I would realize that the bait and switch context would be lost, and I'd have to email somebody to ask if I can keep it as 'merci'.

[@Speechbound]

Your passion for languages truly shines through, and I love how you remind us to pursue what brings us joy instead of feeling pressured to learn a specific language. It's so refreshing to hear that our language journey doesn't have to be productive all the time-it should be fun! Thank you for breaking down the different types of learners and offering such practical advice. I appreciate the way you validate our choices and encourage exploration.

[@draig2614]

First language: English 2nd language learned: French (required in Canadian schools) 3rd learned: Spanish (for travel - very basic level) 4th learned: kiSwahili (lived in Tanzania - it is my most fluent learned language now) 5th learned: Welsh (because there was a global pandemic and I was bored. Plus a bit of Welsh ancestry) Plus a handful of RuHaya and Koine Greek. Next up: German (I’ve been learning the pronunciation for singing and would like to know what I am singing 😂)

[@MrKingHyena]

honestly your first point on "its okay to drop it if youre not enjoying it" was oddly extremely helpful to hear just in like a general sense, i guess i got a little gun shy after abandoning my irish lessons because i wasnt enjoying them, not to mention feeling guilty every time i dont finish a book. its just oddly comforting to hear someone who knows what theyre talking about reaffirm that its okay to go with the flow, so thanks for that small but meaningful tidbit

[@mmmrose421]

I enjoy studying Dutch it’s not terribly difficult for an English speaker and it’s a fun language I don’t know why

[@languagejones]

It's SO MUCH FUN

[@hanzitheauthor]

Dutch is English spoken weirdly. No joke, I had a true story recently with a Dutch person who spoke no English and her daughter who did, and I had to explain something to the mother. I told the daughter and she immediately "translated" for her mother - and it sounded so similar to the English that I had to stop myself laughing.

[@ChrisBadges]

I have taken a liking to the Afrikaans language(ok, among many others, I have to admit😅), even though Dutch is just round the corner from Germany where I live. It sounds cool to me, offers some mutual intelligibility with Dutch/Flemish, but of course there is way less teaching material. The troubled history of South Africa, where I have never been, makes it even more interesting to my taste (so there is a historical aspect too, as well as the country's complex present). It offers lots of easy passive progress for speakers of English/German. But that's also why I should take learning more seriously because active use of the language would require more than consuming it. I do not talk to anybody or write in the language but I like it (singing alone is as close as I get to talking). My relationship with Afrikaans is complicated, just like the language's history. I bet it would go really well with Zulu, but I have not ventured belong Duolingo Swahili as of now. Not so easy indeed, but also opening up unknown worlds, so I guess that makes me the anthropologist type of guy

[@raics101]

​@AreigelSjtolsWell it makes logical sense that he can't. What's easier, understanding someone talking your language weirdly or thinking up a weird way to talk that will 100% match an existing one. I'd even call that a statistical impossibility :)

[@raics101]

@AreigelSjtols Dunno what's this recent fascination everyone has with getting their uniqueness acknowledged, as if it can be taken away. Don't worry, those that are truly interested in you will find out how unique you are, and you probably shouldn't care what those that aren't interested are thinking. Anyway, stereotypes are fun, and you have it pretty good with clogs, windmills, tulips and knockoff language. Some had to settle with being dumb obese gun nuts, and others ended up as beach bums that can produce electricity by dancing.

[@Phylaetra]

I do like your point about finding it difficult to view things as a beginner. My major course of study has been mathematics. I don't remember not knowing algebra and basic geometry. But I must have learned it at some point. No doubt, part of that is I am nearer to 60 than 6, but when teaching I take care to remind myself that what I am teaching is new and confusing to my students, even if I have seen it so many times that it is second nature to me.

[@k.c1126]

Language learning is a great way to remind yourself of the feeling many of your students are experiencing.... 😊

[@futatsushiri]

I have tried four languages: 1) French at high school, hated it. Realised later it was due to bad teachers. 2) Spanish, loved it, but stopped learning due to moving abroad 3) German, loved it too. Moved there so it was more important than Spanish at the time. 4) Japanese. German job didn't work out and I randomly ended up in Japan. Still here and love it. So, my German and Spanish are low level, my Japanese is also low level... slowly getting better though. Wish I was good at one language instead of being low level at 3, but hopefully I don't move again soon!

[@chrisbunka]

頑張ってくださいね。

[@gusinfante]

As a linguist and language teacher, I love languages - no surprise. And, as a language teacher, sometimes is really good to start a language from scratch, so that I feel in my students' shoes. Plus, you always learn new approaches, activities, etc. I've now completed 2 years of Welsh and the respective A1 and A2 exams. I'm loving it! Celtic languages have really interesting features.

[@sarahshawtatoun6492]

I'm an anthropologist type. And a bit of a therapy case. I studied all sorts of languages at different points in school- at one point I even majored in Russian because I love Russian poetry so much. I totally failed at all of them. Then I fell madly in love with everything Czech. Language, Literature, people, culture, country... It's the first and so far only language I ever became fluent in. It was MIRACULOUS! Like having an entirely new world to explore. Now, 40 some years later- I've fallen in love with Moroccan Arabic in the same way. Only this time I convinced myself that since I studied French for so long in school, and since French is spoken in Morocco I really ought to get my French up to a decent level first. I've been working on it off and on for a few years now and though I like French, like France and have a pretty decent vocabulary I just don't have the kind of passion for it I did for Czech. So I'm beginning to think, 'Screw it. Just go for Darija.' Your story also really resonates with me since I had a similar experience with Czech- I had gone back after a break and was studying it again when the Revolutions started happening in 1989. And there I was, speaking a language that had suddenly gone from totally useless to just about the most relevant thing I could possibly have learned.

[@nicholasmeinhart5993]

Dobře ti tak. Já jsem jenom učil Češtinu protože bylo to pro mě potřeba a že moje rodina jsou všichni Češi. Jsi to opravdu ale makál

[@ecleland979]

Liked for the sheer positivity in your message, we need more of that, but *especially* for the Firefly reference!!

[@hannat9597]

If time wasn’t scarce I would learn: Icelandic, Brazilian Portuguese, Greek, Georgian and Farsi. Just because I love the sound of them. I remember I had a colleague from Iceland and loved listening to her speaking the language. The sound of Icelandic just makes my heart sing. Before learning any on the list, I’m super keen on re-learning my 4th and starting my 5th some time soon.

[@techtutorvideos]

Funny, I learned greek, and wanted to learn both Icelandic, Portuguese, and georgian. Maybe lithuanian and Chinese as well if I could live to 100. What a coincidence. I'd learn farsi if I could visit Iran someday, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

[@markg1075]

The preaspiration of Icelandic is pretty unique, so it has a breathy lilt without being as sing-songy as Norwegian or Italian. At one point Scandinavia House in NYC offered in person Icelandic classes but most of the students didn't really have time for the homework and all the grammar and kinda tried to wing it in class so we mostly talked about cultural topics in English.

[@chrisbunka]

Agora estudo português brasileiro todos os dias.

[@Lilyg.aguiar]

Parabéns ​@@chrisbunka

[@bph_119]

Great content as always Dr. Jones! Long time Russian learner who is studying Ukrainian and have just recently started on Mandarin. Your content always strikes the perfect balance of helpful and well-informed with the right amount of humor to tie it all together.

[@EFergDindrane]

This may actually be the most useful language-learning video I've ever seen. Thank you for this.

[@uamsnof]

Oh dang, first time I've heard someone on KZbin mention IB! After 5 years of involuntary French class (during which I secretly studied Japanese), I was so happy IB offered Spanish Ab Initio. Muchas Gracias Señora Juarez from Frankfurt, DE!

[@brvinno]

I knew that coming from you it wouldn't be a generic video comparing the number of speakers/career prospects and so on. You're the man! By saying that, you may have just freed me from learning German. Some people have just called me crazy because I've studied English, Spanish, Mandarin and French at different points in my life (I'm not fluent in all of them anymore), so they say it shouldn't be that difficult for me as I know what I need to do to achieve fluency, but I just hate every minute of it. I'm probably going to disappoint some people in my life, or even the future me, but I just can't go on. I have already spent so many hours on it. I'm going to take my chances with the languages I already know and improve them day by day. Vielen Dank, Jones!

[@achb1854]

My problem is that I love so many languages, and I love learning new stuff in another language, preferably one that is totally different from every language I know, so sometimes it’s hard to choose. I first started learning languages because I love different writing systems (arabic, devanagari, Thai, Korean, etc.) My goal is not to be able to speak that language perfectly, but to just get a taste of it, of the sounds, of the grammar, of the particular quirks of that language. I’m not really interested in the well-known languages like Italian and Spanish. Everyone tells me to learn Spanish because so many people speak it, but I’m not interested in that at all (maybe because I had to learn Spanish in school and really hated it afterwards haha). I don’t want easy, I want complicated and totally different, I want „a challenge that tickles my brain“ as you said! I want to learn some minority languages of the country I live in as well. The other day I heard some people talking Tagalog or another related language on the bus and now I want to learn Tagalog so bad haha. Lately I’ve been learning some words in languages that I’m interested on apps like duolingo or memrise, and the one language I have fun with, that I look forward to, I search for more learning resources. If these are good, I continue to learn that language more in earnest. For example, I love learning Chinese characters and my goal is to one day learn Chinese or another tonal language, but at the moment it’s too much effort for me (I took a Thai class for half a year and oh boy the tones, that put me off of tonal languages for a while) Sign language is also a totally different language I want to learn, but there are no courses near me at the moment, so I have to put that on the back burner until I get the opportunity to study it in person. Also, I want to learn Lingala or another Bantu language, but there are nearly no good resources online for them or any African languages except for Swahili. Memrise has an albeit very short course for Yoruba and recently added Swahili, but I need a textbook as well to study earnestly. I guess I will start to learn them when I move to a city with an African studies department. At the moment I’m dipping my toes into Turkish and Indonesian, which are relatively easy and for which I found good resources at my library and online, to get a feel for them. I don’t yet know whether I want to continue learning them, but any knowledge in a language is a win in my opinion because you form a connection with the culture and language. I try to maintain the two languages that I have a higher fluency in by reading books and listening to audiobooks to maintain them in a way that is a bit more fun than learning grammar. Anyway, I have a looong list of languages I want to learn one day and I’m looking forward to it

[@pseudoNAME1979]

Have spent the past two years learning a language with 200,000 native speakers, now beginning to learn a language with 380,000,000 native speakers. As the wise Paul from Langfocus once said, "You don't choose your interests, your interests choose you."

[@sarahshawtatoun6492]

Definitely true for me.

[@Stoggler]

Intrigued to know what the two languages are…!

[@pseudoNAME1979]

@@Stoggler Wanna guess?

[@artembaguinski9946]

@@pseudoNAME1979 Basque and Hindi?

[@pseudoNAME1979]

@@artembaguinski9946 Haha, the latter statistic is a bit misleading, it might be more accurate to say "380,000,000 people speak all the varieties natively."

[@KeolaDonaghy]

Thanks!

[@languagejones]

Thank you!

[@preciousoriakhi]

I am so fascinated by your passion for language and the way you explain things! Incredible content. Every video is so interesting. And your personality adds to it.

[@Joshua-w5hJ77]

finnish is such a fun language to learn. there's barely any vocabulary or grammar thats similar to english. i took 2 years of spanish in highschool and i never learnt to roll my r's until I started learning finnish

[@1995tom2010]

That court story is mental haha

[@CoffeeRaccoon14]

8:56 “When you love something, you never know when it's gonna be useful.” That is such a beautiful message. Thank you, Dr. Jones!

[@AMatsuba]

Thank you Dr. Jones for reminding us that we can learn a language for... whatever reason. I study Turkish because I visited Türkiye with some limited Duolingo Turkish and a few sessions with an instructor on Italki. I loved speaking to incredibly patient seniors on public transit who rescued me from getting lost, or who helped me in so many other ways.

[@viciousrodent]

Honestly, learning languages has turned out to be useful in a lot of ways that I never expected them to. The same is true of other random study rabbit holes I've fallen down, but, languages in particular seem to prove their incidental usefulness oddly often. Like, while I was working a shitty retail job somewhere in NY, I ended up with a few customers who didn't speak english needing help with something, and even knowing jsut a bit of spanish, or in one case german, ended up meaning I could actually help them. We could have found ways around the language barrier anyway, or had someone else help them, but, it was still mildly useful to be able to bypass that part of the process and just get to the point. And depending on where you are, there's usually some community or other around that speaks -- primarily or exclusively -- some other language, and if you're out-and-about in the world and also speak the language to some degree, sometimes it jsut comes up organically as something that is mildly useful, even if you jsut studied it because you like old russian novels, or you think the language sounds pretty.

[@beaskywalk7337]

Thank you for "allowing" me to learn Western Greenlandic ;-) . The video came just at the time when I was still arguing with myself if I should choose one of the big languages instead. I thought that I would get naturally stopped by the limited material, but there is more than I would have thought. I started already reading online, because there is so much bilingual content (if you understand Danish, and the course material is a little limited).

[@Autumn_Forest_]

I’m interested in Greenlandic too, especially since the US (my country) recently began talking about purchasing Greenland. 😊

[@CyberGrapeUK]

I've been learning Spanish recently (currently A1 level) and learning how to type in search terms such as "cómo jugar a minecraft" and "cómo modelar un personaje en Blender" has made me incredibly happy

[@RogerRamos1993]

I chose at least 15 languages to learn. In my 7th and 8th now and dabbling in a few others as always.

[@CharlottePoe]

LOVED this video! I have so many languages I'm interested in... most of them for all kinds of (sometimes overlapping) reasons! I started learning Mandarin in 7th grade because my dad said it was more useful (read: lucrative) than Spanish or French, and those were the three languages available for my language requirement. Before this, I'd had very little experience with seriously learning a language other than English, and my linguistic interest mostly manifested in my passion for codes and the list of alphabets I found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary I was gifted for my tenth birthday. (Yeah my family's like that.) I ended up loving Mandarin, though, most especially the writing system. I can read Chinese MUCH more successfully than I can hold a conversation. Even just transcribing by hand is therapeutic for me. I actually have a calligraphy set, minus the 笔 - I'm just terrified to use it without any real training! My line art isn't THAT good. Other languages I'm particularly curious about just for their scripts are Hangul, Mongolian, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Mayan, Egyptian, Aztec, Georgian, and Vulcan calligraphy. Though, realistically, you could probably throw any script at me and I'd get excited. I JUST learned that the script deveoped for White Hmong and Green Hmong in the 80s has noun markers as diacritics, distinguishing what I'm guessing are noun classes, and those include vertebrates vs non-vertebrates!!! Then there are languages that sound beautiful and have emotional connection for me, like French, Hebrew, Korean, Italian, German (yes I think it has it's own kind of pretty - I'm a singer! I study lieder!), Albanian (my brother is adopted from speakers of Eastern Gheg), Welsh, Mongolian, Nahuatl (*spits in ɬɬɬɬɬɬ*), Xhosa (CLICKS), and you could probably rope me into anything with tones. OH OH, whistled languages!!!!! In Turkey and Mexico, right? and then ASL looks so fun I'm intellectually intrigued by ASL as well, along with Vietnamese and Thai and Mayan - and Georgian! So many challenging and interesting consonant clusters! Plus "mama" means dad and "dada" means mom, and there's a sort a unique social aspect to the registers which I find unique. I wanna know the Vietnamese genders and tones and relationship to Mandarin, I want to see if my experience with Mandarin can help me with Mayan aspect, and Thai.... I don't know what, exactly, I'm just intrigued. Hmong intrigues me, too. It's probably just because they're part of cultures and places that I think are beautiful. Japanese has a very fun mouth-feel, if nothing else, and the registers there are interesting too. (I kinda wanna see how hanzi and kanji map out against each other...) Then there are the languges I want to specifically read in order to understand (popular) scripture better, such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin(?), Arabic, Sansrit, Pali, and their predecessors/kin. And then! There are the languages I want to be truly conversational in, which are Mandarin, Spanish, and ASL. Those last two I view as tools I can use for good, as well as languages Americans should know at least rudimentarily anyway. Sign language is so so interesting morphologically and pragmatically, grammatically intuitive thanks to Mandarin, is helpful in dealing with mine and my partner's autism, makes me feel closer to the disabled community I'm a part of, and helps me feel more ready for whenever Meniere's disease depletes my sister's hearing. I've never had a passion for Spanish, but I've been DuoLingoing it at a breakneck pace for the last monthh and WOW. It's so, soooo easy compared to Mandarin. I can't wait for subjunctive mood, sign me UP. I'm so excited to start learning through conversation with friends, especially since it's just very fun to pronounce as well. I hope more than anything else it assists me in teaching or assisting in ESL classes! so i definitely have all three types of interest according to different aspects of language, and apparently it isn't very hard to get me interested in one or another..... eeeeeee but where's the time and money??? Dr. Jones, 怎么你做了??? oh right, the link to your next video........... Also, how do I find more people to talk with about language geekery?

[@LoonaStanGTNH]

scripts are cool

[@eli_mst]

New LJ video!! 🙌Love the content, man ❤

[@languagejones]

Thank you!

[@ebvalaim]

Wanting to "see the world through someone else's eyes" was my main motivation in starting to learn Chinese, so I guess that would make me the anthropologist type. I was really curious what it feels like to speak and understand a tonal language, and read and write using thousands of different characters. I'm still just a beginner so I'm not quite there yet, but the experience has been fascinating already.

[@LanguageKing333]

When it comes to language learning (as a recreational language learner) you should always put emotion over logic, because then the language is effortless. I have an emotional response to all languages. I treat learning well known languages like Korean, Chinese, Spanish, German, French the same as relatively unknown languages like Hungarian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Romanian, and Icelandic. Here’s a few of my language philosophies. The Einstein quote “everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you can’t not help but get that reality” So it’s a game to me, every language has a different sound frequency so playing around with them feels like discovering a tv and being fascinated by all the different channels. And my other philosophy is from the author Elkhart Tolle quote that says “don’t be concerned with the fruit of your action, just give attention to the action itself, the fruit will come of its own accord” meaning I study languages for pleasure and fun, the results or how well I speak it is secondary, the fun is in the process of learning it. I personally find studying languages funnier when it’s random as opposed to structure. The reason is that the brain has a stronger response to dopamine if the language is random (unpredictable) as opposed to structured (predictable). Think of it like this. If someone gives you a gift that you weren’t expecting (unpredictable) you’re going to have a strong emotional response since it was random. But if someone else gives you the same gift later you’re not going to have the same response since you’ve already expected it. The ideal feeling for language Learning should always feel like someone is giving you an unexpected gift. There’s so many languages to explore so you can always keep that new, mysterious feeling❤!

[@eggrat6]

Awesome advice. I love your anecdote about studying Persian--how learning something for the sake of learning can prove to be rewarding when you least expect it! I was too intimidated to learn new languages until I studied abroad in Thailand last month. I never thought I would study abroad in Asia, let alone study a language so different from English and Spanish, but it proved to be so fun and interesting. Thai is a beautiful language, and I only regret not studying it more before my trip. I'm thinking of trying Portuguese, Dutch, or Japanese next. They just sound interesting, and I think they will be handy when I travel more in the future.

[@ConnieJones-o1h]

I'm maybe another category of learner. I like to watch shows from other countries without dubbing. I often learn about the language I'm watching so I can pronounce names and recognize some of the words and understand some more of the nuance. The first time I recognized a pun in Mandarin I was so excited!

[@LoonaStanGTNH]

i’m in a similar situation but for songs in korean

[@sungalaxia]

Speaking of the "anthropologist" approach, that's the main reason I want to learn French... I would love to be able to read all of the history and writings about the Native peoples in colonial America. There's so many writings in French that have never been translated to English. The problem is I don't particularly enjoy the French language, nor do I have much in common with most other people who want to learn French. (I do not care about France, think that Paris is a dream city, or have much interest in French culture.) So my motivation to learn bounces up and down like a sine wave, making progress in the language difficult.

[@TheBrassGeologist]

Love the story. Great vid

[@languagejones]

Thank you!

[@mjb7015]

You missed a type of language learner: conlanger. I learn languages in order to discover new language concepts, structures, and syntactic alignments that can inspire my creative language-construction. That's why my Duolingo account has experience points in Finnish, Hawaiian, Navajo, Welsh, Irish, Hindi, Indonesian, Zulu, Haitian Creole, Swahili, Scottish Gaelic, and French. Well, the French is mainly for work, but the rest were to find conlanging inspiration. I also own printed phrasebooks and dictionaries for Icelandic, Urdu & Bengali, Tongan, Fijian, Maori, French, Malay, Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Welsh, Filipino, Swahili, and Pitjanjatjara. Potentially this could be considered a sub-type of the "anthropologist" type you mentioned, but I think it's distinct enough to warrant mention by itself.

[@jtfritchie]

Also incredibly useful insights. I speak and understand Spanish reasonably well and use to be able to communicate my needs in Mandarin. Learning how much fun “cracking the code” of a language has doomed me to wanting to learn everything. The decision to choose just one vexes me.

[@knuckledraugr]

I already speak German as my second language and I want to learn Norwegian and Spanish also. I want to learn Norwegian because I love it, and I love Norway and want to travel there, I love the culture and the history and the landscape and the mythology and everything surrounding Norway & Norwegian. But I'm learning Spanish because it's useful - ONLY because it's useful. There is absolutely no draw for me outside of that. I've decided to do Spanish first and get it "good enough" and "get through it" and do just enough to maintain it so I can spend the rest of my life studying my two loves - German and Norwegian. And I've decided that instead of trying to pick up a fifth language after those, I'll just go deeper into German and Norwegian.

[@xxboxofmuffinsxx4252]

To me it's simply that so many languages and cultures are beautiful and fascinating. I live in a foreign country for work, but I don't speak their language. It seems like a no brainier to learn it but I can't help but continue to find other languages enticing as well. I know English and Spanish, although my Spanish has fallen from conversational fluency to more of a survival skill until i make the occasional friend I speak to in Spanish every few years. It's just hard to make the decision because even if not guaranteed, I want to lock in a future I'll be proud of when it comes.

[@elizabeths8416]

Just the court anecdote is worth 1000 likes! 🧑🏽‍🍳(chef's kiss).

[@jmcwill2002]

Thanks for this! I appreciate getting permission to follow my interest into learning new languages before I've "completed" the previous ones. I find languages fascinating and beautiful, which often sends me into a flurry of beginner lessons just to get a feel for it. Usually, the more complex the language, the more it moves up on my list. (I'm looking at you, Icelandic!)

[@ericmagnuson8719]

I started learning Swedish because my paternal grandparents are from Sweden and I am working in my genealogy and thought it would help.

[@Bucolick]

'learn a language as a sandbox example of how to learn languages'. Me me me. It's me. But this is a niche subgroup of language nerds surely. Mostly I fit in the anthropology group. I love etymology and the history of language so I wanted something Indo European that wasn't Romance or Germanic. Enter IRISH!! What a dream of a language it is. Along the way I've learned so much history.

[@GrizikYugno-ku2zs]

This video hit me more than I expected. I spent so much time learning Spanish, and I feel so called out. I do love Hispanic culture, and I think they're helping to make America greater than ever, but I'm pretty dispassionate about the language at this point. I've dedicated myself to mastering it, but not in the depressing way like the "needs therapy" type. I see it as a matter of nationalistic pride that I speak both of my country's languages interchangeably, and it's not much to ask considering it's basically just a dramatic version of English. I do, however, have a clearcut goal for when I'm done actively studying it, and I'm nearly there. The goal is to not have any preference whether content or interaction is in English or Spanish. I don't dislike studying it, I just look forward to finally being able to put more time into Russian and Japanese or starting Mandarin or Polish. Spanish feels like a "we" language like English, so it doesn't feel exotic like everything else. I've heard increasing amounts of Spanish since I was a baby, more or less, so I don't consider it "foreign," just "another."

[@joanandbrandon]

Speaking of Persian, I learned it in college just for fun. I wound up in Tehran for years (a LONG time ago; the Shah was in power) and, decades later, have worked through most of the Classical Persian canon with a friend who had a similar background and spent time in Kabul. I'm still at the "just for fun" thing: we're now doing Ovid's Metamorhoses in Latin and the Odyssey in Homeric Greek (which is new to me).

[@ChristopherJBooker]

I would just like to say that I really enjoy your videos and your manner in them. I wish you all the best and hope you get something nice for dinner this evening.

[@DonSmith-v8g]

Really? His manner is why I can't stand them. There are other linguists on KZbin who manage not to come across like a complete tool, but he isn't one of them.

[@7thson855]

I'm more an "anthropologist" type of learner, but I needed terapy for that! I'm Italian and, aside form a good English and a limping school French, I've never studied a language, but I have a profound love for Jewish culture and since I was a kid I always wanted to study biblical Hebrew... and also Esperanto because I was a bit of a dreamer (I'm not anymore). Thanks to the linguistics community of youtube, your channel in particular, and a good dose of "star alignments" in my life, I finally found the opportunity to study Hebrew in order to better understand their tradition, both mystical, historical and philosophical (I study philosophy). I'm also learning Esperanto (to be fair, I started with it) because learning conlangs is fun, there is no Duolingo course for Quenya and neither Dark Souls nor Elden Ring have a conlang.

[@themultiverse5447]

I really loved this video! Hearing "Do something you enjoy" is refreshing. It was bizarre just how astute LanguageJones is. Bravo! The video answered exactly some of the questions I've been thinking about. Please answer a couple more :) Where is the best place to learn Japanese (native English speaker). It isn't offered in my school or Lingoda. I do see Rosetta stone has it. Are there other resources/methods I should look into? I'm fascinated by the idea of learning something "almost alien" to me, as apposed to Spanish or French which would be more "practical".

[@themultiverse5447]

I hadn't gotten to the end of the video before my above comment. I'm going to go check out the other video you mentioned that you link in the description "How to learn, once you've decided on a language to learn". Thanx again! I'm so happy the algorithm linked us ;)

[@arrunzo]

I love that you outright say that people don't have to learn a language if you don't need it or you're not having fun. I understand that sometimes people need a language for work, but if you don't have a concrete reason to learn a language, then don't learn it. And of course, not in a mean way, but people are simply going to fizzle out without a real draw to the language. I love that you mention that there are more interested learners and heritage speakers that will be better than you. A lot of people in the US military may learn a language like Arabic for work purposes rather than pure personal interest. And in the case of heritage speakers this is very true when it comes to the Spanish language in the US. I think that because there are so many bilingual heritage speakers of Spanish in the US that it can disincentive monolingual English speakers from learning Spanish, because why learn something millions already know as a heritage speaker already? It's a simple, but very powerful concept to discuss "finishing a language before another one" because it can so easily be extended to other things. For example, a lot of people talk about "video game backlogs", like they have to finish a video game before moving onto another one. I think a major part of why this happens in the minds of so many people is because Romance languages are typically very popular to learn for English speakers. People are aware that French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese are similar (learning one "enables" the others), but they don't always have a solid reason to choose one over the other. For some reason, some think they have to "finish" one of them before moving on, even if they don't actually have plans to be a polyglot. Ridiculous, as you already said. I once came across a saying that went something like "you should only learn a language if it's for work, romance or personal interest". Also: that court story is awesome and I have massive respect for you because of your role! Anyway, great video, as always! Keep it up!

[@jas7256]

Hearing the section about how Spanish is much easier for English speakers to learn compared to Mandarin is kinda funny for me. I'm a bilingual Taiwanese American who's been shuffled in and out of Chinese learning programs from childhood. For the past 3 years I've been trying to improve my Mandarin level through self-study, which I thought that was challenging. But then I decided to learn Spanish, and woah is it much much harder for me! It makes sense though; if your parents spoke Mandarin in the household and you were forced to write characters when you were 5, you basically are already up to HSK2 and you innately know the grammar of Mandarin. Because of Mandarin's simple grammar, all that's left to learn is essentially sentence structures and vocabulary and you'd be fluent. Starting from scratch with Spanish, however, made me realize just how steep the learning curve for learning a new language can be. Learning the different conjugations in the different tenses and person-perspectives and direct and indirect object pronouns and also stem changing verbs is genuinely hard to keep in your mind if you don't use the language a lot. And even so, I recognize that Spanish's vocabulary, spelling and phonetics are a cake walk compared to other languages if you're a monolingual English speaker. I'm at about A2 fluency after 500 days of Duolingo and a Spanish college course, and I kind of feel like calling it quits to be honest. It's crazy to think about it though- the same fluency level I feel like quitting Spanish at is the fluency level I *began* the journey of self-studying with. This experience has made me even more impressed at people who can learn difficult languages from scratch, you guys are crazy determined.

[@anglaismoyen]

Mandarin because I wanted a language entirely different to English to bend my brain, plus lots of speakers. French because I ended up living in France. Irish for heritage and because the language needs all the speakers it can get. I'm taking it really easy though and just learning one new word per day though due to bandwidth constraints. There are a few others I've dabbled with, and many on my wishlist, but I've pretty much settled on those three now and realistically I need to prioritise other things over new languages at this point.

[@mrJessaroo12]

Thanks for the awesome video. I find people put arbitrary tasks in front of many goals they have in life. There's nothing like starting right now!!

[@christianmolick8647]

Recently decided to investigate Slavic languages, but fell in love with Czech people and ended up focusing on that. Trying a lot of things first can be a good way to make a solid choice.

[@AlkisGD]

8:18 - YES! THANK YOU!! I haven't studying French since middle school, over a quarter century ago, but I remember _clearly_ hearing my teacher add that "ich" at the end of words like "oui" and it drove me _nuts_ because she always denied doing it!! Same story to a tee with my Greek-Australian English teacher who added an ar at the end of words like "draw"!

[@onewhoisanonymous]

I had a weird experience with a linguist. I was working overseas and I got tired of the question "where are you from? I was at a bar in China and this linguist asked the dreaded question. I said "oh, please just guess" He said "ok, continue to talk and have conversations and I will listen" After a few minutes he said "you are from the USA specifically the southern region but you aren't native. You draw out your vowels and drop your "g" at the end of a word. He continued on with some phrasing I didn't understand, but the real kicker was he knew that I grew up around non-English speakers. He said that I get my tenses confused and my prepositions wrong because I was taught English by non-native English speakers. I am monolingual and a native English speaker, but I do have habits I picked up from my Filipino family plus my family moved a lot.

[@coolbrotherf127]

I've spent the last 4 years watching Japanese KZbin videos mostly about food, music, travel, video games, and trading card games. I didn't even care that much about learning Japanese specially at first but I kept learning it because it was more useful to me than the German I had already been learning for years before that.

[@spage80]

I was wondering where your dad was stationed in Germany. I took French from fourth grade until I graduated from high school and never learned French. When the Army sent me to Germany in 1982 I decided I would like to be able to speak German. I had already did a year in Korea and never learned the language. Hence the desire to be able to communicate in Germany. I put a lot of effort into it and eventually became fluent and have been living in Germany for forty years. For the last five years I have been studying Russian and the last two Lithuanian. They are both very difficult for me but I do enjoy it.

[@ancientromewithamy]

As a kid, we still had "gifted classes" so Latin was chosen for me for 2 years (and I am grateful for this). Then I chose Spanish in high school, because that made sense, because there are many Spanish speakers in the US. And then I forgot it because I never used it! In university, I majored in German and minored in French, partly because people talked down on German as an "ugly" language and I disagreed. I studied briefly in Germany and worked as a German translator for 15 years. I dabbled in Korean and Polish and Russian, more recently started getting back into Latin and starting with Arabic. Whichever you choose, with the internet these days, you're sure to find lots of content to listen to which interests you. We didn't have that so much 20+ years ago, when all I had was my Ecce Romani textbooks and the volume of Catullus at the library for Latin content! And you can listen to foreign-language music on KZbin, listen to podcasts, etc.

[@CaioCodes]

Your channel is so great, nice story. I don’t even have trouble choosing my languages, but watching it is satisfying

[@languagejones]

Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoy it!

[@zinknot]

As an American English speaker, choosing Spanish as the first language was an easy choice. But for the next language I was having a hard time deciding between the next most spoken languages. But when I started looking for tutors the decision became easy as there are so many great Arabic tutors for extremely affordable rates. Plus I will be able to read many other languages like Urdu and Persian. And I am excited to learn the literature of these languages.

[@johnnyeppich6702]

I was a film student in university so French was very helpful. I ended up falling in love with the language. I’m only B1 but making strides to B2 and will soon be honeymooning in France (not just Paris btw). Hoping to get even just a little bit of real world practice though I know I have a long way to go. I also learned Japanese at a young age from my grandpa. He was in the military and said one day I’d need it for business. (He was stationed in Japan during reconstruction). He helped me get pretty conversational before he passed away. I then studied it at university for 3 years. I love that when I use this language it keeps my memories of my grandpa alive to me.

[@CityLights-v6u]

So many videos focus on careers, which is an aspect of language sure, but for a lot of people including myself communication matters more. Is this is the case for anyone reading this comment, I recommend learning the most common languages in either the country you're in or the country you want to go to. America and Europe are becoming international hubs, which is actually really good for language learners as it gives a practical reason to want to learn a language. For people in the UK: Polish, Romanian, Panjabi, Urdu (there are more, but these are the top 4) For people in the US: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese (there are more, but these are the top 4) Edit: Corrected UK... I could've sworn some languages were way higher than they actually were. Probably depends on area. Also, you might want to consider Brexit and that making it harder for Europeans to come into the UK thanks to removal of free movement. Though somehow, despite that, European languages still seem to be increasing a lot (especially Romanian). Another note --- your experience in a country wont necessarily be the same as a Census. There are many apparently common languages which you will never see or hear, and less common ones which will be everywhere. That's why I originally typed the wrong languages for the UK based on my own personal experience. This is why these lists probably aren't the best for deciding what to learn to communicate with people.

[@chrisbunka]

I have Vietnamese books sitting at home waiting to be utilized this weekend.

[@entropie138]

Whoa man! That court case regarding a black man using “racist” language hits home for me. I grew up in Southern California. Have friends of all different cultures. Was deep into 80s and 90s hip hop and R&B. In high school, I learned and used the colloquial and friendly version of “the n-word” with my black friends who gave me the n-word card before it was known as the n-word card. After high school, I joined the Marine Corps. I served with a Marine who was black, but from the Southeastern US. I was using the friendly n-word, the word probably used in the rap that your client used. He took offense and reported it to our superiors. I do not fault this man for this. He grew up in a place where all forms of the n-word was a form of racist attack. He either misheard my pronunciation of the word or misinterpreted my intent. I have never had racist intentions. I’m an American of Asian descent. I get enough racism and sexism as exists already. My superiors agreed not to document discipline formally. My sergeant was also from the West Coast and knew where I was coming from in my intention to be friendly, not offensive. Just so long as I never spoke that word to that Marine again. Since that day, I stopped using any form of the n-word entirely. Growing up in SoCal, I was surrounded by reclaimed slurs that were used for brotherhood and friendship. However, I can’t take those words to be universal to every region of the word I go to. And I believe we have arrived at the time where that word is finally unacceptable to use by any non-black person, so removing it from my lexicon has saved me many future headaches in my interactions with people. Thank you for your awesome Persian story!

[@marcusdonato9193]

One of the things that truly sparked my interest in other languages is the opportunity to gain a different worldview, which is why I love Japanese. I can study it for hours non-stop as well. It was very affirming to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks about language in that way, though.

[@chrisbunka]

毎日数時間の勉強ですか。

[@larrytruelove8659]

I study Spanish because: 1) My high school Spanish teacher set me afire with a basic knowledge of Spanish. 2) I visited four Spanish speaking countries in the 1980’s. 3) I live in a major Texas metroplex where 25-40% of the population knows some Spanish. 25%, it’s their first language. One out 20 people on the street do not speak English fluently. 4) After I retired, I volunteer teaching English. This year I will teach basic English to Spanish speakers who know very little English.

[@Autumn_Forest_]

Your story is exactly my same story - down to the Texas metroplex - except I’m probably about 10-15 years behind you (I’m not retirement age yet) Are you in Houston? That’s where I lived for 10 years. Lived a total of 19 years in Texas. Now in Florida. Nice to “meet” a fellow gringo-hispano (I’m a gringa-hispana).

[@larrytruelove8659]

@ I live in the Dallas area, DFW Metroplex.

[@celiavincent9274]

When you said "You never know when it will come in handy..." and I'm thinking of all the Persian/Farsi I learnt for no apparent purpose, and then you start speaking about Persian ❤

[@Sarah_Eva]

I work in the courts as an interpreter and I love learning language. This was an extra fun video for me.

[@EddieClark]

The first language I tried to learn on my own was Korean. I found it difficult due to the difference in structure. I am still working on it and it has been almost 2 years now. For the last 8 months though, I have been learning to speak Thai. This has been drastically easier due to the similar structure to English. I can form sentences and convey basic info. The relatively rapid progression (compared to my Korean progress) has me excited to test my ability at the 1 year marker.

[@Daniel-wi6sk]

Just a comment on the Italian/Spanish topic. I love both languages, but at some point in my life I happened to reach an intermediate level in both of them. I then realized I faced massive interference issues in my learning (and I'm French btw). Fortunately enough, I was "forced" to focus on Spanish. It was indeed a blessing, as I now have a virtually fluent level in Spanish which allows me to (almost) avoid any interferences with my Italian... Bottom line : be aware of the dangers of learning two closely-related languages at the same time !

[@carolinemcauliffe-gg4tf]

I chose to learn Turkish on a whim, what an amazingly interesting language - I’m loving every minute. Then I discovered that you’re three quarters of the way to Azerbaijani and I’m loving it even more.

[@MooImABunny]

signs you've watched someone's videos too religiously: 5:48 when you said you saved someone's livelihood I already knew the story you're gonna tell (and it's really fair to tell the same story more than once, it's very likely that most viewers haven't seen that one livestream where you mentioned it, and it's a good story, I'm happy to hear it again, I'm just saying I'm addicted 😂)

[@sjm42]

I guess I'm mostly the anthropologist category, given that the language I'm about to start is my country's indigenous language. As other commenters have said, I'm also using language learning as a tool to combat/decelerate cognitive decline. I guess that's a form of "therapy" too. Also, You win KZbin for your Persian deposition story - and if you know of any way to be able learn to READ Nastaliq without learning to write it (way beyond my motor skills), this wannabe Urdu speaker would luv ya even more

[@sherizaahd]

Oh man, I died when you quoted Jayne Cobb.

[@aro4cinglife]

yeah I'm kinda the anthropolgist types, I've tried/started 7 different languages in the last 4 years and the most recent ones I've started from 0 with a method I like are Greek and Polish in which I just watched 200 videos each in a couple of months and I'm planning to come back to do 600 more next month!

[@five-toedslothbear4051]

1977, Spanish, as a Scholar. I needed a language requirement in high school, really so I'd have it prepared for college. Spanish is a highly useful language to know here in the US. My other options were French, Italian, and I think German. 2020, Japanese, maybe 70% therapy, 30% anthropologist. I have had an increasing affection for Japan over my whole life. I've always loved the sound of the Japanese language. In 2020 I escaped the COVID pandemic and some personal medical crises (therapy!) by watching anime (not police procedurals), and i always watch foreign titles in their original language. After about 1000 hours of listening, I started some formal classes in 2022. I think I studied it too seriously through May of 2024, resulting in semi-burnout, but now I'm taking it easy and having more fun. Also, Japanese because it is the least related to Indo-European languages, and I have linguistic interest, so everything about Japanese fascinates me. I love mysteries, so it is interesting that we don't really know the origin of the Japonic languages, nor their relationship to other languages. I like it because it is hard. I am not planning to be a natural language polyglot, I am a programming language polyglot and that's enough. (I sometimes ponder visualizing Japanese as a postfix programming language where the nouns are slotted into registers by particle operators and then the sentence is executed by the verb. Come to think of it, I did take a Computers and Linguistics class at Northwestern in the 1980s.)

[@henselstep]

I am learning japanese. I like the language itself but now the learning is not really fun anymore... But I will not miss these great moments, when I realize, that I am understanding more of the songs I am hearing. Today I was able appreciate the unusual clear pronunciation in the song "Mae e susume" of Poppin Party. I would have been never able to hear it. And it makes me kind of proud to be able to hear it. Therefore I don't stop to learn this language furthermore.

[@weetuscren]

Spanish to start if you don’t have one you’re drawn to. Opens up Mexico, Central and South America… and of course Spain. Plus there are so many people that speak it in the US. I’ve even used it as a common language with people from Brazil. But for sure: the one you WANT to learn.

[@SuhbanIo]

Brazilians speak Portuguese but ok

[@mickyj300x]

​@@SuhbanIoi believe what they're saying isn't that Brazilians speak Spanish but that they've been able to use their Spanish to be able to get around Brazil, due to the similarities of the languages

[@SuhbanIo]

@@mickyj300x ...now I feel dumb

[@weetuscren]

@@SuhbanIo yes. But it seems a lot of them know enough Spanish to communicate pretty well in just Spanish. They understood me and I understood them… and I can not speak Portuguese.

[@weetuscren]

@@SuhbanIo probably because Spanish speakers border both Portugal and Brazil

[@spoddie]

If you're native English speaker, choosing a second language isn't obvious. I chose Japanese and I'm not sure that was a good choice, although I live in Japan and it's useful ...

[@completelyunderstood]

if you live there it's the right choice

[@raics101]

​@@completelyunderstoodNot sure it's even a choice.

[@chrisbunka]

良く選んだと思います。

[@leilatimeful]

I’ve never actually asked which language to study next, although I guess I could be classified as an anthropologist who needs therapy. Or would it be an anthropological therapy case…? There are so many fascinating and beautiful languages that I’d love to learn, but I know that’s impossible to learn them all. So, I came up with a goal: learn at least one language from every continent. This gave me parameters that helped me choose. Plus, I wanted a different alphabet/writing system for each. So far I have Spanish, Japanese, American Sign Language, and Arabic (mostly Moroccan dialect, which makes the “writing system” part interesting), as well as the beginnings of Mandarin, Russian and Portuguese. I eventually want to get to Swahili and Navajo - both chosen for the ease of access issue.

[@SiKedek]

I've had a rather interesting trajectory in my language learning adventure: it started off with Japanese (at 4th grade, attending a local community college - yeah, I was one of *those* people) for 1 year out of keen cultural interest, French in junior/high school for school requirements (and I didn't want to take Spanish - you can probably call it post-colonialist trauma, being a Fil-Am and all. In fact, I still get bored outta my gourd if I attend a conference talk about Spanish, as I've actually fallen asleep...), and then I got interested in studying Balinese and Javanese gamelan music. Bam! Went into studying Indonesian during my undergrad days, along with amassing a sizable community to practice my Indonesian with. (And Indonesian is one of the easiest languages to do this with - not only to learn, but also get willing conversation partners to speak with.) When I was a linguistics grad student, I took up a couple years of Korean ever since helping organize the annual Japanese/Korean linguistics conference (seeing the oh-so-many parallels between Japanese and Korean), as well as used my Indonesian as a contact language to study Balinese (which I later wrote my dissertation on). I love speaking and writing in Balinese, as its mimetics are unlike anything else I'm aware of (Japanese comes close, but...), and cross-linguistic language puns are a standard part of Balinese humor. For instance: A: Apa adanne sakit lelipine? ('What's the name of the "snake disease"?') B: Sakit lelipi? Sakit lelipi apa e? ('The "snake disease"? What is this "snake disease"?') A: Menular! ('Infection' (in Indonesian)! [This is so layered as you need to know both Balinese and Indonesian to appreciate this pun, as [ular] is 'snake' in Indonesian.) There's my story, in a nutshell.

[@cgarstang]

I would be in the Anthropologist group, I suppose. I did German in high school and had to have reading proficiency for gradschool, so that was my Academic side. But then I found myself living in Korea, and needed (and wanted) to learn Korean, which instilled in me a lifelong curiosity about Chinese characters (which Koreans used to use more than they do currently). Back in grad school, I no longer had a language requirement, but wanted for fun to continue learning Korean. My university had discontinued Korean, so I took Japanese instead--close enough and great fun. A few years later I found myself living in Singapore, , which gave me the opportunity to study Mandarin, which I still dabble in now--all just because I'm curious and I love studying the characters.

[@magnus_lundgren]

As a Swede, we learned English as kids. I'm a bit of a hobby author, so I still learn new stuff of that weird language as it is the language I write in. Those are the only two languages I can actually use. In our equivalent of high-school, we had to pick a language. I picked German, but we were all stuck into Spanish instead. While I never learned much back then, decades later and thanks to the Internet I've found a bunch of great resources and have picked it up again. However, I'm now learning Spanish from English instead. I've been learning a little beginner level of German and Japanese. Currently however, as I had some bad fatigue this year, I'm staying away from putting effort into learning anything. But as learning stuff is in my nature, I've been learning a bit about the tones in Mandarin and the Hebrew alphabet.

[@Zaephyrs]

Nice Firefly /Jayne Cobb cut!

[@Sicod79]

100% want a review of language learning software, that would be great to hear from an expert in the field.

[@paholainen100]

good video, interesting. I guess the reason doesn't matter why you're learning if you like it. I basically decided to learn German for no good reason about 20 years ago and I haven't looked back. It was a great decision. Now I'm learning Hebrew these days but no reason other than it sounds good to me and it's easy for me to remember the words. Don't always need a practical reason.