Learning another anguage

[VectraMan]

I am learning German and i would recommend it. Not only for the kudos as Brits in general are awful at learning other languages, but for the ability to scare your wifey/girlfriend by telling her loudly "Ich Leibe Dich!"

As best as I can work out, Ich Leibe dich would be "I bodies you". No wonder that scares her.

[Dearnla]

It all depends where you fancy going to work. It would take a lot of dedication to learn a new language to the point where you could actually use it for work, but for socialising after work it's possible.

Of the languages I've had a crack at (though not much more than beginner):

German - Almost pointless because the Germans will nearly always default to English as soon as you open your mouth to speak. Being forced to use a language is the quickest way to learn it, and they will never force you.

French - Useful but mostly unfulfilling because the French expect you to speak French anyway and just look bored if you struggle.

Italian - This is a winner for me because the Italians really appreciate it when you have a go at their language. It also follows a fantastically organised syntax, with only occasional irregular words. Learn the rules and you've basically learned the language. Vocabulary is often quite easy as well because we recognise so many of the words from the Latin source which we use so much ourselves anyway. Pronunciation is mostly just a matter of putting on an Italian accent (not so easy with French and German).

And French is recognisable in written form as there are about 1000 common words due to some bloke called Norman and 1066

[TraceRacing]

I'm reasonably lucky in that I learnt both Dutch and Engish as a child. A couple of years ago I was on a contract in China and learnt some Mandarin. It's a tough language as the written alphabet has some 2500 characters (and a character is not necessary just a character it can be a whole word). I was in "immersive" mode, very little English apart from a couple of the hotel staff and my translator, and even with 2 hours tuition a day (and a Chinese bit on the side) I only got to basic conversation (introductions, ordering a meal / drinks, asking if she was staying for breakfast etc)

The toughest parts to really get to are that there is no gender (he can be male or female or a group!) and no tense (past present future all one and the same) so there is an amount of interpretation in your mind even if you inderstand the words!

Of coursem then you have to go to Hong Kong monthly to revalidate your visa and they speak Cantonese...and it's bloody different again!