Need help selecting a 2nd language to learn.

**Pannonian** · 02-09-2009, 20:38

Originally Posted by Fragony

But it's a beautiful language to learn, german is my favorite language I wish I was better at it, it's so civilized. Some words are perfection 'Mein liebe'...(Is there a better way to say WELL HELLO) 'Entschuldigung'....(Is there a more polite way to apoligize?)

ace.

Isn't it "Bitte"?

**Fragony** · 02-09-2009, 20:47

Originally Posted by Pannonian

Isn't it "Bitte"?

No, as in english, a bread please. please = Bitte

**Pannonian** · 02-09-2009, 20:49

Originally Posted by Fragony

No, as in english, a bread please. please = Bitte

Isn't it used in a "Pardon me" sense as well?

**Seamus Fermanagh** · 02-09-2009, 20:50

Originally Posted by Fragony

No, as in english, a bread please. please = Bitte

I believe that the usage to which Pannonian is referring is to use "bitte" as a short form for "please excuse me." Not sure if this is more or less polite than the form you note. German specialists, what say you?

**Fragony** · 02-09-2009, 20:56

Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh

I believe that the usage to which Pannonian is referring is to use "bitte" as a short form for "please excuse me." Not sure if this is more or less polite than the form you note. German specialists, what say you?

Well yes, but an apoligy and 'excuse me' are two different things, that is no different in english, excuse me/sorry

**Seamus Fermanagh** · 02-09-2009, 21:14

Originally Posted by Fragony

Well yes, but an apoligy and 'excuse me' are two different things, that is no different in english, excuse me/sorry

In US English, there is quite a bit of conflation between the two usages. For example, "Excuse me" is often used in place of "I apologize for having bumped into you, please excuse the unintended offense." The long form contains both a classic apology as well as a request for expiation, but we usually use the shorter form to make that apology.

We do use the phrase "please excuse me from X" when trying to get out of school assignments and the like, but this rarely carries any note of apology.

Apologies are most often begun with the phrase "I'm sorry..." even though that is an expression of personal feelings without any automatic concommitant apology. I can say "I am sorry I wrecked your car" to most people and they will construe it AS an apology, when I

might actually only mean that I'm sorry it happened.

....Ah the connotative joys of communicative interaction. Without it, as Habermas notes, we would be unable to construct a functioning society. Even with the best intentions, however, we are still often in a differend condition, as Lyotard would note.

**Devastatin Dave** · 02-09-2009, 21:48

Make up your own and force people to learn it.

**Pannonian** · 02-09-2009, 21:57

Originally Posted by Devastatin Dave

Make up your own and force people to learn it.

Was that what Dubya was doing?

**Augustus Lucifer** · 02-09-2009, 22:11

It depends on why you're learning a language.

Leisure

French - It's no secret that in America, French is considered the premier romance language. Having access to a French vocabulary could help you to woo that person you've been eying from the bushes(I kid, I kid).

German - German to the general population is pretty much the anti-thesis to French, a more burly/rough language. Overall there isn't a hugely prevalent German speaking German-American demographic, nor a lot of jobs that will open up, so it's a leisure language for Americans.

Academia

Latin - If you're going into history, most of the European languages have some root in Latin, and many Latin phrases are becoming an increasingly sophisticated form of expression since they have gone more and more out of use.

Chinese - An understanding of Chinese opens up the historical records of the other side of the world. Japanese can also be much more easily learned for one with an understanding of Chinese, since the Japanese 'kanji' is Chinese characters, and the 'hiragana' shorthand chinese characters, it is the spoken version that differs.

Job

Chinese / Japanese - A lot of American industry is moving to China or is already there, and a lot of it also exists in Japan. If you're looking to enter the field of business, the next best language to English will probably be Chinese for the future, followed by Japanese.

Arabic - It's no secret that we don't exactly have an abundance of people here in America who know about the people we're fighting, much less can understand them. Middle East relations will be tense for many years to come, so the need for interpreters in the government and in private functions will remain high.

Spanish - By and large the largest demographic of non-native English speakers on the West Coast of the US is Hispanic people. It could help you get a job managing places where workers speak Spanish, and may also have its casual conversation usages.

Other - Dutch, Italian, and Russian are probably the big three others you could learn for various applications. The next tier would be Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Finnish, etc.), Balkan languages (Romanian, Greek, etc.), or other East Asian languages (Korean, Vietnamese, etc.). The last tier of Afrikaan and other African languages, or other less widely used ones, won't serve you particularly well unless you have an eclectic job path.