What language should I learn?

seeeker

I started learning French in middle school at age 12. I studied it through college and lived in France for one year. I was almost completely fluent. Twenty years later, I'm pretty rusty, but it's still in my head somewhere.

In high school, ironically I fell in love with a German exchange student. She was "The One." We eventually married and had a child. I lived in America that whole time, she for part of it. I was so exhausted from learning French (it's not easy) that I never had the drive to hit the books and take up German. I relied on her to translate on our occasional visits to her family in Germany. We divorced a few years ago. My son now lives in Germany. I travel there to visit twice a year. I am bonded to Germany one way or another for life. But I should I have started German years ago. I'm 40 now.

Since those years, I have traveled to Central America and learned some rudimentary Spanish. I would like to travel more extensively through South America, specifically Argentina and Colombia. I am currently learning tango, and I love Argentine wine.

I do have an interest in traveling around Central Europe as well this summer, maybe some German would help that.

So what should I do? Should I catch up on my French again because I already know it? (Kind of been there/ done that, but it's doable.)
Should I start learning German so I can finally travel around the country where my son lives and not be an idiot? (This would take years of hard work.)
Or should I pick up Spanish since this would open up a whole new continent in which to travel and speak the language? (This would also take commitment, and since I go to Europe so often, I may not end up going to South America that much.)

What should I do?

Fantasma

I am not sure what language you should learn, but you should definitely learn to dance Salsa and maybe Merengue if you plan to go to Colombia.

bowen

Why not learn both?

DisruptedCapitalist

If you have the ability to just "take up" a language, I'd say at least go with one that interests you, so that rules out French. Spanish is easier than German since it's a romance language and you're already familiar with French. But being able to speak your son's language is important, so I'd say--if you can-- try to learn both German and Spanish.

Zombiemambo

Spanish and French are both romantic languages and share tons in common. Spanish will not be hard to learn (it wouldn't be anyway, but you have a lot of it learned just because of French).

Djeet

Pick the one that you'll get an opportunity to use (converse with others in) on at least a semi-regular basis as it'll leave you if you don't use it.


For me that'd probably be Spanish as there are lots of Spanish tv channels here and so many local Spanish speakers I could talk to if I chose.

XArchangelX

I vote German. You have family there, if your son marries and stays in Germany you'll want to be able to speak to in-laws and eventually the grand-kids.

Bagginses

German seems like a good idea. You could also try looking up you heritage and learning that (I'd learn yiddish if I wasn't linguistically incompetent). Alternately, you could cut the difference between French and Spanish and learn Catalan. Or Basque. Okay, don't learn Basque.

kedinik

Spanish is a fine language. Spoken in so many places, and I think it's a joy to speak in its own way.

Also if you wouldn't mind a suggestion from left field, take up C++ as your new "language" and learn about object oriented programming. Forces a peculiarly precise style of thinking, which I don't think learning a new verbal language necessarily ever does.

seeeker

Ha this is great. Thanks for all the comments and not making sarcastic insults!

It doesn't sound like there is much support for maintaining the French. And yes, if the three were not all rooted in the romance I wouldn't really consider bouncing around. When I picked up some Spanish, all the years of French helped it make sense pretty quick.

German seems daunting though. If I didn't learn it in the twenty years I knew this girl, isn't it a little late too start now? I'm not too excited about studying. But maybe hearing it so many years has unconsciously primed me though. And I wouldn't actually use it that much, only on occasional visits. My son is almost 6. But he may stay there, so yeah sure it would help.

Too bad Argentina and Germany are in totally opposite directions. True about the salsa though, girls really dig that. Tango is a bit old fashioned, but elegant nonetheless.

Nylonathetep

You should learn the fine arts of "Body Language". It conveys a person's subconscious and it's almost impossible to lie with it.

Alfred J. Kwak

seeeker wrote:

I do have an interest in traveling around Central Europe as well this summer, maybe some German would help that.

if by Central Europe you mean Germany, Austria, parts of Switzerland ... :?

German is not a very useful language, and in any case most people should speak at least rudimentary English there

Ego

I think German is a really fun language (though I'm by no means fluent, just tourist-capable.) I wouldn't recommend French, even speaking it fairly well, since it just doesn't come in handy that often. I mean, even being Canadian, it's been pretty useless for me (I suppose it's a good edge when applying for a government job, though with the conservatives in power and ignoring language requirements even that might not be true any longer.)

If I picked a language to learn right now, it'd probably be Spanish or Mandarin Chinese. But your son speaks German. I'd say go for that one. It's not as hard to learn as it might seem at first.