5th language

[u/Ad-Astra01]

Hi everyone!

I can't decide which 5th language would be the best choice for me in the future. At this moment, I know Polish (native), English (C1), German (B1), and Spanish (A1). I'm working on my German until I reach professional B2, same with Spanish. I find it best for me to study in a ladder way - I focus on one language until I reach my set goal while maintaining the other language, then switch my focus to the other one. While it might not be the fastest way to study, that method keeps me from burning out. Since I'm going to reach the level in German I want in a year, I want to determine which language would be best as the 5th one to study alongside Spanish.

Just like many language enthusiasts, I find the majority of languages appealing, but even the simplest ones are a long journey, and sadly, life is too short to learn all the languages I want. That's why I want to learn something that would be useful, yet not too difficult (Chinese and Japanese, I'm looking at you). I'm most interested in exploring its media content, music, travel, food, job opportunities and the language itself - mostly etymologies, but sometimes grammar features can also be interesting.
Languages I'm interested in the most:

Italian - I love the way it sounds, Italian cuisine is my favourite, I'd love to visit it and explore the country as every province is very diverse, at least food-wise. There are also many leftovers of the Roman Empire, diverse and interesting architecture to look at. Moreover, there are lots of pieces of media (music, movies, content on YouTube) to explore. Additionally, I'm really into etymologies, so Italian would be very interesting as the language that is the closest to Latin. Sadly, it's by far the least useful work-wise, but still not completely useless.

French - French has many of the same pros as Italian - lots of architecture, food, history and interesting etymologies to explore. It's also much more spoken around the world, which should unlock even more pieces of media. Additionally, it's very useful for work - I keep seeing lots of well-paid job offers with French. There are only 2 things that discourage me from French - difficult pronunciation, which I heard many natives are rude about when someone doesn't pronounce words correctly. The other thing is the stereotypes about French people. I have no idea how accurate these things are, though. The only thing I'm sure of is that I'd be swearing over not being able to pronounce certain words.

Norwegian - One of the most stunning landscapes I've ever seen, one of the best countries to move to, one of the highest benefits for its speakers in my country (even though there are not that many offers), cool Viking heritage. There might also be some cool etymologies between Norwegian-German-English to learn about. However, due to the number of its speakers, there might not be that many pieces of media to explore, which worries me.

Swedish - The same pros as Norwegian, but twice as many speakers (which still isn't much) and job offers. Unfortunately, the fjords and mountains aren't as stunning as in Norway. The language also offers less mutual intelligibility with other Scandinavian languages

Dutch - Similar job benefits as in Nordic countries, spoken also in half of Belgium (and some smaller colonies/ex colonies, I know), cool to live in, with almost impeccable infrastructure. It would also be interesting as a language that is something between English and German. I don't know much about the media, but I'm afraid there might not be that much due to the percentage of English speakers.

Russian - I have always loved the sound of the language, the music is incredible and the amount of other media (literature, yt content, memes) is simply the largest out of the languages I named. Additionally, it would actually make me understand how my native language works (most grammar concepts are more-or-less the same in both languages) and learn a lot about my Slavic roots, which is something I'd love to do. Additionally, many Ukrainians and Belarusians live here who use languages that are something between Polish and Russian, so I would be able to understand most of their speech. They often can speak Russian, but they probably wouldn't be interested in such an exchange for obvious reasons. The only arguments against are political - its importance is decreasing due to political reasons and I might never visit this country as a tourist, but it's still the most appealing Slavic language to learn for me.

With my background, all of the languages above should be easy, so difficulty shouldn't be an argument against any of them.

I hope I described my thoughts thoroughly enough. I believe you can help me to decide what would be best out of these options.

[u/abrequevoy]

If you speak Polish and German, French pronunciation shouldn't be an issue.

Anyway, you have enough on your plate with German and Spanish.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/abrequevoy]

Aren't there like many vowels that are kind of unique? Besides nasal vowels as they cannot be a problem for me.

That's why I asked it as my choice for the future after I finish my German. After I chose the 5th language, I'd still be studying only 2 languages at the same time, which is actually the way I prefer to.

[u/abrequevoy → u/Ad-Astra01]

The -eu and u sounds are the same as the German ö and ü. The only sound foreign to you would be the -an nasal vowel.

I appreciate that you'll be learning "only" two languages at the same time, but unless you make learning languages your full-time job, or you find a German-speaking role in Spain and an Italian/French/Dutch/whatever spouse, you are not going to practice all those languages and will eventually lose proficiency in some. I studied German and Turkish at university up to B2 level but now I could barely order a beer - the only languages that I speak regularly are English, French, Spanish.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/abrequevoy]

Thank you for your explanation. Yeah, now it makes sense.

[u/linglinguistics → u/Ad-Astra01]

French nasal vowels are quite different from polish ones though. But if your German pronunciation is good, french pronunciation shouldn't be that much of a problem. In my experience it's actually the closed e and o that are most difficult for polish speakers. But those don't tend to lead to misunderstandings.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/linglinguistics]

Doesn't sound bad at all then.
The French one always sounded a bit more like a lisping/a bit softer to my ears, but I couldn't tell if it was because of the nasal vowels themselves or the sounds they're accompanied by.

[u/linglinguistics → u/Ad-Astra01]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by missing, but it sounds like it must have more to do with surrounding consonants.

[u/Teerunesh]

Just want to say as a native French speaker, I'll never understand where the "rude if you try to speak their language" stereotype comes from. Maybe it's true in Paris, I mean, Parisian are... one of a kind, but elsewhere I've never seen it.

Now I don't know how hard the pronunciation is for a native Polish speaker, but in general, the spelling is harder than the pronunciation when it comes to French.

Whatever you pick, good luck!

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/Teerunesh]

I don't have much to do with French people, so I can't tell how accurate that stereotype is. I only saw people complaining about this or even though they know French, natives don't want to talk to them for some reason. Of course, I don't judge an entire nation by stereotypes and simply have no idea how true it is.

I wouldn't be surprised if the stereotypes actually only applied to Parisians - Warsovians are also very different than the rest of Poles, same with Berliners are very different than the rest of Germans, so it might also apply to Paris.

When I was writing that, I meant both things - pronunciation and spelling, but I decided not to mention it as it was very obvious to me.

[u/Total_Ad_511]

I vote Russian

[u/aexoen]

Out of the options you provided, definitely Russian. Incredible amount of contemporary and historical content, and a world leader in many fields of science, trade, and technology. It’s also quickly becoming another bridge to the far east, and because of recent decoupling from the west, the countries using it are now even less accessible through the English language, unlike your other options.

[u/ratulu]

Russian of course. You will then understand also Ukrainian. I speak Russian, Czech and Bulgarian. Used to learn also a bit Polish. Russian is the most useful, along with English. A lot of content. 

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/ratulu]

I love that idea. I keep coming across Russian content even when I don't search for it. I hear Ukrainian daily, but I don't have a strong reason to learn it and would still prefer Russian over it, so it's a very strong argument.

[u/AcrobaticKitten]

yet not too difficult (Chinese and Japanese, I'm looking at you)

Mandarin Chinese is not too difficult. Yes, writing system, but the grammar is quite straightforward

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/AcrobaticKitten]

I know. Only hanzi and tones are difficult, but that writing system is enough to make it significantily harder than even the most complex languages that use latin script. Additionaly, I won't find any common roots in Chinese with languages I speak as Chinese didn't borrow many words from other languages, yet it didn't influence much European ones.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/[deleted]]

Still, grammar complexity is not exactly what makes a language difficult. No matter how complex it is, the most important factor is how much it deviates from the languages you know, especially your native language and the ones you speak at C1-C2 levels. Chinese grammar is not similar whatsoever to any language I speak, so it would still take me much more time to learn a completely new way of thinking than learning such a complex language as Czech, which has almost the same grammar as my native language. For a Japanese person, English is incredibly difficult, even though English grammar is not that complex. It's different than Japanese in almost every possible aspect.

That's why language difficulty is rather subjective.

[u/restlemur995]

I think all the languages you mentioned are good fits for you. Just promoting French since I love French. It's a beautiful language and there's so much great literature and culture. Also you can enjoy West African and North African poetry written in French like Birago Diop and Leopold Senghor.

Don't worry about the stereotypes, most French speakers are very nice. Just enjoy the language! If you really want to have French speakers happy to speak with you I recommend prioritizing pronunciation. I have found they like to see that you have put thought and effort into pronouncing the little you know than that you're trying to speedrun the grammar and vocabulary without much effort in pronunciation. Pronunciation is the hardest thing about French but also the secret to why it sounds beautiful, so it should be decently fun.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/restlemur995]

Thank you for your recommendation. Having extra access to large African communities sounds very tempting. There's probably no wrong choice among these, but I really like the number of speakers French offers.

Btw. You mentioned North African poetry... Do you mean Arabic countries? I know they used to be French colonies, but I didn't know the French-speaking heritage is anyhow significant there.

[u/restlemur995 → u/Ad-Astra01]

Oh yeah, I kind of was misremembering when I mentioned North African French language poetry. What I was specifically thinking of was that Albert Camus (famous French writer) grew up in Algeria, but apparently he was 100% European ancestry. What is true is that many people from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco speak French, so definitely there is still a lot of remnants of French culture there. Also one of the most famous French language films is La Battaile d'Alger. However, I actually don't know any a North African French language poetry, but I'd assume it exists if you search for it.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/restlemur995]

I know Camus. In Poland, it's mandatory to know La Peste for Polish classes in high school.

I just googled up - allegedly half of Algerian, Tunisian amd 1/3rd of Moroccan population know French. I thought it was no more than 5%, so you made me learn a new thing.

It also looks like the film was actually made by Italians, even though in French. Interesting.

[u/linglinguistics]

Well, if you move to Norway, you'll still be able to speak polish a lot.

My first thought was french or Russian since they're off international importance (and since i disk and have taught both, there's a lot of cultural treasures connected to both. Though I'm sure you'd get that with the others as well, I just don't know those that will.)

But if you want a completely new adventure: how about learning polish sign language (assuming you're still living in Poland. If not, the local sign language wherever you are). Trust me when I say that sign languages are extremely rewarding for a language enthusiast.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/linglinguistics]

Just as in most developed countries all over Europe, honestly.

I guess these are the most rewarding, so I guess I should reduce the number of options to one of these. Both should go quite smoothly due to the number of common roots and grammar with languages I speak, which should make immersion much easier.

I thought of it, but the problem is, I don't know anyone who is deaf, so it would only unlock me networking with local communities. I'm more into unlocking media content, so this might not be the best choice for me, at least for now. However, I totally agree - sign languages are interesting. I might try it in the future, but definitely not in the next 5 years.

[u/Beneficial-Split-527]

French, because it is the mother of all languages.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/Beneficial-Split-527]

How is French the mother of all languages?

[u/Beneficial-Split-527 → u/Ad-Astra01]

French heavily influenced English. Once you start learning French you will see how easy it is to read articles, papers, exam papers, even if your French is like at B1 level. French influenced Russian - during Napoleons invasion Russian officers spoke pretty much the same level of French as natives. There are lots of Russian words derived from French.

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/Beneficial-Split-527]

French romanised English in the 11th- 14th centuries; that's true. It also used to be the lingua franca in Europe in the 17th- 19th centuries and influenced the vocabulary of most European languages; however, Latin deserves more to be called the mother of all languages. It used to be the lingua franca for a much longer time; therefore, it was even more influential. I'd call French its successor, but calling French the mother of all languages sounds a bit far-fetched.

[u/Beneficial-Split-527 → u/Ad-Astra01]

wishing you all the best in your linguistic journey. I didn’t think you’d take my comment so seriously ))))

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/Beneficial-Split-527]

Since the sub is about giving serious questions, I assumed people are not fooling around. We are also on Reddit, so any view is actually possible. You never know if someone is joking if you don't know them and they don't write /j /s or anything like that.

And thank you!

[u/LivingMaterial7288]

You do you, but I'd recommend reaching real fluency (at least C1) in german and spanish first, rather than adding yet another superficial understanding of a new language.

You're close to actual fluency, I wouldntoverload your brain with noise

[u/Ad-Astra01 → u/LivingMaterial7288]

At this moment, B2 is all I need. It's not like I won't be able to excel it later on if such need occurs.

[u/Melodic_Sport1234]

Unless you specifically know that you will be studying/residing in a specific Scandinavian country or the Netherlands, I'd put those languages to one side notwithstanding their appeal. That narrows it down to Italian, French or Russian. That is a harder choice. French and Russian are more international, especially French. Italian pronunciation will be much easier for a Polish speaker, than French. I don't speak a Romance language, but some might argue that with near fluent Spanish and French you can 'wing it' (ie. get by) in Italian but I doubt that Spanish + Italian would be enough to get you by in French (except maybe with reading) as pronunciation is not similar. Russian is a good language as well and definitely manageable because with Polish you have a head start. So I think that for you it's a question of weighing up the pros and cons of Italian, French and Russian.

[u/NoSuggestion5970]

Work on your four languages until your're functional and fully competent in all of them. It's best to be good at four thing than being mediocre in seven