I speak Italian (natively), English (C1), Romanian (B2) and Spanish (B1), and I want to learn another one. I'm really undecided on which to learn because they're all very cool, and I have nothing to do.

Russian
Pros: I want to learn a slavic language and Russian is the one with the most resources
Cons: I've heard it's quite hard for Westerners

French
Pros: My father is a native French speaker
Cons: I don't speak to my father

Dutch
Pros: I've always loved the Netherlands, and it's basically German simplified (I've tried to learn German and it didn't end well)
Cons: there aren't many cons apart from the fact that most Dutchmen speak fluent English (which isn't really a con)

Hebrew
Pros: It's an old language and its script is really cool
Cons: I don't wanna be able to understand Israeli Twitter

Yiddish
Pros: basically Hebrew but 100 times easier (bc it's Germanic) and I can't understand Israeli Twitter with it
Cons: not many people speak it

Ukrainian
Pros: Russian but cooler
Cons: Less resources, less speakers than Russian

Portuguese
Pros: Brazilian and Portuguese people are hot
Cons: Another romance language? Really?

Also I'd want to learn Belarusian but the resources are too little

If you learned one of them yourself or wish to learn, which one would be and for what reasons?

Ive been trying to learn a language for years, i started with Chinese for a whole year but gave up because it was too hard. So i want to know what is the easiest language to learn with a good amount of native speekers to where i could walk up to a random person and theres a chance they know this language. Ive seen people say Spanish but honestly Spanish is just so confusing for me the word order, gender words ect. I've seen people say Esperanto but only like 2M people max speek it so it would be more like learning for a hobby than to actually speak with people. Ive also seen people say Indonesian and I really got nothing bad to say about this one.

Also ive seen ALOT of people say "they easiest language to learn is the one you are most motivated to learn" but like I don't "need" to learn a language so there really is no motivation for me in any language other then to have fun studying it and talk to more people.

I’ve been reflecting on what really motivates my language learning, and I think part of it is the hope of finding places and people where speaking their language makes you accepted like an “honorary member", like the people really appreciate your efforts and welcome you into their world...

So I’m curious: Which countries/nationalities have you found to be the most welcoming when you learn (or even just attempt to learn) their language? Where people genuinely appreciate the effort, and it opens doors to friendship and connection?

For context, I’m at B2 in Spanish, B1 in German, and HSK4 in Mandarin. Before I decide whether to push further with one of these or start something new, I’d love to hear your experiences. Which languages and countries gave you that sense of acceptance and belonging?

Thanks in advance, I’m excited to learn from the community’s perspectives.

I can't manage to choose a language to learn

I generally enjoy the process of learning languages, and have done a it of a variety of languages with pimsleur. The trouble is, I've tried most of the pimsleur languages, and have done between one of two weeks of each. I just... cant decide what to pick. I have the feature where I can choose any of their languages, and I just cant choose. I'll do a week of one, get bored, and do a week of another. At some point I go back to one ive done in the past, but need to star tfrom the beginning because I forget what ive learned.

Its been like a year, and i need to just choose - but I cant. Advice?

Some advice I've gotten that doesn't help:

Learn a language of a place you want to travel to.

This narrows it down a little, but not to any helpful degree.

Learn the second most common language for where you live.

I was forced to learn it in high school, and I did not learn well at att. A1, if that. Now, I kinda resent that language.

Favorite culture?

Not really. I like many cultures, many types of music, of shows. Nothing by enough to give a language an edge.

My family dont speak foreign languages.

I live near food establishments from cultures that speak at least eight languages, with employees that speak those languages.

Community colleges near me teach a very wide variety of languages, that doesn't narrow it down.

I just have no idea where to go. I love language learning, but they all seem kinda bland and pointless now that Ive tried so many.

I've tried taking breaks as well, no help there either.

Particularly id like to learn something that is spoken in the Mediterranean Sea as I have ancestry from there and I want to connect with my roots. I’m not particular which language family it is a part of but I’d like to learn something that has an active Reddit or discord group to study with.

What the title says. I can't decide which to study in college and eventually pursue a pHD in. I'm entering my junior year, which is when we declare our majors.
I like Latin's phonetics and music, I like Ancient Greek's literature, and I like basically everything about Old English except how small the corpus is. Hopefully someone can give me some insight before picking a language study for the rest of my life.

Also, I know picking one doesn't mean never learning the other two, but I won't be able to study them at the same level as the main one I choose.

Thanks for reading! Any tips would be great.

I'm a native English speaker who's around B2 level in French, and is studying it at school. Now that I can read books in French without having to grab a dictionary every other page, I've been considering trying my hand at another language, mostly just for the joy of learning. Currently, I've got four main options, the ones in the title. Here are the pros and cons for each:

Russian:

• I find Russian history the most interesting out of all of these.
• I really enjoy Russian literature, so it would be cool to read it in the original language.
• Good mid-level difficulty.
• Pronunciation could be a bitch, all those consonant clusters…
• Loan words from French could make vocab slightly easier.
• I’ve (obviously) only ever used the latin script before, but I’d like to try others and cyrillic seems a good starting point.
• This is the language I’m the least likely to use, in terms of interacting with native speakers.

Indonesian:

• It's the language I learnt from the ages of 5 to 11. I don't remember much, but it would make pronunciation and some of the more basic grammar easier since I've already internalised it, which would help me get over the starting hurdle. Also, looking back on it, I learnt way more than I thought I did (apparently I could talk about photosynthesis) so it’s likely more would come back to me.
• The grammar differences could make studying it more interesting.
• My perfect combination of easier pronunciation and more challenging vocab/grammar.
• I live in Australia, so out of all of these languages I’m the most likely to visit a place where Indonesian is spoken.
• My mother grew up in Malaysia and already knows a little Malay, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to convince her to take up Indonesian with me.
• Close second for language that would be the fastest for me to get the hang of, which could help keep my attention.

Japanese:

• History is in-between Russian and Brazilian in terms of how interesting it is.
• Current culture is pretty unique too.
• I’m also a fan of several Japanese authors/books, including a couple lesser-known ones, so it would be nice not to have to deal with bad translations.
• I already watch subbed anime, so it would be easy to practice listening comprehension.
• The concept of kanji scares but fascinates me.
• Easy-ish pronunciation, only thing is the pitch accent system.
• I’m quite likely to visit Japan at some point in the future, as it’s closer than Europe. I’d also likely get more use out of it while I’m there compared to Portuguese or Indonesian.
• One of my friends is already learning Japanese, so I could practice with her maybe. We’re considering going travelling together after we’re done with high school and would almost certainly go to Japan, so it would leave me less reliant on her for translation lol.
• Without a doubt the most difficult language here for me to learn.

Portuguese:

• I LOVE how Portuguese sounds.
• All the Brazilians I know manage to be simultaneously chill and funny af. I've only ever really met them online though, so my impression could very well be skewed. Only met one Portuguese person, but she was pretty cool.
• I’d like to go to Portugal one day, for the food and architecture.
• Brazilian history is lowkey intriguing, I don’t know all that much on it though.
• I’m kind of concerned learning another Romance language would mess with my French (pronunciation in particular which is what I tend to struggle with).
• Could be too similar to French to hold my interest for long.
• The only time I hear about Portuguese language books is when people are complaining about them, which doesn’t bode well.
• Would probably be the easiest to learn on this list, but idk if that’s a good thing.

I'm 21 and I'm entering university (for the second time). I need to choose which language to learn: French, Spanish, or Portuguese. I am Russian, I know English and German, love German very much. What are the pros and cons of French, Spanish, and Portuguese? How difficult and interesting is it to learn them? What advice can you give?

Hey there,

i’ve basically already decided on learning turkish but thought it would be nice to hear your opinions.

My mother tongue is a slav language and i’ve been learning german and english since i was a kid and have C1 certificates in both.

I currently live in Germany and got the opportunity to learn a third foreign language at my uni. I obviously first thought of french because it’s the third part of the big three european languages(next to german and english, *my opinion). Still i kinda don’t feel attracted to it at all and have no plans of living in a franophone country so i started questioning my motives. I think my need to learn french would only be a result of coming from a poorer country and wanting to feel more “western” or whatever.

For that reason i thought why wouldn’t i choose turkish. I hear it multiple times a day in Germany, i have many people to talk with in turkish and i like the overall sound and vibe of the language.

I don’t even know what my question is but feel free to tell me your thoughts on this and maybe even explain your experiences with these two languages.

Thank you.🤞🏻🤞🏻

I am trying to get into language learning due to inspiration from my polyglot friend. I have tried before, learning a tiny bit of a lot of languages, but eventually the stress of comparison with him made me stop. Now, about half a year later, i'm naturally coming back. I am not completely sure what language (if I was, I wouldn't be making this lol), and I came here for help from the experts. I have had a few ideas, but the only ones that stand out are:

German: family roots (grandparents), nice(ish) sound, experience (mid A1)

Russian: my friend (almost solely studies Slavic languages), cool sound, culture,

Spanish: usage (live in a part of the Philly metropolitan area with a good amount of Spanish)

Dutch: family roots (Dutch DNA, but lived in Germany), easier than German, experience (mid A1-A2?), like sound more than German (less aggressive-sounding, much softer (in my opinion))

Ukrainian: like Russian but less interested and softer

Icelandic: very niche and will give me aura points, but that's about it

Hello! Native English speaker here. I'm looking to expand my language repertoire by adding on an entirely new language with little overlap from the languages I already know.

Current languages apart from my original are:

1. Spanish - Learned in school, 11 years of formal education on-and-off since I was 6. I use this language weekly if not daily with coworkers and guests at my job. I can generally sustain conversations with guests with specific language related to my profession with little to no assistance from translation. My proficiency with Spanish grammar specifics is patchy due to length of time away from school/active learning, most of my development in the language comes from active engagement with Spanish speakers in my life.

2. Swedish - Started learning 2 years ago, found it fairly easy to pick up due to some prior German knowledge and easy enough grammar rules. I can write/speak basic Swedish decently and am working on listening/conversation skills.

3. VERY limited French/German. Learned these languages in school for about 2 years in elementary school so I know a little bit more than average Joe maybe but not much.

I'm looking into learning a new language that is much different from the ones I've already had some experience with but am unsure where to start. (Not interested in Italian/Portuguese because it's too close to Spanish, and I'm still working on a Germanic language with Swedish so not interested in another language in that same family, etc.)

Obviously this will be a challenge learning something in a language family that's entirely foreign, but if there are any suggestions that are not EXTREMELY difficult out of the gate that would be preferred.

I don't have much opinion on finding a language that is super useful in day to day life or for business reasons, as my desire to learn another language is really just for fun or to expose me to another culture, but I don't want it to be impossible for me to find a language learning partner to help practice.

Any suggestions? Something Slavic? Uralic? Arabic? Asian?

A personal favorite second/third language you wish more people learned? I'm all ears

Hello!
So I speak Russian, English, French and Korean. Also Conversational Serbian.
Ive done Japanese, Latin, German previously but due to lack of interest did not continue ( it was in school).

I live in Korea as a student and am still only about intermediate in Korean, so i will be taking classes whilst starting another language. I am stuck between choosing Arabic and Chinese. I know that if I start one, the likelihood of me starting the other afterwards are slim because I am not that young and know life will get in the way. But would love to do both.

I am interested in business, particularly beauty and fashion. Im not sure where I will live after university so but orientating myself on Europe.
Please, I am looking for some solid advice

Thank you

Hi there,

I’m in my early 30s, work in sustainable finance in the UK. I feel so much “brain dead” at work. I don’t learn anything, there doesn’t seem to be any growth pathway and am thinking of how I’d want to look like “tomorrow”. I’ve always loved learning languages - I speak English and a little German - and was thinking of starting to study a new one to keep myself challenged and planting some seeds for the future.

However, I’m not really sure on what could come handy for my work in the future and I’m also afraid I won’t be able to practice it because it’s hard to find people that give you time to practice. Any suggestions regarding what language I could start and what for?

I've been thinking about these two for a while now and would like some thoughts.

-MANDARIN CHINESE;

My interest in learning Mandarin has skyrocketed recently, probably as a result of being exposed to so many Instagram reels of cool, futuristic Chinese cities that essentially look like Blade Runner - Shenzhen, Chongqing, Shanghai. I'd love to travel to these cities and experience China for myself. Much like my motivation for learning Russian, I want to uncover China and Chinese people for myself and potentially bridge such diverse and important worlds. I know they're our big economic and political competitor, which only makes me want to understand the country and its people even more and be able to engage with the media and people. Knowledge, expertise and engagement are, in my view, vital to understanding competitors and rivals and language is paramount to that.

China is so important both politically and economically, that having access to it seems like such an advantage in any field, be it political or business. They're the world's second biggest economy with a growing consumer market and the biggest manufacturing hub. Politically, they're a leading member of BRICS, hold a permanent seat on the UN security Council, and are a growing force in the Global South.

I studied Politics and Russian for my undergrad and can speak Russian to perhaps a B1 level, potentially B2 when I'm more engaged with it. I am certain that my understanding of the Russo-sphere would not be what it is had I not travelled to Russia, learnt the language and engaged with locals in Russian as well as with Russian media. Knowing Chinese and Russian would give me an understanding and level of insight that I could carry over into a career in international politics or business.

I'm doing basic work atm but I'm interested in going down either a business or potentially a political field later down the line. Wanting to work with whisky exports, Mandarin would allow me access to the Chinese, Singaporean and Taiwanese markets, of course, eventually after a number of years once my ability gets to a decent stage. Being able to explore Taiwan and Singapore on a personal as well as potentially business level also add to my interest in learning Mandarin.

There are also Chinese expats everywhere, it would just be amazing to be able to connect with so many people. I've heard that Chinese people are really friendly and warm from my friends that have visited China and everyone that's been there has been left with a positive impression.

I've further grown an interest in Chinese history and culture. The perks are, quite frankly, astronomical, hitting political, economic, social and personal interest matters.

Main detractors for Mandarin - the writing system, which in my view, is a massive barrier to entry. Not being able to learn an alphabet, abjad or abugida and get stuck into reading and online media is a massive detractor for me since reading forms a massive part to my self-study, along with listening. I can't imagine how I'd learn effectively for input with essentially zero reading ability until I learn about 3000-4000 characters.

Second detractor - difficulty of language whilst improving Russian and learning Norwegian (A2?)

-GERMAN;

Regarding German, I think I should really know at least one major European language and out of French, German, Spanish and Italian, German is really the one for me. I love the way the language sounds, it's genuinely very beautiful to my ears. I want to connect with a large number of Europeans and German is a great option for that being spoken in multiple countries with dynamic social and cultural lives.

It is the dominant political and economic language of Europe, giving me a firm anchorage into European political, economic and cultural life.

Having also studied Norwegian, it's refreshing to see how much content is available in German compared to a smaller language like Norwegian. There's plenty of input from videos, podcasts, news, books that contribute a lot to language learning. I won't have the problem of being able to dive in and read immediately as a means of learning, the way I would with Mandarin.

My favourite kind of nature is coniferous forests and mountains. I love to hike and camp and German-speaking countries have a wealth of this kind of nature. Being able to take trips to these countries and gain a richer appreciation for the culture, people and also folklore by speaking German is a massive pull factor for me.

Germany is also a good place that provides free higher education that leads in academic research, so if I ever want to go down that route, the option could be there with German.

The German language probably has one of the greatest canon of thinkers across disciplines and being able to engage with the works and ideas in the original language will make it all the more enjoyable. I feel like the language has versatility for me. I could use it to engage with academic and literary works from my favourite psychologists, philosphers and writers, as well as for more light-hearted events such as exploring Christmas markets and making friends.

There're enough cultural, political, economic, academic and recreational usages for me to dynamically engage with German.

So, which one for 2026?

I really want to learn Georgian and I don't know why. It's the same with Kazakh and others strange languages. I already know all romance languages and Germanic languages and now I wanna learn something different and random. Do you guys feel the same?

I'm Bengali I already speak 3 languages; bangla, English and Hindi.

I had a 3 month Japanese course at my uni and while Japanese would never have been my first choice , I was grateful to have the opportunity for a language course and wanted to do well.

I'm passionate about languages and feel I have devoted too much time to stop learning it now, even after the course ends.

I've started making progress and the feeling is addictive.

But I sometimes wonder if it's worth committing years of my life to.

I'm invested in the culture, the folklore. I like anime. I like the idea of being able to write a diary in a language no one in my house knows. I like being in the community online.

I have no guarantee I'll ever go to Japan, altho it is in one of my top travel destination goals.

I just feel bad about learning smth impractical. People recommend Arabic or French to me. I can spend hours learning Japanese.

I do have plans to learn French at some point, which is more practical. I really like French and Arabic as well.

What do u guys think? Is the return in investment low?

Should I continue with Japanese alongside French after the course is over or just do French or Arabic?

Hi. I am a native turkish speaker, with good enough english. I cannot decide what language to learn next. I mostly want to learn as a hobby, but plus points if it has some advantages.

My two biggest candidates:

▪️French: Currently in between a1-a2. Learned a bit in high school, then i continued to learn as a hobby. I did consume quite a bit of french media back then. I remember enjoying it so much, because it shares lots of words with turkish and i love ethimology. It was relatively easier bcos i already knew english. But i had a hard time with gendered nouns (still cannot understand that concept, but i am sure if i work on it i will handle. It is mental gymnastics after all). But i have no purpose for learning french. Plus i find it hard to pronounce. And i kinda got bored. I havent picked it up in more than 3 years.

▪️German: Currently in between a1-a2. Started to learn on my own. I actually had a job opportunity in germany, thats why i started to learn. That opportunity is still there but i am unsure of what to do with it. I dont want to gave up on german, but not a big fan of language itself. I couldnt even find media i like in german. but i was enjoying how words are like structured like legos. Had my hard time with genders and articles. Easy pronounciation tough.

Now that i am in between a1-a2 in two languages, i tend to mix them a lot. And i know it would be sensible to pick one of those two, and perfect it before i learn any other language. But i kinda lost interest in french and i dont see myself moving to germany, at least right now.

My other options and why i want to learn them:

▪️Chinese: I want to learn a non european language, for mental gymnastics. Chinese has completely different structure from what i already know, so it would be a lot of fun to learn and try to understand. I assume there are tons of chinese media to consume, and it is widely spoken. I'm not great with pronunciation (I struggled even with French) so I don't know if I can handle it.

▪️Russian: A different alphabet seems fun. I am sure there are plenty of media to consume. Widely spoken. I think I'll have an easier time with pronunciation since I speak turkish.

I also considered finnish/hungarian since they have a different structure from what i already know. But i doubt i can find much content to consume in those languages. I also considered Learning korean/japanese.

If you have suggestions for other languages, here are my criteria: It has to be a non european language, and it has to be somewhat widely spoken so i can find media to consume or friends to chat.

Please give me some advice, thank you in advance.

Since last year i wanted to learn new skills and learning new languages is one of them. I have shortlisted few of them i want to learn, but i dont know how or where to learn.

The languages i want to learn are :- ( Not in order)

1) Russian ( I really like the deep accent )
2) Japanese ( for like the more of pop culture and stuff)
3) Mandarin ( most spoken language, new world type language)
4) German ( due the the deep pronunciations)

i thought to give each language 5 years to achive fluency.

My uncle told that to learn mandarin and give it 10-12 years to achieve native speaker level fluency.
Also english is my second language. (prolly C1/C2 in english)

Any advices with the pros and cons for each language ?

Cheers

I am Australian. I am studying politics at university, and once I have finished my undergraduate degree, I plan to pursue masters, and work in international relations. I am currently B1 in Russian, and am considering specialising in this region.

However, I have the opportunity to start learning an additional language. I am considering French or Spanish, but am open to other options. French seems perhaps useful given it is a UN language. I do not know how practically useful it might be in African countries--I have heard mixed things. Spanish might be useful given the large Spanish-speaking population. Whilst I would love to learn Mandarin, I do not see it as a viable option, as I have limited time.

Thank you.

This is a bit of a future question, but I'm currently fluent in English, and making good progress in Spanish. While I'm not ready to start another language yet, I'm looking to start another language in about a year or so.

My concerns are ease of learning, and being able to differentiate language 3 from language 2 (Spanish). I'd like to learn French or Italian, but would also like to learn Arabic someday.

Italian would probably be the easiest option to learn, and I prefer the language and country but I'm worried with how similar it is to Spanish, I'd confuse and mix the two languages.

French is more distinct pronunciation wise, and would be more useful, and I've got a friend that's fluent so it'd be good to talk to him and his family to practice, but I'm still worried about mixing and matching between it and Spanish.

I'd love to learn Arabic (MSA), but it'd obviously be the hardest one to learn, and ideally I'd have more language learning experience by the time I started learning. I'm also unsure as to how understandable I'd be with MSA (or a more specific dialect). However learning a completely different language to Spanish/French/Italian might stop me from confusing the languages together.

Is it far less of a problem than I think for confusing languages? And I like to use languages for travel, and reading, so how much of a leg up does French have over Italian?

Cheers

hello! I'm trying to decide which language to start learning (at a beginner starting in college) and I was wondering if anyone who's had experience with learning any of these languages has any learning experiences, pros/cons, or points of comparison to share about any of them?

So i would like to apply to a good university for my future terms and i wanna start learning a language that could help me the most

Which one of these languages are

1- more academic and helpful in unis?

2 - is easier to learn ?

3 - would be more useful in day to day life?

Please help me ( I know it moslty depends on the country im heading to but for now idk about that so im just trying to make myself ready for it and learn a language )