jubvman

I don't know about funniest, but the strangest sounding English word to me is definitely 'fathom'.

It's incorrect most of the time, understandable though as words can have different meanings when used in a different context. But I think it's great for just getting a rough idea of the text, as long as it's nothing relating to business or anything like that.

Maybe French. I think it sounds really nice. I will learn it after I'm good enough at German and Mandarin which I consider the two most beneficial languages to me (excluding english of course).

The annoying ones really are terrible, wow. Sousveillance sounds very interesting.

My favourite quote ever, changed my work ethic and my whole life. There is a lot of back story so I've posted the image at the bottom of this post rather than type it out. There's also two from Nikola Tesla which I really like, he's a big inspiration to me: "Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." "Money does not represent such a value as men have placed upon it. All my money has been invested into experiments with which I have made new discoveries enabling mankind to have a little easier life."

I agree with an above poster that stated words will become shorter, this is evident when texting and even sometimes typing online. I believe that there will be a few 'main languages' (two or three languages spoke by 90%+ of the population). And many 'small languages' which will be used between small groups of people, certain societies, communities etc.

I actually visited Berlin several months ago and had some short conversations with some of them. I think some of them thought I looked German so they greeted me in German, which definitely helped! But I found that they are generally pretty relaxed when it comes to that sort of thing.

I think having a few language classes is important to learn the basics and everything. But once you've picked the basics up I would say hands down living in a foreign country. Being immersed in the language and the culture all day really allows you to progress much easier.

Some really good ones in there. I wish I was good enough to be able to incorporate them into my vocabulary

Thanks for the links. Never knew you could read German newspapers online! Will definitely take a look once I get some free time. Thanks again OP

I agree that Spanish is a good language to learn and definitely has it's benefits. But I think that there are many other languages more beneficial. I'm currently learning German and Mandarin and for me these languages are more important than Spanish. Spanish is very beneficial if you're doing work in Central/Southern America but unfortunately I'm not.

I generally text with good punctuation and grammar, I hate text speak. Even if I'm in a rush I will use proper punctuation and grammar. Once I become more conversational in different languages I would probably text in another language just to annoy my friends

I am quite a fast reader usually except for when reading books since I'm really trying to take in the information. When reading in German I am generally quite fast but if I really want to understand what I'm reading I have to go a bit slower.

I wouldn't say I feel like a different person but I definitely feel a lot smarter when speaking a foreign language. It's a great feeling being able to communicate with people who you couldn't previously. Makes me feel like I've accomplished something really great

I'm currently learning German and get familiar with all these long words is taking a while. So I'm finding speaking much easier than reading/writing as the spelling is hard. I think speaking is probably the easiest with most languages though.

Wow thanks! Didn't know they're so many resources for learning Mandarin. It seems to me that languages like Mandarin aren't as well learned as languages such as Spanish and French. Mandarin definitely has a lot of use in the world! I'm going to download some of the iPhone apps now and will check out some of the other resources later on in the day. Thanks again!

I am currently learning German because I think it's one of the best languages to learn. Germany is a great country with one of the best economies in the world and if you're involved in business like I am there's even more reason to learn it! Germany isn't just a language spoke in Germany though, it's also spoke in other countries like Switzerland and Austria so it's very useful!

A lot of people do say German sounds very aggressive, as if they're angry all the time. Personally, I think I have to say I agree a bit. Although it doesn't sound very aggressive, it does sound more rough than other languages.

Couldn't agree more! Duolingo is in my opinion, one of the best apps for foreign language learning. It's helped me with German so much and I think I'll go on to use it to learn French or Spanish once I'm done with German. I love how they're constantly updating the app also, and adding new languages. I hope soon they add Mandarin!

Hi, I'm jubvman, I live in the UK (native English tongue). Currently I'm learning German using Duolingo and I'd like to learn Mandarin. My only problem with Mandarin is that I can't find anywhere to learn it except for Rosetta Stone but that's really pricey. Any suggestions?