If you could choose one language to speak fluently...

[valkyrie4488]

Japanese. I've always been fascinated with Japanese culture among others, and it would be awesome to know the language.

[princealbertofb]

Nobody wants to learn Flemish aka Dutch?

Het is echt niet moeilijk, eigenlijk is het een taal dat gemakkelijk en snel te leren is

Ik heb de taal geleerd. Funny that most people think it's an ugly language. I don't think so. Can a language be ugly?

[princealbertofb]

Irish / Gaeilge. It is kind of pointless but still, it would be cool. I am trying to learn a wee bit.

Don't let it die, [MENTION=22336]himself[/MENTION].

[Sylph]

Wow it seems like a lot of people want to learn Japanese .
I started when I was 15 and I'm still learning a lot of things lol.

I'm currently working On Spanish with the other 3 languages under my belt;

But as for learning; I want to learn Mandarin; Turkish and maybe Elvish, purely for reading in the latter case!


がんばれましょう！
あなたたちは日本語を話すできるでしょう('ω')ノ

(Hang In There! You guys will be able to Speak Japanese).

I can help with small practice if anyone wants to learn the basics

[himself]

Don't let it die, [MENTION=22336]himself[/MENTION].

There is a feeling that a lot of people (possibly even most people) who aren't native speakers but take it up as a second (or third or whatever) language have an 'anything goes' attitude to it. They'll speak a heavily simplified or anglicised version of the language - e.g. they'll learn lots of words and parts of sentences and piece them together in an English way, e.g. in Irish, I like is 'Is maith liom' (pronounced iss moyh lyum or iss mah lyum) , play is 'imirt' (pronounced imirch or imirtss and football is 'peil' (pronounced pel). The correct way to say I like to play football is 'Is maith liom peil a imirt'. Some non-native speakers might instead say, 'Is maith liom imirt peil' because of the tendency to try to translate a sentence into Irish by translating the English sentence almost word for word. Since they will spend most of their time speaking to non-native speakers, this will often go unchallenged.

[Sylph]

There is a feeling that a lot of people (possibly even most people) who aren't native speakers but take it up as a second (or third or whatever) language have an 'anything goes' attitude to it. They'll speak a heavily simplified or anglicised version of the language - e.g. they'll learn lots of words and parts of sentences and piece them together in an English way, e.g. in Irish, I like is 'Is maith liom' (pronounced iss moyh lyum or iss mah lyum) , play is 'imirt' (pronounced imirch or imirtss and football is 'peil' (pronounced pel). The correct way to say I like to play football is 'Is maith liom peil a imirt'. Some non-native speakers might instead say, 'Is maith liom imirt peil' because of the tendency to try to translate a sentence into Irish by translating the English sentence almost word for word. Since they will spend most of their time speaking to non-native speakers, this will often go unchallenged.

I don't want to intrude on this narrative, but I have to personally agree with you very much, because you noted an important point in language (which I take pretty seriously lol)

In that;

Tho through acquisition of foreign languages, does a language actually "grow" (For example the usage of English words in nearly every other language to "fill spaces" a language may not have a word for);

It also has the slightly negative side effect of also compromising some of the original grammar and even culture behind the words. As you so clearly pointed out.

I myself am guilty of this at times, tho granted, when I do so, it's typically between Portuguese and Spanish, of which Portuguese I am more familiar with and it's flexibility far exceeds Spanish, but they are very similar.

However; you have to also remember;


In certain instances, these "mutations" in language, can also further develop it into it's "own" breed.

A very good example is the stark differences between American English, European English and our English in the Anglo-phone Carribean/Atlantic, and of course the further sub-categorization within each of these communities.

Sometimes; We can't even understand one another, even tho we speak the exact same Language (with ours having more Creole than American or European).


So Gaelic; of which I learned briefly, may over time develop a dichotomous relationship

"Traditional/Modern" and so forth. Depending on who prefers to speak a certain way.

We have our own version of that scenario here and it happens all over the world.

It's not always bad; But I do agree that in when learning a language, that you try to stay as close to the standard as you can, when applicable (In school/work/public speeches/etc)

[himself]

These mutations are probably a good thing in widely spoken languages because you get to see languages evolving (although the down side is that the dialects / versions of the language aren't seen as equal and people are judged for the brand of the language they speak, e.g. black Americans may be looked down upon for using African American Vernacular English). In Irish, there are so few speakers that the 'incorrect' version spoken by non-native speakers (who outnumber native speakers) dominates and, in the end, it will be the one to survive, at the expense of the 'correct' version of the Irish language spoken by native speakers.

[Sylph]

These mutations are probably a good thing in widely spoken languages because you get to see languages evolving (although the down side is that the dialects / versions of the language aren't seen as equal and people are judged for the brand of the language they speak, e.g. black Americans may be looked down upon for using African American Vernacular English). In Irish, there are so few speakers that the 'incorrect' version spoken by non-native speakers (who outnumber native speakers) dominates and, in the end, it will be the one to survive, at the expense of the 'correct' version of the Irish language spoken by native speakers.

Of course, I agree wholly

I mean, it's sad to say that ultimately, that may just end up being the case; Simply for the fact that when Irish Gaelic was initially developed/spoken;

It was in a time with less "inclusism"(Yes I made that up); Meaning;

Ireland is now more and more integrated with the UK as a whole, as far as I remember from being in England (for the whole of 4 dang Months LoL), and tho the history is tumultuous, especially with the lingual 'genocide' by oppressive Englishmen's institutionalized usage of English;

It's now the common mode of conversation because of the lingual purge; and for the pure and simple fact that English right now is the World's Lingua Franca.

Trust me; I'm not the biggest fan of English, simply because of it's expansion, now into the territory of cultural erasure of other languages;

But it's the simplest, and most widely understood or recognized languages;

And because Irish Gaelic by population alone would've been small anyway, the overall chances that it would've survived "intact" and even hereafter, as we can now see with Spanish and other languages that 'adopt' English terms, is significantly low.


It would've at some point dichotomized.

Every language does, is doing it now, and will continue to do so until whenever.

In a hundred or so odd years; This conversation we're having may look like Greek to both of us; or one of our Englishes may evolve far more drastically in a different direction.


I think the case of Irish Gaelic, like Okinawan Japanese and other 'critically endangered' languages, are one's of Sentimentalism and Cultural identity.

Which I fully support.

Because I know I wouldn't want my own Dialect to go extinct and we lose all that we are to adapt to another way of life/speaking.

I completely sympathize my dear.

[Genersis]

French.
So a Channel Tunnel day trip can become a reality.

[princealbertofb]

Come and visit, [MENTION=2362]Genersis[/MENTION].