4 ms·

Why in God's name would you want to learn Romanian? 1. It's a silly, silly language -- I've been speaking it all of my life, and, most of the time, I still fi

Why in God's name would you want to learn Romanian? 1. It's a silly, silly language -- I've been speaking it all of my life, and, most of the time, I still find I express myself better in English. 2. It's only spoken in a small, god-forsaken country that'll probably never amount to much of anything. If you insist on learning another language -- it is my opinion that one should try to say something smart in one language, rather than something mediocre in a couple -- you should at least learn something that might actually prove useful -- like Chinese (if you're young and you foresee you'll still be around when they rule the world), or Russian (for more-or-less the same reason)

gcheong 17y ago
My reason for wanting to learn more Romanian is that it is a natural side effect of having Romanian friends. It always gets a good laugh anyway.
- gabriel-coarna 17y ago
  Yeah, that pretty much makes sense. However, if they're already your friends, you probably communicate just fine in (most likely) English. My (unsolicited) advice: keep it that way, and spend the time you were going to spend learning Romanian by doing something way cooler. Anyway, ... Merry Christmas. And a very happy New Year.
jacquesm 17y ago
I'd replace Russian with Spanish in that list. Romanian is very useful though, because of its reasonably strong ties to latin. If you know Romanian then Italian, Spanish and French are more accessible.
- gabriel-coarna 17y ago
  Sure. Spanish is also a good choice. I could have went on and on enumerating interesting languages and interesting reasons to learn them (like reading history, philosophy, or great literature in their original form). As for your second point, as far as I know, Romanian's ties to Latin aren't only reasonably strong; Romanian is actually the most like-Latin language that is still spoken -- however, Spanish and French still sound horrible to me (and I took French for 11 years, in school). Also -- and I just couldn't resist making this point -- do you really think that the French or the Italians are ever going to do something interesting enough to warrant learning their language? -- please note that I'm not saying anything bad about their past (that's awesome); but, if you're forward thinking, I think you're pretty safe assuming that they're glory days are (long) over.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    I think any language is worth learning. Right now I'm at 5, Dutch (my mother tongue), Polish, German, English and French (the latter poorly through inactivity). I very much want to learn more languages and I find that with every language added the next one becomes easier. So there is no such thing as a language 'not worth learning', almost all of the languages spoken on the European continent are related in some way or other anyway (even Hungarian and Finnish). Whether a language is 'ascending' or 'descending' in influence can certainly guide your priorities but I'd definitely not rule them out simply on that basis.
    - gabriel-coarna 17y ago
      That's actually a rather cool point of view. However, I don't share it. I believe that one should spend most of one's time trying to do something awesome in one language -- as opposed to wasting time by learning 5. Now, don't get me wrong, the fact that you now 5 languages is very cool; however, I don't think I'll ever use up that much time to gain those particular skills. You see, I believe that if one were to draw a graph illustrating the relationship between the "awesomeness" of what one has done and the effort one has put in, the effort axis would be on an geometric scale, while the "awesomeness" one would be on a linear one. In other words, one has to put in a hell of a lot more effort to get something just a little more "awesome". On the other hand, maybe learning languages is an integral part of what you "do"; or, maybe, it helps you relax. Either way, and as in most arguments between somewhat-intelligent people, I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree -- please note that I'm using the "somewhat" prefix as it pertains to me; I'm pretty sure that you're just plain intelligent. Oh, and: Merry Christmas. And a very happy New Year.
      - jacquesm 17y ago
        The idea of it being cool or awesome never crossed my mind, to me languages are tools and knowing how to use more tools gives me more opportunities. Dutch was unavoidable, English at 10 in grade school, working for a US based bank (but in Europe), French and German you get in high school in NL and Polish because I lived there and had a relationship with somone from Poland. Currently Spanish is very high on the wish list because of spending some time in Panama.
vishaldpatel 17y ago
I like Romanians. Always gotten along with em'. Never met one I didn't like (seriously). So I figured, why not ;)
- gabriel-coarna 17y ago
  Because you could use that time to do something way more awesome. That's pretty much the summary of what I said below, but in a lot fewer words. Anyway, ... Merry Christmas. And a very happy New Year.
equity08 17y ago
you know what its right wt you were saying but i have my reason i don't wanna be stupid in a gathering of Romanian husbands friends and i would be like an outsider you know how it feels its horrible that's why i need this language even if i don't like it at all .

gcheong 17y ago

My reason for wanting to learn more Romanian is that it is a natural side effect of having Romanian friends. It always gets a good laugh anyway.

gabriel-coarna 17y ago
Yeah, that pretty much makes sense. However, if they're already your friends, you probably communicate just fine in (most likely) English. My (unsolicited) advice: keep it that way, and spend the time you were going to spend learning Romanian by doing something way cooler. Anyway, ... Merry Christmas. And a very happy New Year.

jacquesm 17y ago

I'd replace Russian with Spanish in that list. Romanian is very useful though, because of its reasonably strong ties to latin. If you know Romanian then Italian, Spanish and French are more accessible.

gabriel-coarna 17y ago
Sure. Spanish is also a good choice. I could have went on and on enumerating interesting languages and interesting reasons to learn them (like reading history, philosophy, or great literature in their original form). As for your second point, as far as I know, Romanian's ties to Latin aren't only reasonably strong; Romanian is actually the most like-Latin language that is still spoken -- however, Spanish and French still sound horrible to me (and I took French for 11 years, in school). Also -- and I just couldn't resist making this point -- do you really think that the French or the Italians are ever going to do something interesting enough to warrant learning their language? -- please note that I'm not saying anything bad about their past (that's awesome); but, if you're forward thinking, I think you're pretty safe assuming that they're glory days are (long) over.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  I think any language is worth learning. Right now I'm at 5, Dutch (my mother tongue), Polish, German, English and French (the latter poorly through inactivity). I very much want to learn more languages and I find that with every language added the next one becomes easier. So there is no such thing as a language 'not worth learning', almost all of the languages spoken on the European continent are related in some way or other anyway (even Hungarian and Finnish). Whether a language is 'ascending' or 'descending' in influence can certainly guide your priorities but I'd definitely not rule them out simply on that basis.
  - gabriel-coarna 17y ago
    That's actually a rather cool point of view. However, I don't share it. I believe that one should spend most of one's time trying to do something awesome in one language -- as opposed to wasting time by learning 5. Now, don't get me wrong, the fact that you now 5 languages is very cool; however, I don't think I'll ever use up that much time to gain those particular skills. You see, I believe that if one were to draw a graph illustrating the relationship between the "awesomeness" of what one has done and the effort one has put in, the effort axis would be on an geometric scale, while the "awesomeness" one would be on a linear one. In other words, one has to put in a hell of a lot more effort to get something just a little more "awesome". On the other hand, maybe learning languages is an integral part of what you "do"; or, maybe, it helps you relax. Either way, and as in most arguments between somewhat-intelligent people, I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree -- please note that I'm using the "somewhat" prefix as it pertains to me; I'm pretty sure that you're just plain intelligent. Oh, and: Merry Christmas. And a very happy New Year.
    - jacquesm 17y ago
      The idea of it being cool or awesome never crossed my mind, to me languages are tools and knowing how to use more tools gives me more opportunities. Dutch was unavoidable, English at 10 in grade school, working for a US based bank (but in Europe), French and German you get in high school in NL and Polish because I lived there and had a relationship with somone from Poland. Currently Spanish is very high on the wish list because of spending some time in Panama.

vishaldpatel 17y ago

I like Romanians. Always gotten along with em'. Never met one I didn't like (seriously). So I figured, why not ;)

gabriel-coarna 17y ago
Because you could use that time to do something way more awesome. That's pretty much the summary of what I said below, but in a lot fewer words. Anyway, ... Merry Christmas. And a very happy New Year.

equity08 17y ago

you know what its right wt you were saying but i have my reason i don't wanna be stupid in a gathering of Romanian husbands friends and i would be like an outsider you know how it feels its horrible that's why i need this language even if i don't like it at all .