Which Language Should I learn?
Some useful information when choosing a language
In the previous article, we outlined different considerations to make when choosing which language to learn. You will hopefully have a better idea of what kind of language you are looking for. In this article, we will delve into 7 of the most common languages to review what makes them both useful and unique.
Mandarin
Being the most widely spoken language in the world, there are over a billion total speakers globally. It’s the official language of China, and is widely spoken in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Mandarin does not have an alphabet, instead, it uses the logographic system for the written language. It’s represented in Chinese characters, which are divided into two kinds — traditional and simplified. There are over 100,000 Chinese characters, each carrying a different sound and meaning. There are 4 tones, which makes Mandarin a tonal language, suggesting that different tones give completely different meaning to the word.The idea of it might be intimidating to a lot of foreigners. However, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. The grammar rules of Mandarin are not complicated. It doesn’t require you to master verb tense, or worry about gender-specific nouns. Mandarin has become increasingly relevant in today’s global context and is considered as one of the most important languages in the world.
English
With approximately 1 billion total speakers in the world — of which 350 million native speakers and 600 million non-native speakers, English remains to be the universal language of the world. It became a global language as English spread throughout the British Empire. 80% of the information that we find on the internet is in English. The economic influence of English language in the world is undoubtable. English is the universal language to communicate with each other. Most sentences are formed in the standard Subject-Verb-Object syntax. It has the largest vocabulary of any language, with approximately one million words.
Spanish
With about 500 million speakers worldwide, it’s the third most widely spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English. It’s widely spoken in European cities. It’s the most popular foreign language choice for American. There are many English-Spanish cognates so it’s relatively easier for English speakers to learn. It’s one of the world’s most phonetic languages, how it’s written is often how it’s read. That means, if you can spell it, you can say it. Spanish is similar to languages like Italian, Portuguese and French. If you speak any of these languages, it requires less effort for you to learn Spanish with the share of vocabularies and similar grammar rules. Even if you don’t know any of these languages, Spanish is a great “gateway language” for you. You would be able to learn a few more languages easier with the knowledge of Spanish.
Arabic
Ranked fifth in the top 5 most widely spoken languages in the world, it’s spoken by over 290 million people globally. The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters. In written language, most letters are joined together, similar to cursive writing in English. The dots on the language are used to differentiate a letter from another. A single dot can change the meaning of the word completely. One of the most significant things to know about this language is that it’s written from right to left. In Arabic alphabet, there are no vowel letters. The three long vowels are written using three consonant letters. As complicated as Arabic might sound, the grammar is relatively easy to learn compared to a lot of languages — the verb “to be” is not necessary to form a simple sentence. There are only two grammatical genders — masculine and feminine, with no neuter. The words are formed according to a root system, making it easier for learners to memorize the words.
French
340 million speakers are spread all over the world, with Congo and Canada the most numerous outside of France. It’s one of the most commonly studied language in the world, second only to English. It’s thought by many as one of the most beautiful and romantic spoken languages. About a third to a half of basic English words come from French. The “r” and nasal sounds might probably take some practice for learners to get used to. Some sounds of the words are not pronounced. French has fewer verb tenses in comparison to Spanish. It shares similar grammatical structure as English so you already have familiar ground if you are an English speaker.
Japanese
There are 130 million native Japanese speakers in Japan. It’s one of the most highly geographically concentrated languages. This language boasts two distinct writing systems — Hiragana (with 46 base characters) and Katakana (which consists of 48 characters), along with extensive use of Chinese Kanji characters. Katakana is used for foreign language words into Japanese. There are a lot of “loanwords” in Japanese from English. If you understand Katakana, you will be able to figure the meaning of the words in English. Unlike most of Asian languages, Japanese is not a tonal language which doesn’t require you to learn a specific tone for every syllable.
German
There are around 200 million German speakers in the world. It’s the third most commonly studied language in the world, also the most widely spoken language in Europe. It’s a Germanic language which is fairly easy for English-speakers to pick up. German is famous for having long words. However, most of the long words are not frequently used in everyday conversation. Since the words are basically short words mashed together, they are easy to break down. The grammar might be a bit challenging at first but it gets easier as you get to more advanced subjects. The pattern of nouns genders and overall verb conjugation are consistent.
This article only discussed a few languages that are commonly spoken. There are many other equally interesting languages that you can explore and learn more about. FluentUp offers live online lessons for some of these languages. The good news is that we are always looking to increase the number of languages on offer on FluentUp. Sign up today and start learning the language you want to become fluent in. If you still haven’t decided which language to learn, you can even sign up to a free trial to see if the language is for you!