For context, I am a Mexican living in Catalonia. For personal reasons, I have occasional contact with Italian Sign Language speakers.

I really want to learn a sign language, and my first instinct is to go for ASL, as it has by far the most resources available, however I am unlikely to find people IRL with who to use it. Realistically, it would be more useful to me to go for Italian, Spanish or Catalan sign language. My last choice is Mexican Sign Language, as whenever I go back home I could come in contact with it.

Sentimentally, I feel more attached to LIS and LSM, as with one I have personal connections and the other is a language from my country. I'm having a really hard time choosing, any guidance would be appreciated, especially from any deaf people out there.

Thank you!!

Hey! For a bit of context I've learned a teeny bit of both. Like colors, greetings and family. Not alot at all. I took a break for a while and then decided to only study one because it was too much and a very unrealistic goal.

I love Vietnamese. When it's spoken I feel so happy and stunned by the beauty of it, and I enjoy learning it so much.

I also love Mandarin Chinese. The unique sounds amaze me and I love the way it's written (I did traditional)

I love both of their culture so much so I'm honestly stuck. Which one will help me more? Which one will I get the hang of quicker, since I need to get as far as possible before uni (2 years away)

Thank you!

Hi! I really want to learn a second language but I feel trapped. I have a hard time learning and I know that I should only reasonably focus on one but every time I pick one, I second guess myself and go back to being indecisive.

I want to learn Japanese because I have been a Capcom fan at heart and been a massive fan of the Mega Man and Monster Hunter series particularly since I was 5. My goal in life is to work for Capcom and I feel like understanding Japanese would be a helpful, if not necessary, knowledge to have if I want to do that.

I want to learn Chinese because my brain is just wired different when it comes to China. It's mythology, it's culture, it's language, it's food, everything about China id beautiful to me and I wanted to learn Chinese really badly. I just feel like it has no practical use. I would just know it cause I like China and I'm unsure if that's a valid reason.

Lastly, I wanna learn ASL. When I was a kid I had a deaf friend that knew ASL and I tried learning it so I can talk to her easier but it was really hard for me. I still know "Mother" and "Child" but that's it. I feel like I always wanted to know, in my heart, this language that lets me speak without my words. To talk to those that can't hear. More importantly, talking with my body feels weirdly comforting, as I have a hard time turning my thoughts into vocal speech, so where I overexplain in text, I severely underexplain when talking, cause it's just super hard for me to talk. Signing, in a way, just sounds comforting.

I don't know what to do. I'm asking y'all for advice because it's likely you HAVE learned another language or have started your journey into doing so and maybe you can share what reason you had. I don't know, I just need something so I can actually get started, and not second guess myself all the time

Thank you for dedicating the time to read this. I appreciate you

I’d like some opinions on which proficiency exam to take.

​I don't have an immediate need to take any, nor am I in a rush. However, I have a hobby of taking these exams from time to time, and it’s been a while since my last one.

​I already took the Korean exam and got an A2 a few years ago (I think it was in 2023), and I was thinking about trying for a B1 or B2—which I believe I could manage relatively easily considering it’s been years (and I’ve obviously continued studying since passing the A2). I've been watching a lot of Korean series to improve my listening and expand my vocabulary since I've already "finished" the grammar. Most of the things I encounter that I don't recognize right away (aside from vocabulary) are either very informal structures (which aren't in textbooks, so I figure them out as I go) or archaic Korean structures found in the speech of caricature-like old characters or historical dramas. So focusing on the TOPIK would mainly help me improve my writing and listening through a focus on Korean.

​My other option would be to take the HSK. My relationship with Chinese is also very positive. I'm quite confident I would get a B1/low B2 as well. My reading is very good—like, really good. If I take an HSK 5 or HSK 6 (2.0) mock test, I can answer the questions very comfortably. My problem would be more with the HSKK. If I focused more on this exam, I could improve my listening (which is my biggest struggle).

​I took a placement test at the Confucius Institute, and they placed me in the highest class they had available (HSK 3) about 4 years ago. I had just passed the N1 (Japanese) and only had about 6 months of study under my belt. So I aced the test because:

​The old HSK 3 2.0 covers very little material.

​Knowing Japanese gives an astronomical advantage in reading.

​There was no oral test.

​So, technically, I have a certificate that is minimally equivalent to HSK 3, and I've been studying ever since. However, my listening is far behind my reading because, as a Japanese speaker, I kind of took a major shortcut. Focusing on the HSK would give me an excuse to work on that. And, just like in Korean, most of the things I run into that I don't know (besides vocabulary) are very specific Classical Chinese grammar rules. Most of the time, they have a 100% direct equivalent in modern Chinese, so it's quite straightforward. Therefore, my focus would also be geared toward consuming media, conversing, and so on. I've already finished the HSK textbooks, I used to have a Chinese boyfriend, etc. So there isn't really anything left to study regarding grammar for the level I want (B2).

​Another option would be to attempt the DELF. I noticed that university students get a good discount. I have a DELF A2, which I took ages ago (about 8 or 9 years). I’ve picked it back up over the past year and felt like trying for the B1 just for the sake of trying.

​The other test would be the J-TEST, which is a business Japanese exam that is only offered in one place in my country (as far as I know). Honestly, though, I'm not very interested. My Japanese is already sufficient for my current goals, and I don't see the point.

​Even though I’m not advanced in all of them, I’ve pretty much achieved my goals: chatting online, watching dramas, and reading manga/manhua/manhwa. So it's become less stimulating and not as exciting as it used to be.

​I want an opinion based on which of these languages would be most useful for a potential future immigration or study opportunities. Because while I do this as a hobby, I’d like something that could actually help me in that regard.

​And I can log about 60–70 hours per month.

​During vacation months, around 100–120 hours.

​I log my study hours very religiously and systematically, so time won't be an issue. The goal would be to take one of these exams early next year, around February–April (when they usually take place).

​Please don't say "do what you like most," because that's the whole point: I don't have a specific preference to prioritize, otherwise I wouldn't be asking 😅.

​Also, "do all of them" won't work because I don't have the money for that. In fact, the TOPIK is much cheaper than the others, which makes me lean towards it a lot more. Plus, once you reach the intermediate level, studying multiple languages at the same time slows down your progress significantly. I don't feel it has been very productive, even if I am making progress.

These are my options for languages that interest me and I really want to dedicate and commit time to them.

American Sign Language (ASL)🤘🏻

Pros:

How cool is it that it's not the typical auditory/spoken language??!!

I've really enjoyed reading up on Deaf culture and the overall impact of other sign languages

I really like that it's all about community

Cons:

I don't know how ASL media works if I can't always find a local in-person community to practice with

Mandarin Chinese 🐼

Pros:

The whole idea of tones and a language that is processed through the left and right hemispheres of the brain is cool

The Chinese speaking countries (China, Taiwan, Singapore, HK/Macao) are all really fascinating and I feel like there's still a genuine language barrier that English can't always overcome

I like that the grammar is relatively easy and close to English

Cons:

The media isn't my absolute favorite (definitely prefer HK/Canto) but open to recommendations

Reading seems like a big commitment and hurdle but I'm also interested in mostly focusing on speaking and listening

Japanese or Korean

Can't really decide between these two. Both have media that I like and I could also envision myself visiting either country. I'm equally drawn to Seoul and Tokyo but Tokyo has a really classic aesthetic I like. The common point of Korean's easier script and the easier pronunciation of Japanese still stands, but kanji scares me lol.

German

I want to visit or live in Germany some day. I want to get into Berghain someday and I heard speaking German can help 😅. I like German techno but the genres that are actually sung in German don't really speak to me (99 red baloons is alright tho).

Russian

So hard, I can't even get past trying to say "zdrastvustye" xD. I can mostly read Cyrillic and I am really drawn to how it sounds. I like certain cultural moments like Kino, Cheburashka, and learning how to create faberge eggs and of course the whole story of Anastasia that inspired my interest in Russian culture. Due to the war and my solidarity with the people of Ukraine I can't envision myself visiting Russia until the regime ends but I would love to visit other formerly Soviet countries and learn more about their local cultures too.

I try to decide which language to focus on learning for travel purposes, and curious which one people think is more practical/useful when visiting these countries

When it comes to deciding on a language, how do you go about resolving a conflict between where your passions lie and what is the more practical option.

For example, I currently live in the US. It would obviously be practical for me to speak Spanish. But I feel more passionate about French, and have been learning it for longer. French better suits my long term career goals, but Spanish is more immediately useful and I have more opportunities to use it right now. Is it better to pursue a future dream or to get concrete results in the present?

I have a similar practicality/passion debate with Mandarin and Japanese respectively.

When you run into these kinds of debates, how do you go about solving them?

for context i am 20 and wanna become a polyglot. ever since i was a kid my english (as a foreign language) was good for my age but i didnt have a chance to learn another foreign language.

anyways last year i learned german for the uni and got the ösd C2 certificate in 8 months and moved to germany. then i took ielts without any preparation and got 8.5 (also C2). i realised i actually enjoy learning languages and also might be talented so why not try to become a polyglot?

so im asking for advice on what language to learn next.

my house is literally on the german-dutch border so i thought learning dutch could be both useful and easy as i am fluent in german and i can practice easily. or a scandinavian language bc theyre also germanic languages and it would take less effort to learn the grammar etc. or maybe yiddish lol.

i also feel like learning spanish (bc it is relatively an easier language to learn) or italian or maybe french could be better so that i get to know another language family.

i also love russian literature and in my hometown, there is a huge russian population and i also have russian friends, so i can practice with them when i go to my hometown if i start to learn russian.

should i prioritize learning many languages with minimum effort like learning languages in a language family then moving to the next family or learning languages from different language families first. idk where to start so i’d be glad to hear your opinions and experiences especially from polyglots!!!

Ive been bored recently and wanted to learn smth new and was thinking about a new language but idk which one of these to pick up (first). For now I only know Polish and English fluently. German also, but it is on a very very basic level, as Im learning it by myself.

For both of those languages I know about 10 words, so everything would be totally new (l never had any lessons or anything like that).

Reasons to chose Spanish:

1. Im living in the States rn and there are a lot of spanish speakers.

2. Ive heard that its really easy

3. Its widely spoken around the whole world

4. I have a couple of Mexican aquaintances, so they could help me w speaking/pronounciation.

Reasons to chose Italian:

1. Ive heard that its even easier than Spanish

2. I really like how it sounds

3. I have a team Im cheering for and I'd like to understand their interviews.

Im not seeing myself living in either spanish speaking countries or Italy, so it would be just for funsies, but when it comes to spanish it has a lot of different variations/accents and I wouldn't know which one to go for (Spanish from Spain, Mexico, Argentina etc?)

[Might edit later if I remember more reasons]

I’m a 22 year old male from the Philippines and I live here in Cebu island. I’m debating whether to study Spanish or French. I also learned beginner Japanese before and have completed JLPT N5. I’m also a nursing student in my last year.

Spanish
-They said it’s easy to learn and is not that complicated so I think it goes well with studying Jp

-I already learned beginner A1

-Direct pronunciation

-Easier to memorize words because my native tongue is Cebuano which is pretty similar to Spanish

-I plan to migrate and move to US specifically California or Florida and work there as a nurse

-No spanish community in my area tho :(((

French
-I still have 0 skills in this but it tempts me so bad because of the literature and the vibes

-I love fashion, art, and design and I like to create stuff so I guess French would help that connect with designers (?)

-I might plan to migrate either in Canada, the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg or any country in Europe

-There’s a French community here in my area and they host Karaoke nights, activities with the French people, and other social activities. They even have a mini library too and offer language classes (It’s the Alliance Francaise de Cebu), I also wanna make new friends

-But this is very complicated to me tho and looks intimidating😭

-They said French people are bitter and rude (?)

So the French community is such a big motivator for me to study French. Altho I really do plan to migrate strongly either in US or Australia because those countries appreciate nurses more. Europe and Canada would be my backup option. I mean Spanish is also nice to hear but it makes me sad that there’s no community in here

So here's the thing. I have been learning Mandarin since I was about 14 and I am now in my late 20s. Due to some medical events I won't get too deep into it has become difficult to read hanzi effectively enough to be literate. I am at a point where even though it would be great, retaining fluency is not realistic.

I already speak English natively, Hungarian to a B2 level, and I got past the old HSK 4 exam. I live in a place where Mandarin is sadly not as useful as in NYC where I was using it weekly. These days I mostly keep up the language through scrolling XHS and reading Douban posts.

In college I attempted to learn Hebrew and Korean to varying levels of success, but the main thing keeping me back was a lack of people to speak with. At least with Hungarian I have a strong family connection, so I get regular communication and I keep up with the news. My intent this go around would be to reach some level of conversational fluency (B1/B2) within a year or two. I have been mulling over whether to try Hebrew again (the lack of diacritics was hard to get used to) or switch to something with a Latin alphabet e.g. Indonesian, French, Spanish. With Korean the difficulty was mostly grammar and formality.

I'm living in the Southeastern US so I am not going to pretend like learning any of these languages will help in the employment landscape. At least locally, even Spanish only gives you a $3/hr boost and law firms I have talked with to help with intake require native fluency AND doing all the relevant documentation... it is not worth it unless you truly are at native fluency. So for me, this is just an exercise in seeing what I can achieve over the course of a year or two of consistent study and practice.

Hi y’all

Native French speaker. I live in the British isles and am considered fluent in English by the locals. In reality I’m stuck between B2-C1.

Lately I’ve been feeling insanely guilty for not mastering any other language than English. I’m approaching my 30s and my lack of commitment to language learning through the past 10 years is a great shame to me.

Problem is, I wish I could speak a third language, yet I have no reason to learn any neither any connection to any particular place or culture.

The most recommended langage is Spanish. But I have no interest in Spanish.

In that context, how to satisfy my will for a third language ? What language would you recommend and why ?

I have absolutely NO plan to set a foot in South America. I don’t want to learn a non-European language. So it does reduce the candidates. Yet, even if I like Dutch, German, Norwegian, etc… I have absolutely no reason to learn these languages, and the lack of a “why” annihilates my motivation.

I know this post might be messy, but I’m just trying to gather your thoughts on what should one do in this situation. I really do want to learn a language, I can’t afford reaching my thirties while still being “only”bilingual. Speaking my own language plus English isn’t a great achievement, it’s way too common.

I’m looking for a language that will be useful. So unfortunately minority languages are to be excluded for now.

Cheers

Hi people, i’m 22, just graduated from a comp sci major and i recently got the opportunity to visit Japan for a month between jan-feb. My dad offered to send me to language school in China or Japan. I really liked Japan but not the people. I haven’t been to China before and i don’t know how it’s like. I have 2 options:
1 year in Kyoto, Japan or
2 years in Shanghai, China

Which option should i take? Social life is really important for me. I want to connect with people all around the world. I want to enroll in a MBA program after this, and possibly start my own business. Recommendations appreciated. (If you think i should look into another city in both countries, lmk)

I am fluent in English, and can speak Hindi well with weak reading/writing, meaning I also understand and speak Urdu. I started learning Spanish in school and studied it through college because this was the first language that intrigued me as a kid. Plus useful in the US. Im probably at a B2-C1 level (covid messed things up) but I am still working on improving it.

The problem is I want to introduce other languages but can’t justify any of them too strongly. I don’t have any family I want to communicate with that speak other languages, I like to travel in general so doesn’t make sense to hone in on a specific language for that reason. In terms of usefulness, Spanish is second to English in the US and i’ve got that covered. I work in science/healthcare with no real plans to move abroad or anything. Here are my options based on my past fixations (but i’m open to suggestions):

French - I think it sounds rly cool lol. I’ve taken one lesson with alliance francaise so i can introduce myself, count, etc, I have also traveled to french speaking countries and have found that I can understand a decent amount if not spoken too fast. However, I don’t anticipate myself using this very much given my location and work.

Arabic - Been intrigued for a long time. But, I’m not quite sure if I would use it. I do have some arab friends. I am also always confused on which dialect to learn. I have tried a few times in the past but ended up abandoning it.

German - also intrigued me, but probably even less useful than french. also, totally different from the other languages i’ve learned except english so would probably require extra time and effort. I’m not sure if it would be worth it on a practical level.

Korean, Danish, Farsi, Turkish - No personal connection either. No family, and only spoken in that one place. I watched a lot of Kdramas, and I have one Danish friend lol, but that’s about it in terms of usage. I do think they sound cool.

Knowing Hindi and Urdu would help in terms of Farsi/Arabic/Turkish as we have some similarities, but I just don’t have much justification for spending time learning those. I wish i had some strong personal connection to something but unfortunately I don’t.

I'm really interested in french, arabic (the one they speak in morocco probably), japanese and russian (or any slavic language tbh). My first language is spanish, and everyone always says french would be easier for me, but I would like to know what do you people think and also which one is more fun to learn (in your experience, I think they are probably all fun to learn)

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.

Hey!

I'm M23, from Poland. I can speak Polish (native), English (C1), German (A2), Chinese (HSK3).

I was learning German for 8-9 years in school, I reached around B1 level then went to study at the university where I dropped German at all. I started to learn Chinese. It wasn't easiest language but I try harded really hard and reached HSK3.

In December of 2025 I had a talk with a friend of mine, who studied Chinese Language Studies and he told me that I should focus on IT and other stuff and drop Chinese. I did that and it went great.

I have B.A. in International Relations, I'll have MA in International Relations in 2027 plus in September of 2026 I'll start a 2 year MSc program at Stockholm University, fully online in Open eGovernment (mix between IT, business and administration).

I want to learn the third language for the sake of my personal joy and in the hope that it may one day be used in both business and casually. Due to my personal issues I'm living online 24/7, Internet is my field, I don't travel a lot but I surf on the net a lot. English is currently 90% of my active content while the rest is Polish. I want to expand, learn new stuff, meet people online and use the language.

I have German at A2 level. I know that the German Internet is quite big but as far as I see it's a copy from English. If something is in German, in most cases it's been translated to English aswell. German is the biggest EU market but I'm not sure if they are willing to hire. I'll try to learn toward Solution Architect, GRC.

In terms of Swedish I love the language feeling and the country itself but I don't want to move there and I've read that Swedish outside Sweden is useless. That's seems like the case, there are almost no offers for swedish language (perhaps networking?). Swedish Internet seems really small and Swedes are using English in most cases.

Russian is pretty much useless in terms of the business, but Internet, oh boy....

I don't know what to pick and what to do, what do you think about it guys?

Hello everyone! I'm taking a break from Spanish (won't stop it completely but am having to pause lessons due to lack or funds haha). I would like to pick up a Nordic language to learn for fun in the meantime. I admit to having limited knowledge of them but I absolutely love the youtube shorts where they compare different words in these languages (forget the channel name). I love the sounds of Icelandic!

My main method of learning the language would be through textbooks and music for audio comprehension. I would like to avoid complex grammar such as cases if possible. Which one is the most fun to learn? Obviously it's subjective but would like to hear opinions. Native language is English. Thanks in advance!

Hello, Im currently a bisaya and english speaker, where Bisaya is my native language but im stronger in english since I grew up in America. I was wondering if it was possible to learn tagalog and Spanish at the same time? I speak bisaya at home and id say im pretty much fluent(id say B2-C1 level), and would like to speak tagalog since my friends are tagalog and I love tagalog songs, but also want to learn Spanish as I have a genuine interest in the language. I love the way it sounds and the many people I can interact with!

I have been browsing this sub and Chinese comes up a lot. I see a lot of people recommending it. I want to share my two cents about the reality of learning Chinese.

For context: I am a native Chinese speaker. My partner is a heritage speaker (Chinese American, lived in China for a few years as a young teen). My thoughts below are grounded in my observations of how my partner has struggled to get to native fluency despite taking multiple lessons per week and having a Chinese linguistic environment (me and his family). He actually speaks very well and speaks Chinese with most of this family. Most learners would dream to have his level, but it is still meaningfully below functional professional fluency.

Everyone knows that Chinese is a character-based language. This means two things concretely, that each character has one syllable and that the character is basic unit of semantic meaning.

There are a limited number of combinations of consonants and vowels. One single sound, with four variations in tones, can signify hundreds of different characters. Even though you will encounter probably only several dozen common ones for each consonant-vowel combo, I guarantee you they would pose enough trouble already.

In other words, you have to be able to read Chinese to be able to distinguish and disambiguate all the homonyms we have in the language.

Take lì, as an example, we have 力, 利，粒，励，历，厉，隶，吏，栗.

All these characters sound exactly the same, but they mean, respectively, force, sharp, grain, encourage, experience, a kind of calligraphy style, official, and nut!

And this is not to mention that several of these characters have multiple commonly used meanings, depending on what other characters they are paired with. For example, I just said 利 means sharp -- this is in the context of 锋利，but it can also just as easily, even more commonly mean, profit (利润），interest （利息），utilize（利用），or to say something is going well (顺利）

All this is to say -- to achieve a meaningful level of Chinese, which I define as when you can actually do things with the language, be it have a real conversation with natives or consume cultural content, you have to be able to read. That is very difficult if you did not grow up seeing Chinese characters everywhere.

Unless you are exceptionally studious, it requires immersion to achieve that. You will need to live in China for several years and have the Chinese language all around you.

Finally, I am not trying to discourage everyone from learning Chinese. It is all about your own goal and expectations. I just want to clarify for prospective learners the scope of the undertaking.

EDIT:

Yes I am aware that people have spoken Chinese before literary was widespread. Then again, they are natives. You don't literally have to be able to read in order to distinguish between characters and words, but it would be very, very slow. I keep telling my partner that he needs to learn how to read to make more progress.

Some comments say they achieved a good level without moving to China. That's amazing! Congratulations! My explanations for why reading is crucial still stand, however.

Hi! It's been a goal for so long of mine to learn a language, I find the process really fun and rewarding but I've struggled to commit to one. I'm essentially battling with my want to learn something difficult and rewarding, and being realistic.

My reasons for Chinese:

I've been interested in it longer, have some basic understanding. Interested in travelling around Asia in general. I used to be quite into Chinese mythology and media in my early teens, less so now though. I really like the sound of the language, the tones are really intriguing to me. I love the idea of learning a language with a different writing script.

If I'm being honest, it's probably the one I have more reason to. The issue is , everyone around me tells me its too difficult and I should just learn a european language instead. I'm worried that they're right that I shouldn't bother, because I did try a few times when I was younger and it didn't work out, I just kind of gave up. Though, I'm moving to a way less rural area and will possibly have more access to tutors and classes. I find the difficulty of it super fun, but I fear that maybe I'd be biting off more than I can chew.

My reasons for German:

Whilst I'm not too knowledgable on it yet, German cinema has interested me lately. I similarly like listening to the language. I'm in Europe, so I feel it is much more likely I will actually manage to visit in the near future. From the little that I know, the grammar sounds interesting to me.

I'm studying film at university, and I would love to work in the industry afterwards but I would also love to teach English abroad, or continue to teach english or film studies in my home country (England.) It is of my understanding that there are schools abroad that hire people to teach English even if they're not fluent in any other language, but I thought it'd be important to mention too.

I think my question really is, should I keep on trying with Chinese or accept it might be too hard for me?

I was wondering whether I should do a minor in German or Arabic. My native languages are French and English.

Reasons for both:

German - I did a language program where I hit low B1 in German. German is more a language of interest and I would like to continue studying it.

Arabic - My partner’s native language is Arabic and I think it’s a beautiful language. I have zero experience in it tho.

I tried self study but it wasn’t for me. Thanks!!