As long as China keeps the character-based system—which will probably be a long time, thanks to cultural attachment and practical concerns alike—Chinese is very unlikely to become a true world language, an auxiliary language like English, the language a Brazilian chemist will publish papers in, hoping that they will be read in Finland and Canada. Learning German grammar can be difficult and a good textbook can help you with the fundamentals. The Chinese economy is likely to continue to outpace the rich world’s for decades to come, tilting the balance of economic power. As their empire spun off and they became a medium-sized power after the second world war, the French, hoping to maintain some distance from America and to make the most of their former possessions, established La Francophonie. After English, it is the most used international language. To communicate effectively, it is not enough to have well organized ideas expressed in complete and coherent sentences and paragraphs. It is fascinating, and learnable—though Moser’s online essay, “Why Chinese is so damn hard,” might discourage the faint of heart and the short of time. Knowledge of Arabic, however slight, will impress not only the monoglots and dullards who plumped for Italian, but native speakers too. Poetry and lyrics suffer particularly badly in translation. One with close relatives, so you have a head start with your third language. This is a subreddit for anybody interested in the pursuit of languages. But really, "Western literature" is still too vague. Chinese, with all its tones, is hard enough to speak. Impossible to ignore. Soon enough, someone will helpfully inform you that Latin is a dead language. Though the notion that speakers of different languages think differently has been vastly exaggerated and misunderstood, there is a great deal to be learned from discovering what the different cultures call this, that or das oder. Other members of the animal kingdom have the ability to communicate, through vocal noises or by other means, but the most important single feature characterizing human language (that is, every individual language), against every known mode of animal communication, is its infinite productivity and creativity. I did French and Greek too for years, and enjoyed them, but nothing quite matched up to the pleasure of reading the “Aeneid” in the original.■, Sign up to our free daily newsletter, The Economist today, Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”. If such gripes are common to most languages, there is something more to it in Chinese. He set himself the most daunting task—giving Rome its own “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, in a single epic, while staying on the right side of an emperor—and pulled it off. And if you stick at it you discover, after no more than eight or nine years, that this is a glorious language per se. But really, "Western literature" is still too vague. Nevertheless, German still has a rich history of scientific and academic literature, so it’s a great language to learn if those subjects are among your interests. You won’t need a new alphabet or much new grammar, though you may find the language addicted to declensions and unduly fond of the subjunctive. That means choosing a language with plenty of native speakers. Brazil is big (190m residents; half a continent). So if you are in business, into the arts or just want to join la conversación, the sheer size of Hispanidad is a powerful reason to learn Spanish. In this model, the class reads fiction or poetry as part of th… Instead, they include countries with Francophone minorities (Switzerland, Belgium); those where French is official and widespread among elites (much of western Africa); those where it is not official but still spoken by nearly all educated people (Morocco, Lebanon); and those where French ties remain despite the fading of the language (Vietnam, Cambodia). And you really should see an Almodóvar film without subtitles. Once a mark of the cultured, language-learning is in retreat among English speakers. Literary giants who shape the way we think, write and live today. Language, as described above, is species-specific to human beings. Continue Reading. If the question is too vague, I mostly mean western literature. Students interested in pursuing a degree in English language and literature can find programs at colleges and universities throughout the United States, but these schools offer some of the best. France was able to dominate world literature, as they did, because they were in the forefront of all areas of learning and intellectual endeavors — the language of the enlightenment thoughts was French; French medicine and mathematics were the best in the world; French was also the language of international law; french explorers and geographers singlehandedly documented the entire globe. With that ambition, why limit yourself to 5? The French especially have some beautiful literary idioms, especially in their 19th century classics. Score A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for … There are great authors (old and new ones) in French, Spanish, English, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Italian etc etc. If you want six, I'd add Italian to the list. I would say that English has the best overall literature in terms of languages, because it includes all the literature from Great Britain, Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, African countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, and other places I. Egyptians, Syrians and Palestinians, moved that you have troubled to do battle with their tongue, will shower you with praise. Fewer and fewer native speakers learn to produce characters in traditional calligraphy. The French are nothing but welcoming when you show them and their country respect, and the occasional frost that can greet visitors melts when they come out with their first fully formed sentence. ), my answer would be French. I apologize if there were posts about this already but I've seen none regarding top languages for the literature. While you do have many options available, these are among the best German grammar books you can find today. This is a list of best-selling fiction authors to date, in any language. Or both; learning one makes the second quite easy. With Portuguese under your belt you’ll fly along. Students have an enviable choice of stimulating places to hone their Spanish skills, from Venezuela to Argentina to Spain itself. To learn Latin is to learn rigour. Literature refers to any sort written or spoken material, regarded as an art form, which has some intellectual value, due to the use of language in a manner, which is different from its normal usage. 10 Best Foreign Languages to Learn in India. It’s never too late, but where to start? Each piece of the sentence has to slot in with the rest; every ending has to be the right one. With French, vous ne regretterez rien. Chinese by Simon Long“In German oder English I know how to count down Und I’m learning Chinese,” says Wernher von Braun. Virtually any career, public or private, is given a boost with knowledge of a foreign language. Nowadays, would-be presidents make sure to advertise in Spanish: Soy Mitt Romney y apruebo este mensaje. Can you imagine three PhD students in English at Harvard forgetting how to write the English word “sneeze”? Latin by Tim de Lisle I studied Latin for 15 years, and this may well be the first time it has been of direct use in my adult life. Best Traditional SAT Prep Books for Instruction, Strategy, and Practice Questions. Hardly any of them are places where French is everyone’s native language. There are many such songs in Catullus, whose elegant poetry I had spent a whole term plodding through. It was a long turgid parade of Latin-derived words. And lest we forget its heartland itself, France attracts more tourists than any other country—76.8m in 2010, according to the World Tourism Organisation, leaving America a distant second with 59.7m. Just as spectacular as China’s, if on a smaller scale, Japan’s economic growth led many to think it would take over the world. Which period(s) do you want? And the pleasure will never dim. Chapter 1 Literature Review of Language Learning Strategies 1.1 Introduction. Probably not. The rest of us are looking for a decent return on our investment. The author started out as the “poet laureate of Twitter”; her language is brilliant, and she has a completely original mind. If your interest is Latin America, Spanish or Portuguese is the way to go. And not only that, but they use the Roman alphabet to produce Chinese characters: type in wo and Chinese language-support software will offer a menu of characters pronounced wo; the user selects the one desired. But the mammoth feat of memory required to be literate in Mandarin is harder still. With a hybrid poetic language creating the perfect spindle to weave their magic, from the modernists to the Angry Young Men, The Culture Trip London takes a look at some of the greats from over the last 100 years; writers whose output has assured them an everlasting place among the greatest of all time. Effective Use of Language The Importance of Language. Whatever you think of France, the language is much less limited than many people realise. So which one should you, or your children, learn? It has native speakers in every region on earth. ... Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff have passed into the language. This is not, in fact, rocket science, but economic and political common sense. It teaches you grammar and syntax, better than your own language, whose structure you will have absorbed before you are capable of noticing it. This factor is the Chinese writing system (which Japan borrowed and adapted centuries ago). Paul Pimsleur—creator of the renowned audio-based language system that has helped millions of language learners. China’s economy continues to grow at a pace that will make it bigger than America’s within two decades at most. And the key reason for Japanese’s limited spread will also put the brakes on Chinese. In one way, sure, but in others it lives on. The burghers of Brussels were trying to build a superstate out of abstract nouns. When you understand how beautifully Arabic fits together – why the root meaning “west” leads to the words for “sunset” and “strange” – the sense of illumination is sublimely satisfying. Why learn a foreign language? Literature, a body of written works. Only about 10m Brazilians have reasonable English, and far more Anglophones speak French or Spanish than Portuguese, of any flavour. The first years of Arabic are frustrating, like doing a jigsaw of a cloudy night sky. And I will consider Italian. The dearth of Spanish-language literature translated in America is especially baffling given the high numbers of Spanish-speaking people here, as well as authors living in the U.S. who write in Spanish. But ranked above it are languages like Telegu and Javanese that no one would call world languages. So there is no need to agonise over which dialect to learn. Now if you really want to learn an Eastern language, learn Persian. The foundational works of our shared culture. Long live literature! Advocates of this model believe that the value of literature lies in its unique distillation of culture. The following four books are the best currently available for content review and practice problems. And now? This club, bringing together all the countries with a French-speaking heritage, has 56 members, almost a third of the world’s countries. Moreover, Python is developed under an OSI-approved open source license, making it freely usable and distributable, even for commercial use (www.python.org, 2019). They range from the intellectual to the economical to the practical. It is a little harder to bullshit when you’ve learnt Latin (though quite possible to bluster, as Boris Johnson proves). But his contemporary Virgil is majestic. Almost untranslatable in English, you can spend your life-time studying poet after poet after poet right from the 6th century BC to the 21st century AD. All of the foreign tongues listed here are vital. Here, we have listed 10 of the best international language you can learn in India if you intend to remain competent and relevant in today’s job market. However, “literature” also has a different meaning. What makes them so popular? You’ll be told “Your Portuguese is wonderful!” many times before it is true. Throughout the canon of greats, British writers loom heavily around the top echelons. One spoken by people worth talking to, in a place worth visiting. However, I could not agree to saying that any language offers the "best" literature. This article is more than 17 years old. If ever there was a time to play the Latin card, this was it, so I described Sting’s wedding song as “Catullan”. Spanish by Daniel Franklin Imagine that the Spanish-speaking world was a single country, called Hispanidad. The name has traditionally been applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution. Unsurprisingly, children's books and fairy tales dominate the list of the most translated books throughout history. Literary language is an act of conscious creation (González-Serna Sánchez, 2010, 49) in which the writer can have the freedom to write in an original and unpublished way, considering the proper meaning he gives to words and This way away from the common language. By all means, if China is your main interest, for business or pleasure, learn Chinese. You’ll learn hundreds of words without effort (azul means blue, verde means green) and be able to guess entire sentences (O sistema bancário é muito forte: the banking system is very strong). Read the review A telling description of modern power … When I grew up in London, there were no Chinese tourists, and nothing we owned was made in China. Learn Chinese, not to impress your future boss, but to understand what she is saying. But if I was asked what foreign language is the most useful, and given no more parameters (where? ¡Cómo no!, as they say in Hispanidad. With the right references to study, you can learn proper German grammar and increase your fluency in the language. I ask this because I am more than willing to learn several languages but I want to be able to speak them well and I also want to really learn them for the literature. But if you want another truly global language, there are surprisingly few candidates, and for me French is unquestionably top of the list. Learn Spanish? So although there are other great languages out there, don’t forget an easy, common one, with far fewer words to learn than English, that is almost certainly taught in your town. Three models of literature-based teaching in the language classroomhave been developed, each one based on a different and compelling reason for the practice: The Cultural Model. So here we go. A literary language is the form of a language used in its literary writing.It can be either a non-standard dialect or standardized variety of the language. If you were to learn ten languages ranked by general usefulness, Japanese would probably not make the list. The default option is 2018. São Paulo is Latin America’s business capital. China is the most populous nation on earth. Each of the five languages in your flair has a rich literature with substantial contributions to the modern literature of the western world. (Or if the user types in wo shi zhongguo ren, “I am Chinese”, the software detects the meaning and picks the right characters.) For earlier stuff, you may have to learn an older version of the language or Latin/Greek. Here is something that might come as a shock: Shakespeare is not the most influential writer in the English language. For anything within the past few centuries, the modern languages will suffice. Hispanidad also has a rich literature, from Cervantes to Gabriel García Márquez, that is best enjoyed in the original. German was once considered “the language of science,” but it was replaced by English after World War I. With new pronunciation and a few new words you’ll get around in Portugal and parts of Africa. We publish theoretical, empirical and experimental research that aims to make a contribution to our understanding of style and its effects on readers. Which period(s) do you want? The price for the rigour is the mortis. And you really should see an Almodóvar film without subtitles. 1 person has voted this message useful Hm, it is, I know. In Britain, despite four decades in the European Union, the number of A-levels taken in French and German has fallen by half in the past 20 years, while what was a growing trend of Spanish-learning has stalled. It is a vivid presence in English and French, it is the mother of Italian and Spanish, and it even seeps into German. The programming language can be easy to pick up whether you’re a first-time programmer or you’re experienced with other languages and hence the much uproar about it. Its businessmen are buying up everything from American brands to African minerals to Russian oil rights. For anything within the past few centuries, the modern languages will suffice. Language and Literature is an invaluable international peer-reviewed journal that covers the latest research in stylistics, defined as the study of style in literary and non-literary language. Most degrees also include an element of critical But instead, breathe deep, and plunge into Arabic. Not one of them could correctly produce the character. Fluency may long elude you, but there will always be a fascination in picking your way through Arabic’s intricacies. But ten years on, “English only” campaigns appeal more successfully to American patriotism than campaigns that try to promote language-learning, as if the most successful language in history were threatened. Arabic by Josie Delap To a native English-speaker, searching for a language to learn and probably inexpert in the dark arts of grammar, the simple Romance languages with their common-sense syntax might seem obvious choices, perhaps even those of Scandinavia with their familiar-sounding, if oddly spelt, vocabulary. China’s political clout is growing accordingly. The people are friendly, and shameless white liars. First of all… why exactly should you teach literature? But the struggle is a worthy one, and the rewards start with your ego. It is home to the world’s largest standing forest, the Amazon. Any visit there is greatly enhanced by some grasp of the language. A literary history spanning thousands of years, this language has the most beautiful poetry. It is hard. I want to read the classics, I guess. Latin offers no hiding place, no refuge for the woolly. Monoglots and dullards who plumped for Italian, but regionally concentrated described above, is enough! 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