<p>Mildred - would you mind expanding on why German is important for Philosophy? I have never heard that but am kind of leaning towards German so that could seal the deal.</p>
<p>Another factor in your decision may be if you have an interest in geneology. With a lot of German in my background, I am finding my knowledge of German useful for decyphering old letters, etc.</p>
<p>And I also have to admit, German sounds the coolest of the languages when spoken :-)</p>
<p>"would you mind expanding on why German is important for Philosophy?"</p>
<p>Off the top of my head here are some reasons:</p>
<p>Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Brentano, Husserl, Heidegger, Frege, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer</p>
<p>Who ever said latin was really difficult has never learned it (but it is awesome).
It is so easy, compared to any other modern language or greek, especially as an English speaker. Vocabulary/sentence structure are very basic, grammar is moderately difficult. I am fluent in latin (special school program) and spanish, and the latter was harder.</p>
<p>I want to learn Russian. Like the culture, lit, etc. And less and less people learn it unlike chinese or arabic. Probably have to take up german or french, most literary PhD's require 2 or even 3 foriegn languages.</p>
<p>"German's not too bad once you get verbs down...it seems more similar to English than French/Spanish especially in terms of word order."</p>
<p>the word order in german is completely different than in english, i personally think german is rather difficult, but that may be because i am at the same level of german as french, but have three more years of experience taking french. cant stand either language.</p>
<p>thx for the help so far I'm really leaning towards German now...I'll probably try a couple free internet lessons to see how I am at speaking and getting it down to make sure.</p>
<p>i really don't see why u would take german...i'd rather take greek because...first of all, greece produce WAY more philosophers than germany had, not to mention some of the literature that western people take for granted. second, greek is OLD and HIGHLY original in terms of script (while german script which is borrowed from latin is very low-quality)...third, greek was way more influential than german, or even latin. latin's influence was confined to western europe; greek was influential in eastern europe and asia. even during roman empire, the eastern half was dominated by greek language, culture, mind set, etc. even the romans themselves, they spoke greek just as 18oo englishmen would converse in french....fourth, greek is the language of the new testament. u have access to the original texts of paul, and the other apostles....fifith, ancient greek and modern greek are not that different; they are pretty similar.......must i go on??</p>
<p>but, if u find german a fun language, by all means, take it. if i were u, i would NEVER take a northern european languages. i prefer the old, deep languages of southern europe, asia, africa even though they might be a little difficult...</p>
<p>people, don't take certain languages because they are simple or easy. that's the saddest reason to learna foreign language. u are not learning these languages to ONLY communicate ideas, but to enjoy the pleasures of expressiveness and intricateness of some fo the difficult languages like greek, latin, arabic, french.. language is art.</p>
<p>i want to learn arabic. talk about useful.</p>
<p>If language is art, I am the Prince of Language.</p>
<p>Blink182: Just wait for it, I think the Chinese population will become more spread out over the years. Or how about, you'll need it if you want to go into business?</p>
<p>melli,</p>
<p>By that logic, I might as well learn Hindi, too.</p>
<p>Thankfully, most top business firms in China will use English as a common language. Hooray for cultural imperialism. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Haha true, true. Although it's always better if you can talk to them in their own tongue, kind of dissipates the 'oh! Foreigner!' feeling. </p>
<p>For the OP though, I suggest pick a language you'd enjoy learning, and it wouldn't be bad if it also coincided with your studies.</p>
<p>
[quote]
people, don't take certain languages because they are simple or easy
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't want my other grades to suffer because I am trying to learn Chinese in two years. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>so Japanese is definitely as hard as chinese for native english speakers.
the pronunciation is a lot easier, but the grammar is much harder i think.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Blink182: Just wait for it, I think the Chinese population will become more spread out over the years. Or how about, you'll need it if you want to go into business?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well I have no interest at all in business, so Chinese stops there lol. </p>
<p>As for science, well there is the West and there is the East. I plan on staying in the West :).</p>
<p>As for China spreading out, sure, their economy is growing, but I don't see them ever becoming a huge world power. I think they will always be dwarfed by Russia and Japan, and remember, oil will run out soon.....</p>
<p>Blink182 is soooo wrong I won't even endeaver to elaborate a reply right now. (China dwarfed by the presently dwindling Russia? Hah!)</p>
<p>Now to my main thought:
Man I keep seeing the same people posting on the language topics. Its kinda cool actually. Shows you what some people are attracted to..</p>
<p>It's true that Russia is "dwindling," aber that's because of all the crap happening in Russia right now. They've got domestic issues, border issues and Putin to put up with. Russia is sitting on vast amounts of oil and other natural resources. Do not expect Russia to "dwindle" forever. Think of it as a recession. </p>
<p>China's sudden gains don't seem long-lasting to me. They are just now starting to compete on the world stage with other industrial and economic superpowers. But as I stated before, their economy is extremely dependent on oil, extremely. One could argue so is ours, but the difference between us and China and Europe for that matter, is we have the resources to turn to other energy sources...CHina isn't that far along. Hell, I would bet half their country is living on like a dollar a day.</p>
<p>I just don't see China, such a vast and huge country, dealing with its internal issues and competing on the world stage for very long.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hell, I would bet half their country is living on like a dollar a day.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Do to further research, I will have to rescind this comment. A much, much smaller percent, but the concept of individual income is still valid.</p>
<p>Grrr, also to call Russia dwindling would be wrong too (the wonders of wikipedia..). Russia's economy is growing..like a lot. Russia is projected to have the second largest economy in Europe after this year. Also, CHina purchases most of its military hardware from Russia...</p>
<p>China is growing but to me, I don't see it as big a player as Japan or Russia.</p>
<p>
[quote]
China is growing but to me, I don't see it as big a player as Japan or Russia.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>sigh...</p>
<p>It's late, and if no one else gives a response, and assuming I remember, I'll throw one up tomorrow...</p>