This is aimed at bi- or multilingual /lit/izens. My uni is offering

Depends. Do you only speak English?

>>9003698
Yup.

>>9003674
from hardest to least for you: japanese; russian; portuguese; italian.

if you will actually get off your ass and learn a language, go with italian or russian.

portguese is slightly harder to learn from knowing french than italian, but slightly easier than russian in that portguese only demands you pronounce spanish with a russian accent.

russian is more upfront learning, but if the course is genuinely intensive, you'll get the most out of this. and it makes learning greek a bit less daunting too. a good greek intensive course is usually slightly longer than that, but if you make it in russian, you can easily make it through greek.

japanese will be a long slog even with an intensive course. you're least likely to be able to read a book in a foreign language after this, and would likely take years to read a newspaper.

>>9003698
Sorry. Didn't read the last paragraph. I'd go with either Italian or Portuguese considering they're equally distant from French on a lexical point of view. Russian and Japanese are harder grammatically and you also need to learn another alphabet.

>>9003674
It depends on what languages you already speak, and at what level (conversational, fluent, or native).

Assuming you only speak English, Italian is the Easiest, with Portuguese being only very slightly more difficult. Russian is a bit harder, and Japanese much harder. For the second two, the difficulty will largely depend on whether you are learning with a romanized alphabet (easier) or the native characters (Harder, especially with Japanese)

>>9003702
>>9003705
>>9003722
Thanks for the advice. To clarify, the only language I speak is English. I think I'll probably go with Italian.

>>9003674
Russian has shitloads of wordforms for verbs, nouns and adjectives. Japanese has kanji. Don't recommend either.

My uni does the same, I've taken up Dutch now with having spent 7 ish months in the netherlands in the last 3-4 years, but only learning the language now. Anyone have any book recs from Dutch authors I can work to learning to read? Is there any essential Dutch reading list or smth?

>>9003674
It's honestly whatever language you can utilize in your leisure time. If you are a weeb, learn japanese. If you like russian literature, learn russian. Et cetera.

Using the language outside of a learning context makes a major difference.

>>9003863
Read some by Wolkers, Reve and Hermans

>>9003674

Russia is the hardest one there. Written and spoken are a pain in the ass.

I posit that Japanese is actually less difficult than Russian. Written Japanese is an absolute pain in the ass. Hiragana/katakana is easy, but you need to know about 2000-3000 to get by - not just what they mean by themselves, but also what they mean in conjunction with other characters (and how pronunciation changes as a result).

In terms of purely speaking Japanese however, that's easy. The pronunciation is extremely uniform across Japan (think of what the Académie français did to France, only better). Moreover, the spoken language is much simpler than its written form.

Italian/Portuguese are easy-mode Romance languages. Italian moreso, Portuguese has some weird sounds.

>>9003895
just learnt of the 'great four' now, ty. Is Wolkers a bit degenerate though, is he always writing about sex? It puts me off reading some lit.

>>9003914
Yes he usually included lots of sex in his works. Its also about muh ww2 a lot.

>>9003941
i dont mind ww2 but ive already read a lot about it. Any other authors youd rec? I mean it looks like ill have to read the big 4 anyways to get some historical perspective but it doesnt rly excite me

>>9003897
wat. no. Japanese is by far the hardest one on that list and while in ten weeks you might gain a rudimentary knowledge of how the language is structured because it's so different (subject-object-verb rather than subject-verb-object presuming you're an english speaker) you'll leave with not much by the end of the session. The US state department has a list of language learning times and it's like japanese and arabic are the major hard ones. Also there are regional differences although these are relatively minor compared with say chinese.

>>9003897
Written Russian is fine, takes like a week to get the alphabet down.

>>9003674
OP can you post a syllabus so we can see how much work and how many hours are expected? I'm self teaching latin and would like to compare my pace to that of your intensive courses.

Thanks!

>>9003674
If you're a weeb, Japanese.

If you're not a weeb, Russian.

Japanese is objectively not hard, don't listen to these brainlets

However, its usefulness continues to decline, but just learning how the language and alphabet are structured is a good exercise in expanding your horizon

I think I would pick Russian or Japanese given that list

Italian probably has the cute girls

Japanese is easy to grammar, impossible to spell.
Russian is easy to spell, impossible to grammar.

>>9004184
in terms of usefulness if you have ambition in life one could argue with the emerging Brazilian markets Portugese could be a smart pick that nobody here has even mentioned

>>9004215
that's like wanting to talk business with a russian or south african

>>9003674
I'm only speaking for Japanese because it's the only language I've learnt out of the four you posted which I've learnt to fluency which I can read literature and classics of.

You will take at least two years of dedicated study, by yourself or in classes, to reach a point where you can start to understand and read Japanese literature, of which much is already translated into English.

Conversational Japanese, though, is very easy to learn.

So if you intend to dive into the world of Japanese literature in Japanese, keep in mind that the 10-week course will barely scratch the surface of what you need.

Come to think of it I doubt you're going to learn shit in 10 weeks regardless of language so just go with Russian lmao

>>9003674
From the point of view of literature - Russian, but it's very difficult if you don't have any slav background.

I finished Portuguese studies. You can read Pessoa and Saramago in original. Worth it.

As other's have already stated go with Italian or Russian. Best literature selection and highest chances you will use them for something else. Russian will be rather hard, Italian is easy mode for a native English speaker in comparison. I'm native Russian and advanced-pleb in Italian so you may ask your answers right 'ere.

>>9003674
Italian should be easiest and is pleasant.

>>9004215
>he thinks people actually rely on their own foreign language skills in srs business where every word and nuance matters

>>9003743
he's giving you retard advice
>portguese only demands you pronounce spanish with a russian accent.
that's a meme. are you some kind of an idiot or what?

>>9006080
It's a solid advice, because Portuguese has much less literature to explore than both Italian and Russian. The nuances of pronunciation are not very important at all.

>>9003674
italian and portugeuse have latin alphabet

japanese and russian has different alphabet

WHICH ONE DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO BE EASIER YOU FUCKING IDIOT

>>9006080
>No puedo contar las horas del día que tomaría para explicar qué idiota eres para ti

>Não posso contar as horas do dia que levaria para explicar o que um idiota você é para você

you're telling me the second one isn't the first in a Russian slur? are you deaf as well as dumb cabron?

>>9006104
It takes literally two days of practice to fluently read in Cyrillic. Are you that retarded Cubano from Amerikeks thread? In that case kill yourself.

>>9006107
It's really more of a Polish accent with all the sibilants, but close enough.

>>9006121
now we're trying to pin it down, i need to find a romanian that's learning portuguese

>>9006116
Fuck you, dude.
Go learn Russian.
I DONT GIVE A FUCK

>>9006116
Cyrillic took me two years to learn, and I studied it an hour a day...

Stop bullshitting kid.

>>9006092
>It's a solid advice, because Portuguese has much less literature to explore than both Italian and Russian. The nuances of pronunciation are not very important at all.
it's meme, that's not what portuguese demands. don't be retarded. it's not "nuances of pronunciation", it's a different language.

If you don't know, shut up and learn.

>>9006127
>he uses his severe mental deficiency as proof

>>9006125
>>9006116
>[[missile crisis intensifies]]
Уcпoкoйcя, тoвapищ

I would suggests Japanese. First you will probably begin with Romaji. In fact, you probably will only see a few examples of kana and kanji, and will write and read everything in Romaji.

Note that I am in no way an expert on the language. This is all second-hand. My only knowledge of its writing system, for example, is from Kumeta complaining about it. I suggest you not bother with any second language unless you plan to at least be able to read it fluently.
>>9004184
Japanese is difficult if one wants to read it (which I assume OP is considering since this is /lit/ and not /trv/)

>>9006107
>>Não posso contar as horas do dia que levaria para explicar o que um idiota você é para você

That's not portuguese, that's probably what a dumb computer would guess. If the OP was interested in google translate, I'm sure he can use it.

>are you deaf as well as dumb cabron?
if you talk portuguese like that, people are indeed going to think you are unironically a retard.

>Russian slur
it's a meme. as in "not to be taken literally".

File: donmad.gif (21KB, 389x303px) Image search: [Google]

21KB, 389x303px

>>9006132
Nobody is arguing it's a different language. It's just a language not worth learning, because no one bothered to write any good books in it.

>>9006150
someone was indeed arguing the difference between spanish and portuguese is "nuances in pronunciation".
It's not true.

>>9006150

That is not true, dude.

File: lib.jpg (9KB, 189x267px) Image search: [Google]

9KB, 189x267px

>>9006150
>no one bothered to write any good books in it.
there are some. you're just ignorant.

>>9006164
>count all the above average works in Portuguese
>multiply the result by 10
>it's still less than the amount of world classics in either Italian or Russian

File: brascubas.jpg (50KB, 274x375px) Image search: [Google]

50KB, 274x375px

>>9006175
would that mean there are good books written in portuguese?

I think it would.

>>9006183
Does the amount of them justify the effort of learning the language? No.

>>9006148
>That's not portuguese, that's probably what a dumb computer would guess. If the OP was interested in google translate, I'm sure he can use it.
>tfw picked it for the flow
The Spanish is awkward for the same reason. Nobody would say in English either "I cannot count the hours of the day" except for the assonance.

>misses the deaf hint
>misses the different tone of offense between the Spanish and Portuguese

>it's a meme
It's literally what it sounds like. Go pretend to a Spanish speaker you want them to pronounce the same sounds in a Russian accent. Say it's for a spy movie. It brings it much closer to being intelligible in Portuguese even though the orthographic representation is seemingly quite different from the other in either.

File: desassossego.jpg (5KB, 185x272px) Image search: [Google]

5KB, 185x272px

>>9006190
that's your problem, not mine. it's not what the issue was. this idiot anon claimed

>because no one bothered to write any good books in it.

he's dead wrong,

>>9006175
and Japanese has better literature (in general) than both.

>>9006203
You forgot to post a cute anime girl, fampai.

>>9006199
It's not far from truth though.

File: 14836919240590.png (99KB, 237x320px) Image search: [Google]

99KB, 237x320px

>>9006127
Aww shi~ 2 years to learn КИPИЛЛИЦУ, нy ты и лoх блядь

>>9006194

>The Spanish is awkward for the same reason. Nobody would say in English either "I cannot count the hours of the day" except for the assonance.
It's the quality of posting /lit/ has, I guess. I have no idea why someone would think literal translation is translation.
>It's literally what it sounds like.
Hence being a meme. Doesn't mean that all you need to learn portuguese is "speak spanish with a russian accent".

>>9006240
>Doesn't mean that all you need to learn portuguese is "speak spanish with a russian accent".
>he doesn't understand easy mode humor
no wonder nobody ever wrote anything of value in Portuguese

>>9006175
Jesus, you are one dense motherfucker. I'm not him btw.

File: maias.jpg (13KB, 200x335px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 200x335px

>>9006214
>It's not far from truth though.
would that mean it's not true?
Yes, it would.

is everybody posting here retard?

File: 1477724294149.jpg (188KB, 900x1200px) Image search: [Google]

188KB, 900x1200px

>>9006207
Happy?

>>9006257
>mad his native language is worthless

>>9006277
:^)

File: terrasonambula.jpg (10KB, 187x270px) Image search: [Google]

10KB, 187x270px

>>9006249
I said he shouldn't make decisions based on memes. Here, >>9003743
he's talking the anon seriously.

You shouldn't have been triggered by my sound avice, that's it.

>all of these butthurt Brazilian monkeys
COMEDY GOLD

>>9006259
>he keeps posting shit nobody outside Portugal cares about in the slightest

>>9006279
>using a smiley with a carat nose

>>9003702
>portguese is slightly harder to learn from knowing french than italian
as a french speaker, I have an easier time understanding portuguese than italian

>>9006240
to be honest, if you can speak spanish and are aware of the phonetic shifts, it brings you past an intensive course of ten weeks in fluency. you can do the same thing with P-Celtic and Q-Celtic languages.

You seem to be getting butthurt so I'm changing the example:
Irish and Scottish are written differently, but nearly mutually intelligible in written or spoken form to each other. Will you get every nuance? No. But someone would think "speech impediment" or minor learning difficulty of native speaker, not that you're necessarily speaking another language.
Welsh is P Celtic unlike those two, so every instance of a Q sound changes to P. LL in Welsh is pronounced the same as a lentition of the Q sound which looks like CH in Irish. Looking at the two languages written down, you would not recognise them, and the difference in pronunciation because of the phonetic shift makes it easier to read Welsh by find replace than understand spoken Welsh for an Irish or Scottish speaker.
However, between these two are the Manx, who are Q Celts who have orthography written by P Celts. If you can read Welsh phonetics, you can pronounce what is essentially Irish or Scottish from the written version. If you can understand spoken Scottish or Irish, you can understand spoken Manx, but reading it is as difficult if not more so than reading Welsh, even knowing the P Celtic phonetic shifts, for Irish or Scottish speakers.

Does this mean a Scottish speaker is fluent in Manx? No, but they're mutually intelligible in general. The same thing happens amongst a lot of Slavic and Nordic languages, and even between Dutch, Freis, and English and German.

>>9006249
this too, but dude, you're acting like this is some special russian or portuguese plot against your mother tongue, and it's just the way language families work. one of you sounds slow, one of you sounds russian, and one of you sounds up themselves, and so on through the romance family.

>>9006307
they're different languages, that's it. I'm correcting and advising the anon he shouldn't takes memes seriously, because that's stupid.

if he wants to read or understand portuguese he's going to have to learn it, not "knowing spanish and give it a go", because it's not going to work.

that's just the reality, sorry.

File: jorge.jpg (7KB, 225x225px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 225x225px

Sorry for fucking with you /lit/, but I really was expecting a bit more of a fight from all you anons.

Basic Reasoning is The Least I expect from a board supposedly about BOOKS.

But Ok.
Behave now.

>>9006354
i bet u read genre fiction cuck

fuk u

>>9006339
are you really that autistic you needed to teach OP and everyone else the valuable lesson of "instead of going to the spanish course your university isn't offering you and learning how to do a russian accent at the russian accent course they also aren't offering, you could attend the portuguese course if you want to learn portuguese?"

ok, you're obviously not going anywhere until we all promise you we have learnt the much shorter route to learning portuguese could well be attending portuguese classes which exist instead of spanish classes that were never on the menu. russian accent or not, OP would indeed have been lost as to how to learn portuguese from the options he gave us without your help. we're all duly awed. wew

>>9006363
doesn't matter what I read, it's none of your business.

I do know how to reason, though.

>>9006367
anon took the advice seriously. I felt it was my obligation to warn him people were fucking wth him.

I have my morals.

>>9006354
>he finally found an actually good book in Portuguese
Dios mio! Time to eat some celebratory pizza while running away from bulls.

Can /lit/ tell me if it is worth doing majoring in the French language as a BA while I do a Bachelor of Engineering as a dual degree. I want to learn French but is it normal to do a 4 year course if I don't want to use it professionally, only for personal use?

>>9006379
I wasn't fucking with him. It is an extra bit of work (mostly in accent and some construtions) on top of Spanish, or even Italian which is harder than Spanish or French, for English speakers to learn.

Knowing some French sounds places OP closer to Italian sounds, which is still hard for an English speaker, but not as hard as speaking Spanish with a Russian accent is for an English speaker with only a scraping of French.

You better have some seriously fortified wine or a doctor's note about being a sperg tbph m9. You're hoping someone is saying OP could wake up tomorrow speaking Spanish fluently and then Portuguese would be a breeze. The level of fantasy you need to think I was recommending he learn a language he can't even get, especially when he wanted to learn more French, not Spanish, Portuguese, or Russian. If I'm suggesting a language off the list first, why would it not be French, anon? Nobody was fucking with him, you're just seeing shit that isn't there and missing all the humor and banter and prosody in your native language opportunities. Did you honestly just in from /int/ and a brazil thread for this or some shit, because that, drunkenness, or genuine medical autism are my best guess?

>>9006409
If you really want it - do it. If you don't really want it - consider doing something more professionally relevant.

>>9006409
French is really just a meme language. Italian with Irish accent. Not worth.

File: malditos.jpg (121KB, 640x920px) Image search: [Google]

121KB, 640x920px

>>9006405
I'm trying not to post the better known ones outside natives.. the idea is to show the board users something they don't know.

what's the point of posting general knowledge stuff?

>>9006433
>not sure if obscure Italia 90 /sp/ memer or monolingual getting the memes wrong
Italian is Latin with a Church accent, French is Latin with an English accent, English is French with an English accent, which is why they need stiff upper lips to support their jaw.

>>9006434
>the idea is to show the board users something they don't know.
But we already know Portuguese literature is mostly pointless and poorly written, there's no need to provide such an extensive array of examples.

File: gil.jpg (37KB, 400x449px) Image search: [Google]

37KB, 400x449px

>>9006455
that's your point of view.
I reckon you don't know portuguese language literature and you're just posting out of your ass, though.

so, I'll stick with my perspective, which is informed, and let the readers decide for themselves.

>>9006449
>implies Church accent is a thing
>implies English is an actual language and not just Old German with some shitty Romance taint
>dares to call others monolingual
килл ёpceлф, бpoзeф

>>9006482
>he doesn't know the difference between Church and Classical Latin
>he forgot about the origins of the lingua franca and modern English, the only ones people care about who aren't Tolkienite basement dwellers with dragon fetishes
>probably even thinks Tolkien's runic isn't idiosyncratic
>cyrillic
yeb vas korva

>>9006514
>something something Tolkien and made up languages
I don't even want to engage in autistic contrarian memery with such subhuman trash. Just kys.

>>9006522
>doesn't like norse and nordic influenced orthography banter
I think we're looking for different things in life, anon.

I remember learning Japanese in primary school for a couple of years. It's not THAT hard. I've forgotten most of it but it isn't as hard as others make it out ITT.

Go with Italian or Russian tho. Russian is most impressive, Italian is easiest and probably the nicest sounding.