Language Poll

[Callid]

...most of these were Scandinavian ones, i.e. rather (sorry ) unimportant ones...

_{Germans are so mean, too! D:}

Oi, it's a fact! All five Scandinavian languages combined have less native speakers than Polish, not to mention German or English

[nomemory]

...most of these were Scandinavian ones, i.e. rather (sorry ) unimportant ones...

_{Germans are so mean, too! D:}

Oi, it's a fact! All five Scandinavian languages combined have less native speakers than Polish, not to mention German or English

What is wrong with Poland now? Jerk

[Raiden]

...most of these were Scandinavian ones, i.e. rather (sorry ) unimportant ones...

_{Germans are so mean, too! D:}

Oi, it's a fact! All five Scandinavian languages combined have less native speakers than Polish, not to mention German or English

What is wrong with Poland now? Jerk

Yeah... 
@Callid: Just because a country is small, doesn't make their language unimportant.

[Kirbypepe]

I only know two English and Spanish, although I'd like to learn Japanese, Chinese, and more asian languages. If only those required not reading books upon books.............................................. =\

[Callid]

@ nom: Polish is a language used a lot internationally, right?

What is wrong with Poland now? Jerk

Yeah... 
@Callid: Just because a country is small, doesn't make their language unimportant.

I was talking about the amount of speakers, not the size of the country (not to mention that, as far as size is concerned, Scandinavia isn't that small...). And yes, a language with few speakers is unimportant as a second language, simply because there are relatively few people you can talk to. If you speak English, you are able to communicate with about 1'000'000'000 people in the world (only Chinese has more), while Swedish is spoken by only 1/100 as many people (German: 1/5, Polish: 1/25). Furthermore, while English has a large number of speakers in many countries, Swedish is widely spoken in only two (Sweden and Finland). German varies on how you count, but it has at least 6 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands).

[Kor]

German varies on how you count, but it has at least 6 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands).

Liechtenstein's and Luxembourg's combined population is less than 600,000, so I don't see how noting them is helpful for your point, unless you're just noting them for the sake of having more states, in which case it's a bit meaningless overall since the numbers you should care for are the number of speakers, not of the countries.

[Callid]

German varies on how you count, but it has at least 6 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands).

Liechtenstein's and Luxembourg's combined population is less than 600,000, so I don't see how noting them is helpful for your point, unless you're just noting them for the sake of having more states, in which case it's a bit meaningless overall since the numbers you should care for are the number of speakers, not of the countries.

Actually, the number of Swedish speakers in Finland is even lower; only 300'000. I included the three of them nonetheless; Finland, because it has some officially bilingual regions, and Liechtenstein and Luxembourg because they have a German-speaking majority. I could have well left out Liechtenstein; I included it mostly because of a running gag in Germany XD

[nomemory]

I was talking about the amount of speakers, not the size of the country (not to mention that, as far as size is concerned, Scandinavia isn't that small...). And yes, a language with few speakers is unimportant as a second language, simply because there are relatively few people you can talk to. If you speak English, you are able to communicate with about 1'000'000'000 people in the world (only Chinese has more), while Swedish is spoken by only 1/100 as many people (German: 1/5, Polish: 1/25). Furthermore, while English has a large number of speakers in many countries, Swedish is widely spoken in only two (Sweden and Finland). German varies on how you count, but it has at least 6 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands).

If you count Scandinavia's size it will kick Germany's (many other "important" countries too for that matter) ass quite good, even Sweden alone does that. So there is no use for a "that" there, as a matter of fact I think we kick many people's asses, so there. But in any case, this isn't the point I am wanting to make, point is: Don't say that stuff that matters to other people is unimportant. You can have all the logical reasoning you want, but that does not make it true. It is true that there aren't that many reasons for a non-Scandinavian to learn any of the Scandinavian languages but that doesn't make our languages unimportant. I could just as well say that all languages but English and Chinese are unimportant since the rest are spoken by so few in comparison. I know you don't mean to be rude but you are sounding like an ass (but I still like you anyway ).

[Borealis]

German varies on how you count, but it has at least 6 (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands).

Liechtenstein's and Luxembourg's combined population is less than 600,000, so I don't see how noting them is helpful for your point, unless you're just noting them for the sake of having more states, in which case it's a bit meaningless overall since the numbers you should care for are the number of speakers, not of the countries.

Actually, the number of Swedish speakers in Finland is even lower; only 300'000. I included the three of them nonetheless; Finland, because it has some officially bilingual regions, and Liechtenstein and Luxembourg because they have a German-speaking majority. I could have well left out Liechtenstein; I included it mostly because of a running gag in Germany XD

Liechtenstein.... Wo liecht denn das? ;P

Oh, btw, most people in Bozen (in the northern part of Italy, formerly part of Austria) speak german as well. It is just one area thoe.

[Hime-Chan]

@ Everyone: I don't think that Callid was being insulting to any people there, he was just using logic to find where someone lived! He's just a bit too logical. It's just a bunch of numbers in the end, not insulting people who speak a not widespread language.

Mangaluva: People in UK don't bother learning other languages because they don't have borders with other countries? What about the French then? Most of them still don't think that learning a new language is useful, and a lot of teachers are really crap at teaching there. (I'm French, I have the right to criticize my country ^^)

[nomemory]

@Hime: I am fully aware of that, but that doesn't change the fact that it makes him sound like an ass even if he isn't one. Logic is great, numbers are too, but you still have to think on how you phrase things.

[Raiden]

I was talking about the amount of speakers, not the size of the country ...

That's what I meant too... V: I apology. I totally failed at clarifying myself yesterday, to mean what I meant to say. :x 

I still stands with it's kinda rude to say a language is unimportant, just because it's not one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. ^^;

@Hime-chan: I know. ^^
... I was going to make a longer reply, but nom pretty much sums up my thought on it in the above post.

[mangaluva]

Mangaluva: People in UK don't bother learning other languages because they don't have borders with other countries? What about the French then? Most of them still don't think that learning a new language is useful, and a lot of teachers are really crap at teaching there. (I'm French, I have the right to criticize my country ^^)

A lot of people do study languages; French is compulsory until fourth year. It's just that the problem is that languages other than English are pretty much never used on a day-to-day basis, unless you live near or in a heavily immigrant community (Polish is growing in popularity) or travel a lot. Most European countries have physical borders with others, so the people living along the border tend to be bilingual at least, I've noticed.

Of course, there's also Welsh and the various Gaelic dialects, but the number of people who know and use them is small and ever-shrinking.

[aly_angelflight]

Fluent English, a decent amount of Japanese, some Spanish (though I don't use it enough, so I can't hold a conversation with it), and some random words in Korean (only the ones we use in Taekwondo class and the ones I've learned from reading a certain fanfic), Italian (music terms, morning, love, princess, queen/king... some of the numbers... and some others), German (1-3, red, and chair), and French (1-3, pastry chef, and escargo).

Ranking-wise, it would probably be English>Japanese>Spanish>Italian>Korean>German/French. ^^;

And foreign languages are required at a lot of schools here, but unless you actually use them, you're going to steadily loose your ability to speak and understand it. (Like with me and Spanish. ^^;) So, yeah, having people around to practice with helps a lot.

[Dwalin]

I really envy all people who understand Japanese. There are so many animes and games which I would like to play and watch, but Japanese is really difficult to learn, even though I try to do my best. For example, 鈴 can be read as "rei, rin, suzu" and 木 can be read as "moru, boku, ki, ko", so 鈴木 can be read as both the surname Suzuki and the name Reiko. How am I supposed to understand which is it? And if the person's name is "Suzuki Reiko"?