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Joeman
Protector of the Realm
Joined: 03 Jan 2004
Posts: 254
Location: USA |
This is a weird question
I am an American. I would like to pickup another foreign language. I would like to know what other languages that I don't have to roll R's? The reason I ask is, people suggest me to pickup Spanish because it is the second most useful language for Americans. However, I have a flat Midwest tongue. I absolutely cannot roll R's. 
I am not interested in Asian languages because I am already fluent in Chinese after spending several years working in Taiwan.
It seems like almost all European languages require to roll R's. I used to work for Nokia (A Finnish company), and I found out all Baltic languages requires rolling R's. All Latin based languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Greek, etc... requires to roll R's.) I was told in German you sort of have to. Even in Scottish English, people roll R's.
So what European languages are useful and don't require to roll R's?
Thanks.
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 9:19 am |
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XeroX
The MasterCopy
Joined: 13 Dec 2001
Posts: 7125
Location: The Netherlands |
The Dutch can roll the R but it isn't used in words.
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 9:57 am |
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot |
In Germany, only Bavarians and some of the Frankish tribes roll their Rs. It's their dialect, not required by the language in itself, so you might try that one. There is no rolling of Rs in French, either, at least none that I know of (and I'm living about 20 klicks from the French border). |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 10:00 am |
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mkreku
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 22 Oct 2003
Posts: 112
Location: Uppsala, Sweden |
Uhm.. You could always try learning swedish! You'll sound like a complete moron without the rolling R's but everytime someone from Sweden laughs at you, just remember that swedish chicks dig american accents 
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Swedes visit NordicGamers for the latest game reviews in swedish! |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 10:04 am |
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Joeman
Protector of the Realm
Joined: 03 Jan 2004
Posts: 254
Location: USA |
quote:
Originally posted by mkreku
Just remember that swedish chicks dig american accents
I found that strange. I have no idea why anyone would dig American accent. There are several types of American accent. By American accent, I assume it's the flat news broadcaster accent you are talking about. That's exactly the type I have.
Here is a story. Fact: Most American men absolutely adore women with English accent. The last time I was in England though, in a book shop a lady kept telling me to repeat things I said. I thought she didn't understand me but later she told me she just wanted to hear my accent. That's just too weird. Somehow grass is always greener on the other side...
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Arguing over the internet is like competing in special olympics. Even if you win, you are still retarded. |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 10:24 am |
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Hexy
High Emperor
Joined: 28 Jun 2002
Posts: 621
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Wow! Talk about being picky.
Spanish has rolling R's? Oh, really? I don't notice much difference from English. And even if it does, it doesn't compare to French.
But if you absolutley don't want to try any European language. Try Chinese or Japanese, they don't have any real rolling R's.
Maybe Arabic.
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Like some bold seer in a trance;
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:30 pm |
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balconygolf_ThE_bRiDe
Alien Dwarf
Joined: 26 Dec 2003
Posts: 705
Location: Greece/Athens or *BrOtHeRhOoD* |
We dont roll R's.But my suggestion is:DO NOT LEARN GREEK.Its a very difficult language and it wouldnt be useful unless you want to work here.
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 I come from space.From outer space! |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:54 pm |
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Mercenary
Helpful Friend
Joined: 25 Nov 2002
Posts: 2874
Location: Chromanin |
Whatever you do ... do not learn Slovene. It is the language I use (and many others .. ) . We complicate the easiest thing to the hardest possible ...
We don't have only SINGULAR and PLURAL ... we have something more
Example :
Word : Coin
1 Coin - 2(3,4,5,6 ...) Coins (english)
1 Kovanec - 2 Kovanca - 3(4) Kovanci (For more we have like 5,6, ...kovancev(But that has nothing to do with Singular and plural.)) - (Slovene)
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:16 pm |
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iplaygames2
Master of The Realms
Joined: 06 Sep 2001
Posts: 745
Location: Chicago, IL, USA |
Not to get off topic, but I'm curious. How many of you non-native English speakers think English was a horrible language to learn? I have talked to many international people, some say it's a torture to learn, others had no real problems.
I suspect English would be quite difficult to learn, but certainly not the hardest. For those of you fluent in 2+ languages, would you say English was the most difficult for you?
Curiousity killed the cat.....good thing I'm not a feline... 
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 7:03 pm |
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balconygolf_ThE_bRiDe
Alien Dwarf
Joined: 26 Dec 2003
Posts: 705
Location: Greece/Athens or *BrOtHeRhOoD* |
Basic english are easy to learn.(basic=enough to speak and understand)
There are times that a feline gets you and those times you wish to be a feline.
Dont try the jungle area!
Curiosity killed a lot , not only the cat in the hat!or it was the rabbit in the hat?  ...hhhmmm...Nevermind?!?!?!?!?!
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 7:10 pm |
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Jaz
Late Night Spook
Joined: 20 Jan 2002
Posts: 9708
Location: RPGDot |
I'd say it depends on the language branch. If the language you're trying to learn is of the same branch, it shouldn't be too difficult to learn.
English was the easiest of all the languages I ever tried to learn (the others were French and Russian... both being non-Germanic languages). It's also the only foreign language I'm reasonably fluent in.
For some unfathomable reason my understanding of Italian is a lot better than my French, though I never had formal training in this language. Just a few vacations spent in Italy, plus seven years of Latin classes at school. |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 7:15 pm |
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Toaster
Bread Alert
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 5475
Location: Sweden |
quote:
Originally posted by iplaygames2
Not to get off topic, but I'm curious. How many of you non-native English speakers think English was a horrible language to learn? I have talked to many international people, some say it's a torture to learn, others had no real problems.
I suspect English would be quite difficult to learn, but certainly not the hardest. For those of you fluent in 2+ languages, would you say English was the most difficult for you?
Curiousity killed the cat.....good thing I'm not a feline...
I think English is quite easy to learn if I compare with learning Spanish. The horror!
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 8:14 pm |
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Joeman
Protector of the Realm
Joined: 03 Jan 2004
Posts: 254
Location: USA |
English has no gender distinction. That makes it easy. I don't have to remember if some object is male or female.
I have had an 8 week Italian class when I was a college. I remember it being fairly easy except I can't roll R's. So I gave it up.
Some foreigners have said English is difficult mainly because it's so inconsistent in pronounciation and spelling. A lot of time you think a word is pronounced or spelled a certain way, but it isn't. You almost have to memorize it. For example, recently I was wondering how come the word harass isn't spelled herass? Herass makes more sense, because you know, her - ass. Okay. That is a bad joke.
I have heard a few people say Russian is easier than English before. I don't know if that's true or not. Russian has over 30 alphabets comparing to English 26.
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Arguing over the internet is like competing in special olympics. Even if you win, you are still retarded. |
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Wed Jan 07, 2004 11:31 pm |
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Ozymandias
Leader of the Senate
Joined: 26 Apr 2003
Posts: 319
Location: Otherland |
Check out http://www.ielanguages.com/ and pay attention to the link European Languages it's a comparative page of the European languages with suggestions for learning foreign languages. The whole site is very interesting if you have the slightest interest in languages.
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Disclaimer: I can not be held responsible for anything whatsoever as a result of you reading this post. |
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Thu Jan 08, 2004 3:03 am |
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MoonDragon
High Emperor
Joined: 25 May 2002
Posts: 1254
Location: Waterloo, Canada |
English is one of the easiest languages to start using and one of the most difficult to master. Mainly because a lot of 'rules' in English are by the ear kind. The horror of English comes from its tendency to adopt foreign words that break its rules (both phonetic and constructive). Many other languages have more structure (productive rules on how to create new words--e.g. conjugation, etc.) and require less assimilation of foreign words. Those languages are harder to start using (since you have to master more rules), but become easier to master once you have a good grasp of the basics.
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Thu Jan 08, 2004 9:50 pm |
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