54 replies to this topic

[Applepi]

During my last year of pharmacy rotations, I saw the need for spanish speaking healthcare professionals daily. I'm sure no matter what field of work/walk of life your kids end up in, they will encounter spanish speakers who require translation. 

 

For that reason, I'd say spanish is probably the better option. Of course, they can always learn more languages as they get older if they have an interest in it! 

[Ali]

Also I know you'll probably need an official curriculum (or not, I'm not sure how homeschooling works ) but duolingo is fun if you wanted to get them interested/lay some groundwork while you get one sorrted.
You level up and have lives and earn gold and stuff.

I got so addicted to this for a while but then got bored of being forced to redo early levels so gave up.

[blue]

Moving to the mainland has shown me that Spanish is the way to go.

[trizzle]

I got so addicted to this for a while but then got bored of being forced to redo early levels so gave up.

 

Haha same.

 

I also feel a deep sense of shame when I lose all my lives on something like Basics 3 despite having 5 years of French which leads to a rage quit

(stupid typos/mishearing the stupid listening ones )

[Galadriel]

Teach them Afrikaans. Dis lekker, ja.

[NapisaurusRex]

I said French on your status because I assumed you were referring to yourself and I knew you already knew quite a bit of Spanish.
If this is for the kiddos, I definitely say Spanish. 

Well, in 4 years when we switch, I'll be learning either right ahead of them or with them. 

[onlyme]

I am all for Spanish aswell and I love that you are doing that!

[Padme]

People would be lying to you. It's becoming nearly impossible to get a job in many Canadian provinces if you aren't bilingual.
I speak quite a bit of French and struggled to find a job because my French wasn't good enough for multiple places. Including FAST FOOD. (This was right after high school lol)

 

I think this is 100% true for Eastern Canada but here in the West (lol) you only need French to work for the government or to teach French. 

 

 

I would recommend teaching your children ASL, I know a lot of it and will continue to learn it until I'm 'fluent.' It is invaluable. 

If your kids are going to learn both anyway I would probably suggest going with Spanish for the aforementioned practicality. Especially since it would be easier to find people to practice with them. 

 

I am personally partial to French but I'm trying to leave that bias out. French is great if you plan on working in governments and not just Canada's. A lot of organizations have French & English as their official languages.

[Frizzle]

Germans the easiest.

[Galadriel]

Germans the easiest.

 

So is Dutch and Afrikaans. They are so much simpler to learn than English. And they sound better than French and Spanish. Especially German.

[Frizzle]

Afrikaans is an abomination of a language.

[Galadriel]

Afrikaans is an abomination of a language.

 

Because you have been exposed to so much Afrikaans that you would even be able to tell it apart from Dutch... Nope.

[Frizzle]

My ex was South African so yeah

[Galadriel]

My ex was South African so yeah

 

You realise South Africa has 11 official languages? Saying she was South African doesn't say anything about the language she spoke xD Also willing to bet she never spoke much Afrikaans since there simply isn't reason to if you live in the UK.

Edited by CountFurFur, 19 June 2014 - 12:41 PM.

[Frizzle]

Well she spoke Afrikaans obviously

[jonis]

Saying that, the easiest language I know is Swedish.

Damn straight! But as you said, probably not that useful.

 

Spanish is a good choice. Simple grammar and pronunciation rules. And you will have lots of words in common with English.

[Applepi]

I also think if they can become relatively fluent in Spanish, they can at least somewhat understand Italian and Portuguese as well.  

[Ali]

Damn straight! But as you said, probably not that useful.

Easiest grammar ever. Took me a while to get used to the tonal element but apart from that, fairly simple compared to most languages. It's good because the BBC has a weird addiction to Scandinavian dramas and I watch The Bridge a lot.

[Tetiel]

I'd honestly consider some latin AND greek - at least expose them to it. If they're going to be consider eventually go into the sciences, knowing the latin and greek roots of words is incredibly helpful. I'm big into etymology and it got me through my anatomy courses. All those things are named what they are for a reason. Like the supraspinous fossa on the scapula is obvious where it is if you know some latin because it literally means "the indentation above the spiny part." No memorization needed. Tell them it'll help them be a marine biologist one day. That would have motivated me, anyways, but I'm a weirdo and read children's encyclopedias for fun when I was a kid. ...I had no friends...

[Fikri]

i would suggest chinese but since you're american, spanish is more practical like others said. besides, everything sounds sexy in spanish. <3

[NapisaurusRex]

i would suggest chinese but since you're american, spanish is more practical like others said. besides, everything sounds sexy in spanish. <3

lmao we put 'I love you mommy' into google translate and listened to all the languages to see which ones I'd like best.

[Fikri]

lmao we put 'I love you mommy' into google translate and listened to all the languages to see which ones I'd like best.

 

that's actually a good method to decide.

[Bone]

Skip the effort of learning Spanish yourself and just get a maid.

 

Or get a mail-order bride to teach them Russian.