to ask if you speak a foreign language, why you chose that one..

[Messyisthenewtidy]

was it to travel to / live in that country, because of a spouse, etc?

Also, do you find it easy? And how are the locals when you speak to them in their language?

I'm trying to get some inspiration to learn a foreign language but I'm not sure which one to choose.

Arabic is useful in my line of work.

Cantonese is very useful as China is going to the next super power.

French - very useful
Latin - less so although useful when I was in law and utterly fascinating
Portuguese - just learning

Many Italians, French and Spaniards speak little English. And those are easy languages to learn.

If you're thinking of countries accessible by train/boat, then realistically that's French or German you should be learning (I wouldn't worry about Dutch or Danish, because you would only be learning the language for reasons of politeness - which is always a good thing, but not a necessity - because generally Dutch and Danish people speak very good English).

There's a myth that the Germans all speak good English, but this isn't really true outside of the biggest cities.

France has a bit of a reputation for being snooty about English speakers trying to speak French, but in my experience this is a myth (outside of Paris). Generally I've found people delighted that I speak (bad) French and happy to let me try. Not sure how much of what I say they understand (given my terrible accent) but I can hold down a conversation on the bus about last night's TV.

One of the liberating things for me was realising you don't need to be perfect, you just need to be understood. Think about having a conversation in English with a non-native speaker - you don't mind if they screw up the odd tense, or say "mouses" instead of "mice". You generally find some of the mispronunciations charming and endearing rather than thinking "pah, this idiot can't even pronounce 'antidisestablishmentarianism' without stumbling over it." The same actually goes the other way round. People are just chuffed you've made the effort to learn their language and are trying to communicate.

I learned Arabic first - working in the region - and then Hebrew (ditto) followed by Russian (ditto). I am completely fluent in all 3. I also acquired Afrikaans for work related reasons - don't use it much any more so no longer fluent. Off the back of that, my Dutch is OK.

Some years later, I needed Kiswahili - I now read and speak fluently, but I make mistakes writing. I have excellent passive French, and use it without issue in Francophone Africa, but struggle in France. I worked for the EC, but tended to listen in French or German and respond in English. I did it at school for GCSE but only picked it back up in my 40s- use it daily, though, nowadays. Similarly, I did German GCSE, but can only manage traveller's language - if I absolutely must.

Total immersion has been the best way for me to learn, coupled with intermittent formal immersion teaching. I am not a natural at languages at all, and hate speaking unless I know I am completely correct in what I am saying - but needing languages to work in the field more competently has definitely proven to be a powerful incentive. I listen to the radio in the languages I am still fluent in, to help me maintain them. I also listen to the news in each every day, and read the newspaper. I have to consciously invest the time every day, though, as otherwise I start to slide - and they've been too hard won to let them go just because I work in the UK mostly nowadays.

I’m British but I speak German and English as my mother languages.
I learnt French at school and have become pretty good, then I decided to learn Portuguese as we were going there on our family holiday every year. Once I got the hang of Portuguese it was easy enough to slip into Spanish and from there, when I was at college I decided to take Italian as an “optional extra” as it would look good on my cv to speak 5 languages - as well as being obsessed with Venice.
Now I have mastered all 5 languages, my next step will be to learn something more difficult - mandarin/Indian or punjabi. I believe that you need to not only speak and understand the language but also to write it correctly too.
To me learning languages is really simple and I’m a very quick learner, I seem able to grasp the accents naturally so it’s easy to me.

We speak three languages at home, I speak one more fluently and have a decent comprehension of at least two others.
I like the idea that through the language you also get to understand the culture of the people better.

The key to speaking Slovene (or any language) is regular lessons and practice - and visits. It's quite a logical language and the alphabet is the same as English so if you keep at it you will learn it!

Although, Spanish or French may be more useful....

OK, I'm veering towards German.. but I have memories of it being pretty hard at school.

I speak Irish (though not fluently sadly) because I'm Irish in Ireland and we learn it in school. English is my first language though. I'm not in a Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area)

English, German, French were all in school, took that for as long as possible (A-level equivalent). Learnt Norwegian for visiting purposes and went on to read Scandinavian languages and Literature at Uni. Tried a bit of Japanese via Linguaphone (forgotten), tried a bit of Albanian as it was relevant to working visits to Kosovo (forgotten).

I've always linked (after school) learning a language with wanting to visit or going to learn for a purpose - though why I learnt Welsh (not forgotten, but haven't used for 18 years) was maybe not a purpose others would recognise. (Doing something interesting on holiday, with people who had a real incentive to learn the language.)

Good resources are also important. After moving to Scotland I thought it would be nice to learn some Gaelic, but the local Gaelic Club didn't really have a Gaelic speaker. The other members were either in the early stages of learning or had atrocious accents so that didn't work for me. Not everybody can have a good accent - or have it from the get go - but I'm a "fake it 'til you make it" sorta language learner, my accent gets me a pass very early on, when my grammar is the pits and my vocabulary still rudimentary.

As it's so close. I just Rome2Rio'd it and it's 4 hours to Cologne, which is supposed to be nice.

Learnt Norwegian for visiting purposes and went on to read Scandinavian languages

I do have a slight obsession with Scandinavia especially the Danish monarchy

I speak Swedish because I live in Sweden. It was so much easier to learn than French (which at learnt at school and have since forgotten).

"Somewhere not too far because I don't like to fly, prefer train or bus. I like mountains and sea, lounging around in cafes. I don't drink alcohol but love good food. Oh and history, love a bit of history."

Persevere with the French. France has all of the above! Some French people do reply in English if your French isn't great, some people do it to be helpful (or because they're excited to get the chance to speak English) but others do it to be rude sadly. But you just need to keep learning and practising, and you will get there.

I think Spanish is a good option too, but Spain is further away and the Spanish speak so fast! But I think (generalisation alert) the Spanish might be more forgiving of a learner speaker

Don't learn Russian It's a beautiful language but very difficult. And Russia is pretty far to visit without flying.

Every language is hard, and the older you are the harder it is. Seriously, you can get "good" with using 'schoolbook' German, get along in conversations and read the papers, but to really get a thorough use and understanding you need to become fluent in day-to-day use, the colloquialisms, the ways that if you say "up" in English you would have to use a variety of different words depending on context in the foreign language.

Reading is the key, read a lot and early (it helps if there are learner story books for grown-ups like there are in Welsh) to expand your knowledge and how the language is used in everyday life.

German has its pros and cons - the grammar is a bastard as another poster said but as it’s German it’s very orderly and you mostly say all the letters in a word so I think the pronunciation is easier than how English must seem to a foreigner.

English is my mothertongue, but I am almost fluent in French. I lived there for a year post-uni, I chose it because I learned French at school and really enjoyed it. I also speak Hungarian, but only to a conversational level, and I get the grammar wrong a lot. I went to UCL night school for a while to learn it, it's a bloody sod of a language, but it's DH's mothertongue and DS is bilingual so I feel like I should make the effort.

Ah, yes, if you were to decide on Dutch, be prepared that everyone will answer you back in English (almost everyone), as they're either proud to spot your accent or want to practice their own use of English. There are some nice resources for native English speakers who want to learn Dutch that are written in English and are fun to have a look at why there are so many difficulties learners struggle with. (Maybe there are similar book for other languages, as they would have similar but different difficulties and stumbling blocks for learners.)

Messy I think school (or in my case university days - wanted to learn it for research purposes) can leave an entirely wrong view of learning German.

For a start off, a lot of us come out of school with a belief that there are those who are naturals at languages, and the rest of us who are crap will never get there.

In a way, this is just a general case of the British myth of the "gifted amateur who learns Sanskrit and general relativity without effort in their spare time" - see for eg Peter Whimsey in literature. It dogs the British education system - because what's actually needed to get good at anything is:

1. hard work
2. a willingness to make mistakes
3. practice, practice and more practice Yes there are naturals (few and far between, but I've known some) but the rest of us can learn.

As an adult, what you want to focus on building up a repertoire of stock phrases and vocabulary aimed at what you want to do. So you don't need "my postillion has been struck by lightning", but you do need "how do I find the station?" and the vocabulary to understand the answer (second left, straight on to the church on the left, take the right immediately beyond that, go across the square...), you need food, you need parts of the body, etc.

You need to be able to ask someone to repeat what they're saying, but slower. Or using simpler language.

And you need someone to practice pronunciation with a native speaker, and get tuned into listening to the language (the good news is because the stresses of German are similar to English, it's - to my ear at least - one of the easier languages to pick out individual words in).

Mandarin

Lived in China

French & Spanish.. learned in school.

German is fun. But the grammar is a pain. I would focus on where you want to spend time.

Cologne is lovely, Messy, I was there last summer. There are so many brilliant places in Germany, but the Cologne-Bonn-Wuppertal conurbation has a lot of interesting places.

I have fond memories of visiting Heidelberg, Stuttgart and Munich as a teen, but they're rather further away by train. The countryside south of Munich is gorgeous. (German trains are fab - and kids travel free with a parent up to the age of 16).

I did French and German because they were the ones on offer at my school. I've been a French and German teacher for over 20 years. Languages are my thing, and I'd spend my life just learning one after another if someone would pay me to do that!

German has almost disappeared from English schools, so I recently decided to learn Spanish, as it's much easier to find mfl teaching jobs if you teach 2 languages. I am absolutely loving learning Spanish and think it's quite a bit easier for a beginner than French or German. My French obviously helps hugely in my understanding of Spanish, so I'm progressing very fast.

Don't want to go on and on, but whichever language you choose, I'd massively recommend podcasts as a way of absorbing vocab and grammar and getting a feel for the spoken language.