Choosing a Language

I've wanted to learn a foreign language for quite some time now, and I'm having trouble coming to a decision on which to learn.

I've narrowed my choices down to Norwegian, Russian and Japanese.

My main problem in deciding  is that I feel like once I start, if I get any significant way through then I won't really be able to change my mind (without throwing away a ton of work which I would be unlikely to do). Norwegian also seemingly has a lack of good resources; it was what I was leaning more towards due to it's relative ease which would mean if I wanted to learn a different language later, I'd be more likely to try and get fluent in Norwegian first and then move on to a different language.

Any thoughts on the matter, /lang/? Thanks in advance for any replies.

I completely understand where you are coming from.

I speak two languages fluently and study 6 others with my ability ranging from academic fluency to mere conversational.

Norsk is definitely the easier option to get started in, however you should remember that all languages are equally as hard to master; to be able to speak, read and write like a native.

Resources for learning Russian and Japanese do outweigh those for Norsk but let me remind you that quality beats quantity every time; hence as long as you have access to resources, then you're sure to be fine.

I would recommend starting with a book/cd combination such as Teach Yourself: Complete Norwegian; which can be found here for US nationals:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Norwegian-Two-Audio-CDs/dp/0071758933/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1340833397&sr=8-2&keywords=complete+norwegian

($29)

& here for European nationals:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yourself-Complete-Norwegian-Courses-Including/dp/1444107208/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340833592&sr=8-1

(£16)

This will get you to a basic level of conversational fluency, and from there you can move on to speaking with natives, reading literary books and watching TV in Norsk.

Good luck Anon.

>>2
Thank you for posting that course, it looks like it could be useful.

>>2
>Talks about how quality is more important than quantity
>Posts a book that will get you no further than a travel phrase book

>>4

OP, I have exstensively reviewed the Teach Yourself series, and can tell you that Complete Norwegian will allow you to move way past basic travel phrases, and onto conversational fluency.

Teach Yourself works like a franchise, meaning that it has different authors for different languages, hence the quality of each book/cd pack varies, however the Norsk pack has been well put together and will provide you with what you need to get started.

You could quite easily use an alternative such as Assimil or Colloquial Series, however I know this pack to be sound and therefore recommend it to you.

Just be sure to purchase a good learner's dictionary, and you can't go wrong.

You can find dictionaries on amazon as well:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=norwegian+dictionary+&x=0&y=0

Langenscheidt are a very good company that produce many high quality dictionaries and learner's guides, however much of their material is in German.

Here is an English-Norsk/Norsk-English dictionary from Langenscheidt:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Langenscheidt-Universal-Dictionary-Norwegian-English/dp/3468981813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340835794&sr=8-1

I'd advise you to ignore anyone who is not actually trying to help you, and wish you the best of luck with your learning.

This looks suspiciously like a marketing thread.

I'd start on Norwegian first (I hear it's a nice place to live) while still trying to get as much passive exposure to Japanese (e.g., music) as possible and eventually study both simultaneously.

>>6

Why would I market a product to one anon on a rarely visited 4chan board?

Like I said use Assimil or Colloquial series if you prefer; it's just that I have first hand experience of the Teach Yourself version so I recommended it.

I just want people to feel that they can learn a new language, since so many people these days think it's impossible.

You always here things like 'Languages just aren't my thing' and sure maybe language acquisition is a little harder for some, but something being hard is never an excuse to not try it.

Grab life by the balls and get ready to suck todays dick OP; no homo.

I'm by no means an expert but I have in my life attempted to learn French, Italian, German, and Japanese, in that order. From the very start, I wanted to learn Japanese, but it looked hard as fuck, and I didn't want to, Hell I don't even know, I guess I was just intimidated; french went horribly and almost put me off languages, but I started learning Italian with a girlfriend for about 4/5 months, but we broke up and it was then it became obvious that I never really cared THAT much about Italian, so I started German but after one month I gave up because it was just plain obvious that I wanted to learn Japanese. Now I'm eight months in, feeling pretty good about the language, studying everyday and feel absolutely zero burn out.

tl;dr being, if there is one amongst them that you want to learn more than others, this anon at least thinks that one criterion  outweighs all the others.

>>9

This anon is right; you're mind has to be in the right place, make sure to pick the language that you really want to study.

If you don't want it, you won't do it.

I love all you guys.

You're like my best friends.

<3