For 2011, I have two resolutions. One is to get fitter (hence my quest for a new sport) and the other is to finally pick up another language.

I already have relatively good German and conversational Irish alongside my mother tongue of English. Last year I attempted to learn Arabic, but found that I just didn’t have the time that you need to devote to a language like that. So, my new language needs to be something I can learn on the way to/from places, and it needs to be based on a Roman alphabet (mainly because the Arabic alphabet was my prime stumbling block, and the Cyrillic and Mandarin ones look similarly difficult.)

I’ve been keeping an eye on the endeavours of Benny the Irish Polyglot lately, which made me ponder which language I want to learn. Do I learn something useful, or a language I like the sound of?

The easy option for me would be to go with Dutch, Swedish, or another Northern European language. But all of those languages are largely restricted to one or two countries, meaning that they aren’t very practical if you don’t live there. Still, I could probably get to a reasonable level in them in around a month with the right amount of practice.

The not-so-easy option (but the one which I’m veering towards) is learning one of the Romance languages- Spanish, French or Portuguese. Spanish and Portuguese in particular are increasingly relevant today, and French remains widely spoken. As pointed out here, learning a language like Spanish is very much an investment.

I intend on posting my choice once I’ve decided, and also how I’m going to learn the language on the cheap.

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