Recently, I've been working on my graduate school (re)application. (I deferred and now have to reapply, with the assurance that I will be accepted again.) If I want a certain scholarship--and I do--I have to study a foreign language. I can't decide what I want to study next (7 down, several thousand to go), so I figured, hey, why not let the internet decide? So, here we are, a poll: what language should I study in graduate school?
Afrikaans (to quote a certain mountain climber, because it's there)
Arabic (I miss hacking up parts of my throat)
Dutch (super useful for Indonesian linguistics)
Farsi (to be the NSA's wet dream--Arabic, Indonesian and Farsi)
Indonesian (they have some lit classes that look fun)
Irish Gaelic (Welsh was fun, so why not Irish?)
Sanskrit (it's dead, so I would never have to speak)
Turkish (vowel harmony, plus see "Farsi" above)
Vietnamese (tones, topic-comment structure, reduplication, classifiers. Whee!)
Thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
afrikaans. i had a friend in high school who spoke it and it sounded pretty when she did.
dutch. It meets another one of your requirements: completely useless in the real world (unless you'll be moving to the Low Countries). Plus, you're already heading down of path of absurd specialization that will render you a useless member of society, why not advance the process? (I refer here to linguistics and your idea of a good Indonesian etymology dictionary).
I vote for Sanskrit. I can't think of a good reason why; I just do.
Dutch—because it would be fun to have a Dutchman in the family.
Superficially yours,
Aunt Jan
Well, I was going to suggest Sanskrit, since then you could read the Vedas; plus I'm obsessed with everything dead and useless and can't figure out why everyone else isn't. Aside from Hittite, Ugaritic or Punic, I can't think of any language more dead or useless. (Wait, I take back the last one: apparently it will be useful to know Punic for Vin Diesel's Hannibal the Great.)
So I was going to suggest Sanskrit, but aunt jan's logic is hard to refute. Dutchmen are funny, so you're already halfway there.
In order, I suggest:
1. Dutch
2. Irish Gaelic
3. Arabic
4. Vietnamese
5. Farsi
6. Turkish
I don't suggest Sanskrit because I'm biased against dead languages. I don't suggest Afrikaans because you've already got Dutch up there and if you study one, you've pretty much got the other. (And more people speak Dutch.)
Umm, Sanskrit! Obviously! It's dead and old! You get to read old dead things! What more could you ask?
Also, if you're interested in Indo-European comparative linguistics, and who isn't, then Sanskrit seems like a necessary dimension too often negelected.
And it's tragic you have to fill out applications again, even if you know the outcome. Are they making you write a new letter of intent? I think I'd rather stab myself in the throat with a whole box of toothpicks one at a time.
There is truly nothing more sexy in this world than someone growling in Gaelic.
Go for the Irish. All the way.
Keep up this great resource. Respect!
replica louis vuitton handbag
paycheck cash advance
quick no faxing payday loan
loan personal quick
no fax payday advance loan
payday loan paycheck advance
fast payday online cash loan search
lender loan online payday
emergency fax loan no no payday teletrack
24 hour payday loan
credit free minnesota report score
Good Luck!
Which is closest to Nepalese?
I have a sister-in-law that's a native Afrikaans speaker, I'm sure she'd love to have someone to talk to :)
I vote for Thai all the way. It is totally tonal and that is totally cool.
I vote for cod soma and some overnight atarax.
Post a Comment