Top Foreign Languages To Learn

"What are the top foreign languages to learn?" is perhaps the most frequent question that people ask me on the subject of learning foreign languages.

Most of the time, there's an assumption behind this question, namely learning a foreign language is a prolonged and painful task. For many people, learning a language is somewhat like asking "Which mountain is a good starting point for reluctant mountain climber? Mount Everest or Mount Kilimanjaro?" Either answer is not desirable.

But what if I tell you that any foreign language can be mastered within 6 to 12 months without nearly as much effort as you think it'll take? Would the choice of foreign language to learn still be a serious issue? An analogy would be "Should you put on your right shoe first or your left shoe?"

You may already be learning on one or more foreign languages already. If you know which languages you want to master, good for you, but if you don't, you may still want to ask questions such as "which are the top foreign languages to learn?" or "which language is the most useful or most popular?". Still, the real question is "which one should I learn as the starting point?" Some might tell you "of course it depends on what your goal is". But I'm sure that's not the answer you'd like to hear.

If you have asked those questions, I'd imagine that you don't have a particular desire for a specific language but just want some general advice. Or you just want to be able to pick up any language as fast as you can.

What if I tell you the difference between them is negligible once you apply some proper techniques? What if learning any language is just as easy as learning another? Which one would you pick then?

The truth of the matter is, you shouldn't just listen to someone who's had a good or bad experience with a certain language. Just because someone else can't handle Chinese doesn't mean you can't. Everybody, based on their background and social experience, has different affinity and levels of exposure to different languages. By the way, did you know that Chinese is one of the easiest languages, as far as the complexity of a language is concerned.

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The reason why many people find learning Chinese such a traumatizing experience is because it is not like other alphabet-based languages. Asking a native English speaker to switch to a tonal language all of a sudden is indeed very demanding.

But for a new-born baby, speaking a tonal language with little grammar could be easier than speaking a precise alphabet- based language with a huge vocabulary and stringent grammar rules such as German.

All those being said, the top foreign languages to learn are:

Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian

Those include the official languages of the United Nations. Since you're reading this, I assume your command of English is already beyond "basic". As for German, let's face it, 25% of the European population speak it; it is the 2nd most popular internet language. The reason it is not listed in one of the official United Nations language is more political than anything else, i.e. it should be one of the top foreign languages to learn.

About The Author:

Owen Lee helps students all over the world learn a foreign language easily and quickly. He's also the creator of "Ultimate Language Secrets", the famous step-by-step language learning system that enables anyone to master any foreign language in as little as 6 months. Visit www.UltimateLanguageSecrets.com to claim your no-obligation free 7-day e-course right now.

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