French, German, Italian, Polish, Finnish or Norwegian?

Question

I'm in the process of applying for Uni and want to apply for modern languages. I need to choose two european ones, but am having a bit of trouble deciding. I would like to study languages with a good body of literature (especially of the romantic period) and an interesting culutre. But I'm not sure which languages (european) to combine: French, German, Italian, Polish, Finnish or Norwegian? Does anybody know anything aobut their literatures? I think perhaps it may be best to combine on the mainstream one (first three) with something more adventurous (the last three).. any advice?

Many thanks :)

Answer 1

Norwegian has a very exciting literature, from Henrik Ibsen (the playwright), to Knut Hamsun. I could mention 100's of other neat (and fairly unknown authors). My favorite in Norwegian is Jan Kjærstad, and his trilogy about coming home from a trip and finding his wife murdered in the house. He goes from wondering who did it, to confessing that he did, to protesting that he didn't. Sounds boring in my poor summary, but it is a bit Proustian in his recollection of lots of childhood memories, kind of hopping all over the world, where this guy has traveled. It's only accessible if you know Norwegian, as only the first of the 3 volumes has been translated into English. (See if you can find it and if it appeals to you.)

Not to play professor, but Polish does NOT use Cyrillic, as a previous answer suggested. It uses the Latin alphabet with a few diacritics.

Norway's culture is fascinating -- was a backwater colony of Denmark for 400 years, now is probably the richest country in the world, thanks to North Sea Oil. But Norwegians are cautious, and will not squander their money, but will use it carefully, knowing that the oil is not infinite.

Norwegians are fiercely independent (wow a cliché, I suppose), but have the great custom of taking care of each other, and helping the world make strides towards peace. (Did you know the first Secretary General of the United Nations was Norwegian -- for example.)

If you continue on to graduate school, you'll find a few top-notch universities specializing in Scandinavian literature.

Did I mention that if you can read Norwegian, you can also read Danish (H.C. Andersen, for example), and Swedish with a little extra effort. So you get 3 great cultures for 1.

Another thought is that while many many people study the literatures of Italy, Germany, France etc etc, the Scandinavian literatures are relatively rare, but equally -- if not more -- exciting and rich.

If you want to explore a little more, let me know, and I will try to help you.

PS-- my Ph.D. is in Old Germanic literature and linguistics -- Old English, Old German, Old Icelandic. Gothic (only the New Testament, not a lot of creative literature).

One other quick thought -- The Nordic societies have been much stronger (and earlier) supporters  of gender equality than most of the rest of Europe -- if that makes a difference to you.

Answer 2

Hi I am 16 years old.. and I am learning French and Norwegian of my GCSE's and I am from the U.K.

French is a really romantic language and easy when you know english. Theres words in french that are english e.g : un football, un milkshake. =]

Some basic french for you:

English (Pronunciation) French

Do you speak English? (par-lay voo zon-glay) Parlez-vous anglais?

Excuse me/sorry (ex-koo-zay mwah) Excusez-moi

Fine thanks and you? (bee-ehn mer-see ay voo?) Merci et vous?

Glad to meet you (on-shohn-tay) Enchanté

Good-bye (oh ruh-vwar) Au revoir

Good evening (bon-swar) Bon soir

Good morning/good day/Hello (bon-zhoor) Bonjour

Hi (sah-loo) Salut

Here (ee-see) Ici

How are you? (sav vah) ca va?

I don't understand (jhuhn kom-prohn pah) Je ne comprends pas

I'm sorry (day-zoh-lay/pahr-dohn) Desolé/Pardon

My name is (juh mah-pell) Je m'appelle

No (nohn) Non

Ok (dah-core) d'accord

Pardon me (pahr-dohn) Pardon

Please (seel voo play) S'il vous plaît

Please speak slowly (par-lay lehn-ta-mohn) Parlez lentement

So-so (kum-see, kum-sah) Comme ci, comme ça

Thank you (mare-see) Merci

That's ok (dah ree-ehn) De rien

There (lah) Là

Very well (treh bee-ehn) Très bien

What? (kom-mohn) Comment?

What is your name? (two tah-pell com-mon) Tu t'apelle comment?

When (kohn) Quand

Where (oo) Où

You' re welcome (dah ree-ehn) De rien

As for norwegian I love learning it! The pronouciation is hard sometimes... but it's a great language to learn, I have learned so much already, and I have been learning it for four months.

Heres some basic Norwegian:

A as in father

E as in bed

I as in beat

U as in food

Æ as in mad

Ø as in hurt

Å as in ball

Most consonants are pronounced like in English, with these exceptions:

J is pronounced like the "y" in yes

R is a little more "rolled" than the English R

Norwegian special pronunciations:

KJ, KI and KY make a soft k-sound without actually blocking the throat, so that the air makes a sound as it squeezes out

SJ, SKY, SKJ and SKI as in shop.

Yes = Ja

No = Nei

Thank you = Takk

Thank you very much = Tusen takk

You're welcome = Vær så god

Please = Vær så snill

Excuse me = Unnskyld meg

Hello = Hallo

Goodbye = Ha det

I do not understand = Jeg forstår ikke

How do you say this in Norwegian? = Hvordan sier man dette på norsk?

Where is ...? = Hvor er ...?

How much is the fare? = Hvor mye koster billetten?

One ticket to ..., please. = En billett til ..., takk.

Train = Tog

Bus = Buss

Subway, Underground = T-bane

Airport = Flyplass

Train station = Jernbanestasjon

Bus station = Busstasjon

Are there any vacancies for tonight? = Er det noe ledig for i natt?

No vacancies = Alt opptatt.

How much does this cost? = Hvor mye koster dette?

What is this? = Hva er dette?

I'll buy it. = Jeg kjøper det.

I would like to buy ... = Jeg vil gjerne ha ...

Do you have ... = Har du ...

Do you accept credit cards? = Tar dere kredittkort?

Tourist Information = Turistinformasjon

Museum = Museum

Bank = Bank

Police station = Politistasjon

Hospital = Sykehus

Store, Shop = Butikk

Restaurant = Restaurant

Church = Kirke

Restrooms = Toalett

one = en

two = to

three = tre

four = fire

five = fem

six = seks

seven = sju

eight = åtte

nine = ni

ten = ti

Day = Dag

Week = Uke

Month = MÃ¥ned

Year = År

Monday = mandag

Tuesday = tirsdag

Wednesday = onsdag

Thursday = torsdag

Friday = fredag

Saturday = lørdag

Sunday = søndag

Today = I dag

Yesterday = I går

Tomorrow = I morgen

Answer 3

Polish should be very useful because you'll learn Cyrillic and German because it's probably the most spoken of all the rest.

Answer 4

Take French and German.

If you know French, it will be a lot easier for you to study other languages that have the same root as French such as Italian, Spanish or Portuguese. I recommend French rather than Italian because French is more widely used in the world than Italian. It is used in France, a lot of African countries, Canada, Vietnam, and some Polynesian countries. And it is a beautiful language I think.

German is also widely used in Europe and I think it's easy to learn for English speakers because it resembles English a bit. Plus, German is completely different than French, Italian, Spanish, etc. so it is worth studying.

Polish, Finnish and Norwegian might be interesting too if you think they will bring advantage to you. For me they are not worth mastering.

Answer 5

French, Italian are what your looking for!:)

Answer 6

Ambitious, applying for more than one! :)

I'm an Italian major, and the majority of literature I studied was from World War II. Like the Germans, they're still not quite over that war. (Not belittling it in any way, but I'm a little sick of it after the fourth solid year of WWII stuff.) If you're interested in that, I'm sure Italian, Polish, or German would be good. Italian does also have a bit of literature either from or about the Enlightenment, but not much. The Italian language only really became what it is today around 1861 (when Italy became a unified nation), so pretty much everything before that is in dialect, which is almost impossible to read if you're studying the language. (Except for the classic texts from Florence, like Dante. that dialect became what standard Italian is today, and it hasn't changed much. Forget about Sicilian and stuff though, it's impossible.)

I've heard about French literature, but they have very existential stuff ("Waiting For Godot," "The Stranger," stuff like that).

I have no idea what literature the Finnish or Norwegians have.

My advice is to study what you're interested in. Don't just think about their literature - think about their history, culture and how their language sounds. If you pick a more "mainstream" language over a language you'd rather study, you'll kick yourself. You also won't enjoy yourself as much (or learn as much) as you would have if you took a class you were really keen on. So go with what you love!

Best of luck!