Language

Gimabella · #1 01-06-2005, 10:08 AM

hey ,im debating on whether or not to take up a language,

i already speak Spanish and English both very fluently, and will be moving to DR next year, hopefully i can venture out on my own business of which my target will be foreigners and tourists,
my question is besides the 2 basic languages what other languages should i make top priority to learn..such as Fench, Italian, german, Portuesse,,etc,etc.....

i already know
1-Englsih ( both oral and written)
2-Spanish ( both oral and written)

Voyager · #2 01-06-2005, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gimabella

hey ,im debating on whether or not to take up a language,

i already speak Spanish and English both very fluently, and will be moving to DR next year, hopefully i can venture out on my own business of which my target will be foreigners and tourists,
my question is besides the 2 basic languages what other languages should i make top priority to learn..such as Fench, Italian, german, Portuesse,,etc,etc.....

i already know
1-Englsih ( both oral and written)
2-Spanish ( both oral and written)

My advise is for you to learn German!

If you look at the nationalities visiting DR, Germans are a pretty big percentage. Many of them speak English but you will make them feel very happy if you could speak German with them. And you don't need to be fluent.

Having done a lot of business in Germany has taught me that German people are used to foreigners not being able to speak their language. So a little knowledge of German will be greatly rewarded in contacts with German tourists.

Dolores · #3 01-06-2005, 10:19 AM

The language of the future is Chinese. I understand the UASD will be opening up instruction in Chinese this January.

Voyager · #4 01-06-2005, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolores

The language of the future is Chinese. I understand the UASD will be opening up instruction in Chinese this January.

What do you mean when you say "Chinese"??? There is no language called "Chinese". But there is Cantonese, Mandarin etc.

Gimabella · #5 01-06-2005, 11:50 AM

[quote=Voyager]My advise is for you to learn German!

QUOTE]

is German the same as Aleman,,

i have no idea about German...

is it easy? can i use this in the tourist sector? , i would prefer learning a language that i can profit from in any sector relating to Foreighners visiting and living in DR ....

thanks Gimabella

Voyager · #6 01-06-2005, 12:06 PM

Yes, German = Alemàn !

I am sure you will have a lot of use of the German language in the tourist sector, especially on the north coast of DR, where I believe most German speaking tourists go on their vacation. (Someone, please correct me if I am wrong!)

My opinion is that German is not easy to learn. At least not in the beginning.

However, it depends on how fluent you wish to become. As I said in my previous post, just a basic knowledge of German will take you a long way.

Let me compare with learning English. As a beginner, you quickly get a pretty good command of spoken English. If you want to become really good, then regrettably it gets more and more difficult. The learning curve gets steeper and steeper.

German on the other hand, is difficult in the beginning. Once you get the hang of it, learning more is not too difficult. The learning curve levels out.

The above is my personal opinion; other people may feel differently.

Dolores · #7 01-06-2005, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voyager

What do you mean when you say "Chinese"??? There is no language called "Chinese". But there is Cantonese, Mandarin etc.

Thank you for the correction. I heard they will be teaching Mandarin.

If learning a language spoken in China, which should one learn?

Voyager · #8 01-06-2005, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dolores

Thank you for the correction. I heard they will be teaching Mandarin.

If learning a language spoken in China, which should one learn?

Geez, Dolores, these are deep waters for me! As I understand it, though, I believe Mandarin is the one to go for.

Mandarin is spoken in China, Taiwan and Singapore. Cantonese in Hong Kong and Macao.

A friend of mine moved from Singapore to Hong Kong and she had to go to night school to learn the dialect spoken in Hong Kong.

Check this link: http://www.chinalanguage.com/Language/chinese.html

Hillbilly · #9 01-06-2005, 04:46 PM

Then German and Italian would be grat additions. Italian will be easy and german has very "stable" phoenetics. That means that unlike English, the letters are always pronounced the same way. Not like English that has many different vowel sounds and the word "ghoti" can be pronounced as "fish""!!
GH from 'enough'; 'o' from women; and "ti" from any word ending in "-tion". = ghoti or fish.

German does have a more complicated grammatical structure, because it is a very old language, much older than English..But that can be worked on.. GO for both of them..Polyglots are very useful in the tourist industry.

Chinese can be Mandarin, the "official" language of China, or Cantonese which is widely spoken or Hakka which nobody not born to the boat people can understand...The problem with Chinese is basically that is uses "tones" to signify meaning, as well as the phonetic sounds. Thus, "mu" can go up, as in mu^; or down like 'moo' from a sick cow; or mOo, up and down as if you goosed the cow!. Or mu, with no intonation at all...just a flat vowel sound moooo..
And then there is the written idiographs that are really ideas rather than sounds. Gets complicated....

HB

Naufrago · #10 01-07-2005, 12:03 AM

Suprised that nobody is suggesting French, I know quite a few Dominicans who after mastering their English are now taking French with the idea of advancing their careers. Don't see alot Chinese tourists here. Also I believe that there are quite a few French companies doing business here. Not to mention the growing Haitian Population.