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/lit/ - Literature

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6430732 No.6430732 [Reply] [Original]

What language should I learn /lit/?
For the purpose of reading literature I'm leaning towards German, but I also might want to learn French. Spanish would be the most useful where I live (southern California), but I also want to travel to Asia when I graduate so an Asian language could also be useful to me.

>> No.6430735

>>6430732
>>Already knows Germanic Language
Wants to learn the archaic version of it

>> No.6430740

>>6430732
German and French are greatest literary languages.
French, Spanish and Portuguese are greatest literary languages.
French, German and Latin are greatest philosophy languages.

>> No.6430743

>>6430740
Second line I meant poetic

>> No.6430761

>>6430735
>English
>Germanic

>> No.6430768

>>6430740
english > french as far as literary languages... the top 3 are English, German and Russian in no particular order

>> No.6430779

>>6430740
>German and French are greatest literary languages.
>French, Spanish and Portuguese are greatest literary languages.
Pick one.

>> No.6430820

>>6430768
WHY.

>> No.6430828

>>6430768
English is a simplifying language and is extremely weak in terms of structures and depth.

Why do you think it is the universal language ? Because it is the easiest one thanks to its indigency

>> No.6430846

>>6430828
>Why do you think it is the universal language ? Because it is the easiest one thanks to its indigency
No, retard, it's because Great Britain had imperial ambitions and were better at it than the French. God-damn it! Educate yourself. Anon, please.

>> No.6430855

>>6430768
>english > french as far as literary languages
Hahahahahaha.

Illiterate anglo speaker spotted. Get an education.

>> No.6430859

>>6430846
>blind patriotic defense
You are an idiot if you think the empty, bleak and mechanic language that is english even challenges in the slightliest way possible the work of art that are German and French.

The degenerescence of the USA and UK is in great part due to the weak tool that is your babbling and it's incompetence to be a fertile soil for human progress, yet so potent for shitposting and basic fanfictions.

>> No.6430864

>>6430732
>I also want to travel to Asia when I graduate so an Asian language could also be useful to me.
Japan doesn't like whitey. Sorry anon, you will never become 2D.

>> No.6430866

FYI learning to read and learning to speak a language are two very different things. You might take two years of French and have trouble reading a French novel, but someone who just read a "how to read french" textbook would have no issues.

>> No.6430892

>>6430732
I'd say French for literature, french language is so intertwined with french literature that translation is impossible, and that same language defines France almost by itself.

I don't know which language has the most complex vocabulary or convey the most emotions, I don't know which country's literature is the best as I only know mine but those two facts I think are important.

>> No.6430911

>>6430859
English is a second language to me, dipshit.

>You are an idiot if you think the empty, bleak and mechanic language that is english even challenges in the slightliest way possible the work of art that are German and French.

Can you even back this CLAIM up with any semblance of reason or logic?

>The degenerescence of the USA and UK is in great part due to the weak tool that is your babbling and it's incompetence to be a fertile soil for human progress, yet so potent for shitposting and basic fanfictions.

Your rambling, sir, is almost an artform.

>> No.6430913

>>6430828
>English is a simplifying language and is extremely weak in terms of structures and depth.
LOL I hope for your sake this is b8, anon.

>> No.6430917

>>6430892
>I don't know which language has the most complex vocabulary or convey the most emotions, I don't know which country's literature is the best as I only know mine but those two facts I think are important.

Finally somebody that is blinded by his mother's birthplace.

>> No.6430920

>>6430911
What's your primary language then?

>> No.6430925

>>6430911
ad fedoram

>>6430913
Back up your claim that english has complex grammatical structures. Hell, you don't even have transitive auxiliaries, your language is weak and mundane, barely good enough to ask someone to pass the salt.

>> No.6430931

>>6430925
If it's so bad, why do you keep speaking it?
Are you another Eurocuck who doesn't like how irrelevant his country has become?

>> No.6430934

>>6430925
>Hell, you don't even have transitive auxiliaries
The autism is real

>> No.6430947

>>6430931
worthless rhetoric + didnt read thread + virgin
>>6430934
Dodging the accusation

>> No.6430949

>>6430855
There are more works of the English language in Bloom's canon than any other, even when you count England/Great Britain and the US separately.

>> No.6430954
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6430954

>>6430947
Can't handle the bantz.

>> No.6430955

>>6430949
>hurr durr its used a lot so its good hurr durr
Justin Bieber is in more ipods than Strauss and this is a manifestation of why he is the better artist

>> No.6430958
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6430958

Anyone have experience with Korean (Hangul)? I'm going to get started once school's out and I've heard it's as hard as my titanium dong.

>> No.6430959

>>6430954
I just called you a virgin, tough, what are you going to do about it.

virgin faggot
You made a positive claim, post first blood to prove you're not

>> No.6430962

>>6430955
And how else do you suggest that not only did two of the greatest poets of history write in it but also it produced the greatest literary output per capita of any language?

>> No.6430964
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6430964

>>6430959
Literally.
Cannot.
Handle.
The Bantz.

>> No.6430965

>>6430958
>it's as hard as my titanium dong.
mild kek

>> No.6430970

>>6430958
No chinese characters, faster/easier than Chinese/Japanese, shitty annoying grammar

>> No.6430972

>>6430962
opinions

>> No.6430973

>>6430972
of pretty much every literary academic ever

>> No.6430982
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6430982

>>6430962
There are no english-speaking poets.
None.
The last poet was Rimbaud and he died a virgin.

All shitposting aside, tough; If you compare english poetry to ANY latin poetry (be it french, german, spanish, portuguese) or russian poetry, you will find that it is immensely weak and vulgar, not only because of its softness in grammar, but also of the indigency of its arsenal.
English poetry is simply laughable. Your spearhead (Shakespeare) is at best comparable with mediocre German authors. Goethe is a god when Shakespeare and Poe are but bugs crawling on the floor of poetry's temple.

But, to come to such a conclusion, you would of course need to master at least three languages, and as we all know the american education system only teaches you about creationism and gender studies, leaving you fat slobs and inform masses of greese out alone and unarmed in the real world. The Uk one isn't much worse, tough, for the women eventually start to speak turkish after they convert to islam.

>> No.6430986

>>6430973
appeal to authority

>> No.6430996

>>6430986
>everyone else is wrong! French literature is best because I say so! It's totally nothing to do with the fact that I'm butthurt because I had to spend thousands of hours learning the universal language from age 5 in school!
lol.

>>6430982
>The Uk one isn't much worse, tough, for the women eventually start to speak turkish after they convert to islam.
You're thinking of Germany anon

>> No.6430997

>>6430982
American here. Bait aside, I speak German and Spanish fluently and am learning attic Greek. English by far has the greatest poetry and poetic history/tradition, though German has the most potential.

>> No.6431001

>>6430996
strawman + ad hominem

>>6430997
You think so because you are more receptive to english poetry thanks to a greater mastery of it, making you more sensible to its intent

>> No.6431006
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6431006

>>6431001
Fallacy Fallacy; where an argument is considered entirely false because the executor resorted to fallacy in their argument.

At least deliver a coherent rebuttal. I'd rather read interesting and informative debates, thank you.

>> No.6431007
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6431007

>>6430982
>any latin poetry
>german

>> No.6431009

>>6430996
I don't pretend to know which literature is the best, but If I did I would have thought of better arguments
>universal language
what does it prove ? I think you know what was considered the universal language a century ago.

>> No.6431012

>>6431009
Proves that you're butthurt about losing your international standing I guess

>> No.6431013

>>6431006
You can't just spit your opinions and expect people to come up with decents arguments in return.

>> No.6431015
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6431015

>>6431006
This is literally you right now.
Mr Reilly, I'm going to ask you to leave this thread if you have nothing to contribute. Your worthless emotional attachment to your language is of no help for the question at stake here.

Take your sausage cart with you, it smells like acid.

>> No.6431017

>>6431009
Uhh, in 1915? English...?

>> No.6431019
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6431019

>>6431015
>Take your sausage cart with you, it smells like acid.

>> No.6431022

>>6431017
>this is what americans teach other americans
Truly a great heritage of manifest destiny.

>> No.6431024

In that case learn Korean. Its easy to learn, writte, read and understand.

>> No.6431026
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6431026

>>6431013
I don't. I'm contributing to the intellectual growth of this board by making you think about it.

>>6431015
>these cutting references

>> No.6431027

>>6431022
Speak English at the Eurovision you jerks, everyone else does

>> No.6431030
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6431030

>>6431015
>promoting logic and correct debate style on a literature board is uncalled for

Oh boy.

>> No.6431031

>>6431015
I would reply to you anon, but my hot pockets are ready and if I'm late to dinner I might get kicked out

>> No.6431039

>>6431030
>Doesn't answer gentle questions and keeps insulting interlocutor
>Thinks he is promoting healthy discussion

Gee okay you rosbif

>> No.6431043

>>6431022
>frog's sense of history being clouded by his arrogance and inflated pride
Golly, what a surprise. The rest of the world was speaking English while you frogs stubbornly ignored everything as usual

>> No.6431053

>>6431043
>racism

>> No.6431056
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6431056

>>6430732
if you learn either french or spanish it'll be easier to learn the other one since they're both latin languages.

German's fun to learn and english has germanic roots so it'll be a bit easier

Take your pick as far as the asian languages go; you'd be on new ground regardless of the pick.

The pragmatic solution would be to learn spanish but since it's for litterary pursuits i'd say pick french or spanish.

Look up introductory textbooks for each languages and pick the one that strikes your fancy.

Watch a lot of films/tv from your language's country; it'll be a MASSIVE help, trust me.

If you pick an asian language for your trip you'll be able to experience your newfound skills in an incredible fashion; and there's a bigger chance that you'll cement the language into your brain.

Remember language is tied to culture.

>> No.6431059

Persian will be interesting

>> No.6431060

Ask /int/
It's easier to spot the bias there.

>> No.6431078

>>6431043
>trying to turn a debate about language into an empty joust about history

Bet you'd mention WW2 in a few posts, lest ye be warned about how predictive you fatasses are.

>> No.6431165

>tfw I wasted my time learning French only to discover that its literature is vastly overrated and the people are insufferable

>> No.6431169

>>6431165
How did you get interested in the French if you didn't read a few translated works first?

>> No.6431498

>>6430859
Well it's not like he's wrong that English speaking countries had the largest imperial power, thus spreading it around the globe. Why do you think so many countries (Canada, like 23 African countries, Indochina, Caribbean islands, etc.) Speak French? Because it sounds pretty?

>> No.6431510

>>6430925
My god you sound like a Fucking neckbeard.

>> No.6431559
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6431559

>>6430735
>2015
>can't green text

>> No.6431607

>>6431559
we keep getting linked on r/books
that's why