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/lit/ - Literature

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7887541 No.7887541 [Reply] [Original]

What is the most /lit/ modern language to learn, aside from English? What language opens up the most literature worth reading?

>> No.7887551

>>7887541
German, Russian, or French

>> No.7887566

>>7887541
French probably.
Then Spanish.

I'd recommend the portuguese language for it has some pearls that are worth looking into.

>> No.7887589

>>7887541
Latin and Ancient Greek

>> No.7887594

>learning only one other language

stick to english, kid

>> No.7887601

>>7887551
/thread

Also Spanish.

>> No.7887606

>>7887594
What kind of twisted logic is that?

>> No.7887610

probably the language of memes

>> No.7887620

1. German
2. Latin
3. French
4. RUSSIAN
5. Spanish

>> No.7887637

>>7887566
>>7887601
>>7887620

What big stuff is there to read in Spanish?

>> No.7887655

>>7887637
Cervantes, Borges, Neruda, Marquez, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Bécquer, and plenty more. You can argue if you like or dislike any of them, but there's no doubt there's an incredible amount of literature in Spanish worth reading.

>> No.7887662

>>7887541
Sanskrit.

>> No.7887677

>>7887655
Where's that edition of Ficciones Borges had a hand in translating/revising into english and said it was better? Or was that a dream?

>> No.7887682

How about ITALIAN!2!!2!

Dante, Calvino, Svevo, Ariosto?!?

What else do you want?

>> No.7887692

>>7887655

I thought Cervantes was in too old a form of Spanish to really be recognizable? Sort of like middle English

>> No.7887693

>>7887677
No idea. I've read both and I prefer the original one.
Borges thought a translation could surpass the original though. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

>> No.7887694

>>7887692
Really? I heard it was like Shakespearean English.

>> No.7887713

>>7887692
Spanish is still the best option. It's not like translating to Italian and you can read the RAE edition.

>> No.7887716

>>7887694
> tfw you're so influential of an author that people casually use your name to refer to entire styles of English

>> No.7887722

The "universal language" for sciences and arts before WW2 was French, so probably that.

>> No.7887730

>>7887722
>not german
m8...

>> No.7887745

>>7887730
>arguing against facts

I'm sorry, but French was the lingua franca before WW2.

>> No.7887757

>>7887745
French was "the french language?"

>> No.7887766

What is the most efficient way to learn a language?

>> No.7887772

>>7887757
>lingua franca
>a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
you dont look smart

>> No.7887836

What about italian? Is there any literary merit outside of Dante?

>> No.7888103

>>7887637
Vargas Llosa

>> No.7888121

>>7887836
Leopardi is essential for understanding the last 2 centuries of European poetry

Tasso, Boiardo, and Ariosto are huge in the Renaissance

>> No.7888447

>>7887541
German, French, Ancient Greek, or Latin

>> No.7888476

>>7887757

Honestly, you're proving his point.

>> No.7888502

>>7888447
this, and in this order desu

>> No.7888582

>tfw speaking German and French but only reading in English.

>> No.7888589

>>7887541
French, mainly for translations.

>> No.7888597

>>7888582
Unless you grew up with the languages, it seems like the only way you can escape the intermediate plateau is by reading and writing.

I've got English, Japanese, and French up to lit reading levels. I started Latin (I have all declensions and am on my 4th verb tense) and then I'm thinking of doing Russian, Ancient Greek, and Modern Greek; most likely in that order.

Am I missing anything?

>> No.7888617

finnish has this one crazy book where a character walking across a room to fetch his pipe goes on for seventy pages, i believed it's called alistan's parlour

>> No.7888619

>>7888617
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastalon_salissa

>> No.7888659
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7888659

>>7887541
French.

>> No.7889230
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7889230

Esperanto

>> No.7889441
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7889441

Poetry - Italian / French
Philosophy - German / French
"Literature" - French / Spanish / Russian
Religious - Latin / [Greek & Hebrew]
JUST - Sanskrit / Traditional Chinese Hanzi Symbols / Ancient Greek / Egyptian hieroglyphs / Finnish