Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: groover@netcom.com (Robert Groover)
Subject: First six varied languages to learn
Message-ID: <grooverDBpHCu.Fx8@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 12:29:17 GMT
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One of the nicest things about new languages is the way they stretch your 
thinking, so let me pose a question to the group:

What set of six spoken+written languages (for a native English-speaker) 
would differ most from English, and each other, in interesting ways?

Taking some account of practicality, and the availability of 
interesting literature, my list would start with:

Arabic (most archaic big Semitic language)
Attic Greek (to get one inflected IE language)
Mandarin (or Cantonese?)

and I'm not sure what else - 
possibly Italian and German as the first two?
possibly Japanese?

What's your list??

Robert Groover   groover@netcom.com   (PGP key on request)
Member ECS, AVS, ACM, OSA, Sen.Mem.IEEE, Reg'd Patent Atty
 "Perhaps I too am a dragon, only dreaming I am a book."


