Coffee break Spanish (google it) cause it's good, extensive and free.

That's the thing - I love Italian, but being able to put it to use on a regular basis wouldn't be easy.

Particularly in African countries.

And look up your local Alliance Francaise - There are probably more French speakers around you than you realize.

French have retreated over the decades from Africa I thought it was in decline....

Interesting. Will research.

thanks, though.

And Spanish could be of serious benefit in general. I can't see how you can lose whichever way you choose!

If I HAD to choose I'd go with Spanish because my partner speaks it fluently and I'd love to travel in Latin America.

the quickest.

Italian was a blast in college - but probably the least practical. Though soooo fun to speak.

Also, use:
http://www.livemocha.com
Which connects you to speakers of foreign languages. You can learn from them while you teach them english.

I think it is a great service.

Appreciate it!

Foreign friends are awesome sauce!

Sigh. I'm so conflicted.

and the others you will lose anyway ...

trying to be practical here

second.

Even though I loooove the sound of Italian. I hate to admit I even watched it because I knew it would be a train wreck (though nothing with Javier Bardem in it is ever a waste of time), but in "Eat, Love, Pray" Julia Roberts says her favorite Italian word is "attraversiamo" (meaning, let's cross over) and it is just so much fun to say, and so beautiful.

But. I'd be saying attraversiamo and andiamo and all these other words to myself, with no conversational opportunities.

spoken in Mexico, Central America and South America?

Every time I'm in Mexico I use some peninsular word that sends my friends into stitches.

I have had both the Euro and Mexican in classes.

I lived in Miami, FL, most of my life and it helped to know some Spanish. I now live in Georgia where there are a lot of immigrants. I wish I had studied French because I traveled to France twice and could not speak the language. Luckily, most of the French I met were fluent in English.

I just love the sound of Italian.
And I know the most French.

But sometimes utility must come first.

But I'm biased by what I do for a living.
I tried Italian in college. Meh (and I'm Italian, btw). French is beautiful and it's next on my list, as I need it for studies (German, too).

Now, if you really want an obscure language, teach yourself P'urhepecha or Nahuatl.

It'll probably be Spanish first, but then French.

Will circle back to Russian when my life becomes less complicated.

it will help with both the French and Italian, is easier and WAY more useful. Funny story: when I was a kid my family traveled to Taiwan. My father had a suit made while we were there. The Chinese tailor spoke no English but had spent some time in the Philippines, my father spoke no Chinese - so the transaction was done in shitty Spanish.

uncontrollable yearning to get back to the desert southwest and spend some time in Mexico, so... there you go. Easy answer, really, when it comes down to it.

Mexico is really going English. Spent 12 days in Baja last month and hardly got to use Spanish at all. Kind of frustrating - trying to force people to use it so we could get some practice

this was a language created by linguists that was logical so naturally it didn't catch on .

I'd go with Spanish .

so if that prospect interests you, there's your answer!

The format and style mimics the formats on our major sites so you'll see a lot of the same photos and even the same stories associated with them. Two-window comparison is most helpful. Put Pravda in the left and Yahoo news in the right and try to read the Russian version first, then use the English to fill in the blanks. A lot of the words are cognates anyway.