What languages are important to learn from an Intelligence perspective. Well as Russia has gone evil that would be language #1. And as Iran wants to start a third world war with the West and the Free, learning Farsi would be a definite #2, and because the whole world hates Israel (and that is bad and you shouldn't) learning Hebrew would be a good #3. As for missions work, much of the poverty stricken world knows Spanish, so that would be a good #4. And, going without the real need to say, as the greatest economies of the world speak English, English would be a #0 (or absolute requirement). PHATstar has offered subsidized free Hebrew courses from Pimsleur in MP3 audio form. This costs PHATstar about $100 per lesson set and there are three lesson sets for the whole program. Each lesson set has 30 individual episodes of 30 minutes each. If I were to pick any way to learn any language it would be through Pimsleur. They seriously rock. Don't pick up their ridiculous online courses, you want something where you can download it and listen to it on any standard MP3 player. The ability to communicate with others is the opportunity to resolve conflicts with diverse populations. Not being able to communicate with others breeds suspicion and misunderstanding from one people group to the next. On the good side of having a language barrier is that movements that are extremist and evil tend to stay within a language group, so at times its better to not have the criminals and evil folks being highly educated as that just promotes their cause. However, lets say that your cause is good: study, study, study, and be understood by the masses --- it will help your cause out.

Cheers!
-warmfuzzy

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Have thought about your post and suggestions - would like to add a few comments:

"Important" languages depend on proximity, focus and threat/advantage.

If your proximity is such that you use the langauge through direct contact, it truly is "Important" for you.

Next is what you can focus upon, as learning a language isn't like picking up some new teeshirts, rather the true cost is your learning time. For focus perhaps subsitute "motivation?"

Understanding threats and gaining advantages also separate nice to know languages from "Important" ones. I know a young man who pushed to understand the first tounge language of his then girlfriend, both to gain advantage in understanding her and also clarity if there were unrecognized threats. She also did they same, and as it happens through making a strong effort to understand each other, they married.

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Strong dialects and street jargon may not be a distict separate language, but can obscure communications if you are not up on the lingo. Both intellegence gathering and personal safety are enhanced with a deep understanding of dialects and jargon. Being fluent in them can help bridge into the local population (it also can harden the divide if you are seem as a bumbler rather than genuine).

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Reading and Listening are many times more powerful than speaking another language, for the same reasons.

--- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS

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I tried the Pimsleur method many years ago to learn German, and it was
great. I like the fact that Pimsleur focuses on speech instead of grammar. I can recall the days back when I was still learning English, and I had to memorise lists of irregular verbs. It's definitely not something I would do
again if I were to pick up a new language.

... You pick a cold night to visit our planet, Earthman...

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