langshist2015

These are good points. I guess, with me, that's partially why I disclaimed somewhat an irrelevance to grad school: I mightn't use it, after all, and my interest in learning languages would extend to speaking it. I definitely would want to be reasonably fluent in Spanish and/or Italian, as I am in French and German; I could be happy maybe leaving one as a solely reading language, but I'd have to be able to understand it aurally, too. I think I wouldn't be too optimistic about mastering Dutch in all four competencies, at least within the next year, although German helps substantially. Ottoman Turkish would be fascinating! I'm a little put off by different scripts, admittedly.

Thanks. Yes, I know this is ridiculously general, but my interests are so esoteric that it would leave traces behind. Generally, though, my planned work will be quite specific to France, firmly in 18th-C social and intellectual history. But as I'm also interested in transnational intellectual history, for example, I wonder if Italian would serve well for the 18th/early 19th-C more broadly. (Beccaria is one example). I wonder if Spanish, though, is more competitive because it might still hold some relevance for that period across the Atlantic... I mean, it is a general question, because I'd be open to taking on either one (for now, just one, that is) for the sake of accessing scholarship or archival material (or both), not necessarily in my direct field. Arabic would be fantastic - I know of quite a few 18/19th-C specialists on France who've just stormed the field through their ability to use Arabic sources. I'm planning on moving on to Dutch after Spanish and/or Italian, if only for personal interest in the 17th century, and perhaps some links to 18th-C France (politics and finance, but also the book trade, Huguenot diaspora, etc.). Did you start with Spanish or Italian first?

Hi all. Posted a variant of this on Reddit a few days ago, but as I received almost no replies, I thought I'd replicate it here. This might be slightly tangential to this part of the forum, but I'm really just looking for advice about which language to move on to next. It's not so much about being competitive for grad school, as I already have advanced French, German, and adequate enough reading in Latin. My planned field is 18-19th C. history (specifically France), but I've always liked learning languages and learning either of Spanish or Italian could open more access to transnational work. The main factor is what would be most useful in terms of historical literature. Agamben, Negri, microstoria and most theoretical works are translated. Local stuff might help but I haven't had to really rely on German either, so I don't know how much of a factor this would be. In terms of archival access, Italian would probably be more useful, but Spanish wouldn't hurt either. But I'm assuming Italian will be more relevant for the 18-20th C in politics, culture, and philosophy, while Spanish would give me a leg up in the Early Modern Transatlantic sphere, so I'm struggling to see one outweigh the other. (I won't be going back as far as the Renaissance, although I guess for individual pleasure it'd be nice to gain another perspective on art, which I enjoy recreationally). Although this could then be a matter of whether it's accessible: I know Cervantes and anything that early is hard, whereas Dante seems to be OK in older Italian, according to what I've read, so I'm not sure how much each has dated (à la Shakespeare)... The less relevant part is personal pleasure: I like both languages and can understand both at the same level at the moment, roughly, enough to read newspaper articles in either by guessing with most words. I like poetry and literature, too, but both are strong in this. Leopardi, Neruda, etc. are all promising in their own way; TV series seem more abundant (and probably better?) in Spanish, as with news/literary/talkshow programming. If anyone has any opinions on these points, I'd be really grateful! Cheers.