zaneisdayton wrote:TrioLinguist wrote:Well, first of all, you should ask yourself if you've really got a reason to learn Dutch, Swedish, French, Danish or Russian - those are five languages. Almost all of us here are language enthusiasts, so it's normal to be curious about other languages, but I find if you randomly learn a language "just 'cause", the affair doesn't usually last all that long anyway.
Personally, I wait till I reach a high level in a language before moving on to another, because as far as I'm concerned, learning just one language is an enormous task, and learning two at once would mean that it will theoretically take twice as long to learn each language, in practice probably longer - the limited progress in the face of a doubly enormous task would be a motivation killer for me. However, you say your German's already quite good. Why don't you read up on the criteria for each CEFR level and find out what level you fall under. If you're convinced you're a solid B2 or higher, then you won't have to worry about interference when it comes to a new (Germanic) language, nor time constraints, since it's safe to focus mainly on the new language at that point.
I plan on working overseas (fingers-crossed), so hopefully that should help immerse myself in the language a bit more. I thought maybe French would be beneficial and interesting because they are neighboring countries and traveling tends to be easier in Europe, also Dutch because of the similarities and my interest in the Netherlands. Also, is there an official test that determines your level that you take for these A1-C2 levels??
For your purposes, it's pretty safe to just read up on the criteria for each level and select the one that describes you best. Wikipedia cites them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Eu ... nce_levels
If you're looking to take an official exam and obtain a certificate, the Goethe Institut is most reputable. Find their testing locations here: http://www.goethe.de/lrn/prj/pba/ort/enindex.htm