This would be great if you wanted to talk to yourself without anyone understanding what you’re saying, for example, or if you didn’t want anybody to know what you were writing down. It might also be useful if you enjoy lots of foreign language media (see music, tv shows, movies) and want to experience the “original” rather than through dubs and subs.
Personally, I would go for either Russian, German, or Estonian, all three of which are because I frequently listen to lots of music that are in those languages
Would probably go for Japanese since I watch too much anime and Japanese media so learning Japanese would be super useful.
But then most anime and tons of Japanese media is translated anyway, except for music, but in that case I listen to a lot more of German music than I do Japanese, so maybe I would learn German instead.
But then, I can probably learn German much easier the traditional way that I can an Asian language, so maybe I should use the cheat to learn the language that would be harder for me to learn traditionally than just German. (Even though I’ve watched so much anime by now that I effectively can understand Japanese much better than I do German.)
Haven’t picked back up consistently learning Japanese in like 8 years, but it’s a joy to feel the progress of learning such a vastly different language. I know enough Spanish that it’d be a waste to spend this gift on it.
I guess the most tactical option for me that’s still interesting would be Arabic, because while I love the idea of knowing it, I don’t think I’ll ever give myself the time to learn it.
Cobol.
Chinese so I can flex being fluent in one of the most difficult languages
Hmm spanish or chinese would be most helpful statistically, but French or German would be best for understanding things i want to read + watch.
Also knowing latin or ancient greek is great for showing off… lots of buildings around here that have latin on themand it hurts me when i don’t know 100% what they say.
Russian or Estonian, both of which are because I frequently listen to lots of music t
Me too!
If you learn French, you will already be able to read and understand some bits of Spanish and can learn it without a ton of effort. A bit harder the other way around.
Spanish helps learning French more than it helps reading French, from experience
EESTI RIIGI KEEL, ON EESTI KEEL!!!
anyways i choose cornish so i can continue learning German and after that Spanish.
Malay probably
Probably one of the nordic languages as everyone from my country is going there for work.
latin. old english
Ithkuil! For the sheer information density and the bragging rights of being fluent in a language not even its creator can speak
JAPANESE
I wanna watch Anime without needing subtitles…
Also sometimes meaning get lose in translation…
I’d love to rewatch Steins;Gate with proficiency in Japanese.
Oh btw, I have never met a Japanese person (I mean maybe I could’ve had walked passed by an ethnic Japanese that have been too Americanized for me to know their ethnicity… cuz then they’re just “Asian American” to me, and it’d be hard to tell) and never heard anyone IRL actually speaking Japanese fluently…
So yea knowledge of Japanese can impress a lot of Western weebs.
I could even pretend to be Japanese for the lulz… since I’m ethnic Chinese and I doubt most Americans would even be able to tell the difference xD (I mean I probably can’t tell apart East Asian ethnicities either, despite me being East Asian myself)
Its OK, I’m European and couldn’t distinguish a Swede from a Fin.
Good news, if you can read and write Chinese you’re already partly there!
Pictish.
It is a lost language from the British Isles and from one of the coolest populations in the area. They would paint patterns on their skin in blue then charge into battle naked. I reckon their insults and swearing would be absolutely raucous.
If you want some idea what it might have been like, it would probably be about as close to Welsh as Welsh is to Breton.
… which might not be all that helpful as a factoid, so here’s Wikipedia’s Swadesh list for the Celtic languages: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Celtic_Swadesh_lists
(In loosely related news, you know you might have been reading too much about linguistics when, while scanning the above, you recognise the Welsh word “benyw” as a cognate for the English word “queen”, (but with a meaning closer to Norwegian “kvinne”). That was a kick in the head for sure.)
Latin. For no specific reason, it would just be cool
This would be my answer too, but because it would instantly give me a much better understanding of the etymology of many words.
Me too. I could read all the old texts in its original form.
language that nobody speaks in your region
I realize this is a bit pedantic, but if you live in a city, there aren’t really languages that aren’t spoken in your region.
But for my choice, definitely Aztec. There’s nothing more fun to say than Aztec words. Tlachtli. Quetzalcoatl. Axolotl. Tlapalpoyactic.
(That last one is the word for the color “orange”)
I see your pedantry and raise you my own:
There are absolutely languages nobody speaks in your region even if you live in a city.
I therefore choose sign language or Assembly.
Heh, I guess I wouldn’t say I “speak” it, but between programming games and actual coding, I think I’ve used 4 or 5 different dialects of assembly.
Mandarin. It’d be useful for me to learn because of my job, and I’ve been meaning to learn it for quite a while. I just can’t seem to find a decent source for learning that doesn’t focus on the written language; I only need spoken Mandarin.
