Top Language Picks

[FusionKnight]

Okay, a friend asked me this recently, and now I ask you.

If you could snap your fingers and wake up tomorrow being fluent in 5 languages, but those 5 languages would be the only ones you'd ever know, which 5 would you pick? If you could add a sixth, what would it be?

Mine:
1. English - ranked 4rd by number of native speakers
2. Mandarin - ranked 1st
3. Japanese - ranked 9th
4. Spanish - ranked 3rd
5. Hindustani - ranked 2nd

6. Arabic - ranked 5th

My reasoning is mostly based on achieving a universal (as possible) ability to communicate, but also a little based on what languages/cultures I find interesting.

 

[Fukyo]

1.Serbian
2. English
3. Japanese
4.Spanish
5.Arabic
and
6.Latin

 

[FusionKnight]

I almost picked Latin too, but when I realized Hindustani had 366,000,000 native speakers, not including related languages and dialects (which brings the total closer to 650,000,000) I had to let the dead language die, and pick Hindustani.

That being said, if I had a #7, it would be Latin. It is the language of knowledge and learning, after all.

 

[Raku]

1. English

I use it a lot, and I'm not that good at it compared to native speakers.

2. Japanese

I like to watch anime and also listen to some Japanese music. Would be nice to understand it.

3. German

Being dutch, being fluent in your neighbors language is something valuable. If I don't have to put effort into it this would be great.

4. Italian

I listen to some Italian music and I really like how it sounds. Also being able to order a pizza in Italian would be fun for once.

5. Any functional language

I have a hard time finding motivation to learn functional programming languages so this would be great.

If I could add one I would probably learn mandarin, although for no specific reason.

 

[Fukyo]

I picked them according to my personal interests,but dead languages have a sort of mystical allure for me.Knowing ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs would be interesting.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Interesting......

1. English, my native tongue.

2. Spanish, many of my neighbors native tongue.

3. Mandarin, our future overlords native tongue (I joke but it would still be useful)

4. Russian, it too could be useful as the Russians may yet emerge once again as a world power. They're certainly making a play for it.

5. French, spoken by a somewhat broad range of cultures.

Arabic is my alternate simply because it could be useful too.

Question: Do many who speak Hindustani also speak English?

 

[Ermine]

English
Mandarin
Arabic
Hindustani
French

Whatever is spoken most.

 

[Madoness]

English - would like to lose the rust
Mandarin - just an Asian film fan
Cantonese - just an Asian film fan
Japanese - just an Asian film fan(-:
Korean - just an Asian film fan:P

Arabic - good for the friendly dialog to start I guess

 

[sagewolf]

1) English because it's my native language and everyone I know speaks it

2) Japanese because I like Japanese animation and culture (and I would be literate in Chinese by proxy )

3) French because I go there often

4) Irish just so someone will be able to

5) Ancient Greek so I can insult people without them knowing what I'm saying and so I can write things and keep them secret.

A sixth would have to be... oh, I'm happy with what I picked.

 

[figaro_black]

Being a European, mainly interested in European contexts of thought the choice is quite simple:

1. English - since most texts of importance are translated into English, and since it is the language of the internet.

2. German - next to English possibly one of the more useful languages in a European context, at least in my experience.

3. French - a Latin based language. Once you know one, it isn't too hard to understand enough of the others. The reason my choice is French is because I'm really interested in French philosophy.

4. Russian - if people don't speak a Germanic or a Latin based language in Europe chances are they speak a Slavic language.

5. Swedish (it's my mother tongue, couldn't imagine not knowing it).

6. Japanese (well, I'm just fascinated by it, really).

 

[aahzombies]

1. English - Native tongue.
2. German - I enjoy speaking this language. Not sure why. Also very useful in Europe.
3. Spanish - Useful considering I live in Florida. Also, similar to Italian so that's two birds with one stone in a way.
4. Ancient Greek - I would love to be able to read some of those plays in their original language.
5. Korean - I have a few Korean friends and I love the way the language sounds. Also, it is supposedly the "perfect" language in regards to structure and grammar.

 

[boku]

English - most of the internet is in English
Mandarin - Bilingual Chinese here
Japanese - Anime and manga
German - Being able to communicate with more people is always better
French - Same reason as above

Greek - Good to know our roots.

English - would like to lose the rust
Mandarin - just an Asian film fan
Cantonese - just an Asian film fan
Japanese - just an Asian film fan(-:
Korean - just an Asian film fan:P

Arabic - good for the friendly dialog to start I guess

Mandarin consists of Chinese and its dialects, including Cantonese. That means you get another free slot! ^^

 

[FusionKnight]

I thought Mandarin and Cantonese were mutually unintelligible...

 

[boku]

I thought Mandarin and Cantonese were mutually unintelligible...

Hmm, a search shows that there's differing views about it too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantonese

The issue of whether Cantonese in the broader sense should be regarded as a language in its own right or as a dialect of a Chinese language is controversial. Like the other primary branches of Chinese, Cantonese is considered to be a dialect of a single Chinese language for ethnic and cultural reasons, but it is also considered a language in its own right because it is mutually unintelligible with other varieties of Chinese.

Being in Singapore, where we have a large variety of Asian cultures with different ancestries, I've been exposed to many different Chinese dialects like Hainanese, Hokkien, Hakka and Teochew. I'm born into a family with both sides having Teochew as their dialect. My cousins however, come from Teochew and Hokkien roots.
The main difference I see is how words are pronounced differently and sometimes how a sentence is phrased. Other than that, I can understand Teochew and a bit of Hainanese but not speak them because I recognise the sentence structure and most of the common vocabs. I need my cousins to help translate what their great grandma is talking about half the time. Both my dad and mum use Teochew at home regularly alongside English and Chinese and my dad loves watching Taiwan and Hong Kong shows. Quoting from my dad, he says that written Cantonese is very close to written Chinese since majority of the words are written with the same characters. There are some words that exist in Cantonese and not in Chinese though.
Then again, the dialects in Singapore are rather slurred with Chinese since we have been separated from our roots for a few generations, so don't take my word for it. xD

Edit: Drats, I just realised I got 'Mandarin' and 'Chinese' mixed up... Dang, I feel stupid. To clear things up, Chinese language consists of Mandarin, Cantonese, and all the other dialects. So sorry for the confusion.

 

[Decaf]

1. Human (is that cheating? )
2. Nearest alien language
3. Animal speak
4. Binary
5. Lojban

 

[Jesin]

I would like to be able to speak Common.

 

[Agent Intellect]

i think i'd pretty much choose what FusionKnight chose. if not, then i'd take Decafs list, with my 6th option being telepathy.

 

[world]

1. English=It's the language I think in, it'd be weird, for me, to think in another language.
2. Pashto=How I communicate with my parents/family.
3. Farsi=I don't even know why I really need this language, but I don't want to forget something I learned.
4. Spanish=My favorite language, and the one I enjoy learning/studying.
5. Japanese=Anime/Manga

6. German=European awesomeness.

(I already speak the first four )

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

I almost picked Latin too, but when I realized Hindustani had 366,000,000 native speakers, not including related languages and dialects (which brings the total closer to 650,000,000) I had to let the dead language die, and pick Hindustani.

That being said, if I had a #7, it would be Latin. It is the language of knowledge and learning, after all.

Most Indians speak English... so why bother with Hindustani?

...
4. Russian, it too could be useful as the Russians may yet emerge once again as a world power. They're certainly making a play for it.
...
Question: Do many who speak Hindustani also speak English?

I doubt Russia will become a world power... they're just a world bully.
The reason Russia will never become truly great is that their people don't have a strong concept of freedom. As long as the people demand support from their government, there will always be a corrupt government to take advantage of them.

1. English
2. Latin
3. Lojban
4. Mandarin
5. Esperanto

6. To the highest bidder

I was encouraged to pick Esperanto by this post:
INTP Forum - View Single Post - Foreign Languages/Linguistics

I've actually dabbled in Lojban... but I've forgotten most of it.

.dekaf. pixra ponse crino fonmo
"decaf-picture possesses green bubbles"

 

[figaro_black]

Most Indians speak English... so why bother with Hindustani?


I doubt Russia will become a world power... they're just a world bully.
The reason Russia will never become truly great is that their people don't have a strong concept of freedom. As long as the people demand support from their government, there will always be a corrupt government to take advantage of them.

[...]

.dekaf. pixra ponse crino fonmo
"decaf-picture possesses green bubbles"

I just can't sit quiet when people start talking about freedom, especially not freedom in the form of every man for himself. That is just ____ (too many negative words to fit them all, pick one).

First of all, the state supporting people who are worse off is not the reason for corruption. Sweden do not have a problem with corruption, for example. At least not the open kind. And we have a history of social welfare behind us.

Secondly, corruption is most often related to money in one way or another. Thus corruption is most usual (or at least most open) in countries with poor economies. And Russia have been one of those countries for quite some time.

Thirdly, a concept of freedom and corruption has nothing to do with why a state becomes a world power or not. Not if you look to history. Military and economical power (especially the later) is the key factor and Russia is well on the way of acquiring both.

Anyhow, would Swahili be a good choice for a language if you want to be understood in Africa, or is a European language a better choice?

 

[saffyangelis]

my 5/6 are
1. English
2. Japanese
3. Italian
4. Russian
5. Spanish

and the extra one would be Serbian.

(I have tried learning most of these, and gotten bored and given up. Wakign up fluent would be great, as i'm currently limited to a few short questions and answers, and the odd word or two. Except in English. I like English)

 

[Kidege]

1. English (Invested too much time in it already. It's great for synthesis)

2. Spanish (Emotional attachment. Plus I couldn't give up my 16th century swashbuckling comedies or my 12th century narrative poems)

3. French (I like the French-African combo you gain access to when you're fluent in the language. Also, Baudelaire rules)

4. German (Just need to get off my ass and study the freaking thing. It's requisite for serious philosophy work. Ogion speaks it, I like Ogion, I'm making that my emotional tie to the language)

5. Nahuatl (Cause you can't let your roots die, and classic Nahuatl's full of philosophical/esoteric concepts worth studying)

But I also like Greek, Swahili (love the way it sounds and the whole prefix-suffix deal), Latin, Japanese, Mayan and Chinese. Firefly spoiled me in the latter case. The other day I was trying to get a Chinese guy to sell me cedar scented oil, but he didn't speak Spanish nor English. My only Chinese words are... not of the friendly kind.

 

[Jordan~]

1. English (The language of poetry.)
2. Latin (Useful for school, and I like it.)
3. Ancient Greek (Package deal with Latin.)
4. Sumerian (Useful for university, and I like it.)
5. Proto-Indo-European (No one else is fluent, and speaking a language that's thousands of years old would be fun.)

6. Proto-Uto-Aztecan (See 5.; I like Native American languages.)

 

[Oblivious]

1) Mathematics
2) Music
3) English
4) Japanese
5) Chinese

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

1. English (The language of poetry.)
2. Latin (Useful for school, and I like it.)
3. Ancient Greek (Package deal with Latin.)
4. Sumerian (Useful for university, and I like it.)
5. Proto-Indo-European (No one else is fluent, and speaking a language that's thousands of years old would be fun.)

6. Proto-Uto-Aztecan (See 5.; I like Native American languages.)

Wait, do we even know how Sumerian is pronounced?

 

[didyouknow]

I'm assuming that this includes your native tongue?

1. English
2. Mandarin- sounds and looks awesome
3. Spanish- love how smooth it sounds
4. German- fun language to speak
5. Latin- sounds awesome and key to scientific language

6. French... and I don't know why

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

If you could snap your fingers and wake up tomorrow being fluent in 5 languages, but those 5 languages would be the only ones you'd ever know, which 5 would you pick? If you could add a sixth, what would it be?

I'm assuming that this includes your native tongue?

Nope! Fusion just said to pick 5 languages to know. (If you know less than 5 languages, it might actually be bad to take this deal.)

It'd be really interesting to wake up with 5 languages, but have none of them be your native tongue. If you wanted to get up and leave your old life behind, that'd be a great way to do it.

 

[siroboris]

1) English
2) Korean
3) Spanish
4) Japanese
5) Russian

In addition to French and Mandarin Chinese, I've studied all of the above languages, but I'm pretty much intermediate-to-advanced across the board. I'd give up French and Chinese (and perhaps a kidney?) to be fluent in the rest.

 

[Decaf]

Hmm... how about knowing proto-indo-european? That could net you a lot of money in linguistics research, not to mention how much it would accomplish in the field.

 

[FF]

Alright, here we go:

1. English (since I don't wish to forget how to communicate with, well, pretty much everyone I know.)

2. Farsi (so I can talk to my relatives who don't really speak much English.)

3. German (so I can actually understand those god damn lovely Rammstein songs.)

4. Japanese (it may be advantageous for a computer engineer/scientist to know some Japanese...)

5. French (so I can go to France, duhh! I absolutely love french food, french dessert, EXPENSIVE FRENCH WINE <3)

 

[dwags222]

english, latin, german, ancient greek (for intellectual/academic reasons). from there i would have a hard time choosing between french, itallian, and spanish. probably spanish because it is the most utilitarian.

 

[pathetically-lovely]

1. English. Can't forget that.
2. German. I'm not sure why, but I think it would be fun to learn.
3. Japanese. I could finally watch anime without the subtitles. Plus, it's just a fascinating language.
4. Russian.
5. Spanish. I wouldn't be able to live where I live without it.

6. Learning Acient Greek would be interesting, too. Or Latin. I don't know.

 

[Mel]

1. English. Depressingly, the only language I'm really good at.
2. Arabic. Arabic letters both sound and look beautiful. Kinda shallow reason, but why not?
3. Chinese. The hakka dialect, to be precise. I don't like the sounds of both mandrin and cantonese (cultural reasons for the difference. Mandrin was the 'language' of officials. Ugh)
4. Japanese. Among other things, it would be nice to appreciate haiku in their original forms.
5. Irish. I like it.

 

[Carinthian]

Slovenian.
Russian.
German.
English.
Celtic.

Japanese.

 

[mikal]

I would say:
english
russian- I almost pick this language for my studies
portuguese- very beautiful
svahili
japanese

Also would be nice to know one of the scandinavian languages. That's because I admire those countries and think best artists came from there.

 

[FacetiousPersona]

1 - English
2 - Russian
3 - Hindustani
4 - Arabic
5 - Spanish

 

[DynamicMind]

1 - English (I'm rather attached to it...)
2 - German (German is just cool, and it's spoken by a lot of people.)
3 - Spanish (I've already invested enough time learning this, I don't want my time wasted.)
4 - Japanese (Anime without subtitles = awesome.)
5 - Latin (Latin is useful for all sorts of learning and such.)

My sixth would definitely be Dutch, since that's where my family is from. It doesn't seem quite practical enough to be on the top 5, though.

 

[Anling]

1. English- my native language and I like all the synonyms.

2. Mandarin- I've studied it a little and so far it's been my favorite foreign language.

3. Japanese- I'm interested in the culture and there are some books I would like to read that aren't translated into english.

4. Spanish- It's a very convenient language to know.

5. Irish- I've always wanted to learn this one.

As for the extra sixth, It be a toss up between finnish, welsh, arabic, or french. I spent enough time learning french that I could read books just fine and had I ever had anyone to speak to since then I might have become fluent, but I enjoyed other languages more. I don't think I've ever come across a language I wouldn't be interested in knowing. I just don't have time to learn them all.

 

[lucazin]

I would say:
english
russian- I almost pick this language for my studies
portuguese- very beautiful
svahili
japanese

Also would be nice to know one of the scandinavian languages. That's because I admire those countries and think best artists came from there.

Someone picked Portuguese!!

Portuguese (my native tongue)
English (the Internet language)
Chinese (I love the Asian culture)
Latin
Ancient Greek

Others languages derived from Latin would come very easily after knowing Portuguese and Latin, and I can already read some texts in French (had a year-and-half class in the school) and Spanish.

But you would love to be fluent in any language besides Portuguese anyway.

And Tolkien's artificial languages?

 

[Mars]

- english, because it is by far the universal language
- polish or latvian, a slavic language you can roughly communicate to the other languages in that family
- french, so that I can swear and see if it really is like wiping my ass with silk
- mayan, because dead languages need revival
- aaand, aahhhh. i'd really have to say lucky dip. probably japanese, however tolkeins elven language sounds nice.

those are the conventional 5
however if I could I would replace them with whimsical choices it would go something like this, mayan with the language of maths and probably my luck dip one to understanding the language of art.
just because the relationships between the inanimate object and the soul thorugh the sensory association seems such a rich experience, not withstanding that it speaks to me of a fundamental method of communication.

 

[jiarem]

I can never decide a top five. For one thing, the list changes. Second, the languages are all in such a close tie that I can't order them.

1.) English. Native language.
2.) Hindi. I always thought it sounded exceptionally beautiful.
3.) Arabic or Hebrew.
4.) Korean.
5.) Finnish.
6.) Nahuatl, Ancient Greek, Tamil, Sanskrit, Polish, Russian, Turkish, or Basque.

I tried to get languages of different language families. Ancient and endangered languages are also fun.

 

[Carnap]

I already speak French and English, and am learning Persian and Arabic at a sloooooowwwwww pace. Have to wait til I'm in the mid east to really get going.

So, Persian, Arabic, and Portuguese I'd add (cause I have an intermediate level in it)

 

[Concojones]

I love the sound of Brazilian Portuguese. It's mind-blowing! I discovered it by watching Brazilian films like Cidade de Deus, etc.

I speak Dutch, and would like to improve the others I know:
- English: get rid of accent
- French, German, Spanish: become more fluent
I intend to go live in these countries (then you're practicing but it doesn't feel like it)

 

[XIII]

1. German. So I could read Nietzsche untranslated.
2. Mandarin. Will become as important as English. So I could read Chinese philosophy.
3. Japanese, because it seems beautiful.
4. Enochian. This is a language ''discovered'' by John Dee, an Elizabethan magician. It is supposedly the language of angels.
5. Sanskrit. So I could read Hindu and Buddhist scriptures untranslated.

I'm leaving out English, because the neural networks have already formed, and there's no way I could forget it (save, perhaps, living for thousands of years and communicating in post-linguistically). If I could choose another, it would be Korean (because my voice sounds good in Korean, and some Korean girls are *beautiful*).

 

[Ghost1986]

English- its what i speak. or try to anyway.

Russian- i find Russia interesting and they are a global player

Chinese- same as Russian

Spanish- hate it but there's a lot of people that speak it.

Arabic- the middle east is a major conflict area and is the main language.

those should be a sufficient start in my goal of world conquest. a 6th would be french. still a major language for some odd reason. cheese eating surrender monkeys.

 

[zephryi]

1. English- I would like to continue to talk with my friends, thanks. : D
2. Japanese- I've been studying it for four and a half years and still have huge holes in my knowledge. Plus, of course, Japanese culture, anime, and manga. <3
3. French- I'm just beginning to study and would love to learn more. It's a major diplomatic language still, and would be useful in Europe, I suppose?
4. Mandarin- Well, of course there's the factor of its rising usefulness and the cultural background (and I have a morbid fascination with the Cultural Revolution)... but also the pure fact that if I know Japanese, well, I might as well learn Chinese too. Put my kanji knowledge into double use.
5. Esperanto/ any "common" language put into action- I would LOVE to see an international language where people could exchange information without any language bias accepted for use. A common language would place everyone on an equal footing no matter where they are in the world, and I think actually learning a language to this purpose is the best way of furthering the idea. Plus, I love the simple grammar and the way it sounds.

6. Oh dear... German/Portuguese- Mainly due to fangirling over the game Psychonauts, sorry. Would love to be able to speak the same language as my favorite characters, Sasha and Milla. Or Spanish- mostly because my friend is practically fluent in it and would be ecstatic if I learned it as well.

 

[pussinboots]

1. english
2. spanish
3. french
4. norwegian
5. welsh, finnish or icelandic

 

[Nevermind]

1. English, native, and probably not a good language to unlearn.

2. German, my favorite language, I love the sound and everything about it.

3. Icelandic/Old Norse, because Old Norse was the language of a majority of my ancestors. I say they count as one cuz they're close enough.

4. French, because it's the only romance language that I like and there are a lot of philosophical and scientific works written in it.

5. Latin, I am interested in the complex grammatical system.

6. Some Native American language, because I would find the exotic structure fascinating.

For the most part, I honestly don't give a crap about functionality and how useful it will be now or any time in the future. I study languages simply because I enjoy figuring them out, opening my mind, and also learning to say things more beautifully is a plus as well.

 

[Insanity]

English - Common but it's useful and nessisary in the US.

Romanian - Most of my families native language and when we get together the only thing we speak.

Japanese - I love Japanese culture, would like to live there someday. Also it would be nice to just understand all of the anime I watch without subtitles.

Mandarin - Also a big fan of Chinese culture and would like to visit.

Spanish - Just because it's useful, not because I'd actually want to know it.

 

[jarred]

1. English - It's useful.

2. Spanish - It's useful.

3. Mandarin - It's useful.

4. Arabic - It's useful.

5. Russian - Because it sounds damn cool.

If I got to choose a sixth, it would probably be whatever language the !Kung speak. Cursing idiots in clicks would be phenomenal.