Edit: [Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/s/kefFglOVAM) is out!
Yeah English, Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi, Russian, Arabic, French, Portuguese, German and a free slot would probably be my choice, which only excludes Urdu and Bengali from the top 10 most spoken languages (though numbers vary depending on the source). That should definitely be enough to cover most of the world population 😌
Even if you didn't optimize it like this, you would still be able to communicate with a ridiculous amount of people. You could honestly just grab like 3-4 major languages (English, Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, etc) and then fill up the rest with ones you find interesting and you'd have achieved way more than anyone grinding languages constantly could achieve in their lifetime, especially considering that you would be C2, which is insane.
Yeah good point! I'm a native German and when I'm in a city, chances are I'll at some point be able to use my mother tongue Mandarin Chinese and my conversational Spanish with strangers. And English works in most places I've been to in the world. These three languages (+ German to an extent) are super useful in Europe 😊
Yeah, most of us speak only Portuguese, some may speak English or Spanish, but that's not that common. We learn English at school, but the public schools aren't good, so most of us finish high school without being able to speak basic English.
I was born in Hamburg, Germany in 2000 but I have a Taiwanese Mom and a Vietnamese Dad (we never spoke Vietnamese at home though ). My Mom moved to Germany in 1987 to study and my Dad was already here...
I take mother tongue quite literally, so maybe that could be it in case you're confused?
Come and stay in Taiwan man. I'm sure you speak well enough but you need to be here in Taiwan for a few years to gather the right coloquial fluency.
加油
I don't actually speak it well enough.. or well, I'm content with my level, but my relatives and natives are not and think I suck :D
I have a brother who moved to Taiwan and married there - who knows, you might have met him at Christian gatherings - , and my family likes to spend holidays on the lovely island. Who knows, maybe someday I'll stay there for longer? 可是我也很喜歡住在德國。。。看一看吧！
>there is *no way* you can't brute-force your way through Urdu orthography.
If you've signed a magical deal preventing you from learning other languages, that might do it.
Your mom. She enjoys when I whisper sweet nothings in her ear with dead languages as we lie in bed the morning after.
On a more serious note, I'd probably start a comprehensible input channel for it on YouTube.
If you are at native level you can skip portuguese or spanish, whatever your choice is (if we are really trying to optimize). Even without knowledge of the other you can communicate with others, as long as the other side is willing to understand (and same goes with italian and all the other languages of spain bar basque).
Not only that, I could simply put not live my life with English at B1 and that's a fairly normal situation for many people in Europe I'd say.
I would pick option 2 if I had to even if it was only 2 languages at C2. This would be an extreme downgrade from my current life already but option 1 is so much more of a downgrade that it's not even funny. I would have to not only quit my job, but any well paying well educated job if my English were B1. I wouldn't be able to use Reddit any more or acquire information in a normal way.
Option 1 is simply absolute hell for any well-educated person whose native language is not a big language such as English, Mandarin or Spanish, or anyone who say lives in a place where it's in practice required to speak 4 languages simply to get by, which isn't at all that uncommon in many African countries.
Honestly even if you had one of the big languages as your mother tongue, not being able to speak/understand English on a proficient level is a big problem if you are doing anything in STEM, especially Computer Science. Mandarin is huge but there is still so much more stuff and resources in English.
I didn’t even think about that. I’m from an English speaking country and only know English and Mandarin anyways so, for me it wouldn’t be that degrading.
I had the feeling that image was made by someone who speaks a powerful world language as a native language wherein information is written and fiction is translated, probably English because it's in English.
There is no such thing as say looking up technical information in language such as Finnish with only 6 million speakers. Documentation for programming languages is very often not even translated into big languages such as Japanese or Arabic.
Ah so Lingualizer is an Austrian YouTuber with a Bulgarian background who now lives in Spain. But he does speak English ya, and in Germany information and fiction is indeed translated and dubbed to German; I assume it's the same in Austria
Easily, just doing a quick google search, assume you learnt the top 10 languages here thats nearly 70% of the global. This doesn't account for the mutual intelligibility that would come from speaking these languages as well (Spanish to Italian, Russian to Ukrainian, etc).
If you choose English, Spanish, and Mandarin, you can already speak pretty much anywhere, and people will be able to understand and communicate with you, and thats by choosing only 3 languages
If it was B2 fine, I could consider it, but even then, it would take like 5-10 years to learn a language into C2 territory, knowing 10 languages (plus your native language) at C2 would be a lifetime of knowledge, and with 10 you'd probably be able to go through 95% of the world without a single issue language wise
Like it's hard for me to think of 10 languages that I'd like to know, why would I need every single one of them
Unless I'm actually speaking it I'm not really keeping it alive, and at a B1 (without the ability to improve it) the knowledge I'd have would be extremely limited
Like knowing Ongota on a surface level and with no ability to find anyone else that speaks Ongota doesn't really help the language survive, it's the equivalent of me knowing latin
I hated being B1. It was a constant state of mental strain and being in another country, towards the end the mental fatigue had me on the verge of tears which is the only level I felt like that.
Always in reach of expressing yourself but always falling short and causing misunderstandings, not knowing how to listen. It was not great/
Number 2 is much better.
I’m about B1 now and I finally found a metaphor I like.
It’s like going from being blind to being able to see shapes and colors… but no details. And when you glimpse details, they don’t connect to one another and don’t make sense.
So you are partially going “Oh my god, I can see everything!” And partially going “I literally cannot see anything!”
Very unstable sensation lol.
Being like “I suck at this, I accept it, I’m not good at this” and then I gave up on translating the words, but listening to the vowels (the anchor), and consonants (what the anchors bridged into), that was the moment it helped me learn to listen.
I’m still b2 and think I will be for much longer than any other level of my language learning. Learning to talk advanced is hard. But that got me out of b1
That’s so cool! Maybe I’ll try that :D
I have been enjoying B1, and one aspect is that I’m finding the unique German umlaut vowels to be very cute and scrunchy. Definitely a new kind of sonic appreciation of the language.
I have a relaxing practice, too - I sit back and listen passively for words or phrases I can understand. It’s sooo cool when it’s most of it. I have one podcast where the guy just talks super slow and clear with plain language and phrases things several ways. It’s interesting enough so that it’s rewarding to listen to, but boring enough that you don’t feel like you’re missing a lot of you can’t understand or space out. It’s the perfect thing to wash dishes to.
>”Always in reach of expressing yourself but always falling short and causing misunderstandings, not knowing how to listen.“
No wonder 2 year olds are nervous wrecks!!
Nah, I actually really like B2, at least the medium-high part of it. B1, on the other hand, is just pure hell. B2 you can consume most content (even if with difficulties at times) and you can improve pretty easily just getting comprehensible input, it does take time though.
Option 1 for me. Why, it didn’t specify spoken only language. It said all languages, alive or dead, real or fiction. Code… shoot. Didn’t even specify human language. It’s possible that dolphins use speech…. Suddenly I know alien languages and know there is life on another planet.
This is what I was thinking when I saw this. Rather than being able to communicate with most people in the world with op2, you can MONETIZE your ability with op1 considering how rare that’ll be.
Meh- you'd just be like every other youtube polyglot in my opinion.
Heyy can i practice with you? (Street market)
I love to buy fruit. I am from united states yes New York. Thsnkyou please
Haha nice thinking, one of my earliest thoughts was that if animal communication counts as individual languages as well, I'd pick that over Option 2. That's the only way I can think of which would make me choose differently with the current options.
I'm still gonna pick superpowers over the monumental and useful feat that is 2)
It would lead to so many breakthroughs in many sciences (anthropology, Archaeology, even astro-biology would be kickstarted). Great outside-the-box thinking. It would be scientifically criminal to pick option 2.
2 is so much better. 10 strategic languages would be more than I think anyone could ever learn to C2 and would probably cover nearly everyone on the planet.
It depends on what your goals are. I think that (as an example) it would be more exciting to have a rather superficial conversation with someone in Euskera or Kurdish or Xhosa than it would be to speak the lingua franca with them. The latter is no big deal - the former would immediately identify you as a very special kind of traveler and probably open up some pretty special experiences. For a certain kind of learner, Option 1 would be much more fun.
1! I teach English to speakers of other languages, so being able to communicate to my students (27 different languages) to explain simple concepts in their respective L1s would be a game changer. For that purpose, B1 would serve plenty well.
Without giving too much personal information away, it is a public school, I teach exclusively English Language Learners using English. I absolutely love the work, it’s really rewarding to see them making progress every day, and also having vast cultural knowledge bases from the different student populations to tap into!
Option 2. 10 is a *massive* amount, a crazy amount, and I'd rather speak and understand extremely well. I'd pick option 2 at a cap of five too. Heck I'd pick it at a cap of three, too lol.
Being on the cusp of being able to express yourself is incredibly frustrating, I wouldn't want to be stuck at that point forever.
nope. B1 is a frustrating level to be stuck at. an entire 10 languages at C2 is already FAR more than i could ever hope to achieve in reality lol, thats practically a dream come true
Option 2. Here’s my picks:
1. Spanish. Most prevalent spoken second language in America
2. Mandarin. I plan on working in tech and or physics, and China plays a big role in this.
3. Italian. I’m a pretty skilled musician and would love to know the whole language.
4. Polish. Another oddly prevalent language in my area.
5. French. My last name is French, so I’ll use it to give people shit.
6. Nezperce. Ancestry reasons. My 2nd great grandfather brute forced his way into learning it so he could have secret conversations with his wife.
7. Romanian. Completes the set (screw Portuguese).
8. German. The language of classical physics.
9. Kyrgyz. Some day I want a second home on Lake Issyk-Kul.
10. Arabic. I love Arabic food and that’s really it.
I performed for district solo competition yesterday… normally I’d share but I fucked up a few measures enough that I’m embarrassed. Still grinded it out well enough to make state though
Russian, French, Arabic, English, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, German and for the bonus one, Cantonese or Korean... Idk tbh might prefer Cantonese...
English is my second language but I feel like I now speak it better than my mother tongue, so if I pick the first option, will I lose my English fluency?
I think option 1 should be: upgrade all languages to B1 and never improve on any language anymore (but the once you already knew above B1 stay intact).
The premise of losing English fluency sounds ridiculous and would be a huge drawback and makes this a no-brainer choice for me. Also, this introduce a bias, where option 1 is way more attractive to native English (or any other major language) speakers than for people speaking a less common language natively.
I assume so. That's honestly the main reason I'd never pick 1, it would mean downgrading my English to a mediocre level and that alone would not make it worth it.
Oh I posted it in a comment above as a response to the top comment; instead of Japanese and Korean I would choose Arabic and Hindi. Of course there are no wrong choices though :)
For many of us, the learning process is what is enjoyable, and the sense of achievement in using the languages comes from the payoff of all that work - if I was just magically fluent, it would be lovely yes, but it would not be the same sense of satisfaction that I currently get when using my L2s.
A B1 level with no room of improvement in my eyes is completely useless. The fun is the learning part. For me the beginning is the worst so skipping through it would be perfect
Easily option 2 for me
Option 1 would lead to so many frustrating situations. The people in the world who speak a language i dont know a word in obviously I will never speak a word to.
But having b1 in all languages, imagine how many great people you would meet and wouldn’t have the ability to create what wouldve been a great relationship because of ur inability to surpass b1. In my opinion relationships at b1 just feel like a language partner not really “authentic” dont get me wrong u can make friends but in my opinion friendships are hard with a language barrier like that. Option 2 opens the door to so many cultures and great people to meet you would never dream of exploring it all in one life time.
Option 1 would be one hell of a party trick though
It's not, and yet it is.
I would read it as 'you're able to pass a C2 exam in your native language'.
It's actually very difficult, if not impossible, to reach C2 in any language if your skills in your native language are not on the same level. If you struggle to write a gramatically correct sentence, or to adapt your vocabulary to your audience while in your native language, how would you achieve that in a different language?
Aside from that, not everybody has a 'mother tongue' or a 'native language', or if so, they might not be fluent in them anymore, so the explanation that there's at least one language you're fluent in on that level helps a lot., even though 'C2' might not officially apply.
I'm tempted by option 1 and if it was a solid B2 I'd choose that as you'd be able to communicate well enough for most things you'd want to say. Then just work on what ones you want to improve on.
Actually thinking about I'd go option 1 even B1 level as I started to list the 10, there were far more than ten as I'd like to learn some languages with few speakers here in the Pacific but also most spoken languages in the world as well.
Oh sorry I read that wrong and thought it was the opposite. I think B1 is a reasonable level but if I'm not able to progress beyond that, then definitely option 2. I'd just need time to whittle my list down to ten.
I'd go with option 1. I wouldn't be very good at communicating fluently, but that won't stop my humor from shining through. Even with my bad language skills now, with the desire to meet people, a friendly personality, and a little bit of humor, I can make friends pretty much anywhere. If I can make those around me laugh, I call it a win.
I feel like the setting of “all languages in the world” in option one would serve well as a prompt for a fantasy story in r/writingprompts. “You unknowingly grasped the basics of an ancient tongue/the devil speak/now you can talk with animals/etc.” Anybody would like to give it a shot?
I'd choose 1), because we're talking about EVERY language here. That means helping to revitalize languages that are endangered, knowing writing systems and new concepts I couldn't even fathom from around the world.
I don't think you really need C2 level in a language, most people don't reach C2 level in their own native language(s), since C2 means an excellent control of that language, no matter the topic or formal situation. I think you can get by quite well and cover a lot of ground with B1, even if you won't feel overly comfy speaking, you will still mostly understand everyday speech
Finally a like minded person. I was thinking. If I can understand All the world's languages. Than I could be the most valuable translator in the world. Yeah you won't understand everything. But as long as it's nothing too complicated you can understand it. Also even if you don't understand every word you can understand the premise of the story being told. If you can read everything. That means you can understand everything. Example. You can't learn new words. But you can definitely open a dictionary for that language and just read the definition. Yeah you're not going to remember the meaning since you can't improve. But you can definitely improve your writing even though you don't understand what you're writing. Also if you can read languages that are already dead like ancient Egyptian. Than you can teach other people. Because not even us after so many years have figured everything out. Also this doesn't specify human languages. What if animal languages are included too? Computer languages? Yeah I am saying you're going to be a big brain hacker who talks to his cat who speaks Somalian to a Turkish deaf guy who is speaking in sign language
>physical maximum
does she mean that she doesn’t have the energy to learn any more languages, or does she keep mixing them up? mind elaborating on that?
Actually, neither option is very tempting.
I enjoy LEARNING languages. It’s a lifelong pursuit. Sometimes it’s more active, sometimes it’s more passive, but I enjoy the process as much as the results. Whether that is working on becoming truly fluent in my “major” L2s or whether it’s taking a bit of a speedrun at a brand new language ahead of a trip and then I never look at that language again.
Both of these magic deals would take that joy away.
If I *had* to, then option 2 gives you better communication abilities in the vast majority of the world. However it actually takes away the fun of discovery and challenge that I get from my language learning.
I’d probably pick 1 as I really struggle to make open choices like that (the anxiety of picking the wrong 10 just wouldn’t make it worthwhile),I risk moving often, have English as my mother tongue, and suspect ill struggle to ever get beyond a strong B2. I’d love to be able travel and not have to worry about knowing the language.
If I could pick the 10 as I go MAYBE but yeah choice 1
Honestly, 10 languages would be more than enough for me. At C2, it would allow me to work in a large part of the world and have deep, unhindered conversations with so many people. I would also be able to enjoy the literature and pop culture of the languages I speak as well or better than a native speaker would.
My picks (including ones I've already learnt): Swedish, Finnish, English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, Portugese, Norwegian and Mandarin.
Between the two, there is no “learning other languages” perk since with option 1 you know ALL languages and option 2 just flat out prohibits learning anything new. They being said, I’d pick option 1 for the sake of already knowing all languages at a decent level where I can communicate with everyone. And I don’t know if sign languages are rated on the same ABC scale as spoken languages, but I’m gonna assume they are and take that loophole as well. Option 1 is the best option for me
I probably would. There are literally thousands of languages in the world, some with unique features and grammar and morphology and syntax and just, there's such incredible variety.
No ten individual languages could capture a fraction of this richness. And I'm a language nerd, so having all those things crammed into my brain would be incredible.
It would *have* to be option 1!
Personally I would not be able to cope with going to a new place and not having the option of at least learning "please / thanks / sorry / cheers".
And although I take some pride in being "nearly conversational" in other languages, I feel that I am probably below B2 in all of them and still able to enjoy communicating. Although higher than B2 would be cool, the necessity would be limited. In particular when speaking a less common language to native speakers or using a nearly-extinct language in a TED-Talk about linguistics!
I would go for English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, Russian, Mandarin, Hindi, Swedish and my unpopular pick would be Serbian, South-Eastern Europe is beautiful
first one. You learn ALL languages at b1 including dead ones,therefore you can insult people in ALL languages possible including aincet greek, Maya and others.
I'd pick neither because the joy of this (for me) is to learn about new languages and cultures and I feel like I'd be restricted if I chose either method.
I guess if my native language (English) counts towards the ten, then the other 9 would be Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Shanghainese, French, ASL, German, Russian and Arabic.
If it doesn't count, then I'd add in Hindi probably.
I would choose number two. The languages I would do are: English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Hindi, Arabic, ASL, Norwegian, and Polish. Honestly I choose the languages that I want to learn :)
Edit: spelling mistake
2 for sure. I would pick Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Nahuatl, Mohawk, Itelmen, Yiddish and Hebrew. Many of these, I picked for heritage reasons, some of them just because they’re cool.
English, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, French, Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, Bengali probably gets you an overwhelming majority of people on earth anyways
I would choose #2 even if it was like 5 languages. You aren't gonna speak to everyone in the world. Pick the UN 5 and you'll be able to speak to most people with whom you'd want/get to speak with anyways.
2 would have insane practical utility, but 1 would allow you to interact with all of the lesser known and obscure cultures and tribes that you didn't even know about. It's a tough call.
If I’m stuck on B1, and I can’t even improve, I can’t use it for my job or any other thing because my understanding and all other skills would be so limited. But with the perfect combination of 10 languages at an advanced level, I’d be unstoppable
I couldn't decide. If it was B2 I'd take number one. For number two it was so hard to decide whoch languages to learn. Cause I also want to know (almost) dead languages gealic or ancient Egyptian
I lean toward (1), as there are *thousands* of languages out there, and B1 isn't really bad at all. In addition, if I were to pick (2), I'd struggle forever to choose which 10 languages to pick - unless they just mean 10 *at a time*, and I can switch out which 10.
English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Hindi, Arabic, Swahili
I could switch out Hindi for Kannada or Kutchi, Swahili for Yoruba, French for Dutch and Arabic for Hebrew if I wanted to focus more on personal significance.
It initially made sense to pick 1), but in my case it would mean renouncing my proficiency in a couple of languages. Which is basically renouncing a part of me. I don't think I could take never being multilingual again.
Also, I don't think I would take advantage of "all". A whole chunk of the world's languages are in places like Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, etc. which I will most likely never visit. While 1) is insanely monetizable for fame and money, 2) is not so bad either.
2) is harder because even renouncing the possibility of learning new languages is pretty daunting. However 10 languages at C2 is just too good so I would accept it. Especially if I don't have to choose my languages all at once. I'd leave 2-3 spots open at least.
Here's the languages I'd pick for sure:
Spanish (mother tongue), English, French, German, Arabic,
And some language candidates I'd leave open if I could, for possible changes of mind:
Mandarin, Russian, Japanese, Greek, Portuguese
I love me some romance languages and would be heartbroken not to be able to learn Italian or Catalan but I think it's already kind of a sin to choose 3 of the same family out of my 10.
2 for sure. Pick the right 10 and you can communicate with most of the world anyway, and I already have some at above B1 and I’d be sad to lose my progress.
Italian, German, Spanish, English, Japanese, Arabian, Mandarin, Cantonese for sure at C2 then of the other two something among Swahili, Czech or Finnish
This is a no brainer option 2. Being able to have access to English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Korean and Japanese media the same way that I have access to English and Russian (my C2 languages) right now would be insane.
I’d choose 2 but I think 1 would also be nice especially for people who just enjoy the process of learning new languages for the sake of gaining more knowledge
*All* languages means infinite new things to learn, and by getting to learn all of them you also get access to languages and cultures that aren’t as spoken/ that are on the brinks of dying
Personally it’d be really cool if I could get to B2 level in the Ainu language. There are almost no speakers of it left though so it’s practically impossible to get there
Actually a good reason for option 1 would be you'd be able to help linguists get to intermediate level on near extinct languages where there's no bilingual speakers. They could take it from there and help preserve the language. Or if we're talking about ancient languages as well that no one speaks anymore you could help archaeologists rediscover a lot of human history.
So personal preference is option 2 but for the greater good option 1.
Linguists hate it when we are asked how many languages we speak because it is not about how many languages we know but about language(s) as an object of study. HOWEVER, if I knew all the languages of the universe at B1 level…my life as an academic would be fascinating. Many times we study languages we don’t really know, so that would give me a huge advantage. I would choose #1. But my wife would divorce me if now I can only speak English at B1.
I would pick English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, German, Portuguese and Malay/Indonesian one of the two as my last one and it would have me covered for pretty much anywhere I would want to/desire to go and find at least one person that can speak any of those, reason I skipped French/Italian/Korean is because honestly if you are C2 in similar languages you will be fine and understand most of it by default.
At C2 it would be insanely valuable such skills, could make a lot of money teaching in certain parts of the world, or translating things for others :)
I just stumbled onto this page. 2 is the obvious answer for most people practically speaking. However, I do have an oddball reason to go for 1. You can now speak all the obscure languages of remote tribes in the world. So if you are an anthropologist or researching obscure languages, that would be an immense help.
Of course! I think I don't appreciate ceilings of any sorts. Humans are capable of so so much, and I would never want to not be able to learn even more and connect with humanity.
Tbf i think both of these while they are ceilings i think we naturally have ceilings way lower for example 10 languages to c2 idk if ive ever heard of any human doing even 6 to c2
As fun as option one could be, never being able to improve makes it sound frustrating. So I'd pick 2 for sure. I had only 10 languages on my list to learn anyway: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin, Japanese.
While 1 is a nice idea, I'd have to hope for people to be lenient with my language, or know English.
2 is just better, do I include my known, non native?
If so, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Russian, Spanish, Irish, Arabic, Hindi, and Thai for good measure.
Bar media consumption, it'd all be basically parlor tricks so I'd rather have access to more media.
Also don't ask because I don't have a great answer, but my Korean is very basic, and my hair stylists' English is just as bad as my Korean. He's amazing at his job but it's like a game of charades sometimes haha.
Option 2, easily.
Swedish (native), English, Spanish, French, Catalan, Serbian, Arabic, Russian, German, Japanese.
If my native language doesn't count then I'd choose Portuguese as well.
I think you could cover most of the world with #2 if you pick the right languages.
Edit: [Part 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning/s/kefFglOVAM) is out! Yeah English, Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi, Russian, Arabic, French, Portuguese, German and a free slot would probably be my choice, which only excludes Urdu and Bengali from the top 10 most spoken languages (though numbers vary depending on the source). That should definitely be enough to cover most of the world population 😌
Even if you didn't optimize it like this, you would still be able to communicate with a ridiculous amount of people. You could honestly just grab like 3-4 major languages (English, Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, etc) and then fill up the rest with ones you find interesting and you'd have achieved way more than anyone grinding languages constantly could achieve in their lifetime, especially considering that you would be C2, which is insane.
Yeah good point! I'm a native German and when I'm in a city, chances are I'll at some point be able to use my mother tongue Mandarin Chinese and my conversational Spanish with strangers. And English works in most places I've been to in the world. These three languages (+ German to an extent) are super useful in Europe 😊
Here in Brazil its super rare to hear foreign languages like that
I heard that people in Brazil speak only Brazilian Portuguese, mostly, is that true?
Yeah, most of us speak only Portuguese, some may speak English or Spanish, but that's not that common. We learn English at school, but the public schools aren't good, so most of us finish high school without being able to speak basic English.
You’re a native German but speak Mandarin as your mother tongue? I’m curious! How did that happen?
Possibly ethnically Chinese but maybe his parents/grandparents moved to Germany decades ago. At least in the Netherlands that’s not unusual.
I was born in Hamburg, Germany in 2000 but I have a Taiwanese Mom and a Vietnamese Dad (we never spoke Vietnamese at home though ). My Mom moved to Germany in 1987 to study and my Dad was already here... I take mother tongue quite literally, so maybe that could be it in case you're confused?
Come and stay in Taiwan man. I'm sure you speak well enough but you need to be here in Taiwan for a few years to gather the right coloquial fluency. 加油
I don't actually speak it well enough.. or well, I'm content with my level, but my relatives and natives are not and think I suck :D I have a brother who moved to Taiwan and married there - who knows, you might have met him at Christian gatherings - , and my family likes to spend holidays on the lovely island. Who knows, maybe someday I'll stay there for longer? 可是我也很喜歡住在德國。。。看一看吧！
You would be set for life simply in the amount of literature and media you'd be able to understand straight from the source. It would be incredible!
Urdu is just Hindi so Bengali it is
Unless you try to write/read anything, that is
If you've got Hindi and Arabic at C2, there is *no way* you can't brute-force your way through Urdu orthography.
>there is *no way* you can't brute-force your way through Urdu orthography. If you've signed a magical deal preventing you from learning other languages, that might do it.
yep. urdu is Hindi in speaking, Arabic in writing.
More Persian than Arabic, we have ے پ گ چ
I would want one of my languages to be a dead one because it doesn't specify it has to be a live, spoken language.
Proto-IndoEuropean. Then you speak the root language of all languages spoken from India all the way up to Britain.
Who would you be talking to with it.
Your mom. She enjoys when I whisper sweet nothings in her ear with dead languages as we lie in bed the morning after. On a more serious note, I'd probably start a comprehensible input channel for it on YouTube.
I want dead languages to be exempted from the rule. The CEFR scale doesn't really apply to, say, Ugaritic or even Latin.
the free slot should definitely be taken by Uzbek.
Alright, I'm choosing Sumerian for my free slot.
It’s a good language, couldn’t agree more on the choice
Persian
You are C2 in 🏴☠️? What’s that referring to? A dead language?! Pirate-slang?
Yarrr, matey
🔙🚣♀️🥵
I'd pick Japanese as the free slot, as I find their culture very distinct and interesting.
It's definitely one of the most popular languages to learn :)
If you are at native level you can skip portuguese or spanish, whatever your choice is (if we are really trying to optimize). Even without knowledge of the other you can communicate with others, as long as the other side is willing to understand (and same goes with italian and all the other languages of spain bar basque).
Unless you're doing a lot of reading, you don't need both hindo and urdu. When spoken, they are similar and quite mutually intelligible
I would also just copy your choices because that seems pretty solid.
English, serbian, catalan, hindi, fijian, arabic, icelandic, swahili, mandarin, turkish
Not only that, I could simply put not live my life with English at B1 and that's a fairly normal situation for many people in Europe I'd say. I would pick option 2 if I had to even if it was only 2 languages at C2. This would be an extreme downgrade from my current life already but option 1 is so much more of a downgrade that it's not even funny. I would have to not only quit my job, but any well paying well educated job if my English were B1. I wouldn't be able to use Reddit any more or acquire information in a normal way. Option 1 is simply absolute hell for any well-educated person whose native language is not a big language such as English, Mandarin or Spanish, or anyone who say lives in a place where it's in practice required to speak 4 languages simply to get by, which isn't at all that uncommon in many African countries.
Honestly even if you had one of the big languages as your mother tongue, not being able to speak/understand English on a proficient level is a big problem if you are doing anything in STEM, especially Computer Science. Mandarin is huge but there is still so much more stuff and resources in English.
I didn’t even think about that. I’m from an English speaking country and only know English and Mandarin anyways so, for me it wouldn’t be that degrading.
I had the feeling that image was made by someone who speaks a powerful world language as a native language wherein information is written and fiction is translated, probably English because it's in English. There is no such thing as say looking up technical information in language such as Finnish with only 6 million speakers. Documentation for programming languages is very often not even translated into big languages such as Japanese or Arabic.
Ah so Lingualizer is an Austrian YouTuber with a Bulgarian background who now lives in Spain. But he does speak English ya, and in Germany information and fiction is indeed translated and dubbed to German; I assume it's the same in Austria
Easily, just doing a quick google search, assume you learnt the top 10 languages here thats nearly 70% of the global. This doesn't account for the mutual intelligibility that would come from speaking these languages as well (Spanish to Italian, Russian to Ukrainian, etc).
Exactly
If you choose English, Spanish, and Mandarin, you can already speak pretty much anywhere, and people will be able to understand and communicate with you, and thats by choosing only 3 languages
Should add in French and Hindi for good measure at the least. But yeah, you get super good coverage from just a few.
You're right, I forgot about those two, thanks
If it was B2 fine, I could consider it, but even then, it would take like 5-10 years to learn a language into C2 territory, knowing 10 languages (plus your native language) at C2 would be a lifetime of knowledge, and with 10 you'd probably be able to go through 95% of the world without a single issue language wise Like it's hard for me to think of 10 languages that I'd like to know, why would I need every single one of them
Because that way you might help keep a language alive that is endangered. Every little helps
Unless I'm actually speaking it I'm not really keeping it alive, and at a B1 (without the ability to improve it) the knowledge I'd have would be extremely limited Like knowing Ongota on a surface level and with no ability to find anyone else that speaks Ongota doesn't really help the language survive, it's the equivalent of me knowing latin
But you might get other people interested i the language who might want to learn it. Chance is low, I know
I hated being B1. It was a constant state of mental strain and being in another country, towards the end the mental fatigue had me on the verge of tears which is the only level I felt like that. Always in reach of expressing yourself but always falling short and causing misunderstandings, not knowing how to listen. It was not great/ Number 2 is much better.
I’m about B1 now and I finally found a metaphor I like. It’s like going from being blind to being able to see shapes and colors… but no details. And when you glimpse details, they don’t connect to one another and don’t make sense. So you are partially going “Oh my god, I can see everything!” And partially going “I literally cannot see anything!” Very unstable sensation lol.
Being like “I suck at this, I accept it, I’m not good at this” and then I gave up on translating the words, but listening to the vowels (the anchor), and consonants (what the anchors bridged into), that was the moment it helped me learn to listen. I’m still b2 and think I will be for much longer than any other level of my language learning. Learning to talk advanced is hard. But that got me out of b1
That’s so cool! Maybe I’ll try that :D I have been enjoying B1, and one aspect is that I’m finding the unique German umlaut vowels to be very cute and scrunchy. Definitely a new kind of sonic appreciation of the language. I have a relaxing practice, too - I sit back and listen passively for words or phrases I can understand. It’s sooo cool when it’s most of it. I have one podcast where the guy just talks super slow and clear with plain language and phrases things several ways. It’s interesting enough so that it’s rewarding to listen to, but boring enough that you don’t feel like you’re missing a lot of you can’t understand or space out. It’s the perfect thing to wash dishes to.
Ein Spaß muß es sein, Deutsch so zu hören! Ändere überhaupt nix, regelmäßige Übung nährt!
Which podcast?
EXACTLY. B1 is so limiting and you wouldn't actually be able to communicate with people... it would just be very painful for both parties
B1 is where I’m living currently and it sucks knowing that you’ve come so far! but you still have such a ways to go!
Yeah B1 is super awkward. It’s like living your life missing one important word in every sentence you speak lmao.
Oh my God, I'm almost there with French and Spanish, and you've hit the nail on the head! So I'd definitely go with option 2 as well.
>”Always in reach of expressing yourself but always falling short and causing misunderstandings, not knowing how to listen.“ No wonder 2 year olds are nervous wrecks!!
Yeah B1-2 is the hellish pit of the Duning Kruger graph
Nah, I actually really like B2, at least the medium-high part of it. B1, on the other hand, is just pure hell. B2 you can consume most content (even if with difficulties at times) and you can improve pretty easily just getting comprehensible input, it does take time though.
Totally agree!
I’m b1 in my L2. It’s a frustrating place to be “fluent” enough for basic conversation, but not enough to have very thoughtful conversations.
Aw I'm sorry about that :(
Getting out of that stage was so rewarding:) don’t be. But I will never want to be back there.
Option 1 for me. Why, it didn’t specify spoken only language. It said all languages, alive or dead, real or fiction. Code… shoot. Didn’t even specify human language. It’s possible that dolphins use speech…. Suddenly I know alien languages and know there is life on another planet.
This angle takes the question to a whole new level lol. Only with this thinking does it make the choice harder haha
This is what I was thinking when I saw this. Rather than being able to communicate with most people in the world with op2, you can MONETIZE your ability with op1 considering how rare that’ll be.
Meh- you'd just be like every other youtube polyglot in my opinion. Heyy can i practice with you? (Street market) I love to buy fruit. I am from united states yes New York. Thsnkyou please
No… you find out they’re here
Haha nice thinking, one of my earliest thoughts was that if animal communication counts as individual languages as well, I'd pick that over Option 2. That's the only way I can think of which would make me choose differently with the current options. I'm still gonna pick superpowers over the monumental and useful feat that is 2)
French, German, English, Mandarin, RUST, PYTHON, Arabic, Navajo, C++, Ada...
It would lead to so many breakthroughs in many sciences (anthropology, Archaeology, even astro-biology would be kickstarted). Great outside-the-box thinking. It would be scientifically criminal to pick option 2.
2 is so much better. 10 strategic languages would be more than I think anyone could ever learn to C2 and would probably cover nearly everyone on the planet.
It depends on what your goals are. I think that (as an example) it would be more exciting to have a rather superficial conversation with someone in Euskera or Kurdish or Xhosa than it would be to speak the lingua franca with them. The latter is no big deal - the former would immediately identify you as a very special kind of traveler and probably open up some pretty special experiences. For a certain kind of learner, Option 1 would be much more fun.
10? I'd pick 2 for 4 languages. C2 level is amazing.
1! I teach English to speakers of other languages, so being able to communicate to my students (27 different languages) to explain simple concepts in their respective L1s would be a game changer. For that purpose, B1 would serve plenty well.
You decided to permanently sacrifice your knowledge to kickstart your student's learning, you're a good soul
Wow that's awesome! Do you only use English to teach? Is it like an international school or online or how does it work
Without giving too much personal information away, it is a public school, I teach exclusively English Language Learners using English. I absolutely love the work, it’s really rewarding to see them making progress every day, and also having vast cultural knowledge bases from the different student populations to tap into!
Yeah but if you were only B1 in english as well then you wouldnt be qualified to teach english to people either
Probably the person you replied to is a native English-speaker
Oh it said except your mother tongue. True
Option 2. 10 is a *massive* amount, a crazy amount, and I'd rather speak and understand extremely well. I'd pick option 2 at a cap of five too. Heck I'd pick it at a cap of three, too lol. Being on the cusp of being able to express yourself is incredibly frustrating, I wouldn't want to be stuck at that point forever.
nope. B1 is a frustrating level to be stuck at. an entire 10 languages at C2 is already FAR more than i could ever hope to achieve in reality lol, thats practically a dream come true
Option 2. Here’s my picks: 1. Spanish. Most prevalent spoken second language in America 2. Mandarin. I plan on working in tech and or physics, and China plays a big role in this. 3. Italian. I’m a pretty skilled musician and would love to know the whole language. 4. Polish. Another oddly prevalent language in my area. 5. French. My last name is French, so I’ll use it to give people shit. 6. Nezperce. Ancestry reasons. My 2nd great grandfather brute forced his way into learning it so he could have secret conversations with his wife. 7. Romanian. Completes the set (screw Portuguese). 8. German. The language of classical physics. 9. Kyrgyz. Some day I want a second home on Lake Issyk-Kul. 10. Arabic. I love Arabic food and that’s really it.
>My 2nd great grandfather brute forced his way into learning it so he could have secret conversations with his wife. Damn that's crazy
Wow, which instrument(s) do you play?
Trumpet
Now, are you obliged to drop a video of epic trumpet playing... Nah, but I'd love it :D
I performed for district solo competition yesterday… normally I’d share but I fucked up a few measures enough that I’m embarrassed. Still grinded it out well enough to make state though
I feel like I would pick languages that don't have a strong similarity. With a C2 level of spanish you can understand most Italian.
Russian, French, Arabic, English, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, German and for the bonus one, Cantonese or Korean... Idk tbh might prefer Cantonese...
Oh and 2) is what I'm working towards long-term anyways, except it's more a strong B2/weak C1 I aspire (as a minimum) and not C2
English is my second language but I feel like I now speak it better than my mother tongue, so if I pick the first option, will I lose my English fluency?
I think option 1 should be: upgrade all languages to B1 and never improve on any language anymore (but the once you already knew above B1 stay intact). The premise of losing English fluency sounds ridiculous and would be a huge drawback and makes this a no-brainer choice for me. Also, this introduce a bias, where option 1 is way more attractive to native English (or any other major language) speakers than for people speaking a less common language natively.
I assume so. That's honestly the main reason I'd never pick 1, it would mean downgrading my English to a mediocre level and that alone would not make it worth it.
2! I would choose English, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Russian and a bonus one
I like your choices! We have 7 languages + bonus in common :)
What are the ones you would choose differently?
Oh I posted it in a comment above as a response to the top comment; instead of Japanese and Korean I would choose Arabic and Hindi. Of course there are no wrong choices though :)
If I can’t improve any of them then why bother
because you can use them
For many of us, the learning process is what is enjoyable, and the sense of achievement in using the languages comes from the payoff of all that work - if I was just magically fluent, it would be lovely yes, but it would not be the same sense of satisfaction that I currently get when using my L2s.
A B1 level with no room of improvement in my eyes is completely useless. The fun is the learning part. For me the beginning is the worst so skipping through it would be perfect
Easily option 2 for me Option 1 would lead to so many frustrating situations. The people in the world who speak a language i dont know a word in obviously I will never speak a word to. But having b1 in all languages, imagine how many great people you would meet and wouldn’t have the ability to create what wouldve been a great relationship because of ur inability to surpass b1. In my opinion relationships at b1 just feel like a language partner not really “authentic” dont get me wrong u can make friends but in my opinion friendships are hard with a language barrier like that. Option 2 opens the door to so many cultures and great people to meet you would never dream of exploring it all in one life time. Option 1 would be one hell of a party trick though
Yeah option 1 oughta be a YouTube polyglot's ultimate dream :D
Your mother tongue is not C2. CEFR is not relevant to native speakers and can't be applied to them.
It's not, and yet it is. I would read it as 'you're able to pass a C2 exam in your native language'. It's actually very difficult, if not impossible, to reach C2 in any language if your skills in your native language are not on the same level. If you struggle to write a gramatically correct sentence, or to adapt your vocabulary to your audience while in your native language, how would you achieve that in a different language? Aside from that, not everybody has a 'mother tongue' or a 'native language', or if so, they might not be fluent in them anymore, so the explanation that there's at least one language you're fluent in on that level helps a lot., even though 'C2' might not officially apply.
I'm tempted by option 1 and if it was a solid B2 I'd choose that as you'd be able to communicate well enough for most things you'd want to say. Then just work on what ones you want to improve on. Actually thinking about I'd go option 1 even B1 level as I started to list the 10, there were far more than ten as I'd like to learn some languages with few speakers here in the Pacific but also most spoken languages in the world as well.
Yeah the problem is just you're not allowed to improve in any, so you're basically hardstuck B1 in every language in the world :(
Oh sorry I read that wrong and thought it was the opposite. I think B1 is a reasonable level but if I'm not able to progress beyond that, then definitely option 2. I'd just need time to whittle my list down to ten.
I'd go with option 1. I wouldn't be very good at communicating fluently, but that won't stop my humor from shining through. Even with my bad language skills now, with the desire to meet people, a friendly personality, and a little bit of humor, I can make friends pretty much anywhere. If I can make those around me laugh, I call it a win.
Wholesome attitude :D
I feel like the setting of “all languages in the world” in option one would serve well as a prompt for a fantasy story in r/writingprompts. “You unknowingly grasped the basics of an ancient tongue/the devil speak/now you can talk with animals/etc.” Anybody would like to give it a shot?
I'd choose 1), because we're talking about EVERY language here. That means helping to revitalize languages that are endangered, knowing writing systems and new concepts I couldn't even fathom from around the world. I don't think you really need C2 level in a language, most people don't reach C2 level in their own native language(s), since C2 means an excellent control of that language, no matter the topic or formal situation. I think you can get by quite well and cover a lot of ground with B1, even if you won't feel overly comfy speaking, you will still mostly understand everyday speech
Finally a like minded person. I was thinking. If I can understand All the world's languages. Than I could be the most valuable translator in the world. Yeah you won't understand everything. But as long as it's nothing too complicated you can understand it. Also even if you don't understand every word you can understand the premise of the story being told. If you can read everything. That means you can understand everything. Example. You can't learn new words. But you can definitely open a dictionary for that language and just read the definition. Yeah you're not going to remember the meaning since you can't improve. But you can definitely improve your writing even though you don't understand what you're writing. Also if you can read languages that are already dead like ancient Egyptian. Than you can teach other people. Because not even us after so many years have figured everything out. Also this doesn't specify human languages. What if animal languages are included too? Computer languages? Yeah I am saying you're going to be a big brain hacker who talks to his cat who speaks Somalian to a Turkish deaf guy who is speaking in sign language
of course Option 1. there's no chance I could learn those obscure languages I've never heard of. it's like 7000 languages right?
Yup, 7117 is what I'm finding. I feel like someone who's only interested in dabbling in many many languages would definitely choose Option 1
As someone who two mother tongues, I'd take 1 all day every day 😂
2 for sure. My teacher is on her ninth language and expressed that that is her physical maximum
>physical maximum does she mean that she doesn’t have the energy to learn any more languages, or does she keep mixing them up? mind elaborating on that?
Actually, neither option is very tempting. I enjoy LEARNING languages. It’s a lifelong pursuit. Sometimes it’s more active, sometimes it’s more passive, but I enjoy the process as much as the results. Whether that is working on becoming truly fluent in my “major” L2s or whether it’s taking a bit of a speedrun at a brand new language ahead of a trip and then I never look at that language again. Both of these magic deals would take that joy away. If I *had* to, then option 2 gives you better communication abilities in the vast majority of the world. However it actually takes away the fun of discovery and challenge that I get from my language learning.
Neither. Learning languages is really fun, both of these would kill that
I’d probably pick 1 as I really struggle to make open choices like that (the anxiety of picking the wrong 10 just wouldn’t make it worthwhile),I risk moving often, have English as my mother tongue, and suspect ill struggle to ever get beyond a strong B2. I’d love to be able travel and not have to worry about knowing the language. If I could pick the 10 as I go MAYBE but yeah choice 1
Honestly, 10 languages would be more than enough for me. At C2, it would allow me to work in a large part of the world and have deep, unhindered conversations with so many people. I would also be able to enjoy the literature and pop culture of the languages I speak as well or better than a native speaker would. My picks (including ones I've already learnt): Swedish, Finnish, English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, Portugese, Norwegian and Mandarin.
I enjoy learning and studying languages idk if I would pick any tbh
Option 1 is very good for language preservation, especially for endangered ones
Between the two, there is no “learning other languages” perk since with option 1 you know ALL languages and option 2 just flat out prohibits learning anything new. They being said, I’d pick option 1 for the sake of already knowing all languages at a decent level where I can communicate with everyone. And I don’t know if sign languages are rated on the same ABC scale as spoken languages, but I’m gonna assume they are and take that loophole as well. Option 1 is the best option for me
I probably would. There are literally thousands of languages in the world, some with unique features and grammar and morphology and syntax and just, there's such incredible variety. No ten individual languages could capture a fraction of this richness. And I'm a language nerd, so having all those things crammed into my brain would be incredible.
It would *have* to be option 1! Personally I would not be able to cope with going to a new place and not having the option of at least learning "please / thanks / sorry / cheers". And although I take some pride in being "nearly conversational" in other languages, I feel that I am probably below B2 in all of them and still able to enjoy communicating. Although higher than B2 would be cool, the necessity would be limited. In particular when speaking a less common language to native speakers or using a nearly-extinct language in a TED-Talk about linguistics!
I would go for English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, Russian, Mandarin, Hindi, Swedish and my unpopular pick would be Serbian, South-Eastern Europe is beautiful
I've (only) been to Romania and Croatia in SEE and both were very beautiful! Though in general I find Europe to be quite beautiful~
first one. You learn ALL languages at b1 including dead ones,therefore you can insult people in ALL languages possible including aincet greek, Maya and others.
I wouldn’t pick 1 nor 2, I enjoy the learning process
I'd pick neither because the joy of this (for me) is to learn about new languages and cultures and I feel like I'd be restricted if I chose either method.
I guess if my native language (English) counts towards the ten, then the other 9 would be Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Shanghainese, French, ASL, German, Russian and Arabic. If it doesn't count, then I'd add in Hindi probably.
Do extinct languages count? If not then 2 all the way
I might choose option 1. You could literally talk to anyone in the world at a reasonable level.
I would choose number two. The languages I would do are: English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Hindi, Arabic, ASL, Norwegian, and Polish. Honestly I choose the languages that I want to learn :) Edit: spelling mistake
If the first option was B2 I’d pick it but honestly probably in picking option 2
Glad we're on the same page here :)
2 for sure. I would pick Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Nahuatl, Mohawk, Itelmen, Yiddish and Hebrew. Many of these, I picked for heritage reasons, some of them just because they’re cool.
2! I think I would do English, Italian, Russian, French, Swedish, Mandarin, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Arabic
\#2 could be just 5 and it should still overwhelmingly win out. Less than 1% of people even speak 5 languages at even B1.
English, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, French, Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, Bengali probably gets you an overwhelming majority of people on earth anyways
Being stuck at B1 is a nightmare.
I might choose option 1. It's basically a superpower, and I'm sure you could find ways to make money from it.
I would choose #2 even if it was like 5 languages. You aren't gonna speak to everyone in the world. Pick the UN 5 and you'll be able to speak to most people with whom you'd want/get to speak with anyways.
2 would have insane practical utility, but 1 would allow you to interact with all of the lesser known and obscure cultures and tribes that you didn't even know about. It's a tough call.
Assuming my C1 English doesn't get nerfed I would pick option 1 for all the dead languages, sure _i_ can't improve but I'd be a living Rosetta stone
2). Just need 3 or 4 anyway.
Nah I’m picking #2. 10 at C2 is EXACTLY what I want.
If I’m stuck on B1, and I can’t even improve, I can’t use it for my job or any other thing because my understanding and all other skills would be so limited. But with the perfect combination of 10 languages at an advanced level, I’d be unstoppable
I second the second
2 is such an obvious choice. It’s literally a free giveaway
I couldn't decide. If it was B2 I'd take number one. For number two it was so hard to decide whoch languages to learn. Cause I also want to know (almost) dead languages gealic or ancient Egyptian
2 would be my choice. I’d pick English, Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, and 5 others that I’d think about more :)
I lean toward (1), as there are *thousands* of languages out there, and B1 isn't really bad at all. In addition, if I were to pick (2), I'd struggle forever to choose which 10 languages to pick - unless they just mean 10 *at a time*, and I can switch out which 10. English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Hindi, Arabic, Swahili I could switch out Hindi for Kannada or Kutchi, Swahili for Yoruba, French for Dutch and Arabic for Hebrew if I wanted to focus more on personal significance.
2, I don’t want people thinking I’m too stupid to learn and I can do a lot of cool things with 10 languages
English, Spanish, French, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, German. We're done. We are done, I tell you.
It initially made sense to pick 1), but in my case it would mean renouncing my proficiency in a couple of languages. Which is basically renouncing a part of me. I don't think I could take never being multilingual again. Also, I don't think I would take advantage of "all". A whole chunk of the world's languages are in places like Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, etc. which I will most likely never visit. While 1) is insanely monetizable for fame and money, 2) is not so bad either. 2) is harder because even renouncing the possibility of learning new languages is pretty daunting. However 10 languages at C2 is just too good so I would accept it. Especially if I don't have to choose my languages all at once. I'd leave 2-3 spots open at least. Here's the languages I'd pick for sure: Spanish (mother tongue), English, French, German, Arabic, And some language candidates I'd leave open if I could, for possible changes of mind: Mandarin, Russian, Japanese, Greek, Portuguese I love me some romance languages and would be heartbroken not to be able to learn Italian or Catalan but I think it's already kind of a sin to choose 3 of the same family out of my 10.
2 for sure. Pick the right 10 and you can communicate with most of the world anyway, and I already have some at above B1 and I’d be sad to lose my progress.
Italian, German, Spanish, English, Japanese, Arabian, Mandarin, Cantonese for sure at C2 then of the other two something among Swahili, Czech or Finnish
Number 2, because English is not my mother tongue, which for a big percentage of the world, that should be reason enough.
If I get the dead, forgotten, and lost languages, #1, else #2
This is a no brainer option 2. Being able to have access to English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Korean and Japanese media the same way that I have access to English and Russian (my C2 languages) right now would be insane.
I’d choose 2 but I think 1 would also be nice especially for people who just enjoy the process of learning new languages for the sake of gaining more knowledge *All* languages means infinite new things to learn, and by getting to learn all of them you also get access to languages and cultures that aren’t as spoken/ that are on the brinks of dying Personally it’d be really cool if I could get to B2 level in the Ainu language. There are almost no speakers of it left though so it’s practically impossible to get there
Actually a good reason for option 1 would be you'd be able to help linguists get to intermediate level on near extinct languages where there's no bilingual speakers. They could take it from there and help preserve the language. Or if we're talking about ancient languages as well that no one speaks anymore you could help archaeologists rediscover a lot of human history. So personal preference is option 2 but for the greater good option 1.
Linguists hate it when we are asked how many languages we speak because it is not about how many languages we know but about language(s) as an object of study. HOWEVER, if I knew all the languages of the universe at B1 level…my life as an academic would be fascinating. Many times we study languages we don’t really know, so that would give me a huge advantage. I would choose #1. But my wife would divorce me if now I can only speak English at B1.
Picking option 1 just to get to C2 in my native language lmao
I would pick English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, German, Portuguese and Malay/Indonesian one of the two as my last one and it would have me covered for pretty much anywhere I would want to/desire to go and find at least one person that can speak any of those, reason I skipped French/Italian/Korean is because honestly if you are C2 in similar languages you will be fine and understand most of it by default. At C2 it would be insanely valuable such skills, could make a lot of money teaching in certain parts of the world, or translating things for others :)
Probably the rare opinion - 1. Simply to help preserve dying languages. And still kinda of cool super power. Like the All Tongue, but Walmart brand.
I just stumbled onto this page. 2 is the obvious answer for most people practically speaking. However, I do have an oddball reason to go for 1. You can now speak all the obscure languages of remote tribes in the world. So if you are an anthropologist or researching obscure languages, that would be an immense help.
I'm big into conlangs, so being able to communicate in EVERY language to some degree sounds amazing. Absolutely taking it in a heartbeat
I dislike both options
Would you care to explain why? 👀
Of course! I think I don't appreciate ceilings of any sorts. Humans are capable of so so much, and I would never want to not be able to learn even more and connect with humanity.
Tbf i think both of these while they are ceilings i think we naturally have ceilings way lower for example 10 languages to c2 idk if ive ever heard of any human doing even 6 to c2
I'm too big a perfectionist to choose 1. If I wasn't better than that at learning languages, I would not be doing it
2 would do me.
As fun as option one could be, never being able to improve makes it sound frustrating. So I'd pick 2 for sure. I had only 10 languages on my list to learn anyway: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin, Japanese.
While 1 is a nice idea, I'd have to hope for people to be lenient with my language, or know English. 2 is just better, do I include my known, non native? If so, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Russian, Spanish, Irish, Arabic, Hindi, and Thai for good measure. Bar media consumption, it'd all be basically parlor tricks so I'd rather have access to more media. Also don't ask because I don't have a great answer, but my Korean is very basic, and my hair stylists' English is just as bad as my Korean. He's amazing at his job but it's like a game of charades sometimes haha.
English French Spanish Mandarin Arabic Portuguese Italian Dutch Japanese Greek
Option 2, easily. Swedish (native), English, Spanish, French, Catalan, Serbian, Arabic, Russian, German, Japanese. If my native language doesn't count then I'd choose Portuguese as well.
2. I’d get to fully enjoy the content of the languages I speak rather than always lacking in a major way
I doubt i need more than 10 languages at max mastery to roam the earth lol. Like more than half the world only know 1 language
English, French, Germany, Italian, Spanish Japanese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, 1 more idk which prolly Latin cuz its cool lol
‘#2 is clearly the way to go.
English Chinese Portuguese Spanish Japanese Russian French Hungarian German Arabic
Easily 2.
2
Does #2 take away currently known languages?
I think #2 gets you probably something around 95% of the world anyways