If you could learn any language, which one would you learn?
By ma_belle
@ma_belle (1357)
United States
16 responses
@liztrombley (92)
• United States
18 Jun 07
If I could learn any language instantly it would probably be either italian or hmong. Italian because my mother would like to eventually move there and I would think it benificial to learn the language before I went and visited her. Hmong because, where I live, there are a lot of older Hmong people that don't speak english very well if at all. I would be able to get a job as a translator and help people while getting paid.
2 people like this
@celestemichelle (429)
• United States
18 Jun 07
German. My husband's mother is German so most of his family speaks it as a first language. His grandmother doesn't speak English and we hope to visit her in Germany in the next year. Also I've been finding it very difficult for me to learn compared to French and Spanish which I've studied in the past.
1 person likes this
@celestemichelle (429)
• United States
18 Jun 07
Must be a personal thing then. German is closer to English, but I learned French when I was young and have continued taking French classes since, and it's very similar to Spanish so I learned a lot quickly. For me, German is very different from the languages I have studied. And I don't have the benefit of real classes, just a text book and help from my husband.
1 person likes this
@liztrombley (92)
• United States
18 Jun 07
My sister is taking German through her highschool. She wanted to learn that language because she was born there, and she says it's easier to learn that both french and spanish cause she has tried both.
1 person likes this
@restlesslimbs (174)
• United States
18 Jun 07
I would learn Gujarati, because that is my boyfriend's home language. I would like to be able to help teach my daughter in both English and Gujarati. If it weren't for him it would be Spanish, because I've come in contact with so many Spanish speakers and it would widen the pool of people I could communicate with greatly.
1 person likes this
@liztrombley (92)
• United States
18 Jun 07
Where is your boyfriend from? I haven't heard of Gujarati either. Sounds interesting.
1 person likes this
@restlesslimbs (174)
• United States
18 Jun 07
Gujarat is a state in India. It's a regional language.
1 person likes this
@tigerrr77 (82)
• United States
18 Jun 07
I'd love to learn sign language because it's a different, and you express yourself with your hands.
1 person likes this
@wondericequeen (7876)
• Hong Kong
19 Jun 07
I think I would want to speak Mandarin (with Beijing accent) beautifully, I know how to say a bit in Mandarin but I am not really good at it. It would be so much more convenient if I can speak it nicely. There are just too many business opportunities there in China these days and I feel like I am not a Chinese if I don't speak the language. And most importantly, I never have the patience to learn that and I don't know why. So it would be nice if I granted the language skill like instantly.
1 person likes this
@scarywhitegirl (2766)
• United States
18 Jun 07
I've studied French, German, Latin, and Old English, and know each of them to varying degrees of badly. :) I think if I could instantly know a language, I would probably choose Latin, because a) it would be fun to spout Latin phrase randomly, and b) it would be a wonderful basis for future learning of languages.
If I had to do it the old-fashioned way (actually studying a language), I've decided that I would really like to know Spanish. It's the only commonly taught language that I've never studied, and would be the most practical, I think.
@Inky261 (2520)
• Germany
18 Jun 07
I would learn Russian. It is a very important language. I am in Europe and Russia is close. I want to travel to Russia. Many companies do business with Russia. Russia is attracting me, I am glad one can go there these days. So I just started a little while ago to learn some Russian and I will improve on it. I learned English and French in school as foreign languages.
@jogie_bien (1103)
• Philippines
18 Jun 07
i learn french language and its difficult for the pronounciation and a little different for spelling like in english but right now i am happy because i can communicate now., and i think if i have given again another chance i would like to learn chinese language because the word is not aplhabetically.i think its more difficult to learn because its not alphabet.
1 person likes this
@Superfluous (284)
• Philippines
18 Jun 07
Japanese and Korean since I'm a fan of anime and japanese & korean movies. And it would be great if I speak just like them, and its cool too so that whenever I'm watching animes or movies from it, i wont have to read the subtitles. :D Then French, its kinda cool to listen how they speak. So I'm interested in learning french too. :)
@liztrombley (92)
• United States
18 Jun 07
Oh I definatly agree with you on the anime/japanese idea. I like anime too and it's slightly annoying reading the subtitles and equally annoying trying to listen to the english dubbed versions. :)
1 person likes this
@tracy1985 (654)
• China
19 Jun 07
I will prefer to learn French,because it is the most romantic language all over the world,I like romantic thing.hehe.....
1 person likes this
@Withoutwings (6992)
• United States
27 Jun 07
I would choose Japanese because it seems to be one of the hardest to learn in my opinion. I can learn French, Spanish, Italian, etc... but Japanese has kanji and I think it would be difficult to learn. Either that or ancient Eyptian or maybe Latin. And why? for just the pure fun of knowing the language. I like langauges. Plus I think learning all the other languages would be easy once you know Latin.
@lifeluver (743)
• Canada
18 Jun 07
If I could learn any language instantly, it would be Americian Sign Language (ASL) because then I would be able to talk to the deaf and hard of hearing people that live in my community. I know many of them from having worked at a local Tim Hortan's but I've only been able to talk with them on a limited bases.
Since I already can speak pretty good French and a little Spanish, I don't think learning another verbal language would be all that difficult to do on my own time. This is another reason why I would chose ASL. Excellent question, by the way :)