What language would you like to be fluent in, and why?

I always wanted to fully learn a third language (already speak Portuguese and English); the difference has always been which language. I at first wanted to learn Japanese, but that was a long gone fad; now I have a moderate interest in Russian and Chinese, but now I’m really into learning Guarany. After all, it’s the language of my people and I’d be doing my nation a disservice if I let it die.

Swedish, but only some good pick up lines would also be ok :wink:

I did a little research and found this in an online search:

"The Beijing dialect, a subdialect of Mandarin, is the phonological basis for Standard Chinese, and is thus well-understood throughout the entire country."

So, for online shopping purposes, Mandarin, or the Beijing dialect, would probably be good.

Of course, actually learning a foreign language is way easier said than done.

Rust. I think it has a great future and it just fits my needs quite well.
F*. I like what people do with it.
Hungarian. I like to visit the country yet I can barely utter 10 words.
Erlang. Completely different from what I’m used to yet very successful.

For practical reasons Chinese. To be able to communicate during business, travel and living in China.
For fun I would like to know Rongorongo.
Mike

German for philosophy and Japanese for mangas.

tlhIngan Hol. Why not? Great for voice-command devices no one else would be able to use. Besides, you can’t fully experience Shakespeare unless you’ve read him in the original Klingon.

German. To fully understand Rammstein lyrics.

Chinese, because flashlights. Spanish, because California.

Heh… seeing Hindi characters in your Location, I thought that is what you spoke as well.

English as a foreign language. Because about 15% of the World speak it. That’s about 3x more than people who speak it as a first language. Seriously, my brother-in-law is Japanese and speaks business English, and he can go to international meetings and speak with anyone…. except the native English speakers who speak too fast and use too many different and complicated words.

But, if I could have another language, maybe Chinese (Cantonese probably, because of the UKs links to Hong Kong, and Bruce Lee spoke Cantonese, and I bet Chuck Norris does too, but he probably speaks fluent Mandarin too.)

I wouldn’t bother with Cantonese. I’m 2nd generation Chinese and speak 1 flavor of Cantonese but there are several other ones and some aren’t similar at all. Mandarin is the way to go even in Hong Kong since most of the younger Chinese speak that rather than Cantonese.

It wouldn’t surprise me. Plus, Chuck counted to infinity… twice!

I heard he squeezes mandarins with his eyelids.

Pennsylvania Dutch, so that I know what the Amish are saying.

Came here to say that.

Also, gaining fluency is a language is a very perishable skill. I lived in Japan for a couple of years, and was pretty good at 30+ years ago. I wish I had time to remain fluent in it, but even just trying to maintain some of what I used to have takes way too much time. The very basics of a foreign language are like riding a bike, but fluency definitely is not. In my experience with French, Japanese, and C, anyway.

When he cuts onions, the onions cry.

Besides being fluent in English and Spanish and be able to read a little Portuguese, I would like to speak French, Arabic, German and Chinese. That way you could easily go anywhere in the world and have no problems communicating.

Pfff, big deal. Hold my beer, here goes:

–1/12

–1/12

There ya go.

:smiley:

I sense more to this story.

What non-human languages are you fluent in? :slight_smile:

Machine code.
Mike