Would you trade speaking your L1 for 10 other languages?

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Raquel
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Would you trade speaking your L1 for 10 other languages? Oct 23, 2017 20:52:15 GMT 9

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Post by Raquel on Oct 23, 2017 20:52:15 GMT 9

Would you trade speaking your mother tongue for speaking -say- 10 other languages? If so, what would those languages be? What if it was just 5 other languages? (Even if the answer is "no", let us know what languages you'd choose if it wasn't optional.)

I read a question like this one somewhere and I often like to think about what 5-10 languages I should choose; they change all the time. I thought it would be fun to ask here, as this sounds like a fun game!

I'll answer this question later myself. I'm curious to read your answers first!

Raquel
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Country (residing now): Spain
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Would you trade speaking your L1 for 10 other languages? Oct 25, 2017 21:28:22 GMT 9

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Post by Raquel on Oct 25, 2017 21:28:22 GMT 9

Well, I'll go first. I wouldn't trade my language for any number of different languages because: 1) I need it for work, but most importantly 2) my mom, some family members and some friends only speak Spanish. Not being able to speak with them isn't an option.

But, if I had to choose 5 or 10 languages they would be (today's choices):
1) Portuguese (because it's similar to Spanish and I hope it would allow me to learn Spanish easily).
2) English (because I love it and it would make my life so much easier at home!)
3) Russian (I've heard it's very hard to learn, so I'm also being practical).
4) Mandarin Chinese (most spoken language in the world).
5) Arabic (I also feel it would be a hard language to learn).
6) German (also hard to learn and Germany is close enough).
7) Japanese (I'd love to visit and I've heard few people speak English, plus I think it would be a neat language to speak).
8) French (because I took 3 years in HS and loved it).
9) Swedish (I've been told it would allow me to kind of understand the rest of the Scandinavian languages).
10 Italian (I also like it, and it would come in handy when visiting Italy. Plus, it's also similar to Spanish).

Amy
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Would you trade speaking your L1 for 10 other languages? Oct 26, 2017 4:04:11 GMT 9

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Post by Amy on Oct 26, 2017 4:04:11 GMT 9

Hi Raquel!

Would you trade speaking your mother tongue for speaking -say- 10 other languages?

Yes, I wouldn't mind - I make an abstraction of the emotional-tie (family) and work-need because I think everyone answering this question will be confronted by the same issue and say no.

If so, what would those languages be? What if it was just 5 other languages? (Even if the answer is "no", let us know what languages you'd choose if it wasn't optional.)

1) Italian - always loved that language but gave up learning it as it is too close to Spanish for my liking (I started getting confused).
2) Norwegian - love the singing sound of this language
3) Dutch - love the sound of that language
4) Greek - for the challenge of a different alphabet, but also because I very much like the sound of this language.
5) German - for the challenge (I already speak it a little but never managed to reach a decent level)
6) Hebrew - for the challenge
7) Japanese - for the challenge
8) Chinese - for the challenge
9) Swahili - for an exotic and different language

10) Hindi- for the challenge and an exotic and different language

Note that I did not include the 2 other languages (English and Spanish) I already speak fluently as I assume in your question I'd only trade my mother tongue, not the other ones I speak.

Amy

***"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars" - Oscar Wilde***

My guest post at Bilingual Monkeys: bilingualmonkeys.com/bilingual-families-and-limiting-the-influence-of-the-majority-language/

Raquel
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Would you trade speaking your L1 for 10 other languages? Oct 26, 2017 19:00:09 GMT 9

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Post by Raquel on Oct 26, 2017 19:00:09 GMT 9

Yes, only your mother tongue, Amy.

It's funny that you said you like the sound of Greek, because I've heard Spanish and Greek both sound the same, and you already speak Spanish.

It did happen to me once, that some Greeks were speaking and I thought they were speaking Spanish until I realized I couldn't understand a word of what they were saying, so there must be some truth to both languages sounding the same.

Marisa
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Would you trade speaking your L1 for 10 other languages? Nov 1, 2017 23:43:57 GMT 9

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Post by Marisa on Nov 1, 2017 23:43:57 GMT 9

Well, like Raquel, I couldn't trade my mother tongue because that would mean not being able to speak with pretty much anyone in my family (only my siblings know some English, but that's about it), and I couldn't work, because teaching Spanish is what I do for a living, but anyway, these are my top 10:

(1) German (I already know some, so why not becoming a more fluent speaker?)

(2) French (so that I can also teach it to my daughter and have play dates with my French-speaking friends)
(3) Russian (my nephew was born there, so it'd be cool to visit the country with him to learn about his roots and actually being able to communicate in Russian)
(4) Chinese (the language of the future!)

(5) Swahili (I think it'd be pretty cool to know a language from every continent, and Swahili is one of the most well-known languages in Africa)
(6) Korean (just to see if I can get into the K-pop craziness)

(7) Quechua (looks like a pretty fascinating language)
(8) Arabic (as you can see, I love languages with a different calligraphy/alphabet)
(9) Italian (probably I'd get it confused with Spanish all the time, but oh well...)
(10) Basque (I spend a whole month in Bilbao every year)

Wish I could speak them all, in addition to English and Spanish!

Raquel
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Would you trade speaking your L1 for 10 other languages? Nov 6, 2017 22:22:09 GMT 9

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Post by Raquel on Nov 6, 2017 22:22:09 GMT 9

Nov 1, 2017 23:43:57 GMT 9 Marisa said:

Wish I could speak them all, in addition to English and Spanish!

You and me both! I bet if we were given the opportunity to speak 20 instead of 10, we wouldn't have a problem naming 10 more languages we wish we spoke.

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