This would be great if you wanted to talk to yourself without anyone understanding what you're saying, for example, or if you didn't want anybody to know what you were writing down. It might also be useful if you enjoy lots of foreign language media (see music, tv shows, movies) and want to experience the "original" rather than through dubs and subs.
Personally, I would go for either Russian, German, or Estonian, all three of which are because I frequently listen to lots of music that are in those languages
I'd love to rewatch Steins;Gate with proficiency in Japanese.
Oh btw, I have never met a Japanese person (I mean maybe I could've had walked passed by an ethnic Japanese that have been too Americanized for me to know their ethnicity... cuz then they're just "Asian American" to me, and it'd be hard to tell) and never heard anyone IRL actually speaking Japanese fluently...
So yea knowledge of Japanese can impress a lot of Western weebs.
I could even pretend to be Japanese for the lulz... since I'm ethnic Chinese and I doubt most Americans would even be able to tell the difference xD (I mean I probably can't tell apart East Asian ethnicities either, despite me being East Asian myself)
It is a lost language from the British Isles and from one of the coolest populations in the area. They would paint patterns on their skin in blue then charge into battle naked. I reckon their insults and swearing would be absolutely raucous.
"Region" would have to be extremely small around here to not include someone who speaks almost any (natural) language a typical person could think of.
I'll just go ahead and answer a different question: If I could instantly learn any language and my SO could instantly learn it also, I'd pick ASL, because it would be very nice to have a way to communicate that works where talking either doesn't work (loud places, for example) or would disturb others, or just across a large room.
Mandarin. It'd be useful for me to learn because of my job, and I've been meaning to learn it for quite a while. I just can't seem to find a decent source for learning that doesn't focus on the written language; I only need spoken Mandarin.
Loxian. The language was created by Enya’s songwriter, Roma Ryan, and the two of them are the only users of Loxian. Ryan’s husband Nicky (Enya’s producer) passed way last year, and his wife is probably not far behind. She’s in her 80s (Enya is in her mid-60s herself).
It is a real language and it exists in exactly five songs by Enya. The best one IMO being The Loxian Gate. The only reason we have translations is because Roma herself has written them, and we have to take her at her word that they are accurate, because it’s her language.
If you don’t want to look up any songs and hear it, it sounds like Gaelic (traditional Irish language) with some Elvish (like from Lord of the Rings, which Enya did the song May it Be from, and sang part of it in Elvish) mixed in.
Define "nobody", because there are over 100 languages spoken at fluent level or above by at least a few ppl where I live
If we ignore the technicalities... Polish. Spoken by a lot of people, quite difficult to learn & would be a good priority target for magically learning it, and hopefully a good gateway to the rest of the Slavic languages
Well I probably can't say Klingon, too many goddamn nerds around here. How about Welsh? It'd be fun to go gargle at the locals in Cardiff about Doctor Who filming if I ever visit the UK.
My son-in-law is learning Finnish. That's on top of the English and German (Army brat) he already knows. As for me, I know Spanish and some German, and while Finnish would certainly qualify as a "nobody speaks" candidate, I'd go for Dutch. I've been to the Netherlands a couple of times, and it seems like a fun one to learn. There's no Dutch community locally that I'm aware of.
Would probably go for Japanese since I watch too much anime and Japanese media so learning Japanese would be super useful.
But then most anime and tons of Japanese media is translated anyway, except for music, but in that case I listen to a lot more of German music than I do Japanese, so maybe I would learn German instead.
But then, I can probably learn German much easier the traditional way that I can an Asian language, so maybe I should use the cheat to learn the language that would be harder for me to learn traditionally than just German. (Even though I've watched so much anime by now that I effectively can understand Japanese much better than I do German.)
I have spent a few years learning Spanish, and that's something I use pretty much every day. I can understand it almost as well as English, but my speaking lags much further behind.
I would like to learn Mandarin, but unlike Spanish there is pretty much absolutely zero relation between English and Mandarin. And because I wouldn't use it nearly as much unless I forced it, I'm sure I could spend over a decade studying it as hard as I have Spanish and be worse at it. So Mandarin is my answer.
I live in a large city, I reckon most languages must be spoken by at least a few people around me. Not even considering so-called dead languages.
That being said, I would love to learn Chinese. I think I'll see next year if I can enroll in one of the few courses available in said large city (Paris). I've just started learning Russian something which, I imagine in our so incredibly nuanced times, coupled with me also wanting to learn Chinese, will make me quite suspicious. That's fine ;)
Japanese. As a Manga & Light Novel reader, there is nothing more devastating than having a series you really love being ripped away from you because the source is not licensed yet and the guy doing the fan translations has lost interest.
Hmm spanish or chinese would be most helpful statistically, but French or German would be best for understanding things i want to read + watch.
Also knowing latin or ancient greek is great for showing off.. lots of buildings around here that have latin on themand it hurts me when i don't know 100% what they say.
Russian or Estonian, both of which are because I frequently listen to lots of music t
How strict is "nobody speaks"? Because pretty much every language is covered if it's vague enough. If I drove two hours I could probably find somebody who speaks Pheonician.
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