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/lit/ - Literature

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14001121 No.14001121 [Reply] [Original]

What's the objective set of languages that give you
>Modern world coverage/usefulness
No dead languages or languages spoken in a single small irrelevant country.
Big population and being spoken in multiple countries is a +
>Great array of media to indulge in
Literature, tv , movie industry, news outlets, internet culture, homegrown culture (ex: anime manga for jap, culinary and arts for french, bollywood for hindi).
>Variety of civilization, ethnics and people
More variation of people to talk with is welcomed:
There's a limit of European languages you can learn before they start to feel samey.
>Historically respectable civilizations
Self-explanatory

On my polyglottery quest, I've found this informative research called power language index and it really sums up the 10 most important languages based on the previously cited criteria.
http://www.kailchan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Kai-Chan_Power-Language-Index-full-report_2016_v2.pdf
But as a greedy bitch I can't help but want to learn 1 or 2 more. (12 is a sexy number after all).
Based on all of this which 2 would you recommend me?

Addressing some I've thought about learning before:
Italian-I've thought about Italian as I can mostly understand its spoken form and it's a greatly valued culture world wide. The thing is: It felt too similar to language I already speak like portuguese, Spanish, french.
Korean-It has become a cultural powerhouse recently but the pop-culture is too female-centric and doesn't attract me at all
Swahili-Only African language that somewhat matters. However it has no media for me to enjoy and no historical prowess behind it. . Learning a useless language just to make black people go: Dis wite boi cool is not an option.

>> No.14001126

>>14001121
Learn Japanese to read literary porn powerpoints.

>> No.14001127

>>14001121
Latin.

>> No.14001414

>>14001126
Already fluent in JP

>> No.14001931

>>14001121
English, german and french

>> No.14001947

>>14001414
nihao

>> No.14002214

>>14001931
this

also, who’s the semon demon?

>> No.14002460

>>14002214
Miss USA 2011.

>> No.14002527

Just find niche languages and seek universality through the mobius strip of extreme locality.
>hurr I speak japan lol just watch anime
No you don't. inb4 you google translate me some drivel.

>> No.14002744
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14002744

>>14002527
nihao gozaimasu lachlan-san

>> No.14002766

>>14002527
>Just find niche languages and seek universality through the mobius strip of extreme locality.
Could one do this through something like BBC pidgin?

>> No.14002845

English, French (for /lit/ and philosophy), Arabic.

>> No.14002860

>>14001121
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/12/want-influence-world-map-reveals-best-languages-speak
>Speak or write in English, and the world will hear you. Speak or write in Tamil or Portuguese, and you may have a harder time getting your message out. Now, a new method for mapping how information flows around the globe identifies the best languages to spread your ideas far and wide. One hint: If you’re considering a second language, try Spanish instead of Chinese.

>> No.14003068

In Christ's name, who would want to solely speak or write in a handful of global lingua francas? To my mind, and experience, a great deal of quality literature is written and published in peripheral tongues. Spare me the uninspiring and messy media of the Anglosphere - and its dull coetaneous literature.

>> No.14003128

I speak Spanish, English, Russian, and French
I don't need to learn any other language

>> No.14003304

Russian, German, French.
Pick which of the three appeals to you specifically.

>> No.14003446
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14003446

>>14003304
What are those 3 languges specialities?
Russian?
German?
French?

>> No.14003452

>>14003446
Lit
Phil
Lit/Phil/film

>> No.14003483

>>14003452
I already know french and the anglo tongue. Between German and Russian which should I go next?
I would go for russian, because im from the north of France and we fugging hate the krauts. So im not going to learn this dumbass language for the sake of my ancestors. Fugg those germans and let them die in hell.
And I really much like Tolstoi and Dosto. I think im going with russain, fuck the teutons.

>> No.14004786

>>14001121
I'M COOMING

>> No.14006423

>>14001121
Maybe it's the weeb in me, but if say Japanese. The sheer volume of content that country pumps out is crazy. I'm sure you could find something you enjoy. Not to mention it could serve as a good entry point to mandarin. If I'm going with a non weeb choice probably Latin, anything in German or French worth reading will eventually be translated to english.

>> No.14007064

>>14003483
Learn Spanish like a man.

>> No.14007075

>>14003452
you tard German has some of the best lit

>> No.14007077

>>14001121
Chinese

>> No.14007438

>>14004786
this

>> No.14007591

>>14003483
I speak French and English and I'm currently learning Russian.

Face it OP, you just need to pick a language for a country that interests you. In my case, I could have learned Spanish as it would have been very easy to do since I speak French, but latin countries don't interest me at all. Meanwhile, I think Russia has an interesting history and is an interesting country in general, so I picked this. I won't be reading any Dostoevsky original books for years, probably ever, but I don't care. I juste wanted to learn more about Russia which is definitely a place I might visit someday.

So quit trying to find rational reasons and pick the one your guts tells you to.

>> No.14007600

>>14001121
English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin.
Maybe add French, Portuguese and/or German.

>> No.14008202

>>14001121
standard chinese

>> No.14008262

Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Japanese, and Amharic.

The first three for obvious regions.

Japanese because Japan remains the cultural powerhouse of Asia, with China being too authoritarian to produce much great philosophy or literature and Korea being Korea. It’s also a fairly logical language, which is challenging but not discouragingly so like Vietnamese or Thai might be. Finally many educated Asians speak Japanese, and an understanding of Kanji will allow you to understand Chinese signs.

Ahmeric because it’s a cool language, influential in Africa, and has a long literary and theological history which is beyond the appreciation of most westerners. There are also substantial Ethiopian and Somalian communities in most western cities, and although they are hardly influential, they’re usually nice people.

>> No.14008740
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14008740

I go now to unlock my ultimate power: being able to read a Russian wikipedia page 6 months from now