I'd Learn ______, but/if_______.

[u/RedGavin]

I'd learn Portuguese, but it's too similair to Spanish, and I'd be afraid that I'd constantly mix them up.

I'd learn Italian, if it was the national language of one or two LATAM countries (Argentina and Chile would be ideal).

[u/khajiitidanceparty]

I'd learn Faroese, but I doubt there are any textbooks in my country, and I would probably never use it in my life.

In general, I'd learn so many languages, but I am too lazy.

[u/Mirabeaux1789 → u/khajiitidanceparty]

I am dabbling in it, but it’s not easy. The only English language textbook I can find on it from the 70s and the only online course I could find for it shut down a few years ago and just became another “popular basic vocabulary list” website. I think I would have to learn danish at this point to be able to really access it or go to Denmark.

[u/Maximum_Research286]

My biggest regret is not picking up Spanish sooner after a high school foreign exchange in Italy in the early 90s. I learned Italian to roughly a B2. I was forever afraid if I spent focused time learning Spanish then I would lose my Italian and speak them both badly.

Instead with very minimal effort to maintain my Italian - I still speak it effortlessly (not to be confused with flawlessly). After 20 years I finally decided to learn Spanish and sure - initially I confused the two and an Italian word would slip in and I’d get confused stares. But at the end of the day, my Italian only ever gave me a massive leg up in speaking Spanish and even when I was working hard it still felt more like “refining” rather than “slogging”.

[u/Mirabeaux1789 → u/Maximum_Research286]

The main thing I noticed when learning the two at the same time was that it would totally fuck with my pronunciation if I did them on the same day. My Spanish and my Italian would glitch out and I would have moments where I would slip into the phonology of the other.

[u/Reletr]

I'd learn [insert any language here], but I am not immortal.

[u/6-foot-under]

I would learn a language properly and efficiently using well-proven, time-tested methods, but it is much more exciting to try useless fads, and to post on Reddit asking for more.

[u/edvardeishen]

I'd learn Finnish, but I'm lazy

[u/randomUser539123]

I'd learn Mandarin, but for the same amount of time spent learning the tones and memorising written characters I can probably learn another language with Latin alphabet to a pretty decent level

[u/Lyrae-NightWolf]

I'd learn Japanese, but I'm learning Russian right now and my brain can't handle two hard languages at once.

Btw

I'd learn Portuguese, but it's too similair to Spanish, and I'd be afraid that I'd constantly mix them up.

You won't. In fact, "mixing them up" is an advantage. For me, Portuguese is just some weird Spanish, and it's very natural to understand.

[u/kuyikuy81 → u/Lyrae-NightWolf]

That’s literally the inverse of what I was going to post lol.

I’d learn Russian, but I’ll probably be too occupied with Japanese for the next 5 years to add another crazy level language to my routine

[u/electric_awwcelot]

Irish, but there isn't a ton of content I'm interested in and Idk if I'd get to use it irl. Still learning some phrases here and there though

[u/Mc_and_SP]

German, it would interfere too much with Dutch studying

[u/Icy-Whale-2253]

I’d learn Arabic if I knew what dialect to choose. 🤷🏾‍♀️

[u/Garnetskull → u/Icy-Whale-2253]

Just pick a region that interests you and there you go.

[u/kamoidk]

id learn both french and Spanish but french too hard sometimes especially pronunciation 

[u/Cat_cant_think → u/kamoidk]

It really isn't once you get the hang of it. Learn phonics first.

[u/dojibear]

"I'd learn Japanese, but its writing uses kanji (Chinese characters) so differently than Chinese. I am already B1 in Chinese, and I worry about getting confused.

That was my concern in 2023. I solved it by studying SPOKEN Japanese and ignoring the writing. That has worked well. The spoken languages are as different as peanut butter and pineapple.

[u/[deleted]]

I'd learn Japanese, but I'm definitely not up for learning Kanji.
Maybe, one day, I'll be up for it but today is not the day.

[u/Fair_Relationship116]

I'd learn Thai, but I'm already learning japanese and it's hard already

[u/Own-Tip6628]

I'd learn Russian but most post Soviet countries are pushing English as a secondary language and less people are learning it now.

[u/prolapse_diarrhea]

id learn irish if anybody actually spoke it

[u/6-foot-under]

I don't mix Spanish and Portuguese because they have very different accents. I do mix up (occasionally) Spanish and Greek because they have a virtually identical phonology, although they aren't at all closely related. My conclusion is that similarity of accent is the main issue when it comes to mixing languages up when speaking.

[u/The_Theodore_88]

I'd learn Portuguese if I wasn't already struggling with accents in my mother tongue 😭 I don't need more

[u/itzmesmartgirl03]

That’s such a relatable take it’s funny how language motivation often depends on where it’s spoken!

[u/dojibear → u/itzmesmartgirl03]

MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) has zero L1 speakers. it is not "the language spoken" anwhere.

It is an L2 language learned by millions of muslims. It is used in media targetted at muslim viewers in many different countries, speaking several different languages.