If you could wake up tomorrow and be fluent in any language you don’t currently speak, which would it be? Why? What’s the first thing you do with your new linguistic skills?
I would like to wake up and be fluent in the languages I speak. I can understand at least five languages without problems but I’m not fluent in all of them because of lack of practice. Ah! Fluency. What a difficult goal.
Just to answer the prompt: A language I currently don’t speak? I would probably choose German and use it to enjoy vocal classic music. Operas, operettas, oratorios and lieder. I love them. And I hate to depend on the translation. It distracts me from the music. I would like to experience the feeling that is hidden in understanding the meaning of the words along with the music. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Brahms, Strauss…
I can follow Italian opera, English music, Spanish music, French music, But I cannot follow German music the same way because of the language.
Because I live in Pamplona, Navarre, close to the Basque land, as a second choice I would choose the basque language as a cultural interest. It’s a strange language, of an unknown origin, spoken by a minority in my community. I tried to learn it years ago without success, because those years I decided to focus in my English and I quitted. I remember that the time I spent learning basque was very interesting. My goal was to understand and be understood. Now I only remember some basic sentences.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll try again. I like to learn languages. It’s like discovering new worlds. But right now I guess it would be better to revisit my old known languages to improve my skills before trying new ones.
Daily Post: Take That, Rosetta!.
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