Would you switch Chinese for ....

[Guest realmayo]

Would you switch Chinese for .... another language? Okay it's a rather whimsical question but:

 

If someone could wave a magic wand and instantly & irreversibly remove all your current level of Chinese ability and give you the equivalent ability in a new language, would you do it? And which language?

 

For me, it'd be a toss up between Korean or Burmese. I don't regret at all the time spent on Chinese or the time spent in China, and of course the magic wand won't remove those memories or the friends I've made (just the ability to, erm, communicate with some of them).

[renzhe]

No.

[Demonic_Duck]

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...

 

The vast majority of what makes up your interests and even your personality is based on choices you made in life that could have gone another way. Whilst it can be interesting to think "what if", the me that I am now doesn't want to go back and erase or change those decisions (probably because of the current me's instinct for self-preservation - if those decisions had gone a different way, the current me would cease to exist and be replaced by a different me).

 

Of course, if those decisions had gone another way (e.g. if I'd instead devoted my efforts to Russian, French, Burmese or one of the many other languages I've dabbled in), the hypothetical me that would exist (hypothetical me₀) would have the same self-preservation instinct, and wouldn't want to be replaced by hypothetical me₁, who devoted his efforts to Chinese instead. All this, despite the fact that hypothetical me₁ is in every way identical to the actual me that exists right now within this particular universe.

[GotJack]

No.

[Shelley]

No

[Guest realmayo]

Ah but DD the magic wand won't do anything to your past, it'll just take your Chinese language out of your head and replace with with another language at a comparable level!

[Shelley]

Have to say I wouldn't be me if you did that.

Chinese permeates my whole life.

Agree with DD.

[li3wei1]

No.

 

Now if the offer were to replace it with the equivalent amount of effort in another language (or possibly two or three), I might consider it.

[wushucrab20]

I wouldn't trade it for any other language, I think there are so many amazing things about the language especially the written form, that can't be replicated with any other language. That being said I still hope to learn other languages and I am working hard on learning Japanese right now.

[889]

There's a bias on this board, since almost all are native English speakers or deal in English at least as well as they deal in Chinese.

 

The real question is for Spaniards and Koreans and Greeks and Turks who never got too far in English but do well in Chinese.

 

In hindsight, would they have rather put their time into studying English rather than Chinese?

[Lu]

No, absolutely not. Learning Chinese has brought me so, so much.

 

I might consider swapping Chinese for English though. If my Chinese were as good as my English, that would be great. Although I would lose some other things in my life that I value if my English dropped to the level of my Chinese.

[Guest realmayo]

Nono, it's not a hindsight question, it's about the future. Switch your current ability in Chinese for an equivalent ability in another!

[Lu]

Still no. Too much I still want to do with my current and future Chinese abilities.

[skylee]

Could I trade Mandarin and retain Cantonese?

[anonymoose]

If it's for a limited time. I would swap chinese for japanese for a year.

[Hofmann]

Wouldn't it be nice to allocate skill points into languages on a whim?

 

But no.

[Guest realmayo]

Could I trade Mandarin and retain Cantonese? 

 

ha that woudn't be fair skylee unless you're trading for a language similarly close to Cantonese. Wanna speak Hakka?

[Guest realmayo]

sorry anonymouse, it's a one-time only irreversible wand wave!

[grawrt]

Turkish.

Since learning Chinese my skills have gone up up up and my Turkish skills are now abysmal. It's very hard to talk to a huge portion of my family members, especially the ones that can't speak english (or chinese). I can understand everything they're saying but can't say anything back D:

 

Or maybe Tatar to get more in touch with my past culture although it's not very useful as there aren't that many speakers. At a younger age I always pushed it aside thinking why bother but I regret it a bit. I can only say a few words and stuff.

[Angelina]

African American Vernacular English 

 

http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/aave.html