$3 million in an risk managed investment fund would make more in investment income than I make for work. So I'd retire, go feral, and forget that there are languages.
Would You Rather
Welcome to c/WouldYouRather, where we present you with the toughest, most ridiculous choices you never knew you had to make! Would you rather have a third arm that's only useful for picking your nose, or be able to talk to animals but only if they're wearing hats? Yeah, it's that kind of vibe. Come for the absurdity, stay because you've clearly got nothing better to do with your life.
Rules:
- Follow dbzer0 rules.
- Start posts off with "WYR:"
Money speaks whatever language you want
Three million so I can put a down payment on a house and buy some groceries.
Woah there buddy. It's only $3M. You have to pick one of those.
What about dead languages, would I be able to decipher the Voynich manuscript? Are created languages like Klingon included?
No dead languages, yes fictional languages
I'd take the languages. Being able to translate from rare languages would make you very valuable to the UN or the state department.
Speak every language. The historical and linguistic value would vastly outweigh a measly 3mil.
Every language. Then I’d start a YouTube channel where I go talk to small business owners in big cities in their native dialects and blow their minds like Xioma.
Obviously $3m
It depends, and I have a lot of questions. Without good answers, I’d take 3 Million USD, assuming it’s above board.
Can I only speak them, or can I understand them, too?
Are dead languages included? Can I read Linear A, for example?
What about if someone has really bad handwriting - can I understand what they were going for? Likewise, what if part of the text is missing?
Are the various body languages of different cultures and subcultures included? What about individual people with unconscious tells - would those become apparent to me, such that I could easily tell if someone were bluffing or lying?
Is jargon included? What about codes, like “10-4?” What about ciphers? Slang, subtext, euphemisms?
Could I also understand and speak to animals?
What enables me to speak and understand a language / to know that I have that capability for a given language? Do I need to know the language exists, do I need to hear/read it, be in a place where it’s relevant (i.e., if I’m trying to talk to someone who isn’t speaking, and they know Snokenili, which I’ve never before encountered, I might suddenly have knowledge of it pop into my head), or do I just get every language immediately?
Are fantasy languages, like Klingon and Sindarin (one of Tolkien’s elvish languages) included? If so, are they only included if they meet a certain threshold (i.e., at least one person being able to speak them) or can I speak them and understand them as soon as someone thinks about them?
If extraterrestrial aliens are real, would I be able to speak and understand their languages?
If I can only speak languages that exist and don’t need it to be triggered by someone who can speak that language, it might be feasible to confirm the existence of aliens simply by being able to speak a language that couldn’t have come from Earth, and that would be pretty cool. I’d take that over $3MM.
- Speak and understand.
- Dead languages are not included.
- No understanding bad handwriting.
- General body language, sure. Specific to people, no.
- No codes or ciphers. Slang, euphimisms and subtext are allowed.
- I'll allow one animal specie of your choice, as a treat.
- Receive immediately. As if you were always multilingual but had forgotten.
- Fantasy languages with over a 1000 speakers allowed, to the capability of the 10th percentile.
- Alien communication, only if said aliens use sound based languages.
- I will not be allowing that loophole.
Languages for sure, but I'm lucky enough to make "enough" money already. 3m would be amazing but it would be so fun to be able to speak to anyone! I could find several ways to use that skill.
Didn't you see the other meme? Take the cash and put it in an 8% treasury bond!
I may not be able to speak many languages, but you know what they say...money talks.
Gimme the $3 million.
3 mil and I'd retire immediately and buy myself an island.
The islanders don't know what youre talking about
I would take like, $30K over every language. $3M is a no-brainer.
With $3MM I can retire and learn all the languages I want in my free time.
Wait, "3m dollars" is three millidollars, or 0.3¢ ... I'll take the languages, then.
Money.
I live in the middle of North America. I could literally drive 900 miles in any direction and still not need to know a second language, much less all of them. Although to be fair that far north I might run out of people if any kind to talk to.
Ooh, that's tough. It feels like a moral crime to not become the worlds best polyglot, so probably that, but man am I tired of crushing poverty.
New coding languages aren't hard to pick up once you know your first one, anyway. The main exception being that functional and imperative code have to be learned kind of separately.
Every language. Maths is a language yes or no?
No to maths
What about animal languages?
I'll allow one species.
You create a new post question for this. Man i dont even know what 1 species i would choose.
I say squirrels. They run global politics!
Plus with a squirrel army you are basically unstoppable. You can even beat cosmic beings like Thanos or Galactus.
Every language at a native level? Because if I'm going to sound like an immigrant either way I would like to at least be loaded.
Accent and all. Even the body language
Spicy! So you're asking me if I'd rather be literally the most interesting man in the world or like the 900,000th richest.
Hey your entire family would be comfortable for life with 3m.
This is me effectively saying that I would pay 3 million dollars to have Duo from Duolingo leave me alone. Languages, lol.
im leaning towards like elephants, honeybadgers, or some of the absolute creep shows at the deepest parts of the ocean