Current Events > A billion dollars or fluent in every language in the world?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Well?
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money
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the money.

if I care enough about a language, I'm fine with learning it on my own.
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um as useful as language would be the free billion would be too much to turn down

Money and it's not even close. I would take $20,000,000 over the languages, maybe even $2,000,000 (though you could probably make that much at least being fluent but you'll never make anything close to a billion).
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Language

that's too much money brother
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Money
I could pay interpreters of every existing language in the world, real or fictional, for the rest of my life with a fraction of that money.

Language.

Even if you don't include programming languages, you can make a very comfortable amount of money with knowing so many languages. And you could forge powerful connections
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A billion dollars. I gained some perspective on just how much a billion is.

Imagine you make 100k a year. A dollar is nothing to you, right? A dollar is nothing even to people who make a third of that. Lots of people spend frivolously on snacks every now and then without thinking about it.

Take that 1:100k and apply it to a billion.

10 to a million
100 to 10 million
1,000 to 100 million
10,000 to 1 billion

10,000 is change you spent frivolously and don't think about. The ultra-rich can buy a Lexus the same way we buy a fancy beer as a reward for a successful project.

Imagine finding 10k in your couch and leaving it there cause it's too much of a hassle to move the cushion.
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Not even a question at that much money. A few million though? Hmm. Now that's a dilemma.

Billion

I can dedicate all the time I want to learning new languages. Which I probably wouldn't do, but I can hire guides anywhere I travel.

That's just too absurdly high amount of money to turn down for just about anything.....
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You know what? With money I might lose it, or worse ruin my life but the ability to speak, write and read all languages might be really cool. I could get a job, be a one in 7 billion people who could do this, whereas plenty of billionaires will rise and fall. I could get jobs, gain fame, travel with ease and gain lots of friends..

On the other hand, $1 billion dollars is enough for me to never have to work for me and any family and enjoy whatever life has to offer.

I'll flip a coin.
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DarkChozoGhost posted...

Even if you don't include programming languages, you can make a very comfortable amount of money with knowing so many languages. And you could forge powerful connections

I'm socially awkward, give me the money.
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Language easily.

Solve ancient mysteries by decoding forgotten language/writings or just being able to communicate with anyone and anything way over having people kidnap my family and send pieces of them to me in the mail for ransom.
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Something no one else have thought of. Billionaires will always exist. In fact, in the future, we'll have trillionaires.

Being the only person in history to ever read, write, and speak a language will never be replicated. Work with linguists and scholars and we'll solidify our position in the history books for centuries.
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MrK3V posted...

money

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billion.

the languages would just cause more trouble. "oh you need a french speaker? Joe speaks french! oh you need a spanish speaker? joe speaks spanish!" and all they ever do is complain. no thanks.
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Money, I love learning languages and still don't think it would be necessary or useful to know every language in the world.
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If you include dead languages, then that.
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Money.

I can just pay interpreters.

Languages. It'd be fun. Also being able to communicate with the indigenous tribes would be interesting and historical.

Shotgunnova posted...

If you include dead languages, then that.

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Learning new languages is overrated, money isnt. I speak mandarin, some Spanish, and English. The utility of being multilingual is minuscule. The utility of a billion is enormous.

Language easily. I feel like id get much more out of life and be more fulfilled than having a billion dollars.

I realize that might not make sense, but ehh.
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Money. There's only like four languages that I'm interested in.
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Ryven posted...

Language easily. I feel like id get much more out of life and be more fulfilled than having a billion dollars.

I realize that might not make sense, but ehh.

It makes a lot of sense actually. Being able to connect with more people and having the ability to communicate and learn the many different cultures is priceless.

Languages easily
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CommonStar posted...

Ryven posted...

Language easily. I feel like id get much more out of life and be more fulfilled than having a billion dollars.

I realize that might not make sense, but ehh.

It makes a lot of sense actually. Being able to connect with more people and having the ability to communicate and learn the many different cultures is priceless.

But how would you even have the time/money to travel to these places to meet these cultures? Wanting to know the languages for that but without the money to support it would be like having a car with no access to gas.

DarkChozoGhost posted...

Language.

Even if you don't include programming languages, you can make a very comfortable amount of money with knowing so many languages. And you could forge powerful connections

You know what also forges connections? Money.
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How fluent is fluent? Like let's say you take a GRE equivalent in every language, would you get a perfect score on the verbal, something not even most native speakers could do? I am just wondering what level we're talking. Because even if it was just English at like an English literature professor level that would be awesome. But if it's just enough to get by that isn't as interesting. You can study to that level fairly easily on your own before you go to whatever country. You only really need to learn maybe 8 languages at most to a beginner-intermediate level to be able to get by basically anywhere on Earth.
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you know how they say "math is the language of the universe"?

would I be fluent in all kinds of math, too?
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The money

My curiosity will end in my insanity with the ability to read everything. Some things are best left unknown
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dave_is_slick posted...

DarkChozoGhost posted...

Language.

Even if you don't include programming languages, you can make a very comfortable amount of money with knowing so many languages. And you could forge powerful connections

You know what also forges connections? Money.

You can lose money quite easily. You can't lose your knowledge unless you age or incur serious brain injury.Grischnak posted...

CommonStar posted...

Ryven posted...

Language easily. I feel like id get much more out of life and be more fulfilled than having a billion dollars.

I realize that might not make sense, but ehh.

It makes a lot of sense actually. Being able to connect with more people and having the ability to communicate and learn the many different cultures is priceless.

But how would you even have the time/money to travel to these places to meet these cultures? Wanting to know the languages for that but without the money to support it would be like having a car with no access to gas.

You could get university scholarships easily from Oxford/Harvard if you prove your talent. Travel the world funded by an elite university, gain knowledge, and put your findings in a publication.

You'd easily become one of the world's greatest linguists with all that knowledge.
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Billion. I'd still have to work with the language ability, and I don't want to have to work.
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Vita_Aeterna posted...

You can lose money quite easily. You can't lose your knowledge unless you age or incur serious brain injury.

We're on CE. The odds of anybody having the social skills to forge connections, let alone in English, isn't that good. Money however, is the perfect language.
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Vita_Aeterna posted...

You could get university scholarships easily from Oxford/Harvard if you prove your talent. Travel the world funded by an elite university, gain knowledge, and put your findings in a publication.

You'd easily become one of the world's greatest linguists with all that knowledge.

Seems optimistic. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure having such a talent could be leveraged into a life of travel but it would still take many years of hard work. But with a billion you could just travel instantly and bring a translator with you.

Id actually be perfectly happy with the language. Mostly because Im lowkey failing Spanish right now plus Id be able to take so many AP Languge exams. No doubt being didnt im every language would get me into some good ass colleges if I decide to do that route.

Plus I plan on visiting Thailand one day so that would be helpful.
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OffTempo posted...

Id actually be perfectly happy with the language. Mostly because Im lowkey failing Spanish right now plus Id be able to take so many AP Languge exams. No doubt being didnt im every language would get me into some good ass colleges if I decide to do that route.

Plus I plan on visiting Thailand one day so that would be helpful.

This is all worthwhile in pursuing, but straight up, all of this would be instantly feasible and easily accomplished with a bil.
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I would become permanently mute for $1 billion.
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Money, definitely.
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Does this include every computer language and sign language?
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Assuming you mean all languages, including ancient and dead ones, as well as the ability to read any written forms. The languages. Translation work pays well, even more so if you are fluent in rare, obscure or dead languages. So much history is just sitting around on untranslated scrolls. I am too curious to pass up learning what might be written on them.
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008Zulu posted...

Translation work pays well

It really doesn't. In general it's pretty bad for the amount of work you have to put in, and you need to be able to do more than just understand. You need to be pretty good at writing too. Most importantly you need to be fast, because you are often paid commission per job, so the faster you work, the more jobs you can take and the closer you can get to managing to live off of it. Very few people get stable decently paying translation jobs.
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ssjevot posted...

008Zulu posted...

Translation work pays well

It really doesn't. In general it's pretty bad for the amount of work you have to put in, and you need to be able to do more than just understand. You need to be pretty good at writing too. Most importantly you need to be fast, because you are often paid commission per job, so the faster you work, the more jobs you can take and the closer you can get to managing to live off of it. Very few people get stable decently paying translation jobs.

I'm sure if you spoke *every* language you could get a decent salary somewhere. But yeah, 6 figures tops probably. Sure as shit not going to get anywhere near a billion.

I'd give up my ability to speak any language for a billion

Who needs words when you have money
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Grischnak posted...

ssjevot posted...

008Zulu posted...

Translation work pays well

It really doesn't. In general it's pretty bad for the amount of work you have to put in, and you need to be able to do more than just understand. You need to be pretty good at writing too. Most importantly you need to be fast, because you are often paid commission per job, so the faster you work, the more jobs you can take and the closer you can get to managing to live off of it. Very few people get stable decently paying translation jobs.

I'm sure if you spoke *every* language you could get a decent salary somewhere. But yeah, 6 figures tops probably. Sure as shit not going to get anywhere near a billion.

The problem is we still don't know what he means by "fluently". For a high paying a translation job you need to basically be equivalent to a college educated native in your target languages. I actually knew people who spoke Native level English and Japanese (with degrees from good universities) who worked as staff translators for Toyota. They still made only around $50,000 a year and the job was very hard.
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MrK3V posted...

money

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