Would you rather know every language, but switch to a random one after each sentence, or after each year (unable to speak a different language until the following year)?
Give your answers for the following cases:
- All languages are treated equally (so equal chance for any of them to be switched to)
- Languages are weighted based on number of first-language/native speakers (so Chinese is most likely, then English, etc.)
- Languages are weighted based on number of non-first-language/non-native speakers (so English would be most likely)
Given that almost everyone in the world speaks one of a tiny fraction of world languages, there’s less than 0.1% chance that anyone you ever meet will be able to understand you. Google Translate only covers 250 of more than 7000 world languages, so there’s a 97% chance I can’t even use online tools to get my message across.
If it was weighted it would still suck as I’d need to travel to other countries based on what i happen to speak (if it changes each year). That doesn’t sound worth it, especially not for the rest of my life. If it changed after every sentence, it would be like having an awful speech impediment. Trying to have a conversation would involve repeating myself half a dozen times until I hit the right language, and only if I’m in top 5 langauge areas. If I was trying to speak french I’d need to repeat myself 20 times before I was likely to be understood.
And what’s the benefit? That I can understand lots of langauges but can’t functionally communicate?