For those who are multilingual: Which language do you prefer? Your original language or one of the ones you've learned?

If you mean objectively speaking, yes, English can be a nightmare. I think it should be made illegal, and everybody who speaks it should be shot on sight.

But it’s my first language, and I obviously find it easier to communicate in that than any other language. Especially in writing. I learnt Greek at quite a young age, and at some point my German was good enough to be considered a “first” language (alas, not anymore). But still, I may sometimes get stuck and have to think in English again.

I also recently tried to write a book in Greek. Even though my Greek is fluent (often better than native speakers’), the flow in my story is not. It’s flat. It feels more like a report than a narrative, and lacks flair. I’m sure that the same story would sound a lot better in English.

@Jack79 But were you to choose any language that would instantly become your native language, would you then choose Greek? Of course barring the scenario where suddenly you speak Greek and no one else does in your neighborhood. lol

My native language is Portuguese and I know 5 languages (Portuguese, German, English, French and Spanish). The one I would pick if I had to abandon all the others would be English, because it’s a world-widely known language and I quite like it. You’ve got a word for everything.

Even though I was born in Portugal, attended the local German School for 15 years and am going to study in England, I choose English.

@NaturalMineralWater it’s a very hard question, I honestly don’t know. I like Greek, because it’s one of the basic Indo-European languages, and it’s quite useful and helps you gain insight into other languages (English for sure). You can see the roots of words, and understand why the spelling is sometimes weird.

For similar reasons, I’d like to speak Russian or preferably Lithuanian, which I think is an amazing language (and the oldest modern language in Europe). I speak a little Czech and Polish, but not enough.

I love the sound of Portuguese, which belongs to another useful group or languages. I tried to learn Latin at school. It was the only lesson I was willing to study hard for, but unfortunately both my teachers happened to be crap. I guess Italian or Spanish would also be useful (I speak none of those languages, but understand a little due to my good knowledge of Greek and English).

But I think if I had to pick one, it would be Dutch. Dutch is amazing if you think about it. It’s like a mule. It is half German, half English. If you speak both languages well enough, you can easily understand Dutch, at least written. I can read a Dutch newspaper and tell you what it says, even though my German is not perfect. Similarly, someone who speaks perfect Dutch could easily learn both German and English, or at least understand both languages without major problems.

So I guess I’d pick Dutch in this case. Especially if you think of the practical implications (German and English are a lot more useful in the modern world than Greek or Albanian for example).

I have not mentioned any non-European languages, as I know too little about them to form an opinion. I did two years of Arabic at university, and became quite fluent at it (I was dating a Lebanese girl at the time too). I find the grammar and spelling fascinating, but it’s an entirely different kettle of fish, and I’ve decided to stick to Indo-european languages for now.

I suppose I would choose Spanish for its simplicity. English is good in that it has all those many words.. but it is also bloated with unnecessary words. Spanish sounds twice as good and people learn to describe things with more emphasis on the feeling than the complexity. I simply love the simplicity of the language.

@NaturalMineralWater I agree. Spanish is one of my favorite languages because it’s very close to Portuguese.
What’s your opinion of the Portuguese language? From Portugal, not Brazil

I agree with much of what was said above. English is great because it is so international, but Spanish is a more logical and prettier language. For me Portuguese sounds like Greek, pardon the pun. Even though I am fairly fluent in Spanish, Portuguese sounds so foreign to me.

I don’t prefer English (native) or Spanish generally based on the actual language – as a linguistics major I thoroughly enjoy both but practically knowing English opens many more doors than knowing just spanish can.

@bvdshec17 I confess I can’t really hear Portuguese in my head. I’ll have to find a youtube video or something with it in it.

I am only fluent in English, but I can hold a conversation albeit a basic one in Japanese, and I just started learning Chinese. Of the three, Japanese is easily my favorite. English is too complex, japanese is simple and easy to learn. Chinese, on the other hand, is extremely hard for me, probably because I have been leaning it for one hour a day for only two weeks.
But, by this point in my japanese studies, I could at least tell all the sounds apart. In chinese, x sounds like sh, zh sounds like j, and q sounds like ch. I am sure that these sound nothing alike to a fluent speaker, but to me, I can’t even tell the difference. Speaking of this, I should probably practice for my quiz tomorrow. study study study.

@NaturalMineralWater
Here you have an example of how Portuguese sounds like. If you want to see more, there some other videos on the right side under More From.
I hope you like my language :)

My husband is first Language Spanish, second English, fully bilingual. He says he has no preference, but he added that if it wound that for the rest of his life he would only be able to speak English he wishes he had a British accent and that he could be with people who have one.

@bvdshec17 Sounds a little bit like a mix of german and spanish to me for some reason. I like it. =D

Technically, I guess Russian would be my first language because it was the only language I knew until 5 years old (both of my parents were from the Soviet Union). I quite like it, but my fluency is limited; I rarely misunderstand someone in a conversation, but I can only understand something like 30%-50% of what I’m hearing in a Russian movie or news program.

On the other hand, I just love English. I can’t imagine gaining as large a vocabulary as I have now in any other language.

I speak Dutch, French, German, English and some Spanish. I don’t particularly like one over the other. Those that sound best in my humble opinion are Italian and Portuguese (when spoken by Brasilian people, sorry for the Portuguese :) ).

@LucG Isn’t French the language of love? XD

All of them.