Optimal knowledge of languages

[Vineon]

I'd contest with your point of French being spoken only in France, as it is the main language, (apart from regional dialects) spoken in most of Africa, not to mention countries such as Belgium and Switzerland, and even French Canada.

There are about twice as many Québécois than there are Walloons and French Swiss combined.

 

[Polis4rule]

The difference between Latin and the modern day Romance languages is equivalent to the difference between modern English and Old English (aka Anglo-Saxon).

 

[yoshi!]

The difference between Latin and the modern day Romance languages is equivalent to the difference between modern English and Old English (aka Anglo-Saxon).

Which I hope you mean is quite a bit. My sister did Old English at University for part of her Degree, she said that it was like learning a new language.

 

[graves]

I know Sign Language, and Japanese,
I think Japanese would be a good one to learn.

 

[TTS]

Pure numbers wise, Japanese won't get you that far, but given the facts that Japan is (iirc.. it used to be, at least) the world's second largest economy, it may be useful depending on what you're planning to do. I personally am going to be dual majoring in Japanese and Foreign Affairs/International Relations/whatever the school I go to decides to call it.

 

[Polis4rule]

Which I hope you mean is quite a bit. My sister did Old English at University for part of her Degree, she said that it was like learning a new language.

Indeed it is! That's why I made the comparison, as roughly 50% of the English vocabulary today is comprised of words derived directly from Latin, or derived from Anglo-Norman (which itself is derived from Latin). IIRC, only 25% of our vocabulary is of Germanic origin (including Old English).

Plus our grammar is simplified a great deal due to Northern Germanic influence, so grammar is almost foreign (to us, it would be unnecessarily complex).

So yeah, Anglo-Saxon is kind of like another language.