Has any one considered a second language as a survival strategy

Many people from around the world usually have 2-3 different languages work from which gives the the advantage in the business world .
In the event you need to communicate to a fellow survivalist in your group and want to keep it private
It is customary to use an alternate language to keep other's noses out of your business.
Even sign language is a good idea, in the event you cannot/don't feel free to speak out loud.
Any thoughts ?

 

It's not a bad idea, but history does teach us that speaking a different tongue in a group of people that don't often leads to distrust and bloodshed.

 

My wife knows sign language. I know a little bit of Japanese and a tiny bit of spanish. If I don't want a person to know something, I don't tell them, nor do I tell anyone who might do so even unintentionally.

 

I've considered Spanish. Years ago it was the second most commonly used language in the world, behind English. I suspect these days they have swapped positions and that English is #2.

On a casual walk through my company one will hear conversations in Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, a little French, an east Indian dialect or two and oh yeah, English. Even some of the English you'll hear often contains an Australian accent.The place is H1B infested. Most foreign born employees though, are from Mexico or South America - Spanish and Portuguese.

Wonder if I'm squandering an opportunity by not taking a course or two in Spanish, as there are plenty of people with which I come into daily contact to practice on. And if you say something out of context, or mispronounce a word, they politely correct you. Sometimes they'll ask for corrections of English words as well.

 

As a Spanish speaker, I can tell you that speaking a foreign language in front of non-speakers is not going to make you any friends. In a survival situation, I am predicting you will call unwanted attention to yourself. They may not know what you are talking about, but they will know you're trying to hide something.

At the other end of the scale, more than once I've heard Spanish speakers say some juicy stuff that they probably would not say if they knew the non-hispanic white guy in the room fully understood the entire conversation.

For survival purposes, it might be more useful for bilingual people to pretend that they don't speak a foreign language. Maintain your OPSEC, and let them prattle on uninhibited because they don't know that you know what they are talking about.

 

We witnessed an auto wreck, a few years back, where the driver fell asleep at the wheel, and hit a support cable for a telephone pole. Everyone in the car spoke Spanish only.
No first responder spoke Spanish at all. We were not allowed to leave the scene for quite a while, as we were the only means of communication between the two groups.
There are several languages that run through my family, including Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, French, and a few others.
I am fluent only in English, but know bits and pieces of the others. Mother taught German, sister lived in Spain, sister in law is French born, cousin is Iranian, and my daughter is a very gifted signer, and bilingual. I can puzzle out the meanings of most things written in a legible script with letters I understand. (From root words, and sentence structure, history, commonality between languages), but that is as much art as science, and just a hobby.
With neighbors from Korea, Mexico, Africa, Honduras, Japan, we often hear equivalents words for common things.
My wife enjoys the challenge of daily translation of Spanish and sign language with our next door neighbor. (Deaf, half deaf, child half deaf, and Spanish, but not Mexican Spanish)
Until recently, they were divided by language within thier own family. She struggles to learn English, the son speaks no Spanish(profound deaf), she has trouble with signing(half deaf and foreign language) youngest son is a child with hearing aides in both ears, and learning three languages.
Every day is ......interesting.

 

I live in Texas so having at least a basic understanding of Spanish IS a survival trait. As Tevin stated, often it's best to pretend you're just a 'Murican speaking cracker. The things you will hear ...

 

Oh yes, my wife and I do this all the time as Russian is not so well known in the US. It could be as simple as saying something that we don't want a sales person to hear or talking in private while in public about someone I consider dangerous. When I was overseas I would always play the dumb Yankee Doodle especially when I was at a bar or bazaar. It really gives one an edge.

 

No. I can't even speak proper English. I can speak a bit of Russian but not enough to converse in the language. I saw that doomsday prepper episode that the people had a knocking language in case of danger. As for speaking another language, you never know what others know. I deal with Mexican who pretend not to know English at all. Yet they know most of what I am saying, not just the tone and body language, they understand the words but choose to pretend, no hablo inglés. IMO it would be better to learn to speak English in code.

 

Morse Code

 

No doubt, many at work considered that I could speak more than on language.

I neither confirmed nor denied.

 

Morse Code, the Universal language. Except for the 99.9999% of the rest of humanity that don't know it ; )

_._

 

I'm passable in Nepalese (strange but true) so will likely have to resort to being fluent in lead.

 

Yes, I use "mo'fo'", as in "hey mo'fo' wa' yo MFer yo huh?" Since no one can understand it (modify it for your own use) anyway, the phone taps must be going nutz!

 

I'm a damn Polyglot. C++, C#, Java, Visual FoxPro, Basic, Visual Basic, Fortran, Pascal, and to a lesser extent PL/1 and M1 and R

 

My son and I were considering klingon, although we know some sign language and some Ukrainian/Russian .

 

I speak South Louisiana slang.
Some I make up as I go.

 

I've got a general class amateur radio license and the only morse code I know is SOS. Maybe I'll start learning more once I get around to setting up my HF radio. I rarely even turn on my 2m rig unless there is bad weather incoming/ongoing.

 

You skipped iAPX 86? No SQL?