If you could instantly learn a language, which one would you pick?

I think knowing a tonal language would be good for me, perhaps something lesser known like Navajo

All of them.

Went for Chinese, only because I know enough of the other languages that I really find interesting (English, French and Japanese, also basic German but that's not interesting, at all xD), and because that's one of the most complicated. Spanish could also be interesting but it's really easy to learn compared to Chinese.

Edit: but right now, I'm going for Maori.

What's up wit the Chinese and Japanese answers? Worried about are forthcoming takeover and wanting to not have to read anime? Awful reasoning. The correct answer is Italian! Because...chicks dig Italian. I'll bust out some Italian...mozzarella parmegiano gorgonzola linguine primavera...and it drives the ladies wild...(yep, that joke is totally stolen)

Also someone should have made a joke about Esperanto and Klingon by now...(how many are even going to get that joke?)

Japanese. Because they are cultural superior.

portuguese would be very handy for me

Japanese so I can finally play Danganronpa 2 and for instance some of those untranslated Corpse Party games

Finnish, even though it wouldn't be that hard for me to learn myself, since it's similar to my native language Estonian.
I visit Finland a lot and most of my friends online are Finnish, so it'd be pretty convenient for me.
Also, I could move to/work in Finland like many other Estonians do because our salaries suck :D

Totally Chinese. I'd love to be fluent in Chinese and travel through that country.

A close second would be Spanish. Obviously, in the US that would be helpful, but I've had a long time love affair with pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas and it would be amazing to travel around and see the ancient ruins, and I think that would be a lot more feasible if I could effortlessly communicate with the locals.

English, even tho I know it pretty well.

Quenya

Russian.
I don't really have a reason. I just really want to learn russian.
Also, that way i might be able to understand the 5 year old mic spammers and communicate them with words other than vodka.

I'm surprised by how many people picked japanese. I guarantee you, from personal experience, that most people would get fed up by the difficulty and the difference in logic to other languages that they'd quit before they could understand much. We were 60 in the first term, in the fourth there were 12 of us left. I quit after the fourth term due to stress...Also because i hate kanji.

So spanish it is. Since I speak english, greek, french and german perfectly well it bothers me quite a lot that I don't speak spanish, even though it's such an easy language (I have no problem at all understanding and translating written text, for the most part)... But I didn't have the time to learn it yet -.-

Edit: of course I would learn more languages if I could and had the time or somebody paid me for it lol, but not all of them. For instance, I hate how thai and viet sound, so I wouldn't wanna learn them.

No potato option (and I don't mean Latvian) or Pokémon so I will go with its closest relative – Norwegian.

The last option (Any language spoken in Malaysian, Indonesia, or the Philippines)
along with "Any African" are tactically superior in the sense that we are talking about a Language Genie.

This of course assumes those choices give you more than 1 language. In such a case, the final option will give you a huge package of languages including the most popular picks.

Even if it's only one though, I suppose picking one that is almost extinct is a good choice as well.... wonder what happens if one is chosen that has no written form....

Edit: Ooops it's no longer in last place.

English, and when it's done i'd like to learn Chinese.

Japanese, cause I make my holidays in october there!:)

Not surprised by results)

I'm fluent in German & English, know a bit of French. So it would probably be Russian. Than I would be able to understand what some of my neighbours are saying when they think we don't understand them :D

i will choose english(british)

LOTR elvish or Klingon

Chinese. Probably more interesting professionally . Not to mention that that would help me learn Japanese.

so many pervs wiling to watch hentai / manga and other jp "art"