Storing multiple choice values in database

Question

Say I offer user to check off languages she speaks and store it in a db. Important side note, I will not search db for any of those values, as I will have some separate sear

Answer 1

You seem to be extremely worried about adding in a few extra lookup table joins. In my experience, the time it takes to actually transmit the HTML response and have the browser render it far exceed a few extra table joins. Especially if you are using indexes for your primary and foreign keys (as you should be). It's like you are planning a multi-day cross-country trip and you are worried about 1 extra 10 minute bathroom stop.

The lack of long-term flexibility and data integrity are not worth it for such a small optimization (which may not be necessary or even noticeable).