The Languages Thread (Survey in OP)

[TenEightyOne]

I'm interested in finding out how many languages our esteemed forum colleagues can speak. For the purposes of the optional poll "speaking a language" doesn't necessarily mean full fluency - just a basic grasp of verbal/textual conversation in that language.

I'd also be interested if you'd post your feelings about 'other languages', is it generally useful to be able to speak another language? Was it something you were forced to learn in school that you've never had any use for? Perhaps you have a funny language story*?

If you're multi-lingual then do you feel that one of your languages is better for some purposes than others? I find French far better for being angry, for example

* That's vanishingly unlikely but who knows? Make my day

 

[baldgye]

I’m learning a second language at the moment!!


God I hate the British education system

 

[TexRex]

It was...interesting to observe what I presume prompted creating such a thread, but I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner as a sort of supplemental to the world map.

Anyway, I'm terribly unimpressive in this regard (and most others). I took Spanish for two years in high school and despite never getting a grade lower than a B, almost every bit of what went in has since fallen out.

I currently speak only English (American) and bad English (American). I'd like to learn French beyond the very little I know now, but it seems like such a hassle.

 

[PeterJB]

Well, English, and enough German to legitimately say I can speak without being entirely fluent (mostly because I never get to use it) but more than the people who pretend to be fluent when they know five sentences. Same applies to Dutch but not as well learnt.

 

[Dennisch]

Dutch and English fluent in speaking and writing, both with thick accent. German and French, speaking and writing enough to get around, albeit a bit rusty.

 

[PeterJB]

Dutch and English fluent in speaking and writing, both with thick accent. German and French, speaking and writing enough to get around, albeit a bit rusty.

German must be incredibly easy for a native Dutch speaker to learn.

 

[Dennisch]

German must be incredibly easy for a native Dutch speaker to learn.

Yes, but you need photographic memory for the grammar. Die der das etc. just about as ridiculous as our t or dt.

Edit

And we had the bonus of having original language tv programs with Dutch subtitles, even a lot of cartoons were broadcasted like that. Nowadays they're all dubbed in Dutch.

And I had German and English in the final class of elementary, English, French and German as mandatory classes in 'junior high'. So I started with English and German classes when I was 10, French followed when I was 11, and that went on until I left High School.

 

[zzz_pt]

Native Portuguese and fluent English.

Then I can understand and read everything in Spanish and write reasonably well but I never had the need to talk, apart from a few occasions with some friends just for laughs. I've learned German up to B2 when I lived in Hamburg but because I would never used it, I kinda forgot it. I understand some basics.

I also understand spoken and written Italian pretty well but can't write or speak. I've also studied French in school for 3 years but I didn't care about it. Basically I can understand the general idea of a speech / text by the parts I get and their context.

I just realized I can get by pretty well in all North and South America, Australia, NZ, some parts of Europe and some parts of Africa (ex portuguese, spanish and english colonies at least). ^^

 

[ryzno]

Two languages. Native down south GA version English and enough cholo Spanish so I don't get killed if I go to Mexico and to get my wonderful Mexican/American fiance.
I took Spanish in high school which I passed till I went rouge. I skipped school A LOT! My last year before I dropped out(you have to be 16 to drop out in GA) I was present 18 days, tardy 42 days and absent 120 days. I also grew in an Hispanic area of Atlanta and liked to chill with the cholos.

You'd never know that by my posts here...
Might also explain why I like Latinas.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I took Spanish in high school which I passed till I went rouge

This kind of rouge?

 

[Joey D]

I speak the Michigan dialect of American English, but I also know conversational German to the degree where I could get around the country if I needed too. I can also speak a little bit of Old English and Old Norse because for whatever reason I took a few classes in college to learn it. I can read it better than I can speak it though.

 

[Danoff]

Just the one language actually...

I know tiny bits of Spanish and Chinese, but not enough to have a conversation in either language.

 

[Lizard]

I only speak one language well which is English. I speak a little Japanese, like more than the average anime fan but not enough to have a chat with someone though.

However I do speak Scottish English as well which at times could be considered its own language haha.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

English, basically

Also little bit of Spanish and a little bit of Farsi (I can read the alphabet at least) but not of either to really qualify for claiming more than 1 language.

 

[Roo]

English. Did French at school for 12 years, from which I can say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, count to 29 (can't remember the French for 30), ask for a chocolate croissant, and that's about it.

I also did Spanish for 3 years; now I can say hello and count to 6, and that's only because of the Offspring, although I have to concentrate on not repeating the number 5.

I'd like to be able to speak another language fluently in the same way I'd like to be able to weld or understand electrics: just enough to know it'd be really useful without enough motivation to actually learn it, probably because I know I'd take ages to learn it and about a week to forget it all.

 

[PeterJB]

I know the odd word and phrase in Welsh too since I like in Cardiff, but mostly things like "Parking" and "Roadworks until 30 October".

 

[Imari]

I think the idea of fluency is interesting as well. I can speak passably enough Japanese (or at least I used to be able to, I haven't really used it for a couple of years), and while I'm nowhere near anyone's definition of fluent there was a definite transition where I got to the point where I was good enough to be able to explain around the words that I didn't know.

I think of it like 8 to 12 year old children. They don't necessarily know all the words that an adult might, but they know more than enough that they can describe what they're trying to say and you can understand them. And that's the point at which you're really self-sufficient in the language, you can talk and learn more without ever going outside that language.

Australia and New Zealand are strongly mono-lingual (NZ tries a bit with Maori, but it's largely a dead language outside of loan words), but immigrant heavy so I was always pretty impressed by people who could work in a second language. That's a big part of what pushed me to learn Japanese, and while I've never got to the point where I could do an actual job I feel better knowing how hard it can be to learn another language and having at least made some of the effort myself.

 

[BobK]

I speak English, once upon a time I was fluent in Spanish although not having used it much for a long time, no longer am. I studied Latin in high school but I don't think I was really conversant in the language. That being said, we were taught to read and write in Latin, not converse in it. I know a smattering of German.

I am also fluent in a number of programming and scripting languages

 

[SestoScudo]

English and Turkish

 

[UKMikey]

English and American English.

 

[Exorcet]

The two languages I learned in school were Spanish and Italian. Both were mandatory, but I had no interest when learning the former which was the only option given at that time and I forgot anything that I didn't need to pass the class. When I took Italian, which was one of a selection of choices, I was actually interested and in the end I managed to be able to communicate in that language. However I didn't have any use for it and I've gradually forgotten it over time. There was only one instance where it would have been truly useful to retain fluency several years after the class; one of my professors needed someone to act as a translator between him and an Italian speaker. I thought about volunteering but I decided it would be better to let a more frequent speaker of Italian to assist instead. I could probably hold a conversation if I went back and tried to relearn the vocabulary and refreshed myself on grammar.

 

[Liquid]

English and German - fine

Dutch and Welsh - enough to prove to people when they ask but hardly "fluent"

Slovak - learnt what I need to know because I live here; ordering things in restaurants, cheesy flattery with women and curse words. But I've never taken any lessons in it, only intuitively picked it up as well as harass friends.

I also used to know some Greek from living there but I've forgotten most of that.

 

[kikie]

My answer:

From Europe - More than Two Languages

Does a local dialect count? If so, it increases my knowledge of languages.

Thread!

Dutch - enough to prove to people when they ask but hardly "fluent"

Be careful. I can test you and find out if it is true.

 

[PocketZeven]

Dutch, German, English, Chinese (2 1/2 dialects Mandarin, wenzhou and cantonese dialects). I speak on a daily basis Dutch, German and 2 dialects of chinese. In chinese dialects hardly resemble each other and cannot understand eachother, so in that case I would count it as multiple languages.

I dont understand why countries dont educate their children better to learn other languages. Countries in scandinavia speak english perfectly while in france, spain and Italy it can be difficult to find someone who speaks english or german.

 

[Obelisk]

I'm a bit of an odd duck.

Two fluent languages:
American sign language (first language)
American English (second language)

Funny how I'm rusty in my first language but fluent in the second.

 

[Liquid]

American sign language (first language)

Oh, that reminds me, I do know the A-Z in British sign language; my friend used to work with people with behavioral problems and mental conditions. Many of them were non-vocal and basic sign language was something which was often needed.

My friend taught me the A-Z so I can literally spell things letter by letter. I once successfully used it with a deaf customer in McDonald's years ago but really, it's just something me and him practice when we're in a bar, want to talk in code and it's too loud to speak Welsh.

 

[TexRex]

American sign language

British sign language

Despite being aware that one is specified as "American", it never occurred to me that there would be more than one variation on the form. That said, it makes sense that there would be [and is]. I'd be interested in just how different the two are.

 

[Obelisk]

I'd be interested in just how different the two are.

I doubt it would take more than maybe 10-20 minutes for an ASL person and a BSL person to figure out the other person's signs. A lot of it is identifying common words and working back from that.

 

[Sanji Himura]

If it is interesting, I'm fluent in English, and I know enough Spanish, French and Japanese to not get killed (at least I figured out the honorifics in Japanese if that is any worth). I am also exposed to Hebrew and German. So I either know some, or can speak from text six languages, and probably more.

 

[Ken]

I speak English nearly fluently. I know a good deal of Hawai'ian and ASL. I used to know a lot more German than I do now. But I can hold my own. I can hold my own in Spanish as well. I know a smidgen of Korean. Oh, I am fluent in New York gibberish.