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179 members have voted

  1. 1. How many languages can you speak well?

    • 0
      1
    • 1
      72
    • 2
      79
    • 3
      20
    • 4
      4
    • 5
      2
    • 6
      1
    • 7
      0
    • 8
      0
    • 9
      0
    • 10
      0
    • Over 10
      0
  2. 2. How many languages can you read/write well in?

    • 0
      3
    • 1
      63
    • 2
      82
    • 3
      23
    • 4
      3
    • 5
      3
    • 6
      1
    • 7
      1
    • 8
      0
    • 9
      0
    • 10
      0
    • Over 10
      0
  3. 3. Do you know sign language?

    • Yes, very well
      2
    • Yes, reasonable
      4
    • I have a bit
      51
    • No
      122
  4. 4. Can you read Braille?

    • Yes
      1
    • No
      178
  5. 5. Including, your answer in 1, 2, 3 and 4, how many languages do you have an understanding of

    • 0
      0
    • 1
      30
    • 2
      54
    • 3
      45
    • 4
      28
    • 5
      8
    • 6
      7
    • 7
      2
    • 8
      3
    • 9
      0
    • 10
      1
    • Over 10
      1
  6. 6. Do you use Alternate language forum

    • Yes
      10
    • Sometimes
      31
    • No, but will do from now
      26
    • No and won't
      112
  7. 7. Do you have understanding of any regional languages (I.e. Basque, Catalan, Romansh, Bretagne etc)

    • Yes
      26
    • No
      153

This poll is closed to new votes


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How many languages can you speak/read

 

Also question on sign language and Braille

 

For me, it is 1 language English for question 1 and 2 but I do have understanding in German and Irish so 3 for question 5.

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Nice poll!

English is my mother tongue and both my parents only know (British) English but I picked up Spanish from Americans and Khmer from Cambodians!

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My mom's side of the family is Romanian so I understand a decent amount. I took sign language for a few years too. 

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The area where I live has a regional language. There is not a huge number of fluent speakers left. I did once go to classes to try to learn a bit, so when I hear it spoken I can usually get the gist of some of it, but I can only say a few phrases. There are occasional articles in the language broadcast on local radio. 

 

I can't read Braille, but one quirk about me is that I can use and understand Morse code. Fat lot of use it is; Morse code has no practical purpose these days and it has officially been declared obsolete! 

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I only know English but sometimes I try to work in big words so that I sound more incongruous.

 

 

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I think the speak/listen versus read/write distinction may not be the best distinction. I can passively understand spoken and written German without any trouble, but actively speaking and writing it would not go over well without access to a dictionary. Passive versus active use of a language may be a better distinction.

 

Then again, that wouldn't take people who are illiterate in one of the languages they speak into account, so that wouldn't be perfect either. I know lots of people who grew up speaking Mandarin with their parents, but who couldn't read Chinese characters if their life depended on it.

 

And what do you mean with 'have an understanding of'? Like, if you saw a bit of text in that language you would understand the gist of it? Or more like, you'd be able to read most, but not all of it? Or more like, you've taken a beginner's course in that language but forgot almost everything and would understand maybe three words of that piece of text?

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I've always been told that I'm good at languages, though I'm only fluent in two. Finnish is a given since it's my mother language. I was always above average at school when it came to the Finnish language. I'm very strict with grammar and I'm a good writer, so it's no surprise haha. I'm just kinda naturally skilled when it comes to that I guess. I actually still sucked at English when I started 7th grade but then I suddenly got some random motivation out of nowhere and started taking studying seriously, and I learned to read, write and speak English well in a year. 

 

I have learned Swedish at school but I was never really interested in it. I was so bad so one day I just decided that I wanted to raise my grade. So I studied and managed to raise it. Unfortunately I've forgotten most of my Swedish XD well that's what happens when you don't use the language. I have tried learning Korean and Russian. I can read and write those languages but don't know much vocabulary, grammar, or anything really, lol. Knowing how well I know my own language and how well I learned English, or how fast I raised my Swedish grade, I know I can learn those languages, I just don't have the mental health or motivation for it (which obviously just sounds like I'm lazy but I really am not doing well mentally now) 

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SithAzathoth WinterDragon

I know Irish, Swedish and Scottish besides english so at least four languages, I'm fluent in Swedish, Irish and english.

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34 minutes ago, Ortac said:

The area where I live has a regional language. There is not a huge number of fluent speakers left. I did once go to classes to try to learn a bit, so when I hear it spoken I can usually get the gist of some of it, but I can only say a few phrases. There are occasional articles in the language broadcast on local radio. 

 

I can't read Braille, but one quirk about me is that I can use and understand Morse code. Fat lot of use it is; Morse code has no practical purpose these days and it has officially been declared obsolete! 

This reminds, I have read and understood (I think) pamphlets in the language/dialect of Ulster Scot without any education in ulster scot

 

The pamphlets had been in files from a client.

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Only English. I know a few words and phrases in Spanish.

I don't have an affinity for languages.

Would love to know Sign. It's beautiful.

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Hard to say how many languages I have an understanding of, like does basic Swedish or studies in Old English count. :D
(Also do Old English and modern English count as different languages.) 

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English is my native language. I'm in the middle of learning Spanish. I used to be able to read Braille but it's hard to find uses for it, since I can actually see, so I lost most of that ability. (I work at a library and from my understanding of the matter, you have to file for a special card to get books in Braille? All I could really find were children's books at my library. Plus, I think audio books and talking books are taking over for books in Braille. Idk.)

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SithAzathoth WinterDragon
3 minutes ago, Vega91 said:

Also do Old English and modern English count as different languages.

I would say old english IS far different from todays english, so I would have to say yes on them being different.

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1 minute ago, SithMaster WinterDragon said:

I would say old english IS far different from todays english, so I would have to say yes on them being different.

True. The professors always said the German philology students were a lot better than the English philology students at Old English. :D

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SithAzathoth WinterDragon
5 minutes ago, Vega91 said:

True. The professors always said the German philology students were a lot better than the English philology students at Old English. :D

I totally agree with that.

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Biblioromantic

English is my first language, and I was fluent in Spanish for many years, but I'm woefully out of practice with it. I used to be a certified translator, but I haven't had any Spanish-speaking people around me in the last 8 years or so to keep my skills up.

 

The Spanish/English duo gives me a passable chance at figuring out most things in other Romantic languages, especially if they're written, because of the plethora of common root words. And while I wouldn't say that I speak Portuguese at all, my Spanish roots allow me to understand about 90% of anything my Brazillian former roommate used to say on the phone with her family or post online. She would get mad at me for saying this, but Portuguese sounds like Spanish with a couple marbles in your mouth.

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Other than English, I don't know any other languages although I do know how to fingerspell in bsl. I wish I payedmore attention in school 😕

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Ever tried explaining your native language to someone who wants to learn it as a secondary language? Yeah it is tough. You realize you don’t know your own language.

 

I am always learning new things about the English language and how complex it is. I wish there was more I knew grammatically about the language. 

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Divide By Zero

Even  though I'm a native English speaker I was tempted to put down 0 for questions 1, 2, and 5 :P I've struggled with communication all my life. I don't why or what it is, but I just can't seem to communicate well with other people. I have sometimes wondered if I'm on the autism spectrum.

 

I did learn some French in school. It was mandatory in elementary school and some of high school but I was terrible at it so I tried a year of German at one point in high school when French was no longer required but I wasn't any better at it. I also didn't get very good grades in English class either.

 

6 hours ago, CBC said:

I understand a lot of French because this is Canada and French is everywhere

It depends on what part of the country you live in. Around where I am (the left coast) there is almost no French. There is lots of Punjabi and Chinese though. I sometimes wish I knew one of those languages so I would know what people are saying.

 

I've often thought it would be interesting to learn sign language or braille.
 

I'm a software developer so I do know some computer programming languages, although that's not quite the same thing. I'm way better at computer programming languages than English. :P

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English and a little bit of Spanish. I took Spanish for two years in high school and one semester in college, but I've forgotten much of it.

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3 hours ago, njosnavelin said:

Ever tried explaining your native language to someone who wants to learn it as a secondary language? Yeah it is tough. You realize you don’t know your own language.

I was brought up speaking both English and French, and I still use both languages in my daily life. Yet if someone who only knows French asks me if I can teach them a bit of English, or someone who only knows English asks if I can teach them a bit of French, my mind just goes into a state of 'err...  err... ' and I can't think even where to begin or how to go about it.  Knowing how to explain or teach something is a separate skill to actually knowing about the subject itself. 

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19 hours ago, Vega91 said:

True. The professors always said the German philology students were a lot better than the English philology students at Old English. :D

I took OE grammar lessons at uni as well as German classes for years, and yeah, OE is much closer to German than to English, especially grammar-wise.

 

15 hours ago, njosnavelin said:

Ever tried explaining your native language to someone who wants to learn it as a secondary language? Yeah it is tough. You realize you don’t know your own language.

Yup. I tried teaching my British on-line friend some Polish, and, boy was it hard... Especially given that Polish is heavily-inflected which means that, unlike in English, there are many movable grammar parts which you have to adjust to make a correct sentence.

 

19 hours ago, SithMaster WinterDragon said:

I know Irish, Swedish and Scottish besides english so at least four languages, I'm fluent in Swedish, Irish and english.

Scottish as in Scottish Gaelic? Sounds great, given how endangered it is.

 

19 hours ago, iff said:

This reminds, I have read and understood (I think) pamphlets in the language/dialect of Ulster Scot without any education in ulster scot

 

The pamphlets had been in files from a client.

Scots is rarely used in written form in formal context, from I understand, though? Or has that changed?

 

20 hours ago, Ortac said:

The area where I live has a regional language. There is not a huge number of fluent speakers left. I did once go to classes to try to learn a bit, so when I hear it spoken I can usually get the gist of some of it, but I can only say a few phrases. There are occasional articles in the language broadcast on local radio. 

 

I can't read Braille, but one quirk about me is that I can use and understand Morse code. Fat lot of use it is; Morse code has no practical purpose these days and it has officially been declared obsolete! 

From I understand, France is pretty bad when it comes to caring for minority languages. There's no official recognition from the central governemnt so as a result they have to fend for themselves with the help of various local organizations. I hope the languague you speak about survives.

Also, the Morse code part is really interesting. Is there any way to practice it today, though?

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I speak, write and read English and German. English is my first language, German I learned at 11 when I moved to Germany. 

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J. van Deijck

I speak Polish and English fluently. I understand lots of Finnish, Swedish, German and Dutch. I know neither Braille nor any sign language, though.

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On 11/26/2018 at 6:19 PM, Piotrek said:

Scots is rarely used in written form in formal context, from I understand, though? Or has that changed

I'm not sure.

 

The pamphlet I read was my first first hand experience.

 

Though the topic of Ulster Scots is a controversial topic in Northern Ireland

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Just English.

 

I know basic Spanish just because I’m an American under the age of 40. I didn’t realize how many Spanish words and phrases are common here until a couple years ago when my fiancé didn’t understand why my ugly Christmas sweater with a sheep on it saying Fleece Navidad was funny. I took Spanish in school until high school and my aunt was from Mexico so I was conversational until I was 14 when I started studying French. (My only honors level class.) My last year of French was honors French V. I lost most of my Spanish in the process but became conversational in French. After high school, I had no use for French and very few opportunities to practice it. (Only on vacations in Quebec.) I now speak Spanglish and Franglais. I can’t string sentences together and struggle understanding complex sentences by native speakers but the basic vocabulary is there. I’ve used Franglais less than a handful of times in the past seven years in the US but Spanglish is necessary on a daily basis. Just today, I realized my patient - who was speaking Spanish to a relative - had her appointment information confused as she was explaining it to arrange taking off work and transportation and I was able to clear up her confusion in English.

 

I’m Hard of Hearing but my signing is truly horrible. I know as much as a toddler would. I guess it’s okay because I’m emigrating from the US to the UK and strongly prefer ASL over BSL. I have no interest in learning BSL because I find it very clunky in comparison - it’s much more two handed, which is very inconvenient. (How many times do you talk with a drink or your phone in your hand or carrying a shopping bag? For me, that’s quite often. It’s especially relevant because I’m most likely to be carrying something in the nosier environments where I can’t hear.)

 

I really wish I had a knack for languages so I could be a polyglot. I love languages. Sadly, I just don’t have the brain for it.

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On 11/26/2018 at 6:19 PM, Piotrek said:

From I understand, France is pretty bad when it comes to caring for minority languages. There's no official recognition from the central governemnt so as a result they have to fend for themselves with the help of various local organizations. I hope the languague you speak about survives.

Yes, that's about right. I think however that officially, the government does recognize specific regional languages; I believe it was written into the constitution a few years ago. But that is just on paper; the reality is that these languages do have to fend for themselves through the will and good work of local people. 

 

France has a huge number of local languages. Some such as Breton and Basque have reasonable prominence and strong movements behind them to ensure that they survive, but many other languages are not well known and foreign visitors could be visiting an area with a local language but have no idea it exists. These languages are at high risk of being lost forever. 

 

In fact, I'm sure that there are even regional languages in France that even many French people don't know exist. I did not know until I went there for the first time that the city of Nice has its own native language; many of the street name signs there are bilingual. I even initially mistook the second language for Italian, thinking that it was a language overlap because the city is so close to the Italian border, but in fact the other language was Niçeois. 

 

On 11/26/2018 at 6:19 PM, Piotrek said:

Scots is rarely used in written form in formal context, from I understand, though? Or has that changed?

15 hours ago, iff said:

I'm not sure.

 

The pamphlet I read was my first first hand experience.

 

Though the topic of Ulster Scots is a controversial topic in Northern Ireland

That is an interesting topic, and it applies to many languages, not just Ulster Scots. In France, the old langues d'oïl and langues d'oc were mostly spoken languages. Anything that was important enough to be written down would be written in Latin, or in later times in modern French. This meant that there was no standard way of writing or spelling words in these old languages. In current times, this has caused difficulty and even controversy among people who are working to preserve some of these languages which have not yet entirely died out. The people who can speak these languages sometimes have arguments and proverbial punch ups because they can't agree how to write or spell stuff! 

 

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