Languages: How Many Do You Speak?

[Bolboreta]

I love languages! I voted 4, since those are the ones that I'm officially taking classes in college right now (studying translation)They are:

- Spanish (my mother language, pretty good most days, sometimes English gets on the way :oops: )

- English (I think it isn't bad, I graduated from high school in the US last year, so it can't be THAT bad :roll: )

- Galician: this is an official language here, really simmilar to portuguese. I understand it pretty good, but I'm not totally fluent, because of lack of use. It's getting better though, when I came back frome the states, half of the words came out in English :lol:

- French (I can read anything and understand it, and hold conversations aout any topic, but then it shows I'm not that good at it :lol: )

I also understand: Portuguese, Catalonian and Italian without too much of a hassle. I'm plan to start learning German next year too.

[The Evil Cashew]

I am bilingual. i speak english and french. and by french i mean canadian french of course!

i took 3 spanish courses in highschool.. so i can kinda stumbble through it... with the itty bitty vocabulary i still retain. ( cuz the last course was 4 years ago!) i can mostly just read it and get an idea of whats goin on... nothing spectacular though

~Cashew

[Zaure]

I speak English (clearly), a good deal of French, some Latin (well, read it), some German, and some Dutch (Get those two mixed up ALL the time.) I can also read basic Spanish and Italian. ;)

[vikingo]

In my school time the languages taught to me are: Danish, English, German, Latin, French, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian.

At school swedish and norwegian are integrated in the lectures of danish language, and the differences between the official scandinavian languages are less than differences between the different traditional danish dialects. Danish, english, german start in prime school, latin in the transition to high school were french was added. Spanish I added by impulse after leaving the official school system so I attended some private classes.

Languages require being refreshed, so the latin, french, norwegian and german are now mainly available from 'backup' so I checked a number of 4 in the poll.

In Denmark TV broadcasts or cinema/movies are in original language with subtexts so we do have possibilities to hear languages spoken with natural speed and rythm. Occasionally I even switch language when this option is available on DVDs. Leon is also a good film in spanish.

[allyva]

English and Chinese, quite well. Japanese, enough to get a bit more enjoyment out of anime/manga.

This will be more interesting in a few years time, when I hope to say something like "English and Chinese and Japanese and Korean and Spanish, quite well. Getting there in Thai, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Russian, German..."

linguaphilia.

lupa et lupus de colle ambulant =)

[virginangelic]

in decesding order of fluency:

English

Malay (my native language)

Madarin

German (my third language but i'm extremely bad at it)

Arab (wait...dont' count that in...i stopped studyign it when i was 12. forgot everythign except the word for me.)

[bard of aven]

Alas, only English. Although I am a recovered glossolaliac.

boa

[hafnium]

English of couse, and becoz i live in india, hindi too.

namaskar, AVENites.

[KleenexCow]

Count me in for one. I took (classical) Latin for three years in high school (which wasn't so very long ago), but I didn't have very much luck picking it up. I was pretty damn good about memorizing things, such as vocabulary. In fact, I went to Latin state competition all three years, and qualified for nationals twice (although I only went once) in an event called "Dramatic Interpretation" where I memorized a passage in Latin and recited it before a judge.

Unfortunately, I was very, very bad at grammar. While I can still identify a fair amount of vocab words, I can't string them together in any way that sounds like a real sentance, nor am I very proficient at reading and being able to interpret what I read. So, I don't consider myself for be fluent in Latin.

I was also good at pronounciation, which, considering that Latin is a dead language that no one speaks anymore, is not too incredibly helpful.

However, my dad, as a American who grew up in the middle East, is quite a polygot. As the story goes, he tried to teach me Arabic and a few other languages when I was a baby, but I refused to learn anything but English.

[sister k]

English mother-tongue and French practically bi-lingual level

[Amcan]

I speak English but that's about it.

I did GCSE German but have forgotten most of it.

I know a few phrases here nad there on other languages like:

Please, thankyou, where's the nearest toilet

[Cerhiunnhn]

I speak English better than most English and all Americans. ... Not that I am saying anything about Americans.

I also speak a lot of French, and in college I'll be living in France for a few years, so I will soon be fluent. It's my dream to abandon English and speak French.

I also want to learn more Eastern languages; basic Chinese, Japanese, Russian...

[Penumbra]

Namaskar, hafnium! Actually I've only picked up a few Hindi phrases from Bollywood movies. (Apkar naam kia hai? Mere naam Penumbra) I speak Bengali (after a fashion) at home; but English is the only language I'm fluent at.

Et je parle français aussi, comme presque tout le monde ici

Also I know snippets of Arabic, being an ex-Muslim. Assalaamu-alaikum (hello/goodbye)!

[Sahedre]

I speak English, Spanish, and bad!French.

[vits3k]

In order of fluency:

• English

Russian

German

Spanish

My feelings exactly!

By the time I was on my third European language, the connections between them (and some words learned from other languages) seemed to bring alive the tapestry of migration going back centuries, like looking at some sort of living rainbow, moving across the map. I love hearing the echoes of one language in another.

My second European language was Russian (Spanish was the first.) We had a brilliant teacher, who told us, "OK, first we are going to learn the alphabet thoroughly. You are going to eat, drink, sleep and dream uppercase, lowercase and cursive Cyrillic for the next three days. After that, we can get on with the language."

It worked grandly. On the fourth and fifth days, I was saying to myself, "Heyyy, waitaminnit! This is like Spanish!"

German came later. I found it not so hard, and case endings were something I'd already seen in Russian. Except for the mandatory verb-ordering, I found it much like English (unsurprising, I suppose, given the history.)

One of the things I enjoy about learning foreign languages is that you begin to see your own language from the outside, and you realize you can play with it a bit while still being gramatically correct (usually.)

Unfortunately my German and Spanish have become a bit rusty. However, I can still get around in a German city without speaking English, and can read Spanish newspapers.

I find I can read most French signs, but I can barely speak 20 words in that language, sadly.

I've also learned to appreciate and enjoy the YIddish that one encounters in the US. I can see both the Slavic and Germanic influences, surrounded by that warm fuzzy Hebraic influence.

For an example of the rainbow effect mentioned above, I present the name "John", moving (roughly) west to east:

John, Ian, Juan, Jean, Jan, Johann, Giovanni, Ivan

---

"If Chirac is a Francophone, and Blair is an Anglophone, is Schroeder a Saxophone?"

[Shion]

i pick three (although i can speak a variety of chinese dialects - which are quite different from one another): english, chinese(mandarin) and japanese. :)

[Wild Seven]

I speak Czech and English fluently, I write by Slovak language fluently but not speak by it, and I understand Spanish and French language well enough to find out important things to me.

Working on learning ASL and Czech Sign Language, improving language skills in French and Spanish and being a beginner to Latin, Arab Language and Italian.

gonna start with Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Finnish, Flemish and Danish language in around a week. Just now I am reading in that languages and listening to radios available etc. to hear the melody of these languages and getting used to them.

Hanging around Japenese and Russian for years, I hadn't time to actively study it. I come back and forth, 'cause this is my preferred style of learning.

I know how to say "I love you" in around 40 languages, but, as you all know, I don't say this even in my native (that is Czech), so we might come to conclusion how useful it is for practical life :lol:

And well, languages are my passion. Nothing can be enough.

[artistic_trees]

I marked only one in the poll... but I can get by OK in Spanish, and I'm in the process of learning Czech (currently I can speak and understand basic tourist phrases, courtesies, and a few random other strings of thought). I started studying Czech a year ago because I was "adopted" by seven Czechs that I worked with last summer... and I'm travelling to Prague in two weeks.

[Daimyo]

Some Spanish, some French, some Dutch, some Arabic, (I can get buy in all, but I'm far from fluent). I'm a native english speaker and I'm currently learning Latin (I always wanted to know a dead language). :D

[vits3k]

I'm currently learning Latin

I wish I had learned Latin. I think it's a loss that it's no longer commonly taught in schools.

Read the Romans in their own words, have a good grounding for other European languages, good intellectual training, etc.

---

O Civili si ergo

Forte busis in ero

No vili deis trux

Vadis inem caus indux

[shotinthedark]

Uh, just English. I know a little French and Japanese, but I would be completely helpless in a conversational setting.

[Schala Zeal]

I speak 2 languages only, that is French and English. Both at an acceptable level for working with them. For the record, French is my first language.

Et je puis dire que je suis bien meilleure écrivaine en français qu'en anglais, l'anglais étant seulement une préférence personelle.

->translates

And I can say that I'm a much better writer in French then in English (well it may be minor), English only being a personal preference.

[Wild Seven]

I marked only one in the poll... but I can get by OK in Spanish, and I'm in the process of learning Czech (currently I can speak and understand basic tourist phrases, courtesies, and a few random other strings of thought). I started studying Czech a year ago because I was "adopted" by seven Czechs that I worked with last summer... and I'm travelling to Prague in two weeks.

Wow, Artistic_trees, I'm sorry that I couldn't be at Prague at the time.......(I know, you didn't mention anything like an invitation, that's just me-always seeing some possibility to arrange a meeting 8) ) Have a nice trip!

And, if you have any questions regarding Czech language or culture or whatever, feel free to contact me;)

Nat

[Wild Seven]

I'm currently learning Latin (I always wanted to know a dead language). :D

Well, it is not at all dead yet- for example in Vatican it's vivid, at least with official documents.. Smiles, but you probably didn't mean a Church sections, rather a daily life.........

*is smiling and shutting up*

[aspergers_patrick]

I speak English fluently. And I taught myself Japanese and Dutch.

[birdnerd]

English is my first language, but I've taken a LOT of French, and I learned enough Chinese to get around in China for five weeks over the summer.

[maco]

Tri-lingual. I studied Spanish for 10 years (though not anymore..haven't for 3 years and don't remember too much...enough to fudge stuff at times), and Japanese for the last 3 (though I'm in level 4 thanks to working ahead of the class). Obviously, I speak English. Give it two years and I'll add Russian to my list. I'm going to be a translator.

[Jael L]

I acquired English from my mother (for whom it was a fifth language) and picked up a smattering of Schweizerdeutsch, French and Italian as a small child. My father taught me the Cyrillic alphabet before I'd learnt to write the Roman alphabet. At primary school I was taught French and Latin and kept them up to 'A' level. At age 11 I started to teach myself Classical Hebrew and at 15 added Koine Greek (NT Greek). Latin, Hebrew and Greek were all requirements for my university course (back in those days you had to have a good pass in Latin just to sit the Oxbridge entrance exam.) I've tried to learn Ivrit (Modern Hebrew) without much success because I found it difficult to train myself to replace block script with modern script. I'd really like to learn Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) one day but am not altogether optimistic about my ability to learn a new language at my age :oops:

[Peix]

The first language I learned to speak is Spanish.

The language I'm most fluent in (because it's the one I use most) is English.

I also speak French, German, Italian and Catalan. So I voted 6+.

I'm currently studying Arabic and teaching myself Polish.

And:

http://asexuality.org/discussion/viewtopic...p=215878#215878

--El Peix

[theblackwatch]

Dutch mother tongue (actually Flemish, a dialect of Dutch, and Antwerpian, a dialect of Flemish)

French - second country language

German - third country language

English - compulsionary language

Spanish - own interest

Latin - understood, not spoken

Greek - old: understood, not spoken, new: can ask way

Russian - can say: ja nje gadarjoe paroeskie

:lol: