How many languages can you speak?

[StatGuy2000]

I can speak 2 languages: English and Japanese (fluent in spoken language only -- I'm not completely fluent in the written language). I studied French in school and can still understand the written language to a certain degree, but am not especially fluent in the spoken language.

 

[jtbell]

English is what I started with.

German is my best foreign language. I studied it in high school and college, spent a semester in Germany on a study-abroad program, and have visited Germany several times since, partly because my wife teaches German and has friends there.

Finnish is my second-best. I studied it on my own, sat in on an intermediate Finnish class in grad school, and have visited Finland a few times. I have relatives there.

Bringing up the rear are Spanish (a couple of years in high school) and Russian (some self-study).

 

[lendav_rott]

Estonian (native), English, Russian and then Italian, French, Japanese - not that good at them, but I know enough to talk to people. All of them are self taught simply because taking classes is too slow.

 

[Mordred]

English and American sign lanquage

 

[Czcibor]

Warning: I strongly advice you to forget that you know Russian. It can be re-used as pretext for invasion by Putin.

;)

 

[konghouyun]

English Chinese Cantonese and a little Japanese and Vietnamese. ..

 

[WWGD]

English, Spanish, French, and a bit of German. I know a little Greek-- the one who works at the corner deli.

 

[Chronos]

Does pig latin in ancient latin count?

 

[Beelzebub]

And what about Klingon?

 

[Matterwave]

Just English and Mandarin

 

[ShayanJ]

Just English and Mandarin

Wow...I wouldn't use "just" if I knew how to speak mandarin!

Anyway, I only know Persian(my mother language) and English and am fluent in both!(Which is of course not very surprising about the first!)

I like to know more languages though. My first choice is German actually because of the huge influence of Germans in the early history of modern physics.

Though I sometimes think about French too.

 

[Blackberg]

Why is this a sticky?

 

[Raghav Gupta]

Really like your responses @SW VandeCarr . You were having a long debate with BrainStorm and that debate was really brainstorming me with that lengthy replies.
Yeah, it's better to learn other languages when you are actually migrating to a country or to a new place because there is much to learn in a language. Besides there is a key role of accent also, which may separate you from native people.

I know Hindi my native language, also know gujarati( in terms of understanding, writing but not speaking as I make lot of grammatical mistakes sometimes{ learned by residing in Gujarat}) and obviously English.
English is taught in our school on regular basis as it is an universal language and everybody must know that.

 

[Medicol]

I can speak 8 languages: English, Hindi, Arabian, Persian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Vietnamese.

I am learning Spainish and French at the moment and thinking about German as my next choice.

 

[Jupiter5]

Croatian
German
English

 

[Soniteflash]

German
English
French
Vietnamese

 

[FRK]

I can speak 4 languages.

 

[manogyana25]

Hindi
Telugu
English
A little danish..

 

[WWGD]

Hindi
Telugu
English
A little danish..

I like a little Danish. I have one with coffee every morning ;).

 

[manogyana25]

I like a little Danish. I have one with coffee every morning ;).

Oh that's great..!

 

[mark_later]

speak what ever language but that of your wife :)

 

[Siv]

4 languages ... English, Tamil, Hindi and Bengali.

 

[Rippetherocker]

4. Trying to learn spanish.

 

[tom aaron]

4. Trying to learn spanish.

I grew up in Alsace so French is my first language. In my town on the border we all spoke and read German. English since immigrating to western Canada.

I took a year of Russian in university but forget most of it.

 

[UchihaClan13]

English
Japanese
Bengali
Hindi

 

[Sophia]

Slovak, Czech
Serbian,
Russian
English
I've studied French, German and Spanish for one year but don't remember much
Is would be cool to learn Arabic or Chinese

And I speak the language of honesty which is foreign to many people (lame, but couldn't resist )

 

[Psinter]

And I speak the language of honesty which is foreign to many people

I speak it too! Everybody bow to that language now.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Years ago when I was working for Global Link, I had a chance to work on Arabic websites. It was a challenge to coordinate displayed information and bug-fix browsers' compatibility issues in each page. . Very fascinating anyway!
BTW, I can speak a few foreign languages and except English, none of the rest I guess are concerned much in my current and future jobs. So English I think is enough and I will try to learn it more.

 

[Sophia]

Years ago when I was working for Global Link, I had a chance to work on Arabic websites. It was a challenge to coordinate displayed information and bug-fix browsers' compatibility issues in each page. . Very fascinating anyway!
BTW, I can speak a few foreign languages and except English, none of the rest I guess are concerned much in my current and future jobs. So English I think is enough and I will try to learn it more.

Wow it must have been quite challenging to fix bugs in Arabic! Though to be honest, all programming languages look like alien hieroglyphs to me
Is it an advantage to speak any other languages than English in your area? Maybe Japanese or Chinese?
Here, it's a plus to speak German and I regret that I haven't studied it properly when I had a chance. So I start to study it from time to time on my own but always give up after a few weeks. I need a big angry teacher with a whip to motivate me :-D

 

[Silicon Waffle]

...
Is it an advantage to speak any other languages than English in your area? Maybe Japanese or Chinese?

Yes, many more may be required depending on the jobs. It's better to be able to speak some Japanese or Chinese if I work for a Japanese or Chinese company.

Here, it's a plus to speak German and I regret that I haven't studied it properly when I had a chance. So I start to study it from time to time on my own but always give up after a few weeks. I need a big angry teacher with a whip to motivate me :-D

What a pity! But sure I never expect to have such a teacher.

I won't change my mind, I will not learn any other languages except English.

 

[UchihaClan13]

It's good to learn japanese
You are introduced to the intricacies of a new,complex and rich language which is enriched with proverbs,idioms,sayings etc...UchihaClan13

 

[Silicon Waffle]

It's good to learn japanese
You are introduced to the intricacies of a new,complex and rich language which is enriched with proverbs,idioms,sayings etc...
UchihaClan13

How rich and many are they ?

 

[UchihaClan13]

Well i am not a native japanese/speaker
I only lived in japan for 8 years before coming to India(I do miss japan)
As far as i can remember,there are more than 50 proverbs which were taught to me in 3rd grade itself
And don't even get me started with the richness of these proverbs??
All of them underline something deeper and touch an aspect which motivates humanity to work towards development:)UchihaClan13

 

[Sophia]

This sitcom series could be useful for those trying to revise German Level A1-A2

 

[HossamCFD]

I'm only fluent in English and (Egyptian) Arabic.
I understand Standard Arabic (written and spoken) almost perfectly, but can't really speak it without making more grammatical mistakes than actual words in a given sentence. I also can't help but giggle whenever I have to speak it, it sounds as if I'm giving a speech in the parliament.

I tried learning German for 2 years but we didn't get along too well. I was alright with the pronunciation but the cases and the three genders proved too challenging for my simple mind. I learned French for most of my childhood to the extent that I studied science and maths in French but sadly I can't remember much of it. I can still read it with an acceptable accent though whenever I want to sound a bit of a snob