How many languages can you speak?

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Because I'm curious.

I speak three (English, Mandarin, Japanese). I can also read Classical Chinese, and I'm also doing a course on Classical Japanese (of course they don't constitute as separate languages, but they're a lot of fun and pretty different). My Japanese kind of sucks now though - was better last year!

I would really like to learn more, though - after I master Japanese I think I'm going to go for Korean, I hear that's quite easy to learn if you know Chinese/Japanese. Now, bilingual or trilingual people are fairly rare in New Zealand, but they seem to be a dime a dozen in Europe (according to my experiences). Which, of course, makes a lot of sense, since I think it's compulsory to take a second or even third language in most European countries.

(random note: my lecturer is amazing - he speaks about 7 languages, and has 9 (!!) degrees, and he's currently doing three postgrads WHILE teaching. He's basically my academic hero.)

 

0.5.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

It's compulsory to take a second language, but without regular use, as I'm sure you're aware, it atrophies to a useless collection of half remembered nouns and a few verb forms.

My linguisitic intelligence is terrible I've had to take a break from learning while I recuperate from previous medication. I was starting to learn brythonic languages and trying to brush up on my french and german.

I can only really say I speak one language though. (Unless you count fictional ones )

 

Q: What do you call someone who speaks in three languages?
A: Trilingual

Q: What do you call someone who speaks in two languages?
A: Bilingual

Q: What do you call someone who speaks in only one language?
A: American

For the record, I can swear in five languages....

 

English
French(But not well)
Pig-Latin
Gibberish

 

I speak at least 10 languages to varying degrees of ability:

English
American
Canadian
Scotish
Irish
Austrailan
New Zealandian
Spanish
Mexican
Spanglish

I'm sure that there's a few I forgot.

 

You are aware of course that there is a Irish language that's not even related to English being a Celtic language?

I speak/write three languages fluently and basically well enough to write an high standard academic article on all three. Those three being Finnish, Swedish and English.

I can speak a bit German and have studied it for a few years but it's hopelessly rusty these days. I can understand it quite well though. I also studied Latin for two years but since studying Latin was very different from other languages and I'd say more difficult as well so I can say that I never really learned to speak/write it properly and most of it is forgotten now anyway.

 

There's also Scots as well as Irish And Shelta.

Scottish and Irish is nothing like English

 

Yes, but such details are not relevant to a post that was clearly meant to be silly in nature. I was referring to the accent. Don't overthink this.

My real answer is 2. English is my first language, Spanish is my second -- that is to say, I can speak Spanish well, but I can't write in Spanish to save my life, as 80% of my Spanish was learned by speaking it with others, not by studying or reading it.

 

Unsure of what to reply here. I speak norwegian, english and basic german. However, I also speak danish and swedish, but they are very similar to norwegian. But alot of my friends can`t understand danish, for example, at all. And alot of danish people have trouble with swedish. So I guess 3, with maybe 2 in reserve.

 

2
Beside my native language I speak only English on a decently fluent level.
My French is well enough to read books but it's too rusty to use it actively.
I can understand most of Dutch when it is written (not spoken, mind you ), but it is related closely to German and English (the Anglo-Saxon part of it ) anyway.
Then I have some basic background in old Hebrew and am learning Japanese recently (@Deathmage maybe you could give me some tips ^^).

 

My first language is english, but my schooling was french immersion from grade 3 until I graduated, so I can also speak proper french. I lived in Montreal for a couple of years, and at that time, I became fluent in the Quebequois dialect. Unfortunately, since I've been back in the Maritimes, my french has gotten somewhat rusty, since none of my friends around these parts understand anything but english. But I got to admit, swearing in Quebequois sounds way cooler than English.

 

Well hello fellow Québecois, even though it was temporary...

French and English for me. I also know a bit of Italian. I learned the basics, but it's been a while and nobody to practice with, so I lost a lot, though I can still count to a million and say my birthdate... I also know a few words in Spanish and Greek, but not remotely close to being able to speak coherently.

 

English, finnish and swedish fluently, also some german, but that is very rusty. So that makes it three I suppose.

 

I only speak english, but I am gooder at it than a lot of other people (mostly those who can't speak it at all).

 

I can read French and German but I can't write or speak either one!
The only other language I'm fluent in is Sign Language

 

Another Anglophone with just one language. I was forced to do Irish since I started school but like everybody else I can't remember much of it. I always hated it. I also did five years of French but again it's mostly gone through lack of use. It was only basic anyway. I could probably get the gist of something written down in Irish or French if it was basic enough. When I was in Scotland a while ago I could make out a lot of what was written in Scots on the signs as it was so similar to Irish.

The only use I have for Irish is for discussing pretty ladies abroad right in front of them without them knowing. It can be surreal as I'm not as adept as my comrades. One's fluent (teacher) but the other's is worse than mine. I can understand the pidgin words they're saying literally but I'm often a bit slow on the uptake. "She hit (past tense) the chicken?" Wha?

 

I'm an American, but I also speak, read and write Russian and French. I haven't had much practice, but I got by in Paris a couple years ago, and could probably do even better in Russia. I also know enough Italian and Spanish to rent a room, order food, and get slapped by the ladies!

I put 3 for the number of languages though...

 

Dutch and English, "and when I'm nervous, I speak perfectly Japanese".
There's still some German and French stuck in my brain since highschool, though the latter is worse than the first.

So that's two.