Lingusitics How many languages can you speak?

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The discussion centers around the number of languages individuals can speak fluently, with many participants sharing their language skills and aspirations. While some are only fluent in one language, others report fluency in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, and various dialects. There is a notable emphasis on the challenges of maintaining language proficiency, particularly for those who have not used certain languages in years. Participants express a desire for multilingualism to be more common, advocating for the learning of both majority and minority languages to enhance cultural understanding and communication. The conversation also touches on the complexities of language acquisition, the relationship between language and ethnic identity, and the social dynamics that influence language use in different regions. Overall, the thread highlights the diverse linguistic capabilities of individuals and the importance of fostering a multilingual society.
  • #51
rhit2013 said:
English, spanish, german, french, japanese, chinese, hungarian, philipino, dutch, vietnamese, arabic, portugese, punjabi, and italian...all languages i wish i could speak but can only speak 2 of them :)

Why would you want to speak Dutch unless you live in the Netherlands or Flemish Belgium? They nearly all can speak English anyway. (I can ask this because of my own ancestry.)
 
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  • #52
SW VandeCarr said:
Why would you want to speak Dutch unless you live in the Netherlands or Flemish Belgium? They nearly all can speak English anyway. (I can ask this because of my own ancestry.)

Imo, there is a Dutch ideology that allowing a language to spread constitutes some form of chauvinistic cultural imperialism. Since Dutch nationalism seems to involve distinguishing Dutch identity from other post-colonial empires by claiming to be small instead of big, militarily weak instead of strong, pluralistic instead of hegemonic, etc. the Dutch language gets treated pejoratively, as if those who speak it aren't absolutely enamored with it. The question is why people who like using a language so much not want it to grow? The only answer I can figure out is that many people see Dutch as ethnic property. Dutch language is a downplayed global cultural resource, imo.
 
  • #55
I'm fluent in English, French, Spanish and Catalan. I studied German for a few years and can have a simple conversation.
 
  • #56
And in response to SW VandeCarr; I've always wanted to learn Dutch! Not because of it's potential use (although it would
allow me to communicate with my Dutch family) but because I simply live the way it sounds.
 
  • #57
Count Iblis said:
This is why the World speaks English and not Dutch:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Westminster_(1674 )

Why is it you always hear the implication that language-learning is akin to a competition for world domination? Why can't people just think of languages as tools for communication and practice multiple languages simply because it's possible?
 
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  • #58
Norwegian (mother tongue), English, German. I am currently studying Japanese.
 
  • #59
Mark44 said:
Fixed your hyperlink.

Thanks! :smile:
 
  • #60
brainstorm said:
Why is it you always hear the implication that language-learning is akin to a competition for world domination? Why can't people just think of languages as tools for communication and practice multiple languages simply because it's possible?

It is the other way around. World domination by countries in the past explains why we speak the languages we speak today.
 
  • #61
astronut555 said:
And in response to SW VandeCarr; I've always wanted to learn Dutch! Not because of it's potential use (although it would
allow me to communicate with my Dutch family) but because I simply live the way it sounds.

Waarom klinkt dit beter dan Engelse of Duitse? Frans, Spaans of Italiaanse gezonde verbeteren naar mij.

(Not guarenteed to be the best example of Dutch.)
 
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  • #62
Count Iblis said:
It is the other way around. World domination by countries in the past explains why we speak the languages we speak today.

That's a good point. Domination can also be achieved by dividing and conquering, though, which is what you do when you use multiple languages and do business in multiple economies as a result. The problem is, imo, that whenever interethnic trade is in question, it is assumed that domination and exploitation is a given. The reverse assumption is obviously that endogamous trade never involves domination and exploitation. In reality, ppl shouldn't assume that language difference = ethnic differences = domination/exploitation. I think this assumption is caused mostly just by the analytic choice to study political-economy by using ethnic societies (usually nations) as the unit of analysis. In reality, no nation or group exploits another nation or group collectively, but analytically it seems that way because that's how it is framed.

What actually explains what languages are spoken, why, and how are institutions and cultural assumptions that have evolved in the usage and regulation of language practice. If world domination was sufficient for determining language-use, Latin, English, French, German, Swahili, or any other Lingua Franca would have replaced all the other languages spoken by these languages' speakers. Instead, people tend to use multiple languages and avoid giving up one to speak another. So to me, the question is why not embrace this fact of language-economy and encourage multiple language-acquisition beyond Lingua Franca and ethnic languages?
 
  • #63
So brainstorm, what minor language(s) do you speak?
 
  • #64
I can speak 2 English Dialects, Romanian, Moldovian, Latin, Spanish, and I plan on learning German very soon. But as for my favorite, I would probably go with Romanian because i was born there. Oh, and I'm younger than 20.:smile:
 
  • #65
SW VandeCarr said:
Waarom klinkt dit beter dan Engelse of Duitse? Frans, Spaans of Italiaanse gezonde verbeteren naar mij.

(Not guarenteed to be the best example of Dutch.)

Why do I know English better that Dutch?
Because I grew up in North America.
 
  • #66
astronut555 said:
Why do I know English better that Dutch?
Because I grew up in North America.

Actually I asked (I think) why you thought Dutch sounded better than English or German. I also said I liked the sound of French, Spanish and Italian better than Dutch. I was born in the USA to Belgian war refugees who only spoke Dutch to me in my pre-school years. When it was time to go to school, my parents returned to Belgium were I was schooled until I was 17. I returned to the USA for college and claimed my US citizenship by birth. I guess I always resented not acquiring English as my first language. Both my parents could speak English, but wanted me to acquire Dutch as my first language.

I really forgot most of my Dutch. It does come back a bit when I try to write something in it.
 
  • #67
SW VandeCarr said:
Actually I asked (I think) why you thought Dutch sounded better than English or German. I also said I liked the sound of French, Spanish and Italian better than Dutch. I was born in the USA to Belgian war refugees who only spoke Dutch to me in my pre-school years. When it was time to go to school, my parents returned to Belgium were I was schooled until I was 17. I returned to the USA for college and claimed my US citizenship by birth. I guess I always resented not acquiring English as my first language. Both my parents could speak English, but wanted me to acquire Dutch as my first language.

I really forgot most of my Dutch. It does come back a bit when I try to write something in it.

What does it matter what language you experience as a "first language?" It is a status-issue and nothing more, no? If you can communicate fluently with a language, that is the important thing, right?
 
  • #68
brainstorm said:
What does it matter what language you experience as a "first language?" It is a status-issue and nothing more, no? If you can communicate fluently with a language, that is the important thing, right?

You never quite get the command of second, third, etc languages as you do with the first language provided you continue to use it.
 
  • #69
SW VandeCarr said:
You never quite get the command of second, third, etc languages as you do with the first language provided you continue to use it.

I disagree. I think you develop different proficiencies on the basis of what forms of culture you are exposed to in the given language. If you read a lot of poetry in one language, you will tend to be poetic. If you read science in it, you'll be scientific. I think many people don't realize that something that doesn't interest them at all, like poetry or fiction, in a language they are familiar with will become interesting to them in another language because of the style of whatever texts they become interested in. It is not as if poetry is poetry in any language. It's not even as if poetry or fiction has a specific quality in a given language distinct from other languages. It's just that certain texts/writer sound a certain way in a certain language that can click with a certain reader reading in that language. It might not even be the original language of the text. You could become intrigued with a translation of something written in a third language just because the translator had a style that worked for you. Many people don't realize, imo, what a world can open up for them by practicing a new language.
 
  • #70
Fluent in 4- English, Hindi, Odia, Sanskrit, and also little bit of german (Like how are you, what is your name and such basic sentences)
 
  • #71
FORTRAN &
Fortran
 
  • #72
English, French, and Spanish.

And,
For the record,
...
Spanish is so much easier than French! Anybody disagree?
 
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  • #73
I know I've answered this question before...

Ah ha!

OmCheeto said:
Yay! Another compliment. :smile:

I've lost count of the languages I speak. Let me try and remember them all:
English, German, Russian, Serbian, Armenian, French, Spanish, Dutch, Hindi, Telugu, Geordie, Farsi, Arabic, Finnish, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Hebrew, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Ibo(but not very well), and Polish.

Ya znaio schto, you nyiechevo nie znaio.

My Armenian friend says that the fact that I can quote Socrates in Russian, is a very good thing.

I'm feeling so cultured today. :smile:
-------------------------

And I've started studying Sumerian as of late.

ni nu zu u la!
 
  • #74
Two... English and Anglo-Romani
 
  • #75
OmCheeto said:
I know I've answered this question before...

Ah ha!
And I've started studying Sumerian as of late.

ni nu zu u la!

bahkat'u!
 
  • #76
I speak and write both Spanish and English fluently but am far more adept at English.
 
  • #77
French is my first language. I also do speak english but I would not dare calling myself "fluent".
 
  • #78
rustynail said:
French is my first language. I also do speak english but I would not dare calling myself "fluent".

I understand. The mistake you made is "...I would not dare calling myself fluent" It should be:"...would not dare be calling myself fluent". French does not have the progressive aspect, and I know learning how to use it can be frustrating. This is actually a progressive aspect in the subjunctive mood requiring 'be'. You could also avoid the progressive by simply saying "...I would not dare to call myself fluent."

Je comprends. La faute que vous avez faite est : "I would not dare calling myself fluent"; au lieu de "...would not dare be calling..."
Le français n'a pas d'aspect progressif. C'est l'aspect progressif dans le subjonctif. Je sais que l'apprentissage à l'utiliser peut être frustrant.

Vous pourriez aussi éviter l'aspect progressif en disant "...I would not dare to call myself..."
 
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  • #79
SW VandeCarr said:
bahkat'u!

gesundheit.

:smile:
 
  • #80
OmCheeto said:
gesundheit.

:smile:

Thank you, but my reply was not a sneeze. It was perfect proto-pseudo-Sumerian!
 
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  • #81
I wonder if this works on PF:

俺は日本語ができるけど、あまり得意でない。

エディット：うまくいった！すげええ！
 
  • #82
SW VandeCarr said:
I understand. The mistake you made is "...I would not dare calling myself fluent" It should be:"...would not dare be calling myself fluent". French does not have the progressive aspect, and I know learning how to use it can be frustrating. This is actually a progressive aspect in the subjunctive mood requiring 'be'. You could also avoid the progressive by simply saying "...I would not dare to call myself fluent."

Je comprends. La faute que vous avez faite est : "I would not dare calling myself fluent"; au lieu de "...would not dare be calling..."
Le français n'a pas d'aspect progressif. C'est l'aspect progressif dans le subjonctif. Je sais que l'apprentissage à l'utiliser peut être frustrant.

Vous pourriez aussi éviter l'aspect progressif en disant "...I would not dare to call myself..."

Merci, vos conseils me sont utiles!
 
  • #83
I can speak 2 languages fluently, Serbian (native lang) and English.. I am also learning German and Latin (what for i don't know but i just do).. And I'm just 18 so i hope i'll be able to expand that list with a few more languages :)
 
  • #84
Ok then.

Scratch Korean, and add Cherokee.

Gi Ah Ni Wa!

Woo Hoo! (<-- that's american...)



hmmm...

looks kind of Sumerian to me.

I hope it doesn't mean; "I eat worms."

 
  • #85
OmCheeto said:
Ok then.

Scratch Korean, and add Cherokee.

Gi Ah Ni Wa!

Woo Hoo! (<-- that's american...)



hmmm...

looks kind of Sumerian to me.

I hope it doesn't mean; "I eat worms."


Could you learn Apache, in honor of my great-grandmother :smile:?
 
  • #86
languages I speak: chinese, english, small amount of spanish, c++, python.
 
  • #87
lisab said:
Could you learn Apache, in honor of my great-grandmother :smile:?

I don't think so.

My short term memory is so short, I already forgot what language you asked me to learn.

:cry:
 
  • #89
English and Spanish. The two essential languages where I live.
 
  • #90
Lisa -

Apache is in the Athapascan group of Languages: Tlingit, Navajo. I can stumble through some Navajo and understand some Jicarilla Apache. Never heard spoken Chiricahua, but I was told they call the language and themselves: "Ndeh". Navajos use "Dine", Tlingit use "Tinne" - at least that's how us Bilagaanas spell it.

Which Apache group was your grandmother? The answer is: where was she born - White River, Dulce, where?
Dayton, Ohio won't work for an answer...

This cross-liguistic feat is because these languages all apparently "broke off" from a common ancestor language recently. So there are lots of similarities between Apache dialects and Navajo. Not because I have any linguistic skills. Whatsoever. When I was failing to learn Navajo, Irvy Goosen used to help me.
https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&fi...h=n:283155,p_27:Irvy Goosen&tag=pfamazon01-20

My wife ran a sort of Trading Post/Store. Every time I went there the Navajo speakers who knew me tried to get me to speak Navajo. They usually ended up convulsed with laughter. Seems I have a career waiting: A Navlish-speaker-comedian.

Anyway, Goosen explained that South Western Athapascan speakers shared a really high number of cognates and nearly identical language structures. Told me, he went North, and could converse with Tlingit speakers fairly well, too.

A large percentage Navajo/Apache "nouns" amount to sentences. Kind of like phrases in English - an absolute literal translation of "duck" would be "it floats on the water". Snake == "it slithers"; mice == "they scrabble at night".

So when you say something in English and it takes xxxx long, if you translate to Apache it becomes xxxxxxxxx long.
 
  • #91
jim mcnamara said:
Lisa -

Apache is in the Athapascan group of Languages: Tlingit, Navajo. I can stumble through some Navajo and understand some Jicarilla Apache. Never heard spoken Chiricahua, but I was told they call the language and themselves: "Ndeh". Navajos use "Dine", Tlingit use "Tinne" - at least that's how us Bilagaanas spell it.

Which Apache group was your grandmother? The answer is: where was she born - White River, Dulce, where?
Dayton, Ohio won't work for an answer...

This cross-liguistic feat is because these languages all apparently "broke off" from a common ancestor language recently. So there are lots of similarities between Apache dialects and Navajo. Not because I have any linguistic skills. Whatsoever. When I was failing to learn Navajo, Irvy Goosen used to help me.
https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&fi...h=n:283155,p_27:Irvy Goosen&tag=pfamazon01-20

My wife ran a sort of Trading Post/Store. Every time I went there the Navajo speakers who knew me tried to get me to speak Navajo. They usually ended up convulsed with laughter. Seems I have a career waiting: A Navlish-speaker-comedian.

Anyway, Goosen explained that South Western Athapascan speakers shared a really high number of cognates and nearly identical language structures. Told me, he went North, and could converse with Tlingit speakers fairly well, too.

A large percentage Navajo/Apache "nouns" amount to sentences. Kind of like phrases in English - an absolute literal translation of "duck" would be "it floats on the water". Snake == "it slithers"; mice == "they scrabble at night".

So when you say something in English and it takes xxxx long, if you translate to Apache it becomes xxxxxxxxx long.

I'm not sure but I think my great-grandma was born in or near Fort Sill. Is your wife Apache or Navajo?

I was told Apaches call themselves N'De (or something like that) which translates to something like, "Us Folk" :smile:. Sounds very similar to Ndeh!
 
  • #92
English is my native language, but I can speak Mandarin Chinese as a second language as well as read hanzi, though I'm a bit rusty.EDIT: Oh yeah, I also learned a little bit of German in high school a long time ago, but I forgot almost all of it. Not sure if that counts.
 
  • #93
English and also Russian but not as well as English.
 
  • #94
I can only fluently speak in one language (English) but I am essentially fluent in reading French (though sometimes I require a dictionary for in depth material)and my own conlang. I also know a little bit of spanish and can also read (and communicate with some trouble) to a pretty good degree in Latin.
 
  • #95
That'd be two and a half. Haha. No but
1. Swedish - Fluent
2. English - Conversational to almost advanced
3. French - Just a few sentences. I read it for a rather long time in school but eventually gave up. Most likely due to the lacking of the language's availability in my everyday life.
 
  • #96
I can speak 3: Chinese Mandarin, French and English.
 
  • #97
English is my native language, but I can converse fairly competently in Spanish as well
 
  • #98
I am a native English speaker but I don't even speak English well. So maybe like half a language?
 
  • #99
E7.5 said:
I am a native English speaker but I don't even speak English well. So maybe like half a language?

:biggrin:

Sometimes I say, "Sorry, English is not my first language. But unfortunately it's the only language I know."
 
  • #100
Haha! I like that lisab. :smile:
 

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