Lingusitics How many languages do you speak?

[Cartesio]

'The limits of my language means the limits of my world.'
Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951: Tractus Philosophicus, 1922

How many languages do you speak? Do you agree with Wittgenstein?

 

[Dj Sneaky Whiskers]

I don't have to disagree with him on that issue, as he already did that for me, in the Philosophical Investigations

 

[BoulderHead]

'The limits of my language means the limits of my world.'

I think it would have been more agreeable if he had used the words 'humor' instead of 'world'.

 

[FZ+]

How many languages do you THINK in?

 

[Cartesio]

It depends on what I'm thinking about, I think. But mostly in English.

 

[plus]

The statistical analysis of this question is not great - perhaps there could be more advanced options.

e.g. telling us what percentage speak 4 languages etc.

 

[FZ+]

Hmm... before Alexander gets a chance...

Is mathematics a language?

 

[Mentat]

Originally posted by FZ+
How many languages do you THINK in?

I don't think in language. I think in concepts.

 

[Mentat]

Originally posted by FZ+
Hmm... before Alexander gets a chance...

Is mathematics a language?

No. It uses symbols of other languages, and it is spoken in a variety of different languages.

 

[LogicalAtheist]

I speak only english. Author of this poll and another one asking the number of languages one speaks, 1 to 5 or so

I agree with the quote in that communicatively speaking (no pun, and i mean in terms of us being such a communicative species) we find a barrier at language.

But not all the time, like in math etc...

So his quote has it's purpose, but it's nothing better than a quote from eminem, heh

 

[Mentat]

BTW, I speak three languages, and am working on the fourth.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

TWO French and English, but don't take me to court in French, I'd lose.

(Thinks in both/either)

 

[Mulder]

Learnt French until 16 and German until 18 at school. Always found languages an interesting and useful subject, and pretty easy to pick up, so I'm usually able to understand most of written German, though my spoken isn't that confident.

Languages should definitely be taught from a much earlier age in UK schools - we lag well behind the rest of Europe.

 

[MSI]

well i can speak hebrew and arabic and some english

 

[RuroumiKenshin]

Originally posted by FZ+
How many languages do you THINK in?

gibberish.

I speak English and Amharic and gibberish. and a little bit of spanish.

 

[steppenwolf]

mm, i tried to learn latin but got scared, i can understand simple stuff though, but what's simple in latin?

No. It uses symbols of other languages, and it is spoken in a variety of different languages.

not true, maths isn't 'spoken' in a variety of languages, it gets translated into a varitey of languages, '=' is '=', not equals, not egales or anything else, we translate maths into our language to communicate it with more ease. and just because something uses the symbols of another language doesn't mean it isn't an independent language, ie french uses the same symbols as many other languages, but is a language on it's own.

 

[Mentat]

Originally posted by steppenwolf
mm, i tried to learn latin but got scared, i can understand simple stuff though, but what's simple in latin?



not true, maths isn't 'spoken' in a variety of languages, it gets translated into a varitey of languages, '=' is '=', not equals, not egales or anything else, we translate maths into our language to communicate it with more ease. and just because something uses the symbols of another language doesn't mean it isn't an independent language, ie french uses the same symbols as many other languages, but is a language on it's own.

I'll agree on the second point (about the symbols being the same), but I disagree with the first point. Mathematics has absolutely not spoken form, on it's own. Thus, it is not a language.

 

[Astronomer107]

Originally posted by FZ+
How many languages do you THINK in?

I speak English and Spanish and I think mostly in English. However, when I'm bored or when I don't realize it, I think in Spanish

 

[Zargawee]

I Can speak both arabic and english ...

I think most of the time in Arabic , but when I'm involved in english conversations , I realize that I'm thinking in english .
Does this matter ?

* I Read an article one day said that kids that talks two languages or more , have more ability to learn .

 

[DR OF DEATH]

English
British Sign Langauge ( YES IT IS A LANGUAGE)
only these two no others I am afraid i coyuld never be bothered to learn any others. but i am going to to greece soon so i may start learning greek

 

[bogdan]

Romanian,English and French...
Romanian is such a simple language...you pronounce exactly as it is written...not complicated rules...straight and simple...but...because of programming...I think maths in english...and this gives me a headache...

 

[pace]

Originally posted by FZ+
Hmm... before Alexander gets a chance...

Is mathematics a language?

Actually I think in two languages, norwegian and english, but I think the most norwegian. I speak almost only norwegian, but I write almost only english.

 

[Dave]

English and French

 

[meteor]

Three: Spanish, Catalan and English
I grew thinking in spanish, but since a year ago I think in english

 

[Monique]

Here we go again, in the Netherlands we have to learn Dutch, English, German and French.

So the four languages are basic, and then I will also be able to understand Flemish, Afrikaans just by knowing Dutch.

And then I know Australian, Austrian, Switz, American, Surinaams, Antillian, New Sealandish, Canadian, a few words Hindi and Gujurati (chem co), few words Chinese (ni-hau), etc

 

[KLscilevothma]

few words Chinese (ni-hau)

"ni hau", which means hello, is Manderin, the official language in China.
"nei ho" (Cantonese)
"Guten Tag" (German)
"Hello" (English)
"sa-wa-ni-ka" (Thai)
"Kon-ni-chi-wa" (Japanese)
Well I only know a few words of Japanese, Thai, French, Latin and German.

 

[Zantra]

Fluent in 3 languages, learning another, and know bits and pieces of several others.

Fluent in French, english, cebuano(philippines dialect)

Learning japanese (ohio gozaiomas)

know bits and pieces of spanish, german, italian,tagalog, arabic(I can swear up a storm in arabic) and would like to learn madarin

Hello around the world

english-hello
french-bon jour
spanish beunos dias
tagalog- kamusta ka
cebuano- musta na
japanese-ohio(konnichi wa if you prefer)
arabic- kefalic haiay(informal) or walekam walasalekam(phonetic formal)
italian-ciao mia bella (ok that's just for flair;)
german- guten tag, guten morgen, etc

Still think in english though

 

[Zantra]

Originally posted by Monique
Here we go again, in the Netherlands we have to learn Dutch, English, German and French.

So the four languages are basic, and then I will also be able to understand Flemish, Afrikaans just by knowing Dutch.

And then I know Australian, Austrian, Switz, American, Surinaams, Antillian, New Sealandish, Canadian, a few words Hindi and Gujurati (chem co), few words Chinese (ni-hau), etc

Canadians speak english except for the small population that speaks quebecquois, an informal french.

 

[Mr. Robin Parsons]

Originally posted by Zantra
Canadians speak english except for the small population that speaks quebecquois, an informal french.

Yes, and some of the spelling is different then American English, some of the meanings of expressions are different, as Canadians tend towards British English (BE) as well as American English (AE).

Dumb in BE is Mute, in AE it is Stupid, in CE (Canadina English) it is sort of both, or either.

 

[DR OF DEATH]

dumb in english is either stupid, thick, idiotic etc or mute depends what context you use it in.