# How many languages do you know?



## JLanguage

How many languages do you know? 

Not a must, but it would be great if you could also post which languages you know and your current level of fluency. 

In order to count as knowing a language you should at least be semi-fluent. (Whatever that means to you) 

From, 
-Jonathan.

PS: I have done a couple searches and haven't found a poll exactly like this one, but maybe I missed something.


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## JLanguage

I'll start: 

1. English - native language 
2. Hebrew- can hold a conversation, read and write basic to intermediate Hebrew 
3. Latin-Almost through with two semesters, can read and translate simple Latin. Almost no verbal fluency.

-Jonathan


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## Artrella

I speak Spanish (mother tongue), English, German and Italian.


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## alc112

Hi!!

Spanish ----> Mother tongue
English -----> I'm fluent
German -----> I have been studying it for 2 years, know lots of grammar but don't many words.
I would like to study Italian
that's all

Cheers


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## timpeac

*English* - mother tongue
*French* - fluent but still make mistakes I shouldn't
*Spanish* - fluentish, but used to be a lot better.
*Latin* - long time since I studied it but it helps all the time with the other languages.
*German* - basic. Taught myself a long time ago. Now I have forgotten the basic grammar which means I am reticent to use the little vocab etc that I know. Is an aim of mine to brush up on the basics because that would give me a lot more confidence.
*Russian *- learnt for a few terms at school and almost completely forgotten. Can still read the alphabet though!
*Italian* - some of the linguistic books I needed at uni were only written in Italian so I had to learn the basics sufficiently to read (but then only technical books where a lot of the words are similar to other languages). Have now forgotten a lot, and could not hold a conversation, although I can understand a bit if people speak slowly.
*Catalan* - lived in Barcelona for a few months and picked up a few phrases and now have forgotten everything. Completely.


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## ambar_violeta

Hey !

It's been a while since my last post.

=(

*Spanish:* Mother tongue.
*English:* Pretty fluent. 
*German:* I've been learning German for about 2 months. But I'm in love with this language. If you speak I'll understand nothing, but I can read some.
*French:* If you speak really slowly I'll probably understad you, because I'm learning French at school, but I don't really like it and I can't pronunce it.
*Portuguese:* I've never studied this language, but I can understad almost everything and sometimes I can speak a bit too.

I wanna improve my German !
What a wonderful language !

Adios
May*


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## suzzzenn

Hi, 
I voted for two. 
*English* - native speaker
*Spanish *- functional but not fluent studying about 3 1/2 years

*Trique* - studying about 2 years (Native American Language spoken in SW Mexico). Not functional yet, although I know all the rules and can understand a lot. I have also intensively studied the structure of Zulu, Slave (NW Canada) , and Ayutla Mixtec (Mexico). I am trying to decide what language is next! I have friends who speak French and family members who speak Greek and Russian, so one of those would be practical, but I think I would prefer to learn another non-Indo-Eurpoean language. Japanese?? I'll probably pick another Native American language, maybe Navajo.
Susan


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## cuchuflete

Hola,
English
español/castellano
português
italiano

The last two are quite rusty from lack of use.  

Also a bit of RPG!!  and dim memories of APL

I can read quite a bit of French, but have the good sense not to pretend to speak it.  

Don't know what you would do to classify these:  Galego... It's so close to português that I can read it and understand it with no problem.
Catalá--fairly easy to read...I don't speak it at all.

I often have trouble understanding women, regardless of the language we are using....does anyone have a good textbook?  They seem to have no trouble figuring me out!  Could this be a phonetics issue?


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## VenusEnvy

English - native language
Spanish - studying now, pretty good   
French - used to study


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## ILT

*Spanish* - mother tongue
*English* - pretty fluent
*Portuguese* - can read it, can write it with mistakes, maybe could speak it if forced, but I've forgotten a lot
*Italian* - can read it, I've forgotten how to write and speak the language
*French* - minimum, I've forgotten most

This post has made me think about taking some classes again. Maybe when I finish the translation workshop I am currently attending I'll seek some, thanks! 

ILT


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## ILT

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> I often have trouble understanding women, regardless of the language we are using....does anyone have a good textbook? They seem to have no trouble figuring me out! Could this be a phonetics issue?



Cuchu:

Don't worry, I'm a woman mysef and I swear I don't understand my fellow "gender-mates" half the time!

My husband and my brother in-law keep asking my dad about the user's manual they claim they should've received at the weddingl; if he ever hands it out I promise you a copy 

ILT


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## basurero

English: Mother tongue
Spanish: Fairly fluent, but often sound like an idiot 
Russian: Intermediate


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## Jana337

*Czech: *native
*English: *fluent
*German: *fluent
*Italian: *upper-intermediate, hope to converge to fluency in the foreseeable future, there's much to to grammarwise but it is vocabulary what presents the main challenge
.
.
.
*Slovak: *extremely easy to read, and I am able to pretend active knowledge but there's obviously no need to do it
.
.
.
*Russian*: pretty rudimentary
*Arabic: *even the basics that I have learnt are rusty 

To sum up, I voted 4 in the poll.

Jana


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## mnzrob

*English* - Mother tongue
*German* - Mother tongue
*French* - I can understand it very well, and have conversations, but i haven't studied or really spoken it in a while, so i'm a little rusty. But a couple months in France would change that. Studied French for ca. 8 years.
*Spanish* - I can understand it pretty well, but can't speak it too well anymore. Studied spanish for ca. 7 years

voted 3.

Rob


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## beatrizg

*Spanish* 

*Greek* - Aunque este idioma necesita urgentemente una reforma ortográfica! 
Ayúdanos, Artrella! 

*English* (or should I say globish?!)


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## Artrella

beatrizg said:
			
		

> *Spanish*
> 
> *Greek* - Aunque este idioma necesita urgentemente una reforma ortográfica!
> Ayúdanos, Artrella!
> 
> *English* (or should I say globish?!)




Bea, salgo en el próximo avión para interiorizarme de la problemática con el alfabeto griego... en un par de horas me hago un cursito super intensivo de griego y ya voy con un bosquejo para la próxima reforma...


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## Whodunit

*German* native language

*English* second language and fluent

*French* I'm studying it for 3 years, but I know its grammar pretty good.

*Arabic* I'm just learning it, very basic

*Spanish* I'm just learning it, quite rusty

*Italian* I'll learn it in the foreseeable future.

I voted 3 languages.


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## jmx

Spanish - mother tongue
English - passable in writing, but I lack oral practice
Catalan - fluent but with many faults and awful pronunciation
French - used to be passable, but I haven't practised it in about 5 years !
German - studied it 4 years, but was never fluent, and now mostly forgotten
Japanese - studied it 2 years, now mostly forgotten

I've done timid attempts at self-teaching Italian and Chinese.

Voted as 4.


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## zebedee

*English*: Mother tongue
*Spanish*: Fluent after 13 years living in Spain
*French*: Studied from the age of 7 onwards as my second language, did my Uni degree in French and lived there for 2 years - used to speak fluently but now it's espagnolisé, am taking weekly conversation classes to get it back again.
*Latin*: Also studied from the age of 7 up to University degree
*Valenciano*: I understand perfectly and try to speak with some success (usually after a few beers)
*Catalán*: A bit more difficult to understand orally until I tune in to the accent.
Latin, French & Spanish help me to understand written Italian Portuguese & Gallego.

I voted 4.


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## CLEMENTINE

I would vote for 3 : French, English and Spanish.
My level is not good enough in Russian and in Japanese


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## CBFelix

*Turkish*-mother tongue
*English*- fluent in talking but writing is disaster 
*French* - it’s ok..I can read and talk, but can’t go into big conversations.
*Dutch* - sufficient enough to found my way around, let’s say “upper-basic”..
*Portuguese* - I can definitely talk..  Writing; no way !. 
*Cantonese * – I just started to learn  (in few months, we will move to Guangzhou, for a couple of years we will live there)
*Urdu * – very little, I forgot a lot…   

So, I vote for 5


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## Philippa

Nothing very interesting or dramatic from me:

*English* - mother tongue
*Spanish*     - jeje! I love it! Semi-fluent, I hope! I've been learning for nearly 4 years now!
*French* - I learned it at school for many years and also spent a couple of months in France. This was all a looong time ago. I can still understand it quite well, but when I try to speak it comes out 75% Spanish!

So I'm voting 2!!
Philippa


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## garryknight

*English:* native language
*Spanish:* learning now; can read most of what I come across, albeit with a dictionary to hand, can write as long as the dictionary is within reach, not so good at speaking but can manage basic conversation
*French:* learned at school to GCSE O level, forgotten a lot
*Russian:* learned at school to GCSE O level, only remember a few words
*Latin:* learned at school for 3 or 4 years, only remember a few words

Also C, Pascal, Basic, Perl, Python, various assembler languages, etc.

So I voted for 2: English, Spanish


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## saramar

Hi,
*Spanish*: native language
*English*: fairly fluent
*French*: learning now;
so I have voted 3
Regards
Sara


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## Phryne

*Spanish*: native language, but I’m still learning.
*English*:  I can speak much better than I can write it. It’s my everyday language, if that means anything.
*Italian*: I can read it and hold a conversation, but I speak Spalian/Itanish or mostly Spanish with an Italian accent.   Classes are approaching.
*Portuguese*: I can read it and follow a conversation, nothing else, Ican't even speak Portuñol. Classes are on hold... for good? 
*French*:  I can't speak it, I can read some and I was able to understand a lot when I was in France. Pathetic!
* Spanish lisp: *I can do a fairly good impression. hehehehe 
*Spanglish*: I'm learning a lot but not a fluent speaker yet!
*Gerinjoso*: Very proficient. In order to learn it, Spanish is a must!
*Chinese*: Wishing I knew some
*German*: Pending
*Ebonics*: Learning as we speak.

So, I'm just bilingual, I'm afraid to say!


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## Like an Angel

*Spanish*: mother tongue, still learning!.-
*English*: fluent, although I made mistakes that I shouldn't (did I say fluent? noooooo. I can read, write and speak -people say that that is the best of my English- but there is a long long loooooooooong way to go ahead!!).-
*Portuguese*: learning now, first year, but it's easy.-
*Japanese*: learning now, second year.-
*Italian*: learning now, first year.-
*French*: learning now, first year.-

I've voted 3.-

EDIT: I was sleepy when I wrote this, so I have made some corrections


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## Benjy

english. fluent i guess.
french. i have been told i speak french pretty well.
hebrew. a little.
latin. 5 years at school. have forgotten everything.
edit- benjois too!


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## Outsider

*Portuguese*: native language.
*English*: fluent.
*French*: a bit rusty now, due to lack of practice.

I can understand written Spanish quite well, and spoken Spanish with a little more difficulty, but I've never actually studied it, and I can't speak fluently.


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## haujavi

Spanish: mother tongue.
English: written fluent, speaking less fluent.
French: written more or less fluent, speaking quite good.
Basque: medium level
German: a little, trying to improving
Galego: I understand and can speak but not writing properly.


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## Citrus

*Spanish* - Mother Tongue
*English* - Pretty fluent (spelling and pronunciation a bit rusty)
*Italian* - I'm learnig . . . basic

I voted 2 languages


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## te gato

*Te gato English*--very fluent..(have my own Dictionary & Spelling)  
*English*--Try to speak it..and write it..
*Spanish*--Hopeless..but still trying..
*French*---a little to speak..
*German*--a little to speak..
*Dutch*---a little to speak
*Catalan*--being tutored
So I voted for none..Still learning all...

tg


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## LV4-26

*French* : mother tongue

*English* : written, spoken, translated and interpreted. Still a long way to go, though. 
*Spanish* : my second foreign language. It was my third Language at the "Ecole Supérieure d'Inteprètes et de Traducteurs". (after French and English). This means I can translate from Spanish to French but never the other way round.
*German and Italian :* Learnt German for 3 years a long time ago. Only two years of Italian but I feel  much more at ease in Italian than in German. (I believe you could call me a "four-oh-four" in German).

I voted for 2 (FR and EN)


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## alc112

¿Saben qué?
Podemos sacar la conclusióon de que el aprender idiomas es un vicio, si aprendes uno no es suficiente.


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## HeatherR

English - mother tongue

French - fluent - I grew up in Quebec City and majored in French at university.

Spanish - intermediate - I took one course in university about 30 something years ago and decided when I was in Mexico 4 years ago and couldn't remember a thing in Spanish that I was going to start studying it again.  Since then I have vacationed in a Spanish speaking country (mainly Mexico) at least once a year and last month spent a week at Spanish school in Playa del Carmen, Mexico and loved it!


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## timpeac

alc112 said:
			
		

> ¿Saben qué?
> Podemos sacar la conclusióon de que el aprender idiomas es un vicio, si aprendes uno no es suficiente.



Pero todo el mundo aprende al menos un idioma...


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## lainyn

English - Native speaker
French - functionally fluent, but still a long way to go. I've been studying it for 8 years or so, but only 5 years for anything significant. 
Spanish - 2 semesters of high school spanish, 1 course in university - but I'm very good at improvising, understanding, reading, and I really can hold my own if given the chance, albeit with mistakes.
Japanese - basic touristy stuff
Italian - pat phrases, great comprehension though - due to influence of Spanish and French, good at the grammar, working on pronunciation.
German - grammar only
Latin - on the verge of learning (and am very excited for summer university course coming up)
Ancient Hebrew - only very little, enough to study the Bible a bit
Ancient Greek - in the sights
Mandarin, Arabic, and every other language in the world...- definitely a long term goal.

So I'm going to vote for 3.


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## Helicopta

*English* – Mother tongue (although I would never treat my mother the way I treat the English language)
*Spanish *– Determined to become fluent, after 2 years of study I know that my goal remains a long, long way away.

French and German – Studied at school but have forgotten all but a few words.

I’ve picked up one or two words of Thai, Khmer, Vietnamese, Sinhalese, Arabic and Flemish from travelling. I won’t pretend that I know anything of these languages, I just think it’s courteous to at least learn things like ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, ‘how do you do’ and ‘thank you’ when visiting another country.

I’ve voted for two but I’m probably flattering myself by including Spanish. I didn’t want to be the only person to vote for one.


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## DDT

Italian: mother tongue
English: fluent
French: fluent
German: rusty (used to be good in the past)
Spanish: well, rather...Itañolo (I need more vocabulary!!!)
Arabic: I never had a chance to speak it so that I can only read and write it (there's a huge gap between written and spoken Arabic)
Latin: I adored it (I just brushed it up while trying to understand some Roman inscriptions)
Benjois: I was one of the first official Benjois interpreters 

DDT


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## mia04

*English*- Fluent
*Greek*- nearly fluent
*Spanish*- studying now at A-level and studying it at university in a few months so im hoping to be fluent one day!
*italian*- i would love to learn it and i am contemplating doing it from beginners level at university!  
*french*- the very basics!!


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## walnut

Italian: mother tongue
English: determined to become fluent! 
French: I rarely speak it, used to be fluent, but had quite a limited vocabulary
Modern Greek: survival kit and something more - I adore it and I'd love to study it.
Latin: studied it at school, rusty but still there when I need it
Ancient greek: studied it a lot at school... but now it's petrified!


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## Rebecca Hendry

*English* is my mother tongue.

I speak *Spanish* very fluently, having studied it at university and lived in Spain for several years.  I am often mistaken for an "andaluza" because of my accent, but I actually learnt my Spanish in Extremadura.

*French* was my minor subject at uni, and I used to speak it fairly well, but now every time I try it comes out Spanish!  I can  read it pretty well, and understand it relatively well, but I'd need to live in France again I think to get back what I used to know.


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## Cairenn

*Croatian* is my mother tongue

I studied *French* in my primary and high school, total of 9 years. I'm not sure if I'd be able to communicate in French (I can count till billion ), though I can read it.

I started learning *English* when I was 7 years old and I've been using it more or less actively since then.

I've been learning *Spanish* for, let's see .. 10 years (man!  ). It's my major at university (still ).


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## Sindri

Voted for three

1. *Icelandic*  - able to speak it as a native
2. - 3. *Spanish* - can understand almost everything and able to speak it pretty well but need a lot more practice
2. - 3. *English  - *can understand almost everything and able to speak it pretty well but need a lot more practice as well
4. *French - *just one semester in school, did pretty good but I find it boring
5. *Portugues - *able to understand like 50% just started to study it hoping to be able to speak it as well as Spanish and English soon
6. *Danish - *used to understand it very well like 90% but now I understand like 30% don´t like it much anyway
7. *Thai - *very interested but still I only know few words and phrases and only few letters of the alpabet


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## Lancel0t

As for me:

Filipino - My native tongue
English - pretty fluent (but still there are lot of things that I still need to lear)
Spanish - basic spanish (I can only practice my spanish through conversation with our customers at work)
Portuguese - I'm trying to speak it in order to help our Portuguese and Brazillian customers though I don't have any knowledge at all. (Thanks to the Portuguese speaking users here.)
Japanese - I know some of its words and I really want to learn this language so that I could enjoy watching animes even better. 

I only voted for 2 because those are the only languages I really know and I feel that I am on a firm ground everytime I'm using those.


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## elroy

Here are my languages in order of proficiency:

*1. English*
*2. Arabic*
_3. French_
_4. Spanish_
_5. German_
6. Dutch
7. Hebrew 
8. Italian 
9. Norwegian

Legend:
*NATIVE FLUENCY*
_FLUENCY, NOT NATIVE_
BASIC KNOWLEDGE 

DETAILS:

English is not my mother language, but the language I speak best. I went to an American school my whole life and picked it up there. I still speak English to my siblings, who went to the same school. اللغة العربية لغتي الأم فأنا فلسطيني. J'ai appris le français il y a presque sept ans, et depuis ce moment-là je m'y suis amélioré, afin que je le parle relativement bien pour quelqu'un qui l'a appris presque complètement tout seule. El caso del español es parecido. También lo aprendí casi completamente solo, y además pasé unos tres meses en Madrid, donde mejoré muchísimo. Deutsch habe ich erst letzten Sommer gelernt, aber durch ein intensives Programm, so dass ich jetzt Deutsch ziemlich gut kann. Ich studiere nämlich dieses Semester auch in Deutschland. Ik heb een beetje Nederlands gelernt, omdat ik in Amsterdam een maands was. Ik volg nu een cursus Nederlands, omdat ik nog besser wil praten. .אני מדבר עברית כי אני גר בישראל אבל אני לא מדבר כמז שצריך Posso parlare un po' l'italiano, perche parlo francese e spagnolo! Jeg lære norsk, men jeg kan snakke bare litt!


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## gOgO

*french :* I can speak/read/write/understand...mother tongue 
*english :* I can't write/speak it a lot but I can understand a convertation, I have spent two weeks in Ireland, and one month in England. 
*spanish :* I'm learning it at school ( such as english) I can't write/speak/read but I can understand a little.


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## germinal

English - Mother tongue. Fairly fluent.

French - I can read French with almost the same ease as English and I have quite a good vocabulary but I make simple grammatical errors.

Spanish - As above but with more grammatical errors.

German - Reading a liitle more difficult than above and with even more grammatical errors.

I speak French quite well according to the more polite French people I have met.

Spanish - I sometimes have difficulty retrieving the required word when conversing but I can follow most conversations - at least those which include me. Conversations between natives are much harder to follow.

German - I haven't had much opportunity to converse with Germans in their own language as they generally insist on speaking pretty fluent English. When I do get the chance I can understand most general conversation and make myself understood also. 

Germinal.


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## jayze

Spanish is my mother tongue, I can speak a little English and understand it well, but I don't write it very well.

EDIT:
Hola jayze.
Bienvenid@ a los foros. ¿Sabías que con un simple click en el botón EDIT, puedes editar tus propios posts? Así no tienes que abrir otro post para corregir lo que querías decir. Si tienes alguna duda, mándame un Mensaje Privado y te lo explico.

Saludos,
Zebedee
moderator


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## Alundra

*Spanish*: Mother tongue.
*English*: I can read and tranlate, but is difficult to write and speak for me, although I have very much vocabulary.
*French*: I studied for three years. Remember very much words, constructions, but I need to practice.
*Latin*: I studied for two years. Remember some constructions and words.
*Italian*: Learning in this moment. I hope understand it in a next future.

Alundra.


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## The Hunter

English - First Language, fluent.

Spanish - second language, conversational "mexican spanish" currently learning Text-book spanish. ( I can speak it & read it, however I can't write in Spanish ) 

Japanese- I am Learning 

Italian- I Survival italian - however I usually screw up & mix it up with spanish.


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## Kelly B

I feel so inadequate. Only two....

I am a lifelong speaker of American English; my grammar and vocabulary are better than average. My accent is odd, because I pick up accents easily from other people.

I read French very well, and write it adequately; my verbal skills are rusty. After a month in Compiègne, though, most of the French people I met assumed I was German, or from some other Northern European country, but certainly not American?!

I studied Japanese briefly; I only remember basic greetings and how to say that my Japanese isn't good.

I know the names of lots of foods in Arabic. I cook them pretty well, too.


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## vachecow

JLanguage said:
			
		

> 3. Latin-Almost through with two semesters, can read and translate simple Latin. Almost no verbal fluency.


In my oppinion, verbal fluency isnt important at all in Latin.  One would never learn it in order to speak it, one learns Latin so that they can translate classics.  (Or maybe if they are a doctor...)


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## dimitra

Greek -> native

English -> write, talk, read, translate, sing regularly...
French -> same as above
(those were the two languages I studied at the translation department of the university)

Italian -> read and translate at a pretty good level, I have forgoten though most of its grammar rules, so it is hard for me to write something in Italian... I think I can still talk it, at least I managed to book hotel rooms for my sister's vacation recently. Of course she could always go there and have no rooms in her name  !!!

I also studied German during 3 years at school, never my cup of tea, forgot it immediately. 

While my Erasmus in France I studied Portuguese - just loved it, only remember now the numbers and very basic phrases. 

Ancient Greek and Latin as essential courses to get me into university, I think I can still understand pretty well. 

Ah! Also Turkish, at the University, very beautiful and extremely difficult language!


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## jorge_val_ribera

*Spanish- *Mother tongue
*English- *Quite fluent
*German- *Quite fluent

I'm just starting to learn *Italian *and *French.*

I voted 3.


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## jorge_val_ribera

Well, I'm posting again but this time to give some interesting results. I had some free time in my hands so I went through all the messages and counted how much people know a language. I didn't count the I-have-forgotten-everything languages, or the I-am-just-starting languages. I didn't count mother tongues. And there were some unclear cases, so this is pretty subjective, but works:

*English---*27 people

*Spanish, French*--- 22 people

*German*--- 7 people

*Italian*--- 6 people

*Latin, Portuguese--- *3 people

*Catalan, Greek, Benjois--- *2 people

*Valenciano,  Russian, Trique, Dutch, Spanglish, Gerinjoso, Bosque, Japanese, Te Gato English--- *1 person


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## SILSEP

Let'see..... I vote 4 in the poll.


*Spanish and Catalan* =>I'm bilingual.
(although I keep doing some grammar mistakes)

I understand Valenciano and Mallorquí as well (quite similar to Catalan).

*English*=> Quite fluent. I'm preparing for the Advance exam so I guess I still need to improve it.(Stayed in California for a while). 

*French*=> My level was good but now it's a bit rusty. (I don't usually practise it).

Italian=> I don't speak it but I can understand it. 

Latin=> I studied on High School but I've almost forgotten.

Portuguese=> I don't speak it but I can understand it. 

I'm also planning to start German but perhaps next year.

Well, that's it! .


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## DDT

jorge_val_ribera said:
			
		

> Well, I'm posting again but this time to give some interesting results. I had some free time in my hands so I went through all the messages and counted how much people know a language. I didn't count the I-have-forgotten-everything languages, or the I-am-just-starting languages. I didn't count mother tongues. And there were some unclear cases, so this is pretty subjective, but works:
> 
> *English---*27 people
> 
> *Spanish, French*--- 22 people
> 
> *German*--- 7 people
> 
> *Italian*--- 6 people
> 
> *Latin, Portuguese--- *3 people
> 
> *Catalan, Greek, Benjois--- *2 people
> 
> *Valenciano,  Russian, Trique, Dutch, Spanglish, Gerinjoso, Bosque, Japanese, Te Gato English--- *1 person



Ben, your idiom is officially part of WR languages!!!   

DDT


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## Cathurian

Te Gato's is too


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## Cathurian

English - Native
Latin - I know it well...haven't used it in a while though, so it's what I call "dusty not rusty". As in it takes a bit to recognise things, but to the best of my knowledge it's all still there.
German - Sort of between intermediate and advanced. I'm not fluent in it, but I can talk about most anything I need to. I'm trying to master longer sentences with many clauses right now. Advanced grammar is hard! 

I also know a conlang. It was my second language and I learned it at 13, which was young enough for it to implant well in my head. Ha, ha, ha.


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## maver

Estonian - mother tongue
Russian - fluent
English - quite fluent (I hope)
German - passive (I remember some grammar and vocabulary, can read and watch movies)
Finnish - passive 
Spanish - beginner, studied it for half a year some time ago...


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## niña

te gato said:
			
		

> *Te gato English*--very fluent..(have my own Dictionary & Spelling)










*Spanish*: mother...and father tongue   
*English*: Fluent writing and my own pronunciation guide   
*Arabic* (alfos7a and a little of Al Maghribya): 5 years at the Official School of languages were not enough. I speak it like a 4 years old kid, probably younger


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## Jana337

niña said:
			
		

> http://users.pandora.be/Dr_Deadeye/ipb/lol.gif
> 
> 
> *Spanish*: mother...and father tongue
> *English*: Fluent writing and my own pronunciation guide
> *Arabic* (alfos7a and a little of Al Maghribya): 5 years at the Official School of languages were not enough. I speak it like a 4 years old kid, probably younger



You are pretty advanced for your age. 

Jana


----------



## Sparkle

^^ LOL

 
Howdy! 
 
Hmmm languages languages...
 
*Portuguese* (Português) - mother tongue
*English* - fluent.
French - Been learning for 6 years and despite havin' a 17 (out of 20) in school I can't really write with no mistakes or speak fluently. Je n'aime pas le français, qu'est-ce que je peux dire lolol
Spanish - can understand, speak a bit and write a few things..
Italian - can write a few things, understand some of it lol Would love to learn properly some day, my favorite language of all. La più romantica!
 
Let's say, know know know any language, besides Portuguese, it's only English
 
 
~Spark


----------



## JennR

English-- native language.
French-- I can read and write nearly fluently. My speaking skills are VERY rusty. 

Other languages that I am currently learning/studying would scare most people. 

L' ancien français et  moyen français -- I can read at a very basic level

Medieval Portuguese -- no fluency at all. (the document I am trying to translate is like putting together a puzzle. Since many of the terms are actually words from 5 other ancient language forms.  )

16th c. Italian -- just started learning

edited to more accurately respond to the question.


----------



## lourai*87

English -- native



			
				JennR said:
			
		

> French - Been learning for 6 years and despite havin' a 17 (out of 20) in school I can't really write with no mistakes or speak fluently. Je n'aime pas le français, qu'est-ce que je peux dire lolol


Moi aussi =p I have been learning french for 6.5 years...i can write, understand and speak relatively well, but my vocabulary is limited and prevents me from being more advanced.


----------



## Lin

Japanese - native language
Spanish -fluent, it was my mayor in uni and studied in Spain and Chile.
English-fluent, minor studied in U.S.
Chinese- beginner, studied half year
Japanese Sign language-beginner, I just started to learn

I am interested in learning Italian and Portugues.


----------



## Camui

Spanish: Native

English: mmm right  

Japanese: Advanced, noken 3-kyuu

I love japanese  

Ja ne


----------



## Jade

Hallo!
Hola!
Hi!
Salut!
Bongiorno!
Com va?
Bona ni!

I never learned the least three but do understand them quiete well. I wouldn't speak catalan Valencian nor Catalan, as I can communicate with them in Spanish. I would do the effort to make myself understandable in Italian.

French is quiete rusty having been a long time ago nearly fluent. The writing has always been bad in this language, thats why always give my proof reading to the world best forum.

What can I say about my English... I use it every day talking to natives, sometimes I even dream in that language but wouldn't call it perfect. I am quiete self-confident speaking and writing it but not as much when I want to use good expressions and give a good impression. 

My passport always said that I'm Spanish, although I did not feel so for many years. I have always spoken it with my family but the main language was German. Being now 15 years in Spain, I don't know anymore which of both to choose to be my mother-tounge. Anyway, I feel very confortable with Spanish and from all the languages mentioned before, it is for me one of the prettiest and pasionates languages.

Cuchu, you can't find a manual because it hasn't been finished yet and very unlikely won't be finished until the end of the world.


----------



## elroy

I just want to clear something up.  It seems to me people have been using the word "verbal" incorrectly...a very common error.

"Verbal" does not mean spoken.  It means anything referring to words, so a paper treaty, for example, is a verbal agreement.  The correct word to use is "oral."


----------



## joensuu

french > mother language
english > quite fluent
german > old basic (at school)
finnish > new basic (live there at the moment)
chiness > two years of study ... so only really basic


----------



## elroy

elroy said:
			
		

> I just want to clear something up.  It seems to me people have been using the word "verbal" incorrectly...a very common error.
> 
> "Verbal" does not mean spoken.  It means anything referring to words, so a paper treaty, for example, is a verbal agreement.  The correct word to use is "oral."



Okay, I need to modify my previous claim.  I just found this on dictionary.com:



> Usage Note: Verbal has been used since the 16th century to refer to spoken, as opposed to written, communication, and the usage cannot be considered incorrect. But because verbal may also mean “by linguistic means,” it may be ambiguous in some contexts. Thus the phrase modern technologies for verbal communication may refer only to devices such as radio, the telephone, and the loudspeaker, or it may refer to devices such as the telegraph, the teletype, and the fax machine. In such contexts it may be clearer to use the word oral to convey the narrower sense of communication by spoken means.



So I suppose it is possible to use to mean "spoken," but saying "oral" avoids any possible ambiguity.

Sorry about the confusion.


----------



## timpeac

elroy said:
			
		

> Okay, I need to modify my previous claim. I just found this on dictionary.com:
> 
> 
> 
> So I suppose it is possible to use to mean "spoken," but saying "oral" avoids any possible ambiguity.
> 
> Sorry about the confusion.


 
I can give you quite a graphic example of where they are not synonymous. If someone can't stop talking you can say they have "verbal diarrhea". You could not say "oral diarrhea" which does not even bear thinking about!


----------



## elroy

timpeac said:
			
		

> I can give you quite a graphic example of where they are not synonymous. If someone can't stop talking you can say they have "verbal diarrhea". You could not say "oral diarrhea" which does not even bear thinking about!



You're right.  I don't even want to know what that could/would/should possibly mean.   

I realize there's not synonymous.  "Verbal" is broader, which is why "oral" avoids ambiguity - especially in this thread, in which we're discussing specific language capabilities.  What does it mean to have "passable verbal ability in French"?  I would assume that meant "oral," but couldn't be 100% positive.

Another funny thing about "oral" is that it kind of rhymes with "aural."


----------



## tintinnabulum_m

Wow!!! Your guys are impressive!! How did you all learn that many languages.... 
Me, Three (If u count French for which I have no fluency in)
Chinese - Native Language, I am forgetting it day by day.
English - Second Language, had to learn it for I am living in a English-Speaking area of Canada.
French- Third Language, learning it in school for the convenience of future uses.

For people who had learned so many languages, any hints on how? Because French is sort of driving me nuts... I am hating it with a passion... *sigh*


----------



## touaregsand

1. Korean- mother tongue, but moved to the States when I was 5
2. English- defacto mother tongue
3. Spanish- three years in school, achieved some verbal proficiency, still able to read it and understand the basics.
4. French- married to a native speaker. A little better than my Spanish. 
5. Arabic- very beginning stage. The difficulty is that I am married to an Algerian derja speaker and I'm learning MSA from CDs. I think at best I will be able to read it, speaking will be very challenging unless I move to an Arabic speaking country. My Arabic speaking friends come from different countries and speak different dialects, even they get frustrated with eachother and speak English or French.
6. Italian- only enough to order off a menu.


----------



## Matteo49

*American English* - Mother Tongue
*Australian English *- I've spent numerous time talking to my friends in Australia and spent quite a bit of time "down under." My accent when I return to the states is horrifically changed to Australian...but that's not always a bad thing, hey ladies?
*French (French & Swiss)* - I've studied it for 9 years now and have spent quite a bit of time in Francophone countries. Quite proficient (IMHO).
*Spanish* - I can read most all of it from the exposure in the states and the French I have learned I can sometimes understand spoken Spanish but if I ever try to pronounce it, it always comes out sounding Italian *shrugs*
*German* - I learned it a little in fifth grade and a little more from my Swiss German friend (although, that was Schwyzerdeutsch...does that even count? lol) but not enough to do much of anything at all.
*Italian* - I can count, read a menu, and understand cognates with French...that's about it.
I'd say I'm just really bilingual...I hope to be fluent in Spanish and possibly German or Italian later on....


----------



## solecito

_* Me siento desconsolada, soy una verguenza para este foro.
SOLO HABLO DOS IDIOMAS, Español que es mi idioma natal,  e Inglés.

¡Lo peor del caso es que no domino bien ninguno!  
Nunca fuí buena estudiante en la escuela, pero ya siendo una adulta procuré no olvidar mis acentos y comas. Aún así olvidé mucho. A los quince años me fuí a vivir a los E.U. y empezé a estudiar Inglés, me enfoqué más en hablarlo bien(sobre todo entender el slang americano, pues ese regularmente no lo aprendes en ningún libro) que a escribirlo, no terminé mis estudios de Inglés, pero siempre lo practico. Teniendo familia bilingue a sido exelente para no olvidar el inglés ahora que tengo años viviendo de nuevo en mi tierra natal. Además trato de escuchar T.V. americana para mantenerme al tanto de lo actual, y tener un hijo adolecente "pocho" te mantiene bastante actual. Entiendo unas cuantas palabras de Italiano, que por cierto me fascina, y ahora que mi hijo tome Italiano en el colegio, me dará una excusa para avanzar un poco más.
*_


----------



## chica11

Hello! Languages I speak are:

English:  Native
Spanish: Fluent
French:  Intermediate
Ebonics (dialect): Fluent


----------



## robinhood

English = native language
French fluent
Italian & Hebrew can carry on a conversation and basic reading/writing.

I guess that counts as 4. Wish I had time to study them all in more depth...


----------



## meili

Filipino - fluent
English - fluent, learned from school, work and everyday conversation
Spanish - pretty well, I can say that it is justifiable 
Portuguese, Castillian - pretty understandable


----------



## zazie

English - native
French - basically fluent, with reading, listening, writing, speaking in order of decreasing profiency (I lived in Paris for 5th grade, with my family)
Russian - progressing (I just spent a semester in Moscow)
Finnish, Swedish - very basic vocabulary, mostly good for reading menus (light years from fluent, but still useful!)

One of my goals in life is to learn a non-Indo-European language really well, just to learn a language that's so different from anything I know.  Perhaps Finnish or Hungarian.  I'd also like to learn German.


----------



## lizzie chen

Chinese: mother tongue
Cantonese: people in Guangdong and Hongkong speak it. (but i think it doesn't count here.)
English: my major. have no problem understanding and speaking the language, but need to work on my writing. still a long long way to go.
French: have studied for one year. only know the basic knowledge. 

so i think only 2.


----------



## NTFS

Filipno -> Native
English -> Fluent
Spanish -> Studying
Portuguese -> Basic terms


----------



## Andræs

My languages are:

Spanish - Mother tongue
English - Fluent
German - Fluent

I´m almost all day long speaking english or german because of my work but I prefer german to english although I may have some problems when writing it. I can understand italian pretty well, and I can handle a conversation if the other person speaks slowly.  
I love the way french sounds but the vowels are a nightmare.


----------



## remosfan

For me, first living languages:

English - native
Greek - can pass as a native sometimes (right now, mostly my vocabulary is deficient)
French - very rusty now, but once was pretty close to fluent, especially in reading/writing
German - very basic knowledge

And personally, I've always been interested in dead languages too:

Ancient Greek - not fluent, but not too bad either -- I can struggle through the New Testament with only a dictionary
Latin - simple texts are fine, but again need a dictionary
Old English - very new to it but seems to be going well


----------



## danalto

Italian   -> native
English -> fluent
French -> fluent
Spanish-> nor bad at all 
German -> it used to be fluent too, but I forgot it, but I'm sure I would be able to recover it! 

Latin -> I studied it at school...for 8 yrs...


----------



## gorbatzjov

Hi,

Dutch/Flemish --> mother tongue
French --> fluent (studied/talked it for 14 years and counting)
English --> fluent (studied/talked it for 10 years and couting)
Spanish --> read: good, write: less good, speak: ok (but that's going to improve a lot in the next couple of months
German --> close to Dutch + studied it for 2 years. I understand it, but grammar is zero
(South)African --> VERY similar to Dutch (even more than German) + lived there 1 year

Than I have studied 6 years of Ancient Greek at High School
and 2 years of Latin; I forgot everything. I can read it, but i don't understand it anymore...


----------



## Whisky con ron

Soy fluida en:

Español
Inglés
Tonterías
Estupideces
Pendejadas

Y otros que se me escapan por ahora...


----------



## alya

Russian: First, but no longer primary, language. Make mistakes & forget words when I don't use it for a while.
English: Second, now primary, language. Fluent.
French: Used to be close to fluent. Very rusty from neglect. Tend to say everything in present tense. 
Latin: Took 2 years in high school. Mostly forgotten, but still helpful in understanding other languages.


----------



## jess oh seven

i don't know enough languages. i feel as if i'm neglecting some.

*English* - native
*Spanish* - advanced... fairly fluent comprehension & writing, pero todavía me cuesta hablar!!!! 
*Portuguese* - beginner (but going to spend 3 months in Portugal)
*French* - very basic, i've forgotten it all


----------



## jess oh seven

Whisky con ron said:
			
		

> Soy fluida en:
> 
> Tonterías
> Estupideces
> Pendejadas


 
yo también hablo estos idiomas! qué casualidad!!


----------



## SweetMommaSue

Let's see, when I was first learning to speak, my mother was living with my father's family as he was away in the army. They speak Napolitana, the "old language" as our cousins in Ischia call it. So, I began with both English (my mom isn't Italian-and we live here in the USA) and Napolitana. To be more concise, I'll go to a list:
*Italian*: only a few words, I fear. 
*English*: native tongue
*French*: first foreign language that I studied in school in 5th and 7th-12th grades. I was rather proficient at one time, but it's been over 20 years since I've used it regularly. I just met someone locally with whom I can practice again. So, I'm very happy about that!
*Spanish*: my newest acquisition. I'm very involved with the Spanish-speaking community here in my area, and so I've taken a course at the local college and have been practicing extensively. They are so kind to me! I'm conversational on a high beginning level. Those verbs in Spanish are something else to learn!
*Farsi*: For a year, I lived in a student community where there were lots of Iranian students. They taught me to read, write and speak Farsi. I was conversational back then, but I fear I've lost most of it. However, once again, I've found someone with whom to practice! I live in a great area! So many foreigners are around and are so willing to help one learn their language and to teach about their culture!
*Japanese*: I had started to learn to read, write and speak Japanese while I was stationed in Misawa, again, many, many years ago. Now, I've lost just about all of it.

I am looking for an Italian course right now. Nothing would please my dear grandmother more than if I could learn to speak Italian before she passes on, and I really would like to learn it, too. Other languages that I intend to learn (or at least begin to study) within the next 5 years are: Bengali (my neighbor & good friend is from Calcutta! and wants to teach me), Mandarin (again another good friend of mine would like to teach me) and Portugese. I love learning foreign languages, and I love meeting all kinds of people! Oh- I can say, "Hello!" in Swahili: "Jambo!" (from my days in Kenya). So, there we have it. . . a jack of several trades but master of only one. . . :^(. But that's soon to change I hope!

This is a GREAT thread!
Smiles to all!


----------



## Laia

- *Catalan*: mother tongue, perfect  

- *Spanish*: bilingual, perfect  

- *English*: well... I have the First Certificate  

- *French*: 3 years at school and forgotten afterwards :S


----------



## La Bionda

Hi

What a fantastic poll!!

I speak

German - Mother tongue 

English - Like a native but better (so my friends say)  . Had it at school for nine years which still did not prepare me for the day I moved to England.  

Italian - Intermediate; I can hold a conversation, write it and understand it. Studying it at the moment and making steady progress!  

Spanish - Basic.

Latin - how could I forget the Mother of Roman languages. Have das 'Grosse Latinum' (any Germans among us here) but struggle now to translate when I read it. Is of great help now that I am learning Italian!  

I can meet and greet in quite a few other languages but I guess that does not count for this poll!


----------



## mzsweeett

Howdy foks!! And Yo Wassup!  There!!  That's two languages in itself!!   HA HA... anyway....

*English *- mother tongue.....but still learning it it seems 

*German* - 6 years in school and have forgotten a lot..... but hopefully with the help of my german friends here I can build it back up 

*Latin* - couple years in school and can still remember some of it. 

*Spanish* - Very very basic.... learning it as I go from friends.... no formal study yet. 

*Italian* - Well umm... you guys know how that is . I am learning it as I go from friends and family, and you guys here at WR!!  Although most of what I hear is dialect (molese) I am doin my best to learn it properly!!

And there you have it!!  Any q's feel free to PM.

A big Java toast to all my linguistic buddies!!!!
Sweet T.


----------



## irkku

hello,
German: native language
English: pretty good because studying in Scotland, lived there for two years now
French: ok, study French and spent 4months Erasmus over there
Spanish: also ok, study it as well and in Spain since 5months now for Erasmus and work

I love it! But still loads to learn, a pity that wordreference doesn't do German anymore


----------



## whatonearth

*English* - mother tongue and have studied
*French* - am fairly competant, but spoken language needs work
*Japanese* - a (very) little
Boy, there are some smart people on these forums!


----------



## rubes1

I speak:
Eng: native tongue
Hebrew: fluent
French: fluent, but still have a lot to learn.


----------



## Sophie Elizabeth

*Current Languages (Native and studying at university)*
*English: *Mother tongue, native of the UK
Doing a French and Spanish degree
*French:* Have been learning for 8 years (although I would say the first two didn't count!). Semi-fluent but could do with more oral practice.
*Spanish: *Started as a beginner at university one year ago, now at same standard as other uni students who have learned it since 13. Can read very comfortably, still trying to cram all the grammar in!

*Past Languages* 
*Italian: *Took a conversation class some years ago although learning Spanish since then means I have forgotten a lot.Enough to hold basic conversations, can understand written Italian fairly easily. 
*German: *Learned for exams at school, haven't used for a long time. Would probably be able for basic conversations and reading.
*Latin: *Learned to a fairly good standard at school, still use as a guide for other languages but have forgotten a lot of vocabulary.
*Ancient Greek: *Also studied at school but not as extensively as Latin. Enough to do well in exams but have forgotten nearly everything except the alphabet now. At the time, it helped me read modern Greek.

(*Irish: *Not really! Just the most basic of phrases that would be thrown around at family occasions!)


----------



## Julie83

*French - *mother tongue

*English* - quite fluent, but could be better

*German *- good, for I have been studying in Munich

*Italian* - I understand a lot, but I can't really speak 

*Ancient Greek* - used to be good, but is now very rusty

I voted for 3.


----------



## Jad

*English *- Mother tongue  

*French - *Can have a chat in it though I rarely do  

*German - *Don't know very much at all, been learning for 3 years


----------



## AnnieF

*English* - mother tongue
*French* - fluent but always learning (studied at school, uni, lived there for a couple of years, and my 'other half' is French)
*German* - can understand the written language reasonably and make simple conversation.
*Italian* - can understand the written language reasonably, but my spoken language is very basic.
*Dutch* - can understand the written language reasonably, but my spoken language is almost non-existent.
*Latin* - studied for several years at school, and although I remember very little specifically, it's always been invaluable for getting to grips with other languages.


----------



## astronauta

Do you mean, how many languages can you speak well? hehehhe.

Spanish-mother tongue (100%)
English-adopted country tongue (100%)
French-understood and read ok, spoken; awful 
German-starting to gear up for world cup 2006!


----------



## Anastasia

*italiano*: madrelingua
*francese*:abbastanza bene
*russo:* abbastanza bene(un pochino peggio del francese)
*inglese*:un pochino(ho iniziato lo scorso ottobre anche se lo sento parlare molto essendo il mio ragazzo inglese)


----------



## Mita

solecito said:
			
		

> _* Me siento desconsolada, soy una verguenza para este foro.*_
> _*SOLO HABLO DOS IDIOMAS, Español que es mi idioma natal, e Inglés.*_


¡¡Aquí hay otra vergüenza para el foro!! 
Yo hablo español como idioma natal y lo que sé de inglés es lo que he aprendido en el colegio y por ahí, pero creo que no soy mala en ninguno de los dos, por suerte. 
Bueno, también sé hablar chileno y, como Whisky, le pego a las tonterías y pendejadas, de vez en cuando (pero no siempreee, soy inteligente  [o eso creo])...


----------



## Merlin

JLanguage said:
			
		

> How many languages do you know?
> 
> Not a must, but it would be great if you could also post which languages you know and your current level of fluency.
> 
> In order to count as knowing a language you should at least be semi-fluent. (Whatever that means to you)
> 
> From,
> -Jonathan.
> 
> PS: I have done a couple searches and haven't found a poll exactly like this one, but maybe I missed something.


 
As of this moment I only know two. (Embarrassing ) English and Tagalog.
And I'm beginning to learn Spanish. Very basic knowledge. Hope to learn more


----------



## nahash

Tagalog-Native Language
English-pretty good
Spanish-practicing and studying

I wanna improve my spanish!
very interesting and wonderful language... 
I'm also interested to learn german,italian and other languages


----------



## typistemilio

Veamos:

* Español/Spanish/Káastlan:* Mi lengua natal. Nunca dejo de aprender de ella.

* English/Inglés/Inglees:* No tan bueno como quisiera, estoy tratando de mejorarlo, sobre todo al escucharlo, ya que lo entiendo bastante bien escrito, pero a la hora de escucharlo no me resulta tan facil.

* Maaya/Maya/Mayan: *Mi nuevo proyecto personal, además de aprender un idioma extranjero, me he propuesto conocer el idioma ancestral del estado donde vivo, el maya yucateco (hay varias derivaciones del maya, el maya yucateco es de todas sus formas el que más gente habla.)

Y quien sabe en el futuro... uno nunca deja de aprender.


----------



## timebomb

Do dialects count?

If not, I know 3 languages.

English - I learnt that in school
Chinese - I use it everyday as the wife doesn't speak English well
Malay - I use it when I talk to my Malay workers

As for dialects, I'm a Hakka and I can also speak Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew.


----------



## Roi Marphille

Catalan: mother tongue
Castillian-Spanish: perfect
English: quite good, almost perfect
Portuguese: I can read it and speak it but not fluently

I don't speak Italian but I can understand quite good and read it. No big deal as Latin languages are similar, aren't they?


----------



## Mei

Hi all there!

I speak 3 languages: catalan (native), spanish (I couldn't choose but I like to use it) and I do what I can with english (I like it so much)

Cheers

Mei


----------



## mayita

Hola a todos!

Spanish: Mother Tongue 
English:  Learning! i try so hard!
Italian:   I wish i knew...
French:  I wish i knew... Too)
Chinese: I know just a few espresions (like hi, bye, how are you?, no esta!)
Russian:   i just have heard it
German:   i just have heard it
Turkish :  i just have heard it
Latin: just a few words

so, i'm afraid i just know 1 1/2  

Saludos!!


----------



## phlegyas

Greetings!

I speak three languages. I am a native Kapampangan speaker. Lots of fellow Kapampangans still refer to the language a dialect. But since Center for Kapampangan Studies (among other centers and official organizations) have pronounced it a language, I have no hesitations in agreeing with them. I am also fluent in Filipino (although one friend dismisses my Filipino speaking and writing skills poor.). Filipino is our national language (in the Philippines.) I am also capable of speaking and writing English. Of all the three languages, I am most comfortable writing in English. On the other hand, I am very, very comfortable speaking in Kapampangan. (Just to give an idea, the Kapampangan language is of Malay descent. At least that I know of. I am not so sure, though.)


----------



## Honeylhanz

Filipino is our national language. I am also capable of speaking and writing English. i can speak and understand 70% spanish and 50% macao.


----------



## Guaperas

hi !



Spanish : mother tongue.


Catalan : "father" tongue  that means to me it is a language i can speak my family speaks but it is not so comfortable as spanish for me.


German : "neighbourhood" tongue , people around me speaks this language i can hardly manage to express my self in german as I wish but "Übung macht den Meister".


English : "tourist-travell" tongue , when people comes to visit spain and when I go abroad is the most common language I use, unfortunatelly I am not very skillful with this language, and i can hardly manage either to understand people are saying to me or to be understood by them, I try my best through.


Italian : "desiderable tongue" I like italy soo much I wish I could speak it properly but my spoken level is enought to be liked for italians when I am in italy so I do not have any comunications problem with them which is a quite different thing that knowing the language.


Portuguese: "imposible tongue" portuguese sounds to me like dutch it is a pity because i love portugal and have got many portuguese or brazilians friends but there is no way for me to learn the language I can read and I understand 95% but spoken is a torture for me...


so to be honest, I would say I speak 2 languages properly, spanish and catalan.


----------



## Shenanigans

Hello!!!

Spanish: mother tongue.

English: I study english since I was 8.

French: I have learnt french 5 years. Now it's over, I won't continue.

Arabic: I will start this year.

Català: I know a little bit, but I will start this year seriously.


----------



## ariavalos

I speak two languanges


----------



## alc112

ariavalos said:
			
		

> I speak two languanges


 
Tell us which ones


----------



## Rayines

*Spanish:* mother and- why not father!- tongue.
*English: *sent to study it when I was a child. Many years later I thanked to my parents for that, when I used it naturally in my first travel. Now, I only use it in these Forums, and in some other travels. I know I should improve it (specially vocabulary and American expressions, because I studied the so called British one). But I manage (or I believe so) with grammar.
*French: *I studied it for two years, a lot of years ago. It was also helpful for me in a travel. Of course I've forgotten it, although I love to listen to it and understand it in the films. (Still able to write and pronounce some sentences).
*Dutch:* my last strange idea. I've acquired some basic elements of grammar, and I'm happy with that: the possibility of trying to learn a language without any exigence or utility for me (only to understand a little grand nephew who lives in Amsterdam) 
*And, after all, this last one was the reason because of which I arrived to these forums. I jumped from Dutch-English forums to English-Spanish -"my Spanish"- ones! Hoho.....*


----------



## italia2

English: native language
French: almost-there fluency; I'm leaving in two weeks to study in France for a year so this will definitely change!!
Québecois: it's a dialect, but honestly is so difficult to understand when spoken quickly that it should qualify for another language. 
Italian: can understand a great deal but there's no chance I'd be able to speak and be taken for a competent person.
German: don't know any at the moment, but I have to take it for my major, so I'll end up with at least a reading knowledge of it. I'm excited. 

I'd also love to learn how to read Hungarian. Does anyone know if it's anything like German, or if not, if it's somewhat similar to any language?


----------



## LauraPV

Hola!

Spanish: mother tongue
English: fluent
French: I studied it during lots of years and it used to be at a very high level but I had to stop learning it three years ago so now I've got a medium level as I've forgotten too many words. I can still understand tv in french, read books...but holding a normal conversation is a great effort, I've lost the practise of speaking in french but I conserve a good pronuntiation. I'll start attending classes again asap.
Italian: I learnt it at University but only for six months so my level is quite basic. I love that language and I hope I can learn it properly in the future, my grandmother is italian and she has often talked to me in italian.
Portuguese: I've never studied it but I find it really interesting and funny and recently I had to read lots of documents in that language at work as we didn't have a traslation copy and I realised I can read and understand Portuguese easily.
Bask: It should be much better, as it is an oficial language here in Bask Country (apart from Spanish). I studied it at school and reached a good level but I abandoned it too many yaers and now I've just recuperated a basic level.


----------



## bighuey

English: native language
Spanish: I took it for three years in school, would have taken it more if it was offered. I am planning to take some more just to help me. I write and read in it pretty well, I need to practice speaking it more.


----------



## Swettenham

I speak 30 languages fluently.

Okay, okay.  I am fluent only in English, my Spanish is improving, and I can read a good deal of French.  I'm such a failure!


----------



## cochagua

*Spanish*: Mother tongue
*Basque*: Understand better than speak
*French*:Fluent
*English*:Getting better
*Arabics*:3 years, I don´t remember anything 
*Slovene*: Getting better (I live now in Ljubljana)
*Italian*: I have never studied it, but I can`t understand


----------



## Swettenham

cochagua said:
			
		

> *Spanish*: Mother tongue
> *Basque*: Understand better than speak
> *French*:Fluent
> *English*:Getting better
> *Arabics*:3 years, I don´t remember anything
> *Slovene*: Getting better (I live now in Ljubljana)
> *Italian*: I have never studied it, but I can understand it


If you couldn't understand it, then you shouldn't have told us here!


----------



## lpkerr

Father tongue: Spanish from Mexico.
Mother tongue: English from America
Improved linguistics in Spanish while in Spain during my high school years. Also taught English as a second language through the Cambridge text. Most excellent experience in my life.


----------



## SusieQ

Spanish is my mother tongue, and I'm very fluent in English.  After I get my Translator title I will begin studying German.  I would really love to study Italian but at the moment I will have a better use for German than Italian.


----------



## shiba inu

just two

spanish : Mother tongue
english: fluent

and i know some sentences in valenciano, arab and japaneses (my last girlfrind was japanese)


----------



## Boet

Goeiedag, Selamat malam, Bonjour, Grüß Gott, Hello,

1. Languages that I feel confident enough in to engage a conversation:
-Dutch (mother tongue) 
-Indonesian Malay 
-French (paternal grandmother’s language) 
-German (paternal grandfather’s language). Needs a little prodding but becomes fluent enough after a few days in Austria. 
-English

2. Languages that I read well enough to prefer the original rather than a translation 
-Latin, still a reference point when tackling any other language’s grammatical structures 
-Afrikaans, very close to Dutch. Most beautiful sounding language I ever came across, has an enthralling literature 
-Portuguese. On the brink of being promoted to group 1. In fact I’m looking forward to an extensive course in Lisbon in September 
-Swedish. One year as a fourth foreign language in grammar school

3.Languages that I studied at least one year without acquiring any practical degree of proficiency: 
-Samoan. Fascinating but impossibly complicated, though related to Malay 
-Mandarin Chinese. Tried twice, no more than about a hundred kanji lingering in the grey cells now 
-Spanish. Knowing French and Portuguese helps with reading though not with speaking 
-Japanese. Barely enough hiragana and katakana to drive around by myself

4.Languages that I have never studied but did speak to some degree as a child
-Kinyarwanda 
-Lingala 
Very little left of either, tough, much to my surprise, I was able to help a patient in Lingala three years ago. The miracle did not repeat itself.

I voted 5
Cheers,
Boet


----------



## missabc

3 dialects of Chinese--fluent
 English---fluent

um....learning Italian..thought it is more easy to read than to write lol....


----------



## caoimhe

I am Irish, grew up mostly in England and have a thing for languages so
English:mother tongue
Irish:Family, but not so good any more went to a gaelscoil (irish speaking school, no english allowed) for a bit but wasn't so keen. 
French , good at speaking and everything but writing, got one of the top 5 marks in the country in my GCSE, if that is anything to judge.
German, studied for 2 years and spent some time in Germany with my exchange partner, bit rusty, once Im there I get into the swing of things.
Latin, studies for 4 years, fairly good, A* in GCSE.
Ancient Greek, still going strong.
BSL for use with my brother when he was younger, but new he can hear so no need to use.

Would love to learn Afrikaans and perhaps Arabic or Japanese.


----------



## JazzByChas

Well, Chica...you are the first to mention an American dialect as one of  your languages...I like that!   
As for me:

English: Native language...quite proficient
English Dialects: Northern/New England, North Coast(midwest), Southern, Redneck, Backwoods country, Ebonics, and western/southwestern
French: Semi fluent: studied and practice a lot
Spanish: Can understand and read at an advanced basic/intermediate level



			
				chica11 said:
			
		

> Hello! Languages I speak are:
> 
> English: Native
> Spanish: Fluent
> French: Intermediate
> Ebonics (dialect): Fluent


----------



## Inara

I voted *3* "in use":
*Russian* - mother tongue
*English* - speaking, reading, making mistakes
*Spanish* - speaking, reading, making mistakes

There are some languages I had tried to learn once but have forgotten already:
Azeri/Turkish
Hungarian 

I can song one song and say some "tacos"(swearwords) in Greek
I understand Catalan since I live in Cataluny, but I don't speak it yet.

Languages I wish to learn: English, Spanish, Azeri, Farsi, French, Greek


----------



## Josesita

Aichis!! suena que son todos super inteligentes
I just know two languages..  Spanish and English..
just that.. so I voted for 2


----------



## thelastchoice

I am just a new member,  

Arabic.....> Mother Tongue

English....> Fluent

French...> Upper Intermedite in conversation but FLUENT in WRITTEN FRENCH

Spanish ..> Beginner but I like it so much 

Italian ..> I can read it easily and I can understand a lot the written language.

Urdo...> I cna read it I know grammar well I speak it a little bit.

Farsi....> I can read, understand a lot the written language.

Japanese...> Just Beginnnig, I can read Hiragana and katakana , I know the grammar, Some Kanjis. But it is exotic Language 

Turkish..> I speak it a little , I can read quit well.


----------



## Faith

Hi

Spanish: mother tongue
English: Proficient 
French: Intermediate level
Italian: I studied it for 2 years but unfortunately I've forgotten almost everything. Anyway, I understand it


----------



## Nath0811

French - Mother tongue (most fluent)

Hebrew - Mother tongue

English - Fluent 

Spanish - I can hold a conversation and understand better than I talk

Creole - Fluent - I grew up in the Caribbean Islands and I had to learn the language in order to intergrate myself 

Italian - I can understand Italian - not really speak


----------



## elroy

italia2 said:
			
		

> English: native language
> French: almost-there fluency; I'm leaving in two weeks to study in France for a year so this will definitely change!!
> Québecois: it's a dialect, but honestly is so difficult to understand when spoken quickly that it should qualify for another language.
> Italian: can understand a great deal but there's no chance I'd be able to speak and be taken for a competent person.
> German: don't know any at the moment, but I have to take it for my major, so I'll end up with at least a reading knowledge of it. I'm excited.
> 
> I'd also love to learn how to read Hungarian. Does anyone know if it's anything like German, or if not, if it's somewhat similar to any language?


 
It's nothing like German.

Its closest relatives are Finnish and Estonian.


----------



## elroy

cochagua said:
			
		

> *Spanish*: Mother tongue
> *Basque*: Understand better than speak
> *French*:Fluent
> *English*:Getting better
> *Arabics*:3 years, I don´t remember anything
> *Slovene*: Getting better (I live now in Ljubljana)
> *Italian*: I have never studied it, but I can`t understand


 
It's just *Arabic*, no "s." 

What do you mean by "3 years"?  Did you study it for that long?  That long ago?

It's a shame you don't remember anything!


----------



## cristinna

English - speak , write,  read - fluent

Spanish - speak, write and read - fluent

Portuguese - speak , write (need for spell check) and read - fluent

Italian - speak - not fluent


----------



## brillante

Turkish :: My Native language

English :: well but not as a mother tongue

Italian :: Intermediate level.REading and writing are pretty good.Speaking is semi fluent.i studied it for 2 semesters at university in 2004. i like it very much.

German  :: Intermediate level.my second foreign language after English at lycee .For many years  i have not used it.Read,write well. need to practise.  

French :: Lower intermediate. i've learned it for two semesters at university as italian.(5 hours a week)but i can not bear to it much after i made acquainted with italian (simultaneously).

Albenian  :: My  maternal grandma's language(she is immigrant from Yugoslavia ).we only talk to each other.i can understand what is being talked about but not well.i can not write it.

Arabic  :: Basic level.i learn it from my neighbour(Tetà )she comes to Turkey for one or two months a year. i can almost understand it and express myself.i know reading it (better with signs).but i can not write it. i admire of arabic songs.


----------



## Mari_Susanna

*Finnish : *mother tongue

*English: *fluent

*Swedish: *good

*German: *intermediate

*Italian: *basics, learning more all the time

*Spanish: *some basic sentences

Mari


----------



## Kräuter_Fee

4

Spanish and Portuguese - Mother tongues (bilingual)
English - advanced
German - not sure, I'd say upper-intermediate

I am studying French (pre-intermediate, so it doesn't count as a language I speak, not yet!) and Turkish (beginner) too.


----------



## Oven

Spanish: my mother tongue...
English: fluent but I still make misatakes
Portuguese: I can have a conversation but I am not really good at it
French: just know basic stuff, greetings, verb conjugation...nothing really


----------



## JLanguage

I am posting an update of my language status.

[In order of profiency]:

1.English - native, but still working on it.
2.Hebrew - intermediate, far from fluent, but am working on it.
3.Spanish - very basic, know phrases, a little vocabulary and working on present verb conjugations.

I have dropped Latin because its usefulness is very limited as I have very little interest in learning dead languages right now. 

I am amazed by how much this thread has grown!

-Jonathan.


----------



## ane

My mother tongue is Norwegian, which has two written languages that I can both use fluently. Since I'm a Scandinavian speaker I also know Danish and Swedish. I speak English fluently, but I do make grammar mistakes when I'm writing. I have now lived in France for three years and I've learned the language fluently. My German is not as good as it used to be, but in my job (I'm a guide) I am capable of giving guided tours in this language, though they are not exactly perfect.. 

I voted 5 =)


----------



## GenJen54

I voted for 3, but like fellow forer@s, have studied others. 

*English* (of course, it's my native tongue!)
*
French* - fluent in speaking, listening & reading, but my writing is atrocious.    I lived in France several years ago, having studied the language for almost twelve years.

* Spanish* - I speak well enough to find a bathroom, order a few beers and argue with a Mexican gas attendant. I read the local Mexican weekly paper, so my reading comprehension is not bad. Speaking improves upon consumption of alcohol beverages. 
*
German* - studied for two years in college and spent a summer at Monterey Institute of International Studies.  Ich kann eine bisschen Deutsch sprechen. (ok, so maybe not)! _Danke, Jana_.  

*Italian* - studied one semester in college. Once asked Alberto Tomba: "Uno fotografia, per piacere!" It worked. He obliged. Can read some (thanks to French and Spanish).

*Latin* - studied in 7th and 8th grade.

*Pig-Latin* - taught to me by my grandfather. Eel-fay ree-fay oo-tay emm-pay emm-ay or-fay ore-may itacions-cay.


----------



## Jana337

GenJen54 said:
			
		

> *
> German* - studied for two years in college and spent a summer at Monterey Institute of International Studies.  Ich kann  eine bischen ein bisschen  Deutsch sprechen.


Marsch ins deutsche Forum! 

Jana


----------



## Isis

*Filipino - mother tongue*
*English - second language (fluent)*
*Chinese - second language (fluent)*
*Spanish - i've learned from high school and college ( level 3, can speak sometimes without the accent, write and understand )*
*Bahasa Melayu - i've learned from my friends for 2 years now ( level 3, can speak slowly, write with mistakes and understand )*

*Italian - still learning*
*Nihonggo - still learning*
*French - still learning*

*i voted 5.........*


----------



## redwine

Filipino- mother tongue, home language
English- 1st foreign language, home, work and school language
Nippongo- 2ng foreign language, school language then, level1 proficiency, though... forgot some of the grammar.. spend a year in Japan, familiar with 250 kanji... that was berfore
French-3rd foreign language, current school language, still learning in school
Italian-4th foreign language, current school language, still learning
Latin- can decipher some words
Mandarin, Cantonese and Fukien- my future foreign language, planning to pursue studies in Shanghai and Taipei.


----------



## eduarodi

Spanish: That's my native tongue.

English: I teach the language.

Portuguese: I teach it, too.

French: I've studied it for some time.

Italian: But that's because it's too similar to Spanish.

German: I understand it when I read it.

Do artificial languages count? Then, you can also add Ido, which I've been practising for over three years, now. Anyway, they're already above 5.


----------



## elroy

ane said:
			
		

> My mother tongue is Norwegian, which has two written languages that I can both use fluently. Since I'm a Scandinavian speaker I also know Danish and Swedish. I speak English fluently, but I do make grammar mistakes when I'm writing. I have now lived in France for three years and I've learned the language fluently. My German is not as good as it used to be, but in my job (I'm a guide) I am capable of giving guided tours in this language, though they are not exactly perfect..
> 
> I voted 5 =)


 
Doesn't that make 6? I'm curious as to which language you didn't count. German? Or did you count Danish and Swedish as one?


----------



## elroy

ane said:
			
		

> My mother tongue is Norwegian, which has two written languages that I can both use fluently. Since I'm a Scandinavian speaker I also know Danish and Swedish. I speak English fluently, but I do make grammar mistakes when I'm writing. I have now lived in France for three years and I've learned the language fluently. My German is not as good as it used to be, but in my job (I'm a guide) I am capable of giving guided tours in this language, though they are not exactly perfect..
> 
> I voted 5 =)


 
Oops - I just realized the choices in the poll only go up to "5+" anyway, so it wouldn't make a difference. I'm still curious though: how many languages would you say you speak - 5 or 6? - and which ones?


----------



## rlinn

*English:* native language. I have always been a very proficient writer with a strong vocabulary. I would love to help anyone with a question.
*Spanish:* not quite fluent, though I was years ago when I lived in Argentina. I am working on rebuilding my vocabulary, and this site is excellent! I can do pretty well with general subjects, though my vocabulary with technical or specialized areas is weak.

I have an interest in learning other languages, but time constraints hold me back.


----------



## oona003

Hi all !
I've just read most of the messages posted, and unfortunately i didn't found there lots of people speaking Greek, or at least they just know few words of it...
Personnaly i speak :
*1- French* - mother tongue
*2- English* - quite fluently when writing but i still have some problems to speak 
*3- Spanish* - i like speaking but i still make mistake when writing !
4- I wish I knew *Greek*... well, i'm trying to learn a few words of it.. i have some friends fortunately to help me  
Hope to find more Greek-speakers soon !
Bye


----------



## Christoph

German: native 
English: fluent - almost like a native
French: intermediate
Latin: intermediate
Spanish: low level
which sums up to 3.4345, but I rounded down, meaning I voted for 3 languages.

I also know some computer languages...snicker...I liked that addition by...forgot his username.

cr


----------



## DareRyan

Italian (Albeit I am not very good grammatically but can hold a conversation)English 
Spanish 
Latin (Its sad to say I am virtually fluent in a dead language. )


----------



## irisheyes0583

*English*--> mother tongue
*Spanish*--> as fluent as I will get before living in a Spanish-speaking country
*Portuguese*--> undertand virtually everything and can hold a conversation
*French*--> used to be quite good, but I haven't used it in 4+ years... re-acquainting myself now!
*German*--> took some in college, and am now studying independently

I chose 4!


----------



## swift_precision

English - Yea I guess

Spanish ( semi fluent and can do impersonations of any Spanish speaker but I specialize in those that are from the following countries:

*Cuba*

*Puerto Rico*

*Dominican Republic*

*Mexico*

African American Vernacular English (Ebonics) Fluent

Would like to learn Italian, Portuguese, German, Arabic (allah akbar!) and possibly French in the near future.

_¡Vaya! ¿Qué volón?_


----------



## Eugin

*Spanish*: mother tongue
*English*: supposed to be be my second language, since I work with it everyday and lived in Australia for a year, so you can say _pretty fluent_!
*German*: studied it from 7 to 17 years-old but once I "quit" it, I totally forgot its vocabulary. I can still understand the grammar, though, but it`s rather difficult for me to speak it....
*Italian*: Upper intermediate! Have been studying it for 2 1/2 years and went to Italy last summer and had the chance to practice it with the natives and managed to get on time to every train and arrive safely to every hotel.... Lucky for me it`s so similar to Spanish!!
*French*: Studied it at secondary school for 2 years but never managed to pick the pronunciation right... shame on me!!!
My vote should be then 3 1/2 languages.... is that allowed??


----------



## Christoph

DareRyan said:
			
		

> Italian (Albeit I am not very good grammatically but can hold a conversation)English
> Spanish
> Latin (Its sad to say I am virtually fluent in a dead language. )


Latin is useful though. I had 6.5 years of Latin at high school and I think it was a little bit too much, but it's a good base. Doesn't your Spanish and Italian go quicker now with all that Latin you had? And hey, you may end up becoming a language historian and dig in latin-loaded archives, sort of like in 'The Name of the Rose'.

cr


----------



## *Cowgirl*

Christoph said:
			
		

> Latin is useful though. I had 6.5 years of Latin at high school and I think it was a little bit too much, but it's a good base. Doesn't your Spanish and Italian go quicker now with all that Latin you had? And hey, you may end up becoming a language historian and dig in latin-loaded archives, sort of like in 'The Name of the Rose'.
> 
> How did you have 6.5 years of high school?
> 
> cr


 
I chose 1 
Mother tounge: English
Learning/can have simple conversation: español


----------



## natasha2000

Serbian - mother tongue
Spanish - almost as a mother tongue (I live in Spain)
English - excellent, both speaking and writting, but still not as Spanish....


----------



## sismint

Mother tongue: Spanish
Fluent: English & French
Would love to add Greek...


----------



## alahay

*FLUENT LANGUAGES *In order of proficiency:

*Arabic (Levantine)* -- Mother Tongue (Lebanese)
*English  *          -- Fluent (American Style)
*Italian   *         -- Fluent (imparato da autodidatta con un accento meridionale e un dialetto piuttosto napoletano)
*French  *           -- Fluent (apres 8 ans de francais scolaire)
*Arabic (Modern)*    -- Fluent (helps undestand other arabic vernaculars)

_OTHER LANGUAGES _In order of proficiency:
 
_Spanish _           -- Can carry a conversation (self-taught)
_Biblical Hebrew_    -- Read Write Execute (1 year at university)
_Armenian _          -- Can Understand (Mother's Mother Tongue) 
_Portuguese  _       -- Can Understand (by similarity to ES/IT)
_Maltese_            -- Can Understand (Maltese = ITA + ARA)


----------



## boelo

Have seens posts like this before on xxx website. But not with that many visits as this one. 
I think that language knowledge count if you have at least a B2 level on the European Common Scale. (or whatever it's called)


----------



## Cracker Jack

boelo said:
			
		

> Have seens posts like this before on xxx website. But not with that many visits as this one.
> I think that language knowledge count if you have at least a B2 level on the European Common Scale. (or whatever it's called)


 

I agree with you boelo. You are refering to the Common European Framework (CEF) of Reference for Languages which was established by the Council of Europe. A language domain is subdivided according to communicative abilities:

Production - speaking and addressing a group with the purpose of transmitting correctly the concepts or ideas being introduced;

Reception - involves listening and assimilating and understanding message transmitted, and reading with detailed understanding;

Interaction - engagement in discussion, argumentation or dissection of an issue and also exchange of communication by way of telephone or daily conversation, writing memorandum, articles, letters, emails, etc.;

Mediation - ability to synthesize ideas in a text or audio-visual material, paraphrasing, translation, reporting of direct speech in both direct and indirect forms. Included in this ''ability'' is inventing, twisting or impugning a known fact.

In order to claim proficiency or knowhow of a language, apart from the maternal one, the B2 level is indeed the reference level. This is equivalent to at least 400 hours of study.


----------



## ampurdan

Hi! Voyons voir... Parlo *català* com a llengua materna. También *castellano/español* casi como lengua materna pero no tanto. I think my written* English *is pretty good and my accent is not very strong. Je parle aussi *français*, en fait, je l'étudie à présent. Ich spreche ein bischen *Deutsch*, es ist nicht so gut. Auch ietz studiere ich es. E parlo anche un po' *italiano*, ma non troppo. Lo capisco tutto, pero'. Credo posse scribere *Latinum*, sed Ciceroni non liberet.

That's all, folks!


----------



## thecelt

can anyone here speak gaelic?

I'd like to learn *latin, german and russian*. Im getting the hang of them at least!

O an im currently learning* Irish Gaelic*, 'tis a good language!


----------



## Jhorer Brishti

English-Fluent, language most used, can be considered mother tongue since I've been speaking it forever..(American Northeastern Accent)

Bengali-(Native standard Dhaka/Calcutta accent)Mother tongue, learned to write over the summer but I still have some difficulty recognizing some conjunct letters and understanding difficult words(mainly of "tatshama" origins or direct Sanskrit borrowings) found mainly in written works since a flood of english words has entered colloquial speech as is the case for most other Indic langs, Singaporean,Japanese,etc.

Spanish-Not exactly fluent, but I believe I have all the grammatical rules down, can roll my Rs(practiced for almost 5 hours because I'm obsessive), and have begun to read short stories.. All that's left is actual conversation and enlarging my vocabulary.. Oh, and the best part is that I've recently noticed that I can understand songs,newscasters, and most other spanish language tv programs though when I tried to converse with the new Cuban student at our school I had a hard time understanding..

Hindi-Very paltry, understand a few words due to cognates and hand gestures..

"Arabic"- Can write in the script(somewhat) though I don't have an inkling of the language in terms of grammar(except for a few words) and the fact that there are a LOT of guttural sounds...
In the end, I voted for 2, since I only consider one to know a language when he/she can speak it fluently and maintain a REAL conversation..


----------



## lorettasotelo

Here I go:

Spanish: mother tongue
Galician: mother tongue
English: fluently
French: less fluently than english but I manage
German: two years now studying it
Portuguese: I can understand it and talk a bit as it is similar to Galician
Italian: I can understand it but the speaking part is non existing in me
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




Latin: I can more or less understand it.

I vote 4 (Spanish, Galician, English and French)
I hope next year I will be able to vote 5 (German)
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Bye!


----------



## jasonyan

1.native tongue :Chinese
2.Cantonese,fluent, 3 years in Guangdong,almost the same as mandarine.
3.English, fluent
4.Japanese, 3 years of studying,however,mostly forgotten
5.espanol, studying now, betteen junior and intermediate level


----------



## InmayHugo

Spanish- mother tongue
English- working language and lived in UK for 4 years
French- excellent, lived in Belgium for 4 years.
Italian- very good level
ciao ciao


----------



## chaim

Mother tongue: Spanish
Fluent as a Native: English
Understand a lot (in writing and listening): Portuguese
Forgot a lot, but I still remember what my Granmother (May her soul rest in peace)taugh me: *HEBREW* (Basic prayers) and *Ladino*... .

Chaim


----------



## Ratona

English: mother tongue
  Studied to major degree level:
Spanish: my favourite! although I'm losing my accent
French: gives me mouth ache when trying to pronounce well!
Italian: on obtaining a distinction in my final exam I overcame my belief that I was rubbish at it and learning Italian was destroying my fluency in Spanish!!

Starting/wanting to learn:
Quechua: my book and tape arrived on Friday! I can count to 20!
Welsh: will I ever have the time, and will I really use it? though I'd like to!!
Chinese: teach yourself book, sat on bookshelf, waiting to be opened...


----------



## emmalou9

hi all,
this is the second time iv ever posted so here goes:
i am 14 and born in england so 
1) english is my first language
2) french - i have to learn french at school and have been for 3 years
3) greek - i love greece, i go there on holiday every year since i was born so i decided 2 years ago to start to learn it!


----------



## Lu_international

Born in Italy, Live in spain since 1997, 18 years-old

*Italian:* native language
*Spanish:* excelent (I live in spain)
*English:* excelent
*French:* fluently
*Japanese:* Medium (written very good, grammar good but my vocabulary is not so good eheheh)
*German:* Basic
*Swedish:* basic

I wanna learn more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## gian_eagle

timpeac said:
			
		

> *English* - mother tongue
> *French* - fluent but still make mistakes I shouldn't
> *Spanish* - fluentish, but used to be a lot better.
> *Latin* - long time since I studied it but it helps all the time with the other languages.
> *German* - basic. Taught myself a long time ago. Now I have forgotten the basic grammar which means I am reticent to use the little vocab etc that I know. Is an aim of mine to brush up on the basics because that would give me a lot more confidence.
> *Russian *- learnt for a few terms at school and almost completely forgotten. Can still read the alphabet though!
> *Italian* - some of the linguistic books I needed at uni were only written in Italian so I had to learn the basics sufficiently to read (but then only technical books where a lot of the words are similar to other languages). Have now forgotten a lot, and could not hold a conversation, although I can understand a bit if people speak slowly.
> *Catalan* - lived in Barcelona for a few months and picked up a few phrases and now have forgotten everything. Completely.


 
well done!

by the way, in the survey it is contemplated the mother tongue as well?


----------



## cindy6

Cantonese - mother tongue
Mandarin - the other mother tongue
English - fluent
Classical Chinese - yes, it is a different language, sorta like Latin. Studied in school, can read somewhat, writing is impossible.
German - studied for 2 years in college, have forgotten almost everything
Spanish - 180 hours of study. Reading ok (news, web postings etc.), writing terrible, listening comprehension nearly impossible
Arabic/Farsi - my next project...if I ever get around to it. haven't decided on which one yet.


----------



## tmoore

Spanish-Native language
Catalan- Speak some ,understand most
English - Fluent
French-  Understand most, speak mid-level , read very good


----------



## marinax

Spanish: my mother tongue...
English: fluent (considered bilingual)
Portuguese: basics. read, speak, and write with some difficulty.
French: just what i've learned at school plus 1 year of private lessons. not much.


----------



## ElaineG

English - native language, ergo fluent most days (after 2 cups of coffee)

Italian - just about fluent speaking, reading and understanding -- technical grammar needs work as i have never studied formally but learned through living, loving and working in Italy

French - "highly proficient" as my resume says .  In truth the Italian crowds it out, most days.  I've read Proust and can understand most any conversation, but when I open my mouth, a lot of Italian mixes itself in.

Spanish - what I like to call "subway Spanish" -- understand it pretty well (from eavesdropping on the subway), read simple texts and have a limited spoken range (which I beef up by throwing in oddly accented Italian) -- don't worry I didn't put this one on the poll!


----------



## lpkerr

Hablo perfectamente el Espanol Castellano, aunque mi padre es nativo De San Felipe baja California, Mexico. Estudie el Bachillerato en La Costa Verde de Espana, sitio divino, encantador, y lleno de maravilla, y verde por que llueve mucho. 
Llevo viviendo en California los ultimos trece anos, asi que mi lengua nativa actual es el Ingles. Soy persona de hablo bilingue perfecto, en accento igual que el hablo y lo escrito. 
Al traductor lo bello se encuentra en la letra, para mi en la letra Espanol de San Juan De La  . ADIOS AMIGOS


----------



## gian_eagle

alc112 said:
			
		

> ¿Saben qué?
> Podemos sacar la conclusióon de que el aprender idiomas es un vicio, si aprendes uno no es suficiente.


 
te doy toda la razón Alc112.

ahora me gustaría aprender italiano o latín.

otra cosa... yo aprendí algo del idioma de los *elfos (élfico o quenya) de Tolkien,* ese cuenta también??? porque es ficticio, aunque basado en el finés antiguo...


----------



## schoggi

I'm 43 and started learning languages at the age of 11... so, here goes...

*English*-    Native Speaker

*Italian*-     Fluent

*French*-    Fluent

*German*-   almost fluent

*Spanish*-   almost fluent

*Swiss German*- have been learning for the past 3 years since I live in  Switzerland. Started out with Bärndütsch, now working with Luzärnerdütsch

*Portuguese*- can understand and read, but no longer speak, other than a few words

*Dutch*- can read

*Reto Romänsch*- I can understandsome words, and am trying to pick up more from the few news shows we get here...

In the past I have taken courses in *Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Russian, Basque, Japanese, Swahili...*

I'm presently studying to become a translator/interpreter at a school in Switzerland. Working languages will be Eng, Ital, Fre and Ger.


----------



## Blues

*Italian* Mother Tongue
*Spanish *studied several years in school,I speak and write quite well and know a litte bit of literature
*English *most of all to read and write, hardly even to speak

I also read without problems *French* and *Latin

*Ciao Ari

btw I'm amazed at the amount of languages that many of you knows !


----------



## Don Borinqueno

English-Native
Spanish-almost fluent (was taught by parents like most Latinos in the U.S but trying to perfect it as much as i can)


----------



## spirit

*Estonian:* native speaker
*English:* second best after Estonian
*Russian:* passive rather than active but I´m working on it
*German:* somewhere in the middle and improving, I hope
*French:* started a few months ago
*Latin:* basics


----------



## DanTheMan

I speak English and Korean pretty well.  I am working on Italian, but am still at a pretty low level of competency.  I voted two.


----------



## F4sT

i speak Sinhalise, Italian, and English


----------



## vic1.0

Üdv! 

*Hungarian:* mother tongue
*English:* if i spoke it, i'd be fluent
*German:* intermediate
*Spanish:* hablo muy poco, but i'm extremely enthusiastic


----------



## nuno

*Portuguese:* mother tongue (língua mãe)
*Spanish:* can understand almost everything
*French:* had three years
*English:* very fluent
*Italian: *very basic stuff


----------



## perrodelmal

Español = Native Tongue
English = Very fluent
Português = I understand most of it
Italiano = Basics


----------



## princesa azteca

Hello, I voted for 2, 

Spanish (mother tongue) and english.
But I took for one year italian, so I can have a conversation using spanish words, I also, took 6 months of french, so I can understand a little, but beleive me, I went to Moroco and I really said to my self "thanks to my little french we can ask for a room, basic things".

I also tryed to lern german, I went to classes for 6 months, but it was really difficult.

De las experiencias de tratar de estudiar otro idioma ya en edad adulta, saco la siguiente conclusión:

Qué fácil es aprender cuando uno es niño, en verdad. Así que he llegado a pensar que cuando tengo hijos, les enseñaré dos idiomas a la vez, uno en la escuela y otro en alguna academia, ya me lo agradecerán, seguro!


----------



## Mutichou

This is ambiguous... I chose 2. (Perhaps I should have voted 3)
French : my mother tongue.
English : I can read English fluently, but not really speak.
These are the languages I know better.
German : I can read German, but I lack vocabulary.
Spanish : I've been learning Spanish for one year and a half, I can read it more or less, since most of words are similar to French.
Chinese : I started learning it in October, I have one lesson (one hour and a half) per week, so I know a few words


----------



## Kaia

My mother tongue is Spanish, I speak English fluently, Italian more or less fluently and I'm learning German.


----------



## blancalaw

I know Spanish, American English, Canadian, British, Australian, Indian, South African, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Salvadorian, Costa Rican, Panamanian, Colombian, Venezuelan, Bolivian, Ecuadorian, Paraguayan, Uruguayan, Argentine and Chilean.

Just kidding.  I only know English and Spanish, but hope to pick up Arabic some day.


----------



## deadimp

English: Mother tongue (15 years of it), an average adult reading level, and the ability to talk like a 3-year-old.
Spanish: 'Second', started studying it around 1.5 years ago, I can understand some written Spanish (when in 'Spanish' mode), and I can hardly decipher it when it is spoken. Around 2nd or 3rd grade grammar, a kindergarten-level vocabulary (or lower), and no ability in accentuation. "No puedo entender nada de lo que dicen."
German: 'Third' language, started it half a year ago, can understand only the 'severe' basics. First or 2nd grade grammar, and the vocabulary of a mute parrot. "Ick can goot doitsh shprekin!" (Just kidding, "Ich kann gut Deutsch nicht sprechen!")

I'm not exactly going to vote just yet, because I really don't know where I am on the scale [Actaully, I only know one language, but I don't want to admit it  )

Also, I know C++, C (from C++), the bare minimum of Java (to keep my CS teacher happy), and some PHP/MySQL.

NOTE: ¿Habría algo que pregunta [piede] cuantas lenguas alguién está aprendiendo al [por el] momento?
Könnte es etwas gibt, das fragt wie viele Sprache jemand lernt am Moment?
[Took me a while to tranlate those]


----------



## nichec

Chinese--mother tongue
Taiwanese--mother tongue
English--fluent
French--okay, listening and reading better than writing and speaking

I voted for four...
Cheers, N


----------



## Hakro

For me translating from a foreign language into Finnish is a totally different thing than speaking a foreign language. 
 I have made (professional) translations into Finnish from:
 - Swedish
 - English
 - German
 - French
 - Norwegian
 - Danish
 and some very small translations from
 - Italian
 - Spanish
 - Portuguese
 - Dutch
 But if I have to speak to a foreigner I could manage with:
 - Swedish
 - English
 - French
 - maybe German
To a Dane or a Norwegian I'd talk either Swedish or English. In Netherlands I never had problems speaking English. In Italy, Spain and Portugal I have found that I can manage with just the few words I know in those languages - the people really want to understand me.


----------



## swingbolder

-native tongue is English. 
-near fluency in french (was fluent but haven't spoken or practiced in 20 years) 
-proficiency in Spanish.


----------



## timpeac

swingbolder said:
			
		

> -native tongue is English.
> -near fluency in french (was fluent but haven't spoken or practiced in 20 years)
> -proficiency in Spanish.


 
If you haven't spoken it for 20 years how do you know you are still near fluent? Quite literally, how would you know?


----------



## maud

I am native French,
I speak quite well English (don't say no please )
I also learn German
And I have begun learning Japanese one year and a half ago.


----------



## maud

schoggi said:
			
		

> *English*-    Native Speaker
> *Italian*-     Fluent
> *French*-    Fluent
> *German*-   almost fluent
> *Spanish*-   almost fluent
> *Swiss German*- have been learning for the past 3 years since I live in Switzerland. Started out with Bärndütsch, now working with Luzärnerdütsch
> *Portuguese*- can understand and read, but no longer speak, other than a few words
> *Dutch*- can read
> *Reto Romänsch*- I can understandsome words, and am trying to pick up more from the few news shows we get here...
> In the past I have taken courses in *Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Russian, Basque, Japanese, Swahili...*
> I'm presently studying to become a translator/interpreter at a school in Switzerland. Working languages will be Eng, Ital, Fre and Ger.



Oh my God, I worship you schoggi !!! 
Well done !! 
Oh and by the way I would like to be an interpreter too (I'm still young)


----------



## Chaska Ñawi

Read/Write/Speak:  English, French, Spanish, basic Bolivian Quechua

Read only:  Italian, Portuguese

Read with a dictionary and some effort:  Latin, Anglo-Saxon

Write only:  Tolkien's Elvish and Dwarvish scripts (Lord of the Rings)


----------



## ElenaCV

Hope one day I could be able to speak more languages!! 
 
Spanish: mother tongue
French: thanks to my parents, bilingual
English: fluent
Basque: It’s  my nightmare. I know I have to learn it but never found time to improve it. Only basic knowledge. 
So I vote 3.


----------



## Rich696

English - native.
French - reading fluency. Expression/writing comes quite easily, but understanding lags v. far behind, largely due to no exposure and laziness.
Latin - almost forgotten.
German - completely forgotten.

Plan to start Spanish when I achieve a good level of understanding in spoken French.


----------



## swingbolder

timpeac said:
			
		

> If you haven't spoken it for 20 years how do you know you are still near fluent? Quite literally, how would you know?


 
I can still understand French movies, I can still understand people when I overhear them talking (although this doesn't happen very often), I can still read the newspaper. I think this is bc I started learning French when I was four -- taught by native speakers -- and kept it up through my early 20s, so it's quite ingrained in me. Also, I lived in France for a year. I think that's why I've retained so much despite not having actually spoken it for so long. I'd like to practice it more, but here in the US Spanish is so much more accessible that that is what I'm focusing on for now.


----------



## SpiceMan

4
*Spanish* - Mother tongue
*Portuguese *- Fluent (should be my mother tongue, but moved to Argentina when I was a baby xD)
*English* - Fluent
*Japanese *- Advanced, I mainly lack vocabulary, and some cultural background due to only 2 years of study. No problem with grammar, etc.

I find reading most romance languages easy. (Except maybe romanian, those slavic influences are tricky )
They don't count, but about 10 programming languages


----------



## tvdxer

2: Native English, a fair amount of proficiency in Spanish.  I also have some comprehension of Italian.


----------



## fatiha

native arabic
french
english 
italian 
spanish- little-


----------



## BasedowLives

english
spanish (i suppose)
a year of french.  so basically i can decipher things but my verbal comprehension leaves a lot to be desired.
i just started on norwegian a month ago.  

my problem is time.  i am a full time student with a job, so when i'm not working or reading, i'm not wanting to do anything because i'm so tired!


----------



## SaborDeVida

*English *--> mother tongue
*Spanish *--> fluent in conversation, reading, and writing but still need to perfect many things 
*French *--> can read and understand simple (and slowly said) things but not fluent in speaking
*Dutch *--> can read, write a little, and I used to be fairly fluent at participating in simple conversation but it has been a long time (> 10 years)
*Catalan* --> can read and understand conversations limited to topics I'm familiar with (I work in Barcelona so when the conversations are work-related I can follow them pretty well)
Latin --> Studied in high school so I can still read a little (and keep remembering some of it as I study other romance languages) but I forgot a lot...

I guess I would count four because I think I could get my Dutch back if I lived there again for a while  I count Catalan and French each as a half  and I'm not really counting Latin...

I would LOVE to be really fluent in more languages.  I really want to learn Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, and maybe German,. and I'd like to get to a better level of proficiency in speaking French.  I have noticed that I can read some Portuguese now by combining what I know from other neo-latin languages, so maybe that will be next...


----------



## Sonriestar

English- native tounge
Spanish- i have been studying it for awhile, but still would not call myself fluent
French- know the basics. I can read and write fairly well, but my pronunciation is another story altogether
Latin- know the basics but have a long way to go
*I voted for three.

One day, I would like to study Russian, Italian, and Japanese.


----------



## Chaska Ñawi

Chaska Ñawi 

Read/Write/Speak: English, French, Spanish, basic Bolivian Quechua
Read only: Italian, Portuguese
Read with a dictionary and some effort: Latin, Anglo-Saxon
Write only: Tolkien's Elvish and Dwarvish scripts (Lord of the Rings) 


Addendum:  I have good comprehension of the following languages, but hesitated to include them, as the pronunciation gives me some difficulties:

horse, cat, dog, chicken, Muscovy duck, and guinea pig

This is a tragic admission to make for a linguist!  Please deal gently with my disability....


----------



## daphne1986

I speak Spanish because is my mother tongue, English, a little bit of French ( I can hold a conversation) and finally, now I am studing German.
aahhh!! I forgot that: I would like to study Italian in a future.


----------



## catira

Hi, 

spanish: mother tongue,
english : pretty fluent,
italian  : pretty fluent too.

I know few words in sicilian and I would like to learn catalan.

bye, 
catira


----------



## GoranBcn

*Croatian/Serbian:* mother tongue
*Spanish:* second language and fluent
*Catalan:* third language and fluent
*English:* advanced
*German:* intermediate-advanced
*Russian:* intermediate
*Italian:* intermediate
*Macedonian:* I was fluent after spending a year there. It was 14 years ago. Now I only understand it
*French:* basic-intermediate
*Polish, Turkish, Norwegian, Dutch, Japanese, Greek:* basic


----------



## Zakalwe

French - mother tongue
English - fluent
Spanish - fluent
German - studied it 8 years
Chinese - learned some basics from my trip there and willing to continue
Valenciano - passive learner as it is all around me here


----------



## Ducken

English- Fluent (I better be, as it is my native tongue....)
Spanish- I've been studying it for 5 years now, and I can read and understand it really well.  I've always had trouble speaking it, however, and my writing leaves something to be desired.  I tend to use a lot of American phrases that don't translate directly....

I'd like to learn German eventually, but for now I'm attempting to concentrate all of my energies on Spanish....


----------



## kevinleihuang

My mother tongue is Chinese. I have studied English for more than 12 years. My dad is an English professor in the university. He encouraged me to learn more languages as the best as I can. But I just learned English.


----------



## WillyLandron

I speak four languages. I know zero.


----------



## Neguita

Farsi- mother toungue
English- fluent
French- almost fluent
Spanish- almost fluent
And I would love to learn German and Italian!


----------



## jjisneo

I can speak
Pidgen-fluent
French-Fluent
English-Fluent
Japanese-A bit
Tanese-A bit
Fijian-Quite well


----------



## sayuri2005

*Spanish* (Argentina): Mother tongue
*Japanese*: Fluent, thanks to my parents who are Japanese, some formal study and my current life/work in Japan
*English*: Fluent. I use English at work every day; plus my boyfriend is a native English speaker.
*French*: Intermediate, TEF 4
*Portuguese*: Basic conversation. Learned it in Japan through a bunch of Brazilians I met!


----------



## Vertigo

Well, I speak Australian- English and have done so most my life.

I have briefly learned Italian and Indonesian but I'm starting German.


----------



## *chica-espanglesa*

*English* - mother tongue
*spanish* - fluent but make occasionall mistakes (even in English! lol)
*french* - was fluent but have forgotten some, brushing up as we speak
*latin* - fluent as in reading but not really speaking as it is considered a 'dead language' and is not taught orally
*chinese-cantonese* - learning at the moment!
*Italian *- little bit
*Ebo* - little bits here and there from my dad


----------



## ~*LaNa-J*~

*Arabic* - mother tongue
*Hebrew* - my second language
*English* - fluent 
*French* - i'm learning basics now
*Turkish* - basic
*Spanish *- i just can understand a few words
*Farsi* - i can read and write a little

thx


----------



## fmbyz

*Spanish*: Mother tongue
*Italian*: Fluent after 1 year living in Italia.  
*Euskera*: Studied from the age of 7 onwards as my second language. *English*: I understand perfectly (I think so) and *try to* speak corretly.


Ups!!  I´ve forgotten my japanese lessons since 2003!!!


----------



## .4c3

*Czech/Slovak:* Mother tongue.
*English:* Pretty fluent.
*Spanish:* Pretty fluent.
*Catalan:* understand little bit...
*Polish: *understand little bit...


----------



## mayflyaway

English - Native language
French - Can read, write, and hold a conversation, though I am getting increasingly rusty.

Also, I can read and sort-of understand spoken Spanish, understand spoken Portuguese (if spoken slowly), understand a little bit of Catalan, and know an eensy weensy bit of German.

Oh yeah, I am fluent in Pig Latin.


----------



## parodi

English... mother tongue

German...majored in it at college, lived there (a long time ago), and translated it professionally until I realized I hated sitting at a desk for poor pay. It only comes back to me fluently after two beers.

Latin...4 years in high school..but whoever here said it was right...you don't learn it to speak it unless you are a priest.

I've been trying to learn Italian for the past two years. Speaking Italian ---even haltingly and poorly as I do---gives me goosebumps. It really has a great sound to it, non e' vero?


----------



## ronanpoirier

*Portuguese* - Thanks Fate... Mother Tongue
*English* - Thanks Alanis Morissette  (that's a big story the why I've learned English)
*French* - Thanks Dad! (He speaks it)
*Spanish* - Thanks Shakira... hehehe but I forgot lots of it!
*Hungarian* - Thanks Greatgrandmom for coming from Austria-Hungary Empire


----------



## emmalou9

Hi everyone, i am 14 and live in england so i am fluent english. I have been studying french at school for 3 years and i absolutly have fallen in love with greece, so as my hobby i learn greek (for just under 2 years)


----------



## Bettie

Spanish: native
English: pretty fluent, I make some mistakes though.
French, I took two years, but I don't remember almost anything!!! 
I voted two.


----------



## DanyD

*Italian* = native language
*English* = quite fluent, but I make mistakes I shouldn't
*French*= started 6 months ago, I should have reached A2/B1 level (more A2...)
*Latin* = studied it in the past, I've forgotten almost everything

I voted 2.


----------



## heidita

German - Mother tongue

English - fluent

Spanish - second to mother tongue

Italian - maintain a conversation

French - school level

cat talk - fluent

I had an Italian boyfriend so my spoken level isn't bad, I even know some *paesino, sicilian dialect.*

And I have not forgotten my cats (only with some help from Chasca Navi, jajaja) I'm fluent at talking and understanding their language.


----------



## Bienvenidos

Native Tongue - Farsi
Fluency: Pashto, Spanish, 
Also: French, Latin (dead language), Afrikaans, Italian

my french and italian are weak though! spanish is my favorite.


----------



## Bienvenidos

Lana - Good luck with learning Farsi!


----------



## gato2

Spanish- mother tongue
Catalan- mother tongue. I speak it very well but I can't write it
English- Intermediate but I make too mistakes


----------



## optimistique

*Dutch* - my mothertongue
*German - *good enough to conversate in (not too surprising seen my mothertongue), my writing skills are not what I feel they should be. 
*French* - exactly the opposite of German. I can read, write and even speak it quite well, but my conversational skills are not what they should be (I never understand them!).
*English* - I wouldn't say native-like fluent, but I think it's good enough overall to communicate in it, written as well as spoken.

*Norwegian - *I have tried to learn it, and I'm really planning on improving what I've learned so far, but my vocabulary isn't sufficient enough to actually do whatever in it, except for creating simple sentences. 

*Latin* & *Ancient Greek*- I have had six years of education, but I don't think they really count as 'knowing them'. With a dictionnary, I can still figure out some texts.


----------



## elroy

Bienvenidos said:
			
		

> Native Tongue - Farsi
> Fluency: Pashto, Spanish,
> Also: French, Latin (dead language), Afrikaans, Italian
> 
> my french and italian are weak though! spanish is my favorite.


 
Do you not feel the need to include English on your list?


----------



## ~*LaNa-J*~

Bienvenidos said:
			
		

> Lana - Good luck with learning Farsi!


 
*Thanx  ,*
*You are from Iran ... right !!*
*Good luck to you too*


----------



## Span_glish

I voted 2 for Spanish and English.  
My two years of German just get me through some basic reading.  I am learning Italian on my own now.


----------



## dathrilla

*English*- mother tongue
*Farsi-     *mother tongue#2
*French*- studying language, so i have to get fluent at it...or else, foutu!
*Italian*-  2nd language at school


----------



## AmoL'italiano

*English- *Native
*Italian- *semi-fluent
*Hebrew*- Used to know it pretty well... forgot most of it, but I'm a good jew! lol
*American Sign Language- *Out of practice, but still really good

I put down only 2 in the languages thing. This is my first post! I really want to become fluent in Italian... what a beautiful language! I'm also fairly good at picking up languages and accents, if I do say so myself.

Arrivederci!


----------



## surfingnirvana

Bleh

Native-English
Spanish is semi-fluent and Hebrew is ok.  Japanese needs some brushing up on


----------



## Pivra

1. Thai ... fluent... with high vocab. knowledge
2. English.... 've been speaking it since i was 7.... 
3. Spanish.... learning it .... can speak to some certain extent... muy triste
4. Sanskrit.... used to learn it... can still read... but cant speak anymore...


----------



## melon collie

Russian - mother tongue
English - fluent
Ukranian - my readig and listening comprehension is quite ok but I have problems with speaking and writing
French - learning. Hopefully I'll be fluent soon 
German - used to learn it. Still can say a couple of words.
Irish Gaelic  -  dying to learn it but it's not that easy when no one around speaks it Anyway, I'll do it 

So I voted 2


----------



## emma1968

Italian: native one,  skill 95%
English: conversation  60%, writing 40% ,reading comprehension  80% 
listening comprehension 60%
Spanish: conv 50%, writing 30%, reading comprehension 80%, listening comprehension 80%
French: conver 50%, writing lost,reading  comprehension  60%, listening comprehension 60%
Emma


----------



## adverus-1

*Spanish .................... Fluently*
*Russian .................... Fluently, not very good at writing it.*
*English...................... Fluently*
*Italian......................... Fluently, I can barely write.*
*Icelandic..................... Not as fluently as prevoius mentioned languages.*


----------



## danielfranco

Voted 2. English and Spanish. I'm "fluenter" in English, but Spanish is my mother tongue. Go figure.


----------



## cadylayne

english - mother tongue
italian - bilingual until about age 10, fairly proficient now
french - can read well, speaking and writing basic


----------



## love4lingua

I voted for three

English - mother tongue
Spanish - have studied for 7 years and lived there, can communicate but still make mistakes and have lots more vocab to learn!!
German - not as confident in German as in Spanish, despite having studied it for 11 years now and also lived there.  I can communicate in it but cannot understand as much as when i speak to Spanish speakers. How long does it take??!! :O)


----------



## sdr083

*Norwegian* - Mother tongue
*English* - More or less fluent
*Spanish* - Not quite fluent, but getting there
*German* - My spoken German is not very good, even after 5 years, but if I don't worry too much about the grammar I get by OK.
*Italian* - Learning.  Understand everything, spoken and written, but not always able express what I would like to. (Because I know Spanish there is a huge gap between my passive and my active vocabulary...)

Being a native speaker of Norwegian means I also understand, and can communicate with people who speak Danish and Swedish.  Can read/understand simple French, but not really speak the language.  Understand some Portuguese (written, not spoken), Catalan and Dutch.  Planning to learn Catalan soon.  Have also studied Latin, but not enough to be able to really read it.

With every language you learn, it gets easier though, doesn't it?  At least when the languages are related, like most European languages...


----------



## Sisyphus

1. English - native language
2. German - used to be somewhat fluent (it's been years and I've forgotten much of my schooling and what I learned while living in Germany  )
3. Spanish - although I've had years of instruction in Spanish, it remains a mystery to me.  Honestly - I think I have a mental block against it!
4. French - I hesitate to even mention French, as I only took 1 year of high school instruction - but I know enough to be able to figure it out with a good dictionary at hand.


----------



## Moogey

Native of English and I speak Italian almost fluently (but ask the natives!) I intend to learn about 12 more languages after this. Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy, but I want to try it! (It'll probably take me until I'm 50 or 60 to pull that off!)

-M


----------



## CatStar

Dia dhaoibh go léir!

Irish - Native
English - Native
Spanish - Fluent
French - Fluent
Portuguese - Beginner but after a few drinks, fluent!

Intentions to learn Estonian next because my brother lives there...any tips?

Cat


----------



## aridra

*Tamil* - native, fluent, never learnt formally however!!

*English* - as fluent as it gets

*Hindi* - fluent, lived in Hindi speaking belt of India for many years and learnt at school.  As Urdu and Hindi have much in common, I can understand the essentials of spoken Urdu as well but do not count it as a 'known' language.

*Bengali* - spouse's mother tongue, fluent

*French* - living in a French speaking area and learning for 2 years...a struggle!!

*Sanskrit* - learnt at school but never used after that


----------



## giraffe88

1. English (mother tongue)
2. French (pretty fluent, still studying)
3. German (forgetting faster than I'd like to be!)
4. Hungarian (fluent as a young child, forgotten almost all)
5. Mandarin Chinese (been learning on and off for 3 years, know more than I think but hard to keep hold of!)
6. Can understand an okay amount of Spanish & Italian thanks to the French but have never learnt and can't speak them.

I voted 3


----------



## dashulka

Soo i found say i speak
*i would vote for 3 too....Russian,english,french!!!! french is the best!!*


----------



## beakman

Hi!
As for me, I speak 4 languages. They are:
Russian: my native tongue.
English: my favourite (because of the music I always listen to) language. I've studied it throughout all my life (began at the age of 7, then 5 years at the University- have a University degree), sometimes I have problemes with its spelling.
Spanish: I studied it for 5 years at the University and I've lived in Spain for about 9 years.
Italian: my 3rd language at the University. I had to learn it to be able to work as an interpreter during a year. But it was 10 years ago!
I don't count on Latin as it was compulsory at the University though I still remember some Latin expressions.
Yours,


----------



## petereid

I speak english, with a northeastern accent.
Enough french to have a reasonable conversation and to act as guide round a factory where I once worked.
enough german to survive on holday
less than enough italian to survive.
I voted 2


----------



## LanguageLearningChica

I'm bilingual. English (could always get better ) and Norwegian (lived there for two years  ) fluently, and a little bit of Danish and Spanish. Trying to learn more of the latter and French (struggling for sure).


----------



## Aruba-chan

In order of fluency:

*Spanish:* mother tongue (fluent)
*Catalan:* second mother tongue (fluent), almost everyone in Catalonia speaks both languages.
*English:* semi-fluent (because I'm very shy and I prefer writing it)
*French:* it's really similar to catalan and I can speak with my teacher in French, so I guess this is enough to be semi-fluent, isn't it?


----------



## Juri

Italian:mother tongue
German:used for translating
English: enough for translating from E.
Slovenian, Serbian: simultaneous transl.
Latin: 3 years compulsory at school
Spanish, French: loved tongues, especially for tourist's use


----------



## vince

Here are my languages in decreasing fluency:

1.) English, my best language, fully fluent, but speak it with a slight but noticeable Cantonese accent. I was born in Canada and lived here my whole life so that's why.
2.) French, my second-best language, mostly fluent, can read and write fine. Still haven't mastered the Quebecois dialect though.
3.) Spanish, my third-best language. can read it mostly fluently, needing to look up one out of every 50 words. Still have a bit of trouble writing it. But I can manage to communicate orally and in writing both basic and complex thoughts, which I can't do with any of the languages below. I can't understand the spoken language at all yet, even "cómo estás?" will throw me off.
4.) Cantonese, first language I learned, but I can no longer speak or understand it except for basic phrases. I still study it out of linguistic interest but am not making an active effort to gain fluency. I can't write it. When I attempt to speak it, it comes out with a noticeable English accent.
5.) Portuguese, studying it from a linguistics perspective. Oddly enough, I can read it well enough to understand long technical texts but not enough to read casual writing like blogs. I can write it well enough to communicate basic ideas, better than I can in Cantonese. Can't understand the spoken language.
6.) Mandarin: studying it from a linguistics perspective, comparing it to Cantonese. I studied it indirectly through Saturday morning Cantonese classes (which actually helped my Mandarin but not my Cantonese, those who know about the Chinese writing system will understand what I mean). I know some basic phrases. Not enough to communicate basic ideas. Can recognize maybe 200 Chinese characters. I can't understand the spoken language at all. I hope to eventually study it as a foreign language and speak it one day. After I master Spanish first though.

7.) German: Tried learning it a couple of years ago but stopped to learn Spanish instead. I know enough basic words to string together a few sentences as well as proper word order and how to pronounce German words, but not much more.

8.) Other Romance languages: Most romance languages are similar enough that I can understand more than three-quarters of what they're saying despite never studying or encountering the language before. So I can say that if I saw a warning sign in Catalan, Galician, Occitan, Italian, Venetian, or Friulian, I'd know what to do or not do.

Question for you guys: In your opinion, what is my mother tongue?


----------



## elgrillofeliz

I speak two languages fluently with native accuracy, *Spanish* and *English*. I have some *French* reading and speaking comprehension, but am forgetting it by the minute. I took a month's worth of study in *Kaqchikel*, a Guatemalan Maya language, but there I can definately say that I couldn't hold a conversation at all and I wish I can go back a learn it again.


----------



## LaSmarjeZ

1. Italian = my mother language
2. Danish = I'm making an year as exchange student in Denmark, I thing it' good enough
3. French = my favourite, also if I'm forgetting it since I've stop studing it last year
4. English = normal schoolars knowledge...I just can't speak it in a good way!
5. Spanish = I cannot speak it but I do communicate with, something I found out here in Denmark!
6. Sardinian = as dialect (just comprehension)


----------



## SNTB99

Serer: (local language) fluent mother tongue
Wolof : (local language) fluent
pular: (local language) less fluent
French: fluent
English: fluent
Spanish: less fluent
Arabic: learning


----------



## Bastoune

French: Mother Tongue
English: Mother Tongue 

(My first _words_ were in French; my first full sentence was in English. I am more comfortable in French, however, as I grew up in Québec in a French-Canadian family and a proud sense of history, plus I lived for 7 years in France where I rarely spoke English.)

Spanish, Italian, German: Fluent (with my German now weaker than it had been when I studied and interned there; I learned Italian while living in Italy, through diffusion.)

Portuguese: Near fluent comprehension, but have to work a lot on grammar (learned through diffusion, from Brazilian friends -- living with Brazilians in New York City, too).

I have vague notions of other languages but not enough to say I speak them (though I have a rudimentary command of Greek and survive there as a tourist; I can understand Danish and Dutch pretty well and my Latin is rusty but I can read it fluently).


----------



## Louanna007

3:
english-native speaker
spanish-in my high school's level 3 class, have been taking informally since 2nd grade
italian-have taken nearly a year plus study outside of school
learning basics of french, polish, and german.
i want to start learning arabic/persian.


----------



## JimPojke

*Spanish: *Mother tongue.
*English: *Fluent
*French: *Fluent
*German:* Semi-Fluent
*Italian: *Low level (just started studying it), but understand and can say a lot.
*Portuguese: *Low level (just started studying it), but understand and can say a lot.
*Swedish: *I've studied it, but need more practise and vocabulary.
*Serbian: *I know basic phrases, I learnt them by living for a while in Belgrade.
*Japanese: *I studied it, and know basic phrases.


----------



## Joelline

*Engish* - mother tongue
*French - *can read and understand almost everything except slang and regional dialects; as for speaking, I've been told my accent is good, but I get frustrated by my lack of working vocabulary and practice and I'd say my proficiency level in speaking French is low-average
*Italian *- we spoke it at home sometimes when I was little; I lived in Italy for 4 months, but all that was long ago and I've forgotten much. I can watch Italian movies and understand 50-60% of what is said
*Latin* - took it in high school and college and it's useful in the Romance languages, but I wouldn't want to try to read Caesar without a pony!
*Old English* - I can read it with a glossary handy and use it when teaching Medieval lit.
*Hebrew* - I took Biblical Hebrew for 2 years because I wanted to read the Hebrew Bible (and did read the Torah), but rarely use it now and I would think I've forgotten most of it.

I chose 2 languages in the survey.


----------



## meme26

Japenese, Chinese, English, Spanish, Barkcarion, Italian, Russian, Spanish, French, and Swedish


----------



## adverus-1

*I thing you should remove one of your "Spanish" from the list. Anyways that;s a nice amount of languages.*

*I'm just curious, are you fluent in all those languages?*


----------



## marie_

I can speak:
French (mother tongue)
English
German
Chinese (but I've lost a lot of it because I don't use it a lot..)


----------



## Korena

I speak English as my native language, and I'm learning Italian. But I'm only fluent in English.

-Korena


----------



## mstewie08

I'm truly fluent in English, but I'm picking up German, and have learned some French, but only enough to survive. I also fluently speak pig-latin, but I don't think that counts.


----------



## aliastina

Spanish: mother tongue
English: advanced (or supposed to be expert hehe)
French: learning now!


----------



## Thomas1

LanguageLearningChica said:
			
		

> I'm bilingual. English (could always get better ) and Norwegian (lived there for two years  ) fluently, and a little bit of Danish and Spanish. Trying to learn more of the latter and French (struggling for sure).


Wow that's interesting.  

I mean how did you learn Norwegian for two years and you can use it with equal fluency as you use English? Did you study linguistics? Are your parents Norwegians?


----------



## Savoir

I speak cantonese (mother tongue), english (fluent) ,french (rusty), understand some mandarin.  I can read Japanese Kanji with my knowledge in Chinese, and I've always wanted to know if Japanese can tell the meaning of Chinese with their knowledge in Kanji.


----------



## Jhorer Brishti

Savoir said:
			
		

> I speak cantonese (mother tongue), english (fluent) ,french (rusty), understand some mandarin. I can read Japanese Kanji with my knowledge in Chinese, and I've always wanted to know if Japanese can tell the meaning of Chinese with their knowledge in Kanji.


 
Aren't Chinese and Japanese not related in any grammatical points at all? I imagine there are not many cognates so how are you able to read(I'm presuming that you understand what you read as well) Japanese Kanji?


----------



## Savoir

Jhorer Brishti said:
			
		

> Aren't Chinese and Japanese not related in any grammatical points at all? I imagine there are not many cognates so how are you able to read(I'm presuming that you understand what you read as well) Japanese Kanji?



Hi, Jhorer Brishti,

Yes, Chinese and Japanese aren't related in any grammatical points, but I understand most of the words if they're written in Kanji, since Kanji 漢（Chinese) 字(words) means "Chinese words" literally.

Most Kanji in Jap have similar, if not exact  meanings in Chinese. 

e.g. 砂糖  澱粉  香料  直射日光  玩具  

The above are Jap Kanji but I'm typing them with my Chinese typing software.

I understand only the words in Kanji, but usually a sentence has other Jap words, so I can't understand the whole sentence. These kanji help me in choosing food in a Jap supermarket.

What I'm interested in is, can Japanese understand written Chinese? I once tried with a Jap girl  but she didn't understand.


----------



## SouthJerz

I am a native speaker of AE and I would say conversationally fluent in ASL.(I have made it through dinner parties without major mess-ups.)


----------



## j0ckser

i voted 2.

*english* - mother tounge
*quebecios/french* - studied in school and was fluent another lifetime ago
*latin* - some have included this as it helps with other languages
*greek* - studied in school and have used in greece...also another lifetime ago.


----------



## Tao

i:
Dutch; very fluent

ii:
English; very fluent

iii:
Surinamese; very fluent

iv:
French; read and understand, good pronunciation but spoken french difficult to understand

v:
German; read and understand, good pronunciation but spoken german difficult to understand

vi:
Afrikaans; can read and understand (because it sounds A LOT like dutch)


----------



## vince

Jhorer Brishti said:
			
		

> Aren't Chinese and Japanese not related in any grammatical points at all? I imagine there are not many cognates so how are you able to read(I'm presuming that you understand what you read as well) Japanese Kanji?


When linguists say that Mandarin and Japanese aren't related, they mean "genetically-related", as in, they did not both originate from a single language that got more and more different until they evolved into modern-day Mandarin and Japanese.

But that does not mean that they don't share grammatical and lexical similarities due to close contact.

For example, most slavic languages don't have definite/indefinite articles, but Bulgaro-Macedonian does, probably due to contact with Romanian, a Romance language.

Closer to home, more than half of English vocabulary is of Latin origin, with the proportion even greater for formal and technical English. Although English and Latin are distantly related, most of these Latin-derived words look and sound obviously like they came through French, and not English/Germanic-developed.

 I imagine that up to 60% of Japanese and Mandarin words are cognates, though I'm not sure if this figure is for colloquial or formal vocabulary. They probably have many grammatical similarities as well. But the core grammar and syntax is completely different, showing that the two languages are of different origins. I suspect that Basque has a similar relation with Spanish.


----------



## Savoir

I don't think Japanese and Chinese words are cognates since I don't think Japanese and Chinese come from the same language. Their grammar and sounds are too different. In the Tang dynasty, there were numerous Japanese students in China, learning the Chinese language and culture, and introduced them to Japan. I think the Kanji  in Japanese are borrowed words rather than cognates, just like the French words in English. I've heard shusi and udon are food of the Tang dynasty.


----------



## vince

Yeah, that's what I mean by cognate, word that comes from the same root. Usually this either happens when one ancient word turns evolves into two separate words in two separate languages (e.g. German gut and English good)
or if one language copies from another (e.g. English actor from French acteur)

In the case of unrelated languages like Japanese and Mandarin, all cognates are of the second time.

Many japanese words look like cognates but they actually aren't. I think Japanese sometimes uses Chinese characters to represent a Japanese word that has the same or similar meaning as a Chinese word. So you might get a many completely different pronunciations of a single Chinese character in Japanese, some of which are cognates, some not.


----------



## qbnaenmiami

Spanish - mother tongue, born in the US - Cuban parents, who speak no English
English -  although I didn't start speaking English fluently until age 9, it has been my primary language for the past 32 years.


----------



## Marijka

Polish : native
English : hmm... fluent?  (CPE level, but I've forgotten a lot)
Latin: I can read and translate simple texts (two-year course at university)
I study Slavic Languages & Literatures, so I learn :
Old-Church-Slavonic :  it is not used anymore apart from liturgical usage, but it helps with other Slavic languages
Ukrainian: semi-fluent
Russian: semi-fluent
Belarussian: my Belarussian is hmmm...passive. I can read and I understand almost everything, but I can't speak or write

I also understand: Slovak, a bit of Czech, as they both are West Slavic languages ( just like Polish),  a bit of Bulgarian & Macedonian, because they are close related to Old-Church-Slavonic


----------



## frenchtranslater

I voted for five and more

*Hebrew: *mother tongue
*French: *I lived all my life in Belgium
*Flemish: *same reason as french
*English: *studied in an American school
*Spanish: *can have a conversation but there is room to improve


----------



## vince

frenchtranslater said:
			
		

> I voted for five and more
> 
> *French: *I lived all my life in Belgium
> *Flemish: *same reason as french



Are most people in Belgium bilingual as in they can fluently speak both French and Flemish Dutch? Or maybe just in Brussel/Bruxelles?

Here in Canada, a supposedly bilingual country, almost all of the anglophone part is unilingual English. The quality of French-as-a-second-language education is very poor so it is impossible to become bilingual in that way. The only bilingual areas in Canada where many people speak both English & French are in the forests of northern Ontario and the city of Montreal. I think in the capital of Ottawa, the anglophone majority is largely unilingual while the francophones are bilingual.


----------



## Chaska Ñawi

vince said:
			
		

> The only bilingual areas in Canada where many people speak both English & French are in the forests of northern Ontario and the city of Montreal. I think in the capital of Ottawa, the anglophone majority is largely unilingual while the francophones are bilingual.



The province of New Brunswick is officially bilingual, and so are many of its residents.  Southwestern Ontario also has bilingual pockets - this is my heritage.  Most Quebecois along the Ontario / Quebec border are bilingual. There are vibrant bilingual Acadian communities in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.  As for Ottawa, I know _very _few monolingual people - the majority are competent in both languages, if not bilingual.

Note to mods:  I do realize that this is completely off-topic - I just didn't want to see this left uncorrected.


----------



## vince

Chaska Ñawi said:
			
		

> The province of New Brunswick is officially bilingual, and so are many of its residents.  Southwestern Ontario also has bilingual pockets - this is my heritage.  Most Quebecois along the Ontario / Quebec border are bilingual. There are vibrant bilingual Acadian communities in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.  As for Ottawa, I know _very _few monolingual people - the majority are competent in both languages, if not bilingual.
> 
> Note to mods:  I do realize that this is completely off-topic - I just didn't want to see this left uncorrected.


I knew NB was officially bilingual, but I was not sure whether the individual residents are too, so I left it out. Could you order a double double in French at a Tim Horton's in Saint John, NB without getting stares? There are also bilingual pockets in Winnipeg, MB and Windsor, ON.

Maybe it's just my university residence, but although one-quarter of the 36 people on my U of T floor are from Ottawa, none of them seem to speak any French beyond what they know from high school (which is basically zero).


----------



## panjabigator

English: Fluent
Panjabi: Somewhat Fluent (I make mistakes sometimes, but I speak it at home)
Hindi: Better than Panjabi (fluent)
Urdu: I can read and write and colloquially its the same as Hindi, so I say fluent
Spanish:  Ive studied it for 7 years and am functional in it, but really fluent...however I know the language hehe
I really want to live in Spain!!!


----------



## Etcetera

Russian is my mothertongue. 
English I've been studying since I was 10. Now a the University I'm learning Finnish, and also Polish. 
I've recently started to learn Italian, but my knowledge of the language isn't good enough. The same with German, which I used to study at school, and Latin.


----------



## robbie_SWE

Romanian = mother tongue
Swedish  = if possible, second mother tongue
English = if possible, third mother tongue 
French = fluent (been speking it since I was 7)
German = semi-fluent (6 years studying)
Italian = semi-fluent (so similar to Romanian  )
"Spanish" = can read and understand, can't speak though (studied it for 2 years)
_(Danish & Norwegian)_ = Danish and Norwegian are so close to Swedish that I can easily talk with them and understand what they're saying and also read and understand their languages. 

Feel I have to explain myself. We left Romania when I was 4 and moved to Sweden. I started learning Swedish immediately and became fluent by the age of 5 or 6. At the same time my mother started teaching my sister and me English (+ TV made a huge contribution  ). I can't decide which one of these languages is my real mother tongue. I guess I have three mother tongues .


----------



## antonia2240

Bulgarian - mother tongue
English - fluent
Russian - fluent - I need some practice to brush it up
Macedonian - fluent
Spanish - just 1st level - simple
Italian - self-educated - I just can read and understand very simple conversations
Serbian - understand, but can`t talk properly


----------



## ksiusha

Hi evryone,
So, i've voted 4 languages:
Russian---- is my native tongue, and i 'm used with it
Romenian......is too my native language
Italian-----as i live now in italy, i've got a good grade
English----i talk a lot in english, but i think what i have to study a lot it 
               for speaking better


----------



## Harpalyce

*French* : native speaker
*English* : I've been studying it for 8 years and I would like to be an English teacher so I'm going to spend some time in London this summer and I intend to spend a year in Ireland in 2 years.
*Spanish *: I've been studying it for 8 years too and I spent 5 months in Madrid 2 years ago and have a lot of friends there so I'm better in Spanish than in English... and that is a problem for me who want to be an English teacher!

So my answer is *3*

Because I can't take into account 
*Italian * : very basic
*Latin* : I've been studying it for 7 years and I can read and write it... and also speak it... but it is not very useful, I think!


----------



## SimoneW

dutch:mother tongue
English: fluent
French: fluent
Italian: fluent
German: very good

Spanish: because of the Italian can understand this quite well.


----------



## charlyboy81

*French*: mother tongue

*English*: fluent

*Dutch*: middle level (understand it well but can have only basic coinversaions)

*Spanish*: good (written better than spoken)


----------



## linguist786

I know:

*English* (fluent)
*French* (can communicate very effectively)
*German* (can communicate very effectively - grammar needs slight brushing up though!)
*Hindi* (not completely fluent, but can communicate very effectively - more so than French & German)
*Urdu* (same as Hindi)
*Gujarati* (mother tongue, therefore pretty much fluent. There's different dialects though - so I don't understand every single word)
*Créole French* [le kréol rényoné] (when talking to a person from La Réunion, I can communicate in créole (and be understood) but I don't sound exactly like them (it's a bit too frenchified!) - I'd need to live there to make it fluent. (and I'm intending to do so in my year abroad of my degree)

and bits of: *Spanish*, *Swahili*, *Niyanja* (an African language spoken in Zambia/Malawi), *Punjabi*, *Arabic* (learning now), and a few sentences in *Mandarin Chinese*.

Yes, slightly obsessed lol


----------



## la pintora

english: native

french: can speak rather well, carry on conversations. if someone speaks it fast it is often hard to understand.

spanish: my 2nd language.. i am re-learning it after serious french-studying. i can read well and listen well, i speak it slowly but am quickly improving. again, if spoken fast i often need it repeated.

pieces of others. =)


----------



## montblanc

Spanish: mother tongue
English: fluent
French: fairly fluent
Italian: basic
Dutch: basic 

I'd love to perfectionate them all!
Ahhhh! El tiempo es tirano!


----------



## coppergirl

I am a native English speaker, but speak fluent French and Mandarin Chinese and am currently learning Italian.


----------



## brian

*English*--first language

*Italian*--been studying for 2 years and am going to Rome for a year in August to hopefully become fluent.

*Latin*--have been studying (and continue to do so for my degree) for 8 years.

*Ancient Greek* (Homeric, Ionic, Attic, & New Testament)--same as Latin above.

*Modern Greek*--I've taught myself a little. It's amazing how similar it is to New Testament Greek. But _way_ different from ancient.


----------



## Irethtook

Spanish: Mother Tongue
English: Second Language
French: Very fluent
Portuguese: I've been studying it for two years now, very fluent too.
Japanese: I'm not fluent, but I can undestand most of it. I'm still studying it.
Chinese: Still studying it. But I have to work on my pronunciation.
Korean: Basics
Russian: Mostly forgotten
Italian: I can understand it but I don't speak it.
Latin: I can understand most of it too.

And I'd love to learn Arabic!!!


----------



## amelesperanza

I speak french, arabic( I can understand almost all the dialects, lebanese, egyptian, algerian, morrocan...) and spanish fluently and english (the latter is not my mother tongue)
I can understand italian and portuguese (but only reading it). 
My wish is to learn chinese!!!!!!!!


----------



## shaloo

hi,
My mother tongue is *Telugu* (a South Indian Language) 
So, can read, write and speak telugu very fluently.
*Hindi* is my national language and i can read, write and speak. 
*Kannada*- yeah, im fine with this language,though i can only read and speak
*Tamil- *i can understand well and can express whatever i need
*Sanskrit*- I learnt it in college; i write and read sanskrit, but don't speak. 
*English*- im quite fluent 
*French*- i've been learning it for 18 months now and im comfortable(but my vocab levels need a boosting).
*Spanish*- Learning(...I mean just started ).
I've _fallen_ in love with *Bengali* and i can make out things
(must gather myself up and start working towards learning it  )

I've voted 5 (telugu, hindi, english,kannada,french)


----------



## Xerinola

Hi!

*Catalan:* native speaker
*Spanish:* native speaker
*French*: translator
*English:* advanced level
*Italian:* avanzato
*Arabic:* translator but speaking I'm not very good(quite difficult for me).


----------



## irantzu

*Spanish: *mother tongue.
*English: *I can read, write and speak, but I'm not good enough.
*German:* learning.

So, let's say I speak 3 languages... (even when it's not really true!)


----------



## Jana337

The discussion about in which parts of India Hindi is spoken is now here. 

Jana


----------



## Dindin

*Bulgarian* - mother language

*Italian* - studied at so called Language School, working for Italians for 3 years, travelled a lot around Italy, have very good level, would like to improved twice of what I know, grammar also

*English* - Lived in USA 10 years ago, studied English for 10 years since childhood, have very good level however would like to improve vocabulary

*Russian* - studied at school for 10 years, understand almost everything, no experience in speaking, grammar is very difficult although both Bulgarian and Russian are Slavic languages

I would like to learn French and Spanish, more likely French


----------



## Jessika_00

I'm from Brussels (Belgium) but I live in the South of Italy and I speak the following languages : 

- Dutch (mothertongue)
- English (interpreter)
- French (interpreter)
- Italian (interpreter)
- German (basis)
- Spanish (basis)
- and I'm following a course to learn Arabic.


----------



## tvdxer

*English - *Native tongue.

*Spanish - *Intermediate - can generally read / write and hold conversations, listen to the radio / watch TV with some difficulty, but would like to improve, especially my listening skills.

*========*

*Italian *- Basic - can understand songs to some extent from listening to a lot of them, read basic things with comprehension, get something out of conversations and TV I think.  Probably could get by with "survival conversations", perhaps combining my Spanish with Italian.

*Galician - *Can understand to some extent (from listening to a radio program), but couldn't speak it.

*Portuguese - *Can read to some extent but have tons of trouble understanding when spoken.

*French - *Can read to some extent but very little oral comprehension.

*German - *Know many words, especially English cognates, but could not understand it for the life of me.

*Slavic languages *- Know a few of the words common to them, can _kind of_ read cyrillic, but otherwise not enough knowledge to be useful in any way I guess.


----------



## OCCASVS

*Italian*: mother tongue. I've an excellent knownledge of its grammar (Italians often don't know very well theirs grammar, because it's very difficult).
*English*: I can understand written English very well, but I should improve the "sentence thinking". I've an average ability to speak English, but my listening skill is very terrible.
*French*: I can understand written French, but not good as English. I've a good grammar knownledge. I speak it as good as English, but my listening skill is mediocre (it's easier to listen than English).
*Latin*: I've a solid grammar knownledge and a great (but not perfect, because I've been studying it for only two years, so I should learn something other) ability to understand, and a very good ability to translate into Italian.
*Esperanto*: I've been studying very slowly with an online course for some months. It's very interesting.
*Korean*: today I've read something about its alphabet. It looks more "human" than Japanese and Chinese.
*Russian*: I've just read for the first time an explanation about its alphabet.


----------



## panjabigator

What do you mean by human?


----------



## vince

Perhaps he means the fact that it is phonetic like most other language scripts.
Japanese is partially phonetic (that is, whenever it uses kana instead of kanji). Written Chinese is not phonetic (except for some characters that give "clues"), which I think is a huge barrier to foreign language learners, and is in effect a type of involuntary trade barrier.


----------



## karuna

*Latvian – *my native language.*
Russian – *pretty good, though my spelling is awful. I had big problems with  Russian at school. I though I will never learn it although it is very much used in Latvia. But despite lacking talent for languages I had to travel to Russia and gradually started to speak it.
*English – *not perfect but can use practically in all situations.
Voted for 3 languages only but I learning other languages as well.
*Spanish – *I can read but cannot yet understand spoken language on the street.
And finally learning some *Japanese *purely for aesthetic reasons.


----------



## Anatoli

I wish to repost my message from the now closed thread http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=179542

Hi all,

I like this forum because people here discuss multiple languages. I joined it because I found it as the best source of Arabic, thanks to Elroy and Cherine  I started learning *Arabic* a few weeks ago.

I am also a member of 2 other forums where they discuss languages I've been teaching myself - *Japanese* and *Chinese Mandarin*.

I am native of *Russian*, feel free to ask me questions about Russian. That was the language of my education and youth. I now use it with my family and friends. Having linguistic background, I might be able to explain from grammatical point of view.

I understand *Polish, Ukrainian* and *Czech* to a lesser extent. I learned and used Polish in the past, was heavily exposed to Ukrainian, did only one semester in it. My Czech is poor now but Polish is better.

At Uni I majored in *German* and *English*. At some stage I was very fluent in German but I lost some of it. I can still read books and newspapers and understand spoken, I don't use it often, though.

I am fluent in English and it's the language I use everyday.

I did 2 semesters of *French* before learning it on my own at school. I haven't used it much, though.

Would be great if this forum had Chinese and Japanese sections. I am about intermediate in both (Japanese a little better than Mandarin).

Learning one language and retaining it is hard but learning more than one is even harder, especially if you have other commitments.

Please share your experiences about learning languages here. What languages you know, learning or seriously planning to learn.

-------------
Vince, Ukuca and Tensai, please join me here


----------



## Pedro Arteaga

*German* - Muttersprache (native language)
*English *- fluent (I am US american)
*Spanish* - fluent (My father's family is from Mexico - Spain)
*Italian* - fluent (I lived 11 years in Italy)
*French* - I speak it fluently, but I have a VERY hard time writing it (I lived in RD Congo)
*Latin* - I don´t speak it  but I can translate it (Latinum)
*Greek *- I know the classical greek (university - biblical GRAECUM)
*Hebrew* - I studied the classical (biblical) hebrew, but that´s 15 years ago
*Portuguese - *Can read to some extent with some trouble understanding when spoken
*Dutch* - I understand most of it, but I don't speak or write it.
*Arabic* - I took some courses in university, but I remember very little
*Schwietzerdütsch* - I understand it, but I can't speak it, nor write it!
*Ingala *- I have a basic knowledge and I speak a little (I lived in Kinshasa RDC)
*Euskera *- I started to study it last year (I'm from an old bask family)


----------



## zlblue

wow! you guys are impressive...

here goes

1. English (fluent) - mother tongue
2. Irish (fluent-ish) - studied at school for 13 years, but fairly rusty since I never really spoke it much.
3. French - (not too bad) - trying to brush up. Understand well, but my grammar sucks
4. Haitian Creole - (fluent) - live there 
5. German - rusty - studied it at school, but cant remember all that grammar.


----------



## Esha

1- English- mother tongue
2- Urdu- alot better in it
3- Arabic- lived in Egypt for 8 yrs so i know some of it
4- French- learnt some in school and some in Egypt
5- German- studied in school but can get some of it!!


----------



## Susi122

Sadly I can only speak 2 languages (I plan to learn both French and Italian)

1- English - Native language
1- Spanish - Native language

(learned both languages when i was small, not sure which i learned first)


----------



## Don Borinqueno

Susi122 said:
			
		

> Sadly I can only speak 2 languages (I plan to learn both French and Italian)
> 
> 1- English - Native language
> 1- Spanish - Native language
> 
> (learned both languages when i was small)


 
*Being able to speak 2 languages is something amazing pana. Theres nothing to be ashamed of.*


----------



## OCCASVS

panjabigator said:
			
		

> What do you mean by human?


For me, Chinese and Japanese ideograms are too much alien  (no racism. I just think they're very strange to understand for a Romance language(s) speaker)
Korean ideograms are much more like Latin characters (each _jamo_ match a sound, and not a word), so they seem more human for me


----------



## Susi122

Don Borinqueno said:
			
		

> *Being able to speak 2 languages is something amazing pana. Theres nothing to be ashamed of.*


 
well it is not that I am ashamed its just....I would love to have grown up speaking a third language thats all


----------



## Tisia

Persian:fluent (father tongue) 
Kurdish:fluent (mother tongue)
English:fluent 
Arabic: almost fluent/ more vocabulary needed
Finnish: manage but serious to learn
French: manage
German: learning

Tisia


----------



## Ayazid

Czech: mother tongue
Slovak: extremely close to Czech, I understand 98% of it
English: I understand it when it is written, understanding native speakers is worst for me. Basically, I can make a conversation. 
Polish: I understand maybe 40-50%, but never studied it.
Russian & Ukrainian:maybe 15-20%
Serbian, Bulgarian, Slovenian: 5-10%
Arabic: I study classical language and Egyptian dialect, but I am still beginner.
Portuguese & Spanish: still beginner.


----------



## ukuca

Turkish: native language
English: fluent
French: Good enough
Spanish: Learning


----------



## panjabigator

OCCASVS said:
			
		

> For me, Chinese and Japanese ideograms are too much alien  (no racism. I just think they're very strange to understand for a Romance language(s) speaker)
> Korean ideograms are much more like Latin characters (each _jamo_ match a sound, and not a word), so they seem more human for me



I agree with you then!  I just didnt understand what you meant by human...but I agree that having a letter/character for a sound is much more familiar territory for most of us.


----------



## panjabigator

Tisia said:
			
		

> Persian:fluent (father tongue)
> Kurdish:fluent (mother tongue)
> English:fluent
> Arabic: almost fluent/ more vocabulary needed
> Finnish: manage but serious to learn
> French: manage
> German: learning
> 
> Tisia



Out of curiosity, do you speak Kurdish with your entire family then or just with your mother?  I mainly use Panjabi with my father and his side of the family, and Hindi with my mother and her side of the family.  With my sister it is english.


----------



## Kexet

Swedish: Native
English: fluently, it's almost my mother tongue since I mostly even think in English and I've been to English school
Spanish: More or less fluently
French: Not as good as the Spanish, but I'm getting there
Norwegian: I understand speaking and writing and don't need to speak it, though I think I could if I wanted to.
Danish: Same as Norwegian

And I can also understand the context in some Italian, Portugese and German.


----------



## Tensai

OCCASVS said:
			
		

> For me, Chinese and Japanese ideograms are too much alien  (no racism. I just think they're very strange to understand for a Romance language(s) speaker)


 
but i have to say Chinese is a beautiful language, not just because it is my native tongue,lol


----------



## barkley04

I speak 5 languages (modern standard arabic, french, english spanish and italian).


----------



## TimeHP

Here I am:

Italian - native
French - fluent
English - quite fluent
German - elementary
Latin - mm...
Spanish - a bit
Chinese - learning
Japanese - learning
Ligurian dialect - more or less

Ciao


----------



## Tisia

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Out of curiosity, do you speak Kurdish with your entire family then or just with your mother? I mainly use Panjabi with my father and his side of the family, and Hindi with my mother and her side of the family. With my sister it is english.


 
I mostly speak English with my adult sister, Finnish with my two teenage sisters, and Kurdish and Persian with my parents because they both speak Persian and Kurdish interchangeably. But the most common one used between all of us is Kurdish. We use Pesian for reading more.

Regards
Tisia


----------



## johankka

well...
*French*: mother tongue
*English*: fluent, but with a pretty french accent!
*Czech*: fluent, but with a grammar that isn t perfect!
*German*: rusty, since I haven t spoken for at least 2 years, but I ve studied it almost 10 years, so the basics do exist
*spanish*: I studied it a long time ago, still can understand, but am unable to tell a proper sentence
*italian*: some old and rusty basics!

I voted 4.


----------



## valexDD

I can speak 5 languages:
*Italian*: mother tongue
*English*: very fluent
*French*: I've studied French for 3 years at school but now I've forgotten a lot of words and sentences and I'm really sorry about that because i love french!
*Spanish*: I've studied Spanish just for one year but i can totally understand if someone speaks Spanish..I'm not very fluent at speaking but it's not so difficult!
*Russian*: well..one of my best friends is russian so she has taught me the numbers, the alphabet, some swear words and i can say also "Hi! How are you? I'm fine thanks.." and other things..i know that i can't hold a conversation but maybe when i'll finish high school i'll be able to..finger-crossed!


----------



## papillon

My hats off to all of you with a long list of languages!
This is really inspiring me to learn more.

In the order learnt:
_Russian_: Native (lived in eastern Ukraine until 18)
_Ukrainian:_ Fluent (need to refresh)
_French:_ Studied since age of 7. Bit rusty now, but nothing a few years in France couldn't remedy
_English: _lived in US for 14 yrs

As I'm moving to Valencia Spain, I'm starting to learn Spanish (Castellano) next week (can't wait to start). I will also start with Valenciano, I think it'll be used more and more in the future and I want to be ahead of the curve!

Voted 4


----------



## panjabigator

Was Russian more useful in your portion of Ukrain than was Ukrainian?


----------



## papillon

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Was Russian more useful in your portion of Ukraine than was Ukrainian?


yes, most regions in the eastern part of Ukraine are mainly Russian-speaking,
although we also learned the Ukrainian language and literature.


----------



## capsi

Bengali - Mother tongue
bengali - Banglades style, (its like knowing Spanish & Catalan)
hindi
english
spanish
sanskrit - not too good , can read


----------



## Max.89

Italian:mother language
English:I think to know it pretty well
Japanese:a little(only some simple senteces)


----------



## panjabigator

Capsi, do you mean the Chittagong variety of Bangla? Apni ki bolcho?


----------



## capsi

panjabigator, not the chittagong style, basically in West Bengal they call it 'banggal ' normally spoken in Dhaka/Narayngaung.its much sweeter and not too much poluted with hindi/urdu/english words; in calcutta or westbengal we tend to speak 'Bangregi' or 'Bangndi' more .

by the way where did u learn that bengali? 'Apni ki bolcho?'


----------



## panjabigator

My father speaks Bangla, and I only know a smathering (he lived in Bengal on a military base...he used to speak it well).  I didnt think it was correct.  I can sometimes follow a conversation but I really do not have too good skills with it.  But I really want to learn it, and since I know Hindi, it shouldnt be _too _hard


----------



## The Extraordinary

*Greek -> *mother tongue
*English ->* able to teach after 10 yrs of learning
*French -> *intermediate level
*Italian -> *I picked it up recently


----------



## leesboek

*Dutch*; mother tongue
*English*: able to understand it well

I've started a German self study course and would like to learn some Spanish too.


----------



## gjou

Well I can only vote for two
- French, my mother tongue,
- English (of course, isn't this thread in english?)
And from my point of view, that's not so bad.
I've learned german for 5 years, but never managed neither to speak, nor even to understand accurately that language. But it's true that we french have no skills for other languages.
And if I had to learn a new language, it would be italian, because it sounds very musical to my ears.
Perhaps one day...


----------



## marcia123

Hello there


I speak English
Portuguese (born in Brazil)
Spanish 
and I'm trying to learn Italian, I'm able to read and understand but I am not able to speak yet.


Regards

Mars


----------



## Gemelle

I voted for two:

English is my mother tongue and I am in fluent in (Standard) Italian.

Ciao,
Gemelle.


----------



## Aldin

Well I speak fluently,spontaneously
Bosnian,Croatian,Serbian,Montenegrin-4
English,
little of French,German,Turkish and Portuguese and quite some of Spanish.


----------



## Mery_Dian

Hi everybody,

*Moroccan Arabic *: Mother tongue 
*Standard/ Classical Arabic *: studied from the age of 5
(_since Moroccan Arabic is partly derived from classical Arabic, I counted them as one language_)
*French *: first foreign language, studied (along with Standard Arabic) from the age of 5  near-native fluency but still learning...
*English *: second foreign language   Fairly fluent, studied from the age of 15 at high school, College and postgraduate studies.
*Italian *: I've been studying it as a complementary language at the University for 4 years and spent a couple of months in Italy  Upper-intermediate level, almost fluent though I haven't practiced it for a few years.
*Amazigh *: my father's mother tongue   when spoken slowly enough, I have no problem in understanding it, but I'm unfortunately unable to hold a fluent conversation in the Amazigh language.
*Spanish *: never learned it, but owing to my knowledge of Italian, I can more or less understand it, and read it quite easily
*German *: basic  I've been learning it on an irregular basis, and still find difficulties in grammar and word order (among others)
*Hebrew *: some basic phrases and expressions, but very eager to learn it as soon as possible.

I voted 4.


----------



## Tennis

I can speak five languages:
- Russian (my mother is russian)
- Vietnamese (my father is vietnamese)
- English (of course)
- French (Je suis commencé à apprendre le français à l'école)
- German (Ich habe seit 1 Jahr deutsche gelernt. I think I'll master this language soon  )
Besides i can speak some chinese


----------



## justjukka

English is my first and primary language.

I can read Spanish well enough to get by, and can hold a conversation if immersed in a Spanish-speaking culture.  I discovered this after spending Christmas break on a two-week study course in Ecuador.

I'm studying German, and though it is closer to English than is Spanish (or _because_ it is closer to English than is Spanish) I'm struggling at a pretty basic level, but plan on attaining fluency.


----------



## justjukka

English is my first and primary language.

I can read Spanish well enough to get by, and can hold a conversation if immersed in a Spanish-speaking culture.  I discovered this after spending Christmas break on a two-week study course in Ecuador.

I'm studying German, and though it is closer to English than is Spanish (or _because_ it is closer to English than is Spanish) I'm struggling at a pretty basic level, but plan on attaining fluency.

I hope to add Arabic and maybe French to the list later on down the road.


----------



## Sonja learning Greek

German is my native language
living in Britain (English is near-native)
my father is Finnish, but I don't really speak it (a few phrases and I can count...  )
i did french at school for 6 years
latin for 5 years (has helped me learn other languages, but obviously i don't "speak" it)
am doing spanish at the moment (in my 6th evening class year, so past A-level)
and have just started to learn a bit of greek (hence my silly username)

what a lovely website this is, am so glad i came across it by chance!!!

cheers,

sonja


----------



## Confused Linguist

English, Bengali, Hindi and a little bit of German and Sanskrit.

I voted 5.


----------



## panjabigator

What dialect of Bangla do you speak Confused?


----------



## Confused Linguist

panjabigator said:
			
		

> What dialect of Bangla do you speak Confused?


 
I speak Standard Bengali.


----------



## Blackleaf

I can speak English, because I'm English, and I can speak a bit of French. I got "A" for French in my final exams at school.

I've been trying to teach myself languages such as Italian and Finnish, but I gave up. There must be something about the brain of a native English speaker that just doesn't enable them to speak a foreign tongue.


----------



## paisleyHK

*Chinese*--native language
* English*-- second language and fluent
* Spanish*-- I've studied it for three years and am able to read contemporary Spanish novels with a dictionary. But my listening capability is poor. As I live in Asia, where Spnanish is not popular, listening materials are less available than reading materials.

I voted 3 but I wonder whether I should add up two other "languages", to be exact, two other "dialects".  I was born and raised in a city in mainland China and now live in Hong Kong. Natually I learnt to speak Cantonese, another Chinese language so different from the mandarin Chinese (the so-called "pu tong hua"). That is to say, the written characters of Cantonese and mandarin are the same, but the spoken languages are totally different--no matter in daily conversations or on offcial occasions. A person from Beijing would never understand a word what a HongKonger talks about.

The same thing well applies to the situation in mainland China. There are hundreds of dialects there.  The differences between two dialects may be as huge as between two European languages. Actually that is the case geographically, as a province in China is usually of equal area with an European country. People from adjacent provinces or cities find the dialect
of each other similar and easy to understand, yet just do not bother to learn it. That is like the situation between a Portuguese and a Spanish. However, once two Chinese persons live far away from each other,  there  will be great difficulties understanding each other. For instance,  a Beijing person cannot communicate with a Shanghai person,  if the latter keeps talking in Shanghai dialect. 

As a Chinese, I sometimes envy the Europeans very much in their great language proficiencies. Yet considering China is like the whole Europe, geographically, linguistically and culturally, I am relieved.


----------



## paisleyHK

Savoir said:
			
		

> What I'm interested in is, can Japanese understand written Chinese? I once tried with a Jap girl  but she didn't understand.


Yes, a well-educated Japanese (or those above 50 years old approximately) can well understand wrtten Chinese, even if he has not learnt it. But it must the traditional Chinese characters (繁體字).


----------



## micaelafrank

romanian- native
english-pretty well
french-o.k.
italian-almost fluently


----------



## xymox

*French* :  Native
*English*: Native
*Spanish*: Fully fluent
*Catalán*: Fully fluent
*Portuguese*: fluent
*Italian*: Understand, speak but cannot write it.
*Japanese*: currently learning


----------



## panjabigator

How would you gauge the difference between being fully fluent and just fluent?


----------



## alibaba86

Hi!
This is a difficult question for me...
_
French_: my "best" and most commen language as I've lived in France since I'm 10 and done all school and university studies in french
_
German_: mother tongue_
English_: father tongue
I speak both of these languages fluently as I use them with my family and been brought up in them.
_
Spanish_: 5 years in school
_Ukrainien_: 2 years in University but I only have a basic knowledge of it.

Voilà for my languages


----------



## LCyeah

English is my native tongue
and I can translate most spanish, hold a simple conversation, and comprehend simple verbal español.


----------



## Grekh

Mi lengua madre es el español, he estudiado inglés por aproximadamente 4 años, y he estudiado francés por 2 años, proximamente estaré estudiando italiano y posteriormente ruso.


----------



## claudine2006

*Italian*- mother tongue
*Spanish* - fluent
English - it used to be better  
French - I'm studying it
Portuguese - I can read it and I understand almost everything, but I cannot speak
Arabic - very very basic
Latin - 6 years at school
Ancient Greek - 5 years at school


I voted 4.


----------



## vince

paisleyHK said:
			
		

> As a Chinese, I sometimes envy the Europeans very much in their great language proficiencies. Yet considering China is like the whole Europe, geographically, linguistically and culturally, I am relieved.


I find this is very funny about how Chinese people view their languages.

You speak 3 Chinese languages, plus English, and a bit of Spanish. Because of this, you are far more proficient than the average European, who might only know 2 or 3 languages in total, two of which are more closely related than Mandarin and Cantonese. So Europeans should be envying YOU for your language proficiencies. You are way more multilingual than some Eastern European smarty-pants who claims to understand Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Ruthenian, Kashubian, and Belarussian.

What is the name of the other Chinese language that you speak? If you don't know the name of the language, what is the city?

Here are the major Chinese languages: Mandarin, Yue, Gan, Xiang, Wu, Min,  Hakka, Hui. (I didn't include Xiang and Jin because they're as close to Mandarin as Galician is to Portuguese), can you identify yours?


----------



## Fantabulous_167

1. Spanish (native language)
2. English (my second mother language XD)
3. French (my third mother language )
4. Arabic (studying now at uni)
5. Turkish (studying by myself)


----------



## french4beth

Blackleaf said:
			
		

> There must be something about the brain of a native English speaker that just doesn't enable them to speak a foreign tongue.


I disagree.  I'm a native English speaker, am fluent in French, studied Russian for 10 years, Spanish for 1 year, and have been studying Japanese for < 1 year. I know a few phrases in Italian & German, too.

None of the above languages was spoken at home, nor did anyone in my family of origin speak any of these languages. People are quite amazed at my level of French proficiency, as well as my accent (at Alliance Francaise get-togethers, I'm frequently asked if I am French).  While at university, I used to read Russian literature - in Russian.  Also, since all of my classmates (all 4 of us) spoke French, as did my Russian professor, our Russian classes were frequently conducted in French! At 8:00am, no less!


----------



## panjabigator

Did you take classes in these languages at the university or did you do any independent study?


----------



## french4beth

I minored in French and had a concentration in Russian - I took many courses in both languages. I took Spanish adult education classes for about a year, and am now learning some Japanese as part of my karate classes.  I'd like to learn more Spanish, and am learning a little bit of Japanese as classes progress.  Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to do much independent language study (for the past two years, I have also been taking work-related self study courses for the insurance industry through LOMA).

I lived in Quebec, Canada for 6 years and went to school full time to study French.  I started studying French in school when I was 8, and started Russian in school when I was 12.


----------



## panjabigator

Lucky!  Im going to have to start working on it...because all signs are negative about learning a language well as an adult!


----------



## angel101

English: mother tongue
Spanish: Quite good
Italian: Have only just started to learn it, though my Spanish has helped with it


----------



## osmanli

Türkçe (Turkish) = Native Language
Azerbajiani = Second Native Language
Russian = Good enough
English = Not bad


----------



## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:* mother tongue
*English:* Fluent but sometimes make _stupid_ mistakes
*Esperanto:* I started to study this language two weeks ago but I have been so busy recently so I will carry on when I have free time.

I'm very fond of languages. I know some phareses in many languages and sometimes study their grammars. I will start studying German as my second foreign language at school next year. I will also regularly study Spanish by myself. Since I'm now in Holland, I feel like I should learn Dutch, as well. But I don't know if I can.


----------



## coconutpalm

*Chinese: *mother tongue
*English:* major, fluent, but far from perfect
I'm not a bilingual person. I don't speak English in daily life, only in class, and hopefully, at work in the future.
I'm from a province that claims to have the most dialects in China. Surely you don't count dialect as language.
Besides, I'm learning French, but I'm really poor at it!


----------



## panjabigator

Well in this case, endulge us!  What dialects do you speak?  If anyone asks, I promise to tell them they are inferior dialects, I swear!


----------



## SJAJ

Hi!
I speak
English (fluently)
Spanish (still not fluent, but I am working on it) 
Serbian (mother tongue). 
Also, some people would say that I speak 
Bosnian, 
Croatian and 
Montenegrin! 
Even a littlebit of Macedonian, but I myself am not really sure what to tell you! It all depends on whether you consider the abovementioned SEPARATE languages or DIALECTS of one languages (do not know which one) 
Pardon, my confusion, but I have just come from another thread with a discussion about whether Serbian and Croatian are one language and I am still under the influence of it!


----------



## micaelafrank

is there a difference between Serbian and Montenegrin? taking into consideration that they were one and the same country a little while ago...


----------



## Etcetera

micaelafrank said:
			
		

> is there a difference between Serbian and Montenegrin? taking into consideration that they were one and the same country a little while ago...


I believe people in Montenegro speak Serbian, actually. With some local differences, of course, but nonetheless.


----------



## micaelafrank

so i must understand that there is no such language as "montenegrin" ?


----------



## Etcetera

micaelafrank said:
			
		

> so i must understand that there is no such language as "montenegrin" ?


Yes. I think SJAJ was just joking.


----------



## SJAJ

Yes and no! You see, I do not take it so seriously, but there are people to whom this question is everything but a joke! Personally, looking at the matter from a linguist's point of view, Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian are dialects of one and the same language. Just as there are American English, Australian English, Irish English, Carribean English,... but it's all ENGLISH. Of course, there are people who would disagree with me, but I did not wish to start a discussion that already exists on another thread. I just wanted to answer micaelafrank and Etcetera. 
As far as "Montenegrin" is concerned, it may not exist officially yet, but it is just a matter of time (and politics)! The fact that Serbia and Montenegro were one country "until yesterday", doesn't have anything to do with it. Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia were one country "untill three days ago", and look at them now!
Anyway, for me, this is a win-win situation! My theory can either be proved to be right one day, or it will turn out that I speak all those different languages! What a great thing to put in my CV!!!


----------



## coconutpalm

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Well in this case, endulge us! What dialects do you speak? If anyone asks, I promise to tell them they are inferior dialects, I swear!


 
I'm from a little town in Anhui Province, and there are so many towns in this province! I assure you that there are as many dialects as towns, or more than 
Now that I'm studying in the northern China, and people around me speak Mandarin with an North-eastern accent, I'm getting on that accent, too


----------



## Juri

Agree with *SJAJ *about the dialects of "one and the same language", and the possibility that Montenegrin will be own language,"matter of time and politics".
Despite schools, papers, TV have unified today the languages everywhere, it is still to find f.i.in Slovenia villages, separated only 20 km, with own different dialect.(Vojvodina is another question)
Connections, travelling, have been in the past very poor.I remember in Montenegro, the guide showed high beyond the modern street a mule track, which in the past was the unique connection between coast and inland, such hazardous, that the rare travelers made pne's will befor leaving.
But as said, politics, from 1848 on spoiled every thing.
In Illirian provinces era, they have been attempt to unify Slovene and Croatian, but invain. The separation of Croatian from Serbian begun in A.Pavelić time, and continue today seriously.
So I already have in my CV for Italy "translating Slo,Cro,Serbian & Bosnian"In the future perhaps Montenegrin also.


----------



## kanojo_

So far I know Slovene, my mother tongue, and I speak English and Italian fluently (Hopefully  ). I can understand quite a lot of Croatian and Spanish as well as they're quite similiar to Slovene and Italian. I'm also learning Japanese but I'm still a beginner.


----------



## vince

coconutpalm said:
			
		

> I'm from a little town in Anhui Province, and there are so many towns in this province! I assure you that there are as many dialects as towns, or more than


See the bottom section of my post: http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=1219988&postcount=16

What is spoken in Anhui:

In layman-speak, every town has a dialect assigned to it. If you have a town called AAA, it has a dialect called AAA-hua ("the speech of AAA"). But linguistically, dialects like AAA-hua can be grouped into a formal dialect of a specific Chinese language.

The northern and central regions of Anhui speak dialects of the Mandarin language. Northern Anhui speaks the Zhongyuan dialect of Mandarin, while Central Anhui speaks the Jianghuai dialect of Mandarin.

In southern Anhui however, a completely different language is spoken (or was, due to repression of non-Mandarin languages). People in the south primarily speak Wu (of which Shanghainese is a dialect). There are also counties that speak the Gan and Hui languages.

There you have it: Anhui has only *TWO* major Chinese languages: Mandarin and Wu. Gan and Hui are minority Chinese languages in Anhui. In all of China, Wu has 77 million native speakers, which is as many as the number of German-speakers in Germany.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhui


----------



## Insider

Ukrainian: mother tongue
English: fluently (sometimes happens unknown words, I would rather say the absence of "exect meaning")
Russian: fluently (but with great accent in speaking)
Spanish: knowing of almost all grammar, knowledge of good reading, but poor vocabulary
German: basic level
Polish: can understand the speaker, can read with problems, cannot speak


----------



## Insider

By the way, I voted for three languages. In my opinion, the knowing of some language starts when you "understand", "write", "read" and "speak" without any kind of problems.


----------



## coconutpalm

vince said:
			
		

> In southern Anhui however, a completely different language is spoken (or was, due to repression of non-Mandarin languages). People in the south primarily speak Wu (of which Shanghainese is a dialect). There are also counties that speak the Gan and Hui languages.


 
Interesting! Thank you for the source!

 I'm from the south of Anhui, and I cannot understand one of my friend that come from another county when he speaks his dialect. Again, as we are the educated generation and live/study out there in the city, speaking Mandarin, most of us have forgotten many of the "real" dialects. 

"Lay-man" words.


----------



## Why Not?

German, mother tongue
English, pretty well
French, fluent
Italian, fluent
Spanish, fluent
Catalan (definitely my favourite language!!), fluent
Portuguese, understand a lot, can speak a little
Russian, basic knowledge, would survive in Russian daily life
Polish (lovely language!), basic knowledge, but at a somewhat higher level than Russian, would survive in Poland and even be able to "discuss" with people on other topics, but, anyway, using rather basic vocab, I admit 
Latin, six years at school, still able to translate quite a bit
Thai, just learning this language at the moment, would "start to sort of survive" in Thailand
Hebrew, some (very) basic notions, but native speakers would already be able to realise that it is not meant to be Arab ;-)

Would like to learn Maltese one day ...
... and Welsh !!


----------



## Samuel Hain

Czech - Mother tongue
Russian - Father tongue (-:
English - Eye can speek, butt Eye cunt right (-:
Spanish - Estudiaba en BCN, pero no soy un experto.

Slovak - Understand everything, but I would have problems to speak, on the other side they understand Czech well. The difference between Czech and Slovak is like between American and British English or Catalan and Valenciano (-:

I do understand other Slavic langueges, and a little Italian, Portuguese, French and German.


----------



## vince

coconutpalm said:
			
		

> Interesting! Thank you for the source!
> 
> I'm from the south of Anhui, and I cannot understand one of my friend that come from another county when he speaks his dialect. Again, as we are the educated generation and live/study out there in the city, speaking Mandarin, most of us have forgotten many of the "real" dialects.
> 
> "Lay-man" words.



Is your dialect a dialect of the Wu language? i.e. would people from Shanghai understand your dialect easier than a person from northern Anhui?

The mistake that lay-men in China make is that they assume all Chinese "dialects" are the same type. The fact is, they can be grouped into languages.

So you are trilingual:
*Mandarin*, *English*, and *Wu*. Once you learn French, you can add it to this list!


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## foucrazyfoucrazy

*English *Mother tongue. I speak it quite well, but certainly not perfectly!
*French* Studying in school.. been doing so for the past 7 years.  Not quite fluent and my accent needs some work, but otherwise, I can have a conversation in French rather easily.
I've also picked up some phrases in Italian from a book called "Bloomability", like "Sono libero" and "Sono potente", but those don't really count, so I voted for 2.


----------



## mie

Swedish: mother tongue
Finnish: second mother tongue

English: lacking when it comes to pronounciation (I've never had an actual face-to-face conversation in it) , otherwise fluent

French: studied it 3 years in school, I have a good basic understanding of the written word but really need to widen my vocabulary, when it comes to talking and understanding spoken french I still have a long way to go, all in all I hope to reach fluency within a year. 

German: took a couple of months of it last year, I can read, write and speak it fairly rudimentarily.

Latin: I studied it for three years, but that was ages ago. My skills have had time to gather quite a bit of dust, but I think I could brush them up in a matter of weeks. I used to be pretty good and I still remember most of the grammar.

Japanese: My new hobby, I've been teaching it to myself sporadically for about a year now. I can read/write hiragana and some 50 kanji, and I can understand and produce basic sentences and make myself understood.

In addition to these I understand to some degree all Scandinavian languages with the exception of Icelandic and spoken Danish. A benefit of having Swedish as my mother tongue  Thanks to the Latin and the French I also understand basic written Spanish.

I chose the last option.


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## coconutpalm

vince said:
			
		

> Is your dialect a dialect of the Wu language? i.e. would people from Shanghai understand your dialect easier than a person from northern Anhui?


 
I don't know whether my dialect is a dialect of the Wu language  My eldest sister's boyfriend is from Shanghai, though. They can't understand each other if they speak in their own dialects 
Actually, my home-county is a combination of part of Hunan and Anhui province. A story fifty years ago, I think. Yesterday I came across several people from somewhere along the border of Hunan and Anhui Province. I cannot understand a single word of them at the very beginning, but later I can occasionally understand a sentence or two. As time goes by, dialects vary.
So, is our dialect still Wu language? I don't know for sure.

Oh, and French! I'm really a freshhand in this learner, so I'll have to wait another several years to dare add it to this list.


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## AkErBeLtZ

Basque / Euskara = mother tongue
Spanish = learnt in the street (i speak it as good as basque)
English = learning... im not so fluent yet


----------



## sniffrat

Hello to all fellow language lovers!

English - Native language
Spanish - I've been learning for about 18 months. I am able to read simple texts (and also get the gist of posts in the Spanish forums). Recently took some private lessons and I was told that my pronunciation and accent were "good". Grammar - not bad. Comprehension - poor. Fluency - almost zero.

I'm voting (grudgingly) for 1.

P.S. This is the best internet language resource that I've found so far - maybe soon that "1" will change to a "2". Best regards - Sniffrat.


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## zena168

I'm fluent in English, Chinese and my mother tongue is actually a Chinese sub-dialect that I haven’t used since I was seven.  So three can be counted I suppose.
I can understand three other Asian languages by hearing them but can’t write nor converse in a normal setting.


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## panjabigator

Zena, what is the name of your dialect and what region is it spoken in?  Are you still fluent in the dialect and why don't you use it anymore?  Just curious


----------



## ashley1607

*Cantonese (Chinese dialect):*
Mother tongue; Fluent

*English :*
Medium of Instruction in school; Fair (My written English is OK but I'm not satisfied with my spoken English...)

*Mandarin (Lingua franca of Chinese population all over the world) :*
Fluent

Besdies, I also speak very little *Hakkanese (Chinese dialect spoken by Hakka people)* and *Hokkienese (Chinese dialect spoken in Fujian Province in China, a close relative of Taiwanese)*.

In addition, I will start learning Spanish in September.
I only know few words and simple phrases now.


----------



## stephyjh

English--native
Spanish--have been studying for about 4 years now


----------



## Danielo

Spanish: mother tongue.

French: pretty fluent (4 years resident in the Hexagon) Strong accent and poor pronunciation as I started learning it when 30 years old.

English: Used to be much better until I learnt French. Need some warming up before becoming semi-fluent.

Italian: tricky reading

Portuguese: tricky reading


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## zena168

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Zena, what is the name of your dialect and what region is it spoken in? Are you still fluent in the dialect and why don't you use it anymore? Just curious


To Sean:
I speak Hakka but it includes three different dialects. I only use it when I’m speaking to my family in Taiwan (especially the elders). Since I’ve moved to the U.S. there’s really no one I know that uses that language at all. So it’s like limited to phone conversation usage. The culture and the language are dying within its own people. My brothers and sisters do not speak the language at all, nor will my children in the future.


----------



## ekhlewagastiR

Russian - mother tongue
Swedish - fluent
Spanish - fluent

Norwegian - an intensive two year course but 15 years ago
German - like Norwegian, two year of an intensive study but long ago

Danish - a basic course
Italian - a basic course

English - I´m studying it all my life but never seriously and during the last three years I don´t have any practice in it, so it´s quite problematic 

At the University we also studied some died languages like Latin, Gotish and old Icelandic.


----------



## john_riemann_soong

It gets a bit more difficult to classify because I think I have shifted native tongues twice. 

I was going to be bilingual at English and Chinese  but migrating to the US at  the age of five kind of stopped that in its tracks. I've been trying to relearn again. The result is that if someone asks me something in Chinese I can infer about what they are asking about or perhaps comply with what I think is their command, but I don't actually know what exactly they said. A bell just rings, if you will. 

My country has a dialect called "Singlish" which has creole features. Arguably that is a "native language" I have been exposed to from birth, but the problem again is that coming to the US at the age of five (then returning to Singapore at the age of 10, then leaving at age of 14 again) makes my vocabulary in the dialect lacking. However, I feel confident to say I am fluent in one and a half languages.  

I've been studying French since age 12 and I can carry a conversation provided that the person I'm listening to repeats him or herself at times, tolerates my errors and so forth. 

I have some academic understanding of Chinese and can write some basic words now, and recognise some words in speech, so I'll say I know 2 3/4 languages.


----------



## Mirko_87

Spanish = Mother Tongue
English = Fluent
Italian = Intermediate


----------



## Kafoozalem

Hi!

English - mother tongue
Spanish - upper intermediate, can pretty much hold my own in conversation, have lived in Spain and travelled a little in South America
French - basic, forgotten most of what I knew
Russian - a very few words, but able to remember the alphabet from my studies a while ago


----------



## ferran

croatian - mother tongue
english - fluent
italian - fluent
german - semi fluent 
spanish - I understand a lot and can correspond well
slovenian - same as spanish, but it's easier since it's slavic language

I won't count serbian, bosnian...


----------



## Henrik Larsson

Spanish: Extremely fluent because it's my native language  

Catalan: Extremely fluent because it's my second native language  

English: What's the opposite of fluent? I can get by when reading but in listenings I'm very bad; when I watch a movie in English I hardly manage to understand a sentence and that's very frustrating... My vocabulary level is shamefully low. Speaking, I'm a complete loser.


----------



## DanyD

I can see many people have counted their dialect as a language: I can speak Veneto dialect fluently, but I didn't think of it when I voted!
Is it correct to consider Italian dialects as languages? Certainly a northern Italian and a southern one wouldn't be able to understand each other if they were to talk in their dialect, but in Italy nobody would consider dialects "official" languages.
I hope it's not OT, I posted because it may be useful for future Italian posters...


----------



## Lemminkäinen

*Norwegian:* My mother tongue. I write in bokmål, but I have a high proficiency in nynorsk.
*English:* I consider my English skills close to fluent, though I'm afraid I have a Norwenglish accent  
*French:* Had five years of it in total two years ago, and my grammar skills have rusted some though I think I can get them up to shape in a couple of months with self-studies. I try to keep it in shape by listening to a lot of music and reading French papers though. All in all, perhaps intermediate fits the label.
*Russian:* Started studying it this August, and know the basics of the grammar (verb, noun, adjective, pronoun declensions, aspect use &c), but wouldn't call me anything other than a beginner yet. Plus, I don't have much of a vocabulary yet (<1000 words).

*(Swedish/Danish):* Passively fluent, if you can say it like that. I.e. I can read and listen to it and understand almost everything (some false friends and weird words), and they can usually do the same when I reply to them in Norwegian. Don't know any of the grammar though.

Conclusion: It all depends on what you mean by "knowing" a language, but I think I'll say 3.


----------



## vince

DanyD said:


> I can see many people have counted their dialect as a language: I can speak Veneto dialect fluently, but I didn't think of it when I voted!
> Is it correct to consider Italian dialects as languages? Certainly a northern Italian and a southern one wouldn't be able to understand each other if they were to talk in their dialect, but in Italy nobody would consider dialects "official" languages.



Yes, if you can't communicate to someone in Firenze in your "dialect", even if you speak slowly and don't use street slang, then most likely you are speaking a different language.

Most Italians and Chinese are much more multilingual than they give themselves credit for. On the other hand, people in the former Yugoslavia who claim they can understand 5 different south-Slavic languages (most commonly: Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian), are not as impressive linguistically as they seem.

The furthest-removed Arabic and German "dialects" are also indisputably languages, though ones closer to the center are debatable despite the low level of intelligibility.


----------



## marxt

Lemminkäinen said:


> *Norwegian:* My mother tongue. I write in bokmål, but I have a high proficiency in nynorsk.
> *English:* I consider my English skills close to fluent, though I'm afraid I have a Norwenglish accent
> *French:* Had five years of it in total*,* two years ago, and my grammar skills have rusted some *become somewhat rusty,* though I think I can get them up to shape *scratch* in a couple of months with *through* self-stud*y*ies. I try to keep it in shape by listening to a lot of music and reading French papers though. All in all, perhaps intermediate fits the label.
> *Russian:* Started studying it this August, and know the basics of the grammar (verb, noun, adjective, pronoun declensions, aspect use &c), but wouldn't call me *myself* anything other than a beginner yet. Plus, I don't have much of a vocabulary yet (<1000 words).


A few small corrections. 



Lemminkäinen said:


> Conclusion: It all depends on what you mean by "knowing" a language, but I think I'll say 3.


 
I totally agree. 

Based on the criteria that some previous posters in this thread seem to have used (i.e. saying they speak X-language fluently/almost fluently despite making quite a few errors in just a paragraph or two of text) I think I could possibly say that I speak four languages: English, Spanish, French and German. 

However, I'll just vote for two because although I can read, write and converse in French and German at an "intermediate" level, it wouldn't feel right to say that I "knew" them.


----------



## beclija

So, in vince's terms, I can credit myself with:
1. Upper Austrian (a Bavarian variant, parents' language)
2. Standard German (Nr. 1 in school, and the "high" language of mostly everywhere I've lived)
3. Vorarlbergish (an Alemannic variant, where I spent most of my youth)
4. "Central South Slavic" (i.e. Croatian/Serbian, picked it up living in Osijek and Sarajevo)
5. English
+ traces of Spanish, Russian (I can read these to fairly well, but forget about a live communication), Arabic, Polish, Latin (a few words, and knowing how to read the characters).

In terms of officially recognized languages:
German
Croatian
English
Serbian 
(and again those I'd rather not count)


----------



## roxcyn

English (native)
Spanish (advanced, studied for fifteen plus years)
Italian (intermediate, studied for one year at university, I can hold a basic conversation, I remember lot of the grammar because it is similar to Spanish, but sometimes I forget the vocabulary)


----------



## spakh

Turkish (native)
English (I'm good at)
German (studying at school- so so)

semi-fluent? well then considering Azeri, Qashqai,Turkmen, etc. as separate languages I can vote for more than 5.


----------



## diztar

Norwegian (Native language 10/10)
Swedish 7/10
Danish  4/10
Japanese 2/10
English 8/10

And I know just a couple of words in French.


----------



## GEmatt

Don't know if this thread is really still current, but for what it's worth, and based on how "knowing a language" was initially defined:

English English (10/10) : fluent written & spoken/native
French (09/10) : fluent written & spoken/non-native ("sub-native"? )
German (09/10) : fluent written & spoken/non-native
Swiss-German (09/10) : fluent written & spoken/non-native
Mandarin (05/10) : non-technical conversation; can read & write without resorting to a dictionary
Korean (01/10) : can translate using a dictionary; knowledge of grammar & syntax; no conversational ability

I voted 5, counting Swiss-German as separate from German German.


----------



## GyörgyMS

1) German (native)
2) English (fluent)
3) Polish (fluent)
4) French (semi-fluent)
> makes up four languages I speak
plus
5) Russian (basics) 
6) Czech/Slovak (reading comprehension is 50 to 100%, but somewhat better in Slovak, oral: some basics in Czech)
(due to 3, 5 and 6 I've got a certain reading competence in Belarussian, Ukrainian, Upper and Lower Sorbian)
7) Dutch - never learnt it but very close to German, i. e. I understand written and spoken language to a certain extent


----------



## Brabol

- Spanish and Portuguese - mother languages
- English - good skill in both written and spoken
- French - can read it
- Italian - same as French
- Latin - I don´t like to remember it...not after that hard time in school.

My vote was 3 by the way.


----------



## GyörgyMS

GyörgyMS said:


> > makes up four languages I speak



May be I should delete "English fluent" looking at this "sentence".

Correction: Altogether I speak four languages.


----------



## PianoMan

Growing up in California to 2 parents who simply studied French in college and use it recreationally, I unfortunately haven't been exposed to multiple languages at a young age.  However, I'm taking High School French and Spanish right now and I'm learning them fairly fast.  I plan to take German (I know a good amount from my Grossvater) and Italian in College, and Hebrew and Russian in graduate school.  One of my biggest desires is to be multilingual at a young age....so I'm trying, I'm trying.  However, my Spanish is good enough at this stage (having taken it previously for a few years) to consider myself approaching fluency.


----------



## Cepkah

turkish (fluent)
balkan turkish (such as gagauz lang.) (mother tongue)
azerbaijani i can't understand all azerbaijani words
turkmen lang. mostly i can understand
bulgarian (official language in the country  )
french (i can understand mostly and i write well but i'm not very good at speaking
english (i studied 4-5 years and also i went to England for learning (just for 2 months) i used to speak, write very well but i started to  regress still i can understand well...


----------



## Calloway

english & espanol


----------



## Random1

1.English - Native
2.Spanish - I can read well, have a slow conversation, writing I get the general Idea across, but have errors from translating from English.        3 Years of schooling.
3. Korean - I know some random words and can count from martial arts, a lot I have forgotten. 

I voted 2.


----------



## Eloy1988

*Spanish*: mother tongue. Perfect command of the language.
*English*: second language. Perfect command of the language.
*Catalan*: not my mother tongue, but I was born in Catalonia, so I have a native-like command of the language.
*Portuguese*: Quite good command.
*Galician: *Quite good command.*
French*: I understand it well.
*Italian: *I understand it quite well.
*Latin*: I studied Latin for three years, so I can translate many texts.
*Greek*: the basics.


----------



## AGATHA2

*german:* mothertongue
*french*: near-native
*spanish:* high level
*english*: once upon a time it wasn´t so bad, but 
actualy very rusty   
*portuguese:* in progress
*rests of latin*


----------



## palomnik

At my age I've forgotten a few, but here goes:

English - my native language.
Russian - near native.  Studied in Russia.
Spanish - near native.  Considerable time in Latin America (Mexico, mostly).
Portuguese - was near fluent, now rusty (lived in Brazil as a teenager).
Chinese - undergraduate degree.
Japanese - was proficient, now rusty.
Swahili - near fluent once, now rusty (lived in Nairobi for two years).
Arabic - proficient (spent extensive time in Middle East with US Navy)


----------



## nijinzka

My native language is *Spanish *and since I`m little I`ve been learning *English*. In highschool I took 3 years of *Portuguese* (everyday) and now I still learning by my self, I also took 1 year of *French* and 1 year of *Italian* and haha of course I have to keep going by my self  
and right now because I need it for school I`m taking *mayan* lessons (its reallllllly hard tho)
and my last year of highschool I took *Latin *

*German *I just know the numbers!! and the greetings!


----------



## irene.acler

Italian: my native language
English:quite high command
Spanish: quite high level
French: I can read and speak it in an elementary way
Latin: I studied it at school, now it's fossilised!
Polish: I know some basic words and expressions
Esperanto: I'm learning it!

Nevertheless I voted 3.


----------



## dificilima

English:  Best language
Portuguese: Fluent
Spanish:  Functional
French:  Functional
Mandarin Chinese:  Functional, but not 100% literate
Khmer: Not great
Hokkien Chinese: Understand, don't speak
Russian/Arabic/Thai:  Can take a taxi/bus/plane, bargain in a market, order food and ask for a toilet.


----------



## Venezuelan_sweetie

*Spanish* - Mother tongue.

*English* - The language of my soul  (Check my profile)

*French* - I (reasonably) understand it, can write it with lots of mistakes, have problems with speaking it.

*Italian* - Still at the (very!) beginners level.

*Venezuelan Sign Language* - Used to be an interpreter. Now it is quite rusty (not to say almost completely forgotten  )

I am attempting to learn *spoken Chinese (Mandarin)* with practically no progress, since I don't set aside the necessary time for practicing, and bits (rather, eventual bites) of *German*, but I don't understand it yet.

I voted 3.

PS: I was forgetting an incredibly little *Haitian Creole* (not functional, just bits and pieces) and an even smaller and rustier knowledge of *Siswati *(some South African dialect). *Portuguese* (from Brazil) and *Swahili* (Africa) are on my list, but I believe French and Italian go first...


----------



## *nina*

Croatian - native speaker
English - fluent
French - fluent
German - used to be fluent, now I can read and understand everything, but I wouldn't dare speaking it  
Spanish - understand and read perfectly, difficult to write because of the interference with French, but I love it and speak it all the time, even though I'm not sure whether it is completely accurate...
I also used to learn Polish (1 year) and Hungarian (few months) - not worth mentioning
Serbian, Slovenian, Bosnian... - very similar (if not the same as) to Croatian, I don't know if that counts


----------



## jebbe

German - mother tongue.
English - fluent, but my written language still sounds too spoken.
Spanish - learning, I understand it pretty well, and can talk reasonably.
French - used to be pretty fluent, but since I started learning Spanish it always takes me some time to get back into it.
Latin - six years at school, and almost nothing left...

voted 4


----------



## jabogitlu

I had to vote two, English (native) and español.  I know a smattering of French (le français québécois) and Haitian Creole that I picked up along the way.


----------



## charkshark

English: Mother Tongue, Completely Fluent, Have quite a deep knowledge.

Hebrew: Have been learning for several years, am completely fluent and practice regularly.

French: Have studied for 4 years in School, as well as self taught. I am very close to fluency, but the right words always seem to slip away at the wrong times.

Swedish: I am completely fluent in Swedish, although I have only studied it for 6 months, came to me VERY easily.

Mandarin: I have quite a basic knowledge, and very little oral skill, but can understand quite a bit.


----------



## caballoschica

English: Mother tongue, Totally fluent, have quite a deep knowledge like charkshark here above me.  

Spanish: currently in advanced level Spanish linguistics.  My level is probably semi-fluent. So I'll say I know two languages.  I can understand Spanish, I can hold a decent conversation without sounding like a complete fool.  My grammar is probably what needs work the most.  "¡Cuidado con tu ortografía y gramática!" is what all of us hear in our class.  Presently writing a ten page paper in Spanish for the class. 

Otherwise I know bits and pieces.


----------



## cute angel

arabic=my native language
french=my first foreign language we studyed it since the primary school
english=the second foreign language no i'm studying it in the univercity


----------



## ameana7

I voted 4

Turkish : Mother Tongue
English : Enough fluent to live abroad
Spanish : Fluent (I worked as a guide to a group of Venezuelan children and adult twice for 15 days)
French : I'm still learning but I can understand and speak a little.


----------



## Zoowärter

English/German bilingual native speaker: I do make interesting mistakes in both languages in syntax, though. and I still screw up German spelling...
Latin: 4 years at School
Spanish: 4 years at School
...I also find it important to at least be able to count, greet and say farewell, in often visited countries which I can do in Serb, Türkish and Italian and i opted for three languages.


----------



## Wintercrossing

Only two. 
Well my mother tongue is Spanish, and now only I learning English.
Do you considered that when you learn language, is too know speak that language?


----------



## prtzllife

-English (mother tongue)
-Spanish (learned in school since 7th grade up through university, fluent)
-French (learned in Montréal through constant use over 6 years, fluent)
-Portuguese (learned from friends in high school, limited practice, comfortable but not fluent)
-German (took university course and lived in Germany 3 months, comfortable, but frequent grammatical mistakes)
-Russian (took 4 years of university courses, comfortable in reading, writing and listening, but not in speaking)
-Korean (took 2 years in university, but due to lack of practice have forgotten most vocabulary)


----------



## saia

Italian: my native language
English: fluent
Spanish: semi-fluent
Portuguese:  learned at school for 3 years, I can read it.
French: 3 years at school, but forgotten a lot.
Latin: 5 years at school.

Voted 3


----------



## V3nom_is_here

1.My natal language
2.English
3.French 
4.Spanish (this doesn`t really count , I understand what somebody says , but I can`t reply lol)


----------



## montanan

Hi 
I speak:
Spanish, mother tongue
Catalan, quite fluent
English, perfectly fluent
French, quite fluent, I can just hold a relatively interesting conversation
German, not fluent, I can hold a very basic conversation.


----------



## Lilla My

My turn :
French (mother language)
English (fluent)
Norwegian (almost fluent)
Spanish (what I really need is to learn the grammar  )
German (understood but not spoken)
Russian (some words)
Swahili (very few sentences)
I voted 4.


----------



## Les Senegalaises

I speak 2 languages...

English (Native Language)

French (3 years of French class...Plan to have a lot more...My goal is to be very fluet in French in about 10 or less years)


----------



## chung

*English*: mother tongue
*French*: advanced fluency (12 years of schooling in French and one of my old jobs required fluency in French to deal with French-speaking clients daily.)
*Croatian*: intermediate (taught myself basic Croatian with a couple of courses, and learned some more during a trip to Croatia)
*Czech*: intermediate (taught myself basic Czech with some courses, took an elective course in intermediate Czech at university for fun, have travelled three times to Czech Republic)
*German*: intermediate (studied it for 2 years in high school and 3 years at university - it's pretty rusty now)
*Hungarian*: intermediate (studied it on and off independently for 11 years, took a class in intermediate Hungarian at university for fun several years ago, and currently reviewing my knowledge again for upcoming Hungarian exam, travelled to Hungary four times.)
*Polish*: intermediate (took Polish course for beginners at university for fun several years ago, have continued to study it on and off for the last two years using several courses and textbooks, travelled to Poland four times.)
*Slovak*: intermediate (taught myself basic Slovak with a few courses and textbooks, travelled to Slovakia six times.)


----------



## Calamitintin

*French*: mother tongue
*English*: fluent
*Italian*: fluent
*German*: fluent
*Spanish*: well understood, pretty well spoken
*Chinese*: enough for surviving in China and make my Chinese friends laugh 
I voted 4.
++
Cal


----------



## suso26

Spanish, Native.
English, Pretty good.
French, intermediate.. 

voted 3


----------



## Saimon

I put down 5 -
English: native speaker
German: rusty, but still quite adequate
French: can carry on a basic conversation, even read a novel if it's not too dense
Italian: almost fluent
Spanish: achieving fluency

I can read and understand some Portuguese and Catalan, but can't claim to speak either one. The only Latin I remember is Chapter One of Ratio Rationem. _Marcus et Cornelia in horto ambulant...._


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## Bunni

JLanguage said:


> How many languages do you know?
> 
> Not a must, but it would be great if you could also post which languages you know and your current level of fluency.
> 
> In order to count as knowing a language you should at least be semi-fluent. (Whatever that means to you)
> 
> From,
> -Jonathan.
> 
> PS: I have done a couple searches and haven't found a poll exactly like this one, but maybe I missed something.


I have a difficult time with what should be counted as "knowing" or not.

I can only list the languages I have attempted to learn and my estimated level of fluency in them.

Besides the obvious language I am typing in right now...
Mandarin would probably be 75%, Japanese would probably be 60%, Cantonese would probably be 50%, French 50%, Spanish 40%, Korean 30%, Hokkien 20%, Portuguese 10%, Hindi 5%, Indonesian 5%, and Swahili, Arabic, and Twi are all around 2% (lol)
Any other language I've tried to study should just not even be counted.


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## invisibleu

I would vote for two: English and Spanish.

I know there are different degrees of fluency but I don't think you should say you "know" any language unless you can at least: Read a newspaper with ease, write an intelligible essay on any given subject, understand a conversation between two strangers in the street, express yourself clearly in front of a group of natives... That is just my personal criteria. I wouldn't say I could ride a bike or swim "45%", and I think that "knowing" a language is similar... i.e. you either do or you don't.


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## panjabigator

I'd say conversing at ease is a mark of knowing a language.  When you don't have to look up words (except for those obscure ones), then you "know" it.


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## Random1

I find it amazing that so many people voted for 5 languages. I can see learning your native language and two others while maintaining fluency, but five total seems as though it would take decades to learn them all.


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## Bunni

Random1 said:


> I find it amazing that so many people voted for 5 languages. I can see learning your native language and two others while maintaining fluency, but five total seems as though it would take decades to learn them all.


I think it would partly depend on which languages, since some languages are generally easier than others when it comes to learning. It would also probably depend on individual ability to memorize and motivation.


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## cherine

Sorry to play the party pooper, but this thread is nothing but a long list, which is against the forum guidlines.
I invite all those who are interested in telling us the number of languages they know, to do it in their profiles.
Thank you.
This thread is closed.


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