Does this mildly irk anyone else? Language insecurity

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@HowieReynolds

Okay, some people are just annoying and show-offy, and a little thing like “but I do speak Spanish and German” can be eye-roll worthy coming from them. But from a normal person it would just be an interesting fact.

This is what I was trying to say, but this says it a lot better.

[Kyla]

@Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus

Also in this instance, Spanish is a close relative of French so there’s at least a possibility that he may be able to help answer her question even without knowing French.

I agree with this.

If someone asks me if I speak Chinese, I’m just going to say no. I can add nothing further to this query.

But, on the other hand, if someone asks me if I speak Russian, I might say, “no, but I do speak Bulgarian.” Russian and Bulgarian are similar enough that I can often pick out the gist, if not all the details, of a newspaper article written in Russian. It you need a translator, I can’t do it, but if you want to know what a single word means, there’s a pretty good chance I can. Depending on the language, I’d even give a shot at being a translator. (I can communicate pretty well with someone speaking Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.)