# How many languages are you fluent in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 9, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093 "2007-10-09T14:54:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/1 "2007-10-09T14:54:54Z")
And by “fluent,” I mean you can speak, understand, read and write well enough to converse with a native speaker. No pidgins. My list: 1. English. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/2 "2007-10-09T14:55:53Z")
Almost nearlee won. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/3 "2007-10-09T14:56:16Z")
I hear your English and Raise you Hebrew 🙂 (for a total of 2) ETA: In response to the OP ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/4 "2007-10-09T14:59:05Z")
1. English 2. Español ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/5 "2007-10-09T14:59:07Z")
1. English 2. Japanese (but not reading and writing). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/6 "2007-10-09T15:00:56Z")
Speaking, Reading & writing: 1. English 2. Hindi In addition to the above, speaking only: 1. Punjabi 2. Urdu ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/7 "2007-10-09T15:02:17Z")
English and Korean, I guess, although my Korean is not as good as my English (I have no trouble with the language, but I’d rather not have to read/write anything in it that’s more complex than the average novel or newspaper article). ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/8 "2007-10-09T15:08:28Z")
I’m so lame. Let’s see, there’s English, and, uh, English. My French is only slightly better than tourist French. I can say, but not write, a couple of curses in Russian. Can I count programming languages? Actually, I’m not that good at any of those either. Well, if anyone needs me, I’ll be studying. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/9 "2007-10-09T15:09:41Z")
I’m fully fluent in: 1. English 2. Español I’m conversational (two semesters in college and lots of practice with my ex) in: 1. Français ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/10 "2007-10-09T15:35:02Z")
2: English and Esperanto. I’m working on French, and would very much like to take Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/11 "2007-10-09T15:55:40Z")
1. English 2. Portuguese and a distant 1. Spanish Last summer I had the opportunity to speak at a church in Brazil, in front of a few hundred folks, in Portuguese. As I mentioned in the public speaking thread, that pretty much pegged my scary-public-speaking meter, but it was a very satisfying achievement 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/12 "2007-10-09T15:59:21Z")
1. English 2. Norwegian I can fake my way through a conversation with a Swedish or Danish speaker most of the time, but I’ll speak Norwegian the whole way through. Some dialects are much easier than others, and some Swedish/Danish speakers are better at understanding Norsk than others, too, so the success of this method varies widely! ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/13 "2007-10-09T16:01:14Z")
Just English. At my age I doubt I will ever be fluent in Spanish. Paging **Nava!** ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/14 "2007-10-09T16:01:35Z")
Arguably none, but I’m best at English. I fervently _wish_ I were fluent in another language. One of my heroes is explorer Richard F. Burton, who mastered many. I’ve spent _years_ studying Polish, Latin, Spanish, and Japanese, with little luck. I speak Japanese at the _Shogun_ level. That means I speak it as well as I would if, instead of studying it, I merely watched the DVDs of the miniseries _Shogun_. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/15 "2007-10-09T16:02:17Z")
Two: Swedish and English. I would like to brush up on my Spanish; I know enough to get around but not enough to stop wishing the other guy spoke English. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/16 "2007-10-09T16:09:30Z")
People who speak three languages are known as trilingual, those who speak two are bilingual. Those who speak only one are called Americans. What? ---
**Author:** ![lobstermobster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobstermobster/32/10033_2.png) [@lobstermobster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobstermobster)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/17 "2007-10-09T16:15:49Z")
1. English 2. French A handful of stupid phrases in Finnish. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/18 "2007-10-09T16:20:06Z")
I can read English, German and Swedish. I can write English. I can speak damn near nothing. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/19 "2007-10-09T16:23:09Z")
1. Spanish 2. German 3. English ---
**Author:** ![yams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/848f3c/32.png) [@yams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yams)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093/20 "2007-10-09T16:29:33Z")
1. English. 2. Lunda - a Bantu language spoken in Zambia, Angola and the DRC 3. Tuber love yams!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422093.md?page=2)