# In how many languages can you count to five? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2024, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694 "2024-07-23T16:21:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/21 "2024-07-23T19:11:11Z")
Five. English, French, Spanish, German, and Greek. I don’t actually speak Spanish or German, but I can count to 10 in both languages and I know a few words and phrases (nowhere near enough to be conversational). I can count to four in Japanese, so that one didn’t quite make the list. > [@Frodo](#): > > I forgot practically all the Greek I studied in 2019 for my trip there. Το χόβερκραφτ μου είναι γεμάτο χέλια 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/22 "2024-07-23T19:15:40Z")
The (my?) hovercraft is something foreign? (I’m guessing it’s “My hovercraft is full of eels”, but that’s based on my knowledge of all the internet traditions, not of Greek 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/23 "2024-07-23T19:20:49Z")
Also ten: English, German Breton, Irish, Welsh Latin, French, Italian, Spanish Russian I can go up to 20 in all of those but Irish. After 20, I start to lose them. I think I can do any whole number in English, Welsh, French, Italian, and maybe Spanish, but if you threw in fractions or decimals or negative numbers I’d be back to just English in a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/24 "2024-07-23T19:21:29Z")
Two. English and Bad English. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/25 "2024-07-23T19:21:40Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > (I’m guessing it’s “My hovercraft is full of eels”, but that’s based on my knowledge of all the internet traditions, not of Greek 😃 ) Correct! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/26 "2024-07-23T19:25:15Z")
C: ```auto int i; for(i=1;i<=5;i++) { printf("%d\n",i) } ``` ZFC: {{}} { {},{{}} } { {},{{}},{ {},{{}} } } { {},{{}},{ {},{{}} },{ {},{{}},{ {},{{}} } } } { {},{{}},{ {},{{}} },{ {},{{}},{ {},{{}} } },{ {},{{}},{ {},{{}} },{ {},{{}},{ {},{{}} } } } } ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/27 "2024-07-23T19:27:23Z")
γεμάτο = full ? χέλια = eels? ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/28 "2024-07-23T19:28:36Z")
I forgot Norwegian and Papiamento - so actually 6. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/29 "2024-07-23T19:32:53Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > γεμάτο = full ? Basically yes, full or filled. > [@Frodo](#): > > χέλια = eels? Yep! (Apologies for the hijack - to get back on topic, ένα δύο τρία τέσσερα πέντε, pronounced ena, duo, tria, tessera, pente) ---
**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:** [July 23, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/30 "2024-07-23T19:36:05Z")
I was surprised to find 5 in my list. English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German. Of the non-English ones, Portuguese is the only one I can actually speak. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/31 "2024-07-23T19:39:32Z")
1. English 2. French 3. German ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/32 "2024-07-23T19:50:35Z")
English, French, German, Hebrew, Spanish, and Japanese oh, and pig-latin: unway ootay eethray orfay ivefay… ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/33 "2024-07-23T19:56:15Z")
English French Japanese Spanish German American Sign Language 6 languages (Not counting Binary) ---
**Author:** ![SailorHG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@SailorHG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SailorHG)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/34 "2024-07-23T20:00:19Z")
I’ve got English, Swedish, French, Spanish, German, Japanese… so six. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/35 "2024-07-23T20:20:06Z")
01000010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01100101 01110011 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101110 01110100 00101110 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/36 "2024-07-23T20:25:42Z")
Whoops, forgot to add Quenya in my list, so I’m now up to 5 1 – minë 2 – atta 3 – neldë 4 – canta 5 – lempë ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/37 "2024-07-23T20:31:42Z")
In chronological order: English, Latin, Russian, Spanish. I used to do up to 10 (at least) in all of those but not so much anymore. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/38 "2024-07-23T20:34:06Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > English, french, spanish, german These four for me too, plus I’ll add Pig Latin just for the heck of it. I used to know it in Korean because my son took Tae Kwon Do, but that’s been years. All I can remember is 1 (ha-na). ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/39 "2024-07-23T21:35:48Z")
English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Turkish. So, 6. Italian - I used to know. Borrowdale sheep counting - I can get to four.: Yan, Tan, Tethra, Methra. j ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/40 "2024-07-23T21:43:49Z")
Seven altogether English, French, Spanish, Waali, Russian, German, Arabic The last three I had to double check and I was basically correct, so I include them. I used to know it in Twi, but have forgotten [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694.md?page=3)