# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/61 "2024-07-24T19:39:45Z")
English American (including Maine-ish and Alabamian) Japanese Spanish French Italian Tried to recall Korean/Mandarin, no bueno! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/62 "2024-07-24T19:45:59Z")
_"In German oder English I know how to count down,_ _Und I’m learning Chinese!" says Wernher von Braun._ Thanks to Tom Lehrer. I can do spanish, german, and maybe latin and french. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/63 "2024-07-24T22:12:49Z")
I could add Yiddish, which is somewhat different from German. Ayns, tsvay, dray, feer, finif. The owner of the grocery store that we shopped at until we got a car and could drive to the supermarket, added up your purchases on a paper bag, mumbling in Yiddish ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/64 "2024-07-24T22:24:48Z")
English German French Spanish Czech Hungarian I would have said Latin and Italian, but it turns out that I got “three” slightly wrong in both languages (it’s not actually “tri” in either). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/65 "2024-07-25T02:58:40Z")
I can do “yan tan tethera”, but I break down after that. Oh, and “ena dio tria”. So just to three in both. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/66 "2024-07-25T03:19:00Z")
I learned them in Spanish from Sesame Street, in German at High School, and in Maori from osmosis. So that’s four. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/67 "2024-07-25T03:48:11Z")
English, German, French, Spanish, and Turkish. > [@Treppenwitz](#): > > English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Turkish. So, 6. Hey, look, full overlap except for Greek. Glad to see someone else here with some Turkish. Maybe I’ll learn to count to five in Greek. ---
**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 25, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/68 "2024-07-25T11:17:51Z")
In the last few years, as we’ve been working our way further east in the Med, I’ve taken to learning minimal basic vocab for the countries we visit. Yes; No, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Please, Thank You, etc etc. Handy in surprising ways - in Turkiye our hotel room was on floor beş - one floor higher and we would have been screwed. Re Greek,we’ve had a few posts, but there’s a pronunciation problem, at least for modern Greek: > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > …(Apologies for the hijack - to get back on topic, ένα δύο τρία τέσσερα πέντε, pronounced ena, duo, tria, tessera, pente)… In modern Greek δ has morphed to something like “th”; and where letter sounds are lost, letter combinations are used to replace them - in this case ντ is pronounced more or less as “d”. So in fact ένα δύο τρία τέσσερα πέντε is pronounced something like ena, thuo (or vuo), tria, tessera, pede (or peday). I’m sure someone will IPA me on this, but that’s above my pay grade. j ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/69 "2024-07-25T11:18:53Z")
Four; English, French, Spanish, Thai. ‘Counting to five’ is such a low bar though. I can speak/read only one of those, English. ---
**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 25, 2024, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/70 "2024-07-25T12:46:45Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > …pronounced something like ena, thuo (or vuo), tria, tessera, pede (or peday)… Correcting myself - slight correction, as I was caught out by the start-of-word vs middle-of-word pronunciation difference. As ντ is in the middle of πέντε, you do get a hint of “n” in there, so pende (or penday).is closer. (On the other hand, in eg.ντομάτα (tomato), at the beginning of the word, it’s a straight “d”). If anyone is interested: > **[Modern GREEK Pronunciation. Combinations of consonants. How to read and...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=048fNk-E_SM%2F)** > > I teach online! Contact me via e-mail at annatoroz314@gmail.comWhat's App +905432558126Telegram @anna\_toroz In this video you will learn how to read consonan... j ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/71 "2024-07-25T12:53:08Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Handy in surprising ways - in Turkiye our hotel room was on floor beş - one floor higher and we would have been screwed. Ha! I actually learned 1 through 10 before going there for a couple of weeks. (Actually, I guess I learned one through 19) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/72 "2024-07-25T21:57:28Z")
I can do ten, or maybe eleven if you count Austro-Bavarian as a separate language. Grouped roughly by language family: - English, German, Icelandic, Austro-Bavarian - French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Interlingua - Hungarian - Russian I’m sure I could recognize, but not produce, counting sequences in a few more, including Greek, Polish, and Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/73 "2024-07-25T22:18:50Z")
Four for sure: English, German, Spanish, and French. I want to add Dutch, but I’m drawing a blank on the Dutch word for “four”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/74 "2024-07-26T14:32:07Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > In math, I can do binary, base3, base4 and base5, and base6+. I bet you can do unary, as well. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/75 "2024-07-27T10:55:37Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I’m drawing a blank on the Dutch word for “four”. Same as German. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/76 "2024-07-27T13:05:04Z")
If it wasn’t for “Wooly Bully” and Cinco de Mayo, I wouldn’t be able to do the Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/77 "2024-07-27T13:26:04Z")
English, Arabic and Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/78 "2024-07-28T22:42:58Z")
Ah, so you know Arabic numerals! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2024, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/79 "2024-07-29T01:48:54Z")
Do Roman numerals count as a different language than Latin? I can do both. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-how-many-languages-can-you-count-to-five/1004694/80 "2024-07-31T00:48:24Z")
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