# Places with the most multilingual people. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926 "2012-07-11T20:54:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/21 "2012-07-12T06:01:42Z")
In Europe, one of the countries where being multilingual is completely taken for granted is Andorra. Official language: Catalan. Languages most spoken by visitors: Spanish and French. Learned in school: English, German and Italian at the very least. I’ve known women from Andorra who didn’t know their country was between France and Spain, but who spoke six languages with native fluency and could rent you a hotel room and solve most hotel-room-related troubles in three more. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/22 "2012-07-12T06:37:17Z")
Can any Doper tell me: what percentage of non-Hispanic Americans, in US-states with lots of Hispanic speakers, do speak at least a bit of Spanish beside English? How many Americans speak French near the border with the French speaking parts of Canada? My American cousin told me she could pick French, Spanish and Chinese as subjects in school. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/23 "2012-07-12T07:50:27Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > South Asia. > > Almost everyone will speak > 1)Major regional language > 2) The national language > 3)English > > And that is not even counting the fact that many regions have multiple regional languages besides the major regional language, so someone from the (Pakistani) Punjab might speak Seraiki as the mother tounge along with the above three. In addition knowing or at least understanding other major or minor regional languages besides the above is very common. “Almost everyone” is a bit of an exaggeration,(based on my anecdotal experience) but certainly a very good proportion. Looking specifically towards Malaysia, a Malaysian chinese will normally speak his dialect (Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkein being most common) + English and Malay being taught at school. In Singapore, since 198? all school leavers are **expected** (under pain of failing their primary school leaving exam meaning they cannot proceed to secondary school) to be bi-lingual in English and Mother Tongue (Mandarin, Malay or Tamil) + many will also speak their cradle dialect. (my wife, as an example, is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/24 "2012-07-12T08:07:27Z")
How about the Vatican? I expect most of the people there are fluent in English, Latin, (Ancient) Greek, and their native tongues. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/25 "2012-07-12T08:57:34Z")
Monolingual people are the exception in the Philippines rather than the rule. It is not unusual for filipinos to speak Tagalog/Filipino (the national language), English (the other national language), and one or two provincial languages as well. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/26 "2012-07-12T09:18:04Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > How about the Vatican? I expect most of the people there are fluent in English, Latin, (Ancient) Greek, and their native tongues. Hmnn… the way I see it, all the speakers of languages moved to the Vatican in a professional capacity. It is a country allright, but not a natural one (how many kids are born in the Vatican? 🙂 It is comparable in that sense to the larger universities, or whatever city currently hosts the UN meetings. ETA: it is nice to see that English has replaced Latin as the international language of science. (Is that the case all over the world, by the way)? The Dutch school system used to have gifted classes in highschool where kids were also taught Greek and Latin (“the Gymnasium”) . I still had those on my curriculum. Never had much use for them. That has been replaced by classes, not about English, but about other subjects (physics, for instance) where the class is given IN English. ---
**Author:** ![Ele\_the\_Stoic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4bbf92/32.png) [@Ele\_the\_Stoic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ele_the_Stoic)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/27 "2012-07-12T09:44:39Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > The OP might also want to think about what is a language. Do the Swiss German speakers get to count German as a separate language? Sure seems like it is at times. And add another reference to Switzerland. (Swiss) German, French, Italian, and English is quite common considering how small the country is, and how culturally powerful the surrounding nations are. Not to mention those who throw in another language just out of curiosity, school, or for employment purposes. Most common to find quadrilinguals in Bern, obviously; the further towards the border you get, the more dominant one language becomes. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/28 "2012-07-12T10:02:25Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Can any Doper tell me: what percentage of non-Hispanic Americans, in US-states with lots of Hispanic speakers, do speak at least a bit of Spanish beside English? Almost all of us took Spanish in high school. Almost none of us can speak any Spanish at all, short of ordering a beer in Rosarito (everyone speaks English in Rosarito, it’s practically an American town). All the people I know who speak Spanish well enough to communicate work with Spanish speaking workers (construction and restaurants). ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/29 "2012-07-12T11:09:10Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > “Almost everyone” is a bit of an exaggeration,(based on my anecdotal experience) but certainly a very good proportion. > > Looking specifically towards Malaysia, a Malaysian chinese will normally speak his dialect (Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkein being most common) + English and Malay being taught at school. > > In Singapore, since 198? all school leavers are **expected** (under pain of failing their primary school leaving exam meaning they cannot proceed to secondary school) to be bi-lingual in English and Mother Tongue (Mandarin, Malay or Tamil) + many will also speak their cradle dialect. (my wife, as an example, is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese) I speak from experience, having actually lived there, and still do. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/30 "2012-07-12T12:01:50Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Looking specifically towards Malaysia, a Malaysian chinese will normally speak his dialect (Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkein being most common) + English and Malay being taught at school. I have met a girl from Malaysia who told me that her family were Cantonese whereas the other Chinese where she came from were Mandarin (could have been the other way round), which meant that she had to know both dialects. Likewise, as the Malay population there spoke a local language she had to know both that and Malay. On top of that she spoke English. As it happens, I think the OP is not interested in people who have been taught other languages at school (as in my case English, German and French), but people living in places where there is a linguistic mix causing them to know two or more languages. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/31 "2012-07-12T12:09:36Z")
India . Each of the 28 states has its own language. 70-80% of india understands/speaks hindi. Around 75% literacy rate, so perhaps that many people understand very very basic english. Vast majority of people are multilingual. I speak hindi, english, punjabi, sindhi. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/32 "2012-07-12T12:56:00Z")
I am Pakistani. I speak English, Urdu, Punjabi and a bit of Pashto. j also understand, Seraiki, Potohari and Hindko although arguably the last two are merely dialects. I studied basic Arabic at school and can read Farsi to an extent. I am not even uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/33 "2012-07-12T12:59:36Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > I would assume that since Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country by far, that there would be a lot of multilingual people there, at least in Port Moresby. Not necessarily, if most people there speak Pidgin along with their native language. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/34 "2012-07-12T13:07:35Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Can any Doper tell me: what percentage of non-Hispanic Americans, in US-states with lots of Hispanic speakers, do speak at least a bit of Spanish beside English? How many Americans speak French near the border with the French speaking parts of Canada? > > My American cousin told me she could pick French, Spanish and Chinese as subjects in school. Depends on what you mean by “a bit”. Very few non-Hispanic Americans could carry on any kind of a conversation in Spanish, although almost everyone knows a few words (dinero, gracias, uno, dos, tres…). Most people take a year or two of a foreign language in HS, and then forget 90% of it when they graduate (if not before). I took 5 years of Spanish in school, have always been interested in it, and can barely hold me own in a conversation as long as the native speakers don’t talk too fast. And I have lots of exposure to native speakers, too. French… I don’t have a lot of experience with the Canadian border, but other than some pockets of ethnic French speakers in New England, I don’t think you’re going to find a lot of non-French speakers being able to converse in French. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/35 "2012-07-12T13:29:21Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > I would assume that since Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country by far, that there would be a lot of multilingual people there, at least in Port Moresby. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Not necessarily, if most people there speak Pidgin along with their native language. These peoples live isolated from each other with little or no communication between them and I doubt that their languages could be of any use should they come down to the coast. It is Tok Pisin they would have to speak there. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/36 "2012-07-12T13:34:38Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > These peoples live isolated from each other with little or no communication between them and I doubt that their languages could be of any use should they come down to the coast. It is Tok Pisin they would have to speak there. Yeah. Trying to speak their native language would be like pissin’ in the wind! ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/37 "2012-07-12T13:50:06Z")
When I think of it, even in Europe, quite a number of people will speak two languages : the official language and the local dialect, that can range from very similar to totally different (Alsatian, Breton or Basque in France, for instance). Local dialects can be dying (France), commonly used (Germany, Italy) or institutionalized (Spain) Also, someone mentioned Belgium, but despite the country being bilingual (Flemish/French\*) a surprisingly low number of people speak both languages (and the current cultural/political climate there isn’t an incentive to do so). Also, since Andorra has been mentioned (and I can’t wrap my head around the concept that citizens from such a micro state might not know that they’re bordering Spain and France), Luxemburgers are all trilingual (German, French and Luxem…err… whatever is the name of the local language they speak) (\*) Technically trilingual, since there’s a German-speaking area in Belgium ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/38 "2012-07-12T14:24:41Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > There’s a lot of languages in South Africa, but I don’t think most of the English speaking South Africans I’ve met spoke Afrikaans or a native African language. Most 1stL English-speaking South Africans _do_ speak Afrikaans. They at least learn it at school, if not speak it outside. Almost all 1stL Afrikaans-speaking South Africans also speak English. Most 1stL Bantu speakers speak English and/or Afrikaans, often both, and they frequently speak _at least_ one other SA Bantu language, given the mixed nature of the townships. That’s completely leaving out the 2ndL French- and Portuguese-speaking African immigrants, who have to learn at least two of those just to get by, in addition to their native Bantu/Other languages. Or those who speak tamil or Urdu. Or the pidgins like [Fanagalo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanagalo) or Kaapsetaal. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/39 "2012-07-12T14:45:26Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Also, someone mentioned Belgium, but despite the country being bilingual (Flemish/French\*) a surprisingly low number of people speak both languages (and the current cultural/political climate there isn’t an incentive to do so). I was once surrounded by four Belgian ladies in a pub in London who kept switching between Dutch and French in different combinations all the time, seemingly not aware that they were doing it. > [@clairobscur](#): > > (\*) Technically trilingual, since there’s a German-speaking area in Belgium I know a person with a French name, coming from Brussels, who claims he is basically a German speaker. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926/40 "2012-07-12T14:54:04Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I speak from experience, having actually lived there, and still do. Haroo! I live next door, and also speak from experience. It could be my horrible accent, but while most people understand my English, by no means is it uncommon that I get blank stares. Guesstimate would be 15% or so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/places-with-the-most-multilingual-people/627926.md?page=3)