# What languages do you know? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092 "2010-04-14T18:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/121 "2010-05-07T18:45:24Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > The worst part about learning Latin is having, for the rest of your life, to think really hard about how to pronounce words like \*alumnae \*and \*alumni \*in English. For example, the way I’d say \*alumnae \*in Latin sounds like the way most people would say \*alumni \*in English–which can get somewhat confusing. You also lose the ability to enjoy the following joke: > [@](#): > > A latin professor arrives at class late, flushed and disheveled. He says, “I just got jumped by a couple of hoodlī!” Declension fail! ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/122 "2010-05-07T19:08:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > You also lose the ability to enjoy the following joke On the plus side, speaking both English and Latin allows you to appreciate _semper ubi sub ubi_. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/123 "2010-05-07T19:22:39Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I wish the polls would let you sort by number of responses. And I wish the poll were public. Would be kind of neat to know who the other 8 Portuguese speakers are (though I know most of them from PT/BR-related threads anyway). It would be very cool to have such a list where you could go to find folks who speak a language, without having to post a “Who speaks High Pig Latin?” thread first. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/124 "2010-05-07T19:41:42Z")
English native speaker (being born in Georgia will pretty much guarantee that) and took 5 years of Latin in school. I can also write in Quenya Sindarin. Does that count? ``` aiya Nolmendil (Greetings, friends of Knowledge) ``` I thought I’d be really cool and post the 15 different computer languages I know, but apparently that joke has already been done to death. \ ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/125 "2010-05-07T20:35:49Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I thought I’d be really cool and post the 15 different computer languages I know, but apparently that joke has already been done to death. Eh, go for it! I wouldn’t call it a “joke,” exactly–I’m always curious to see what computer languages people have programmed in. Side note: For a second, I read your post as saying that you were going to post “Greetings, friends of Knowledge” in 15 different computer languages, and I was going to ask if “Hello, World!” wasn’t more of the standard. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/126 "2010-05-07T22:40:26Z")
> [@](#): > > English native speaker (being born in Georgia will pretty much guarantee that) Really? You’d think Russian or Armenian would be more popular. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/127 "2010-05-07T22:58:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Really? You’d think Russian or Armenian would be more popular. Or Georgian. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/128 "2010-05-08T07:59:00Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Urdu kahan say seekhi hai? Jab main Hindustan men thi. Voh ek lambi kahani hai, mujh se mat pucho. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/129 "2010-05-08T08:22:40Z")
I heard this recently… The word for someone who speaks three languages is: “trilingual.” The word for someone who speaks two languages is: “bilingual.” The word for someone who speaks only one language is: “American.” ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/130 "2010-05-08T08:24:00Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Jab main Hindustan men thi. > > Voh ek lambi kahani hai, mujh se mat pucho. I’ll ask anyway - sorry 😃 . Did you go there specifically to study or can you pick up a language simply by being exposed to it for a bit? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/131 "2010-05-08T08:34:00Z")
My five best are English, Russian, Swedish, French, and Italian. But the rust spots are showing. I’ve also studied Arabic, Basque, Esperanto, Greek, German, Japanese, Latin, Spanish, Turkish, and Yiddish (these are languages I currently have books and materials in) with varying degrees of fluency and comprehension. I’ve also flirted with Albanian, Georgian, Hungarian, and Welsh. Given where I am now, I think I ought to consider trying Kurdish and Amharic. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/132 "2010-05-08T08:41:59Z")
Dammit, I _knew_ there was another language I’d played around with: Old English. Category II - still got all the books from the course at Georgetown. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/133 "2010-05-08T13:15:02Z")
> [@Panurge](#): > > I’ll ask anyway - sorry 😃 . Did you go there specifically to study or can you pick up a language simply by being exposed to it for a bit? No, I went there for other reasons, but good old immersion did the trick. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092/134 "2010-05-08T13:41:20Z")
Other. Besides a halting command of Spanish, I can speak childish Icelandic, a little Street Japanese, The basic tourist pack of Cantonese, and can understand Church Slavonic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-know/536092.md?page=6)