# What languages do you speak? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 7, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789 "2011-03-07T16:36:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/41 "2011-03-08T06:04:04Z")
Mandarin fluently Shanghaiese poorly but can understand maybe 50% of the time Japanese at a basic level Cantonese at a very basic level but can understand more than that ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/42 "2011-03-08T06:05:01Z")
Native English speaker, and I was in French immersion throughout school. My French is pretty rusty by now; I can understand other people just fine, but I get tripped up whenever I try to compose a sentence. My high school diploma officially declares that I’m bilingual for if I want to apply for a government job or suchlike, and I could probably fake it till I make it if the need were to arise. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/43 "2011-03-08T06:36:31Z")
Languages I speak, and an estimation of my proficiency on a scale from 1 to 10: **English - 9.0** (I believe my command of English is much better than average, but not perfect.) **Spanish - 7.0** (Thanks to my wife, who’s a native Spanish speaker) **Japanese - 5.0** (After almost three years of classes and tutors, the money I’ve spent is finally beginning to pay off) \*\*French - 3.5 \*\*(Other than work trips to Paris, I have little occasion to use my French anymore, and am beginning to lose it) **German - 3.0** (Went to a German grammar school for a few years when my dad was stationed in Nuremberg. Learned the language through necessity/school requirements. Haven’t used it in years) **Hebrew - 1.5** (Began learning to impress a Yemeni girl I eventually dated. Two years later we broke up and I haven’t cracked a Hebrew book since) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/44 "2011-03-08T07:29:00Z")
Having the usual disonance between “know” and “speak”. I speak Spanish, Catalan and English; I’m from Spain, from a region with Basque as a regional language, but my mother is Catalan (and Catalan-speaking with her mother and sister) and Dad’s mom was “a lady from the big city”, so Dad didn’t speak Basque; I grew up understanding Catalan but didn’t start speaking it until I was in college in Barcelona; started English in school in 4th grade, have lived in the US for 5 years, in Scotland for 2. I know some Latin and German but barely speak them, dare massacre Italian and French at stores and can read a ridiculous amount of stuff in other languages from the Germanic and Romance branches. I can also decipher some Basque, but not speak it (and I never remember how to say “you’re welcome” in Basque when someone thanks me with an “eskerrik asko”). The extent of my Greek is half a dozen words, but I can decipher a good amount of written texts due to its connections with Spanish. > [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > I’m unclear what the point of listing English was - if we don’t speak it, how could we answer the question? At a WAG, allowing the monolinguals to answer and be counted more easily than if they had to write a post. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/45 "2011-03-08T09:43:01Z")
I speak American with a smattering of English and Scottish. 😉 I took Latin in high school and college and was starting to “think” Latin, i.e., be able to read Latin passages and grok the meaning without translating in to English in my head first. I haven’t used it in several years, but I’m sure it would come back. OTOH, I took some Spanish in college and didn’t really apply myself like I had with Latin, so I think I would have to study a lot harder to become anywhere near passable again. I also can’t pronounce Spanish for shit. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/46 "2011-03-08T09:48:26Z")
English is my native language. I am vaguely competent in each of Irish, French and German. French would be the strongest of the three, German the weakest. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2011, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/47 "2011-03-08T10:24:00Z")
> [@horsetech](#): > > I speak American with a smattering of English and Scottish. Not sure if this is a whoosh but there is a Scottish language that is distinct from English - it’s not just a different accent. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/48 "2011-03-08T15:00:57Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I speak English and French, having learned both since I was a baby. My mother is francophone and my father is anglophone, and they raised us by each speaking only the one language to the kids. I did my schooling in English, so it’s my stronger language. I consider myself to be fully bilingual, in ability and identity. My francophone in-laws disagree ☹ Same here, except that my in-laws are American and think my French-Canadian ways are adorable. Mom’s family speaks mostly French, Dad’s family speaks mostly English, and I grew up comfortable with both. I was in the English school system, but elementary school was French immersion (half of each day in French), and I did advanced French classes until college. I’m more comfortable in English but I consider myself completely bilingual. I’m not very good at the fancy French, though, like if I had to write a business letter. You lose that pretty quickly if you’re not using it regularly. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/49 "2011-03-08T18:58:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not sure if this is a whoosh but there is a Scottish language that is distinct from English - it’s not just a different accent. Well, there’s Scots, Scottish Standard English, and Scottish Gaelic. The very last one is unambiguously a different language. Scottish Standard English is a dialect of English. Scots straddles the very fuzzy line between dialect and separate language. I’m not sure what the majority of linguists would consider it. The orthography is certainly different than Standard English, and the vocabulary, while mostly recognizable, does have a good bit of differences. [Here’s a web page](http://www.scuilwab.org.uk/) in Scots. To me, honestly, it reads like English in dialect, but I think many do consider it its own language. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/50 "2011-03-08T19:38:29Z")
My French is pretty laughable, but my grad school said is was close enough, so hey. Ditto my Serbian, though I’m much less confident therein. ---
**Author:** ![Kotka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@Kotka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kotka)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/51 "2011-03-08T19:55:25Z")
Bulgarian as a native speaker, English as a native speaker (went to school in English), Spanish fluent, five years in Latin America. They also tried really hard in school to teach me French, but I am still embarrassingly bad at it. Husband is also trying to teach me Portuguese, but … well, same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/52 "2011-03-08T20:28:19Z")
> [@Kotka](#): > > Bulgarian as a native speaker When I saw you post in another thread, I wondered if you spoke Bulgarian. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/53 "2011-03-08T20:40:56Z")
I speak enough Spanish and French to get around safely in areas where there are few or no English speakers. I can’t engage in diplomatic talks but I can get a safe shelter, food, all of that. My written fluency in Spanish is much higher than my written French, but I can read French and understand it far better than I can speak it independently, if that parses. My Hebrew fluency grows regularly, though it’s religious Hebrew, I’d be entirely out of my depth plunked down in Tel Aviv. I speak some Yiddish, I understand a lot more Yiddish than I can speak on my own, not unlike my French. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/54 "2011-03-09T00:25:52Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not sure if this is a whoosh but there is a Scottish language that is distinct from English - it’s not just a different accent. Sorry, it was a lame attempt at a joke which fell flat (I was thinking accent and slang). Thank you and pulykamell for fighting my ignorance. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![wonder\_lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wonder\_lust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder_lust)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/55 "2011-03-09T01:20:32Z")
I’m a native English speakear and checked only that. I was a French major, though, and was once pretty fluent. I’m embarrassed to confess how much of it I’ve lost. I certainly can’t claim it now. In my senior year of college, I took a semester of Spanish, which I spoke with a French accent. Ridiculous. Years later, before a trip to Italy, I took a 10 week community college course in Italian. The Italian man who taught it was tickled by how accurate my pronunciation was. Too bad I only learned 100 words and couldn’t string them together to make a sentence. When I was in Italy and couldn’t get by with gestures and pointing… or in English, I tried French. On a couple of occasions it worked. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/56 "2011-03-09T01:40:23Z")
I think you are missing one obvious language. Sign Language. (Not that I know sign language, but it is something that I would like to learn) I checked English only, but I think I can function adequately in a French only region. I also know some German and Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/57 "2011-03-09T04:11:04Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Bizarrely, 12% of the respondents to this question don’t speak English! How did they know what the poll was asking? Well obviously they decided to learn just enough English to answer online polls about which languages they speak. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/58 "2011-03-09T04:22:08Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > I think you are missing one obvious language. Sign Language. (Not that I know sign language, but it is something that I would like to learn) Worth noting that it’s technically missing more than one in that case - sign language isn’t one global standard, and differs by nation just as spoken languages do (and within nations, by region, even town, just as with accents and slang). Even nations with similar spoken languages aren’t guaranteed similar sign languages; US and UK English is pretty cross-understandable, but American Sign Language and British Sign Language are much more different. Anyway; native English speaker, conversational-ish BSL (as you might well guess ;)), random bits of French, German, Spanish and so on picked up from growing up in Europe but not really enough to have a conversation with. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/59 "2011-03-09T04:24:57Z")
English and German. I had a friend in college who spoke over a dozen languages fluently. She told me learning new languages got easier after learning the 6th language… And for little kids (under 5) it is supposedly very easy for them to learn 2, 3 or more languages simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![pinguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pinguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinguin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789/60 "2011-04-05T01:13:54Z")
I speak Spanish and English. I know some Portuguese, French, Italian, Latin, Chinese and Japanese (very little) I am trying to learn a native language: Mapudungun (Mapuche language of Chile and Argentina) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/573789.md?page=4)