# What languages do you speak? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401 "2012-09-11T14:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/1 "2012-09-11T14:49:43Z")
Above is a list of the top 100 World languages ranked by number of speakers. Which ones can you speak or write or read enough to be considered proficient in? Basically, conversationally. It need not be fluent, but you need to know more than how to count to 5 and ask where the bathroom is. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/2 "2012-09-11T14:53:47Z")
Hindi, English, Punjabi and Urdu. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/3 "2012-09-11T15:08:30Z")
Spanish, English and Catalan. My written French is much better than my spoken French, I murder both grammar and pronunciation (and I’m currently working on both, this post comes from France); I don’t really speak Italian but I can make do with Itagnolo… thing is, I’m not sure I can count to five in Italian, but I do know how to explain to somebody that he needs to click on the clock. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/4 "2012-09-11T15:09:14Z")
From [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konkani_language): “Konkani… has approximately 3.6 million speakers” And yet [Hebrew](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew)(“Modern Hebrew is spoken nowadays by about seven million people”) is not on the list? Where did you get this list from? Your poll makes me look monolingaul! :o ETA: D’oh! Missed the “Other” option… :smack: sorry. Anyway, since I can’t change my vote, please imagine I voted English and Other(Hebrew) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/5 "2012-09-11T15:14:49Z")
English and Spanish. Wifey (not a Doper, but a Doper enabler): English, Tamil, and Indonesian/Malay. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/6 "2012-09-11T15:21:20Z")
English and German. I learned French in school, but I was always better with it on the page than speaking it, and once I moved to Germany, my French withered away. ---
**Author:** ![RoniaBorkason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RoniaBorkason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoniaBorkason)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/7 "2012-09-11T15:43:25Z")
English and Spanish, the two most useful here in California 🙂 I can muddle my way through with (Brazilian) Portuguese speakers, and understand the gist of written French and Italian, but am not confident enough in them to converse. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/8 "2012-09-11T15:46:16Z")
I’ll claim English and hope nobody disputes my claim. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/9 "2012-09-11T15:51:33Z")
Just English. I can understand more German than I speak but wouldn’t feel comfortable carrying on a conversation. I’d like to learn Finnish, but I think I’m too old :(. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/10 "2012-09-11T16:00:01Z")
English and passable Spanish. Not fluent, but I can make myself understood and can understand fairly well. Reading, no problem. I can, however, say “May I have another beer” in about 15 different languages. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/11 "2012-09-11T16:03:55Z")
English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati,Tamil, Malayalam. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/12 "2012-09-11T16:12:27Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > From [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konkani_language): “Konkani… has approximately 3.6 million speakers” > > And yet [Hebrew](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew)(“Modern Hebrew is spoken nowadays by about seven million people”) is not on the list? > > Where did you get this list from? > > Your poll makes me look monolingaul! :o > > ETA: D’oh! Missed the “Other” option… :smack: sorry. > Anyway, since I can’t change my vote, please imagine I voted English and Other(Hebrew) I was surprised Hebrew wasn’t on the list either as I’d have definitely listed (and clicked) that. But according to ANOTHER list on Wiki, Konkani has 7.4 million speakers so one would assume Hebrew to be, like, #101. FTR, here’s the list: > **[List of languages by number of native speakers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers)** > > This is a list of languages by number of native speakers. > All such rankings of human languages ranked by their number of native speakers should be used with caution, because it is not possible to devise a coherent set of linguistic criteria for distinguishing languages in a dialect continuum. For example, a language is often defined as a set of mutually intelligible varieties, but independent national standard languages may be considered separate languages even though they are largely mutua... ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/13 "2012-09-11T16:18:11Z")
I checked off Russian, even though I’m still taking classes and am not anywhere remotely conceivably close to being fluent. I can have conversations beyond, “Pardon me, where is the museum?” but they’re basically limited to: going to school, our families, and our homes and the contents within. I was just excited to add another language to my list! ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/14 "2012-09-11T16:29:01Z")
Hindi english punjabi haryanwi sindhi ---
**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:** [September 11, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/15 "2012-09-11T16:37:49Z")
I’ll just (more or less) post my response here from the same topic we had last year. On a scale of from 1 (least proficient) to 10 (most proficient) **English - 9.0** (I believe my command of English is much better than average but, as with most things, can always be improved.) **Spanish - 7.5** (Thanks primarily to my wife, who’s a native Spanish speaker) **Japanese - 6.0** (After more than three years of classes and tutors, the money I’ve spent has finally begun 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 Jewish Yemeni girl I eventually dated whose first language was Hebrew, but had passable English. Two years later we broke up and I haven’t cracked a Hebrew book since) ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/16 "2012-09-11T16:55:12Z")
Polish, Spanish, German and English ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/17 "2012-09-11T18:27:28Z")
I speak English natively and I am more or less fluent in Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/18 "2012-09-11T19:19:03Z")
English and French. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/19 "2012-09-11T19:31:14Z")
French and English. Not very exciting. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401/20 "2012-09-11T19:42:38Z")
Just English ☹ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-languages-do-you-speak/634401.md?page=2)