How many languages can you speak?

[Square Wheels]

I can barely speak one.

[ChrisL]

Two, English and Dutch.  I can’t write or read Dutch but I can understand it fluently and can speak it well enough to be comfortable in Holland.

The more I speak the better I get as it comes back to me.

[Wilbur ★]

English, Parisienne French, Italian, Russian.   I can get by in Spanich and Portugese as well.  

[Chris...]

English and American

[Kzoo]

One spoken.  I have written in a few computer languages.

 

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, Chris... said:

English and American

Not fluent in Canadian?

[Chris...]

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

Not fluent in Canadian?

I can understand it, not great at speaking it

[Further]

Passable english, fluent neanderthal 

[Allen ★]

English, ASL

[groupw]

English. I could speak enough German to get by when I was finishing high school. Forgot a lot since.

I can get the gist of conversations in Spanish. Kind of the same reading Spanish, Dutch and French, but I still lean heavily on Google Translate!

[jsharr ★]

English, texan, redneck and some Spanish.

[Prophet Zacharia]

1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

Two, English and Dutch.  I can’t write or read Dutch but I can understand it fluently and can speak it well enough to be comfortable in Holland.

The more I speak the better I get as it comes back to me.

You can be very comfortable in Holland speaking only English.

Funny story. I once watched an episode of Amish Mafia on Holland TV. English language TV, with English subtitles. Apparently Pennsylvania Dutch is seen as non-English.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Oh, and I only speak English. I have had passable French the last time I was there, but it’s been 7 years. High school Spanish.

[maddmaxx ★]

I'm going to say just one.  For a while I could get by with a minimal amount of Japanese and later Mandarin but lack of any practice has left this old brain unable to say much more than good morning and thank you.  I certainly couldn't carry on a complex conversation.

[Wilbur ★]

31 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I'm going to say just one.  For a while I could get by with a minimal amount of Japanese and later Mandarin but lack of any practice has left this old brain unable to say much more than good morning and thank you.  I certainly couldn't carry on a complex conversation.

Sailor is a language unto itself. 

[Guest]

English, French, some spanish and a little Haitian-Creole.

[BR46]

1 but every time I broke or hit something on grandpas farm I learned a new word in German. 

[ChrisL]

58 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

You can be very comfortable in Holland speaking only English.

Funny story. I once watched an episode of Amish Mafia on Holland TV. English language TV, with English subtitles. Apparently Pennsylvania Dutch is seen as non-English.

True to an extent. Yes many of our tv shows are popular there and English is a mandatory language taught in school.  But it’s a use it or lose it type thing.  If you go to Amsterdam or Den Haag many of the locals speak English.  I was in Zwolle and Hengelo visiting family and the locals aren’t so great with English.  Same with my adult cousins, some speak it really well, others not so much...

I remember ordering some food in Zwolle and the girl recognized me as American and said she wanted to practice English with me.  I told her OK, but only if I can practice my Dutch.   After 20 minutes of us carrying on my wife comes in and says quit flirting with cute Dutch girls we need to go... I was just teaching her English! Sure you were...

[maddmaxx ★]

24 minutes ago, FaQ said:

Sailor is a language unto itself. 

Sailor language is best described by noticing the common crippling of many chief petty officers.  Universally they tend to have the index finger on one hand curled inward like a trigger finger and the index finger on the other unable to bend at all.

 

Comes from holding a coffee cup all day and pointing at what needs done.

 

And that ain't no shit.  

[Road Runner]

I used to work with an ex-sailor who had trouble constructing any complete sentence without using the word, "fuck" or a derivative of it.

[Zealot]

English. And Spanish enough to get around.

Attempting to learn Scots Gaelic...

[maddmaxx ★]

15 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

I used to work with an ex-sailor who had trouble constructing any complete sentence without using the word, "fuck" or a derivative of it.

Yup.  That's a fn sailor.

[Road Runner]

1 minute ago, maddmaxx said:

Yup.  That's a sailor.

His favorite use of the word, "fucking", was to insert it between any adjective-noun combination.  So it was not just a "beautiful day", it was a "beautiful fucking day".   

[MoseySusan]

3 hours ago, ChrisL said:

Two, English and Dutch.  I can’t write or read Dutch but I can understand it fluently and can speak it well enough to be comfortable in Holland.

The more I speak the better I get as it comes back to me.

Dutch was easiest for me to pick up. 

[Road Runner]

3 minutes ago, roadsue said:

Dutch was easiest for me to pick up. 

Dutchmen are sluts.  

[maddmaxx ★]

2 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

His favorite use of the word, "fucking", was to insert it between any adjective-noun combination.  So it was not just a "beautiful day", it was a "beautiful fucking day".   

Hmmm.  I'm not as familiar with that dialect.  I would have said it's a fucking beautiful day.  There may be minor differences between surface sailors (pukes) and sub sailors.  Fortunately I've spent time around both as well as marines and air force pilots so I'm reasonably competent at translating what those other assholes are saying.

[MoseySusan]

1 minute ago, Road Runner said:

Dutchmen are sluts.  

I married one. 

[Road Runner]

1 minute ago, maddmaxx said:

Hmmm.  I'm not as familiar with that dialect.  I would have said it's a fucking beautiful day.  There may be minor differences between surface sailors (pukes) and sub sailors.  Fortunately I've spent time around both as well as marines and air force pilots so I'm reasonably competent at translating what those other assholes are saying.

It became such a joke among us who worked with him that, just for fun, he would just use initials to represent his expression.  So a "beautiful fucking day" was a "BFD"  We all knew what the "F" was, we just had to figure out the other two initials.    

[maddmaxx ★]

1 minute ago, Road Runner said:

It became such a joke among us who worked with him that, just for fun, he would just use initials to represent his expression.  So a "beautiful fucking day" was a "BFD"  We all knew what the "F" was, we just had to figure out the other two initials.    

You sir have met one true to the profession sailor.

[maddmaxx ★]

We used to run a special on the job refresher school for young sailors about to go home to visit their families after a lengthy absence.  If they were to utter a statement like "pass the fn pancakes mom" they would get a swift rap to the side of the head.  The school ran for about 2 weeks prior to the leave and did not always produce good results.

Navy language is very pervasive.  You are surrounded by it 24/7 and eventually it rubs off.  Most sailors can say the most offensive things with a straight face and a southern accent.  The latter also seems to be infectious enough to dominate sailor speech.

[2Far ★]

YANKEE, southern redneck, prolly enough French & Spanish to get by. I took Spanish at nightschool about 10 years ago. They also had Italian, Greek, and Dutch. I was looking forward to coming off the road & learning some new languages. No longer offered.   
 

As for noun-adjectives, Capt. Ralph E. G. Sinke,jr., USMC taught me the intricacies of usage. It’s a B. E. A. Fuckin’ utiful G. D. day!

[Dirtyhip]

English, and western slang, LOL

Trying to learn Italian, and it is slow going.

[maddmaxx ★]

3 minutes ago, 2Far said:

YANKEE, southern redneck, prolly enough French & Spanish to get by. I took Spanish at nightschool about 10 years ago. They also had Italian, Greek, and Dutch. I was looking forward to coming off the road & learning some new languages. No longer offered.   
 

As for noun-adjectives, Capt. Ralph E. G. Sinke,jr., USMC taught me the intricacies of usage. It’s a B. E. A. Fuckin’ utiful G. D. day!

See that RR.  Marines are a lot like sailors if you break down the words into smaller parts.

[ChrisL]

23 minutes ago, roadsue said:

Dutch was easiest for me to pick up. 

Me too!

[groupw]

1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

True to an extent. Yes many of our tv shows are popular there and English is a mandatory language taught in school.  But it’s a use it or lose it type thing.  If you go to Amsterdam or Den Haag many of the locals speak English.  I was in Zwolle and Hengelo visiting family and the locals aren’t so great with English.  Same with my adult cousins, some speak it really well, others not so much...

I remember ordering some food in Zwolle and the girl recognized me as American and said she wanted to practice English with me.  I told her OK, but only if I can practice my Dutch.   After 20 minutes of us carrying on my wife comes in and says quit flirting with cute Dutch girls we need to go... I was just teaching her English! Sure you were...

When we were in Quebec, we stayed in St Jerome, about an hour north of Montreal. Very little English spoken there! We stopped on night at a Tim Horton’s. Just 2 high school girls working. When I apologized and ordered in English, the girl at the counter told me to stop, ran to the kitchen and brought up the other girl. She stared at the ceiling reciting her high school English like we would high school French. They were nice kids and it was all good. 
The next night we stopped in a 50s-style diner. I asked the hostess if anyone spoke English as we did not speak much French. A gentleman on a ladder hopped down and reorganized the whole staff so we could speak English to anyone serving us. 
 

He was the owner, a Greek immigrant, he was excited because not many come up speaking English. He was happy to visit with us and practice. He had 2 school-aged boys. He was hoping to get them fluent in French, Greek and English. When he would converse with them, he would tell them on the fly what language to respond. 

[JerrySTL ★]

English and Appalachian-American. I can even translate between the two. For example "you all" = "y'all". 

[Ralphie ★]

Englich and jive.  Aybe-may a ittle-lay ig-pay Atin-Lay. 

Man it was hard getting that past that Otto Correct bastard!

[Road Runner]

Just now, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Englich and jive. 

Are you good at Englich?

[Ralphie ★]

3 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

Are you good at Englich?

I schpeak it as it should be schpoken!

[MoseySusan]

2 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

We used to run a special on the job refresher school for young sailors about to go home to visit their families after a lengthy absence.  If they were to utter a statement like "pass the fn pancakes mom" they would get a swift rap to the side of the head.  The school ran for about 2 weeks prior to the leave and did not always produce good results.

Navy language is very pervasive.  You are surrounded by it 24/7 and eventually it rubs off.  Most sailors can say the most offensive things with a straight face and a southern accent.  The latter also seems to be infectious enough to dominate sailor speech.

My brother came home in between basic and his first deployment. He sounded like he’d been raised by sailors from Alabama.

[maddmaxx ★]

3 minutes ago, roadsue said:

My brother came home in between basic and his first deployment. He sounded like he’d been raised by sailors from Alabama.

Exactly so.  It's difficult to describe, but it overtakes all as if by magic.  I don't know about this centuries navy but that's what everyone sounded like in mine.  I done rightly know how that is.

[Kirby]

English and I can understand a little cat but not great at speaking it.

[Dottleshead ★]

1.3

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

I lived in Germany briefly.  I spoke German there, if you can call it that.  But I lived just long enough, to fuck up the language I think in sometimes.

Mudkipz

[bikeman564™]

I can speak english good and some words in polish

[shootingstar]

19 hours ago, groupw said:

When we were in Quebec, we stayed in St Jerome, about an hour north of Montreal. Very little English spoken there! We stopped on night at a Tim Horton’s. Just 2 high school girls working. When I apologized and ordered in English, the girl at the counter told me to stop, ran to the kitchen and brought up the other girl. She stared at the ceiling reciting her high school English like we would high school French. They were nice kids and it was all good. 
The next night we stopped in a 50s-style diner. I asked the hostess if anyone spoke English as we did not speak much French. A gentleman on a ladder hopped down and reorganized the whole staff so we could speak English to anyone serving us. 
 

He was the owner, a Greek immigrant, he was excited because not many come up speaking English. He was happy to visit with us and practice. He had 2 school-aged boys. He was hoping to get them fluent in French, Greek and English. When he would converse with them, he would tell them on the fly what language to respond. 

Somehow it’s not surprising that the Greek immigrant was happy to speak /practice English.  A lot of immigrants whose native language is not French, may prefer to learn English and for their children to learn English, because they know being in their home country, English is now the power language of doing business globally and also in terms of career advancement globally. For instance to publish widely in the academic world, to do it in English means it helps you establish broader network of colleagues and readership in same field ..ie. in medicine, many areas of sciences, etc.

[BuffJim]

Two.

English and The Pompatus of Love

[shootingstar]

My mother tongue is Chinese....Toishanese is peasant dialect of CAntonese family.  And it is a dying dialect. I must speak it with mother and some relatives.  I’ve lost a lot of fluency even though I never knew English until I was in kindergarten.  I would know a lot of nuances of certain questions, comments being said that others might not quite pick up at all.

I understand basic French, say a few words and read even better for French.  A few years ago, I was tested for basic bilingualism for federal govn’t job and passed the reading basic fluency in French).  Yes, every kid must take French in elementary school in Canada.  I took French twice at university level to get my English literature degree.  ....which is actually a good requirement since appreciation of literature and language deepens by knowing a 2nd different language and its literary roots.  I don’t worry about travelling in Quebec, France.  I would worry more about understanding anything in Italy or Spain.  

I have not picked up much German from being with dearie for last 30 yrs. I only recognize certain German words for grandmother, grandfather, sweetheart, lady, certain foods, etc.  Of course, I know immediately which tourists /immigrants are German with the chattering around me.

When a person claims fluency, ask yourself :  CAn I help someone in distress, medical emergency/if they were sick or help them with banking or help them go grocery shopping along with them?   It is a more accurate test of a person’s immediate fluency and capacity to translate accurately when you are needed by family, stranger.

[Square Wheels]

I forgot, a tiny bit of music.

Some SQL

Cold Fusion is mediocre

PHP is minimal