How many and what languages do you speak?

[Ranger0001]

I have been wondering the linguistic makeup of these forums for a while so how many and what langauegs do you speak?

I speak English and Spanish and currently am learning Chinese though I don't really speak it right now.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I only speak 2 languages. English and Bad English.

 

[Ferocitus]

My first language was Lithuanian, but I stopped at 5 when I went to school here.
The last time I spoke it was 30 years ago when we sponsored my cousin to come to Adelaide for a year.
Despite my protests he insisted that I help him out as a sort of interpreter during some afternoon meetings in the Dept. of Neurosurgery.
The closest I can come to describing it is:

Hilarity ensued! But not quite as much watching him bounce off several different glass self-opening doors around town because he had never seen any in Lithuania.

Two years of school French, e.g.
C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la gare.
(It's magnificent, but it's not the railway station - Fred Dagg.)

Three years of school Latin.

 

[Kyriakos]

I don't speak any languages. Everything I have written here, since the beginning, has been memorized typographically without any sense of its meaning.

 

[Hygro]

Ruby, JavaScript, a little Python. Some SQL if you count it.

 

[Ferocitus]

Ruby, JavaScript, a little Python. Some SQL if you count it.

Oh, forgot about compspeak.
Fortran 2013: my
C/C++: for graphics.
Python: only for SageMath.
LaTeX: for publications, and in the old days for some Logic: Throw the problem into LaTeX and let Knuth work it out for you!
Assembly.
And from a very long time ago: Pascal and BASIC.

 

[Ferocitus]

I don't speak any languages. Everything I have written here, since the beginning, has been memorized typographically without any sense of its meaning.

Are you sure you don't speak all languages then?

 

[Aiken_Drumn]

My brain unfortunately is very obstinate at learning new languages, yet is above average in grasping nuances of the English language (compared to the average bear).

I wish I could learn more, I feel so stupid when travelling and people are speaking back and forth in multiple languages for me.

 

[Ferocitus]

My brain unfortunately is very obstinate at learning new languages.

Me too, sadly. I didn't have any inclination to learn.
My paternal grandmother was German, and my grandfather spoke 6 languages
When he and his friends got together they spoke a mixture of Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, German and English.
If one of them didn't know the meaning of a word or phrase, some or all of them would immediately blurt out a translation.

I did however, know all the nuances of Australian Rules Football (the best variant) and I could explain cricket's LBW rule to anyone, whether they wanted to know it or not.

 

[Kyriakos]

Are you sure you don't speak all languages then?
View attachment 615652

 

[Verbose]

Could be kind of a long answer I guess… preceded by a short question:

What is to be understood as sufficient command of a language as to constitute "speaking it" here?

Language knowledge I tend to find rather processual and coming in varying grades. Able the to what in a language to consider that as "speaking it"?

 

[Kyriakos]

Able the to what in a language to consider that as "speaking it"?

Yes ^_^

 

[Ranger0001]

Ruby, JavaScript, a little Python. Some SQL if you count it.

Oh yeah, I guess I also need to count Python and Javascript. I'd like to learn SQL but it's so so confusing compared to Python and Javascript.

 

[Ranger0001]

What is to be understood as sufficient command of a language as to constitute "speaking it" here?

I am thinking able to communicate with speakers as much as is needed for average things. I guess maybe like a B1 in the language is what I would think.

 

[mitsho]

I'd say - in order from fluent to less so - Swiss German, High German, English, French - then a bit of a gap - Spanish - then another way larger gap to some languages I understand a bit, but can't really speak: Arabic (Fusha), Danish, Hebrew - and lastly I did have Latin in school, but that's not really an answer, right? So yeah, I'm happy with language learning, it's a hobby of mine on the side

 

[Birdjaguar]

English only with rudimentary ability to understand simple Spanish. 3 words in Chinese. But smart phone, real time, translation apps enable me to communicate in other languages.

 

[Kyriakos]

English only with rudimentary ability to understand simple Spanish. 3 words in Chinese. But smart phone, real time, translation apps enable me to communicate in other languages.

Όχι αν ο άλλος χρησιμοποιεί τοπική σύνταξη ή ιδιωματισμούς.

 

[Zkribbler]

English. French well enough to understand it but not to speak it. Some Spanish. Also dabs of Hawaiian, German, and Visayan.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Well you did not speak that into your phone and show it to me which is how most apps work. Using a desktop browser yields "Not if the other uses local syntax or idioms." That may be true but they work well enough to carry on a conversation that is understandable. Pointing out the exceptions does not diminish the success of such apps to facilitate communication.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well you did not speak that into your phone and show it to me which is how most apps work. Using a desktop browser yields "Not if the other uses local syntax or idioms." That may be true but they work well enough to carry on a conversation that is understandable. Pointing out the exceptions does not diminish the success of such apps to facilitate communication.

Indeed, they have become a lot better, very fast.