Thread: What languages do you speak?

I know that English speakers tend to get a bad reputation for not learning other languages but what languages do you guys speak.
Ok I'm not talking fluent here - maybe just enough to order a beer and complain that it isn't cold enough.(That is when you know you have the language mastered!)
I am afraid that my language skills are relatively minor with just basic German and Polish.
Although I studied German for 8 years I now speak better Polish after 7 months of living here!

Seven months in a country will do wonders for your language skills! I made more progress in Russian in six weeks living there than in four years of college study. Of course, the college work made that progress possible--being in the Soviet Union made it necessary.

Because I'm a language dabbler by inclination, and inter alia a foreign-language cataloger by profession, I've picked up bits and pieces of a number of languages. But I've managed basic conversation in French, Russian, Spanish, and German.

I expect we'll find more English speakers who can navigate in other languages here than in some places. Not to mention that we do, I think, have some members whose first languages aren't English--it will be interesting to hear from them too.

Native language is Dutch, I get around in French and German. I can read Latin.

My native language is Dutch. My English and French are fair enough.
I can read German and figure out Latin. Oh yes, almost forgot, I can read and understand South-African too.

I 've noticed that English speaking people often overestimate the intelligence it takes to be multilingual. It's not that big a deal actually, when you live in Flanders (the Dutch speaking region of Belgium).
The other half of the country speaks French, so every kid in Flanders is taught French from elementary school on, till at least the age of 18.
Most music on the radio is in English and the bulk of the movies in the cinema and on television are in English with Dutch subtitles (and often at the same time also French ones). Hence we tend to pick up English almost without noticing. Dutch is related enough to German to catch quite a bit of it. And South-African is just a more plastic and colorful sort of Dutch.
Latin was just part of my classic education from age 12 till 18.
It was more taught for training the mind than for the sake of actually using it. But it's a great help with the vocabulary of foreign languages.

Dutch (native), French (2nd language) and a little bit of English

I can speak Spanish and I'm fully fluent in Klingon.

Originally Posted by nickyspaghetti

Ok I'm not talking fluent here - maybe just enough to order a beer and complain that it isn't cold enough.(That is when you know you have the language mastered!)

Well if that is the definition you are using then I speak German fairly well and Spanish just barely.

Its funy; German is a language that I love to try and speak but rarely ever get to and Spanish is a language I hate to try to communicate in and I am bombarded by it every day. 'Su licencia por favor""Manos arriba!" blah blah blah

Originally Posted by w12code3

Well if that is the definition you are using then I speak German fairly well and Spanish just barely.

Its funy; German is a language that I love to try and speak but rarely ever get to and Spanish is a language I hate to try to communicate in and I am bombarded by it every day. 'Su licencia por favor""Manos arriba!" blah blah blah

I gather sir, you too, are in the law enforcement profession. One of my fellow officers told me once....if you hate Spanish, that's fine....but learn just enough to save your life.

Originally Posted by iron maiden

I gather sir, you too, are in the law enforcement profession. One of my fellow officers told me once....if you hate Spanish, that's fine....but learn just enough to save your life.

Duh!! Where's the forehead-slapping smilie? I read w12code3's post too, and all I could think was, "What, he lives in a Spanish-speaking country where the police stop him all the time and he's always getting robbed?"

~~Rich, but just call me Great Staring Eedjit--in any language ...

Originally Posted by iron maiden

I gather sir, you too, are in the law enforcement profession. One of my fellow officers told me once....if you hate Spanish, that's fine....but learn just enough to save your life.

Oh, I completely agree. I am sure that I would not have the adverse reaction to Spanish if I had not felt forced into learning what little of it I know to preserve my own safety... I started out by memorizing a list of danger words and phrases and now I can communicate in a very rudimentary way on several issues, but most of them are related to work... I can order a beer as was the requirement.

Originally Posted by rastewart

Duh!! Where's the forehead-slapping smilie? I read w12code3's post too, and all I could think was, "What, he lives in a Spanish-speaking country where the police stop him all the time and he's always getting robbed?"

LOL< well, that was a fairly reasonable assumption based on the information contained in my post... that would be a hell of an existence!