How many languages do you speak?

[JoeMama 0]

I speak English and all it's varieties of #######, smack, etc.!

I'm at an intermediate level speaking and reading Russian. Not an easy language to learn. The bad words were the easiest to learn. They seem to come naturally to me!

Edited May 12, 2007 by altimixdj

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I only know English and German fluently. I know a bit of Spanish and Lithuanian, but fluent in them I am not by any means.

[Ladylethal 12]

I speak 2 fluently (English and my native Portuguese) and I also read/write and speak Spanish at an intermediate level. I've also taken French and Japanese in the past, but I know too little of them to even say it's basic.

[SoL. 0]

Fluent English + Spanish and very good at Italian but not as fluent as the other two.

[Jenn! 918]

2

I think some people interpret "fluently" a little bit differently. I don't know, I've had people tell me that they are fluent in X language, and then it becomes obvious that's not true, but somehow they still think they're fluent. I don't know what their definition is.

[Ladylethal 12]

When I say I am fluent in English, I mean that I read perfectly, write perfectly (well, everyone is entitled to mistakes, even native English speakers), understand perfectly (unless in some very weird accent) and speak decently (as in I'm not native in the language and my accent will sound funny and some will say I pronounce some words wrong, still, I know the words and can convey what I want to speak). That to me is being fluent in a language.

[Jenn! 918]

When I say I am fluent in English, I mean that I read perfectly, write perfectly (well, everyone is entitled to mistakes, even native English speakers), understand perfectly (unless in some very weird accent) and speak decently (as in I'm not native in the language and my accent will sound funny and some will say I pronounce some words wrong, still, I know the words and can convey what I want to speak). That to me is being fluent in a language.

I'd say you exceed what would be considered English fluency.

But I really don't know the technical definition myself!! Maybe I'm not fluent in Italian. I'm gonna have to go take some sort of test!

[Minya's wife 25]

For those that are fluent in more than one language, I guess a more accurate question would be, how many languages do you use actively on a regular basis? The reason I ask this, because it may help w/ the definition of fluency. If one does not use a particular language at all....but can read/write and on occasion 'make themselves understood'....that may not mean the same as someone actively 'using' that language on a fairly regular basis. Does that make sense?

I use three of the 4 languages I speak on pretty much a daily basis, and I try to use the 4th one as much as possible. (Luckily the 4th one is Spanish and there are plenty of opportunities where I live to practice.)

-P

Edited May 12, 2007 by Paula&Minya

[sparkofcreation 0]

Two (English and Spanish, and I use them both on a daily basis). I'm a professional interpreter.

I also speak enough French that I can survive, read/understand Catalan (don't speak it though), and know a bit of Russian, Portuguese, and ASL. I'd love to brush up my Russian and ASL.

[vamos 0]

For those that are fluent in more than one language, I guess a more accurate question would be, how many languages do you use actively on a regular basis? The reason I ask this, because it may help w/ the definition of fluency. If one does not use a particular language at all....but can read/write and on occasion 'make themselves understood'....that may not mean the same as someone actively 'using' that language on a fairly regular basis. Does that make sense?

I use three of the 4 languages I speak on pretty much a daily basis, and I try to use the 4th one as much as possible. (Luckily the 4th one is Spanish and there are plenty of opportunities where I live to practice.)

-P

I think that's a really good point. I would consider myself to be "advanced" in Spanish but refrain from calling myself fluent because I only use it when I'm studying. My wife speaks it fluently as she is from a Mexican family but I lack the discipline to make myself use it more with her.

I do think that starting a topic to shamelessly boast is quite shocking however but I can understand the temptation.

Edited May 12, 2007 by vamos

[Caladan 19]

I speak and read one, English, fluently. My German is pretty strong, but I don't use it often enough to be fluent, and my speaking ability lags behind my reading and writing ability.. Can read a newspaper reasonably well, though my vocabulary is degrading.

I also have a smattering of French and Latin, but neither approach fluency.

[The Molinas 0]

2 (german&english)...i also speak enough French to survive...and im learning spanish right now

[cander42 0]

i do speak 3 languages and i can understand a little bit 2

[russ 1]

Galina speaks English fluenty (she just scored better than 40% of Americans on the Verbal GRE). She understands German and Ukranian, and obviously Russian. We can call this 2 1/2.

We need a good definition of fluency - I would say reading and understanding a newspaper, and holding a 1/2 hour conversation with an adult is basic fluency.

I speak English fluenty, French enough to be understood, very basic Dutch, and Russian is a big question. I can read a novel in French, but not in Russian yet. My Russian has been compared to either a 3 year old, with better pronounciation, or a 12 year old who does not like to study. I can hold about a 1 hour conversation with a native speaker now, so I will count Russian as well. We can call it 2 1/2 for me.

French is definitely easier - the most difficult part being verb tenses (there are too many), and irregular verbs. Russian is much more difficult. While the grammar is more regular, declensions and corret use of aspect are very difficult. Most educated Russians do not know these rules (the difference between masculine animate accusitive or genative, for example.) I use the wrong aspect all the time as well (imperfective or perfective), though I believe that these mistakes do not make it difficult to understand me.

I am still shocked by Swiss people, as they all seem to speak 7 languages with no accent.

[Alex+R 0]

If the definition of fluency is reading, writing, understanding and speaking, and doing the speaking in a way that comes naturally but is not perfect or even far from perfect, then I could maybe say fluency in Portuguese. By Laura's definition of fluency (perfection), I am definitely not fluent in that language.

So 1 or 2 for me. I used to be completely fluent in Hebrew until I stopped speaking it... wonder if that's still knocking about my cranium somewhere?