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You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > Political/War Lounge > US Americans: How many languages do you speak?

View Poll Results: How many languages do you speak?
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1 7 votes (38.89%)
2 6 votes (33.33%)
3 3 votes (16.67%)
4 1 votes (5.56%)
> 4 1 votes (5.56%)
Voters: 18. You may not vote on this poll
US Americans: How many languages do you speak?
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TETENAL
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Jul 31, 2008, 05:06 AM
 
How many languages do you speak (including your native tongue)?

Only vote if you are a US American.
     
ghporter
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Jul 31, 2008, 08:40 AM
 
I consider myself fluent in English. For that matter, I consider a whole lot of my contemporaries and others around me NOT fluent in English.

I know a tiny bit of Spanish, and can puzzle out some French, Italian and German, but I can't say I "speak" any of them.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
nonhuman
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Jul 31, 2008, 09:50 AM
 
I've studied and used abroad, and at least at some point been conversational to fluent in: English (native speaker), French (7 years of study, plus 3-4 trips to France), Russian (6 semesters in college), Chinese (lived in China for several months in addition to taking classes while there), and Japanese (2 semesters in college after testing into 102, conversational on this one is a stretch, but certainly decently proficient). I also speak enough Spanish and German to at least be able to make sense of menus and signs, and make basic day to day transactions.
     
G Barnett
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Jul 31, 2008, 12:36 PM
 
I was fairly fluent in Spanish -- right up until I spent a year in Bulgaria. Now I'm functionally fluent in Bulgarian but managed to lose most of the Spanish I knew. Ooops.
     
ghporter
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Jul 31, 2008, 01:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by G Barnett View Post
I was fairly fluent in Spanish -- right up until I spent a year in Bulgaria. Now I'm functionally fluent in Bulgarian but managed to lose most of the Spanish I knew. Ooops.
I don't see how you could keep to Indo-European and get two more different languages! Yikes!

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Luca Rescigno
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Jul 31, 2008, 01:42 PM
 
I know a little Spanish and a little Chinese, but not enough of either to have a real conversation. Also I occasionally pull out a Spanish word when I'm trying to think of what the word is in Chinese.

So I'd only consider myself to be good at English. If I were to have a conversation with someone in Spanish or Chinese, I'd probably spend about 90% of the time staring blankly or trying in vain to remember how to say something, and then saying it wrong.

"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
     
Randman
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Jul 31, 2008, 01:47 PM
 
English is my primary language.

Fluent/read/write in Spanish though quite rusty while living in Asia. But I was able to get around Spain last year.

Basic Mandarin though I'm losing a lot of that while back in the US. Knew enough to get around the PRC on holiday.

Know enough German and French to order at a restaurant or get basic directions. For Italian while in Italy, I just spoke Spanish with a Godfather-tinted accent and was able to have rudimentary conversations.

Know a few words/phrases in Malay, Thai and Japanese.

Oh, and I can speak Aussie as well.

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osiris
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Jul 31, 2008, 03:18 PM
 
Originally Posted by Randman View Post
For Italian while in Italy, I just spoke Spanish with a Godfather-tinted accent and was able to have rudimentary conversations.
that's very funny. I hope you also waved your arms and hands around. For any Italian/Sicilian knows that you can't properly and effectively communicate in Italian without the use of hands/arms.


okay, languages...

2) I can speak/write English and Japanese (though I'm still trying to learn 1000s of kanji), and also some very basic Italian, German, Spanish.
"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
     
paul w
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Jul 31, 2008, 04:55 PM
 
I speak English (my mother tongue) and French more or less fluently and interchangeably, and French is the default language at home.

Italian and Spanish are conversational - which means I can get by in most cases. Italian used to be more or less fluent, but I haven't spoken it much lately. Spanish is on the rise.

Other languages I've studied but not enough to hold my own in an actual conversation: Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic and Dutch.

All this came from living ten years abroad.
     
stevesnj
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Jul 31, 2008, 05:22 PM
 
I am trying to teach myself German...I have been to Germany a few times and it isn't as hard as I thought. good thread. danke
MacBook Pro 15" i7 ~ Snow Leopard ~ iPhone 4 - 16Gb
     
Rumor
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Jul 31, 2008, 05:30 PM
 
I am working on Spanish. Not sure what I will learn after that. I suppose it depends on what is the most useful.
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Luca Rescigno
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Jul 31, 2008, 06:40 PM
 
Thing is, in the U.S., there aren't many useful second languages. Spanish, I guess, but it's nothing like Europe where you've got several widely-spoken languages packed in a tight geographical area. Furthermore, since everyone else in the world seems to speak English, it's hard even to practice when you're overseas because everyone will speak English with you (they'll even prefer to do that because they want to practice their English).

I ran into this while I was in China. Sure, your typical person knew no English, but the people at the university where I worked all spoke it quite well, and they always wanted to speak it rather than speaking Chinese.

Heh. There are perks to being a native English speaker. I'd argue that speaking a second language isn't really necessary in the U.S. (unlike Europe where it's a big help).

"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
     
ghporter
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Jul 31, 2008, 09:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by Luca Rescigno View Post
Thing is, in the U.S., there aren't many useful second languages. Spanish, I guess, but it's nothing like Europe where you've got several widely-spoken languages packed in a tight geographical area. Furthermore, since everyone else in the world seems to speak English, it's hard even to practice when you're overseas because everyone will speak English with you (they'll even prefer to do that because they want to practice their English).

I ran into this while I was in China. Sure, your typical person knew no English, but the people at the university where I worked all spoke it quite well, and they always wanted to speak it rather than speaking Chinese.

Heh. There are perks to being a native English speaker. I'd argue that speaking a second language isn't really necessary in the U.S. (unlike Europe where it's a big help).
I have had the same sorts of experiences. In both Panama and Honduras, people didn't want to help me get better at Spanish, they wanted me to help them get better at English. And I live in San Antonio, Texas, a city that has a strong undercurrent of "if you don't speak Spanish you don't belong here." But I am not exposed to Spanish on a daily basis in such a way that I could really get any better at it...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
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Aug 14, 2008, 10:26 AM
 
I bump this to collect a few more votes.
     
   
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