How many languages can you speak/read/write fluently?

[Sam]

If your vote is 2 or more, please list the languages if you don't mind bragging sharing.


Me: 2, Vietnamese and English.
I used to be fluent in French too, but that was 30 years ago.

 

[Nords]

2: Vietnamese and English.
I used to be fluent in French too, but that was 30 years ago.

Moi aussi...

 

[Sam]

For those who voted 2 or more, please list the languages if you don't mind sharing.

Moi aussi...

Tre`s bien, mon ami.

 

[Goonie]

I figger inna bout a nother 50 yeers, I mite bee abel two reed and right inglish...mae bee! Jethro Bodine's ben teeching me!

 

[Corporateburnout]

English
French
Arabic

 

[deserat]

English and pretty close to fluent in Spanish - can get around in French and German as well, but not fluent. Actually, can also get around in Italy - Italian is closer to Spanish - lived in Ecuador for Spanish immersion training -a mazing how much I have lost as well as retained since then....

Deserat

 

[jefipius]

English 100% (most days)
Portuguese 75% (Can't really write it)
Spanish 25% (Can get by)
French 10% (Can read it more or less)

 

[jefipius]

English 100% (most days)
Portuguese 75% (Can't really write it)
Spanish 25% (Can get by)
French 10% (Can read it more or less)

Oh BTW - Since the Poll asked speak/read/write fluently, I put 1 (English). Is this what you wanted to capture?

 

[bssc]

I have trouble with English. And it doesn't help that I work with a bunch of Brits so I am picking up their pronounciation.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

French - lived there a while, got engaged, broke up, met DW who was living in French Switzerland.

 

[Sam]

Oh BTW - Since the Poll asked speak/read/write fluently, I put 1 (English). Is this what you wanted to capture?

Yes. And thanks for listing the other partial languages too. Using your scale, I guess my French is 60% reading, 20% writing, and 15% speaking.

 

[FinallyRetired]

Read-write-speak % I would be:
English 100-100-100
Spanish 100-80-80
French 80-40-30
Italian 70-0-0
Portuguese 70-0-0
Dutch 50-0-0
Texan 0-0-100 when in San Antonio

I find reading much easier than writing or speaking.

 

[Khan]

I'm fluent in reading and writing English but I have problems speaking. I rarely speak and I think I sound weird.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I'm fluent in reading and writing English but I have problems speaking. I rarely speak and I think I sound weird.

Curious: do you have an accent? A speech impediment? Or is it just self-consciousness?

You probably sound normal to everyone else -- we always overestimate such things in ourselves, I've noticed.

 

[Mwsinron]

Curious: do you have an accent? A speech impediment? Or is it just self-consciousness?

You probably sound normal to everyone else -- we always overestimate such things in ourselves, I've noticed.

Yep, I cant stand the sound of my own voice but people tell me it sounds fine. Weird that way I guess.

 

[Khan]

Curious: do you have an accent? A speech impediment? Or is it just self-consciousness?

You probably sound normal to everyone else -- we always overestimate such things in ourselves, I've noticed.

Mainly self-consciousness.

When I am talking to someone I also become the outside observer: listening. critiquing and self-censoring on the fly. I also have great difficulty reading social clues as to the response to my speaking.

I also tend to talk very fast.

Apparently I also have a very distinctive/unusual voice; various local businesses I call immediately recognize my voice.

Anecdote: Many years ago, I was standing on a corner in Washington D.C. talking to someone while waiting for a bus. A passerby stopped and said: "I'd recognize that voice anywhere, what are you doing in D.C.?" I had last spoken with him three years earlier in NJ.

 

[Gumby]

English - my first language(s) (English version first, then American version)
French - about 60-70% (seven years of study in High Schoool and College, but long ago)
Italian - 30-40% (taking lessons now)
Spanish - 10-20% (learned "on the job" over 20 years ago)
Portuguese - 5% (enough to politely order in a restaurant and find the WC)

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

When I am talking to someone I also become the outside observer: listening. critiquing and self-censoring on the fly. I also have great difficulty reading social clues as to the response to my speaking...I also tend to talk very fast.

Apparently I also have a very distinctive/unusual voice; various local businesses I call immediately recognize my voice.

I guess it's just all part of who we are to others. While human nature leads us to attach some kind of value judgment to it, probably for the rest of the universe it like having red hair or a goofy smile or some other benign or even appealing idiosyncrasy. I think it's kind of neat that people seem to recognize your voice readily and openly and warmly call it out -- shows that it's not off-putting, maybe even endearing to them.

Getting way off topic here, though -- sorry.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

20+ computer languages (all in English)

 

[Gumby]

Mainly self-consciousness.

When I am talking to someone I also become the outside observer: listening. critiquing and self-censoring on the fly. I also have great difficulty reading social clues as to the response to my speaking.

I also tend to talk very fast.

Apparently I also have a very distinctive/unusual voice; various local businesses I call immediately recognize my voice.

Anecdote: Many years ago, I was standing on a corner in Washington D.C. talking to someone while waiting for a bus. A passerby stopped and said: "I'd recognize that voice anywhere, what are you doing in D.C.?" I had last spoken with him three years earlier in NJ.

I too have always been somewhat self-conscious when speaking. As a young boy, I stuttered quite a bit. I overcame it only by forming a complete sentence in my head (and generally practicing it under my breath) before I spoke the first word. I still do it.

I also understand the outside observer aspect. As a lawyer, I often find myself speaking in court while a voice in my head critiques what I have just said and urges me to shut up before I say something stupid.

 

[bpp]

I speak, read and write Japanese all day, but would not consider myself fluent. My wife agrees, or she wouldn't hit me over the head so often for various gaffes and faux pas.

I seem to have retained just enough high school French to be able to profitably read newspapers, books and instruction manuals, but can't speak it for beans. In fact if I try to, Japanese comes out.

Also had smatterings of German, Russian and Latin in my dilettante school days, but nothing useful has stuck.

Not sure how to assign percentages, but if 100% fluent = native-level proficiency, then I'm only really fluent in one language, English. If it merely denotes some functional level of ability, then maybe two and a half on a good day.

 

[bbbamI]

Does pig latin count?

 

[mb]

I was listening to the radio the other day. I don't recall who was being interviewed but it was an education specialist of some type.

The radio host asked what languages would be most valuable to learn for a student today?

The answers were English and "math!"

It's unfortunate that many Americans have limited knowledge of languages, history and culture but even so I agree with the answer.

MB

MB

 

[Nords]

As a lawyer, I often find myself speaking in court while a voice in my head critiques what I have just said and urges me to shut up before I say something stupid.

That must be very unusual among your avocation-- maybe even unique!

 

[xmanz3]

English
Spanish
Understand portuguese