How many languages do you speak?

I’d love to see how many languages people at eduFire speak? I’m really excited to see who here speaks the most!

Me? Besides English I speak a little bit of Spanish and a little bit of French. I had a year of college Spanish and have done a good chunk of stuff on my own (Pimsleur, working with tutors). For French I had three years in high school but unfortunately haven’t used my French much since (minus a trip to France about 7 years ago).

One of my goals is to be fluent in three lanugages one day. Spanish for sure and probably Mandarin as well.

I speak basic spanish – enough to get by on a surf trip but not enough to converse. I’d love to be fluent though (there are many more surf trips to come)!

I speak Italian, Spanish, French and a very little Greek. For some reason I can’t seem to keep Italian and Spanish separate. Granted, they are very similar languages, but that doesn’t explain (to me) why I should muddle them as much as I do. Here’s a typical scenario: someone speaks to me in Spanish, and I start out okay but then throw in Italian words or verb conjugations and don’t even realize I’m doing it until I receive a puzzled look (or else they’ll just laugh at me). If I’m in a country where one of these languages is spoken, then after a few days I am back in the swing of things. But here in the U.S. where I only speak any of those languages occasionally, my head is a complete language stew.

I’d love to hear if any other multi-linguists out there has come up with a solution to the problem, or mind exercises to help me keep the languages straight.

I speak English. I did take 4 years of Spanish in high school, but I’ve lost a lot of that. I do want to master Spanish this year and be able to speak and comprehend fluently. I also want to learn pronounciation in French, German, and Italian so when I look at words in those languages I can at least pronounce them correctly when ordering from a menu and so forth. Not sure what the best resources would be for pronounciation as they probably need some supplemental text so I can see the words.

I speak English and a little Spanish and Japanese. I did learn how to say one random phrase in ten different languages.

I speak some conversational Spanish, a few key phrases in French, and I can say my dog George’s name in Romanian, Greek, Spanish, English, and Pig Latin. :) I took about 6 semesters of Spanish in college and at one point was fairly fluent (though my conjugation wasn’t so hot). Honestly, if I could do it all over again I would’ve spent a year studying abroad in Spain to immerse myself in the language. I hear that’s really the only way to make the language your own. Hmm…maybe it’s not too late. :) Very excited to work on my Spanish here.

I took 3 years of Spanish in High School and 3 years of German in College, so right now I speak one language — English. I’ve always exceled at learning Math, History, Sciences, etc. but never did well with learning language in a traditional classroom setting. I’d like to learn Chinese -Mandarin, and hopefully travel around China within the next 18 months.

I think you’re right Carrie about immersing yourself in the language. If you don’t start as a kid, it’s hard to pick-up and retain any new language on a part-time basis.

Just english- little bit of hebrew. Oh, and I took 2 years of Latin in highschool. haha Sort of a weird mix there..

I speak Haitian Creole, French and English. I took six years of Latin in middle and high school plus a semester in college. I am slowly learning Spanish. Looking forward to interact with you all. God bless!

Jill, the mixing of languages is a common thing for those who speak more than one language, especially if all fluently. What I try to do is: 1. develop a strong appreciation for each language in itself as itself. Then 2. Make a conscious effort when I speak to stay within the limits of that language. At first it will be hard, but these exercises should help a little and even help you learn more ways to express yourself within a particular language. For example, you might be able to express a thought (let’s call it thought x) in Spanish more easily than in Italian. So when you are speaking Italian, and you come to the point where you want to express X, you automatically want to switch to Spanish. BUT at that moment stop and look for another way of saying the thought X in Italian. I have to do that often with Creole and English, and it helps. Let me know what you think.

Louis, that’s a great tip re: separating languages. I speak English and am fairly comfortable in French (9 years in school, but a little rusty b/c I stopped studying it in 95) and am learning Spanish now. I find myself throwing in French words when I’m trying to express a complex thought in Spanish, and usually just get puzzled looks.

Also studied Latin for 3 years in high school, which has been somewhat useful in learning French and Spanish. Would really like to learn Mandarin next!

I speak English of course and conversational Spanish(fluency is the holy grail). I took Spanish in High School and studied on my own afterward. I also had one on one lessons with a Berlitz instructor for two years. I gained a lot of knowledge about the technicalities but I didn’t feel confident speaking so I lost a lot. When I started talking, it came back to me.

I can also relate to the language mix-up thing. Where I live there is a large population of Ethiopians. I’ve been learning Amharic and I start thinking of Spanish words when I’m speaking in Amharic and vice/versa. Those two aren’t even really related :)

I just love languages. I’ve started learning Mandarin and I’d like to learn French, but I’m very intimidated because of the accent.

spring, no need to feel intimidated by the french accent! it’s not that big a deal… and you already roll your r’s in spanish :)

English is my first language, and like Kareem I took French for years and years and years in high school and university. Not fluent, but could get up to speed quick enough in a country that spoke it. I have also lived in China for 5 years, so my Mandarin is not bad, though certainly not at the level that I would like to see it.

I speak English and a little bit of Spanish. I took 7 years of Spanish in Middle School and High School, but don’t remember much. However, my brain kicks in if I’m speaking with a Spanish speaker, or hanging out in a Spanish-speaking country.

I’ve taken a good amount of French, 5 years of Latin, several years of Italian and 1 semester of begining Spanish.

I also took a year of American Sign Language.

Otis speaks Greek? That’s cool.

Let’s see, i speak a lot of English, a lot of Spanish, and a little Hindi. I took Latin for about 6 years, but I forgot most of it, in hindsight, not sure why i took it :). I took spanish for 9 years pre-college and then another year or so during college with a study abroad in Buenos Aires. But, my Spanish speaking skills hit a turning point when i noticed this guy i was with could speak a lot more fluently but didn’t have nearly as much academic training once i let go of needing to speak with perfect grammar everything started to flow much more easily :)

i speak mandarin and ebglish.

i have took two semester greek, 4 semester germany and 1 semester turkish…

but now i almost forgot all of them. sad_~

now i just want to improve my english as better as i can.

I’m a native Chinese Mandarin speaker, also fluent in English and Japanese. I took French for about a year in College and did pretty well, but forgot a lot of them since didn’t have much chance to use. Would like to pick it up in the near future.

hi, I speak Hebrew and Spanish, but am always in need of some brushing up with these languages, and I am a quick learner.

I am a native english speak who used to be conversational in Nepalese and Spanish. Now I confuse the two. Would love to learn more languages though and am excited about getting some tutoring on EduFire!

I speak English good. Took 4 years of Francais in High School and know tidbits of Spanish from trips to Mexico (and many trips to Chipotle for delicious burritos) and the similarity to most of the words in French and English . Would like to learn Japanese, Italian, and Mandarin.

I speak fluent English and Spanish. I also know a little German and some Portugues.

I speak English (first language) and have pretty good Spanish (studied for 4 years in HS, 3 in College, and studied/lived in Spain for 3 months) and I’m learning Arabic now which is really difficult!

Having grown up in a small country (The Netherlands) that historically lived on foreign trade, most of us Dutchies grow up learning a lot of languages, and quite early in life (you kinda have to, nobody speaks Dutch ;)). On top of that, about 80% of our pop culture (TV, music, etc.) is American/British, so even if you don’t pay much attention in school, you’ll pick up English as a kid from just watching TV and listening to music.

Anyways – I speak:
- Dutch
- English
- German
- French
- Hebrew

On top of that I can somewhat make sense of Scandinavic languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) in written form (can’t understand a word of it spoken form, let alone speak it), based on my Dutch/German knowledge.

I can speak English and Farsi fluently, Spanish moderately well, and I have pretty much forgotten French and Japanese. I’d like to practice French and Spanish on here and then start learning German and Russian. I’m excited about EduFire!