BlackArtemis Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Studied 4, but that semester of German was a weak attempt. I can understand a read a bit of Spanish. I can converse in Thai easily, but because I put off reading and writing for so long, I tend to mess up tones and have a child's level of reading, it is improving though. Though as an American, I feel I should get a handicap! Mandatory language learning beginning in the 9th grade is just another failure of our education system... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onthemoon Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 What about those knowing 20 plus languages? Typical American teenager : He is certainly gifted with learning languages. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been recruited by the US government since airing this video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazygourmet Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Parent tongues: French + Bahasa Indonesia Learned at Belgian boarding schools: Dutch + Ancient Greek & Latin Learned at Swiss boarding schools: English + German + Italian Acquired while working and/or residing for extended periods abroad (mid-level conversations only): Spanish +Turkish + Arabic + Thai Quite impressive. Parent tongues: French + Bahasa Indonesia Learned at Belgian boarding schools: Dutch + Ancient Greek & Latin Learned at Swiss boarding schools: English + German + Italian Acquired while working and/or residing for extended periods abroad (mid-level conversations only): Spanish +Turkish + Arabic + Thai Quite impressive. Not really... In Belgium, we have three national languages (french, dutch & german) which are mandatory with english to follow a diplomatic career ; that was my family heritage... and natural steps to an already planned work-life. But being the black sheep of the family, I -hopefully- ended up in the hospitality industry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robblok Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 @lazygourmet I did know you guys had 2 national languages over there not three, but also learned that most French speakers don't learn Dutch even your king has a problem with it. Did not know about German. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazygourmet Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 @lazygourmet I did know you guys had 2 national languages over there not three, but also learned that most French speakers don't learn Dutch even your king has a problem with it. Did not know about German. Here is a brief wiki summary regarding language legislation in Belgium Don't worry if you understand zilch... I gave up decades ago ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Naam Posted April 25, 2013 Popular Post Share Posted April 25, 2013 So this poll is about how many languages people speak... ...more likely how many languages people claim they speak 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominique355 Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Does Latin count? I mean, I suffered 7 years of learning Latin and yet, I am not able to say one sentence! Just make some stupid quotes, LOL. Being Swiss, we need to learn at least on other of our national languages. So I started with French (my mother tongue being German) and finished school in French speaking Geneva. Italy is close by and I love Italy, Italian food, Italian cars etc, so inevitably I picked up the language. Of course we all had to learn English. I hated it at that time, now it's my daily language, we speak English in my family with wife and kids. Kids even go to a British school. Not so proud about my proficiency in Thai language. OK, actually it's pretty poor, despite 2 lessons every week. I guess that's the early symptoms of Alzheimer. Ah well, look at the bright side: I meet new people every day. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 What about those knowing 20 plus languages? Typical American teenager : He is certainly gifted with learning languages. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been recruited by the US government since airing this video. I think that boychik is way too good for government work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thakkar Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 I speak, what could be termed the opposite of the language of love; I keep saying the wrong things to women. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrain Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 Not really... In Belgium, we have three national languages (french, dutch & german) which are mandatory with english to follow a diplomatic career ; that was my family heritage... and natural steps to an already planned work-life. But being the black sheep of the family, I -hopefully- ended up in the hospitality industry... What's the hospitality industry? You work on beach road ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elektrified Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 I come from a family of linguists (my Father speaks 12 fluently) and my late Grandfather on my Mother's side of the family spoke 15 fluently. He was a Swiss Diplomat. My Mother spoke 4 fluently. Sadly I struggle with languages, speaking some German, some Czech and some Thai; but none of them fluently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkkfoxi Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 I have a bable fish so all.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morakot Posted April 27, 2013 Author Share Posted April 27, 2013 So this poll is about how many languages people speak... ...more likely how many languages people claim they speak Here a fact: 'most people speak two or more languages, a large proportion of the of world's population is bilingual.' (Grosjean 1982:1) Francois Grosjean 1982 Life With Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onthemoon Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 So this poll is about how many languages people speak......more likely how many languages people claim they speak Here a fact: 'most people speak two or more languages, a large proportion of the of world's population is bilingual.' (Grosjean 1982:1) Francois Grosjean 1982 Life With Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press I followed the link and thanks, very interesting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybonnaza Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 English - native Thai - to a certain degree (middle class) Spanish - native Italian - to a certain degree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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