How many languages do you speak?

[BirdyBee]

Just curious

Also if you're monolingual please try and learn a language, it's fun What are some facts about your language(s)? What languages do you speak? How many? Why did you learn the language?

 

[Owlet]

I speak english and a litttttle bit of spanish ive always wanted to learn ASL

 

[BirdyBee]

I speak english and a litttttle bit of spanish ive always wanted to learn ASL

Well, good job for trying to learn a language

Sign language is a good language to learn, I also want to learn it.

 

[𝕾𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖞𝕻𝖎𝖈𝖆]

I speak English and am learning Spanish in school. I might as well learn French too, since my mom is fluent in it.

 

[Inko-ai]

I speak English and German. I'm also learning French, Japanese, and Latin.

 

[HeatherG]

I speak English and used to be nearly fluent in French; can still read quite well. I’ve picked up some Spanish and am learning Polish.

 

[foxgloveparrot]

English and Chinese. My parents forced me to learn Chinese as a kid/teen. I used to hate it. Now I find it pretty beneficial to know another language.

 

[LoveOfallAnimals]

I don't seem to speak any language well, and I am even worse at spelling.
But I can get by in English, Spanish, and Hebrew.

 

[HeatherG]

I think you are very lucky if you’re in the US and your parents can teach you another language. You’re one up on the other students and job applicants.

I have enough Spanish to know if someone is talking badly about me on the bus, and to read some of the community paper, but it’s nowhere close to speaking ability.

 

[ravvlet]

I grew up in south Louisiana and while my grandfather on my dads side was fluent in French (Cajun) and that whole side of the family speaks it; my dad was never taught and I only took classes in k-12 so I can get by if I need to but am by no means conversational! It has made for some funny/awkward encounters at funerals when we see our small-town relatives who still mostly speak Cajun French.

There’s some kind of interesting research about the disappearance of the Cajun French language as a dialect in Louisiana - basically it was treated as illegitimate, instructors were required to teach in English, and if French was taught it was Parisian French. They actually instituted corporal punishment for children who insisted on speaking it in a school setting - and when those kids grew up, they didn’t teach their own kids French.

All this to say, my French is atrocious and my grandfather used to cuss in (Cajun) French because he knew he could get away with it in front of us, lol.

 

[HeatherG]

I grew up in south Louisiana and while my grandfather on my dads side was fluent in French (Cajun) and that whole side of the family speaks it; my dad was never taught and I only took classes in k-12 so I can get by if I need to but am by no means conversational! It has made for some funny/awkward encounters at funerals when we see our small-town relatives who still mostly speak Cajun French.

There’s some kind of interesting research about the disappearance of the Cajun French language as a dialect in Louisiana - basically it was treated as illegitimate, instructors were required to teach in English, and if French was taught it was Parisian French. They actually instituted corporal punishment for children who insisted on speaking it in a school setting - and when those kids grew up, they didn’t teach their own kids French.

All this to say, my French is atrocious and my grandfather used to cuss in (Cajun) French because he knew he could get away with it in front of us, lol.

That’s funny. My dad would swear at the dog in Polish and some of my teachers used kids’ words in Polish. So I started to learn Polish in the last couple of years and remembered stuff I’d been taught as a very small child.

I had French in high school and two semesters in college but I have lost a lot of it. Can still read quite well but not converse.

 

[BirdyBee]

For those wondering, I am fluent in Afrikaans and English. My Afrikaans spelling isn't so good though, but I speak it very well. I have spoken it my whole life. I want to learn Xhosa as it is spoken a lot here in the East Cape province.


Fun fact, Afrikaans doesn't have a "th" sounds, and the word "a" is spelled 'n, even though it's said the same. Also "w" is pronounced "v", and "v" is pronounced "f"

Confusing, I know.

 

[Rozalka]

I speak Polish (as native) and English (learnt in school).
I was learning German too but honestly I forgot most things and sometimes I try to understand something (reading or watching) and I can understand only some very basic words.
Sometimes I try to learn Czech on my own and I understand it much better German but probably it's mainly because I hardly ever use German and Czech has many similar words to Polish so I often just guess them.
Why Czech? It may be a bit confusing but I started learning mostly through parrots.

I had few lessons of Russian but I shouldn't count it because I don't even know how to read😝 The teacher learnt us some basic words/sentences (only pronunciation) but I forgot almost everything (eg I remember how is "Monday" and "Tuesday" but not the rest days of week)

Afrikaans 🤝 Polish
No "th" sounds and "w" pronounced "v"

 

[BirdyBee]

Afrikaans 🤝 Polish
No "th" sounds and "w" pronounced "v"

That's so cool! Didn't know the languages had similarities.

I had few lessons of Russian but I shouldn't count it because I don't even know how to read😝 The teacher learnt us some basic words/sentences (only pronunciation) but I forgot almost everything (eg I remember how is "Monday" and "Tuesday" but not the rest days of week)

I once told my grandma that I want to learn a language like Russian, and she said "That is the most ugly language, it sounds like 'ghleflhighrlerrghghglelgh'" LOL.

 

[Rozalka]

That's so cool! Didn't know the languages had similarities.


I once told my grandma that I want to learn a language like Russian, and she said "That is the most ugly language, it sounds like 'ghleflhighrlerrghghglelgh'" LOL.

Well, here in Poland currently Russian and Ukrainian are the most useful languages because of the war stuff near us... in some Polish schools Russian is an obligatory language but I never was in such school

Afrikaans 🤝 Polish
No "th" sounds and "w" pronounced "v"

Actually I think I can tell the same thing about Czech and German.

In Czech "w" doesn't really appear - it is only in words taken from other languages (eg. "kiwi", I don't have to translate it) and then it's pounced "v"

 

[Inko-ai]

Fun fact, Afrikaans doesn't have a "th" sounds. Also "w" is pronounced "v", and "v" is pronounced "f"

It's the same in German too!

I can actually understand a little in several different European languages, because they're so similar to German, especially Swedish. I could understand a lot when I visited Sweden.

 

[HeatherG]

To me it seems that Italian and French are close…I can understand a good bit of Italian. I am always surprised when I recognize a root word in Polish or another Slavic language. But still I know so little in comparison with most Europeans.

 

[BirdyBee]

It's the same in German too!

I can actually understand a little in several different European languages, because they're so similar to German, especially Swedish. I could understand a lot when I visited Sweden.

A lot of languages have German origin or borrowed some things from the German language. It's really interesting!

I can understand some German, since I speak Afrikaans and German, but a lot of it sounds gibberish.

I can understand most of Dutch, since Afrikaans and Dutch are very similar, but of course some words are hard to comprehend.

 

[MayMaroa]

I only speak two, English and Arabic but I always wanted to learn Spanish and sign language, I never really found the time because I have so many things that I want to learn and I can't choose what to learn next that I end up not learning anything that I planned to know.

If you're wondering what I want to learn, umm well it is a long list and it will stay long for a while.

Guitar( i have had my own guitar for years but i never learned to play it whenever i try to learn from youtube or apps I end up failing because it is so hard to learn from an app/video I really want to learn from a teacher)

Piano.

Spanish

Sign language

Horse riding.

Sewing.

Cycling( yup I don't know how to ride a bike without training wheels)

 

[Rozalka]

talking of understanding other similar languages - once time I listened to a song in Slovak and I understood literally every word knowing only Polish and basics of Czech.

In general Czech and Slovak are very similar languages (well, Czechia and Slovakia were one country) and these two countries often have one version of TV shows (eg Got Talent) because they don't need any translation to understand each other, the same thing is with a Czech bird magazine - I have a Polish translation but Czechia and Slovakia have one.
So, if you know Czech, you will understand Slovak too😅