| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: How many languages can you speak and/or understand? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How many languages can you speak and/or understand?".
This poll was originally submitted by patriciacharnet. View the poll results »
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 18:37
Spanish to English
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Degree in French and Russian. Five years studying German at school, basic level. Fluent Castilian Spanish, almost bilingual level. I also have a good understanding of Catalan/Valenciano, although I tend not to speak, preferring Castilian. And my native (UK) English. Oh, and I can read and understand some Italian, too. Ditto Portuguese, which I can understand in its written form, although I struggle when it is spoken.
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I’m fluent in French (written and spoken - lived in Belgium for 30 years) and English (better written than spoken) and of course my native language, Portuguese. I also translate from Spanish and Italian but as I don't have the opportunity to use it much I must say that my oral Spanish and Italian are getting rather poor: I can read and understand but when it comes to speaking...
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Julian Holmes 
Japan
Local time: 01:37
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
English, Japanese and Kansai-ben dialect, if that counts. 
Oh, I almost forgot. As Bruce Willis says in the Fifth Element:
"Whoa, lady, I only speak two languages, English and bad English."
Do I get a cigar for Kansai-ben. 
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English, French and Italian, my main working languages.
I can get by in German and Spanish.
I can read Portuguese but, like Neil, I have trouble understanding the spoken version.
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Dutch (native language), French, Spanish and English, my main working languages.
Passive knowledge of German (can read and understand it).
I can read Italian and Portuguese. Oh and I think I would still be able to manage reading Esperanto, which I taught myself 11 years ago, just for fun. And sometimes I still read one of the Snoopy comics written in Latin, but I think I can probably still read them because I already know the story.
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Including Italian (my mother tongue), English and German (my working languages), Russian and Standard Arabic - trying to figure out Lebanese
Hopefully I will be soon able to learn Spanish and Catalan, but I have a secret dream: learning Basque....and many other languages, way too many I'm addicted lol
Chris, as we say in Italy: you get to... See more
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| Speak 2, read 6 | Feb 2, 2016 |
I speak two fluently: native English and Danish at that sort of level.
I struggle to speak my other languages, and to understand what is said (except on TV, where I try to avoid using the subtitles, but use them anyway. Too little practice, of course.
In the way that many Scandinavians can communicate with each other, I can speak Danish and understand some Swedes and Norwegians, but not all of them. It takes practice... I have to get my favourite client in Oslo to speak English on t... See more I speak two fluently: native English and Danish at that sort of level.
I struggle to speak my other languages, and to understand what is said (except on TV, where I try to avoid using the subtitles, but use them anyway. Too little practice, of course.
In the way that many Scandinavians can communicate with each other, I can speak Danish and understand some Swedes and Norwegians, but not all of them. It takes practice... I have to get my favourite client in Oslo to speak English on the phone or send a mail!
I read English and Danish all the time at educated native level, Swedish and Norwegian comfortably, and French and German if I want to. The last two at a basic level, but I can manage newspapers and novels.
Since September I have been having fun with beginners' Italian, but apart from our long-suffering teacher's careful pronunciation, I can only catch a word or two of spoken Italian.
I am not deaf, just very visually oriented. ▲ Collapse
| | | | EvaVer (X)
Local time: 18:37
Czech to French
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| Depends on your definition of "speak" and "understand" | Feb 2, 2016 |
There are 6 I use professionally and that's my anwer. But I can understand at least the gist (in writing, when I have enough time to consider it) in any Latin or Slav language. Many people around me would consider this as "understanding the language", I don't.
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I can speak and understand English (my native language), Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. I can understand Castilian but don't speak it myself. I can also understand a bit of Valenciano and some European Portuguese.
| | | | Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 18:37
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
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SITE LOCALIZER | a bridge over... | Feb 2, 2016 |
Hungarian (native language), Russian, Latvian and English, my main working languages.
Massive and passive knowledge of German (can read, understand and translate).
My Latvian speech worsened a lot (but still can translate, read and understand it). It is interesting that sometimes easier to translate from Latvian into Russian.
I can read and understand Slovak, Czech, Croatian, Serb, Macedonian texts, speak a bit of Italian and Spanish, Portuguese, Lithuanian. For e... See more Hungarian (native language), Russian, Latvian and English, my main working languages.
Massive and passive knowledge of German (can read, understand and translate).
My Latvian speech worsened a lot (but still can translate, read and understand it). It is interesting that sometimes easier to translate from Latvian into Russian.
I can read and understand Slovak, Czech, Croatian, Serb, Macedonian texts, speak a bit of Italian and Spanish, Portuguese, Lithuanian. For example, I do not speak Slovak but can fully understand an article of an association because I learned a lot - from my colleagues' work. Most of these languages (as well a Romanian) I had to learn on a basic level because I have no assistant anymore and I have to know what kind of documents the client brought to my tiny office. (I do receive Lithuanian texts ofthen instead of Latvian Thanks to my excellent Latin teacher, doc. Fomina Tamara Kirillovna, her efforts left a strong impact. To speak Italian for me is like to sing - this language I started to learn because of a dearest client from Milan.
When I was 21, one of my friends, a famous pianist told me: you are nothing if you do not speak French. All intelligent people do know French language. So I look into my daughter's papers because she learns French and help her - we learn together the new words. And last year I translated a small article from French - if you know Latin, you can do it.
But if I would have time and money I would go back to Latvia to refresh what I forgot and finish my Latvian-Lithuanian-Livonian-Hungarian phrasebook.
As an IoM friend, I eagerly study Manx and will see/visit the Island soon again.
[Edited at 2016-02-02 14:36 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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564354352 (X)
Denmark
Local time: 18:37
Danish to English
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| 3 - Do I get a dunce award? | Feb 2, 2016 |
Native language = Danish; first foreign language = English; second foreign language = Spanish
I understand most written Norwegian and Swedish, and some spoken; this depends very much on the person speaking. Can't speak a word of either of those languages.
It irks me no end that on Danish TV, quite often people speaking Norwegian or Swedish won't be subtitled, whereas non-Danes trying their very best to speak Danish will be subtitled, no matter how easy they are to under... See more Native language = Danish; first foreign language = English; second foreign language = Spanish
I understand most written Norwegian and Swedish, and some spoken; this depends very much on the person speaking. Can't speak a word of either of those languages.
It irks me no end that on Danish TV, quite often people speaking Norwegian or Swedish won't be subtitled, whereas non-Danes trying their very best to speak Danish will be subtitled, no matter how easy they are to understand. Sometimes, I even wish that subtitles would be added for people speaking in one of the Danish dialects, which I can't claim to understand particularly well.
I learnt Latin (even taught Latin, quite unbelievably!), but have forgotten the language as such. Nowadays, it just serves as a reminder in the background when I try to work my way through texts in Italian, Portuguese or French, none of which I have any real knowledge of, but sometimes I can get the gist of a short text.
I also did German at school, four years of utter boredom (no offense intended), and again, my knowledge is very basic, as I have never had any use for this language. I definitely don't attempt to speak it, except when a German tourist approaches me in our little touristy village, presuming that I will understand them if they speak German. A lot of tourists seem to think so...
Years back I picked up a cassette and instruction book on Zulu and set out to learn this intriguing language just for the heck of it. Didn't get very far, but there were some very funny words in there, showing how English has an impact in so many languages.
This was one of my favourites: cauliflower = ukholifulawa
(Just checked this on Google Translate (don't hit me now!), so I'm sorry if it's wrong.) ▲ Collapse
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There, I've said it. English and French are the only ones I would claim really to speak and understand. Having studied linguistics I of course have bits and bobs of other languages, in particular Spanish and German - both of which I read fairly well - and also a dab of Italian and Swahili. Talking of which...
Gitte Hovedskov, MCIL wrote:
Years back I picked up a cassette and instruction book on Zulu and set out to learn this intriguing language just for the heck of it. Didn't get very far, but there were some very funny words in there, showing how English has an impact in so many languages.
This was one of my favourites: cauliflower = ukholifulawa
In Swahili, "roundabout" is kipilefti. Geddit?
| | | | Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 09:37
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
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Speak and understand: English, French, Norwegian, Spanish, Italian, German.
Understand: Swedish, Danish.
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