How Many Languages Do You Know Fluently?

[Debater Slayer]

How many languages do you know fluently (including your native one)? By "fluently," I mean a level where accurately using and understanding the language, whether in written or spoken form, is as effortless or almost as effortless for you as accurately using and understanding your native one.

 

[ChristineM]

Two including my native English along with French.
2 more i can get by on, German, Italian.
A few words of Russian and Japanese
I can order restaurant food in Chines, Thai and Greek.

All with a broad Lancaster accent.

Edit : I don't always get what i thought i ordered

 

[Stevicus]

How many languages do you know fluently (including your native one)? By "fluently," I mean a level where accurately using and understanding the language, whether in written or spoken form, is as effortless or almost as effortless for you as accurately using and understanding your native one.

I've studied a few languages, but not enough to be able to speak and understand effortlessly. That might require immersing oneself in the culture where you'd have to be forced to speak it.

 

[ChristineM]

I've studied a few languages, but not enough to be able to speak and understand effortlessly. That might require immersing oneself in the culture where you'd have to be forced to speak it.

That works

 

[JustGeorge]

Does cat count? If so, 2.

If not, 1.

I've always wanted to learn another, but made peace with the fact it won't happen.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

just barely one...

 

[YmirGF]

I know English, American and Canadian, eh, with a dash of Aussie too (but that's only when I swear).

Seriously though, I'm a native English speaker, understand a bit of French and speak it poorly enough that French friends insist I speak in English. I also understand some German and Arabic words, but nowhere near enough to have a conversation.

 

[Secret Chief]

One. I was **** at French, Spanish, German and Italian.

 

[Secret Chief]

Does cat count? If so, 2.

Good point! Cat is my bestest language, English a poor second.

 

[Debater Slayer]

I've studied a few languages, but not enough to be able to speak and understand effortlessly. That might require immersing oneself in the culture where you'd have to be forced to speak it.

I think immersion in the culture of the language would have probably been necessary to attain fluency decades ago, but now that we have the internet, I think it's entirely possible to reach that point without the immersion. I agree that speaking the language is necessary for practicing it to a fluent level, though.

One of my friends became fluent in Chinese before ever visiting China, and she lives in Europe. I've also never visited any English-speaking countries.

 

[Wandering Monk]

One or eight.

 

[Revoltingest]

I know English, American and Canadian, eh, with a dash of Aussie too (but that's only when I swear).

Seriously though, I'm a native English speaker, understand a bit of French and speak it poorly enough that French friends insist I speak in English. I also understand some German and Arabic words, but nowhere near enough to have a conversation.

You also appear fluent in Revoltistanian.
It's the only language I'm fluent in.
No others are spoken here, so the few
languages I've dabbled in (German,
Russian, Arabic, Chinese) dint stick.

 

[anna.]

Edit : I don't always get what i thought i ordered

Made me laugh.

 

[Stevicus]

I think immersion in the culture of the language would have probably been necessary to attain fluency decades ago, but now that we have the internet, I think it's entirely possible to reach that point without the immersion. I agree that speaking the language is necessary for practicing it to a fluent level, though.

One of my friends became fluent in Chinese before ever visiting China, and she lives in Europe. I've also never visited any English-speaking countries.

This is true. There's also a lot of translation software out there, so the possibility of some kind of "universal translator" at some point doesn't seem too far fetched.

I've known quite a few people who were raised in bilingual households, where they attend public schools while still speaking their native language at home. As a result, they were perfectly fluent in both languages. 3 of my 4 grandparents were born in the U.S., but spoke different languages growing up, but by the time they came of age, the pressure to assimilate and speak English only was quite strong (even to the point of changing their names), so my parents were raised monolingually and were fully Americanized.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Does cat count? If so, 2.

If not, 1.

I've always wanted to learn another, but made peace with the fact it won't happen.

Which language would you learn if you could, and why?

 

[SalixIncendium]

I'm American, so zero.

 

[JustGeorge]

Which language would you learn if you could, and why?

Tamil or Hindi, so I could read the books at the temple.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Edit : I don't always get what i thought i ordered

I once ordered "pain" in a French restaurant. I still don't know why the waiter hit me over the head with a ladle.

 

[JustGeorge]

My husband speaks some Spanish(though its getting rusty, as his Mexican coworkers have left). We went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant with one of his coworkers, and he made his order in Spanish. Both the waitress and his friend looked alarmed. "No, no, amigo, you want this!" and helped my husband make his order.

Apparently, he'd attempted to order the equivalent of penis with cheese.

 

[ChristineM]

I once ordered "pain" in a French restaurant. I still don't know why the waiter hit me over the head with a ladle.

Perhaps your accent, it sounds like pan. Though a pan would probably hurt more.