Nillo
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Kind of self-explanatory. Knowing some words in a language doesn't count, you should be able to have a good conversation (either written or spoken) in that language.

Also, you can write here in this thread what languages you know, to what degree you know them, and so on.

Myself, I know English, of course, but my main language is Swedish. Which means that I can understand Norwegian too, but it still sounds pretty weird. I'm also learning German in school.

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stigant
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Do programming languages count? I know they aren't usually "spoken" but then neither is ASL, and most people would consider that to be a language in the same sense that English or French or Spanish are languages.

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Progress Quest Progress

b0rsuk
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Do languages like C, Java, awk, bash, html, css count ?

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Alneyan
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I like how you wilfully avoided the word "polyglot" and its kin. Programming languages should count... if you can "have a good conversation (either written or spoken) in that language". So, how good are your social skills when speaking in Fortran?

Put me down for boring French, fun English, plain Spanish (my Spanish is clumsy, but gets the job done), and thrilling (classical) Greek. Well, I cannot speak in the last one, for lack of other speakers to begin with. That's the trouble with ancient tongues.

I'm eagerly waiting for someone to speak in, say, Quenya or Klingon.

kie
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English , yes
French, oui
Mauritian Creole, ouais
Afrikaans, ja
Assorted programming languages (including the ancient tongue COBOL)

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cheers, kie

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[Last edited by kie at 03-27-2006 09:02 PM : spelling]

Nillo
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Programming languages don't count, for obvious reasons.

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“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the 'Ellie May,' a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

stigant
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its obviously not obvious to those of us who asked/supported programming languages as languages.

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Doom
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To some extent, four. (But 2,5 would be closer to the truth)

Finnish as a native language.
English as the first foreign language at school (+ just about every single thing that I do on a computer).
Swedish as another compulsory language at school.
I've also read German for several years, but quit it after that. I wasn't doing too badly, but wanted to make room for other things.

Would Sihmpuhl Englihsh count, by the way? (Argh at the correct typing of the name of that language...)

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[Last edited by Doom at 06-13-2006 09:00 PM : clarification]

Pinnacle
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Nillo wrote:
Programming languages don't count, for obvious reasons.

Oh yeah?

VB.NET

Private Sub Person_Meet(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Person.Meet
Dim strName As String
strName = InputBox("What's your name?")
MsgBox("Hi, " & strName & "!")
End Sub

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Once (adv.): Enough.
Twice (adv.): Once too often.
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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[Last edited by Pinnacle at 03-27-2006 09:55 PM]

Mouse
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3 (ish)

Native language: English
Took French for 3 years at high school
Have a rudimentary knowledge of Maori the other official language of New Zealand.

Plus the programming languages:
C, Visual Basic, Progress (& Webspeed), PHP, Modula 2, Basic.
along with basic SQL, HTML, Javascript.

Ezlo
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I'm to embarrased to admit that I know one.

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Tscott
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One- English.

I took French in high school. Sadly, today I if I tried to speak it I could only say Bon Jovi, Au Reservoir and a not so nice word for poo.

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its bearings on Cair Paravel. O my love, O it was a funny little thing to be the ones to've seen.
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md5i
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I marked one: English. I took four years of Japanese in college, but I have forgotten enough of it that I don't think I could hold a decent conversation in it anymore. I could probably pick it up again with study, but I don't see myself having the time or inclination any time in the near future.

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Michael Welsh Duggan
(md5i@md5i.com)

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[Last edited by md5i at 03-28-2006 12:50 AM]

Swivel
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I was tempted to cheat (by claiming that I know Pig Latin, which I do.) But my main, and basically sole, language is English. I've taken Spanish for 3 1/2 years, but not enough to speak fluently (because my classes just review the same stuff every year). I must say the English is easier when it comes to verbs. Usually, there are just five forms per verb. Compare this to the Spanish 30+. Of course, Spanish is more systemic and less irregular.

By the way, you can't really *speak* Sihmpuhl Englihsh. Then it would be just plain English, as Sihmpuhl Englihsh is just a phonetic written language.

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jamie
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Ezlo wrote:
I'm to embarrased to admit that I know one.

Which one would that be ? :p

Err, me too, though you could throw in a bit of conversational Welsh

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krammer
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Fluent English, passable French and slightly better German.

I love speaking and learning foreign languages, but I gave up French due to a useless teacher and German because I detested the course. I enjoyed the grammar bits, I liked learning about the culture and history of the country, but I found I was having problems not because I couldn't answer the questions in German, but because I wouldn't even be able to in English. It's all discussing social issues, eg equality for women, the benefits of a united Europe, the environment, etc, which I find incredibly dull. No translation or grammar questions in A-level at all, sadly.

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"Oook!"

trick
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I selected 2, for Norwegian (native) and English, but I do of course understand Swedish and Danish as well (heh, there's actually less difference between "regular" Norwegian and those than between some Norwegian dialects). I also understand a small bit of French and can say some simple phrases (but not enough to have conversations in), and some bits of a couple other languages that I've picked up along the way for no apparent reason. I'd like to learn more some day.

Btw, about programming languages, at least Beatnik is speakable .. I should learn that some day too

- Gerry

silver
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So I took 4 semesters of Latin in college, and I can still translate Latin to English... but... but... does anyone even teach conversational Latin anymore? I know one of my profs thought English to Latin was something worth learning, but the others didn't bother... so.. hrm. I may be screwed here and have to say "1" :/

I fear I squandered my polyglotisnm for a better comprehension of various artificial tongues (of the artificial, used-to-direct-machines sort)


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Chaco
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Two, English and Spanish. I can hold some conversations in Spanish, but I probably wouldn't know enough to spend a week in Spain or anything like that.

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Maurog
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I know Russian, English and Hebrew. I also know various programming languages, but never tried to write a program that can carry a social conversation.

Hmm.....

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bandit1200
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English and Australian , with a smattering of American if it's spoken very loudly.

<Martin ducks below the parapet>

Bombadil
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Chaco wrote:
Two, English and Spanish. I can hold some conversations in Spanish, but I probably wouldn't know enough to spend a week in Spain or anything like that.

It's easier to stay a week than a couple days. With a week you can get more used to the language and end up speaking it better.

If you know a little you just have to let yourself loose ...

Znirk
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Four or more.

1: Swiss German. This more or less implies the next, being ...
2: French and German. I'll count those as 1/2 each -- German is closely related to 1, and my French isn't that good.
3: English. Admit it, you didn't expect that one.
4: Spanish, at a level similar to my English. Also the number one reason why my brain overloads when I try to speak French.
5: Latin (classical plus best of Appendix Probi) and assorted Romance languages:
5a, enough Catalan and Portuguese to read any book given time and a good dictionary (although I tend to get mixed up between the two when I try to say anything at all -- I learned both at roughly the same time, and both half-assedly)
5b, a touristy brand of Italian that is mostly generated by speaking Spanish with the appropriate accent, adding the few Italian words I know and applying the systematic correspondences I'm aware of. Good enough for everyday conversation, as long as I can substitute gestures for verb tenses.

Insane
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2 1/2

German and English as native languages,
taking french at school

-Insane

masonjason
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I've been learning Hungarian for a couple of months, I think I've made some pretty good progress... it's a tough language though. És itt valaki beszél magyarul?

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silver
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Znirk wrote:
5: Latin (classical plus best of Appendix Probi)

Where did you go that taught Latin as a spoken language?


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jamie
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Ahhh, I used to know a bit of passable Hebrew, and would like to learn more Spanish, seeing as I'd like to migrate there one day!

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#f3i2g# Disclaimer: I'm Welsh, left-handed, and stupid. #f3i2g#

NiroZ
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bandit1200 wrote:
English and Australian , with a smattering of American if it's spoken very loudly.

<Martin ducks below the parapet>

and you can't speak British or english canadian? (gasp)

seriously tho, engish sould be counted as english, not its variations

anyway, back to the topic.

i speak english, and ummmmm, im sure that what i say in my sleep is in a different language(if i do).
I also know a bit of french, but not enough to count.

chowyunbrent
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I voted 1, english. But I do know predicate and quantitative logic, which could be considered as languages as you can express any linguistic statement in them. Gets a bit tricky with questions though...

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Znirk
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silver wrote:

Znirk wrote:
5: Latin (classical plus best of Appendix Probi)

Where did you go that taught Latin as a spoken language?

What I was taught, curriculum-wise, was the usual package of grammar, reading and translation-from; but if like me you tend to hang out/around in a language-geek-rich environment, spoken Latin just happens from time to time.