What languages do you speak?

[MrMetro]

Apart from your home countrys language, do you speak any others?

I speak a small amount of Spainsh (Having 4 Spainish rounds in MotoGP made me consider trying to speak a second language)

[Zico]

English is my second langauge :/, also a little French, German and Spanish.

[pino]

Apart from Italian, I do speak Danish, Spanish, French and English offcourse :p :

[Mark]

You speak English? You never told me that! :p

[pino]

You speak English? You never told me that! :p

I speak my own English...haven't you noticed that ? :eek: :p :

[schmenke]

English is my first language, although growing up in Montreal I learned French at an early age.
My parents are Finnish, so I know a word or two (most of them not appropriate for a family forum :uhoh: ).

And I know how to order a cold beer in Mandarin :dozey:

[Eki]

English is my first language, although growing up in Montreal I learned French at an early age.
My parents are Finnish, so I know a word or two (most of them not appropriate for a family forum :uhoh: ).

And I know how to order a cold beer in Mandarin :dozey:
But do you know how to order a mandarin in Cold Beer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_orange

[J4MIE]

No, I'd like to find the time to be able to though.

[schmenke]

But do you know how to order a mandarin in Cold Beer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_orange

I'd rather order the cold beer :p :

[Donney]

Spanish as first language, English, French and a little bit of Russian.

[donKey jote]

English mother tongue, Spanish father tongue, German donkey tongue
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

[Eki]

English mother tongue, Spanish father tongue, German donkey tongue
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif
Donkey Tongue? Wasn't that some kind of a Nintendo game?

[Easy Drifter]

Some French, mostly swear. Learned that from Gilles Villeneuve and other French Cdn. drivers. I do speak a little bit of French though.
A little bit of Ojibway.
Cannot carry on a conversation in either.

[Eki]

I can say "where is my Tequila" in five languages:

English: Where is my Tequila?
Spanish: Donde esta mi Tequila?
Finnish: Missä on tequilani?
Swedish: Var är min tequila?
German: Wo ist mein tequila?

[Tomi]

My first language is Finnish and I also speak fluent Swedish and good English and some German and Thai.

[Captain VXR]

English, Engrish, a little bit of Polish and German
Probably bad grammar, but:
Gdzie jest moi tequila

[DexDexter]

Apart from your home countrys language, do you speak any others?

I speak a small amount of Spainsh (Having 4 Spainish rounds in MotoGP made me consider trying to speak a second language)

Finnish, English, bad Swedish, bad German :D

[Mark]

I've been trying to learn French for a while but I don't have the motivation to put in the effort required to learn it properly.

[Eki]

I've been trying to learn French for a while but I don't have the motivation to put in the effort required to learn it properly.
Can you say "Where is my Tequila" in French?

[gadjo_dilo]

I don't speak foreign languages.

But this thread makes me think I could be understood by spaniards:

Spanish: Donde esta mi Tequila?
Romanian: Unde este tequila mea?

[Donney]

You could, both are Roman languages and in some cases they're pretty similar.

[Ghostwalker]

Swedish, English & little German

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I got a B in French at school but I can't remember much of it. I'm sure if I had lessons I could pick it back up quickly.

I also speak Cumbrian, which is very different from English.

[MrJan]

I'm English, we don't need to learn a second language :uhoh:

I know a very limited amount of French and Spanish....oh and I can say "Where is my sleeping bag?" in German.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I'm English, we don't need to learn a second language :uhoh:

I know a very limited amount of French and Spanish....oh and I can say "Where is my sleeping bag?" in German.

If you are French the second language you learn is English.
If you are German the second language you learn is English.
If you are Italian the second language you learn is English.
If you are Spanish the second language you learn is English.

The Spaniard F1 driver talks to his Italian race engineer in English.

So which second language are we expected to learn? :p

I still think it is shocking that children no longer have to take a language at school.

[Eki]

If you are French the second language you learn is English.
If you are German the second language you learn is English.
If you are Italian the second language you learn is English.
If you are Spanish the second language you learn is English.

The Spaniard F1 driver talks to his Italian race engineer in English.

So which second language are we expected to learn? :p

I still think it is shocking that children no longer have to take a language at school.

My aunt's husband was English. He lived in Finland over 20 years but never learnt to speak Finnish. He just didn't have to.

[markabilly]

English, Cunninglush, Texican, TexMex or Mexican (hispanics here do not really speak Spanish, instead it is a mixture of english and spanish--developing like english did before Henry the 8th), German, Russian

Oddly enough my kids were telling me that their fellow hispanic peers do not care for the spanish speaking tv shows as they speak "funny" spanish. My kids also speak a little tex-mex as well. My son speaks Russian and Komi....(odd thing about Russian, it means river people and the so called white russians were descendants of vikings who went up and down the rivers....Komi is more than a thousnad miles EAST from Moscow, yet, the langage resembles ancient finnish language as somewhat spoken by vikings rather than russian)

When it comes to those Vikings, the easier question to ask is where did they NOT go spread their seed, as they seem to have been the Normans of France, the anglos of England and germany, when far far into North America when the world was still flat, sailed around in the lake of the shores of where Italy spain and greece as well as north Africa is at and saw their presence there....even made it around the horn of africa and made to the saudi arbaia pennisula.....

[Eki]

TexMex
I eat that too.

[wedge]

English, obviously but my mother tongue Cantonese.

A bit of French and a bit of Japanese.


I got a B in French at school but I can't remember much of it. I'm sure if I had lessons I could pick it back up quickly.


I've been trying to learn French for a while but I don't have the motivation to put in the effort required to learn it properly.

Going on holiday to the continent does the trick for me. Flicking through one of those 'Learn to speak French' books I was a bit surprised how the basics came flooding back after nearly 15 years!

[edv]

In decreasing order of fluency:
English
Dutch
Spanish
Arabic
French
German
...and I know how to say 'nice as$' in Polish, LOL

[glauistean]

I can say "where is my Tequila" in five languages:

English: Where is my Tequila?
Spanish: Donde esta mi Tequila?
Finnish: Missä on tequila?
Swedish: Var är min tequila?
German: Wo ist mein tequila?

EKi, you have mastered the art. Don't let your wife or significant other see

the post. :)

Seriously, I am always amazed at the level of English spoken by our European friends. The Dutch, Germans and the Scandinavian people seem the most fluent and articulate.
Many years ago when I was in college we went to Greece (five guys) for a two week vacation.

We went to the Islands. Ios, Santorini. There, while we chased after these poor half naked girls we met a group of guys from Sweden and we formed a pack,so to speak.

I can't ever recall ever having as much fun. They spoke English with a Swedish accent and the best part introduced us to Swedish girls.

We all kept in touch for years afterward until we started to get married and have kids. An experience I'll never forget and one that would never have occurred save for the fact that everyone spoke English.

Ironically, afterward I started to work with Astra Pharmaceuticals from Sweden. I commuted from Watford to Göteborg for a year or so. Never got to meet up with any of the guys.

Oh, I speak a little Spanish and a tad of Gaelic (Irish) and mandatory Latin.

English, I struggle with.

[Easy Drifter]

I had to take Latin in school but remember zilch. I did drive my latin teacher crazy as he could not translate the motto on our family crest. I finally told him it was Gaelic! (No one treads upon me with impunity.)

[Alexamateo]

English and Spanish,

[fandango]

If you are French the second language you learn is English.
If you are German the second language you learn is English.
If you are Italian the second language you learn is English.
If you are Spanish the second language you learn is English.

The Spaniard F1 driver talks to his Italian race engineer in English.

So which second language are we expected to learn? :p

I still think it is shocking that children no longer have to take a language at school.

You mean ONE of the Spanish F1 drivers. There were three at the start of the season :) And when you mention children, which children do you mean? English children? British? Maybe the answer to your question is Chinese! To be fluent in English AND Chinese must have some value for jobs these days.

I'm an English teacher, so I can speak that. I have a few words of Irish, but I've forgotten a lot of it. I can also speak Spanish and Catalan.

A very learned man who I used to teach English to, someone who was quite high up in the Catalan government but has since retired (No, not Jordi Pujol) once gave me a book which explained the common elements of Spanish, French, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese and a couple of others. Fascinating, because you can use the book to read articles in any of those languages.

When I teach English to Italians I often find that the words they don't know in English are either very similar to Spanish or very similar to Catalan.

My kids do their schooling in Catalan, a lot of chatting and TV in Spanish, English with me and Basque with their mother. Language is a big thing politically here in Catalonia, but the sad thing is that politicians use it as a weapon, whereas the majority of people use it to understand and get on with people.

[Ghostwalker]

EKi, you have mastered the art. Don't let your wife or significant other see

the post. :)

Seriously, I am always amazed at the level of English spoken by our European friends. The Dutch, Germans and the Scandinavian people seem the most fluent and articulate.
Many years ago when I was in college we went to Greece (five guys) for a two week vacation.

We went to the Islands. Ios, Santorini. There, while we chased after these poor half naked girls we met a group of guys from Sweden and we formed a pack,so to speak.

I can't ever recall ever having as much fun. They spoke English with a Swedish accent and the best part introduced us to Swedish girls.

We all kept in touch for years afterward until we started to get married and have kids. An experience I'll never forget and one that would never have occurred save for the fact that everyone spoke English.

Ironically, afterward I started to work with Astra Pharmaceuticals from Sweden. I commuted from Watford to Göteborg for a year or so. Never got to meet up with any of the guys.

Oh, I speak a little Spanish and a tad of Gaelic (Irish) and mandatory Latin.

English, I struggle with.


I dont know about the other Nordic countries, but in Sweden English is taught at School from a quite early stage. In my case ( i started 1st grade in 1985) we started learning English from 4th grade (might be earlier know) and from that point all way up through the grades English is a mandatory subject including at High School no matter what program you choose.

Also in Sweden most foreign language TV-programs, movies etc are subtitled where countries like Germany, France, Italy will usually dub it to their native language.

According to this document (page 5) http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf (an official EU document) The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark are the top 3 non-native English speaking countries within the EU, but i would guess that Norway also have similar % level.

[Eki]

(an official EU document) The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark are the top 3 non-native English speaking countries within the EU, but i would guess that Norway also have similar % level.
When I visited Spitzbergen/Svalbard, there was an elderly postmaster who only spoke Norwegian and I only spoke English, but we understood each other well, since he seemed to understand English and I understood Norwegian as long as it was similar to Swedish.

[Eki]

According to this document (page 5) http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf (an official EU document)
Ireland is interesting. According to that document 21% there speak Irish/Gaelic,
19% French and only 6% English. I wonder what the rest 54% there speak.

[fandango]

Ireland is interesting. According to that document 21% there speak Irish/Gaelic,
19% French and only 6% English. I wonder what the rest 54% there speak.

Mostly S_hyte! ;)

[Ghostwalker]

Ireland is interesting. According to that document 21% there speak Irish/Gaelic,
19% French and only 6% English. I wonder what the rest 54% there speak.

i think you got it wrong. The % applies to the most known second language after their mother language (which it says on p4).
So in the case of Ireland those 6% does not have English as their mother language. and the same goes for the UK 7% have
another mother tongue then English.


2. OTHER LANGUAGES KNOWN

Half of the citizens of the Member States assert that they can speak at least one
other language than their mother tongue at the level of being able to have a
conversation. This is 3 points more than perceived in 2001 in the EU15 (EB 51.1).
Nevertheless, the percentages vary considerably from country to country.

[Eki]

i think you got it wrong. The % applies to the most known second language after their mother language (which it says on p4).
So in the case of Ireland those 6% does not have English as their mother language. and the same goes for the UK 7% have
another mother tongue then English.
In that case, I wonder why no one in Finland speaks Finnish as their second language, according to that statistics. Most Swedish speaking Finns I've met also speak Finnish, and everyone of them are taught Finnish at school.

[Easy Drifter]

Officially Canada is bilingual, French and English. I took 4 years of French in high school and have forgotten most of it although I can usually read it. But it was Parisian French which is different from the Quebeois French although understandable to both.
Today there is much more French taught in early grades in English speaking Canada but we rarely have need for it outside of Quebec so tend to lose it.
Most Montrealers can speak both fairly well. Actually the majority of Quebecers can speak a fair amount of English if they want to. Far better than us Anglos can French.
Today in the major cities in much of Canada, Cantonese or Manadrin would be more use than French.

[ioan]

Lot of polyglots around here!

Myself I fluently speak:
Romanian
Hungarian
English
French
German
Italian

[glauistean]

I had to take Latin in school but remember zilch. I did drive my latin teacher crazy as he could not translate the motto on our family crest. I finally told him it was Gaelic! (No one treads upon me with impunity.)

Good one.
Marlboro in their "wisdom" had on their logo (coat of arms :rolleyes: ) up until recently the latin credo from the Roman, Veni,Vidi Vichi. I came, I saw , I conquered. Attributed to Caesar.

[ioan]

Good one.
Marlboro in their "wisdom" had on their logo (coat of arms :rolleyes: ) up until recently the latin credo from the Roman, Veni,Vidi Vichi. I came, I saw , I conquered. Attributed to Caesar.

I am just being pedantic here as it should be: Veni, Vidi, Vici. ;)

[glauistean]

I am just being pedantic here as it should be: Veni, Vidi, Vici. ;)

No , you are absolutely correct. Thank you. My old age got the better of me.

I must be becoming a phonetic speller.

[Eki]

"Veni, Vidi, Vichy" was said by the French in WW2.

[gadjo_dilo]

Lot of polyglots around here!

Myself I fluently speak:
Romanian
Hungarian
English
French
German
Italian

Good for you! I'm always happy to find a romanian guy who can fluently speak Romanian. I reckon it's a real achievement. Honestly.

[donKey jote]

Ireland is interesting. According to that document 21% there speak Irish/Gaelic,
19% French and only 6% English. I wonder what the rest 54% there speak.
compared to 7% English in the UK :laugh:

I reckon those are figures for the foreign languages. In the case of Ireland, it means for 6% of the interviewees English isn't the mother tongue - they're either furriners or staunch republicans :p

[Eki]

compared to 7% English in the UK :laugh:

I reckon those are figures for the foreign languages. In the case of Ireland, it means for 6% of the interviewees English isn't the mother tongue - they're either furriners or staunch republicans :p
In that case, I still wonder how they didn't interview any of the about 5% Swedish speakers in Finland who've studied Finnish as their second native language (the Finnish speakers study Swedish as their second native language).

[donKey jote]

You may have answered your own wondering: they have two native languages so don't see either of them as foreign?

[Storm]

I can speak 4 languages in total (one being my mother-tongue, another being the national/official language of the country) and 2 others that donKey jote speaks ;)

Infact I did learn another language (donkey speaks this too dammit!) for a couple of years but thats ancient history and I only know things like "Wie spät ist es?" now.

[Eki]

You may have answered your own wondering: they have two native languages so don't see either of them as foreign?

No, 38% in Finland names Swedish as a foreign language:

FI

English 60%
Swedish 38%
German 17%

[Eki]

2 others that donKey jote speaks ;)


S_hyte and English?

BTW, what is "Where is my Tequila" in Marathi?

I think in Hindi its "मेरे पेग शराब कहाँ है".

[Ghostwalker]

S_hyte and English?

BTW, what is "Where is my Tequila" in Marathi?

I think in Hindi its "मेरे पेग शराब कहाँ है".

Qua est meus Tequila?? (Latin)
Ble ydy 'm Tequila?? (welsh)
از کجا تکیلا من است (persian)
איפה הוא טקילה שלי (Hebrew)
Onde está o meu Tequila (galician (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_language))
On és la meva tequila (catalan language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonian_language))

translated with
http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=English&to=Latin and
http://translate.google.com

[Storm]

S_hyte and English?

Yeah those too :p :



BTW, what is "Where is my Tequila" in Marathi?

I think in Hindi its "मेरे पेग शराब कहाँ है".

:laugh:

[555-04Q2]

1. English
2. Afrikaans
3. Zulu
4. Portugese - just a little
4. French - the kind everyone understands :p :

[cali]

Besides estonian, I speak finnish, english, german and russian

[Eki]

Besides estonian, I speak finnish, english, german and russian
What is "Where is my Tequila" in Estonian and in Russian?

[cali]

What is "Where is my Tequila" in Estonian and in Russian?

Estonian: "Kus on minu Tequila?"
Russian: "Gde moi Tequila?"

[Eki]

Estonian: "Kus on minu Tequila?"

That's almost like Finnish "Kusi on minun Tequilani" (Piss is my Tequila).

[cali]

That's almost like Finnish "Kusi on minun Tequilani" (Piss is my Tequila).

Almost :D
kus = missä
kusi = kusi (surprise, suprise)