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General discussion (archive)How many languages do you know?(78 posts)(78 posts)
(78 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 30, 2012
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Miaghstir: Right, I'm mainly interested as - from my understanding - Afrikaans evolved from Dutch, and as such they ought to have a bit in common. And, yeah, I am a bit interested in how languages evolve and interconnect.
That's absolutely correct. Afrikaans originated from Dutch about 350 years ago and has officially been regarded as a separate language (as opposed to a dialect of Dutch) for well over a century. It's drifted quite far from its root but they're still definitely related.

I share your interest and have been wondering the same thing - just from the other direction. I suppose with YouTube there's nothing stopping me from getting more familiar with Dutch and finding out for myself how similar they are.
Posted January 30, 2012
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Miaghstir: Right, I'm mainly interested as - from my understanding - Afrikaans evolved from Dutch, and as such they ought to have a bit in common. And, yeah, I am a bit interested in how languages evolve and interconnect.
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Barefoot_Monkey: That's absolutely correct. Afrikaans originated from Dutch about 350 years ago and has officially been regarded as a separate language (as opposed to a dialect of Dutch) for well over a century. It's drifted quite far from its root but they're still definitely related.

I share your interest and have been wondering the same thing - just from the other direction. I suppose with YouTube there's nothing stopping me from getting more familiar with Dutch and finding out for myself how similar they are.
Look here, if you'd like. I don't know how accurate that diagram is. According to it you're right, Afrikaans are really related to Dutch. I know of the Germanic connection of the northern European languages (except Finish which is not related to Indo-European languages). I read about these relations, as I'm interested in German. My books have references to such topics. I didn't know of that relation between Dutch and Afrikaans. You gave me a reason to search further and learn, thanks.

On the topic now.
I speak Greek as my native tongue. I also speak English.
I learn German by myself in free time, because I like it.

If someday I deside to learn another language it will most probably be Spanish or Russian.
Posted January 30, 2012
pretty cool seeing how so many know more than one language!

i speak English and French pretty well, and can hold a conversation in Swedish, Spanish and Afrikaans. I'd love to learn German and Russian. They would be pretty useful for extended trips into Eastern Europe and Central Asia I would guess. And in Namibia, too (lotsa Germans over there).
Posted January 30, 2012
QBasic and French. If my math is correct, that's five languages.
Posted January 30, 2012
There is of course my native language German. My English is ok and I have basic knowledge of French (5 years in school) anddid a half year course of Spanish :)
Posted January 30, 2012
English, Japanese, basics of German and my native language.
Posted January 30, 2012
I can fluently speak Slovenian, Croatian/Serbian and English. I can just about understand Italian, but I fail at speaking. Same goes for German, although I would probably be able to sell you something (hopefully without insulting you), since I worked in tourism for a while. :)
Posted January 30, 2012
American English (native); German (rusty, but I used to be able to pass for a local in Hannover); Spanish (enough to carry on a substantial conversation). Just enough Swedish and Italian to turn an ordinary conversation into total bewilderment on both sides. My Swedish instructor was a Swedish-speaking Finn, and I fear I picked up a very strange accent from her.
Posted January 30, 2012
Mandarin, English........and if you consider Cantonese to be a separate language, then it'll also be my very first language......so 3 in total
Posted January 30, 2012
uhh, Danish and English. I do know a tiny bit french but not enough to keep a conversation going. Would love to learn another language but for now my main goal is to get better at English. :)
Post edited January 30, 2012 by Stockpile
Posted January 30, 2012
English, Russian, French and a bunch of (useless) interpretative languages used in econometrics (like Matlab, S-plus, etc.) :)
Post edited January 30, 2012 by garrus74
Posted January 30, 2012
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FraterPerdurabo: Fluently Estonian, English, Spanish and French.
Broken (conversational +): German
Currently studying Japanese, but don't have as much time to dedicate to it as I'd like to. I suppose I'm basic conversational.

edit: basic understanding in Finnish, Italian and Latin, but it's been way too long since I studied those. Oh and I did Russian for two years but don't know a word these days.
Estonian roots? :)

I'm fluent in English and Estonian, also know only a bit about Russian,despite having studied it for 10 years. Oh and I'm also fluent in c++, java and pascal.
Posted January 30, 2012
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FraterPerdurabo: Fluently Estonian, English, Spanish and French.
Broken (conversational +): German
Currently studying Japanese, but don't have as much time to dedicate to it as I'd like to. I suppose I'm basic conversational.

edit: basic understanding in Finnish, Italian and Latin, but it's been way too long since I studied those. Oh and I did Russian for two years but don't know a word these days.
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Shadyhacker: Estonian roots? :)

I'm fluent in English and Estonian, also know only a bit about Russian,despite having studied it for 10 years. Oh and I'm also fluent in c++, java and pascal.
Pure bred!

Have spent most of my life abroad though! Going to visit my parents at the end of February, looking forward to experiencing a real winter again!
Posted January 30, 2012
3. Brazilian Portuguese, English, Spanish. (and I understand a bit of French and Italian).

When It's 4AM I speak 4 languages: the 3 above+Engrish. ;)

I want to learn more, though. An interesting timing for this thread, as I'm kinda deciding what language to focus on, but have to study better the actual use I could make of and the economic reach of said language, how many countries could I use such language, how dialects would interfere, you get it.

My next targets are: Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic, German. Maybe Russian too, but I have my doubts if I would use it professionally.

I envy people who had Latin back in school. Serious.

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bansama: * As opposed to the "technical" Japanese consisting of company specific terms that I deal with on a daily basis, a form of Japanese that even most Japanese have difficulty understanding.
Hmm I'm interested. Can you please explain what this technical vs. normal Japanese would be? I'm interested in japanese but at the same time kinda afraid if people would have any form of prejudice/foredeem against me as a speaker of the language, since I'm nowhere near Asian. :p
Posted January 30, 2012
2 human languages. 2.5 if you count my broken-ass Spanish.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)How many languages do you know?(78 posts)(78 posts)
(78 posts)