How many languages do you speak?

[PropriedadDeClubDenbow]

I've been looking through a lot of topics here on Salsa Forums, and have noticed that there're many people from non-English speaking countries, which made me wonder how many languages do all you guys speak. As for me, my mothertongue is Russian, also I speak English, German, French and Dutch. So, 4 foreign languages and Russian - 5 in common. And how many languages and which ones do you speak?

[lolita]

Perfect English, Perfect Arabic, Perfect French and good Spanish

[AndrewS]

Perfect English(!) good German, terrible French, terrible Spanish. So two languages really

[PropriedadDeClubDenbow]

Perfect English(!) good German, terrible French, terrible Spanish. So two languages really

French and Spanish count as well! Cause my French and Dutch aren't too good, too :D :D :D

[chrisk]

I'm only able to speak german and english, but I try to find some time to learn at least a bit of spanish.

[PropriedadDeClubDenbow]

Seems like most of salseros\salseras want to learn Spanish :D

[SalsaManiac]

I guess 4 on my end .. English, Japanese, Yoruba and Pidgin English. I wish I knew spanish because of all the salsa I listen to ...

[Ron Obvious]

I speak good Swedish, English, Finnish, German and Spanish, and feeble French. Moreover, I can speak English with an Italian accent (well, sort of), and Swedish with a Finnish or Turkish accent ;) .

Do you guys know any salsa forums in other languages, like German or Spanish? Well, I know there's a Swedish one...

[Jolinia]

Fluent German, English and Spanish, some French and little Italian.
And I learnt Latin in high school for many years, I wouldn't say I can speak it though.
Salvete!

[chrisk]

Do you guys know any salsa forums in other languages, like German or Spanish? Well, I know there's a Swedish one...

I know of a german one, but there aren't many discussion like we have them here.

[PropriedadDeClubDenbow]

And I learnt Latin in high school for many years, I wouldn't say I can speak it though.

Same here, tbh :D

[chrisk]

And I learnt Latin in high school for many years, I wouldn't say I can speak it though.

Same here, tbh :D

Is there any place where people really speak Latin? Or should we have new thread in Latin? ;)

[AndrewD]

And I learnt Latin in high school for many years, I wouldn't say I can speak it though.

Same here, tbh :D

Is there any place where people really speak Latin? Or should we have new thread in Latin? ;)

Apparently there is a small community of Latin speakers in the Dolomites (Northern Italy).

[salsera_alemana]

Excellent German, English, Spanish, French and my German dialect (actually my first mother tongue), fair Dutch and Italian.

[AndrewD]

I feel really ignorant - I must learn another language.

[PropriedadDeClubDenbow]

I feel really ignorant - I must learn another language.

I suppose Russian :D

[Swannie]

English.







A tiny bit of French. I can understand what most conversations are about.
A even tinier bit of German.
A few words of Spanish and Hebrew.
A couple of words of Arabic.

Want to learn more Spanish, would be nice to brush up my French to conversational level, and Mandarin would be wonderful. Just a bit to busy to do anything other than try and learn Spanish by osmosis.

[Daisy]

Fluent in Dutch and English, semi-fluent in Spanish and Dutch Sign Language (though I guess I don't speak that, but sign it), I can get by in German, understand quite a bit of French and Italian and am currently working on Papiamentu. I just love languages...

[Jones, Nikka]

Having grown up here in Montreal I learned French as my mother tongue with English after grade 3. I can speak it alright, but have to be very careful when writing in it. With my parents being Greek-Canadian and Japanese-Canadian I grew up listening to those two languages, that I can understand and speak, but I am unable to read or write with any proficiency. (Different alphabets, and my parents wanted me to grow up Canadian, withouth the immigrant mentality.)
Thanks to my husband, who is Peruvian, I can now speak, read and sing Spanish, especially when dancing salsa.

[Excento]

I speak Dutch, English and German. And hopefully soon a little Spanish too. I'm going to Malaga (Spain) to study Spanish for a few weeks!! :lol:

[la celia]

Think English!:roll: :lol:

Spanish and German,can understand what they're talking about,but don't know why can't reply!
French,a bit! Can understand and reply!

I have a lot of time to learn,in not a problem! 8) :lol:

[Excento]

[quote=
Thanks to my husband, who is Peruvian, I can now speak, read and sing Spanish, especially when dancing salsa.[/quote]

Hahaha I have an Peruvian boyfriend and when where dancing together he teaches me what the song is about! He sings it loud into my ear! :roll: :lol:

[PropriedadDeClubDenbow]

Heh, neither of my foreign ex-bf's helped :D

[TheBear_CanDanceToo]

English is SO widely spoken that many of us English types tend to be lazy where other languages are concerned. I studied French at school but can only remember enough to order lunch or book a hotel room for the night.
I feel like a bit of an ignoramus on the language front, though I know a few Rueda calls but I don't think that really counts. :oops:

[Jambo]

I feel like a bit of an ignoramus on the language front

Don't put yourself down Bear, you're also fluent in both waffle and wibble :D




I, on the other hand, am terrible at learning languages :oops: I know a tiny bit of Swahili and that's about it.

[bailar y tocar]

English (actually American English and I can make pretty good wild guesses on British English)
German (and most German dialects but not the far north dialect and not Swiss German)
Still attempting to learn Spanish, I learn some on vacation then forget all within a few weeks.

My brother is a whizz at languages. At one point he could speak English, German, French, Swedish, three different Swiss German dialects and could even pronounce Czech and Chinese like a native speaker although he didn't know what he was saying.

[miércoles]

English, German & Spanish

[Gemini1357]

Finnish, swedish, english, french

[noobster]

I put myself down for 3 on the poll.
Fluent English and Modern Greek (read, write, speak). My Spanish is what you might call near-fluent, I will usually 'fool' a native speaker for a casual conversation but ultimately I'm either going to evince a suspicious lack of vocabulary or make a grammatical error that will expose me.

Learned a lot of Latin and a small amount of Ancient Greek but have forgotten most of both by now.
Based on Spanish and Latin I understand about 50-75% of spoken French (can follow a casual conversation or read a technical paper) but can't say anything. In grad school I used to hang around with a motley crew of European expats and the French crowd were always entertained by the fact that I would follow their conversations perfectly well but participate only in English.

[Ron Obvious]

I put myself down for 3 on the poll.
Fluent English and Modern Greek (read, write, speak). My Spanish is what you might call near-fluent, I will usually 'fool' a native speaker for a casual conversation but ultimately I'm either going to evince a suspicious lack of vocabulary or make a grammatical error that will expose me.

That's not what I understand with near-fluent, that's what I'd call near-native. Fluent is when you can speak fluently, continuously. According to my measures you don't have to be able to 'fool' natives. People usually over-estimates their language skills, so when applying for jobs etc. you have to up your skills.

[bailar y tocar]

My Spanish is what you might call near-fluent, I will usually 'fool' a native speaker for a casual conversation but ultimately I'm either going to evince a suspicious lack of vocabulary or make a grammatical error that will expose me.

That's not what I understand with near-fluent, that's what I'd call near-native. Fluent is when you can speak fluently, continuously. According to my measures you don't have to be able to 'fool' natives. People usually over-estimates their language skills, so when applying for jobs etc. you have to up your skills.

There are a few languages where it is virtually impossible to 'fool' natives...and thats just the normally spoken languages. Imagine trying to learn the South African Khoisan languages with their clicks and attempting to 'fool' a native.

[sweavo]

I put down 2, since I speak English, get by in Tourist French, and like/have tried but totally couldn't survive in Dutch, Spanish and Swedish.

[terence]

I put down 2, since I speak English, get by in Tourist French, and like/have tried but totally couldn't survive in Dutch, Spanish and Swedish.


As i first attempted to learn Spanish, a buddy asked me why ?-- i replied " so i can become illiterate in 2 languages "

[sweavo]

As i first attempted to learn Spanish, a buddy asked me why ?-- i replied " so i can become illiterate in 2 languages "

Heheh!

[Flujo]

I was tempted to put down two but can only speak English. I'm perfectly fluent in Spanish and Russian gibberish and can manage a little Italian by waving my arms about.

[bailar y tocar]

I was tempted to put down two but can only speak English. I'm perfectly fluent in Spanish and Russian gibberish and can manage a little Italian by waving my arms about.

Hmmm..I thought Italian was Spanish with waving your arms about.

[El Caobo]

I puedo speak solamente two idiomas: Spanish & inglés.

[noobster]

There are a few languages where it is virtually impossible to 'fool' natives...and thats just the normally spoken languages. Imagine trying to learn the South African Khoisan languages with their clicks and attempting to 'fool' a native.

Regarding 'fooling natives,' this is of course easier in languages that are widely spoken and therefore have many different regional sounds. Spanish is one of these - nobody ever thinks I'm from their country but I could always be from some other country in which Spanish is spoken with a slightly different accent/intonation. (People guess Argentina and Spain a lot; that's probably based more on appearance than accent though).

Modern Greek is spoken by such a small number of people that the accent is relatively homogeneous (there are some variations of course, but they're widely recognized). I actually sound more recognizably 'off' in Greek than I do in Spanish because I grew up outside the country for the most part, and my intonation is not-quite-typical.

People usually over-estimate their language skills, so when applying for jobs etc. you have to up your skills.
Yeah, that's true. I notice a lot of people who are still in the "?Donde dolor?" stage will put Spanish on their CVs. But I'm not going to put 'near-native' on my CV, that's just weird. I just list the languages and let people inquire if they care.

[bailar y tocar]

Regarding 'fooling natives,' this is of course easier in languages that are widely spoken and therefore have many different regional sounds. Spanish is one of these - nobody ever thinks I'm from their country but I could always be from some other country in which Spanish is spoken with a slightly different accent/intonation.

This is of course somewhat true of English non-native speakers. Its pretty hard to tell the difference between Dutch or Scandinavians speaking English. I made the point about orange face paint as a dead give away on another board, but nobody got it.

(hint: Oranjer = the football team fans = orange face paint = house of orange = the royal family of the netherlands)

[noobster]

This is of course somewhat true of English non-native speakers. Its pretty hard to tell the difference between Dutch or Scandinavians speaking English.

Yeah, Nordic people and the Dutch seem to have very little trouble learning and pronouncing English. It's always clear to me they're not from 'around here' but it's not always clear (depending on the situation and the individual) that they're not native speakers.

[sweavo]

Yeah, Nordic people and the Dutch seem to have very little trouble learning and pronouncing English. It's always clear to me they're not from 'around here' but it's not always clear (depending on the situation and the individual) that they're not native speakers.

Melvyn Bragg's "The Adventure of English" is a great watch, and points out how closely related English and Dutch were in the middle ages. When I told a Swede I was learning dutch they said "why? It's just English isn't it?"

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

Lots of bits of Dutch and Swedish are fun for an English speaker to learn, since they sound like an Engish speaker trying to be funny, e.g. "Wat heb je in jou hand?" or "Wat wil je? Kopje Koffee?"

[Ron Obvious]

Yeah, Nordic people and the Dutch seem to have very little trouble learning and pronouncing English. It's always clear to me they're not from 'around here' but it's not always clear (depending on the situation and the individual) that they're not native speakers.

This is basically due to two reasons:
i) English and Swedish and Dutch are all germanic languages, and
ii) In these countries movies and television programs are not dubbed (they are subtitled)

Personally, I think that dubbing movies is about the stupidest invention by the human kind, after the helmet of course. The function is the helmet is to protect a head that is so stupid that it doesn't want to avoid its head-cracking life style (from Seinfeld).

[noobster]

This is basically due to two reasons:
i) English and Swedish and Dutch are all germanic languages,

True; but interestingly, Germans and Austrians have very thick and evident foreign accents when they speak English. I think something about the pronunciation of Dutch and the Nordic languages must be closer to English, for whatever reason. Anybody know offhand where the forks in the Teutonic language tree are?

ii) In these countries movies and television programs are not dubbed (they are subtitled)
That's also true in Greece; but Greeks nevertheless have a terrible time pronouncing English. The sound vocabularies are just too far apart.

[Ron Obvious]

True; but interestingly, Germans and Austrians have very thick and evident foreign accents when they speak English. I think something about the pronunciation of Dutch and the Nordic languages must be closer to English, for whatever reason. Anybody know offhand where the forks in the Teutonic language tree are?


Germans and Austrians dub foreign television shows and movies. The Swiss do not I think (have lived there one year but I became suddenly unsure).

[Ron Obvious]

That's also true in Greece; but Greeks nevertheless have a terrible time pronouncing English. The sound vocabularies are just too far apart.

...and this is also the case for Finns.

[sweavo]

True; but interestingly, Germans and Austrians have very thick and evident foreign accents when they speak English. I think something about the pronunciation of Dutch and the Nordic languages must be closer to English, for whatever reason.


The British Isles took on a share of Friesians (~netherlands) and Danes in its time between the Romans and the French so much British language is heavily influenced by them. The invading Normans kept themselves socially aloof (why we raise pigs but eat pork, raise sheep but eat mutton, etc) so I guess that's how the germanic influences prevailed in common speech. Even today the Northern english dialects (where the Danes were) can sound quite foreign to southerners (Normans).

[irishgirl]

english, pretty fluent french, spanish for some reason i can read and understand but am pretty miserable at listening and understanding/speaking it. german is in my brain somewhere and irish is decent enough but definitely not fluent....

[bailar y tocar]

Yeah, Nordic people and the Dutch seem to have very little trouble learning and pronouncing English. It's always clear to me they're not from 'around here' but it's not always clear (depending on the situation and the individual) that they're not native speakers.

This is basically due to two reasons:
i) English and Swedish and Dutch are all germanic languages, and
ii) In these countries movies and television programs are not dubbed (they are subtitled)

Personally, I think that dubbing movies is about the stupidest invention by the human kind, after the helmet of course. The function is the helmet is to protect a head that is so stupid that it doesn't want to avoid its head-cracking life style (from Seinfeld).

There was a BBC program and book many years ago: The Story of English, which detailed how old English (Anglo Saxon) comes from the Danish peninsula (Angles) and the lowlands of modern Germany (Saxons). Then the French-speaking Normans came in and added their bit. So not surprising that some pronounciation is still similar.

Dubbing movies is more common where there is a native film industry. It employs actors who would have to seek other jobs if they didn't get voice over work.

[azzey]

I'm English but speak French fluently (lived in France), understand and speak some Spanish, Italian and German (enough to worry people who think they're talking secretly in front of you. hehe). Some words in Japanese, Chinese and now learning Swedish, Norwegian and Polish/Czech. Also my Australian accent is now so good that ozzies ask where in Australia I am from! :D

[antigone]

I've been looking through a lot of topics here on Salsa Forums, and have noticed that there're many people from non-English speaking countries, which made me wonder how many languages do all you guys speak. As for me, my mothertongue is Russian, also I speak English, German, French and Dutch. So, 4 foreign languages and Russian - 5 in common. And how many languages and which ones do you speak?

Also russian for mother tongue, which has now been superceded by English, supplemented by Italian. Also studied Latin and French, but those didn't really stick :)

[esa negrita...]

English, Spanish-enough to be accused of lying about my non-latin heritage (good accent, bad idioms), Mandarin well enough to get by, and a touch of Japanese. You guys have me curious about Dutch now...

[proper_obsessed]

English, intermediate Spanish, basic French and Italian (want to learn Mandarin).

Pet hates:

- going abroad and loads of thick British/American people just launch into English without so much of a 'Habla ingles?'

- going abroad, and attempting to speak the local language and then the locals speak English to you because of aforementioned stupid people.

[Tom]

In declining order of fluency/comprehension, English (mothertongue), Welsh (fluent), French, Latin American Spanish (used to be pretty good but is rusty), Spanish Spanish (they can understand me, I struggle to understand them).

[Jaime Andres]

Fluent Spanish, Fluent English, Rusty Portuguese, Basic Italian, Basic Quechua.
Fluent Portuñoliano :cool:

[bailar y tocar]

Pet hates:

- going abroad and loads of thick British/American people just launch into English without so much of a 'Habla ingles?'

- going abroad, and attempting to speak the local language and then the locals speak English to you because of aforementioned stupid people.

That reminds me of my futile attempt at Danish. I ordered coffee in a coffee shop in Kopenhagen and made my best effort at pronouncing the 'a' and 'e' the way Danes do. The waiter replied in a long Danish sentence in which I could not make out a single consonant. I should try 'Habla Ingles' next time.

[Ron Obvious]

That reminds me of my futile attempt at Danish. I ordered coffee in a coffee shop in Kopenhagen and made my best effort at pronouncing the 'a' and 'e' the way Danes do. The waiter replied in a long Danish sentence in which I could not make out a single consonant. I should try 'Habla Ingles' next time.

Try 'snacker du engelsk' instead, otherwise they'll reply with a long _Spanish_ sentence (maybe).

[EMOYENO]

As for me I speak perfect American English & excellent Puertorican Spanish!!!!
2 languages really.

[EMOYENO]

Personally, I think that dubbing movies is about the stupidest invention by the human kind.....
I agree with you on this!!
I live in Puerto Rico and while dubbing gives the Latin American actors jobs, it doesnt help my son learn English!!!

I learned English the hard way, watching TV without subtittles or dubbed.!!!

While in middle school I took French, it didn't really stick. In high school (back in New York), I took Spanish as a 2nd language so I could have time enough time to study biology and get good grades. My spanish teacher caught my trick (I got 100% on all the exams) and made me take advanced spanish classes, but I still got A's on my exams.

Anyway, I should've taken French back then. All I remember is Bonjour, Voila, Oui, Madame, Monsieur (spelled wrong??!!) and to count.

So I know a tiny little bit of French!!

[bolivicano]

i speak English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. the Portuguese is still gettin there, but i can read it, pronounce it, speak it, and i can get the basic structure of it. I FRIKEN LOVE LANGUAGES!