What languages do you speak?

[Solitaire U.]

What is your native language?

English

What other languages do you speak?

Spanish

Are you fluent?

Reasonably.

Why did you learn your second language?

It was an obligatory element of living and working in a Spanish-speaking country.

How did you learn?

Six months of formal Spanish lessons to learn the basic grammatical structures, combined with forced daily 'full-immersion' speaking/conversation practice (with taxi drivers and shopkeepers mostly).

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

I would like to learn Russian. Its blunt, forceful sound intrigues me.

 

[BigApplePi]

English only, but I can do the accents of other languages as a joke al a

Spoiler

Sid Caesar.

My father was fluent in six languages and my aunt was a linguist. I grew up hating language and that is a neurosis. I gave up on getting a doctorate in grad school knowing I'd be required to know another language. In high school French class I refused to speak it. The teacher said she'd be kind and give me a "D" but said she should have flunked me.

 

[nanook]

What is your native language?

da da burp

What other languages do you speak?

1) German (mother thought me, needed help from a speaking teacher though)
2) English
3) je ne parle pas francais (just that one sentence)

Are you fluent?

I often think in english, so that counts as fluent, even though i simply don't know some of the rules ... (when speaking out loud, i'm not even all that fluent in my mother tongue)

Why did you learn your second language?

1) school
2) understanding software
3) movies + shows (better availability in english, plus synchronization is horrible)
4) research on special topics, you can't really find good sources for anything interesting in german
5) hanging out on typology boards

How did you learn?

how do i exist???

 

[Architect]

What is your native language?

English

What other languages do you speak?

C++, C#, Java, ...

Are you fluent?

Yes

Why did you learn your second language?

Career

How did you learn?

Writing code

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

Scala, other oddballs

I've also taken years of German, Latin and Greek but don't use them much.

 

[Kuu]

What is your native language?

Spanish

What other languages do you speak? Are you fluent?

English, evidently.

Fragments of:
French (1 year, found it annoying, t'was a long time ago too)
German (1 year, was too busy to continue; ex-gf is german and bunch of friends speak it, so parts still remain)
Japanese (1 year, also dropped due to time constraints, anime helps me refresh what I remember)
Swedish (Lived in for a year, but all fucking swedes speak decent english, so the full immersion experience didn't work out as expected)

Why did you learn your second language?

I was in a bilingual school since kindergarten, didn't get much of a choice.

How did you learn?

School. Cultural imperialism like music, television, videogames. The internet.

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

I think I should finish german and or swedish first, and stop this tendency of dabbling without achieving sufficient proficiency. Even if few people speak them, the scandinavian countries have the highest standards of living in the world, and Germany ain't bad either. I already know 2 of the most widely spoken languages, so I have a wide variety of places I can go to just with those. Chinese seems too fucking complicated. Russian could be interesting, but I think Portuguese might be much easier due to its closeness to spanish and Brazil is on the rise too. Korean seems interesting though.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

What is your native language?

American English

What other languages do you understand?

Some Spanish

Are you fluent?

No

Why did you learn your second language?

High school.

How did you learn?

Overhearing lessons while sleeping through class, living in California.

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

Not really interested in the others, except maybe the Russian language but as part of a larger interest in the culture. I was briefly into French but not anymore. I could probably get into Greek, though I seriously doubt I have enough interest or inspiration to learn any of these on my own.

 

[Absurdity]

What is your native language?

Californian English

What other languages do you understand?

Spanish to an extent

Are you fluent?

I was at one point when I was younger. Forgotten nearly all of it.

Why did you learn your second language?

Immigrant nanny from Mexico taught me. Spoke it with my younger brother's nanny too. Forgot all of it by the time I took Spanish in high school (which was useless btw).

How did you learn?

See above.

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

Relearning Spanish would be useful but my heart isn't in it. I might study German just for shits in my last year of college. The only reason I would really ever learn a language would be while living in a country where it was the dominant language (and it would be better if most people didn't speak English). I've tried studying French, Portuguese, Russian, and Armenian, but lost interest pretty quick. Actually, now that I think about it, I might be compelled to learn another language if I was dating someone who spoke said language. A girl I have been spending time with speaks Farsi and Turkish. Those might be fun to learn (so we can have private/inappropriate conversations in public).

 

[jachian]

1) English
2) Tringlish
3) C/C++
4) Python
5) Java
6) Prolog

 

[pjoa09]

Fluent English
little Thai (understand and speak)
little Sindhi (understand)
little Hindi (understand and speak)
very little French
little Spanish
little Python
little C++

 

[walfin]

Kind-of native: English, Chinese (including one other dialect)
Later: Esperanto
Very few words: Malay
Even fewer words: Tamil, Japanese, Korean

Why/how I learned:
English/Chinese - spoken at home, bilingual education policy in country, school
Esperanto - fun, supposed to help learn other European languages, wanted to try the Pasporta Servo
Others - not really learnt yet, although I have attended some Japanese lessons (to accompany my significant other)

I'm surprised that people can speak C++. Do you pronounce << as less-than less-than, left angle bracket left angle bracket, left shift, or output?

 

[Solitaire U.]

^ Yeah, apparently there was a bit of confusion over the meaning of the word "speak".

 

[Architect]

I'm surprised that people can speak C++. Do you pronounce << as less-than less-than, left angle bracket left angle bracket, left shift, or output?

It's pronounced "gazinta"

>> is pronounced "gazouta"

 

[Intellect]

What is your native language?

English

What other languages do you speak?

Japanese, French

Also, if we're actually counting programming languages (), I know several (C/C++, PHP, etc.)

Are you fluent?

Moderately fluent in French, still at an elementary level in Japanese.

Why did you learn your second language?

Spent ~5 years studying French in school.

As for Japanese: It's a language I've always been interested in and finally started teaching myself after my first trip to Japan last year.

How did you learn?

French: school
Japanese: self-taught, I have several textbooks and practice daily.

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

I love learning languages, so I'd be open to just about anything. Korean is probably next on my list, though.

Also, for any passionate language learners, I highly recommend Anki. It's a flashcard program, but it's very flexible and uses spaced repetition which I've found to be very helpful.

 

[Cheeseumpuffs]

What is your native language?

English

What other languages do you speak?

German
Minuscule amounts of Spanish and Russian

Are you fluent?

Not really, no. Definitely not for Spanish or Russian, but I could probably hold a simple conversation in German.

Why did you learn your second language?

Foreign Language credits are required at my school so I chose German over Spanish or French. I'v picked up some phrases of Spanish just because people seem to love mixing up what they're saying with the occasional bueno and such. And I started teaching myself Russian because I think it's a really cool language.

How did you learn?

Three years of High School German. Random elements of Spanish in normal conversation. Rosetta Stone for Russian.

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

Russian's really the only one I'm interested in. Chinese and/or Japanese wouldn't be too unwelcome, I guess.

 

[DarkRoom]

I used to be almost fluent in Spanish as I lived there for a year but that was a long time ago and I've forgotten most of it.

 

[Etheri]

What is your native language?

Dutch

What other languages do you speak?

English, french, german, (java? )

Are you fluent?

In english, I would say so yes. In french, german and java, not so much, but I should be capable of reading and understanding most.

Why did you learn your second language?

Obligatory classes at school, necessity to communicate (internet), because I can?

How did you learn?

9 years of obligatory french classes at school... It didn't get me all that far, but I was lazy and didn't like it much either.
English on the internet, reading english books, autodidactism and native speakers correcting me, 5 years of obligatory english classes, tho I feel like I was ahead of them pretty much the entire time, serveral trips to England (and other countries where I had to speak english due to not knowing their native language) on my own...
4 years of obligatory german classes...
Also did 2 years of latin, herpderp.

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

Perhaps i'll get good at german one day, as it's rather useful in the chem. industry... I'm not that much of a language person tho

 

[individuo]

What is your native language?

Portuguese


What other languages do you speak?

English, French, Spanish, a little bit of Catalan

Are you fluent?

Yes.


Why did you learn your second language?

English - No need to comment.

French - I was living in Switzerland, so...

Spanish - Ridiculously easy for a Portuguese speaker, comes naturally


How did you learn?

English - at school from the age of 10, then Cambridge ESOL CAE certificate at the age of 17, then Engineering degree at foreign university and, of course, a massive amount of books and Internet

French - lived and studied in Switzerland

Spanish - lots of Spanish friends and Spanish-speaking girlfriend


What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

German, Arabic, Japanese because I find all of them challenging and potentially useful.

Catalan, Basque, Italian, because Catalan and Italian are just too similar to languages I speak already to miss the opportunity

 

[catatonic]

What is your native language?

Indonesia


What other languages do you speak?

English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Dutch, Malay, and some local languages in Indonesia.


Are you fluent?

So so.


Why did you learn your second language?

I'm bored.


How did you learn?

Autodidact, but I took classes for Chinese and Japanese.


What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

I would like to learn Russian too. I always want to get a Slavian bf.

 

[SLushhYYY]

What is your native language?

English.

What other languages do you speak?

Polish, English and C++


Are you fluent?

Yes, I only chose those that are fluent


Why did you learn your second language?

Polish heritage and school.


How did you learn?

Grew up listening to it. Read a book.


What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

Im content with my knowledge of languages.

 

[Solitaire U.]

Polish...intriguing. It's apparently a very difficult language to learn:

http://mylanguages.org/difficult_languages.php

 

[Dr. Freeman]

English and German.

 

[Yet]

What is your native language?

Hungarian

What other languages do you speak?

Dutch (better than Hungarian)
English (better than Hungarian)
German
French
bit of Spanish


Are you fluent?

Hungarian, Dutch, English --> yes
German and French --> kind of ... have to think about finding words and constructions though
Spanish --> not fluent. Bits and pieces


Why did you learn your second language?

We moved out of Hungary to the Netherlands & I have got an Irish partner. So at home english and dutch are the main languages. With my mum and relatives Hungarian.

German --> we lived there for a year. + learned it at high school + like to read in German as well.
French --> highschool & I like to read in French as well/

How did you learn?

Hungarian I was born into.
Dutch just came to me. I was 6
The other languages are based in high school and bettered in use.

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

I would like to get into Spanish further.
Pick up old-greek where I left it, just like Latin.
I did a bit of Russian, would like to pick that up again. (made a little start ages ago)

Why? --> because I could and I kind of like languages

 

[SLushhYYY]

Polish...intriguing. It's apparently a very difficult language to learn:

http://mylanguages.org/difficult_languages.php

Interesting.
I learned it though the first 5 years of my life so its natural to me now.

 

[Bucca]

English and Pig-Latin.

I know some Greek, as I am half Greek, malakas. I also know a bit of Spanish.

 

[rachilde]

What is your native language?
Mandarin

What other languages do you speak?
English

Are you fluent?
Highly.

Why did you learn your second language?
Immigration.

How did you learn?
Life in American society.

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?
Japanese, Korean, Cantonese. To increase my ability to provide legal services to East Asians.

 

[Jedi]

I speak American

 

[themirror]

What is your native language?
English

What other languages do you speak?
Spanish, Java, Python, C, Haskell, bash

Are you fluent?
Spanish: No, but if I find the time to brush up on my vocabularly (a lot), I could be.
Java, Python, C, bash: Yes
Haskell: Took a graduate course on this, but still can't program my way out of a box (not presently trying)

Why did you learn your second language?
School, my linux immersion

How did you learn?
Countless assignments, making my own utilities and games

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?
German: I was taught some rudimentary words and phrases in elementary school through special ed and would like to read Nietzche in his native language.
D: I like python for its expressiveness, but I need compile-time type safety for sane scalability and something with more accomodation for functional and concurrent paradigms.

EDIT: I also know R. I love R. Not fluent yet, but very quickly getting there.

 

[jachian]

English and Pig-Latin.

I know some Greek, as I am half Greek, malakas. I also know a bit of Spanish.

Pig-Latin?!........... what's that?

 

[kvothe27]

1. English
2. C++
3. Java
4. PHP
5. Postscript
6. Scheme
7. Prolog

And, of course, my favorite -- gibberish

ba ja redolada dedodod dblala ds shama niccccceeeeeeka rorrrrttt

dolorjar?

 

[eagor]

What is your native language?

english

What other languages do you speak?

latin and german

Are you fluent?

yes

Why did you learn your second language?

why not

How did you learn?

i learned latin through reading and german from my grandfather

What other languages would you like to learn, and why?

...i heard there is a standardized dwarven language, but other than that maybe sign.