Expats & Languages

I voted 3  ... who will be our champion? I knew few guys in London who were able to speak minimum 5 languages

I voted 3 (english, italian and swedish apart from french which is my mother tongue)  but I can't say I'm fluent in swedish yet but still.... this is the one I speak the most nowadays...

Hum, I don't know.  I speak english and norwegian (and french of course).
But I read and understand swedish and danish but I never speak swedish and danish because I speak norwegian.
I'm not sure I make myself clear : If you speak norwegian to a swedish for exemple, he will understand and answer in swedish.

That's why I'm not sure if I count 2 or 4.

Not so simple poll !

I voted three (French German Polish) although the last time I tried to speak German Polish words kept coming out which is very annoying.

I speak two (french and english).
I can speak german , but having a real conversation is hard.

Aurélie,

Why the world so cruel with me ?

2 would do the trick, since they're not very different languages

Or else all the swedish, norvegian and danish people around will have a clear head start...

I speak my mother tongue : french .... congratulations to me

Then I speak english, start to speak italian, and I am able to speak some words of german...
So that means 2 (=1+0.5+0.5)

Nope, sorry loloieg, no half points. What if you could speak some tagalog too ? 2,5 ?

But 2 is ok, keep the italian and drop the german

ok so I speak 2 foreign languages

i voted for 4...as I am swedish and french..(thanks mum and dad speaking me both languages....!!), I learned english as I lived in Sweden and Spanish (thanks to my boyfreidn!!)...Trying to learn some more german, i´m only speaking the basic things...so I didn´t want to vote for this language!!!

Mandy,

4 languages! Congratulations, so far you are our champion !

But between swedish and french, which one is your mother tongue (you know, the one that doesn't count as a foreign language... ) ?

Hmm......very good question!!!I have absolutly no clue what to answer to that really..I would say both. Yes, we´ll say that my mother tongue is swedish and french and my only foreign language spanish...and how should i classify the english?..hmmm...a thing to think about the whole day...arghh

English and German.
In East Africa I could speak some Kiswahili but that is 35 yrs. ago and I think it has all gone now.

I can manage English, Yorkshire, quite a lot of Indonesian, a little Mandarin (but I'm rusty) and bahasa gila.
In Malaysia, I met several people able to use 6 or more languages.
One young girl, just 18 years old, could manage 4 Chinese languages, Malay, English and Thai.
If you're brought up with it, it's easy.

Who resurrected this thread from 2005?!?

I voted for 4 , I can speak Hindi as my mother tongue , English Mandarin and I can manage Urdu language.

I voted 3, I speak English (my native language), French (Canada's second official language) and Portuguese (Brazil's official language) since I live here now.

Don't know about EB's language champion, but I have a cousin in Canada who reads, writes, speaks and teaches twenty-six (26) different languages - some that I've never even heard of before!!! He has a Doctor of Languages and teaches at the University of Toronto.

I must admit, he's got to be the most boring person in the whole family (if not on the face of the earth) because he's always got his nose buried in a book. When he does say something to us we usually ask him to speak Urdu or Kiswahili, which none of us understand... easier to ignore him that way. 

The poll asks about "foreign" languages so I assume one's native language doesn't count?

ECS wrote:

The poll asks about "foreign" languages so I assume one's native language doesn't count?

Oh no - then my daughter speaks NO foreign language, only three native ones (English, German, Chinese) ...

ECS wrote:

The poll asks about "foreign" languages so I assume one's native language doesn't count?

Yes, you are right!
That does put a different complexion on the question. I admit I only answered 'How many languages I speak'.
If one becomes a citizen and lives in another country which language is 'foreign'? The language of where you are or where you were born? (Doesn't count for me because both are German now that I'm in Switzerland.)
And what is 'native language'?? Is that the language of your parents? ...that is where you were born? (The root meaning of 'native' is born.)

Apart from English,  the Oz and Kiwi versions of it, I learnt a smattering of New Guinea Pidgin and Motu, Khmer, Lao Thai, Indonesian and Swahili.

Two: English and Dutch 

Three: English,french and Portuguese.............

mas fred wrote:

If you're brought up with it, it's easy.

This is very true.  The languages I learnt as a child were second nature.  I have far less confidence with the languages I learnt as an adult.

I learned and brought up in Hindi Language but after that i learnt 5 other regional languages of India........

haha is there one on here about how many languages your children speak because you're an expat? :p

....this poll is almost 9 years old,and peeps are still buzzing around .

It happens only in EB......................hahahaha.................

aryavrat wrote:

It happens only in EB......................hahahaha.................

haha..indeed  ..i am pretty much sure the OP has left the site long ago .

How does one start a poll anyway?

Got some idea and want to know more about that as well as sampling theory for that particular theory makes a poll vision and like this it starts..................

Eventhough this is 9 yrs old, I am going to brag here

I voted 6 lingos.

MiaCulpa wrote:

How does one start a poll anyway?

I too would like to know. Not that i will put up regular polls, but more from an academic point of view.

Djzubaid wrote:

aryavrat wrote:

It happens only in EB......................hahahaha.................

haha..indeed  ..i am pretty much sure the OP has left the site long ago .

Maybe we should track down the OP and get him/her back. Reviving a 9 year old thread should be reason enough for them to get back.

Sure why not, but instead of this hasel .why not just ask the admins , on how to create polls 

PS There's a special forum for asking admin. questions. 

Help us improve the website

My native language is Sinhalese. (I bet no one out of Sri Lanka, can speak it)
So I can speak only one foreign language-English
Thread is old, But my vote in 2005 the same.  I am not improved in language studies... may be friends can help me someday...

El_Jost wrote:

PS There's a special forum for asking admin. questions. 

Help us improve the website

Yup i know it ,i was just pointing him out .

mal wrote:

My native language is Sinhalese. (I bet no one out of Sri Lanka, can speak it)
So I can speak only one foreign language-English
Thread is old, But my vote in 2005 the same.  I am not improved in language studies... may be friends can help me someday...

Atleast i can teach you french and hindi............