Any polyglots in these here parts?

I think there are a lot of polyglots on Fluther, actually. I speak English and Russian and can somewhat understand and read basic Italian.

I seem to be a uniglot these days although I used to be fluent in French about 40 years ago. It does come back when I’m around French speakers, but I couldn’t pass for a native anymore…

I started off speaking Dutch and I’ve learned some German, French and Latin in school. I would be able to survive in these countries (even ancient rome). I had mastered the vast English language at the age of six. To quote Rammstein: “We’re all living in America!”. I can make etymological sense of most European languages and I still try to learn whatever I can in this group. I know the Japanese phonetical alphabets (is that the plural of alphabet?) and some basic phrases and words. And I know some ridiculous Japanese from animes and a band called Maximum The Hormone.

I know how to introduce myself in Russian and how to recognize it written because of a class in my second year of high school. I can understand Frisian though some Dutch people claim they can’t… I live in the south of the Netherlands for fuck sake.

I think my mother might have been sincere when she said I was good with languages…

@JilltheTooth J’ai étudié le français il y a une année… euh, J’ai oublié beaucoup.

I’ve spoken English my entire life. My parents only spoke to me in English (though my father had a slight grasp on both Spanish and German.) Foreign languages do not come easily for me. I can pronounce the words—when written in a Roman alphabet—and sound as though I know what I’m reading. But I’m a fairly slow learner.

I have studied three years of French (je peux parler un peu le français) and two years of Spanish (nada), and I know bits and pieces of German… not enough worth noting, though.

Blessed are the polyglots among us :) I have the deepest desire to speak and read multiple languages… it’s one of the few things I truly envy in others.

This question might interest you. I asked it 8 months ago and a lot of people answered, which was great!

Oh, and I speak 5 languages, English, German, Portuguese, French and Spanish :)

(raises hand)

Native speaker of Dutch, fluent in English, not-quite-fluent-but-getting-there in French, and I know a reasonable amount of German, enough to read most of it. I know the basics of Latin and I know a very little bit about ancient Greek. I knew Esperanto five years ago, and I know a small subset of the basics of Klingon.
When asked, I think I should say I speak three languages, four at most.
It’s a non-trivial question where the line should be drawn between “speaking” a language and knowing some of it.

It’s normal for Dutch people to learn advanced English and the basics of French and German in high school. I’m also a language nerd.
Brushing up on my French has become a bit of a casual obsession of mine in recent years. Besides its generally elegant feel even when you’re cussing like a sailor, I just love all its (from my Germanic point of view) quaint syntactic constructions and expressions. It’s like learning the techniques of an art form.

“C’est quoi la vie?”
“Je m’attends a ce que c’est vrai.”
“Comment fait-il pour me reconnaître?”
“Ya pas de filles sur Underfoule.”
“Il me faut du temps.”
“Je n’y arrive pas.”
“Qu’est-ce que c’est que ça?”
“J’me disais, c’est n’importe quoi quand même.”

If you’ll excuse me for using fangirl terminology: Squee.

Salam wa aleikum, meine Question Asker!

I can read German and a little Dutch now, and I know a tiny bit of Arabic (still learning…).

まだ上手じゃないんですが、日本語が話せます。

アメリカ人ですから、もちろん英語も話せて、一般な種類のスペイン語が読めます。しかし、高校の時の後、スペイン語が話せる能力は亡くなってしまいました。

@Fyrius I never really liked the Dutch language, but I didn’t like learning German or French either. When I asked why we needed to know so many languages they told me our ground is barren and we need to exploit the rest of the world. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

@absalom WHAT DOES YOUR KEYBOARD LOOK LIKE? DOES IT HAVE A MILLION KEYS?

@Zyx
I’ve come to think of Dutch as an okay language. It has its own charms.
At the very least, it’s OUR clumsy German rip-off.

@Fyrius Well I believe in pride of course. Sure, it has some good word and constructions… But our writers suck and some words just sound like we have a thousand words for poop. German I actually like less than Dutch because it lacks all the good stuff Dutch has and shares all the bad stuff.

<—Native Spanish speaker, fluent English and Italian, very rusty German.

English, Thai, French. Slowly learning Mandarin Chinese. A few words of Spanish.

Mi piace moltissimo il fatto che qui ci sono tanti parlanti d’italiano! Sto facendo il mio master nell’italianistica, e comincero’ il PhD l’anno prossimo.

Thanks for all the great answers! I love hearing that others appreciate the benefits of multilingualism :)

@Seelix In bocca al lupo!

Well, now I’m just intimidated. I’m gonna go learn a language, now. Or maybe make one up.

@JilltheTooth
Pssst. Try Esperanto, that’s easy to learn quickly.

@Fyrius ; :-)