How many languages do you speak?

eamon angelface · Post by **eamon angelface** » 17 Jan 2007 03:42

Europeans derive a lot of pleasure from picking on Westerners who only speak English. They associate bilingualism and the like with intelligence; even directly proportionate.

I'm of a mind that it's a matter of conditioning in the same way all routine practices can be taught and knowing more than English isn't any sign of intelligence what so ever.

Post by **smash** » 17 Jan 2007 06:53

It isn't a sign of intelligence at all, but merely reflecting on societal factors. Europeans can travel to a foreign speaking country in the length of time which barely gets me out of my state. Additionally, english, at the moment, is the dominant language of business, domestic or worldwide. Both of these factors contribute to an 'isolationism' atmosphere in which the majority of Americans have little need, and even less exposure to speaking a foreign language.

Conversely, if you look at impoverished hispanic communities, the children are bilingual and, generally, less 'educated' than more affluent white cultures. This shows there's no correlation to 'education', but rather cultural upbringing.

To further my point, look at Angelbaby, smart as can be and she barely knows any gook words. :O

Post by **AngelBaby** » 17 Jan 2007 13:11

True story.

I no speaky ching-chong.

Post by **Seriously** » 17 Jan 2007 13:52

This question kinda hits me in a sore spot.

I only speak one, which personally makes me feel ignorant, but not stupid (at least nowadays).

They tried teaching me Spanish in high school, but not really because the classes were a joke.

I tried teaching myself German in high school, but lacked the discipline.

I tried learning Arabic in college, but I failed spectacularly at that venture.

How spectacularly? For the final for the last class I was required to take, 15 minutes after the last person who wasn't me or the professor had gone, the professor asks me to turn off the lights on the way out and leaves, not just because he knew I wouldn't cheat (although he knew that as well), but because he was pretty sure that even if I had my book and notes at my disposal it wouldn't appreciably affect the outcome.

I've never felt dumber.

Maybe I should try learning French. After failing to grasp a truly morphologically rich language a poseurly rich language such as French would probably be like unto sucking at playing the horn but then switching to alto sax.

Yes, I like this analogy: I didn't have the pure out chops for one, but I've more than enough for the other, I just have to get the keys under my fingers a.k.a. be more prepared for irregular conjugations and such, which is just memorization and not systematic or methodical.

It works! I'd never master French, like I'd never master sax, but I could get to where I could be a respectable sight-reader.

efilflah · Post by **efilflah** » 17 Jan 2007 17:34

Wales has it's own language, but with it's close ties to England, English has become the dominant language in this country.

Oddly, and sadly too I guess, I was born and raised in the Capital City of Wales and I could count the number of Welsh speakers on one hand. Welsh speakers look as foreign to the Welsh as Germans do (at least in my region).

There were only 2 fluent Welsh speakers in my school. "Welsh" class wasn't taught in the same way "English" class was (as in, it didn't handle literature as well as language)....it was taught much in the same way French and German were.

There were only 2 people in the school who took the Welsh A-Level exam, and they were fluent Welsh speakers and therefore aced it without ever going to class.

It doesn't help that the language really does sound awful, and that because of it's age and bizarre development, that every other word sounds like a child's rendering of an English one. AMBIWLANS....guess what that is.

Like Smash said, it's all about upbringing and societal factors. If I'd been raised in a Welsh speaking school I'd probably know both English and Welsh by now. Early exposure to multiple languages is no different to early exposure to anything else at a young age and it by no means makes you somehow more intelligent, just a product of a different upbringing. Actively seeking to learn new languages on one's own and succeeding in this area I think does merit some ego boosting though.

eamon angelface · Post by **eamon angelface** » 18 Jan 2007 04:15

Seriously wrote:This question kinda hits me in a sore spot.

I only speak one, which personally makes me feel ignorant, but not stupid (at least nowadays).

They tried teaching me Spanish in high school, but not really because the classes were a joke.

I tried teaching myself German in high school, but lacked the discipline.

I tried learning Arabic in college, but I failed spectacularly at that venture.

How spectacularly? For the final for the last class I was required to take, 15 minutes after the last person who wasn't me or the professor had gone, the professor asks me to turn off the lights on the way out and leaves, not just because he knew I wouldn't cheat (although he knew that as well), but because he was pretty sure that even if I had my book and notes at my disposal it wouldn't appreciably affect the outcome.

I've never felt dumber.

Maybe I should try learning French. After failing to grasp a truly morphologically rich language a poseurly rich language such as French would probably be like unto sucking at playing the horn but then switching to alto sax.

Yes, I like this analogy: I didn't have the pure out chops for one, but I've more than enough for the other, I just have to get the keys under my fingers a.k.a. be more prepared for irregular conjugations and such, which is just memorization and not systematic or methodical.

It works! I'd never master French, like I'd never master sax, but I could get to where I could be a respectable sight-reader.

Come to Canadia. They make us learn French. I've never had to use it once. Ever. I would have rather learned Chinese since there are WAY more Chiney people in Toronto than white people now. Some areas are entirely in Chinese, not just Chinatown. Sprawling suburbs of Chinese signs. Instead we get force fed Francais for the sole purpose of reading the French side of labels. Thank God, because turning the package around and reading the English side was proving to be a real pain in the ass.

I am constantly ripped on for my pro-American thinking so it only makes sense that I agree. Everyone should just suck it up and learn English.

Though American women do go gaga when you speak French to them.

Fight as hard as you can against Spanish and it's invasion of your school system. Years ago...not that many years ago actually...we were a solely English speaking country. Then someone bitched and another guy whined and now we waste billions making the whole fucking country bilingual.

Bligityblah · Post by **Bligityblah** » 18 Jan 2007 06:17

I speak three and I'm not counting the language that is talking to ATC. I've always been good at music and decent at math so it's no surprise that I had no trouble learning additional languages. My goal is seven.

JustSumDude · Post by **JustSumDude** » 18 Jan 2007 09:21

I only speak American-English, but I know a little bit of European-English slang... does that count as bi-lingual?

That's what I thought. In that case, I speak one language.

~vjay~ · Post by **~vjay~** » 18 Jan 2007 10:21

I only speak one language, they didn't make us take any extra languages at school so in Year 10 I did choose to take Italian for half a year as an elective.

I barely remember it.

Zorak · Post by **Zorak** » 18 Jan 2007 18:40

I'd only count English as my spoken language. But when I go to Chopsticks to order my crab rangoon and sweet & sour chicken I pick up plenty of Engrish.

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