How many languages you can speak??
By de_angel97
@de_angel97 (549)
Malaysia
September 5, 2009 1:31am CST
The other day i read from a newspaper, something about my lecturer, he is appointed for something 'big', so they list out his qualification. One thing that impressed me so much is he can speak in five different languages fluently, Chinese, English, Malay, French, German.
I live in a multi-race country, I'm Chinese mix, so I can speak fluently in my national language which is Malay, Chinese has many dialects, I only speak Hakka(99%), Cantonese(85%), Mandarin(50%), and English(75%). I can say 'arigato gozaimas, sayonara, ohayo, itadakimas', or 'kamshamida','or 'gracias, muy bien', or 'bonjour', but it didn't count that i can speak those language right?lol. I'm interested in Spanish so much.. I think English with Spanish slang is sexy =)
What is your mother tongue? How many languages you can speak (I mean fluently)? Do you interested in other foreign language? Please share.
6 people like this
62 responses
@koalapenguin (2707)
• Philippines
5 Sep 09
I am also a Chinese mix. Nice to meet someone like me.
But i am a Filipino also. I can only understand a bit of Chinese (Mandarin and Fookien) but not a 100%. It's just around 35%. 
My mother tongue is Tagalog. Our language has a bit of Spanish because we are influenced by that country long time ago. So i can understand a bit of Spanish language like the numbers (uno, dos, tres, quatro, sinco, sais, etc.) I am interested in learning French cause it's cute to hear i also would want to learn the Japanese and Korean Language. 
But i am a Filipino also. I can only understand a bit of Chinese (Mandarin and Fookien) but not a 100%. It's just around 35%. My mother tongue is Tagalog. Our language has a bit of Spanish because we are influenced by that country long time ago. So i can understand a bit of Spanish language like the numbers (uno, dos, tres, quatro, sinco, sais, etc.) I am interested in learning French cause it's cute to hear i also would want to learn the Japanese and Korean Language. @de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
5 Sep 09
Hi, nice to meet you, I'm going to add you as friend later :) You're Chinese mix Filipino, i can guess you must be very pretty. I like Tagalog too and watch some Tagalog movie before, but of course with subtitles =)
2 people like this
@koalapenguin (2707)
• Philippines
5 Sep 09
Well i am quite different from the regular Filipinos because i have a whiter skin and chinkier eyes. 
What movie did you watch then? Filipinos are good movie makers when it comes to drama and comedy. But doesn't really do good on horror and action films. I hope you could share with me the title of the movie you have watched. 
What movie did you watch then? Filipinos are good movie makers when it comes to drama and comedy. But doesn't really do good on horror and action films. I hope you could share with me the title of the movie you have watched. 1 person likes this
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
5 Sep 09
I don't really remember the title because it is very long. I remember a drama with a title 'Phoenix', i like that want. Another one is Pangako Sayo, the story line is just so so for me, but I like the soundtrack so much, until now. My friend said i look like the heroin inside, i think they are referring to my butt.lol. Damn them.
2 people like this
@agv0419 (3022)
• Philippines
5 Sep 09
I'm Filipino I only know Tagalog, English and one dialect Ilonggo. It's nice to hear that you like our Tagalog drama. Filipinos are multilingual because of mix of races. I also want to learn Korean or Spanish because right now I like the music and soap operas of them. I want to understand their language without translation.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
5 Sep 09
Hi marctiu, wow you can speak four dialects in Philippines? Great! i think it is hard for me to understand people dialects, if it is not really close to my language. I have a lot of friends that speak Hokkien (Hokkien and Fookien is same is it? we have Foochow here also), but i totally have no idea what they talk about. It sounds like Thai language for me. They like to chat among themselves in Hokkien, and mention my name in their conversation, because they know i don't even understand a little, and I'll be puzzled :(
@dondonbrij (6)
• Saudi Arabia
6 Sep 09
i speak english and 2 major philippine dialects (iloco and tagalog). articulate oral and written spanish.
@23uday (2997)
• India
5 Sep 09
HI friend,
I am from india my mother tongue is telugu.I can speak a telugu and i can write a
telugu language.I can speak other languages like hindi,english and tamil(40%) i can
speak.I am fluency in languages like telugu,hindi and english.
I will read newspapers of i know languages.
have a great day.
1 person likes this
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
5 Sep 09
hi friend, i have friends speak telugu too. yea India also has a lot of different dialects. I like to watch Hindi movie, i still remember during my school day, the Hindi movie will be on air at 2pm every Friday evening. I will be so disappointed if that semester, my class is in the evening.
1 person likes this
@kmkmurli (12)
• India
6 Sep 09
It is very interesting discussing about languages because, it is my favorite discussion as I love learning new languages. My mother tongue is Telugu but we speak in Tamil at home. I know Tamil(50%), I can read and write all the four languages English, Hindi,Telugu and Tamil. In my view I feel that You feel very confident if you can speak different languages. I can learn some more languages if I get time. I do read Newspapers and books of the languages known to me. After reading my discussion you might have understood that I am Indian. I watch other language movies in TV so that I can learn at least a little bit of that language. I feel by hearing we learn fast. Have a great day.
@marguicha (223776)
• Chile
5 Sep 09
My native language is Spanish as I live in Chile. But I can speak fairly fluently English (with an accent) and I can read fluently in French and Portuguese. I suppose I could try to read Italian. I don´t know. As for French, I´ve been in France and have been able to learn my way to survive and ask for the food I want..
I would love to learn chinese but I´m sure it´s too difficult for me.
) and I can read fluently in French and Portuguese. I suppose I could try to read Italian. I don´t know. As for French, I´ve been in France and have been able to learn my way to survive and ask for the food I want..
I would love to learn chinese but I´m sure it´s too difficult for me.@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
5 Sep 09
Hi marguicha, i like you, you can speak my favorite language :) , and English with Spanish accent too. I think you won't have any trouble traveling in western. I love french too, but i think that language will be too difficult for me. I'm not sure whether i can ask for food in France. Even with my mandarin, i don't think i can ask for food in China at the first attempt. I think I only can really survive in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223776)
• Chile
5 Sep 09
We are fortunate that we have a common language that we both understand. Language is one of the many barriers that people have to discover we are all about the same
1 person likes this
@dolmitta (221)
• India
5 Sep 09
Hi Mylotters!
My mother tongue is Tamil. I know to read and write Tamil, English. I can identify and read Hindi alphabets but can't understand... :(
So i'm fluent with Tamil and English. I know many of my friends who can speak close to 5 languages... :)
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
5 Sep 09
Hi there, thanks for responding here. I can notice most of us can speak at least 2 different languages. Have a nice day..
@aicasalinks (303)
• Philippines
5 Sep 09
This is an interesting topic. We are blessed to be capable of communication despite our differences in languages and countries we live in. With the use of the international language which is English, we are able to interact with each other, share ideas and thoughts and socialize. I am from the Philippines so I am fluent in the Filipino language aside from english. Also, I am from the northern part of the Philippines which has its own local dialect called Iloko. All in all, I can speak fluently in three languages.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
5 Sep 09
yea, you are correct, without English, we won't be here in myLot and talking to each other.lol
1 person likes this
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
Hi friend, thanks for responding here. I speak Asian English, we have some Filipino here, i think their pronunciation and slang is better than us. I think maybe it is the Spanish influence.
1 person likes this
@earthsong (589)
• United States
6 Sep 09
I can only speak English fluently, but I can speak bits and pieces of French, German and Polish. If I were in any of those countries I could probably muddle along, make a fool of myself and find the bathroom LOL
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
6 Sep 09
Same with me, i understand 50% Mandarin, and speak bit and pieces of Mandarin. wondering whether my Mandarin can successfully asking for food in China or not.
@earthsong (589)
• United States
6 Sep 09
I think I could successfully ask for some basic food in each language, but there is no way I could carry a conversation.
@mariposaman (2959)
• Canada
6 Sep 09
I can only speak one language, English but I speak that well and fluently. I am interested in learning French which I know a few words and a little bit of grammar but I do not pursue it hard enough. Maybe when I win the lottery and I have a bit more time I will learn to read and write French much better than I do now.
Many Europeans and many Asians speak several languages and think nothing of it. North American are strange in that they are almost invariably unilingual.
@mariposaman (2959)
• Canada
7 Sep 09
I live in Canada which has two official languages English and French but I am mostly exposed to French just on television.
In the United States they have no official language but unofficially it is English. However there are millions of Mexicans both legal immigrants and illegal immigrants that are in the country and whose first language is Spanish. However most Americans refuse to learn Spanish as a matter of some sort of principle as in not learning their language will make all the Hispanics go home.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
yep, i notice too, there are a lot Brazilian in America, and they have Chinatown town too. I wish the Brazilian immigrant are here, i will become their very good friend, so that i can learns Spanish from them =)
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
6 Sep 09
Asia here have a lot of different races and cultures, so there is a big opportunity to learn other languages. And English is widely used around the world, so mostly people that go to school got the chance to learn English. Same goes with the European, they also have a lot of chance to learn other languages too, I don't really know the geography of Europe, but i can see France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, are very close to each other. For the American, it's very hard to say, English is their mother tongue, above them is Canada, below them is Mexico, maybe the chance to meet someone that speaks in other languages not as big as those that stay in Asia or Europe. I don't know, I never been there =)
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
Hi friend, do you interested in learning other foreign languages? I only speak three languages. Have a nice day and happy mylotting to you
@andy77e (5156)
• United States
7 Sep 09
I can almost speak English, and almost fluent. Otherwise, I have to simply make funny faces, odors, noises and use body language to communicate. Generally if I stair at you, and smile brightly, with a little wiggle in my step, that means "You look good". I haven't figured out any other statements yet, but I do know what a slap means.
:)
@andy77e (5156)
• United States
7 Sep 09
I'm sorry hon. That was a bit of humor. I was attempting to be funny. I meant that I can only speak English. I wish I could speak Spanish, since we have many people from Mexico and other Latin American places. But sadly I never could master any other language. Sad huh?
It would be neat to speak an Asian language, but since I can't get Spanish, I doubt I could figure out Mandrin or some other. I wager that is much more difficult to learn.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
Hi andy, yep, me too, trying to improve my English, especially in speaking. But I'm not sure how you can simply make 'odors' as to communicate. Mind to tell me further?
Have a nice day :)
@sunny68 (1327)
• India
5 Sep 09
besides Hindi, which is my native language, i know English, Persian and Punjabi. In oral communication Punjabi is quite similar to Hindi so it is easy to pick up (that is if you know Hindi) but the text is quite different which i am not quite comfortable with. remaining languages i am fluent.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
6 Sep 09
Do you understand Tamil? there are a lot of Hindi and Tamil movie in my country. I can tell the difference between these two languages. Can you pick up the Tamil? Anyway, thanks for responding.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
Nope, tamil and hindi sounds very different for me. A lot of people here speak Tamil, the Hindi speak by Sharukh Khan right?
@g_vickie84 (576)
• Belgium
6 Sep 09
I am from India and I can speak 2 Indian languages, Punjabi and Hindi. Punjabi is my mother tongue. Other that these two the only other language that I know is English. But I am trying to learn Tamil and French nowadays.
@g_vickie84 (576)
• Belgium
6 Sep 09
So you like Hindi movies. Good. I see Hindi movies are popular outside India also.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
yep, i like those Hindi movie about police and law. there is one Hindi movie (or maybe Tamil) entitled 'Indian'. It is about corruption in India. I like that movie very much. I don't really like those Hindi or Tamil movie about love or scandal, most of the time you can predict the ending 'accurately'.lol. There is another love story I LOVE, Mohabattein (not sure with the spelling), that is the only Hindi movie i ever bought. I like all the songs and dancing very much, and the storyline is just great!! and the recent one, slum dog billionaire, this one is very interesting :)
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
6 Sep 09
Hi, thanks for responding here. I watch Hindi movie since i was small, but i can't understand a single word. They speak too fast, i can't isolate word by word. I think i know one Tamil word 'vanakam', the news reader always say this at the end of the news :)
@underdogy (700)
• Thailand
5 Sep 09
Does anyone here who can no longer speak the language he/she grew up with? I think that is impossible because it ain't easy to forget. Anyhow, I can speak 99% Tagalog, not the whole 100% because there are some words that are too deep to understand. I can somehow understand some Spanish words because of colonization but cannot converse with them, just like the other Filipina who is mixed Chinese that you said probably pretty lol. Currently I am here in Thailand and i speak their language a bit. I can carry a conversation but would require stitches of the nose due to nosebleed if they speak fast lol. I can say about 40%-50% is the percentage of my Thai language. Those multi-lingual are the people I envy. Can I have you as referral? Teach me yours and I'll teach you mine hehe.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
As you said it is impossible, but frankly my mother tongue is Hakka (one of the Chinese dialects), I left the house when I was 16, since then my Hakka getting worst and worst because I didn't speak Hakka with other people here. Some of the terms i really totally forget, sigh..
you definitely can have me as your referral =)
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
Haha.. my mandarin is just so so (in mandarin we called it 'ma ma hu hu'). The only language that I'm confident to teach is malay, as i learn it formally from school. =)
@jross19871 (239)
• United States
6 Sep 09
I can speak English...that is it. I took French in high school and still remember a bit, but I would not be able to have a full out conversation with someone in French. I also took one semester of Latin in college. You do not speak Latin, you read it. Like my French skills, I do not remember much Latin so would have a hard time understand text. I wish I knew more languages since it is a valuable skill to have.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
6 Sep 09
Yea, languages always a great skill to have. i just wish when I'm going for an interview, and the interviewer ask me 'what is your skills?', then I can proudly say that I speak 5 different languages fluently.. sigh.. i just wish..
@jross19871 (239)
• United States
6 Sep 09
It would be really good if you were interviewing for a company that was foreign and was in multiple countries and you spoke a few of those languages.
@sweetgirl_k1 (3972)
• United States
8 Sep 09
I can only speak English fluently. I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and I can speak some Spanish but not enough to carry on a conversation with someone. I would like to take more classes where I can learn more languages. It's good to know how to speak more than one language.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
9 Sep 09
Hi sweetgirl, 2 years of learning a new language in school might not really help us to speak fluently, as we only attend the class several times a week. Unless if we are staying in a spanish speaking country for 1 or 2 years, i think it can enhance our proficiency better:)
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
Surely you can. It is really depends on our determination.
have a nice day..
@visaseetharaman (232)
•
7 Sep 09
I live in India which has umpteen languages.My mother tongue is Telugu which I can speak fluently though I am not versed in the script writing or reading.The colloquial language of my state is Tamil which I can speak read and write .The medium of my studies was English .It goes without saying how well versed I am in English.Hindi was my second language .that also goes without saying how fluent I am in hindi.French and sanskrit also I learnt but I cannot speak as such in those two languages.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
hi visaseetharaman, the medium of your study is English? I thought it is Hindi or Tamil in India? The medium in my country here is our national language which is Bahasa Malaysia (Bahasa means 'language'), except for Mathematics and Science, they will teach in english. But during my time, 7 years back, the medium is fully Bahasa Malaysia. But during my mother's time, the medium was fully English. The educational system here always change. I definitely agree that Mathematics and Science should be in English, because the translation just made everything worst and confusing.
@veejay19 (3589)
• India
7 Sep 09
I live in India and my mother tongue is Konkani which is a dialect, which means that it has no script. Besides it i can speak English ,the language in which i was educated. I also speak three regional languages, Hindi which is the national language of our country, Marathi which is the language of the state of Maharashtra where the city of Mumbai where i live is situated and Gujarati which is the language of our neighbouring state of Gujarat. So in all i speak 5 languages. when i was schooling i learnt French which was the language subject. However i have forgotten it since i did not follow up with it.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
Hi, veejay.. Language is something that we have to practice. My mother tongue getting worst as I don't really practice it anymore nowadays. Same goes with your French.
@hdjohnson (2981)
• United States
6 Sep 09
I speak English fluently.
I read English fluently.
I speak Spanish a little.
I read Spanish a little.
I sign language a little
I read language a little.
I spoke Latin in high school a little.
I read Latin in high school a little.
I don't remember much else about Latin from high school, except a few words.
Ironically Latin and Spanish are very similar languages, believe it or not.
In middle school we used to say the pledge of allegiance in Spanish and I still remember how to say it in Spanish today, as an adult. I think that is pretty neat.
My wife speaks English and French fluently though. She learned French in college, and it has stuck with her today.
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
7 Sep 09
There is one thing i'm not very sure, i thought latin is same with spanish. Can you tell me furtehr the difference? Is it referring to the very same language?
Thanks for sharing here and have a nice day
@arun2freelancer (23)
• India
5 Sep 09
I can Speak well with English, Tamil and other than this i can speak lit bit with Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi as well Bengali, Kannada i know few words to speak in them...
i am interested in learn more languages like Japanese, Spanish etc
@de_angel97 (549)
• Malaysia
6 Sep 09
Thanks for sharing. You know quite a lot of your local dialects :). Great!!
@arun2freelancer (23)
• India
6 Sep 09
yaaaa..i love to be speaking all languages..many are there who knows more than 15 languages..wow i just admire them..
