General Discussion

BlueCaliDem

(15,438 posts)

268. Thanks, adirondacker. Your friend isn't too shabby, either!

Tue Feb 11, 2014, 02:13 PM

Feb 2014

He speaks five languages and that's pretty durn amazing!

The strange thing is, my Dutch husband, who speaks English like a Bostonian and is pretty fluent in German, has zero problem with Germans when they speak with him. He has had many clients who are 100% German, and he'd talk German with them for about ten minutes before he finally tells them that he's actually Dutch. lol He gets a kick out of how surprised they are when he tells them that.

I flunked German in Dutch high school. I used to be pretty fluent in French, though. To this day, both my brother and younger sister can speak French fluently. They can't write it anymore, though. I get a kick when he comes to the States on vacation and they babble in French with one another - usually to talk about me.

Dank u wel
Groetjes

Alsjeblieft en groetjes terug!

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Over 90% of Germans speak English. What foreign language do you speak? [View all] JDPriestly Feb 2014 OP

My native language is Estonian LiberalEsto Feb 2014 #1

German (I was born and lived there) gopiscrap Feb 2014 #2

Isn't speaking different languages fun? And you sure do! JDPriestly Feb 2014 #71

So do they really speak that much English? hfojvt Feb 2014 #110

Depends. Maybe it's an age thing? historylovr Feb 2014 #153

when I left Germany most of my cousins could speak speak pretty good English gopiscrap Feb 2014 #203

It's still pretty different between east and west Germany. wickerwoman Feb 2014 #172

I agree. They speak English like most Americans speak Spanish. MADem Feb 2014 #188

A lot of Germans speak really good English. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #206

Well, I haven't been to Germany in many years, nearly twenty. MADem Feb 2014 #209

Someone found another source that gave a much lower figure. I was surprised at 90% JDPriestly Feb 2014 #219

I think the whole world knows "a little English!" MADem Feb 2014 #230

Germany is a pretty big country, so German is the default option eridani Feb 2014 #221

nobody seemed to initiate conversations with me hfojvt Feb 2014 #224

That's because the signs are too small to fit "Halten Sie an!" n/t DFW Feb 2014 #234

Spanish nt oldhippie Feb 2014 #3

Also�. Tikki Feb 2014 #55

Hablo espa�ol tambi�n. phylny Feb 2014 #286

French Earth_First Feb 2014 #4

Me too Aerows Feb 2014 #74

French, read it better than speak it, go figure..LOL.. monmouth3 Feb 2014 #5

German alcibiades_mystery Feb 2014 #6

Spanish and Thai. eom DonViejo Feb 2014 #7

Show off! Le Taz Hot Feb 2014 #9

LOL. Sorry 'bout that... DonViejo Feb 2014 #14

You'd think living in California all my life Le Taz Hot Feb 2014 #17

Spanish was the first language that I learned, and I have been living in a mostly Spanish-speaking JDPriestly Feb 2014 #73

I'm a speech-language pathologist working in early intervention. phylny Feb 2014 #287

You are doing well, when my fatigue level goes up I can't even speak. Downwinder Feb 2014 #41

Oh, I have times like that too... DonViejo Feb 2014 #43

My temporary registers disappear. Downwinder Feb 2014 #49

Street and academia. Le Taz Hot Feb 2014 #8

French, Spanish and Italian. CurtEastPoint Feb 2014 #10

Someone who speaks three or more languages is called "multi-lingual" ... Scuba Feb 2014 #11

Good joke. But I am happy to see how many DUers know a foreign language. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #75

I use Google Translatoro itsrobert Feb 2014 #176

Sarcasm. Neoma Feb 2014 #12

A little German FarCenter Feb 2014 #13

Yes. That English is so widely spoken is almost a handicap for Americans trying to learn another JDPriestly Feb 2014 #79

Chinese grammar is actually pretty easy Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #171

I agree on the Chinese grammar being easier, but ..... oldhippie Feb 2014 #252

I would love to learn Italian. I just simply do not have the time. HughBeaumont Feb 2014 #15

Time is the big problem. You could try listening to opera and other Italian music. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #85

Oops, sorry, replied in the wrong place muriel_volestrangler Feb 2014 #134

I think you are right. Manifestor_of_Light Feb 2014 #166

Spanish nt newfie11 Feb 2014 #16

Been trying to teach myself Japanese LostOne4Ever Feb 2014 #18

Wow! Tough language to learn. That is quite amazing. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #86

I know LostOne4Ever Feb 2014 #251

I find speaking actually harder than reading and writing Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #93

I hope to be able to speak, read, write, and understand Japanese when Im done LostOne4Ever Feb 2014 #250

If you are trying to learn Kanji, may I suggest this book? Art_from_Ark Feb 2014 #225

Awesome! LostOne4Ever Feb 2014 #249

That's pretty cool Art_from_Ark Feb 2014 #260

French and German... Lost_Count Feb 2014 #19

She is amazing. I think that when children learn a second language when they are fairly JDPriestly Feb 2014 #88

Spanish, some German and Hebrew. hughee99 Feb 2014 #20

Brooklyn Boom Sound 416 Feb 2014 #21

A language unto itself for sure. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #94

I can 'sign" a bit in Brooklynese. Does that count? NFT. TheOther95Percent Feb 2014 #119

Are you kidding Boom Sound 416 Feb 2014 #146

My wife speaks English and Spanish hunter Feb 2014 #22

Me too! JDPriestly Feb 2014 #101

"Monolingualism can be cured" Cairycat Feb 2014 #23

I grew up in Iowa and was never offered a second language liberal N proud Feb 2014 #45

But you know a lot about other things. The hole in my education was science. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #208

Actually, I'm surprised at how many DUers speak another language. I did not realize that. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #207

Very, very true, Cairycat. Surya Gayatri Feb 2014 #243

None. (or one - American English) kentauros Feb 2014 #24

German. LeftyMom Feb 2014 #25

Strine marions ghost Feb 2014 #26

g'day mate! treestar Feb 2014 #95

g'day marions ghost Feb 2014 #105

Struth? HeiressofBickworth Feb 2014 #193

French. nt laundry_queen Feb 2014 #27

southern but not fluently bowens43 Feb 2014 #28

Fluent in Russian, French and German; basic comprehension in reading Spanish, can get by in spoken Brickbat Feb 2014 #29

Russian, French, & Spanish. But I can get by with some Italian as well. JaneyVee Feb 2014 #30

Philly. JoePhilly Feb 2014 #31

That's a hard one, I've heard. nt Common Sense Party Feb 2014 #38

Took me years to master. JoePhilly Feb 2014 #47

Isn't the Brooklynese? Historic NY Feb 2014 #121

Love the video. I wonder whether she also has one for Southern accents. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #210

I believe she does... Historic NY Feb 2014 #213

my mother and her family are from there treestar Feb 2014 #285

The hardest language I ever came in contact with gopiscrap Feb 2014 #204

when I was TDY in Philly Skittles Feb 2014 #227

Catalan, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, German, Schwyzerd��tsch, French, Italian, Spanish DFW Feb 2014 #32

Impressive list treestar Feb 2014 #97

Otherwise known as "Swiss German" DFW Feb 2014 #187

He lives in Europe. Beacool Feb 2014 #254

Catalan impresses me treestar Feb 2014 #255

Actually, they consider it to be their native language. Beacool Feb 2014 #258

Are they highly similar? treestar Feb 2014 #262

I'm not sure. Beacool Feb 2014 #267

It's a mouthful just saying the names of all the languages you speak. Quite an accomplishment. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #103

Occupational hazard DFW Feb 2014 #186

French. nt el_bryanto Feb 2014 #33

This topic would have been better served as a poll... Lost_Count Feb 2014 #34

Actually, I am interested in knowing which foreign languages people speak. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #104

German ... Lost_Count Feb 2014 #137

I hadn't paid my annual membership yet and couldn't start a poll. That was my intention. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #168

Arabic and French. NuclearDem Feb 2014 #35

Espa�ol y/und Deutsch Octafish Feb 2014 #36

Yo tambien y/und ich auch. LibertyLover Feb 2014 #61

Wie geht's, Compay? Octafish Feb 2014 #173

Geht es gut LibertyLover Feb 2014 #261

Feliz tenemos entrenador Caldwell en cargo de los Leones. Octafish Feb 2014 #263

Spanish and a woefully pathetic amount of Portuguese Common Sense Party Feb 2014 #37

Spanish, English (it's sufficiently different from American) nadinbrzezinski Feb 2014 #39

Yes. A lot of Yiddish is like Austrian German. Not all of it by any means, but a lot of it. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #106

Yiddish is medieval German, I was told. Manifestor_of_Light Feb 2014 #164

spanish and I just started arabic lessons. nt arely staircase Feb 2014 #40

That is very ambitious. Arabic strikes me as a difficult language. And the script? Very difficult JDPriestly Feb 2014 #212

yes it is very hard but I am determined to do it. arely staircase Feb 2014 #256

I can get by in French and Spanish. I can read Italian. Warpy Feb 2014 #42

English as first language Half-Century Man Feb 2014 #44

It is my goal to learn 1,000 common words of the top 10 languages. TheMathieu Feb 2014 #46

French, studied in high school and college elleng Feb 2014 #48

Sadly,... 3catwoman3 Feb 2014 #50

Dutch. BlueCaliDem Feb 2014 #51

I think of Dutch as a mixture of German and English. Bound to be some Spanish influence too. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #111

I totally agree. Lots of German, French, Norwegian, and English influences BlueCaliDem Feb 2014 #169

That's impressive! I have a good friend that is fluent in Swedish, German, French and Spanish, but adirondacker Feb 2014 #183

Thanks, adirondacker. Your friend isn't too shabby, either! BlueCaliDem Feb 2014 #268

My ancestors were from Friesland and I think also Gelderland. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #198

Friesland! Holland's rebel province. I have family there to this day. BlueCaliDem Feb 2014 #265

Niet te geloven! DFW Feb 2014 #236

Ik? Een uitzondering? Blijkbaar niet! BlueCaliDem Feb 2014 #264

Jij hebt gelijk. DFW Feb 2014 #277

Does Morse Code count? oldhippie Feb 2014 #52

It should. If you were vacationing in the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War, it was MADem Feb 2014 #190

Of course. This is just for fun. I did not expect so many DUers to know so many languages. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #200

Plop yourself down in the middle of the United States, look at a 500 mile radius and count languages Bok_Tukalo Feb 2014 #53

The middle of the United States. MineralMan Feb 2014 #56

I should have been clearer Bok_Tukalo Feb 2014 #83

Yup. You should have. MineralMan Feb 2014 #127

I guess its up to the person Travis_0004 Feb 2014 #160

I did not realize that Minnesota was so diverse. I thought it was unique to California. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #202

In the Dallas area Spanish, Ashanti and Arabic are useful DFW Feb 2014 #238

In the Twin Cities: Spanish, Somali, Hmong, and Vietnamese Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #253

Russian, French, Spanish MineralMan Feb 2014 #54

Spanish. Iggo Feb 2014 #57

I am pretty good with French sarisataka Feb 2014 #58

Tagalog - from the Peace Corps in the Philippines. n/t pampango Feb 2014 #59

You don't have to answer if you don't want to (obviously) but is pampango a Tagalog word? JDPriestly Feb 2014 #218

Kind of. Slightly altered, it's the name of the province (Pampanga) that my wife is from. pampango Feb 2014 #235

Boontling. Comrade Grumpy Feb 2014 #60

I just spewed my horn of zeese Brother Buzz Feb 2014 #62

Careful. You might get burned. Comrade Grumpy Feb 2014 #126

espanol KamaAina Feb 2014 #63

French and a smattering of Spanish. Tracer Feb 2014 #64

Actually two, but badly Trailrider1951 Feb 2014 #65

My native tongue is Okie madokie Feb 2014 #66

French and German. Studied Latin and Anglo-Saxon. Husband fluent in Hindi. anneboleyn Feb 2014 #67

try to learn un poco de espanol... dionysus Feb 2014 #68

Son. bravenak Feb 2014 #157

None. MO_Moderate Feb 2014 #69

Comparing apples to oranges. FSogol Feb 2014 #70

Jumping to conclusions. Quantess Feb 2014 #78

Sneering? Really? Despite the intent of the OP, Americans are frequently looked down upon for FSogol Feb 2014 #84

My first point went totally over your head. You and I have a different way of interpreting things. Quantess Feb 2014 #96

Not addressing a point doesn't mean it went over my head. Plus, you brought up sneering, not me. FSogol Feb 2014 #141

Defending as lack of knowledge is a rather accurate example of the sub-literate... LanternWaste Feb 2014 #132

One can state the reason for a lack of knowledge without supporting that lack of knowledge. FSogol Feb 2014 #138

The poster does that sorta thing endlessly Inkfreak Feb 2014 #158

My theory: Somebody took their parents praise too seriously. FSogol Feb 2014 #159

French and German. I understand but don't speak Spanish. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #113

As you may see from the response, there is nothing sneering about it. A lot of DUers JDPriestly Feb 2014 #216

French and one sentence in hungarian. nt arthritisR_US Feb 2014 #72

Hungarian is so interesting and so few people speak it. What I find fascinating is JDPriestly Feb 2014 #114

I didn't know that, thanks! :) arthritisR_US Feb 2014 #125

Hungarian is very distantly related to Finnish, Estonian, Sami, and Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #178

Aha! I have Hungarian relatives and never knew this. Thanks. I knew of the Uralic-Altaic JDPriestly Feb 2014 #192

Hungarian is European in geography only. DFW Feb 2014 #275

French shenmue Feb 2014 #76

I understand Slovak and speak it like a three year old. My Grandparents always spoke to me in their livetohike Feb 2014 #77

My grandmother was from a small village by the name of Richvald. adirondacker Feb 2014 #205

I would love to go over and hike around there, too. My Dad was born in Michalovce and came to the US livetohike Feb 2014 #270

Profanity...in several languages. Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2014 #80

Uckfay Ouyay (I speak it in Pig Latin) Jeff In Milwaukee Feb 2014 #82

Hey! I never could master it. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #115

As a teen laundry_queen Feb 2014 #223

Hilarious. Was your teacher a native English speaker? JDPriestly Feb 2014 #226

I'm not sure what his first language was laundry_queen Feb 2014 #229

I like to learn the ETYMOLOGY of profanity. kentauros Feb 2014 #149

Well. That was thorough. Didn't miss a detail. Interesting. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #194

Hablo espanol. bravenak Feb 2014 #81

FORTRAN. n/t malthaussen Feb 2014 #87

No BASIC? nadinbrzezinski Feb 2014 #107

Not fluently.:) I learned FORTRAN before BASIC. n/t malthaussen Feb 2014 #112

I used to know a little COBOL. kentauros Feb 2014 #150

German KansDem Feb 2014 #89

Then we were neighbors. Almost. I was in Austria at that time. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #195

I was amazed to learn Switzerland has four national lanugues... KansDem Feb 2014 #289

Also verstaasch du schwyzer Mundart? n/t DFW Feb 2014 #274

Nicht zu viel KansDem Feb 2014 #288

Switzerland is a little weird that way DFW Feb 2014 #291

Portug., Spanish, Danish, French, Italian flor de jasmim Feb 2014 #90

As someone pointed out above, you are muiti-lingual, very multi-lingual. Great. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #196

French...spent four years over there in college and thereafter BeyondGeography Feb 2014 #91

Yes. Being in love seems to improve one's retention for new words and a new language. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #197

Professional competence in Japanese, conversational knowledge of Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #92

Japan does dub a lot of imported films that are shown on TV Art_from_Ark Feb 2014 #228

A little German. My kids are fluent in Spanish, though. cyberswede Feb 2014 #98

That's great for your children. It is such an advantage for children to be bilingual. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #116

I agree... cyberswede Feb 2014 #120

I never mastered the genders in German. I learned German by living in the countries. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #123

The genders for nouns... 3catwoman3 Feb 2014 #129

Yes. In Austrian you can kind of hide the fact that you are not using the correct genders by JDPriestly Feb 2014 #217

Can do Spanish treestar Feb 2014 #99

I confes. I had to look up Kiswahili. I'm impressed that you know that language. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #118

I'm really learning, should not say I know it treestar Feb 2014 #148

Kiswahili? DFW Feb 2014 #272

Habari gani? treestar Feb 2014 #280

Just fine, thanks! DFW Feb 2014 #284

Spanish. I use it daily with my employees nt riderinthestorm Feb 2014 #100

I speak a language from the Germanic language group The Second Stone Feb 2014 #102

French Autumn Colors Feb 2014 #108

If you learned that much French, you will be speaking Spanish in no time. JDPriestly Feb 2014 #122

Spanish. savalez Feb 2014 #109

I'm from the south. My second language is English. nt rrneck Feb 2014 #117

lol - how true 840high Feb 2014 #130

Spanish and passable in the other Romance languages. lpbk2713 Feb 2014 #124

Norwegian nt cinnabonbon Feb 2014 #128

+1 jeg ogs� n/r FreeState Feb 2014 #177

... cinnabonbon Feb 2014 #232

Jeg ogs� snakker litt norsk Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #179

Gamle folk blir s� glade n�r cinnabonbon Feb 2014 #231

Hei! Jeg visste ikke at du snakket norsk. KitSileya Feb 2014 #247

Joda, m� jo kunne det. ;) cinnabonbon Feb 2014 #248

Det er ganske komplisert. KitSileya Feb 2014 #269

Jeg er ikke norsk, men DFW Feb 2014 #273

Kitchen Spanish trust me that's a language. As well as italian Arcanetrance Feb 2014 #131

Latin Blue_In_AK Feb 2014 #133

Actual figure from au EU 2006 survey is 56% muriel_volestrangler Feb 2014 #135

German grasswire Feb 2014 #136

most of the world speaks english spanone Feb 2014 #139

Sorry ... lpbk2713 Feb 2014 #143

And even in countries where most people speak English as a second language Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #180

English and Bad English MrScorpio Feb 2014 #140

German and French. closeupready Feb 2014 #142

Hablo espa�ol. Chan790 Feb 2014 #144

Well they did lose the war. dilby Feb 2014 #145

Some Japanese, a lil Hebrew sakabatou Feb 2014 #147

over 95% of Americans speak English. We win!! Pretzel_Warrior Feb 2014 #151

C, C++, Java, Python, C#..... jeff47 Feb 2014 #152

German and Japanese spinbaby Feb 2014 #154

Fluent Spanish. Passable French and Italian. Barely intelligible Mandarin. Xithras Feb 2014 #155

a little german MFM008 Feb 2014 #156

German RichGirl Feb 2014 #161

German. kestrel91316 Feb 2014 #162

Spanish .use almost daily... grew up understanding a little german, slovak, italian xiamiam Feb 2014 #163

I took 4 years of Spanish in school. Doremus Feb 2014 #165

Low ACTFL B1 Italian Drahthaardogs Feb 2014 #167

Norwegian linguists used to come to America and study the language of the second Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #181

German. n/t kiranon Feb 2014 #170

Russian AnnieBW Feb 2014 #174

Thai grahamhgreen Feb 2014 #175

I speak double dutch :) PumpkinAle Feb 2014 #182

I speak to people in India, China, Brazil, Argentina, Viet Nam, Mexico, etc Skittles Feb 2014 #184

Euskera and Afrikaans Wolf Frankula Feb 2014 #185

Zuec Euskera aitxutendosue? DFW Feb 2014 #271

Apur Txiki Bat Wolf Frankula Feb 2014 #282

Impressive. Navarra never had a huge Basque population to begin with DFW Feb 2014 #283

American. Drunken Irishman Feb 2014 #189

Perl mindwalker_i Feb 2014 #191

I speak Murcan, Spanish and Portuguese demosincebirth Feb 2014 #199

I speak at different levels. Behind the Aegis Feb 2014 #201

Spanish. Agschmid Feb 2014 #211

French in high school but I wish I would have taken German neverforget Feb 2014 #214

French, Spanish and German burrowowl Feb 2014 #215

Lousy schoolbook German eridani Feb 2014 #220

Noticed during the Fukushima coverage from Japan that they broadcast English words below their news jtuck004 Feb 2014 #222

By the way, the 90% statistic is VERY misleading DFW Feb 2014 #233

See #135 for a Eurobarometer report muriel_volestrangler Feb 2014 #239

I live in Germany, believe me, I know better than any statistic DFW Feb 2014 #241

That's why the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2014 #257

Spanish and learning French. Nt a la izquierda Feb 2014 #237

Southern. nt Are_grits_groceries Feb 2014 #240

I tried learning Spanish, but I guess I'm to dumb. My dad spoke 5 languages B Calm Feb 2014 #242

Ich kann nur ein bisschen Deutsch UncleMuscles Feb 2014 #244

Norwegian, French, Italian, learning Japanese KitSileya Feb 2014 #245

What foreign language do you speak? MMcGuire Feb 2014 #246

Fluently, Spanish. Beacool Feb 2014 #259

French and Spanish aint_no_life_nowhere Feb 2014 #266

None, I'm an idiot get the red out Feb 2014 #276

Nothing that counts even as conversational... MrMickeysMom Feb 2014 #278

What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Demobrat Feb 2014 #279

Spanish, to an extent. WatermelonRat Feb 2014 #281

Texan Major Nikon Feb 2014 #290