Se habla ingles?

[hackthis_archive]

I had a dream last night that I had to make this poll. It's just for curiousity's sake, but you know me, I may try to pick your brains later if I want one of my characters to start cursing at people in Russian. Even though my keyboard isn't equipped for Russian.

ETA: I define 'speak' as some degree of fluency/proficency where you can a) carry on a conversation b) curse prolifically and summon a policeman in said language and/or c) survive if you are kidnapped, tied up, dropped off in that country with nothing but your name, and can communicate well enough with other people (without sign language) so you can get back home.

Too much Burn Notice what?

ETA 2: Yes, kids, I know that Scandinavian and Eastern European are regions and not languages, but in some instances you have to generalize because unless it's for a paper, I'm not listing 600 languages.

[Poll #1077017]

Comments

[rhovanhen.livejournal.com]

Chinese - It would be impossible to list more of the dialects and languages of China, but I picked Cantonese as the closest option for me. And as mentioned in other posts, nice definition of 'speak'. Could I hold a serious conversation with a college professor (or even a college student)? No. A friendly merchant or fellow cafe-goer? Probably.

(Off topic, but of possible interest - "Do You Speak American", a book on regional American English dialects.)