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

[cleverthylacine]

For "speak" do you mean "am fluent in, all the time" or, "can make myself understood in and follow simple conversations"?

[amberlynne.livejournal.com]

*is lamer*

[1001cranes.livejournal.com]

I know Old English, actually. I needed to meet a language requirement Freshman Year, what can I say? I don't really speak it, since, well, NO ONE does, but I can translate things fairly well.

[deepsix.livejournal.com]

I can read a whole boatload of languages, but I only checked English and French because they're the only two that I can actually speak, like, with actual words coming out of my mouth. :D

[aliaspiral.livejournal.com]

I am fairly fluent in American Sign Language, but that doesnt have its own country...hmmm.

I would use my WTF asl icon, but I deleted it somehow, so have a WTF in Braille, instead!

[knowledgequeen.livejournal.com]

English, French, and Russian, though if all you need to know is how to curse, I can do that in about seven more languages. >.>

[lunais-cross.livejournal.com]

Now I feel lame for not being able to speak a second language fluently. I took two years of Spanish, but it was only for a special award/honor/thing I'll graduate with. >_>

[prairiedaun.livejournal.com]

I'd like to say third option: Canadian English (really, an historical hybrid of both American and British with its own dialectical quirks.)

Also, I read Old English and while not able to converse back and forth I can follow a lot of Cree, Ojibwe and Michif.

[aphelant.livejournal.com]

My other language: I read/write/speak Canadian English. :)

[isagel.livejournal.com]

Hm. Scandinavian. That's condensing two languages I would claim to speak and one I understand under one heading. Darn you for depriving me of extra multi-lingualness points. *g*

Seriously, though, as a Swedish person, I wouldn't say that Scandinavian is a single language. To me, Scandinavian is a hodgepodge we Nordic people make up to communicate with each other, and plenty of us suck at doing that. I know many Swedish people who'd rather speak English with a Danish person than try to understand Danish. Which certainly indicates that said people have a shamefully bad ear for languages, but still. Not one language. :)

[ladyblack888.livejournal.com]

Mirandese, Portugal's other language. Gallaic, one of Spain's other languages (together with Castillan, Catala and the rest)

[sloganeer.livejournal.com]

I like your definition of "speak" because it means I can finally call myself "multilingual."

[hey-mockingbird.livejournal.com]

So....I speak (fluently enough to have a good half hour conversation without any awkward pauses) French and English, and can read/write Old English, Gaelic, Elvish (Yes, i taught myself this after a particularly amazing stint of loving LOTR....fangirl? YES), and can speak Gaelic and Elvish fluently enough to have a ten minute convo.

Oh, and I know choice phrases in Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish as well, courtesy of my little sister.

[shrewreader.livejournal.com]

Dude. I totally forgot to include Latin.

Blin!!

[graycastle.livejournal.com]

I speak Canadian English and Quebecois French, which are neither of them the same as Queen's English and French, which is what I put down. But, you know.

[barely-bean.livejournal.com]

the language I speak at home is called Malyalam. I don't read or write it (completely different alphabet) but I speak it with my family

[slodwick.livejournal.com]

Heh. Should I count American English and Queen's English as two languages? Because I feel confident I could converse fluently in either.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

It might be fun to ask people what variations on a single language they speak/read/write. You've got U. S. English and British English and Canadian English, but you've also got the way Ozarkians use U. S. English versus the way Texans use it versus...well, you get the idea. *G*

Also, I wanna know who marked Korean, because I've got a fandom to sell them.

[phineasjones.livejournal.com]

also, a very little bit of wolof, should you ever land a character in senegal.

:)

[romancandles.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I answered the first two before I looked at the options! CYBERSPEAK and then multiple Spanish languages! Also, um, not all eastern European languages are the same. *winces*

[serialkarma.livejournal.com]

I DON'T SPEAK BINARY!

[superslayer18.livejournal.com]

Russian love ^_^ I also checked off Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin). If you need any help with those, I'll be glad to help!

[lovestories.livejournal.com]

Languages-yay!

Foreign language and English were my favorite classes in high school, so I know a bunch. ♥

SPEAKING: English, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, [Japanese, French,] <-- less fluently than the other three, but still enough to get around the country

READING: English, Latin, [Mandarin Chinese, French] <-- enough to get around on, but much rustier than the other two, lol. In Mandarin, I can read short stories for elementary school kids, and uh, in French I can read menus and train tables and stuff. xD

WRITING: English, Latin, [Mandarin Chinese] <-- but only about as much as a 2nd grader >.>

[ellecain.livejournal.com]

Well, the local language round where I live is Marathi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathi_language). If you ever decide to write a story set in Mumbai then that's the one you want. Mumbai is actually the Marathi name for Bombay, which is why they changed it...