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How many natural languages do you know? | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 81 comments | Search Discussion
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  • (Score: 1) by pTamok on Monday May 22 2017, @03:49PM

    by pTamok (3042) on Monday May 22 2017, @03:49PM (#513548)

    ...'is' 'know' is.

    'know' in the biblical KJV sense, maybe?

    Anyway, I know of the existence of many natural languages. It would be a boring list to read.
    I can understand at least some in a subset of that list. For example, I had to teach myself to read technical Russian in a particular topic area once. So I can read Russian in a very limited, specialised area.
    I can make myself at least partially understood in a subset of the previous subset. E.g. I have very fragmentary Latin.
    I can write in a subset of the previous subset.

    I can hold a conversation in at least 5 languages, partly because one of them is in a language family where different languages are closely enough related to be mutually intelligible most of the time. I have not included languages in that family I have not actively held a conversation in at least once in my life, so I might be able to speak conversationally in more than 5. With a couple of weeks of practice, I might be able to add German to the 'conversational' list, as I'm currently extremely rusty in that language.

    I'm fluent (according to my standards of fluent) in precisely one language.

    So, I haven't answered the poll, as I don't know what my answer is.