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Poll: What languages are you fluent in?

The first 10 languages listed are the languages with the most native speakers [1]. The way the other languages were chosen was somewhat biased, so please don't be offended if I skipped one of your languages.

Make sure to choose all the languages that you are fluent in.

[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

( 49 comments | 29 points | on HN )

Poll

Mandarin 48 votes
Spanish 66 votes
English 668 votes
Hindi/Urdu 60 votes
Arabic 13 votes
Bengali 5 votes
Portuguese 27 votes
Russian 48 votes
Japanese 26 votes
German 71 votes
French 80 votes
Vietnamese 6 votes
Korean 6 votes
Italian 19 votes
Turkish 7 votes
Cantonese 14 votes
Polish 15 votes
Dutch 22 votes
Hungarian 9 votes
Greek 11 votes
Latin 7 votes
Other 171 votes
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by WildUtah on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:58AM (#2196789)
If you're a native English speaker, it's hard to find the motivation to learn another language. You can get along almost anywhere just on English and foreigners will usually be more interested in practicing English with you ahead of helping you practice whatever foreign tongue interests you.

Nevertheless I think it was worth it. I acquired Spanish fluency as an adult and the experience continues to enrich my life.

Spanish is a good choice for English speakers because it's the world's second most widespread language. It's also fairly regular and overlaps some English vocabulary.

But you should, if you can find the time, try to learn at least one foreign language in your life, even if your first is the world's new lingua franca.

Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by younata on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:09AM (#2196717)
C, objective C, python

Technically, I know java, but after this semester, I'm done being forced to use it.

oh, I'm also fluent in English.

Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by shiftb on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:57AM (#2196696)
English and Portuguese!

(I speak spanish well enough to have a conversation, but I wouldn't say I'm fluent. Got a 5 on the AP test in high school, but if you don't use it you lose it. :( )

Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by euccastro on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:35AM (#2196750)
Galician (a variant of Portuguese -- or vice versa, historically), English and Castillian ("Spanish"), which I've never used much, but know better than 90% of natives, since I live bombarded with it in a diglossic country.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by kingkilr on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:36AM (#2196648)
English and other (Hebrew).
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by clueless123 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @08:33AM (#2197328)
Spanish - Native English - Fluent (with a spanish/texan accent) Mandarin - Enough to get around in Beijing Brazilian Portuguese , yes, but heavily mangled with Spanish
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by RedReaper132 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:59AM (#2196697)
Hmm Slovenian, Croatian, English and German. As for computer languages I know C++ and AS3 fluently and many other not so fluently :)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by ews on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @12:59AM (#2196555)
(Note: are comments about individual languages mix relevant at all?) -> me : Spaniard, college in Italy, living in the Bay Area.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by olalonde on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @09:15AM (#2197428)
To those who are fluent in Mandarin: did you learn from your parents, from school/private language lessons, or all by yourself?
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by rimantas on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:43AM (#2196763)
Lithuanian, English, Russian. I can understand Polish and speak a bit, but I am afraid this does not count as fluent :)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by notthetup on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @03:18AM (#2196817)
English and Marathi (guess I'm the only one)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by spiffworks on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @11:23AM (#2197972)
I speak English, Hindi, Tamil and a South-Indian dialect of Marathi. One of the advantages of growing up in a multi-lingual house.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by g00gle on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @11:09AM (#2197905)
no you are not
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by adharmad on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @11:28PM (#2200777)
likewise :)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by maguay on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:28AM (#2196625)
I speak Thai quite good, but still would hesitate to say I'm fluent...

Otherwise, I speak mainly American English ;)

Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by statictype on Saturday February 12, 2011 @08:17AM (#2209963)
Fluent in English. Tamil is my mother tongue, but alas, I can't say I'm fluent in it.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by nyellin on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:36AM (#2196752)
I also expected a poll on computer languages.

I selected "Other" for Hebrew.

Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by jason_tko on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:17AM (#2196726)
Japanese and English. Living in Japan for 10 years helps with your Japanese.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by GeZe on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:15AM (#2196594)
Bulgarian (living in Canada)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by wil2k on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @04:36PM (#2199457)
English, Dutch, and some German, Frisian, Swedish, Italian and Czech. :+
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by bennysaurus on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:48AM (#2196677)
English and bad English
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by identity86 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:55AM (#2196690)
English and Malayalam.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by lawn on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:04AM (#2196710)
English and Swedish.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by michaels0620 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:12AM (#2196718)
Same here. Was an exchange student in Sweden for a year. What a great country!
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by rodp on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:57AM (#2196787)
Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin... :)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by giu on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:57AM (#2196695)
German and Italian (English is on the way ;)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by wipt on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:02AM (#2196705)
Working on Norsk, along with others...
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by anghyflawn on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:50AM (#2196681)
Russian, English, Norwegian, Swedish
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by eliben on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @03:01AM (#2196796)
English, Russian, Hebrew, Spanish
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by pan69 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @12:51AM (#2196536)
Dutchie living in Aus.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by furyg3 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:20AM (#2196728)
American living in NL
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by jiblar on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:47AM (#2196673)
English and Afrikaans
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by frameworkninja on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:45AM (#2196670)
Turkish and English.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by khairulzaman on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:42AM (#2196662)
English and Malay.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by jainankit on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @04:10AM (#2196894)
Hindi, English
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by SpacemanSpiff on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:43AM (#2196666)
Czech
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by lubos on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:28AM (#2196741)
that makes us two :-D
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by yread on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:41AM (#2196760)
And we are also fluent in Slovakian :)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by vetinari on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @03:50AM (#2196866)
And we, Slovaks, are fluent in Czech ;)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by tsta on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @10:00AM (#2197575)
Esperanto
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by fedd on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @01:47AM (#2196676)
russian go! go! go! :)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by shimonamit on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:48AM (#2196770)
Hebrew
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by noob007 on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:02AM (#2196704)
English, French, Hindi + Creole + Bhojpuri :p
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by leon_ on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:06AM (#2196712)
C++
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by j_baker on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:08AM (#2196716)
You do not speak C++ fluently. If you did, you would know that ++C is faster in some circumstances and is generally to be preferred. :-)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by cperciva on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:31AM (#2196744)
Actually, C++ is more likely to be faster than ++C, since C++ allows for greater instruction-level parallelism (the increment can be done later rather than being part of the critical path).
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by j_baker on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @02:58AM (#2196790)
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by kqueue on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @03:00AM (#2196794)
That has absolutely nothing to do with the language.
Re:Poll: What languages are you fluent in? by j_baker on Wednesday February 09, 2011 @03:14AM (#2196810)
It was a joke (and judging by the reaction, apparently not a good one).