mastering foreign languages

[europeanatheist]

Hi all
how many foreign languages can you use?
I see sometime that in the anglosaxon world it is not too common to speak more than 1-2 languages, whereas from not anglosaxon especially living in the EU where you work here and there in the end we end up speaking more than 1-2
I speak fluently Spanish, English, Italian, German and I can use some Dutch, French and Portuguese. I also can read and hear some Latin but since we learnt it as a "dead language" I cannot really talk it.
My wife the same as me and at home we use a kind of funny pidgin language borrowing words and expression from the different ones we know

[Silver]

Unfortunately, I am not fluent in what could be considered a foreign language.

Took a couple years of Latin in high school, but you really need more than that to fully comprehend what is considered a dead language.

I am fluent in Sign Language, however, which helps since I am hard-of-hearing.

[arewethereyet]

The best I can do is order Mexican food. Otherwise, English is it for me though I can unravel a lot of medical terms so I guess there's a little Latin in there too.

[europeanatheist]

I am fluent in Sign Language, however, which helps since I am hard-of-hearing.

wow, that is cool! It is the same hand sign in every language or you do have a hand sign for example for Chinese, one for English etc?

[Silver]

I am fluent in Sign Language, however, which helps since I am hard-of-hearing.

wow, that is cool! It is the same hand sign in every language or you do have a hand sign for example for Chinese, one for English etc?

The hand signals tend to be different depending on the language associated with the area.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Hi all
how many foreign languages can you use?
I see sometime that in the anglosaxon world it is not too common to speak more than 1-2 languages, whereas from not anglosaxon especially living in the EU where you work here and there in the end we end up speaking more than 1-2
I speak fluently Spanish, English, Italian, German and I can use some Dutch, French and Portuguese. I also can read and hear some Latin but since we learnt it as a "dead language" I cannot really talk it.
My wife the same as me and at home we use a kind of funny pidgin language borrowing words and expression from the different ones we know

I speak English and Irish. I’m functional in French and Maori (meaning I can order a meal, pay a bill, things like that). I’ve memorized emergency phrases in a half dozen languages, such as:

-Can you direct me to the train station?
-Please get me a policeman.
-Where is the hotel [name]?
-Please let me out of this taxi, you maniac.
-Thank you for stopping the bleeding.

Boru
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[Angrboda]

I suck at languages. I took French for two years and still only spoke high school level French. I studied Japanese and Chinese but my progress was poor.

Not having learned my lesson, I'm thinking of starting Hmong next year.

[brewer]

Just enough Spanish to understand rudimentary conversation, not speak, Latin/Greek medical terms. Fluent in pig latin.

[europeanatheist]

pig latin? What that stands for?
P.S. does anybody of you was able to follow the romans in The passion of Mel Gibson?

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm a native English-speaker, and functional in Spanish.