• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

How Many Languages Do You Speak?

A Poll On Languages

  • I speak only English

    Votes: 23 45.1%

  • I speak English and one other language, from birth

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I speak English and two other languages, from birth

    Votes: 2 3.9%

  • I speak English and one other language from studies

    Votes: 11 21.6%

  • I speak English and two other languages from studies

    Votes: 8 15.7%

  • I speak English and one language from birth, one language from studies

    Votes: 4 7.8%

  • I speak English and two other languages from birth, one language from studies

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I speak English and one other language from birth, and two other languages from studies

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I speak English and two other languages from birth, two other languages from studies

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • I speak in excess of English, two native languages, and two learnt languages

    Votes: 2 3.9%
  • Total voters
    51
Andalublue said:
That would be both boring and cheating. How much fun is Trivial Pursuit if you're allowed to use Wiki?

In any case, Wiki ain't to be trusted. Too often wrong.
Click to expand...

I totally disagree that Wiki is often wrong. It can be trusted.
 
reefedjib said:
I totally disagree that Wiki is often wrong. It can be trusted.
Click to expand...

Just took a look at La Francophonie on wiki. It says this about Monaco...
independent country enclaved in France
Click to expand...

Two problems with this:
  1. Enclave is a noun, not and never a verb. A reference source should not make silly errors like that.
  2. An enclave is a territory surrounded by another country. Monaco has a coastline and hence is not surrounded by France and therefore is not an enclave.
From the OED:
Enclave -
a portion of territory surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct

It's not a totally inappropriate word to use, and we know what it means, but it is not 100% accurate, and that's my problem with using Wiki as an infallible source. I find such inaccuracies, and occasionally blatant mistakes, almost every time I use it.
 
Andalublue said:
Just took a look at La Francophonie on wiki. It says this about Monaco...

Two problems with this:
  1. Enclave is a noun, not and never a verb. A reference source should not make silly errors like that.
  2. An enclave is a territory surrounded by another country. Monaco has a coastline and hence is not surrounded by France and therefore is not an enclave.
From the OED:
Enclave -
a portion of territory surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct

It's not a totally inappropriate word to use, and we know what it means, but it is not 100% accurate, and that's my problem with using Wiki as an infallible source. I find such inaccuracies, and occasionally blatant mistakes, almost every time I use it.
Click to expand...

I think enclaved is appropriate. With Corsica, France controls territorial waters.


en·clave   
[en-kleyv, ahn-] Show IPA
noun, verb, -claved, -clav·ing.
–noun
1.
a country, or esp., an outlying portion of a country, entirely or mostly surrounded by the territory of another country.
2.
any small, distinct area or group enclosed or isolated within a larger one: a Chinese-speaking enclave in London.
–verb (used with object)
3.
to isolate or enclose (esp. territory) within a foreign or uncongenial environment; make an enclave of: The desert enclaved the little settlement.
Click to expand...
 
Andalublue said:
That would be both boring and cheating. How much fun is Trivial Pursuit if you're allowed to use Wiki?

In any case, Wiki ain't to be trusted. Too often wrong.
Click to expand...

Rarely wrong, truly.
 
reefedjib said:
I totally disagree that Wiki is often wrong. It can be trusted.
Click to expand...

How so? Anyone with a penchant for changing history can go there and do it at will. How long do you think before it will be discovered? Not before you regurgitate it here.
 
reefedjib said:
I think enclaved is appropriate. With Corsica, France controls territorial waters.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that Monaco controls its own immediate offshore. In any case, by this definition, wouldn't Gambia be an enclave of Senegal? Yemen of Saudi Arabia? I don't think so. Lesotho IS an enclave.

You didn't source your definition. That certainly doesn't appear in the OED.
 
Does anybody know anything about Rosetta Stone? Is it worth the cost, or actually useless for the expense?
 
Apocalypse said:
Rarely wrong, truly.
Click to expand...

Well, I did say 'too often', not 'often'. Too often for a reference source might be an infrequent occurrence. Nevertheless, I find mistakes and inaccuracies not infrequently.
 
bicycleman said:
Does anybody know anything about Rosetta Stone? Is it worth the cost, or actually useless for the expense?
Click to expand...

Hi BM!

No, I've not come across this (except when I visited the British Museum), is it an online reference source?
 
bicycleman said:
How so? Anyone with a penchant for changing history can go there and do it at will. How long do you think before it will be discovered? Not before you regurgitate it here.
Click to expand...

Let's find out! I modified Monaco such that the very first sentence refers to "Monaco/Monte Carlo" instead on "Monaco". It is true that anyone can change, but they do have review processes in place. They cite references. It is a good starting point and if all parties agree to what is stated in Wikipedia as a source, then there is no problem. If there is a disagreement, it is easy to go to other sources to resolve it.
 
Fluent in English and Hebrew and semi-fluent in Russian. I can speak enough Arabic to get by, but cannot read or write the language very well. Learned a bit of Spanish from my younger brother and his wife (both are fluent). A smattering of Yiddish. I can read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but the cursive scripts (hieratic/demotic) are much more difficult.
 
Andalublue said:
50?

Let's see...
France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Canada, Haiti, (10) Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, (20) Rwanda, Burundi, 2 Congos, Gabon, Cameroon, Mauritania, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar (30) Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Lebanon, Vanuatu and I'm just about done. Any I've missed? Former French Indo-chinese countries cannot be included as they really no longer use French in any official way whatever.

Sorry, but you awoke Competitive Trivia Geek in me. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

I think you've helped to prove my point more than anything else, even though the count landed a bit short of 50. XD
 
I'm a shamefully typical American: I speak only one language fluently.
I know enough Spanish to carry on a very rudimentary conversation, and I know bits and pieces of other languages- ASL, French, Chinese.
Other members of my family who have traveled widely are far more multilingual than I am.
 
1069 said:
I'm a shamefully typical American: I speak only one language fluently.
I know enough Spanish to carry on a very rudimentary conversation, and I know bits and pieces of other languages- ASL, French, Chinese.
Other members of my family who have traveled widely are far more multilingual than I am.
Click to expand...

But you earn points for your signature.
 
English from birth, French and Mandarin from studies/living abroad. I am fluent in all three.
 
Orion said:
English from birth, French and Mandarin from studies/living abroad. I am fluent in all three.
Click to expand...

How long did it take you to become fluent in Mandarin?
 
Apocalypse said:
How long did it take you to become fluent in Mandarin?
Click to expand...

2 years of worthless study in university, 1 year of immersion in China.

To put it in perspective... I learned 800 characters in those first 2 years, but couldn't really speak. I arrived in China and could not understand anyone and spoke like crap. After my first year in China, I could read a newspaper. (About 5000 characters or so.) You *must* study though even if you are immersed. Characters can only be learned the hard way, which is learning them one by one.
 
Last edited:
I am not really sure what the poll means by "by birth" since babies don't talk at all.
 
Tashah said:
Rosetta Stone is a computerized language learning system...

Language Learning | Rosetta Stone
Click to expand...

I have researched it with the idea of building up my ability in Spanish. I took several years of it in school, but if you don't use it, you lose it.

I'm connected with the military and they provide Rosetta Stone on line, but there is a requirement to download a speech module and install it, but our IT department won't allow us to download anything off the Internet to install, even though it comes from a trusted military site. With that in mind, I suppose I must purchase it, and it runs anywhere from $150 to $200, and that's just for the beginning introductory course.

With the influx of Mexicans coming into the US, it looks like I must brush up on my Spanish skills. I've had to deal with them several times when my wife and I bought hay for our horses. I got by with sign language and my rudimentary Spanish. I hate being illiterate at not being able to speak another language. I admire all of you who can speak another language.
 
Mason66 said:
I am not really sure what the poll means by "by birth" since babies don't talk at all.
Click to expand...

I think it probably means the first language you learned after infancy. Do you realize that babies all over the world speak the same language. It's only after their parents start teaching them their native ltongue that they can no longer converse.
 
Orion said:
2 years of worthless study in university, 1 year of immersion in China.

To put it in perspective... I learned 800 characters in those first 2 years, but couldn't really speak. I arrived in China and could not understand anyone and spoke like crap. After my first year in China, I could read a newspaper. (About 5000 characters or so.) You *must* study though even if you are immersed. Characters can only be learned the hard way, which is learning them one by one.
Click to expand...

I work with a young Russian immigrant from Odessa, Ukraine. He has been here since 1996. He said he studied English all through his school days, and he felt quite adept in the English language. That was until the first day he stepped foot on American soil. He stopped a fellow in the street to ask directions, and he discovered that he couldn't understand a word the American had said. He waa quite adept at speaking English to other Russians, but the real test came when he tried to speak it to and understand Americans. Another thing is that he had learned British English, not American English. There is a difference in accents and how we pronounce words as well.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom