Do you speak more than one language?

@Jenaisle (14329)
Philippines
May 29, 2025 9:59pm CST
Do you speak more than one language? What are they? What's the hardest language to learn? I speak 4 dialects (Ilocano, Tagalog, Kalinga, and Kapampangan) and 2 languages (English and Tagalog). I am trying to learn Spanish now. What about you? Which one is the hardest to learn?
17 people like this
18 responses
@arunima25 (90300)
• Bangalore, India
30 May
I am fluent with English and Hindi. I can read, write and talk in these two. There are various dialects in Hindi and I am fluent with them. As far as spoken language goes, I can talk in Kannada, Bengali and Sanskrit, all at beginners level. I plan to learn Kannada at advanced level.
3 people like this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
That's great. There are many dialects there. I would like to learn Hindi.
1 person likes this
@arunima25 (90300)
• Bangalore, India
31 May
@Jenaisle You can try that. See if you have some app to help. We have many sources these days online to help us learn at our pace.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
18h
@arunima25, you're right. Thanks for the tip.
@MarieCoyle (44319)
30 May
Well, English of course. I took 3 school years of Spanish. Two school years of Latin. I don't really speak Spanish anymore, mainly because while we do have many more Spanish speaking people here in the US than we did when I was very young, I have found they have slang, too, not to mention the fact that they talk so, so fast, I can't make it all out half the time, just words here and there. Latin, no one really speaks that.
3 people like this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
Spanish (12 units) was introduced in college, too, for us, but all I can remember are simple sentences like: "Te amo." "Te quiero." "Buenos dias", etc. Latin must have been difficult to learn, and Spanish may be quite understandable by now because many are already using the language there.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (44319)
6h
@Jenaisle One of my grandmothers always wanted me to take Latin, and so did my Dad. They both claimed it would help me understand other languages and where certain words were derived from. I really did not want to take it at the time, but after it was said and done, I'm very glad I did. They were right.
@GardenGerty (163866)
• United States
31 May
I only speak English. I can work at an intermediate level with Signing Exact English--a type of sign language. I know less of ASL--American Sign Language. I studied two years of Latin in school and as @LadyDuck said, it was useful for even understanding my English assignments. I know a few words here and there of many languages and I feel like both German and French would be hard to learn.
2 people like this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
Yes, I have heard that German is hard to learn. It's wonderful to know the sign language.
@LadyDuck (475188)
• Italy
31 May
@GardenGerty French is not easy because of all their accents, but German is very hard. May be I find French a lot easier because it sounds more similar to Italian and I lived in a French speaking country during 31 years. French is for sure my second language.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (227074)
• Walnut Creek, California
30 May
I speak at least seven words in English, French, Spanish, Thai and Mandarin. But if you increase the thresthold to maybe 20 words, I speak English (poorly) and a bit of French (very poorly).
3 people like this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
That' s a lot. I wish I could say that I can speak English well. but I could not. But I can at least communicate to people what I want to say.
@Beestring (15426)
• Hong Kong
30 May
My mother tongue is Cantonese (a Chinese dialect), Mandarin (the official language of China), and English.
2 people like this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
I am interested in learning Mandarin. Is it so different from Cantonese, or are they completely different?
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
@Beestring, I see. Thanks for the information.
1 person likes this
@Beestring (15426)
• Hong Kong
31 May
@Jenaisle It's a bit different from Cantonese. Actually, Mandarin is easier to learn than Cantonese.
1 person likes this
30 May
Oh yes yay for me but I can indeed speak more than one language Three to be precise. English French Bad. Probably most fluent in bad language. I know all the words. B words C words F words and Swords.
2 people like this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
. That's a new language for me. French is one language I would like to learn.
1 person likes this
31 May
@Jenaisle Very romantic is French.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (190381)
• United States
31 May
Nope, but I wish I did. I know some basic Spanish phrases.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
18h
Spanish is fast gaining traction worldwide.
@marguicha (226958)
• Chile
30 May
I speak well 2 languages but can get along in 3 others. The hardest part really is to speak them. Reading and writing are easier. My native tongue is Spanish but when I watch movies in Spanish from other countries many times I also add subtitles.
2 people like this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
Yes, using them in conversations can be difficult. Sometimes, conversational structure is different from written language.
@id_peace (15421)
• Singapore
9h
I speak Mandarin and English. Oh the side note, I can speak a few chinese dialects (Cantonese, Hokkien, and Teochew) The hardest language for me to learn is between Hokkien and Teochew, even through they are from two different province, but of the words sounds similar and can usually be confused.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
8h
That's a lot. Congrats, if I speak that much, I would be happy.
@jstory07 (144386)
• Roseburg, Oregon
30 May
I just speak one language. English is the one that I speak.
2 people like this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
That's okay, Mastery of one is good.
@Deepizzaguy (110236)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
31 May
English is my first language followed by Spanish.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
That's a good combination.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (110236)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
31 May
@Jenaisle Thank you since living in the former Canal Zone in Panama where schools did have English and Spanish speaking courses.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (189836)
• United States
30 May
I just speak English. I think English is a very hard language to learn if you are a foreigner.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
It is, if I haven't started learning since childhood, I could never communicate this way.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
@LindaOHio Right, and there are exceptions too, that can confuse, "God bless!" not God blesses.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (189836)
• United States
31 May
@Jenaisle It has many hard things such as wait and weight. They are pronounced the same but have different meanings.
1 person likes this
@Nakitakona (56547)
• Philippines
31 May
That's wonderful. I soeak our dialect Ilonggo. Filipino our national language and English as 2nd language. I remember when I was still in studying we had Spanish as our subject. I studied and learned how write in Spanish. I had several articles written in Spanish.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
Wow, impressive. To be able to write in Spanish is great! I also had the 14-unit required Spanish lectures during college, but I know only simple words.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
@Nakitakona Wow, you're a writer. I'm glad to meet you. Have you ever written short stories before?
1 person likes this
@Nakitakona (56547)
• Philippines
31 May
@Jenaisle it's just a coincidence why I urge to write in Spanish for I was the editor in chief in The College Voice our official school organ.
1 person likes this
@Rimps85 (2600)
• India
30 May
my country has atleast 26 official languages...out of those 26, I know just 4-5, apart from that foreign language that I know is Spanish
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
That's a lot. You can go to many places in your country.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
@Rimps85 Congrats! What can I call you now? Linguist or polyglot?
@Rimps85 (2600)
• India
31 May
@Jenaisle infact because I have been to so many places, I mastered the languages
1 person likes this
@May2k8 (18562)
• Indonesia
31 May
I only speak Indonesia, but actually it's already mixed with other languages. Of course I still have limited knowledge of my own language.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
18h
I noticed that some words are similar to Tagalog and Indonesian.
1 person likes this
@rakski (137593)
• Philippines
30 May
2 only
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
Ditto. Have a fun weekend.
@Shiva49 (27258)
• Singapore
30 May
I speak five languages - English, Indonesian/Malay, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. The more the languages we know, the greater is our understanding of various cultures. Once we speak a language daily, it becomes easy to master it.
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
31 May
Yes, right. You can learn the language quickly if you use it in conversations. That's a lot of languages. Quite impressive.
1 person likes this
• Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine
31 May
I think it so hard to speak different dialect... You are a master.. I am fluent just in Russian and ukrainian language.. Have intermediate level in Slovak, polish and bulgarian. Beginner in English... And elementary in Korean)
1 person likes this
@Jenaisle (14329)
• Philippines
18h
Wow! Korean, I would like to learn that language too.