What languages you can understand?

  • German (native)
  • English (fluent)
  • not French (4.5 years in school, but now I can only say "Je ne parle plus fran?ais" and of course the other French sentence everyone knows. ;))
Watch movies or TV series in German! I do it the other way around with English. It helps a lot.
Indeed it does. I started watching American TV around 10 years ago, and look where it got me. And there are good German movies and TV, you just have to find them. ;)
 
Indeed it does. I started watching American TV around 10 years ago, and look where it got me. And there are good German movies and TV, you just have to find them. ;)

reading helps a lot, too!
have to admit i started reading all the harry potter books in english and that really helped me along. of course if you start off with difficult stuff, it might scare you away :lol:
 
reading helps a lot, too!
Yes, of course. And believe me, in comparison to scientific texts all novels are really easy to read. ;)

If someone wants to read some German books... try something other than Marx' "Das Kapital". :D
 
Yeah, reading and watching movies/tv shows helps a great deal! It sure isn't hard work that has taught me English =) And for me, the time I spend on English websites and forums also contribute very nicely.

In comparison, I've spent 5? years studying German, and I still can't speak nor really understand it. Despite me having a girlfriend who is half German!

Danish and English. And some very basic German! But not anything remotely useful really. That's all I can do :)
 
Watch movies or TV series in German! I do it the other way around with English. It helps a lot.

And there are good German movies and TV, you just have to find them. ;)

Tatort! Watch Tatort!

I recommend the ones from M?nster. :D But avoid the Bremerhafen (I think?) ones, the writing sucks ass.
 
Last edited:
Pretty much just English.

Years ago, I would have included Spanish and Italian, but I'm so out of practice with both that they hardly count anymore.
 
I speak English and it's colloquial Texan equivalent. I'm slowly getting closer to fluency in German (I'm in a writing intensive course
now, we're reading post-war lit like B?ll and Langg?sser). I'm mainly short on vocabulary (especially for business-related stuff). I also am very familiar with Arabic slang :p and I can speak a tiny bit of Spanish. I'd really like to become fluent in Arabic and perfect my German (I've already developed a Franconian accent, Goggola :lol: ) to make myself a bit more marketable.
 
My language capabilities beyond Finnish are English, dubious Swedish, bad German and a basic understanding of Estonian.
 
Russian and Ukrainian - mother tongues.

German - living in Germany for about 6 years now, finished school here and studying in a German university... no problems either.

English... it's a long story, but I think I know it rather well, too.

Beyond those, there's a little bit of Spanish (2 years in school and some travelling) and a really tiny bit of French.
 
Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin) - my first language.
English - second language
Japanese - my minor is in Japanese, I can understand some Japanese, but I can't speak it very well.
 
Swedish
Egnlsih
Norwegian
Danish
German

As long as they don't talk too fast or chew too much porridge.

^That

My german is pretty bad though, I can understand it okay-ish but I struggle to speak it.
 
I failed to mention I can read Aurebesh. Not difficult really, as the glyphs are simple like the Roman ones are.
 
English is my first language. Because I'm American, I'm a linguistic idiot next to the rest of you ;-p, but here goes:

English. Duh. But not the way it's spoken by certain people in the deep south.

Dutch. Despite the fact that I've never studied it, I can understand it and read it. Every time I go to a restaurant in Holland, I make my decision from the Dutch side of the menu before I even realize that there's an English translation on the opposite page. I don't even have to think about understanding it; like, there's no translation process taking place in my head.

Swedish, to some extent. A while ago I was walking around Baltimore with some Swedes, and one asked where the water was. I answered in English before I realized he'd asked it in Swedish. Again, no translation process in my head. I can also read some Swedish.

Spanish, because if you live around here and don't involuntarily pick up some Spanish, it is because you are a thick-headed dolt; the knowledge can't penetrate your Perimeter of Dumb.

German, which I studied for five years and always got top marks in? Annoyingly, I can barely read or understand a word. I suppose all those years of studying were only to make Dutch and Swedish easier on me.
 
Last edited:
Besides spanish, only english (especially british accent)
I studied Portuguese for some months in school until the professor was fired after fighting with a student
Now I can't remember a thing
 
Top