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Are you single language user, bilingual or multilingual?


VinayaSpeaks

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Do you speak just one language, two languages or multiple languages. When I say speak, I don't mean stilted, or rudimentary skills, I mean fluency in the languages. I am multilingual, I can speak Nepali, English and Hindi well. My French skills are rudimentary. 

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If we're talking about 100% fluency, then I'm a single language user. I wish I could say I was one of the other two options though. If I could go back in time, I would start learning other languages at a very young age and hopefully by now by able to speak at least three or four languages fluently. It's such a brilliant skill to have.

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Just a single language user, unfortunately, though I'm working to change that. Well, I assume we all are; that's why we're here, right?

Honestly, I agree with prettylittleliar; if and when I have a kid, I think I'm going to make sure they have the resources to learn a second language incredibly early on, because there are so many benefits to children learning second languages, and to being bilingual (or multilingual) when one is an adult. I wish I'd had that opportunity, and I wouldn't want to deny it to my child.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think it may be hard to tell because, when does anyone get bilingual or multilingual? There is no way to prove it and you can never stop learning so, in my opinion, somebody can only grow up being multilingual or monolingual, but if you learn a new language afterwards (even though you're extremely good at it) you cannot be called a multilingual. That's is my opinion :). I've been learning French for 10 years so far and I don't call myself a bilingual or whatsoever... Btw, if you're interested in learning French, have a look at what I just found!: https://blog.lingolistic.com/best-way-to-learn-french

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I am bilingual with a twist: I use one language for my professional life and all the interactions needed for that and then I speak a different language with my family and friends. I also consume media in one language almost exclusively except novels, I only read novels in the other language.

It is funny how the switch that I flip to start working also means that I start talking, writing and even thinking in a different language.

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If I can speak three languages fluently, does that make me multilingual? Or Trilingual? ;) 

I am a native Indonesian speaker, I learn English at school and I somehow am capable of speaking Malay lol :3

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I guess I'm pretty much a single language person. I am becoming barely conversational in German, but I don't think I'm anywhere near fluent yet. If I ever have children, I think I'll try to raise them bilingual though. I wish my parents had, but they just really spoke English, so it isn't really their fault.

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I am more of a single language type of person these days, as I frequently use English for my documents as well as my mode of communication.  I always manage to convey my thoughts well whenever I speak in English.  Anything that involves writing or texting, I usually go for the English language.  I only use my native language (Tagalog) for casual and informal conversations as well as talking with relatives.

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Everyone here speaks at least two languages or at least almost everyone. This is true especially these days that online culture and terminologies have spilled over onto real life so it's almost impossible not to use certain English words as a lot of them are very new and don't have corresponding local language versions. I suspect this is the case for most countries nowadays since the recent advance in technology is heavily foundational in the United States and not to mention all the media and entertainment that comes with it so I think lots more people all over the world are more English savvy now more than ever. 

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I'm bi-lingual with aspirations of one day being able to add 2 more languages to make that 4. I studied French for fours years at university and then for an extra term privately. I was fairly confident and could converse in French but I've not spoken it in like forever. I understand some Italian but it's also getting rustier and rustier as I come across even less Italian speaking people than the French. Otherwise maybe I could do some subtle practicing LOL

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I speak Spanish and English fluently. I am working on Chinese. My boyfriend is Chinese so he helps me. I'm a long way from being fluent though.

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I consider myself bilingual. I speak both Portuguese and English all the time and have reached the right amount of fluency that most people think I'm monolingual. When ever I'm speaking one language and switch to the other most people get surprised. I think it's all a question of tie before anyone can do that.

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I'm only fluent in 2 languages, which are Filipino and English. Filipino is my native language. I try to learn German and Spanish, so I know a bit of words and phrases of those 2 languages here and there.

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I consider myself bilingual, as I am fluent in English, and becoming fluent in Spanish. I don't know enough Spanish to consider myself an expert by any means, but I'm working on that. I also speak a bit of French and German, but not nearly enough to say that I'm well versed in either language, or to consider myself multilingual. Hopefully I'll continue learning more and more of these languages so I can be one day, though.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My first language is English and my second language is Hainanese, which is basically a dead Chinese dialect. It really sucks that I am bilingual and I can't even use it to my advantage because I've very rarely in my life encountered others who spoke it. Most residents of Hainan are learning Mandarin these days; it's only the rural kids who are still using it. 

Besides that, I also can understand Cantonese and some Mandarin and Korean.

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I speak English and Spanish fluently, but most of the time I only actually use English. I do speak Spanish to a friend who's first language is Spanish on a fairly regular basis though. I don't tend to speak to many other people in Spanish though. I also speak a little French and a few words in other languages. 

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I'm bilingual, I'm native spanish speaker and also capable to speak in english well enough without stuttering and making awkward pauses. Years ago, was able to speak esperanto but my skills in that language worn out due to lack of  practice or use.

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I'm multilingual as a I speak three languages but admittedly I have become a lot less fluent in one of them due to lack of practice. I hope to review my lessons on that language soon and I am even trying to pick up one or two more new ones. I have been tacticians Japanese as of late and thankfully I have been learning at a good enough pace but my lifetime goal really is to learn french because it is my favorite language but I just chose to learn Japanese first since it's easier for me because I am already familiar with other similar asian languages. 

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At the moment I only speak one language and the is English, it is not because i do not want to learn more, I have tried to learn multiply languages but they have never clicked.  I literally studied 3 years of Spanish and can not speak hardly a word of it, I have studied Arabic, I lived in South Korea for three years and only learned like 5 phrases.  I have never been able to grasp learning language, I am hoping by joining this site i may find ideas that will help me learn a new language.

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Well I guess I have to say that I'm not fluent right now, I would like to say that I'am because I can almost have real conversations. I can talk to people in Spanish, but when it comes down to the daily part of talking in the language for everything, then that's where I fail because I don't know how to say many things in the English language in Spanish. 

We make up so many words in English, I have noticed that other people in their native language still say some English words in English.

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I'm only fluent in English but I'm trying to become multilingual by brushing up my high school Spanish and learn Korean.  Then I want to learn Japanese and French.  I wish the pubic schools I went to had started my foreign language classes sooner than high school, it's such a practical skill.

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