You guys are a hoot!

My first language is Spanish, followed by English. I am bi-lingual in both of these languages. I can read and write French, Italian and Portuguese, which I exercise often, because I like to read an author in his own tongue. I can understand Galego, the mother tongue of my Father, and paternal grandparents, and if pressed will respond appropriately. But I am by no means a fluent speaker in these tongues. While the Italians and Portuguese were very kind to me and praised my level of fluency, the French people I encountered on my travels to France, made it very clear that I should not speak their language. :eek

At this late date, I am learning Latin, a fancy of mine. Just in case I get an invite to visit the Vatican Library I can then read the prophecies of the end of the world!

Jo-Ann, I envy you your Ewe fluency! Baaaa!

Interesting thread...
As for me-
English
Spanish
ASL (American Sign Language)

kelly

For me, in order of fluency:
English
French (especially reading, writing and speaking. I don't get enough opportunities to hear spoken French--a week or two in France helps a lot.)
Italian (actually, my first language, I understand more than I can say. I speak great Italian for a 4 year old.)
Spanish (enough to get by--but I speak it with an Italian accent. Once, in Pontevedra, the lady at the tourist office, upon hearing my request for information [in Spanish], apologized that she had no tourist information in Italian--but wanted to know if I spoke English!)
ASL but I've forgotten a lot. American Sign Language is a fascinating, beautiful language.

Very interesting thread....I feel envious of our European members who are fluent in so many languages.

ASL is definitely a tough one to learn as a 2nd language. I was lucky, my mom works in Deaf Education, and she both signed and spoke to me when I was little so I grew up around ASL. I ended up deciding on a career in speech-language pathology so that skill has certainly come in handy . Sign language, particularly ASL (as opposed to signed english) is beautiful, if you ever have the chance to see anything like Deaf theater or native signers in action, dont miss it!
Kelly

Let's see...I speak English (native language), Spanish, Italian, some French, and the dialect of my husband's home region of Italy (Molise). This last one came about out of necessity...I needed to know what my in-laws were saying about me. I also can read Hebrew...although I don't remember what the words mean anymore...just can read and write it (much like the moaxajas... poetry of Spain in the middle ages...for me, writing with Hebrew characters that when pronounced aloud...actually create English words)

I was born and raised in NYC.

The only language I am fluent in is English but after living here in Madrid for the past year, my Spanish has improved dramatically. I can hold my own in a SLOW conversation in Spanish. I will be living here for 2 more years so hopefully, I will be much improved before I go back to the states.

Jo-Anne writes: I would guess that this research was done by the Foreign languages department of some obscure University by over the hill Foreign language teachers who have never been out in the 'real world.' Or it may have been a Graduate Student sucking up to his/her Committee Head by doing a Thesis on the Subject.

I have never considered a woman sexy just because she was bilingual or multilingual.

So we sit at the Terrazas, drinking wine and tirando piropos at all the pretty ladies. Very amusing, Jo-Anne!

My native language is (American) English. I took French 3-years in High School and through 17th Century French Literature at University. My knowledge of French was one of the reasons I was picked for a job in Morocco.

I used a French-Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook to get along there, also; so one might say I have a smattering of Darija although I do not read Arabic.

I studied German (recommended for Engineering / Science Majors) when I changed my Major.

Later, I took several semeters of Spanish (in Spain) and am considered fluent in Castellano.

My 'Base' was 3-years of Latin in High School.

I'm fluent in English and French (like a Good Canadian should be )

I can understand Serbian/Croatian...can speak it very slowly, and can read/write, but with some difficulty...

I can understand the jist of what is being said in Spanish if spoken slowly...I can also get the jist of a paragraph written in Spanish, and can speak enough Spanish just to get by...as the same with my German...

Spanish is my language of birth but by the age of 4 English became my dominate language. Although I speak Spanish well enough and read it well enough, I have trouble with the written grammer.

I also have studied Italian and can carry a conversation with someone. Like Booklady (my dear Doña Libros) I have been fascinated with Latin and find it a very lyrical language.

Im also proficient in ASL. I used to be an interpreter for our church when I lived in Los Angeles. I agree with Kelar419, ASL is very expressive and is very beautiful. When I was learning ASL many of the young deaf were being taught SIGLISH (exact signing), I don't know if this is still the trend, but the older deaf friends I have prefered ASL.

Since my other passion is for Japanese culture, learning Japanese or at least some Japanese is my next project.

This is a great thread, very interesting to see such a variety of languages spoken by our members.

My first language is English and I consider myself to be fairly fluent in Spanish. I learned most of my Spanish in Spain, but my Hispanic students always have something to say about my "vocabulary and accent from Spain." There are students from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Honduras and Argentina at my school here in the U.S., so I'm constantly learning something new.

I studied some French and some German but that was soooooooooooo many years ago.

marilisa