number of languages you speak

[Af Mas]

English. I've had experience in German and I minored in Japanese, but I couldn't speak either to save my life.

[Ephraim]

I've a mix of fractions of languages I speak, read or write.

Nothing fluently.

Greymane says that includes my English!

But what do he know?

[MustelidRocker]

Not exactly 100%, more like 70%: Spanish and English (my parents are from Mexico, I was born in California)
Like 2% (learning): Serbian and Macedonian

[Caballus]

I realised I had put less than one, read one. Though, with this keyboard I think it might be less than one. Otherwise I am a monoglot.

[Bishoop]

I speak Danish and English.
But i like the sound of English more.. Danish is a mumble language.

I´m also trying to learn German, but that is mostly just for fun

[Honey]

I speak 2. Danish and english. I would love to learn to speak more. One time I tried to learn Swedish but never completed the course. I could speak German once but forgot all about it after I left ground school

[Joe 2.0]

I speak English as my main language, But I also use Latin (Mostly for poking fun at people) and am in second level German classes. I suck at german, but i'm getting better.

[riotpopper]

I voted for 2 languages, though I would have liked a 1 and 1/2 option.

I speak English as my main language, and some Spanish on the side.

[Yuri]

Dutch and English about 85-95%

French 60%, German 50%

Spanish 20%

Hurrah for being Belgian, where they literally force languages in your soup and down your throat

[Alister]

Dutch and English about 85-95%

French 60%, German 50%

Spanish 20%

Hurrah for being Belgian, where they literally force languages in your soup and down your throat

Right in the maritime and continental crossroads of central Europe and a country which possesses a broad, mixed ethnic history. How many countries had colonies in that region at some point in the past? Five? Six? Totally understandable.

Frankly, I'm a bit jealous - yours is one of few countries that lack a dominant devolutionary force (for example; Wales-UK, Quebec-Canada, and on-and-off Texas-US).

Surprised you don't know a little Polish and Swiss, too.

[Yuri]

Right in the maritime and continental crossroads of central Europe and a country which possesses a broad, mixed ethnic history. How many countries had colonies in that region at some point in the past? Five? Six? Totally understandable.

Frankly, I'm a bit jealous - yours is one of few countries that lack a dominant devolutionary force (for example; Wales-UK, Quebec-Canada, and on-and-off Texas-US).

Surprised you don't know a little Polish and Swiss, too.

I'm not saying that I'm not gratefull that I have the option to learn all those languages, but they're nearly literally forced down your throat. If you don't know both Dutch and French you can be sure that getting a job is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack, which wouldn't be that bad if half of the families in Flanders (Northern part of Belgium speaks Dutch, the southern par, Wallonia, speaks French. And Brussels, our capital which is located in Flanders, is bi-langual) weren't hostile towards or ridiculed the french-speaking part.

The education on history is mainly fixed on the older and grander European history, if you want specific belgian history you'll have to look into it yourself or follow a specialized class.

And those devolutionary forces are now imported internationally. Where I live it's just a two hour drive to Paris and 3.5 hours to London, so foreign influences are found everywhere. The old buildings in the cities are nearly identical to the ones in the Netherlands and northern France, and the only real belgian culture is what few old musiscians and poets remain of the last generation. All the newer artists are either influenced by American or british culture or ignored for being "too old."

Add to that that the existance of the EU, how you don't need a passport anymore to fly within the EU, or that belgium literally doesn't have -any- border checkpoints and the borders get very very vague. It's only really noticable by culture in most area's. However you can tell where belgium end at the south when your able to see some elevations in the terrain, seeing as we're nearly completely flat. And to the north where you can hear the Dutch accent on the radio.

All in all it's a good country though, save for having a government that's still debating over a single bridge-construction project even after 3 years

All in all its' all rather amusing to live in Europe 



(Oh, about the Polish and Swiss, there really isn't alot to do in those countries, plus the Polish speak german fluently and the Swiss speak German/Italian/French/Swiss although most of them take German as a second language. Generally speaking you can get through England, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany with English. Through France with French (Because they're Chauvinistic bastards that refuse to learn any other languages, even some french-speaking Belgians in Brussels refuse to speak Dutch.) Spain with Spanish or English, and the entirety of Eastern Europe with German or English with the youth...     Or at least, that's what I've come to find.

[Alister]

I'm not saying that I'm not gratefull that I have the option to learn all those languages, but they're nearly literally forced down your throat. If you don't know both Dutch and French you can be sure that getting a job is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack, which wouldn't be that bad if half of the families in Flanders (Northern part of Belgium speaks Dutch, the southern par, Wallonia, speaks French. And Brussels, our capital which is located in Flanders, is bi-langual) weren't hostile towards or ridiculed the french-speaking part.

Wasn't meaning to imply you were by any means ungrateful - my apologies if I came across that way! Having anything forced down your throat like that (Christianity, here in the US) is rather unpleasant and embitters folks to the cause.

As for the hostility between different linguistic cultures? Heh... sounds a LOT like Quebec!

The education on history is mainly fixed on the older and grander European history, if you want specific belgian history you'll have to look into it yourself or follow a specialized class.

Not surprised. My world geography class took a fairly brief look at Belgium, but it struck me as one of the calmest countries in spite of its broad array of cultures and languages. I found it very interesting! Perhaps I'll source out a book or two and learn some more, one of these days!

And those devolutionary forces are now imported internationally.

I think we differ in our definition of 'devolutionary' - the meaning I was taught means any cohesive culture or ethnic-based group which threatens the overall stability of its parent nation. The term differs from 'revolutionary' forces, implying a more passive, non-violent manner, yet still poses a threat to an otherwise peaceable nation. The Northern Ireland or Wales issue is largely devolutionary (excepting the actions of the IRA...) for example, while the Kurds occupying northern Iraq are most certainly revolutionary.

Add to that that the existance of the EU, how you don't need a passport anymore to fly within the EU, or that belgium literally doesn't have -any- border checkpoints and the borders get very very vague. It's only really noticable by culture in most area's. However you can tell where belgium end at the south when your able to see some elevations in the terrain, seeing as we're nearly completely flat. And to the north where you can hear the Dutch accent on the radio.

Much as the US and Canada used to be, decades back. The checkpoints were at one time merely a formality (solely for immigration/emigration purposes), and no passport was required.

All in all it's a good country though, save for having a government that's still debating over a single bridge-construction project even after 3 years

If that's the worst of it, I may need to learn Dutch and French soon... (don't worry, Legion - I'll be right next door! Almost!)

*chuckles* As for the EU, it seems to benefit those poorest countries most. I can totally understand why Switzerland says GTFO (I wouldn't want my moneys going to the Czech Republic or Latvia, either)! Still... being able to border-hop all you like must be really nice!

All in all its' all rather amusing to live in Europe 

And to think... all we have are weirdo claims of UFO anal rape, Fred Phelps, and Faux News. Oh... and $cientology and Moronism Mormonism.

Yes, the French are all a bunch of pansy asshats. Been there, been insulted, watched 'em flee.

[Bishoop]

All in all it's a good country though, save for having a government that's still debating over a single bridge-construction project even after 3 years

Well thats not to bad..    In 1963  Per Hækkerup a Danish politician got drunk to some negotiations about some oil fields and ended up giving it all away for free to Norway..

And now our politicians put money into investigations about Danes drinking habbits.. Well of course we are drinking, we´re drinking the sorrow for all that money we lost :P

[Yuri]

Belgium struck me as one of the calmest countries in spite of its broad array of cultures and languages.

Oh yeah, it's calm alright -_-"

I think we differ in our definition of 'devolutionary' - the meaning I was taught means any cohesive culture or ethnic-based group which threatens the overall stability of its parent nation. The term differs from 'revolutionary' forces, implying a more passive, non-violent manner, yet still poses a threat to an otherwise peaceable nation. The Northern Ireland or Wales issue is largely devolutionary (excepting the actions of the IRA...) for example, while the Kurds occupying northern Iraq are most certainly revolutionary.

I probably should have been more specific. When I said "those devolutionary forces are now imported internationally" I meant that literally. And to be more even more specific they mainly come from Marocco and Turkey. While most integrate reasonably well, the adults are actually quite fun to talk to, here there's a very loud group that's against everything non-muslim. They wouldn't be so much of a problem if the imigrants wouldn't always live in certain regions and just spread. Especially the youth is a problem, I have not met a single one that didn't give off an aggressive vibe, and enough have moved here that there's no getting away from it. There are entire districts of every city in belgium that you should NOT go into after it gets dark.

If something as brain-dead as a language can cause quarrel between two groups (even though about 75% of both speak the language they're against) then just imagine what an entire different way of life, a language that no-one can understand, a slightly coloured skin (le gasp) and a very... loud religion in a country where the churches are at the brink of abandonment can do to create problems. Wait, ofcourse you can imagine you've probably seen the same.

But with the economic crisis, it's gotten alot less severe. Odd, as if the whole thing was just a small number of people hyping up a nearly non-existant problem, and was suddenly silenced by realistic problems 

Not to worry, I'm sure in a few years "everyone" will restart their bitching that the immigrants should be evicted from the country, thus making a big part of the population uncomfortable with normal situations again.

Well thats not to bad..    In 1963  Per Hækkerup a Danish politician got drunk to some negotiations about some oil fields and ended up giving it all away for free to Norway..

And now our politicians put money into investigations about Danes drinking habbits.. Well of course we are drinking, we´re drinking the sorrow for all that money we lost :P

O.o Strike one for the Danish, that must create some friction between the two countries.
At least all that booze money is pumped directley into the economy ^_^""

[Alister]

I probably should have been more specific. When I said "those devolutionary forces are now imported internationally" I meant that literally. And to be more even more specific they mainly come from Marocco and Turkey. While most integrate reasonably well, the adults are actually quite fun to talk to, here there's a very loud group that's against everything non-muslim. They wouldn't be so much of a problem if the imigrants wouldn't always live in certain regions and just spread. Especially the youth is a problem, I have not met a single one that didn't give off an aggressive vibe, and enough have moved here that there's no getting away from it. There are entire districts of every city in belgium that you should NOT go into after it gets dark.

Ah... an invasionary, devolutionary force. Gotcha. It would seem they're still not anything more than obnoxious, and don't threaten the nation's stability in any way - they just piss people off. Perhaps I'm wrong, though.

Kinda like Fred Phelps, over here. All bark and no bite, but still pisses you off when you're trying to sleep.

Seems Islam (Shariah in particular) is a bit of a problem all over the world; particularly in Africa and southeast Asia, where it actually HAS been devolutionary.