Zero
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Arguably, one.
But, if you want to know how to say, “There are many books at the library” or, “My toothbrush is yellow” in German, I’m your man.
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Your post reminds me of the first complete sentence I learned to say in German when I was in high school: “Er wird wohl schreibfaul sein”. Yes I know, it’s bizarre.
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English and American English. 
There was a point where I was getting better with French as I was visiting quite frequently for work. Nowhere near fluent, but enough to show I was making an effort, and at which point the conversation usually switched back to English. I really should learn Spanish as that would be far more useful than French here in the US.
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Beside the fact of just how strikingly cute she is, yeah I adore that video. He’s the right amount of mischievous and skilled.
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I’m tempted to say none, since I have caught myself using some very poor English lately. However, lets go for this:
- English fluently
- Cantonese fluently (if you ignore my appalling accent and don’t talk about anything medical)
- German some (let’s say schoolboy level - when I watch Das Boot I prefer it in German)
- French, Spanish, and Thai a little (just enough to be able to order breakfast and find the train station)
- I could probably make a fool of myself in Urdu if I think back far enough to my university days, although I suspect I’ve forgotten more than I realise
Hmm, put like that it sounds more impressive than it really is.
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Also, get’s in, immediately starts fiddling with the AC
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Passable english
Reasonable polish
Semi fluent Russian
Learning Ukrainian (much harder than i thought)
Some german, enough to survive
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ROFL, I know right?!
Truth be told she’s much less dressed than the husband and apparently the air was super cold.
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I did try to learn Dutch but i have friends there that told me i was ridiculous for trying if you guys remember that
I also quite fancy learning Farsi, but havent gotten round to following that up yet.
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I think it’s a universal truth that women are always cold and men are always hot.
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How come, if I may ask?
I went to college in Miami, where I learned a fair amount of Spanish from Cuban friends and their extended, sometimes newly immigrated families. My cousin from South Carolina moved there in the 80s, taught high school in Little Havana (Calle Ocho) and married a Cuban girl. Then my family was stationed in Germany and when I would visit, would confusingly (to me and everyone else) answer Germans in Spanish. Funny how the mind works.
Later in life, moved to Hamburg for 6 months and then Munich for almost 5 years, where I learned more German than Spanish, which solved the above problem. Except for when I would answer Spanish in German. Can’t win.
Anyway, more than one German friend would say that they knew they were fluent in English, when they would have dreams in English. I was skeptical until I had the same experience, having dreams in German. It’s 30 years since I moved back to the States, so I am far from conversant. But like others here, I prefer watching German films in their original language, and perhaps have English subtitles as a backup. I remember going to cinemas in Munich to watch Hollywood films on original language nights. My German girlfriend at the time preferred them with German subtitles. I expect that’s usual for ex pats, no matter where they come from.
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Honestly, i worked with so many polish drivers as their manager at one of my jobs a few years ago, most of them pretty fresh off the boat. I quickly worked out that is was going to be easier for one bloke to learn polish then get 70 of them speaking english.
I also found out that they respected me a great deal for this (and other stuff) and i got MUCH less hassle and grief from them then the other managers. They were absolutely wonderful to work with.
Selfishly, i also loved being in the room with new starters and giving them tasks or correcting their mistakes, them obviously not having a clue i spoke their language, used to say things like “who is this little ■■■■■” and stuff to each other and i used to just answer them and watch them turn white. Hilarious 
I loved working with those lads
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A version of English, albeit a primitive one. I can however order a beer and get pointed to the bathroom/loo in Spanish. Two fundamentally important things 
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Great post Chipwich. I got some good laughs out of reading it and I was especially interested in reading about your experience in Miami.
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Funny how that works.
One of my guys (well formerly my guys, but that’s a different story) hails from a spanish speaking part of the world. His Dutch is fine (definitely better than yours, Ace) but he never felt comfortable with it. So I took up duolingo and in about a month or three learned enough spanish to get him to speak it to me. And it went quickly from there. Pero hoy, soy un perfectamento cromulante assistante de carpinteria en espanol
He went from being happy with me as a boss to loving me like a brother.
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English natively, some Spanish since I grew up out El Paso-ways and a touch of Latin.
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Strayan and English as a second language. Semi fluent in Drunkese 
I did 4 years of high school German that I thought was completely wasted until I spent a few weeks in Germany about a dozen years ago and was surprised at how much came back to me.
Whenever I have travelled overseas I have always learnt enough of the local lingo for basic greetings and pleasantries, getting directions (especially where is the toilet), and ordering food.
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That’s something I like to do as well, and usually people react well to it.
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