Ok, Lemmy, let’s play a game!
Post how many languages in which you can count to ten, including your native language. If you like, provide which languages. I’m going to make a guess; after you’ve replied, come back and open the spoiler. If I’m right: upvote; if I’m wrong: downvote!
My guess, and my answer...
My guess is that it’s more than the number of languages you speak, read, and/or write.
Do you feel cheated because I didn’t pick a number? Vote how you want to, or don’t vote! I’m just interested in the count.
I can count to ten in five languages, but I only speak two. I can read a third, and I once was able to converse in a fourth, but have long since lost that skill. I know only some pick-up/borrow words from the 5th, including counting to 10.
- My native language is English
- I lived in Germany for a couple of years; because I never took classes, I can’t write in German, but I spoke fluently by the time I left.
- I studied French in college for three years; I can read French, but I’ve yet to meet a French person who can understand what I’m trying to say, and I have a hard time comprehending it.
- I taught myself Esperanto a couple of decades ago, and used to hang out in Esperanto chat rooms. I haven’t kept up.
- I can count to ten in Japanese because I took Aikido classes for a decade or so, and my instructor counted out loud in Japanese, and the various movements are numbered.
I can almost count to ten in Spanish, because I grew up in mid-California and there was a lot of Spanish thrown around. But French interferes, and I start in Spanish and find myself switching to French in the middle, so I’m not sure I could really do it.
Bonus question: do you ever do your counting in a non-native language, just to make it more interesting?
English, French, Spanish, Japanese.
French is lapsed, Spanish broken, and Japanese I know only that required for karate class.
My French was conversational, my Spanish was touristy (what time does the bank open? Where’s the bathroom? Etc), and my Japanese was never getting better. But I miss the fluidity of thought and I’m sad to have lost ground on my language goals since COVID.
English, French, Spanish, Esperanto
As a bonus: binary, hexadecimal, octal (really most bases but I can only go past that up to hexatrigesimal without looking up the symbols) Roman numerals, tally marks
One two three four five six seven eight nine ten (English) Aon dó trí ceathar cúig sé seacht ocht naoi deich (Irish) один два три четыре пять шесть семь восемь девять десять (Russian) un deux troix quatre cinq six sept huit neuf dix (French) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (cheating)
I like learning languages so with that in mind: German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Estonian, Russian, Afrikaans, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Irish and Latin. I don’t speak all of them thought.
English, Croatian, Polish and German.
I had mandatory Swedish at school for over 6 years and I can’t even count to ten in that language. Time well spent.
4: Persian, English, Chinese, French
I used to be able to do so in Esperanto and Arabic as well but not anymore.
Oooo, I want to learn Persian, just for the script. I had a Persian girl friend briefly who taught me to spell my same; I’ve long since forgotten, but it’s gorgeous.
When I met her, she insisted she was Persian. When I pressed her about it, she said it was for safety, because we were in the middle of Iran-Contra and she was worried telling people she was Iranian would get her animosity. Back then, I thought that was silly, but then, it turns out she understood my countrymen better than I did.
English, French, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, probably a few others I’m forgetting, I’m not good with translating numbers into sounds, I’d probably have more on the list if you ask me what languages i can say “it’s okay” in, oh yeah i got the itchy knee I can do Japanese too. I think I learned Thai at some point before I gave up on their alphabet.
also counting in different romance languages is lame, show me how many language FAMILIES you can count in. oh shit you got the Bantu! oh yeah I can also do turkish
counting in different romance languages is lame
Hmmm. That’s an interesting point, although I know from experience if you try to use French numbers on Italians they seem to not understand.
Cool idea. Got a few where I might know just enough to pass this.
attempts collapsed
One two three four five six seven eight nine ten
Ett två tre fyra fem sex sju åtta nio tio
Ein zwei drei vier fünf sechs sieben acht neun zehn
Yksi kaksi kolme neljä viisi kuusi seitsemän kahdeksan yhdeksän kymmenen
Üks kaks kolm neli viis kuus seitse kaheksa üheksa kümme
I never remember German 9 and 10 because the song only goes up to 8.
the song only goes up to 8.
The link to clarify which song is a bit redundant lol
Ha yeah, figured someone might disagree about which song to call THE song or just haven’t heard this one.
Currently it’s only English and Japanese. At one point I looked up how to count to ten in French, but I clearly don’t remember it. I can also count to seven in Chinese (pitch probably incorrect) because of a song that starts off counting and stops at seven for whatever reason.
Though if we’re counting writing, I’d be obligated to add Chinese because, at the very least, 1-10 in Japanese and Chinese are the same for just the numbers alone.
Now, that’s interesting. 7 is a special number in at least a couple of cultures, the US, too although I gave no idea Why, unless it’s related to dice - 7 being at the top of the statistical bell curve.
English, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin
English, German and French. I don’t speak German or French but I am still learning German (my school forced me to learn French from when I was 7 to when I was 14, but it was taught to poorly to me until I was 13 that I dropped it as soon as I could and the only things I remember are the numbers)
4: English, Spanish, French, and Japanese Bonus: Yes
- English (native), Welsh, French, Spanish, German, and binary if I use my fingers 🙌
EDIT:Bugger, it’s 5. I can’t remember 6 and 10 in German 🙈
“Fünf” I can understand, but you forgot sex?? :-)
Funnily enough, I always remember it wrong 🙈
Actually, it’s the words that the the same as native words which are the hardest to remember, IME, because you’re always questioning it, or you go reaching for a “foreign” word, but if it’s also a native word…
Funny little story. When I first came back from living in Germany, I’d occasionally forget the English word for things and could only remember the German ones. I don’t know if that happens to many people, but that last year, I don’t think I spoke English with anyone more than a couple of times.
I can count to ten in just four languages, sadly.
Four is pretty good!
Japanese, English, ASL, and Spanish. Those are my four.
I’m trying to get my Japanese back to as good as it was before I came to America-proper; I spent my childhood on an Air Force base and went to a school in rural Japan. Then I learned English, and with it, my Japanese started rotting. Started really trying hard to get decent at it again for the last decade. It comes, but slowly.
I can count to ten in Spanish cause that’s the second-place language out here, and ASL cause doing 20 counts on one hand is stupid useful and I love it.
