Greek from Greece i started english 10 years old.

Siraeki then urdu then sindhi then English.

Started learning English when I was 5 so I'm fluent in it, but I'm most fluent in my native tongue.

My native language is brazilian portuguese. I can understand a bit of spanish since is similar (not that much, though. spanish can be tricky) and because I learned in school for about two years.. but I nearly forgot everything lol. And, of course, I know english too, because most schools think it is important to learn english for the future, actually most of the english I learned by myself..

Czech, started learning English 4 years ago, now I am fluent quite enough

My native language is Russian.
Despite being born in Belarus, I've never spoken or been spoken to in Belorussian (yes, it's an actual language quite different from Russian). I know some words sparsely, but that's pretty much what you'd call a dialect thing. I just lived in an area where the Russian language dominated.
My 2nd language is Hebrew, which I didn't actually start "learning", because my family immigrated to Israel, so like all children, I absorbed.
My third, and unfortunately last language I'm fluent enough in is English.
I started taking private lessons at the age of 11-12 and continued until I was about 17.
I still strive to improve in all.

Hmm, I think we had a language thread.
"How many languages do you know?"


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Hrodulf and Bjornolfr, you will not be forgotten.

And if the world were black and white,
you would be my rainbow in shades of grey.

Click 'n Play!

If I had a fantasy self, it'd be a tentacle monster.

My native language is American English (boring). I'm still just realizing that a lot of Arabic words my mom likes to use in everyday conversation aren't actually English vernacular, though (she is from Syria).

Might be a bit of an offtop, but since we're all talking about languages..
@Nyajinsky @Miyako.8 I wonder whether you can easily hear the difference between Polish and Czech (if you are Slovak) or Slovak and Polish (the other way around)? And whether or not Polish also seems funny to you? (sorry, but once in the Czech Republic i found "suche plody" in a supermarket, which translates to "dried fetus" is Polish..)

Punjabi, but I was born & raised in Canada, so I learned English around 5 or 6 years old.

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Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
-Lao Tzu

Mine is Persian (so much differences lol).
in my country, learning English is what we start aroung grade 6, but it's a mere formality. no one take it serious and it doesn't help much. i started to use it at high school: when I became so obsessed with reading novels that I couldn't wait for the Persian translation^^

Last edited by homakp at 4:08 pm, Sep 23 2013

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the Truth remains intact...

Arabic.
Don't piss me off!

Spanish (Mexico). I started learning the language three years ago.

I know this is quite similar to other language threads, but the poll this week made me wonder how well people know English, since a lot of people prefer English subs to their native language

They're more easily available. And you get used to them after just a short while.

What did most to improve my English was three things. Firstly writing on international internet forums, secondly reading English books and lastly speaking with people in English.

I think passive learning is how most people pick up the language. How many have really achieved fluent(ish, even) English skills solely in school? Gamers, manga and anime fans, and generally people who spend time on English language websites usually have much better English than those who don't.

Studying a language with school books after certain point becomes useless unless you're into linguistics. You learn reading by reading, writing by writing and speaking by speaking. Though of course dictionaries and some guides every once in a while might come handy. The idea is first to get to the point where you can start doing these things.

English fluency on forums doesn't much tell if it's the person's first language. Many native English speakers write awful English whereas many non-English speakers write very fluently.

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Far-off places with sweet sounding names.

Mm... English and Chinese. Studied both since 3 years old. From Singapore.

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Finnish here. Started learning English when I was 9 years old.