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French

19 (10.5%)

Spanish

14 (7.7%)

German

18 (9.9%)

Russian

8 (4.4%)

Mandarin

9 (5%)

Italian

5 (2.8%)

Greek

3 (1.7%)

Czech

4 (2.2%)

Hindi

3 (1.7%)

Arabic

5 (2.8%)

Farsi

3 (1.7%)

Portugese

3 (1.7%)

Japanese

10 (5.5%)

Vietnamese

3 (1.7%)

Korean

4 (2.2%)

Turkish

3 (1.7%)

Hebrew

4 (2.2%)

Polish

7 (3.9%)

Dutch

6 (3.3%)

Pashto

3 (1.7%)

Creole (Haitian)

3 (1.7%)

Swedish

9 (5%)

Bulgarian

3 (1.7%)

Mongolian

4 (2.2%)

Swahili

3 (1.7%)

Other

25 (13.8%)

Total Members Voted: 70

[Pillow_Killer]

Hello threre, Russian guy here. There's no such language as "American". It's called English for a reason, you goddamn egocentric.

[Char13magne]

Hello threre, Russian guy here. There's no such language as "American". It's called English for a reason, you goddamn egocentric.

Ahhhhh, I never said to an "American speaker," I simply said "to an American." Happy that I had to say that, hmmmmmm???

[Vector]

Pronunciation shouldn't be a problem after managing Russian consonants and Chinese vowels.

There's some really weird and rare ones, which stump the best linguistics student I know when it comes to their proper pronunciation.  Just consider them special prizes that come with the language

[Leafsnail]

I don't really speak any languages fluently other than English.  I have what could be described as "holiday" German and French, and a fair bit of Latin (only reading, mind you... the times where you'll be asked to speak Latin are few and far between).

I hear that Icelandic is meant to be the hardest language in the world.  An Icelandic friend of a friend needed speech therapy just to be able to say his own name (my friend just calls him "Hee-air", but says there's meant to be an L in there somewhere and a couple of accents) and his Taiwanese mother still can't say it.

[Ultimuh]

You forgot Danish on the list!

Anyway, I speak Fluently Swedish, Danish and English.
And Even tough I live in Greenland, I only know few words and sentences.

[Leafsnail]

Also, I like the "You may only select up to 26 options" at the top.  Damnit, I can speak 28 languages!

[Boksi]

I speak two Icelandic and English pretty fluently, Danish decently and I might possibly understand you if you speak slowly in German.

@Leafsnail: I'm pretty sure it's only in the top three, along with Chinese and some other language.

[Leafsnail]

Well, after some very quick research, what I got was

* The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the US Department of State has compiled approximate learning expectations for a number of languages. Of the 63 languages analyzed, the five most difficult languages to reach proficiency in speaking and proficiency in reading (for native English speakers who already know other languages), requiring 88 weeks, are: "Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean". The Foreign Service Institute considers Japanese to be the most difficult of this group.[2]

Although I suspect they just need Arabic, Japanese and Mandarin a lot more than they need other tough languages, and therefore have to teach more people it.

[Il Palazzo]

Polish native speaker here. Like(almost) every other Pole, I can boast of an ability to pronounce this. Despite such a magnificent feat of tongue-twisting skill, I'm completely dumbfounded whenever I hear somebody speaking Welsh.

ed:

I'm planning on studying Russian and German since I need them for my future career, and Polish for the hell of it.

Hell yeah! Learn Polish, you'll be able to read Stefan Banach's works in original!(and that probably sums up the big names in mathematics from around here)

[Onlyhestands]

Native English speaker
I speak some Spanish and French, and I'm hoping to be fluent in at least one of of the two when I get out of college. My Spanish used to be pretty good but I didn't take it last year and my skills atrophied pretty quickly. French, I know the different tenses, grammar, and pronouns well though my vocabulary is lacking.

Also I can swear in Polish (I think that they're swears at least-my mother yells them whenever shes angry or annoyed), and I can ask where the beer is in German.

[Vector]

Hell yeah! Learn Polish, you'll be able to read Stefan Banach's works in original!(and that probably sums up the big names in mathematics from around here)

No, you guys have loads of great mathematicians, actually >_>  It seems vaguely unfair.  Kuratowski, to name one... I have books by others, but I can't for the life of me remember how to type their names ;_;

[Char13magne]

and I can ask where the beer is in German.

A highly uselful piece of German to know, especially in Germany!

[chaoticag]

I'd like to learn Arabic at some point, but I'm getting to the point where my brain is fairly ossified and learning new languages is increasingly painful. Especially ones with entirely new writing systems. I self-learned the Cyrillic alphabet when I was a kid, but I still struggle mightily with Hanzi even after two years of formal instruction.

The writing system isn't too bad, actually... what you need to watch out for is the grammar/case system, which wants to kill you and take your lunch money.  Pronunciation is difficult, but manageable with a lot of time spent walking around making funny noises.

Vector, you just made my day. I was something of a Grammar buff in middleschool, and I still think that.

Also, Arabic grammar joke time! Printed in English untill the punch line, because I'm terribly slow at typing Arabic.
Two stoners were walking down the street, when they see a chubby man wearing baggy jeans, exposing his crack.
Stoner A: That man must be an Arabic teacher.
Stoner B: How can you tell?
Stoner A:من الفتح الظاهره علا آخره

Spoiler: explaining the joke (click to show/hide)

The Last sentence means two things here "from the apparent 'a' accent on the end" or "the crack on his ass".

Pronunciation shouldn't be a problem after managing Russian consonants and Chinese vowels.

There's some really weird and rare ones, which stump the best linguistics student I know when it comes to their proper pronunciation.  Just consider them special prizes that come with the language

Yep, you need to use your throat often in Arabic... and the back of your tounge. I have yet to meet an American that can say my name right.

[ein]

I speak English, Japanese, Sindarin, some Latin, and enough German to visit Germany.
I want to learn Russian, the North Germanic languages, and Arabic.

[Heron TSG]

I can understand Spanish relatively okay, and understand a little bit of the 'word-gender' and 'sentence structure' stuff. Mainly I speak 1337, English, Pig Latin, Fake Chinese, can read a bit of Latin and am thinking about learning either Welsh or German.