A lot of people asked how many languages I know. It is difficult for me to answer that question without knowing what it means to know the language. Everyone has a different standard of knowing a language. If I only know how to read in that language, does it mean I know the language?
I have learned many languages and writing systems separately. No wonder there are languages I can speak and writing systems I can read. The following list will show you my motivation for learning them in one sentence each. I use the first 18 languages daily, either actively or passively. So, I arrange them in the sequence of fluency, I put the rest of the languages, more or less, in the sequence based on the time I learned them actively.
- Medan Hokkien: My native language, which I speak proudly.
- Indonesian: It is the official language of my country.
- English: I was partly English-educated in high school and fully English-educated at university.
- Chinese: It is a lingua franca for all Chinese-ethnic in the world.
- Spanish: My classmates and my ex-girlfriend were Latin American.
- Esperanto: It is the easiest language that I have learned.
- Portuguese: It is very similar to Spanish.
- French: I know African Francophone students in Taiwan.
- Tok Pisin: It is a Creole language similar to English and I know its speakers and similar language (Solomon Island Pijin) speakers in Taiwan.
- Toki Pona: It is the world's most minimalist language and I use it as a secret language.
- Haitian Creole: It is a Creole language similar to French and I know many Haitian students in Taiwan.
- Chavacano: It is a Spanish Creole language and I think the resemblance with Spanish is over 90%.
- Kristang: It is a Portuguese Creole language that resembles a blend of Malay and Portuguese languages.
- Javanese: This most-spoken regional language in Indonesia is also spoken by the Indonesian workers in Taiwan.
- Cantonese: My maternal grandmother spoke it as her native language and I have relatives in Hong Kong.
- Dutch: It is historically related to Indonesia and much information on Indonesian history is available in Dutch.
- Afrikaans: It sounds to me like a Dutch language with simpler grammar.
- Italian: It is quite easy to understand because I already learned several other languages from the same language family as Italian.
- Korean: I had many Korean classmates and they even thought I was a Korean.
- Latvian: A Latvian classmate introduced me to this beautifully sounding language and I have singing videos in Latvian language that went viral in Latvia.
- Russian: I know many Russian-speaking students from Europe and Central Asia in Taiwan.
- Bulgarian: I was frustrated learning Russian and discovered that Bulgarian is the easiest Slavic language.
- Macedonian: My language partner for the Bulgarian language was half-Macedonian.
- Lingua Franca Nova: I know the creator on Facebook, and this language resembles very much the languages that I already know.
- Turkish: All Central Asian students I know in Taiwan understand or have learned Turkish before.
- Kazakh: It's interesting to befriend people who look like me but speak a Turkic language, in addition to the Russian language.
- Kyrgyz: I found out that Kyrgyz is similar to Kazakh and the people also look like me.
- Uzbek: Uzbek people don't look like me but Uzbek language is said to be the simplest Turkic language.
- Hakka: It is one of the major Chinese languages for overseas Chinese and there are Hakka speakers in Indonesia and Taiwan.
- Tuvaluan: I know many Tuvaluan students in Taiwan and I wanted to explore their community.
- Samoan: I find it similar to Tuvaluan and it has more learning resources than Tuvaluan.
- Maori: Its learning resources are much easier to find than other Polynesian languages.
- Guarani: I have always wanted to know an Amerindian language and luckily, I had a Paraguayan friend in Taiwan who could teach me.
- Latin: I learned it from Judith Meyer (a popular polyglot) and it is an amazing experience to know an ancient language.
- Sanskrit: I always wonder what Buddhist mantras mean.
- Vietnamese: Vietnamese people are everywhere in my neighborhood.
- Tagalog: I married a Filipina and Filipino people are everywhere in my neighborhood.
- Thai: I only learn conversational Thai for tourists because Thailand is a favorite destination for people in my hometown.
- Peruvian Sign Language: I found out that my long-time online friend from Peru was deaf and she is proficient in Peruvian Sign Language.
- American Sign Language: I discovered that American Sign Language has more resources than other sign languages.
- Indonesian Sign Language (Bisindo): I only want to know how different it is from the sign languages I learned before.
- Arabic: This highly influential language in the world is also one of the languages of the United Nations.
- Tamil: There are Tamil people in my hometown Medan city, Malaysia, and Singapore, and I also know Tamil students in Taiwan.
- Batak: It is the language of my home province North Sumatra.
- Japanese: The meetup I regularly join every week has the Japanese language.
- Norwegian: I found out that Norwegian is the easiest Scandinavian language and my Norwegian student also told me that the Norwegian language structure resembles the English language structure.
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