What is a linguist? Does a linguist know a lot of languages?
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No.  A linguist is a scientist who looks at the science of Language.  While linguists study about many languages and many know how to speak more than one language, that is not the point of the science.  We look at what makes language tick.
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When you say rate, I automatically think of which is best. I can't answer that question nor do I think anyone else can. However, what I can tell you is the use of each language (at least approximations). Read on for more details and check the sources as it's a pretty interesting question to answer...\n\nThis question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer.  Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably.  For example, English estimates vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million.\n\nTo further complicate matters, the definition of “speaker” can be vague.  Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only.  Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language).\n\nLastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages.  Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries.  On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language.\n\n\nThe World's Most Widely Spoken Languages\n\nAvignon (France) Stop (Arabic) Batik (Thai) Narita Airport (Japan)\n\nClick here to see the full data from Comrie (1998), Weber (1997), and the Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) 1999 Ethnologue Survey as well as charts comparing the number of speakers of each language and the number of countries using each language.\n\nWhat are the world's most widely spoken languages?\n\nThis question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer.  Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably.  For example, English estimates vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million.\n\nTo further complicate matters, the definition of “speaker” can be vague.  Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only.  Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language).\n\nLastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages.  Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries.  On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language.\n\nThe Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population:\n(number of native speakers in parentheses)\n\n   1. Chinese* (937,132,000)\n   2. Spanish (332,000,000)\n   3. English (322,000,000)\n   4. Bengali (189,000,000)\n   5. Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)\n   6. Arabic* (174,950,000)\n   7. Portuguese (170,000,000)\n   8. Russian (170,000,000)\n   9. Japanese (125,000,000)\n  10. German (98,000,000)\n  11. French* (79,572,000)\n\n* The totals given for Chinese, Arabic, and French include more than one SIL variety.\n\nThe following list is from Dr. Bernard Comrie’s article for the Encarta Encyclopedia (1998):\n(number of native speakers in parentheses)\n\n   1. Mandarin Chinese (836 million)\n   2. Hindi (333 million)\n   3. Spanish (332 million)\n   4. English (322 million)\n   5. Bengali (189 million)\n   6. Arabic (186 million)\n   7. Russian (170 million)\n   8. Portuguese (170 million)\n   9. Japanese (125 million)\n  10. German (98 million)\n  11. French (72 million)\n\nThe following list is from Geo
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french teacher, or  maybe a interpreter
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Ethnologue lists about 7,300 main languages in its language name index and distinguishes about 39,491 alternate language names and dialects.
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The correct answer is a) High Level Languages.
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I speak about 3 languages and have found some good tips...\n\n1. Offer yourself true submersion. Try to "think" in the language. Try to find better ways to say things.\n\n2. Learn the idiomatic expressions of the language, even if you don't understand their structure. This is because it gives you a good insight in how one expresses themself in the language. For example, I speak Malagasy, the native language of Madagascar. When one needs to use the restroom while on the bus, it's proper to scream "People aren't chickens!" It shows a lot of how they speak. It shows a lot of their culture. Most importantly though, the way they say it gives a bit of insight into the way the express themselves and structure sentences.\n\n3. Don't mistake the written language for the spoken language. If speaking is what you want to do, listen to how people talk. Don't worry as much about regurgiating what you read. Just like english, our spoken language is a bit different from our written language. \n\nThere are numerous other tips I could give you. Feel free to ask more if you like. \n\nFor the record, I speak French, Malagasy, intermediate German, and a bit of Zulu.
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Actually the key to your question is over "many."\nI have spent many years of my life learning Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. (I have also learned how to read a few other languages, have taken a year of Arabic, learned basic turkish grammar etc.) However, what I have learned is that your career prospects are largely the same for knowing two languages as knowing 300. Knowing another language is very useful as it allows you to act as an in-between.\n\nHowever, in general you can only act as one "in-between" at a time - and so you will rarely have need of more than one language in a job. Knowing multiple languages is very useful for research (can read most sources) and travel (nothing enhances travel like knowing the language).
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Most people outside of America speaks more than 1 language. Personally, I speak, read, and write 4 different languages.
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This is not true.  In the 19th century, some linguists proposed this as a possibility, but it has since been disproven.\n\nInitially, linguists thought that all world languages fell into four groups: Indo-European, Australo-Asiatic, Afro-Asiatic, and Sino-Tibetan.\n\nPeople had not yet really looked into Native American languages.  When it became clear that there were many languages worldwide that did not fit into the basic scheme of 4, linguists had to rethink everything.\n\nToday, it has become clear that there are hundreds of language families, and the basic four groups have been placed into a larger scheme containing dozens and dozens of "language families."  None of the language families are related to any other language families, so if you think about it, the great differences and high levels of complexity get really mind-boggling.\n\n(Just a note: the previous answers are way off - Latin, Greek and Sanskrit are all are part of the same family: Indo-European.)\n\nWikipedia has a decent website outlining the language families -- if you're interested, you might want to check it out.\n\nHere's an excerpt:\n\nThe largest language families in terms of number of languages are:\n\nNiger-Congo (1514 languages) \nAustronesian (1268 languages) \nTrans-New Guinea (564 languages) (validity disputed) \nIndo-European (449 languages) \nSino-Tibetan (403 languages) \nAfro-Asiatic (375 languages) \nNilo-Saharan (204 languages) \nPama-Nyungan (178 languages) \nOto-Manguean (174 languages) (number disputed; Lyle Campbell includes only 27) \nAustro-Asiatic (169 languages) \nSepik-Ramu (100 languages) (validity disputed) \nTai-Kadai (76 languages) \nTupi (76 languages) \nDravidian (73 languages) \nMayan (69 languages)
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It would be interesting to know how many languages the average American knows.  One of the things that I always found disturbing is that even if an American takes a foreign language class, the American will rarely make the attempt to practice using the language.  \n\nThink about it, how many people do you know take Spanish?  Quite a few.  How many actually try to speak the language?  I am shocked when I am a manager or teacher, and I see a room of employees or students scared to speak a word of Spanish to a person that might be struggling.  I understand that there are many ethical and political questions whenever speaking a foreign language.  For goodness sake, we're the land of immigrants and we need to step up.\n\nYes, I am proud to say that I have made the attempt and have spoken both Norwegian and Spanish to native speakers.  I have even spoken the few words of German, Russian, and Korean that I know as well.  Please keep in mind, that the only languages I can truly speak are English, Spanish, and Norwegian.\n\nRather than concentrating on how many languages are learned, let's focus on actually applying our knowledge of the international community.  One world, one people.  We can communicate and come together.
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i can speak 7 languages and understadn more than 10..i learnt them cuz i love learning new languages..its so much fulfulling to able to understand so many languages..its intoxicatin really
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Languages are best learned between the ages of 1-6. At that point the number of language that can be aquired is limitless, literally. The older we get the harder it is to learn a new language because languages are rule-governed and the rules are not always the kind you can pin-point unless you study language. It is widely accepted that to carry on with conversational speech in a new language an adult must have been studying at least 7 years. This number is not just a coincidence with the 6 year span in which a child learns language. Hearing the language and seeing how the language is used is the best thing for him.  And the reason that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn is that we frequently borrow words from thousands of different origins.  So English words dont necessarily follow one specific pattern. Additionally, he has to learn syntax of a new language which refers to the rules governing the word order of forming sentences.  It takes more than simply learning vocabulary.  It is also very limiting to try to teach someone a new language if you dont know the differences between the old and the new.   One suggestion I can give you is to teach him word components like prefixes and suffixes and define them so that he can begin to extract meaning from words which can serve as a foundation to build upon. Language is infinitely complex. It sounds to me like he is doing a fine job and is putting in the effort.  you will just have to encourage him to keep learning.
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Q: What do you call someone who speaks two languages?\nA: Bilingual.\n\nQ: What do you call someone who speak one language?\nA: American.\n\nIn many parts of the world, it's common to speak two or three languages.  Many places speak a European language as a second to their own, or a "lingua franca" for their region, such as Arabic (you can hear it from Morocco to Afghanistan) or Swahili (20+ African countries and 50+ million people).  \n\nThe Europeans, North Africans and Middle Easterners speak several languages because they are exposed to them regularly.  You'll find many Scandinavian and Baltic (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian) athletes who compete at the world level speak English because they receive English TV transmissions.  (The Baltic states listened to Finnish transmissions illegally.  The Finns didn't mind, but Moscow did!)\n\nFortunately, most who do listen to English broadcasts listen to BBC, and NOT to Mouthpiece of America - oops, Voice - VOA.  Sad to say, it's the English speakers who are the biggest morons and don't speak more than our own tongue.  Not taking my French classes seriously in elementary and high school was the second biggest mistake of my life.  (Listening to my parents was #1.)\n\nAnd to see idiot reichwingers in the US who think Americans speaking Spanish is a problem, I can only shake my head.  South America is 500+ million in size, is a growing economic power, they speak Spanish (except for Brazil), and the US wants to ban Spanish in schools and government.  Incredible. 9_9
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Merhaba , Hola , Salut , Hello\n\ni know 4 languages ..\n\nmother tongue arabic \n\nand teaching french \n\nand spanish \n\nand the 4th got it ...:)\n\nback to my answers and u will know i speak thes 4 languages ..:)\n\nSalam , adios , aurevoir , bye
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Yes.\nAll Russians and some other people that study languages.
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I learned there are about 6000 human languages.\nNot counted: dead languages.\nThe number of dialects is hard to count, because the differences are too vague.When you guess five in each language then you find 30 thousend.
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there is a difference  between a language being 'alive' and it being 'viable'.\n\nmost linguists would agree that a language is still 'alive' as long as it has at least two speakers - one to talk and one to listen. with two speakers a language can be used as a means of communication, so it most certainly still functions as a language.\n\n but languages which are spoken by fewer than a few thousand (precise numbers vary according to linguistic context, and even who is doing the estimating) are clearly at risk since more and more of their speakers will turn to other languages as their best hope of being understood by those around them.\n\na language which is in decline need not be lost though. cornish hit a severe problem in the late middle ages and died when dolly pentreath did in.  whether cornish has been revived is something scholars discuss without ever reaching a conclusion.\n\nwelsh had similar problems by the middle of the nineteenth century, but after a radio broadcast by the welsh politician and poet saunders lewis ('tynged yr iaith' : 1962) the decline in number of welsh speakers first plateaued, and more recently has even begun to rise again (as engllish-speaking parents send their children to welsh-speaking schools).\n\nthis leads into the deeper consideration of whether for a language to be truly 'alive' it needs to be seen as having some kind of purpose by the people who speak it.