Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.org
Oct 12, 2026, 3:35 PMWhat language do you speak best? (Hypothesis: There are many French & German speakers in the Fediverse.)
:fediverse: Boosts appreciated!
Replies
- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 12, 2026, 3:44 PM
It’s also remarkable how many people speak “Other”! 🙈
EDIT: I was trying to make a joke by pretending “Other” was a language. But that clearly didn’t work. 😬
I expected the Fediverse to have many English & German speakers and had read that it was popular in France. I wanted to check these assumptions via a survey and my instance only lets me create four options. Beyond that, I didn’t know what to expect but the replies to my initial post show just how linguistically diverse the Fediverse is!
- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 12, 2026, 9:30 PM
It’d be very interesting to do a proper survey with a representative sample and an open set of languages!
- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 13, 2026, 3:50 PM
So what do the survey results actually mean? Hard to say because so many aspects of my post introduce biases:
• The question being asked in English.
• There only being four choices.
• Who follows me.
• Etc.Maybe: What languages do people speak who read posts written in English?
Aslak Raanesaslakr@mastodon.socialOct 12, 2026, 3:41 PM@rauschma Norwegian
Oct 12, 2026, 3:41 PM@rauschma (Other): Dutch
Oct 12, 2026, 5:11 PM@jwildeboer @rauschma this 👆
Rob JessRob_J@mastodon.socialOct 14, 2026, 12:15 PM@jwildeboer @rauschma I think that's likely true for a large part of the fediverse
António Manuel Diasammdias@masto.ptOct 12, 2026, 3:42 PMOther: Portuguese.
波鉄 (Hatetsu)HaTetsu@mastodon.com.plOct 12, 2026, 3:44 PM@rauschma Polish
Oct 12, 2026, 4:15 PM@rauschma yea you forgot Dutch 😏
Lee from Coloradocolo_lee@mstdn.socialOct 12, 2026, 4:18 PM
FvH 🦣hengstenberg@nrw.socialOct 12, 2026, 4:47 PM@rauschma other: Klingon
- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 12, 2026, 5:01 PM
@hengstenberg Daj, qatlho’!
Irinairina@wandering.shopOct 12, 2026, 5:23 PM@hengstenberg @rauschma There are indeed native speakers of that, who are not Klingons!
Sjaak K. 🇳🇱🇪🇺🍋sjaakkeuvelaar@mastodon.nlOct 12, 2026, 5:41 PM@irina @hengstenberg @rauschma
How did you check if he is not a Klingon?- Irinairina@wandering.shopOct 12, 2026, 5:43 PM
@sjaakkeuvelaar I don't know if that person is a Klingon! I do know that some human children have been brought up as native speakers of Klingon. Who this person may or may not be one of.
@hengstenberg @rauschma 
HighlandLawyerHighlandLawyer@mastodon.socialOct 12, 2026, 11:42 PM@irina @sjaakkeuvelaar @hengstenberg @rauschma
To date, one reported case of a child being brought up to be a native speaker of Klingon. Failed, partly because insufficient pool of others to talk to, partly because the language is not yet developed enough to be used for daily tasks, and partly because the child (Alec Speers) simply refused to continue using the language once he reached about 5 years old.By comparison there are a few thousand native speakers of Esperanto.
Oct 14, 2026, 12:02 PM@sjaakkeuvelaar @irina @hengstenberg @rauschma
The government issued status card.
Oct 12, 2026, 5:08 PM@rauschma I'm English with dual French nationality and speak French (despite a hideous accent). Spent a few years in Germany but never really picked up the language (in my defence, the languages where I worked were English and French). Also learned a spot of Other on the banks of Lago di Como, which was nice!
My daughter speaks all of them, and Dutch. Which is just showing off, really.
- Oct 14, 2026, 12:08 PM
@davep @rauschma
Yeah, really just showing off! :-)
I am hoping to read a few languages, before I die.
I'm trying for german, french and spanish.
And those are most of my internet friends. Greek and Russian/slavik is very hard for me. Unlike e.g. @wim_v12e I don't even try asian langs. Although I really admire korean script. The best ever. - Oct 14, 2026, 12:49 PM
McNeelyMcNeely@indieweb.socialOct 12, 2026, 6:36 PM@rauschma somewhat surprised but maybe I shouldnt be?
Oct 12, 2026, 7:12 PMpotlhbogh wa' Hol neH tu'lu'!
Guy on the runphilleu@mastodon.socialOct 13, 2026, 11:58 AM
Adam van Sertimaadamvs1@mastodon.worldOct 14, 2026, 1:54 PM- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 14, 2026, 2:57 PM
@adamvs1 I had Latin at school and hated it.
Since then:
• I found out that (e.g. in the USA) there are classes where people *speak* Latin. That must make Latin feel much more approachable.
• And I found “Lingua Latina per se Illustrata”. Reading for fun is something we never did in Latin classes. It was always slow and tedious.
Hans Zelf 🇪🇺🌻hans_zelf@mas.toOct 12, 2026, 7:44 PM@rauschma Fluently
datordžeks 🇱🇻datordzeks@toot.lvOct 12, 2026, 7:52 PM@rauschma We are otherians!
Marcos Dionemdione@en.osm.townOct 12, 2026, 9:10 PM@rauschma why? Hundreds of millions speak Spanish, at least, and there are hundreds of other languages in Europe alone.
- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 12, 2026, 9:37 PM
@mdione Apologies for the silly joke: I’m pretending that “Other” is a language.
- Marcos Dionemdione@en.osm.townOct 12, 2026, 11:55 PM
@rauschma ah, I can barely see the emoticon, I can't see what it is or what it's doing :)
Jehan Le DoeBest_parolanto@mastodon.topOct 13, 2026, 8:21 AM
kevin steinmetzlisp1984@mastodon.socialOct 14, 2026, 4:01 PM@Best_parolanto @mdione @rauschma to me french is still a language of science and freedom. german was supposed to be the language of engineering. english, the language of business.
german taught me a lot about english. english is full of latin and greek vocabulary. i hate southern united states hick redneck english.
i met one american whom i thought was from ireland or somewhere in northern europe. he told me he was from kentucky.
i don't know how many dialects of american english there are.
- kevin steinmetzlisp1984@mastodon.socialOct 14, 2026, 4:05 PM
@Best_parolanto @mdione @rauschma i watched a lot of british comedies so i have heard many dialects of english.
too many people "speak" english & i can hardly understand them. if i have to struggle to understand someone in english, i am not likely to pay them much attention.
i give credit to people learning the language & trying to ommunicate. i have met some foriegners with no english. i do my best to interpret them & help them.
i hate hindu english. it is rapidy spoken and heavily accented.
ellohirellohir@mastorol.esOct 12, 2026, 9:40 PM@rauschma I think you can add as many as you want?
- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 12, 2026, 9:50 PM
@ellohir Nice! I can see that poll but I can’t create such a poll myself.
millennial fulcrumfalcennial@mastodon.socialOct 13, 2026, 1:05 AM
SebasFCSebasFC@mastodont.catOct 14, 2026, 5:44 AM- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 14, 2026, 11:39 AM
@SebasFC I don’t think a fixed list of languages for a poll would do, though—there’d always be surprises. Maybe language groups?
- Adam van Sertimaadamvs1@mastodon.worldOct 14, 2026, 1:57 PM
- SebasFCSebasFC@mastodont.catOct 14, 2026, 3:07 PM
- Adam van Sertimaadamvs1@mastodon.worldOct 18, 2026, 10:28 PM
lizzzzardlizzard@social.tchncs.deOct 13, 2026, 2:47 AM
Oct 12, 2026, 10:10 PM@rauschma
It can allow more options, but I believe that that has to be enabled by the instance admin.
Franceska MannFranceskaMann@freeradical.zoneOct 13, 2026, 12:21 AM
mirabilos🐈⬛mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.orgOct 13, 2026, 12:47 PM
MarkMarkBrigham@universeodon.comOct 12, 2026, 11:53 PMI selected English only because it was the closest to my native tongue, which is Minnesotan. Not indigenous Minnesotan, but a variant of American English that is only spoken in Minnesota.
No one from Yorkshire would recognize my language as English; and while I would recognize Yorkshirese as English, I would not comprehend most of it.
veroandiveroandi@mastodon.socialOct 13, 2026, 2:58 PMCreate a poll on Tally allowing multiple choices and share the link here ;)
tiagoxtiagox@indieweb.socialOct 13, 2026, 8:35 PM@rauschma and of course, don't forget about https://sketchplanations.com/sampling-bias
Oct 14, 2026, 5:31 AM@rauschma also that can't be a single choice question. Also define "speaking a language". Still, cool to get at least a glimpse.
- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 14, 2026, 11:35 AM
@zlatko For sure! I was still young and naive when I created that survey. The replies taught me a lot!
For example, it occurred to me that people who use sign languages don’t speak at all. It reminds me of assumptions most of us make about names: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/
- Marcos Dionemdione@en.osm.townOct 14, 2026, 11:56 AM
@rauschma I speak 4, and I can read and maybe listen many more thanks to speaking 3 Latin based (but not Romanian, which could open many more :)
Андрій Носенкоnosenkow@mastodon.socialOct 14, 2026, 12:25 PM@rauschma Ukrainian
Chtixof 🦊🚲🌻🐝Chtixof@mamot.frOct 14, 2026, 12:27 PM@rauschma
10360 answers! Congrats.
Could be a representative pool.
eciceroneecicerone@mastodont.catOct 14, 2026, 1:27 PM@rauschma Catalan 💪
derN🏳️🌈:antifa:dr_hossa23@social.tchncs.deOct 14, 2026, 7:44 PM@rauschma you reached 10000 peolpe, that's something!
Oct 14, 2026, 5:32 PM🤔
Representative sample of users of a federated social network spanning several continents and diverse bubbles.
Interesting.
How would you go about even knowing what is representative?
- Axel Rauschmayerrauschma@fosstodon.orgOct 14, 2026, 6:18 PM
@dj3ei Indeed one of many challenges! Others: How would people name their languages? How would you combine different names for the same language? Etc.
The bubbles are what make the Fediverse so exciting! IIRC, there is a large Japanese bubble whose servers use Japanese software.
A post by the official Mastodon channel would help somewhat but would probably still mostly reach a Western audience.
- Oct 14, 2026, 7:35 PM
Yes!
Also: What counts as two different languages, what doesn't? USA and British versions of English, German and Austrian versions of German, Platt as spoken in parts of Northern Germany and Dutch and Afrikaans (afaik, speakers of those three can mostly comprehent each other, but my knowledge of this is sketchy).