Perhaps they are counting only those who are fluent in the language?
So far, with the exception of a smattering of Arabic, I've never learnt any non-Indo-European language. I find I can see some threads of similarity between various Indo-European languages which make it easier to pick up. What about you?
not just indo european but strictly western european languages for me. I’m not fluent in any language other than english. I was at one time able to read german fluently but I was never able to use it verbally beyond a few common sayings and expressions. I have picked up some spanish out of necessity and simply by being around it so much. I studied french in highschool. I had italian friends as a youngster who taught me italian but I do not remember hardly any of it. They spoke italian inside their house quite a bit so I had to learn it when I was in their house, which was quite often. When I was very small, my great grandfather spoke german, yiddish, and swedish and my dad says I used to know some of the german but I can’t remember it now. I dated a girl at one time who taught me norweigan but I do not remember it(god morgan means good morning and that’s all I can remember at the moment). My mother’s father spoke danish but I never picked up more than a handful of words. “dobberkris” means brick maker or brick layer...I have no idea why that just popped into my head.
All these things that I do not remember any more...sometimes they come back to me out of the blue when I’m not trying to remember. But if I try to remember, I can’t remember. it is very irritating. When I try to converse with hispanic people, I tend to accidentally mix in french and italian words without realizing it.
The only non western european language I’ve ever tried to learn even a little bit of was vietnamese. After about 50 words I decided that was a waste of my time. I’m sorry, but vietnamese has got to be one of the stupidest languages on the planet. I don’t mean to insult vietnamese people because I know they are very smart... but this is my honest opinion. That language is pathetic. Its not much more than a complex series of grunts. There is a limited choice of pronouns to choose from, tense is not dealt with properly, and the rising or falling tone of your voice is more important to the meaning of words than syllables are. It is a ridiculous language.
And now I have a better understanding why south east asians have such a hard time learning english. ITs because their brains do not understand pronouns and tense.
Here’s an example...the pronoun “anh” is the equivalent of he, him, it, you, his, me(and I think mine and my, I can’t remember now)...all wrapped up into one word. I’m sorry but that is just not a real language in my opinion. My dog has a language as complex as that. The female equivalent is “em”...and means she, her, it, you, hers me(and maybe mine and my).