How many languages do you know?

This will be a little different than my previous postings, but it has been something that I have been thinking about a lot.  Upon moving to Norway, I only knew English, and as of right now still only know English fluently.  I have a small basis in French, but far from being bi-lingual.  When I talked to the people from Norway, they said this won’t be a problem, most of the population knows English anyways.  Interesting, a country that although may not be fully bi-lingual in Norwegian and English, but very proficient in English.
As an international student here, my first couple weeks I got to know all the international students.  They come from all over the world; Russia, Germany, Poland, Ghana, Denmark, Bulgaria, Finland, Spain and so on and so forth.  You would think this would be difficult, because we would all know different languages.  Well I am here to tell you it is extremely easy.  They all speak English, and quite well.  It is very easy to have a conversation with any of them, at any point.  I have yet to run into a Norwegian who cannot speak to me in some form of English.

So I started thinking to myself, am I the only international student who knows 1 language.  My fellow Canadian who is studying here cannot even bail me out; she is fluent in French and English.  So this past week, I finally realized that I am the only international student who knows 1 language.

Now, to be honest if you are going to know 1 language, English is a good one to know. You have probably figured it out that you will be able to communicate, or at least get help when needed no matter where you are in the world.  But to me this is not a good enough reason to stop at 1 language.  When I return from Norway (if I do :) ), I will make it a goal of mine to learn a second language.  If I stay in Canada, French would probably be a good one.  I am trying my hardest to pick up Norwegian, but as my students will attest to, I SUCK at the pronunciation of most words.  Oh well, all I can do is give it my best shot, and keep on trying.  But at some point in my life, I will be bi-lingual!

I just threw this picture in cause I thought it was a pretty shot of some of the local scenary.