PSYC 51 · April 30, 2026

Language in Our Class

In-class survey · 143 participants · 7 activities
143
Participants
7
Activities
127
Avg. responses / activity
—
Languages identified
Q1 · Open-ended · 213 responses · 107 participants

What languages do you use or know?

Responses normalized and de-duplicated per person.

English varieties
Spanish varieties
Other languages
Language frequency by unique speakers.

Typos fixed · Español → Spanish · English dialect qualifiers (American, California, British, Singapore) collapsed to English · Chinese → Mandarin · De-duplicated per respondent · Non-language responses removed · African American English, Spanglish, Chinglish, Taishanese, Taiwanese preserved as distinct

Q2 · Multiple choice · 117 responses · 106 participants

How many languages are currently used today?

4,000–8,000 was chosen by 40% of respondents and is the closest to current estimates.

The commonly cited estimate is ~7,000 languages (Ethnologue / Glottolog), placing 4,000–8,000 as the best answer, highlighted in purple. 78% of respondents chose either that range or >10,000.

Q3 · Multiple choice · 140 responses · 111 participants

If you use more than one language, when did you learn or start using your additional language(s)?

Over half learned their additional language as a baby or toddler.
Q4 · Multiple choice · 125 responses · 125 participants

Have you used language technologies (GenAI, speech recognition, autocorrect…) in languages other than English?

60% have used non-English language technology at least occasionally.

60% have used language tech in a non-English language at least occasionally.
Q5 · Multiple choice · 99 responses · 87 participants

How would you describe that non-English language technology experience?

Only 5% found it as good or better than using similar technology in English.

50% found it usable with minor imperfections; only 5% found it as good as English.
Q6 · Multiple choice · 111 responses · 111 participants

Have you ever participated in a language experiment or study?

59% yes, 41% no.
59%
have participated in a language study
66 of 111 respondents
In what language was that study conducted?
Q7 · Open-ended · 86 responses · 76 participants

If you participated in a language study, what language was it conducted in?

—
languages
in class
→
7
languages
in studies
This class represents remarkable linguistic breadth — yet the studies most of you have participated in were conducted in just 7 languages, with English alone accounting for over 80% of all study instances. The gap visualized below updates when you toggle varieties in Q1.
Language distribution: this class vs. studies attended
Percentage of total language instances · class figures update with the Q1 variety toggle
English dominates the study distribution far more than in this class.
English
Spanish
Hindi
French
Mandarin
All others
Languages of studies attended — full breakdown
81 language instances from 78 valid respondents · N/A and opt-out responses excluded
English (66) and Spanish (8) account for 91% of all study language instances.

N/A responses (7) and "I said no" (1) excluded. Typos normalized (Englis→English, Jpanease→Japanese). Combined responses ("English and French," "Japanese and JSL," "Translating Spanish and English words") split into individual language instances. JSL = Japanese Sign Language.