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Started by ReanimateMagnus, June 05, 2011, 11:35:08 PM

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ReanimateMagnus

How many languages do you speak? (English)
Wie viele Sprachen sprechen Sie? (German)
あなたはどの言語を話しますか? (Japanese)

Which languages are you learning? (English)
Quelles sont les langues d'apprentissage vous? (French)
哪些语言你是否想学吗? (Chinese)

Malina coerced me into created this thread.

Malina

*laughs* Muahahaa, meet the terrible Malina, who wields such formidable powers of coercion she can pressure helpless innocents into opening multilingual chat threads.  ;D

Right, so, I guess I should switch into German, now?

Ich spreche eigentlich nur eine Sprache fließend, und zwar Deutsch, mein Englisch ist ganz okay, aber mein bißchen Französisch ist so schlecht, daß es an eine stümperhafte Metzelei dieser eigentlich sehr schönen Sprache grenzt, wenn ich mich an einer Unterhaltung auf französisch versuche. Mein Latein ist sogar noch schlechter als mein Französisch. *lacht* Von anderen Sprachen kenne ich nur kleine Bruchstücke, einzelne Worte oder Sätze, vielleicht ein paar Lieder.


ReanimateMagnus

Ich habe auch, kenne nur eine Sprache, und das ist Englisch. Deutsch Ich habe seit über 2 Jahren studiert, als ich im College war. Ich habe studierte Französisch als ich in der Grundschule war.

Malina

Französisch schon in der Grundschule (primary school)? Hast Du vielleicht in Frankreich gelebt?

Kuroneko

Watashi wa nihon-go o hanashimasu. 

An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?   Just learning, though.  I'm pretty bad at it, lol.


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ReanimateMagnus

@Malina Sie haben Französisch und Deutsch als Optionen in der High School. Ich habe noch nie außerhalb der USA gegangen.

@Kuroneko Watashi wa anata no bunshō ga konran shite imasu.

Malina

@ReanimateMagnus  -  Ah, ich verstehe, Grundschule, das sind hier die ersten vier Schuljahre, die High School nennen wir allgemein weiterführende Schule, denn davon gibt es hier verschiedene Formen (Gesamtschule, Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium).

@ Kuroneko  -  Dia dhuit! Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú? ... And that's about all the Irish I know.  ;D

ReanimateMagnus

Ja, ich war nicht sicher, was es wirklich nennen.

Lilias

Five, with any degree of proficiency. Native Greek, near-native English, licenced to teach French, close to licence level Spanish, decent Italian.

If dabbling counts, the list grows exponentially to include Latin (pretty drilled into me at school, but I'm way out of practice), Japanese, Russian (one and two years of classes respectively, but a long time ago), Portuguese (half a year of online study) and Scots Gaelic (some self-study).

Languages are my obsession. I don't know if the list will have more items added (I do want to learn Turkish one day, though, as well as make use of my Philo-Celtic Society membership), but I definitely want to pick up some of the less-studied ones again.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

Malefique

Native English, French, Russian, Latin, Anglo-saxon, Old and Middle English (and if you don't think those count as separate languages  go try reading some), smatterings of Japanese, Italian, Spanish and German.  And I can say rude things in Cantonese and Urdu; I believe it is vitally important to be able to swear multilingually. 
Everything is true.  God's an astronaut.  Oz is over the rainbow, and Midian is where the monsters live.

Elina


ReanimateMagnus

Quote from: Lilias on June 06, 2011, 03:18:26 AMlicenced to teach French
J'essaie d'apprendre le français. Comment est-il si loin?

Jag

I speak English.
Je parle un peu français. (I haven't used it in...forever, so please don't test me...I probably even got that sentence wrong)
I'm also in the middle of learning American Sign Language. It might not be verbal, but it's still a language.
Ons/Offs // Request Thread (Updated 3/10/24) // Slow to Reply at the Moment

ReanimateMagnus

Quote from: Michi No Sora on June 06, 2011, 09:49:29 AM
I'm also in the middle of learning American Sign Language. It might not be verbal, but it's still a language.
My wife knows this, it's pretty cool.

Avis habilis

My native language is English. Lorsque j'habitais le Canada, j'etais traducteur (du francais vers l'anglais, ca va sans dire). I ought to learn Schweizerdeutsch since our company's home office is in Zurich. Or just German because I dig Mittelalter music. I've forgotten almost all my Russian, Irish & Klingon.

I can pick up enough of a language to order lunch in about a week of total immersion, which consternates Mrs h to no end because she's never had much luck with languages.

Jag

Quote from: ReanimateMagnus on June 06, 2011, 10:00:57 AM
My wife knows this, it's pretty cool.

I started learning it because of my daughter. She isn't deaf, but she doesn't speak very well yet and a lot of her words sound the same. She loves Signing Time anyway, so we picked up a bunch of the DVDs from the library and we're learning it together. It's been very useful. Since her 'Eat' sounds a lot like her 'Feet', she's gotten used to saying 'Eat' while making the sign so that we know what she's wanting. Same with 'More' and 'Ball' and 'Milk'. She even signs when she calls the dog. She says 'Allie!' while making the sign for 'Dog'. Some signs she can't get her fingers to make (like 'Water' or 'Fish'), but we've learned her little makeshift signs for them and a few others.

I also like her learning it because she has a deaf girl in her Sunday School class that she likes to play with. I think it'll be good for her to know it and be able to communicate with her as they get older.
Ons/Offs // Request Thread (Updated 3/10/24) // Slow to Reply at the Moment

ReanimateMagnus

My wife probably learned it for a less noble reason. In high school she wanted to learn how to speak without talking to her friends across the classroom.

Jag

Might not be a 'noble' reason, but she learned it. I only took French because my parents said I had to take a language and I knew the teacher was an easy grader. >.>
Ons/Offs // Request Thread (Updated 3/10/24) // Slow to Reply at the Moment

Valerian

I am an incorrigible dabbler in languages.  Aside from English, my best language is German, and though I read it fairly well, my composition is terrible.  Ditto for French, though it's been longer since I really practiced that.

Languages I've dabbled in, in rough order from best to worst, include Russian, Spanish, ASL, Latin, and Hungarian.  Russian was because of a friend who has a master's in Russian literature and and got me interested; Spanish because of my Peruvian sister-in-law; ASL because we had a regular customer at the bookstore where I worked for many years who was deaf; Latin because, well, it's Latin; and Hungarian because I was temporarily insane.  Er, that is, I saw a new language class on offer and signed up without realizing that it was so hard.

Szia.  A nevem Val.  Beszelek magyarul.

This means, "Hello.  My name is Val.  I speak Hungarian."  Except I can't get a whole lot farther than that.  :P
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Avis habilis

Quote from: Valerian on June 06, 2011, 10:45:22 AM
...and Hungarian because I was temporarily insane.  ...

Speaking of language craziness, we had a friend who started learning Hebrew because her wife is Jewish. She said it was for recreation. Says I, "so you're learning a language with no vowels ... that you read backward ... to relax?"

Caeli

I love languages. :) I pick up languages really easily, even without formal instruction, and I just really enjoy learning new vocabulary and new ways of speaking and the different sounds.

My first language was Chinese, but I'm more fluent in English. I am conversationally fluent in two dialects in Chinese, though one is more fluent than the other, and my writing and reading skills are pretty dismal.  I know a smattering of Japanese, but it has fallen into disuse.  I've picked up some Korean (a combination of having lots of Korean friends and watching a lot of Korean dramas), can barely recall the French I learned in high school, and I know some ASL. Picked it up because my community service group signs songs, and as we learned new songs, I've learned new words. :P Also learned phrases here and there out of interest and curiosity. :)

I someday desire to be fluent in all that I mentioned above, and I hope to add Spanish and Italian to the list someday.
ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀғʟɪᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ɢᴏᴅ's ᴘʀᴏᴏғ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴛ ʟɪғᴇ
ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇʟʏ ᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ғᴏʀ ɴᴇᴡ ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏs

ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ❋ ғᴏʀ ɪᴅᴇᴀs; 'ø' ғᴏʀ ᴏɴs&ᴏғғs, ᴏʀ ᴘᴍ ᴍᴇ.
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HockeyGod

I speak English as my first language.

I lived in Moscow in high school for 6 months and took the language for 4 years in high school and 2 years in college. As such...

Я говорю по-русский.
I speak Russian.

I really want to learn Spanish, French, and ASL.

grdell

I only speak my native language, American English - as of right now. I took three years of Spanish when I was in high school, but seeing as how that was twenty years ago now, I can safely say that I've forgotten most of what I learned there. I have been independently studying Latin just because I think it's cool. The one that I really want to learn, though, is German. My family's from Germany, but my grandfather stopped speaking it because they were "in America now." So he never taught his children, so I never learned either. But I want to learn it and some day go to Germany and see where my family came from. Until that day, however, I am a pathetic unilingual. Even though I do speak my native language better than average. Does that count for anything? ;)
"A million people can call the mountains a fiction, yet it need not trouble you as you stand atop them." ~XKCD

My Kinsey Scale rating: 4; and what that means in terms of my gender identity. My pronouns: he/him.

My Ons and Offs, current stories, story ideas, Apologies and Absences - Updated 28 Jan 2024.

Jag

Quote from: grdell on June 06, 2011, 01:12:19 PM
I only speak my native language, American English - as of right now. I took three years of Spanish when I was in high school, but seeing as how that was twenty years ago now, I can safely say that I've forgotten most of what I learned there. I have been independently studying Latin just because I think it's cool. The one that I really want to learn, though, is German. My family's from Germany, but my grandfather stopped speaking it because they were "in America now." So he never taught his children, so I never learned either. But I want to learn it and some day go to Germany and see where my family came from. Until that day, however, I am a pathetic unilingual. Even though I do speak my native language better than average. Does that count for anything? ;)

My great-grandpa was the same way about German. While he still yelled it when he got angry, he never taught it to his children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren (me being one of those) because he was 'an American' now.

We were offered German in high school (Spanish, French, German, and Latin), but I only took the French. I kind of regret it. I would like to learn German one day too.
Ons/Offs // Request Thread (Updated 3/10/24) // Slow to Reply at the Moment

Valerian

While I do have a certain knack for languages -- I'm good at picking up accents, and after a week in Peru, I was understanding far more Spanish than I would ever have expected -- I didn't inherit my great-grandfather's skill, sadly.  Aside from English and the three main Scandinavian languages, he also knew German, Dutch, French, Finnish, Polish, and several of the Algonquin languages -- I think Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Fox.  As a child, my father would go around visiting with him, and at each neighbor's house, my grandfather would switch easily to whatever language might be native there.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

ReanimateMagnus

I watch a lot of asian tv. Like dramas and whatnot and I can easily detect if it's Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Chinese and whatnot. If you ever need recommendations on live action tv shows from that area send me a PM ^^

Hemingway

I keep running into people asking me, "you're sort a language person, aren't you?". I don't really know why.

My first language is Norwegian. When I was a little boy, I was fluent in Hungarian, and this summer I'll be taking a month-long course in Hungary. I speak English fluently. I also know some German, as I was required to take a third language in school. Despite learning it for five years, I was never particularly good at it. I also took Arabic one semester, but despite it being an interesting and beautiful language, I decided to switch majors.

Oniya

I speak English (native tongue),  My German is better for reading than speaking, although I can usually tell if the subtitles/overdub is 'wrong' or 'reasonably close' on History Channel/MHC documentaries.  I found myself able to comprehend more Spanish than I thought I could, when the little Oni lost the English part of the owner's manual for her DVD player.  When I was attending Catholic Mass, I used to follow along with the Latin text while everyone else was doing the English, especially with the hymns.  That was mostly to mess with my kid sister, who couldn't stand that I'd also do the high harmonies instead of the main melody line.   O:)

I also have a fair collection of dictionaries, and have used them to get the gist of things in French, Welsh, Gaelic, and Greek (non-Romanized).  The Cherokee and Dakota dictionaries don't get as much use.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Saerrael

Dutch, English, German, French, Sanskrit and Latin.

Dutch is my native language.
English is my second.
German and French are rusty.
Sanskrit and Latin are... eer... even worse.. v.v

Wyrd

English and and some Finnish.(My family is from Finland and I still go back there from time to time)

My wife keeps trying to teach me some Mandarin, but I'm just... terrible. 
Ragtime Dandies!

Silverfyre

As I am originally from Canada and French-Canadian on my father's side, I grew up in a bilingual house hold for some part of my childhood due to my paternal grandparents.  My native first language technically is French as I spoke it first and English at a close second.  I don't know about the validity of that statement but that was always what my grandmother said.  I moved the States when I was five and thus lost that side of my lingual heritage until I was in high school and enrolled in French for three years.

So, I speak fluent English (I teach it on some levels) and a bit of French.  I read it better than I speak it but I could get by in say, Canada.  I can say a few sentences in German and understand some of the composition but I am still learning it and would love to get back into it.  I'm hardly a linguist though and the learning process of languages tends to be hard for me.  ~Shrugs~ My brain just isn't wired for it, I guess.

Although, I have been thinking of getting that "Rosetta Stone" program to brush up on my French.


ReanimateMagnus

Quote from: Silverfyre on June 07, 2011, 12:08:47 AM
Although, I have been thinking of getting that "Rosetta Stone" program to brush up on my French.
I was thinking about getting this too.

Malina

@ Silverfyre - Have you considered to try learning a language with a different approach? It can make all the difference. In comparison to later, I used to be pretty bad (average) at languages back in school when it all was 'start small and slow, continue systematically, learn the grammar, the vocabulary and simple sentences step by step', even though I've got an ear and a talent for language(s). I need to plunge right in, as far and deep as possible, and learn the grammar etc. in the context of the language, of complete texts. Then, it all comes naturally. My English, for example, in school, it wasn't good, in university, a few years later, when I took some English, I was suddenly among the best in every course, and about as fluent as I'm now. All that improvement came from nothing but my reading English novels for entertainment. Generally, I do a lot better with complex structures and things that challenge my mind than with things served in small bits and easy lessons. Maybe your difficulty with learning languages is similar, and rather a result of the methods with which they're usually taught?

Jag

Quote from: Silverfyre on June 07, 2011, 12:08:47 AM
Although, I have been thinking of getting that "Rosetta Stone" program to brush up on my French.

The hubby uses Rosetta Stone for his Dutch. He hasn't finished the program yet due to work schedules and what not, but it seems to work for him. They run sales on the software every now and then. I know last year they put it on sale for Valentines Day. I haven't been emailed about any this year though.
Ons/Offs // Request Thread (Updated 3/10/24) // Slow to Reply at the Moment

Lilias

I'm not personally familiar with the Rosetta Stone software, but I do remember Linguaphone doing a brisk trade in Greece for as far back as I can remember, so they must be doing something right. ;)
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

HairyHeretic

My native language is English. I did varying ammounts of Irish, German and Japanese, but can't remember more than a few words in them. I can stumble through a holidays worth of French, if they don't mind simple sentences. I curse fluently in Klingon. I'd be interested in learning Chinese.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Kendra

Dia dhuit a chairde, is mise Kendra agus táim ina chonaí in Eireann. Ba mhaith liom E go mór agus na cairde a rinne mé anseo.

I speak only English and Irish, though I have phrases in French and Italian that I use ... for specific occasions - mainly to do with food  ;D

Silverfyre

I have tried a few different approaches to learning languages but I am leaning more towards Rosetta Stone and possibly even just spending a summer in Quebec or doing "total immersion" one of these days into a foreign speaking culture.  That might be the best method for me as it was how I did learn French initially. ~Shrugs~


Caeli

I support the full immersion method. After I returned from my summer visits to my relatives in China, I always noticed that my diction and vocabulary were dramatically improved.
ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀғʟɪᴇs ᴀʀᴇ ɢᴏᴅ's ᴘʀᴏᴏғ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴛ ʟɪғᴇ
ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇʟᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇʟʏ ᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ғᴏʀ ɴᴇᴡ ʀᴏʟᴇᴘʟᴀʏs

ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ❋ ғᴏʀ ɪᴅᴇᴀs; 'ø' ғᴏʀ ᴏɴs&ᴏғғs, ᴏʀ ᴘᴍ ᴍᴇ.
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Wyrd

I'm heading to China in a few months with my wife to be to get to know her family their. I'm having so much trouble learning it and speaking and even reading it. I'm just now getting used to how different certain hand gestures are(like counting with fingers). 
Ragtime Dandies!

Silverfyre

Quote from: Caeli on June 07, 2011, 03:06:22 PM
I support the full immersion method. After I returned from my summer visits to my relatives in China, I always noticed that my diction and vocabulary were dramatically improved.

I wish I had the money to travel over to France but Quebec is close enough and that's the dialect of French I am most familiar with.  I'll put it on my "long overdue" list of things I want to do.


NotoriusBEN

Good and bad english >.>;;

I can read smaterings of spanish, french, german. I understand most of what you guys were talking about in german in the beginning of the thread, but there's a few words im lost on.

I can order food at a japanese restaurant, in japanese.

I've got that Rosetta Stone thing for japanese, and its cool. Just need to self motivate to do it everyday. (Im not a self starter :S )

Oniya

I have been told that Quebecois is somewhat different from Parisian French, much the same way that Mexican Spanish is different from Castilian Spanish. 

Does Yiddish count as a language?  Because my inlaws (and specifically, my mother-in-law's friends) have a tendency to sprinkle Yiddish into conversations when they want to be 'secret'.  I broke down one day when one started doing it in front of me:  I said 'Sprechen Sie nichts, dass Sie wollen mich nicht horen.'* and she jumped a good six inches.


Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
*'Don't say anything that you don't want me to hear,' roughly, anyways.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Noelle

#43
Ben le français canadien est beaucoup plus différent du français parisien, au moins de l'accent et si je me rappelle correctement je crois que les quebecois peut-être mal supportent (et vice versa bien sûr) l'autre...Le français canadien me semble d'utiliser plus d'anglicismes, mais ils n'ont rien tant comme l'Académie :)

Rosetta Stone is okay, but it fails to teach solid communicative skills to actually carry a conversation or express your opinion. Nothing is a substitute with interaction with natives or full-on immersion. If you can find a local language group or even better, a language exchange (where you speak to someone trying to learn English for X amount of time, then you must shift the conversation to their language/your target language for X amount of time...they're usually really casual), your odds of developing fluency are much greater.

The only sentence I remember from my year of experience with Rosetta stone is zai zhuo zi xia mian de yi ge nan hair (with appropriate pinyin in there somewhere), which is hardly enough to get me around :P

Oniya

Quote from: Noelle on June 07, 2011, 05:44:40 PM
Ben le français canadien est beaucoup plus différent du français parisien, au moins de l'accent et si je me rappelle correctement je crois que les quebecois peut-être mal supportent (et vice versa bien sûr) l'autre...Le français canadien me semble d'utiliser plus d'anglicismes, mais ils n'ont rien tant comme l'Académie :)

That's what I thought.  ;)
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

HockeyGod

Quote from: Caeli on June 07, 2011, 03:06:22 PM
I support the full immersion method. After I returned from my summer visits to my relatives in China, I always noticed that my diction and vocabulary were dramatically improved.

I concur, I also found that I began thinking in the language when I was immersed in it.

Noelle

Quote from: Oniya on June 07, 2011, 05:51:59 PM
That's what I thought.  ;)

Reminds me of a little tidbit of news lately, that a group in France has put the kibosh on using 'Twitter' and 'Facebook' in news reporting -- not necessarily for the anglicisms but for the sake of fairness to other social media competitors :P

On that tangent, I always chuckle when I see anyone use courriel rather than just saying e-mail (Really? you mean mél wasn't good enough either?!), especially in Paris...Gasp, is the Académie really resorting to quebecois-ismes to save themselves from the evil English invasion?! One subject that interests me especially is the invasion of Maghreb and Arabic words into the French language, amongst others...kiffer is such a great verb, along with kif-kif...the rest are escaping me at the moment...

Vekseid

I've taken two years each of French and Japanese. I've forgotten most of them, though.

Langueduchatte


Vous devez m'excuser si je fais des trompes gramatiques ou orthographes...Il y a une fois quand je parlais francais presque couramment, quand j'habitais a Paris mais...maintenant... j'ai oublie tous la vocabulaire, la grammaire... et patati et patata.  C'est vachement difficile quand on habite dans un pays anglophone.  Il n y a pas assez des francophones pour maintenir le meme niveau de competence, et j'ai honte d'admettre, je n'essaye plus.  A vrai dire, je me debrouille, c'est tout.


But it's a lovely language (and can be very sexy too...)


I've got some (very) basic Spanish
And some would say equally basic English ( ;D )
And I try to have a minimum of "yes, no, please, thankyou" and a lot of mime language when I go to somewhere where I don't speak the language.  It gives people a laugh...


L

Oniya

There are two essential phrases to know:

Where is the bathroom?
I don't speak _______.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

ReanimateMagnus

Quote from: Oniya on June 08, 2011, 11:00:40 AM
There are two essential phrases to know:

Where is the bathroom?
I don't speak _______.

Yeah, miming "where is the bathroom" is generally a rude expression

Langueduchatte

QuoteYeah, miming "where is the bathroom" is generally a rude expression

Yup, but like I say - it gives them a laugh!

Kuroneko


I have Rosetta stone for Japanese as well and it was incredibly helpful to prep for both times I went to Japan. 
Ons & Offs//Requests//Where is the Black Cat?
Current Posting Time - Once a Week or More

"One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art" ~ Oscar Wilde
"I dream of painting and then I paint my dream" ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Maelyn

I am a native American English speaker and can get by in French.  I used to be pretty good in French, but lack of use has made me quite rusty.  I have visited and lived in France, though, and was even told at one point that I have a 'jolie accent americaine' (a pretty American accent). 


I've also studied Spanish, but it's rusty as hell.  I can comprehend more than I can speak and even that isn't much.  I also took a semester of Italian, but most of my comprehension there is more based of it's similarity to French and Spanish than the class I took.


But, I do have a list around here of how to say "I love you" in about 21 different languages.  I collected it during a summer when I took courses in France.  We had a lot of international students there.  I remember a few of them even now.  It was interesting to gather, though.


Oh, and I also have been taught to say really naughty things in Swedish and Norwegian.  Though I've forgotten almost all of it now, I do have it written down as well...somewhere.  *giggles*

Oniya

Quote from: Maelyn on June 14, 2011, 01:33:43 AM
But, I do have a list around here of how to say "I love you" in about 21 different languages.  I collected it during a summer when I took courses in France.  We had a lot of international students there.  I remember a few of them even now.  It was interesting to gather, though.

Jeez, we were pretty juvenile when the exchange students came around.  We only got them to teach us how to cuss.   ::) 
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Maelyn

Quote from: Oniya on June 14, 2011, 01:46:00 AM
Jeez, we were pretty juvenile when the exchange students came around.  We only got them to teach us how to cuss.   ::) 

Oh, I did that too!  But I thought it was an interesting list to have nonetheless.  *grins*

ReanimateMagnus

Quote from: Oniya on June 14, 2011, 01:46:00 AM
Jeez, we were pretty juvenile when the exchange students came around.  We only got them to teach us how to cuss.   ::)

Really our exchange student was from Germany and she was so beautiful all the guys went and took German to get to know her better.

Avis habilis

Heh. Ours was a Brooke Shields lookalike from Brazil. You've never seen so many guys despairing over not having any way to learn Portuguese. (Once they figured out there was no such language as "Brazilian".)

ReanimateMagnus

Quote from: Avis habilis on June 14, 2011, 08:04:15 AM
Heh. Ours was a Brooke Shields lookalike from Brazil. You've never seen so many guys despairing over not having any way to learn Portuguese. (Once they figured out there was no such language as "Brazilian".)
Yeah I first found out that Brazilians spoke Portuguese was from the movie The Incredible Hulk when Bruce found himself there and tried to speak Spanish and the guy goes. "Sorry I don't speak Spanish" so he switched over to Portuguese.

gaggedLouise

#59
I guess I'm a polyglot. Fully fluent in Swedish, English, French, Danish, Norwegian. The Nordic languages are pretty much mutually intelligible, at least if you've grown up in a border region; there was a great deal of watching Danish TV and so on when I was a kid, I still do sometimes, and as they -like us - subtitle stuff it helped things trickle in: you got it spoken in English or Swedish plus the subbed (almost-)translation. They even subtitled rock songs, which is wisely never done on Swedish tv, so we'd get some rather zany and over-literate translations.

No trouble reading German, able to make myself understood speaking the tongue but not always keen to - it's one I only studied briefly at school, really picked up later on my own and on travels, and I'm not very safe on the cases and genders of words which affect endings, prepositions and so on, all around phrases. I might do something to dust that up.

Rudimentary knowledge (tourist talk/reading the papers a bit) of Spanish and Italian.

Would want to learn Russian and classical Greek. Russian especially - being able to read Dostoevsky in the original and to make myslef understood on a visit to Moscow would be very cool.


Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Lilias

Quote from: gaggedLouise on June 14, 2011, 09:44:24 AM
I guess I'm a polyglot. Fully fluent in Swedish, English, French, Danish, Norwegian (the Nordic languages are pretty much mutually intelligible, at least if you've grown up in a border region; there was a great deal of watching Danish TV and so on when I was a kid, I still do sometimes, and as they -like us - subtitle stuff it helped things trickle in: you got it spoken in English or Swedish plus the subbed (almost-)translation). They even subtitled rock songs, which is wisely never done on Swedish tv, so we'd get some rather zany and over-literate translations.

I knew a girl on another forum, a Norwegian studying in Denmark, who used to say that Danish sounded like Norwegian with a potato stuck into her cheek. I know better than ask other people to verify that, though. :P

Quote from: gaggedLouise on June 14, 2011, 09:44:24 AM
Would want to learn Russian and classical Greek. Russian especially - being able to read Dostoevsky in the original and to make myslef understood on a visit to Moscow would be very cool.

That's exactly what got me started in learning languages - wanting to read literature in the original. Even at 10 I knew a lousy translation when I saw it, and didn't want to depend on them.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

Valerian

Bad translations make me ache.   :(  The one thing I was really good at when I was at the height of my ability in French was translating French poetry into English.  Based on that, the professor tried to persuade me to switch my English major to French, until she realized how bad I was at translating English into French.  :P

I once sat down to watch The Thirteenth Warrior with a friend of mine who spoke fluent German.  When the characters started speaking in Old Norse, he blinked, stared at the TV for a while, then exclaimed, "I can understand that!"  It was just close enough that he could catch every second or third word and work out what they were saying.  And it matched what the characters should have been saying; I always wonder if filmmakers bother about that when they're not even providing subtitles, which they weren't in this instance.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

gaggedLouise

#62
Yeah, Norway used to be a Danish dependency for hundreds of years - and then in personal union with Sweden in the 19th century (the same kings), but by then nationalism had woken up so the country was never culturally or economically overrun by Sweden. In the Danish-dominated era, the educated classes, even the Church, became half-Danish in speech and habits. They really have two varieties of their language now, clearly separate but still mutually intelligible: Danefied Norwegian (bokmål, "book tongue") and landsmål ("country tongue"), a revived and partly invented form of the countryside dialects that hadn't been used a great deal in writing before the 19th century. Bokmål is 90% like Danish, except a slightly different, softer pronunciation. Landsmål has lots of words distinct from it, but it's still recognizably the same language. So book tongue is easier if one is from another Nordic country but the country spech goes down too without too much trouble - at least if you like languages, and I do.

I love French, and I've worked professionally in it, even done translation work, but it's not easy. I didn't really get along in it until I was able to spend some time in France in the summers, and I remember how frustrated I felt the first time I went because it seemed (to me) that my way of speaking and acting shouted "tourist, foreigner". It didn't matter that there was a whole class of Swedes around and that there were thousands of tourists from other countries in town too. Bewildered, of course: stage fright or something. At that point i had studied it for three years at school, with top grades, but arriving in France made me feel both fascinated and a bit cowed. I badly wanted to grow into that country and that language, but it took years of hard efforts and of cutting loose on some things. It's probably the same with Japan or Russia.

Quote from: LiliasI knew a girl on another forum, a Norwegian studying in Denmark, who used to say that Danish sounded like Norwegian with a potato stuck into her cheek. I know better than ask other people to verify that, though

It's not a bad characterization actually. Danish does sound a bit slurred, lots of diphtongs, and theý have this throaty "thump" sound that's a regular below some vowels; it produces that funny kind of potato effect. The sound quality of Danish doesn't work great in rock music, but it works excellently in hardboiled, gritty police thrillers. With Swedish it's the opposite: good musical language, sturdy, savoury, clear and melodic, works for both classical, folk and rock, but not that great for crime fiction. At least not often on tv and in the movies.  ;D

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

gaggedLouise

I remember this Danish tv cop thriller where a cop said about a guy who had disappeared in a spate of mob infighting "Ja men så er han garanteret död" ("Okay, but then he's guaranteed to be dead/it's a no-brainer that he's dead"). The final word, "dead", had that thump sound in the vowel. It sounded like a very convincing tough-guy line, and the use of "guaranteed" made you jump a bit. In Swedish it would never have worked, it would have come out inane.

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Oniya

Quote from: Valerian on June 14, 2011, 10:21:12 AM
I once sat down to watch The Thirteenth Warrior with a friend of mine who spoke fluent German.  When the characters started speaking in Old Norse, he blinked, stared at the TV for a while, then exclaimed, "I can understand that!"  It was just close enough that he could catch every second or third word and work out what they were saying.  And it matched what the characters should have been saying; I always wonder if filmmakers bother about that when they're not even providing subtitles, which they weren't in this instance.

I watched 'A Clockwork Orange' with someone who'd had several years of Russian.  She understood Nadsat faster than I did.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Lilias

Quote from: gaggedLouise on June 14, 2011, 10:56:59 AM
In Swedish it would never have worked, it would have come out inane.

Is that why there are so many Swedish crime writers? Shine in the written word because it would never work in the spoken kind? ;)
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

Valerian

Quote from: Oniya on June 14, 2011, 12:17:41 PM
I watched 'A Clockwork Orange' with someone who'd had several years of Russian.  She understood Nadsat faster than I did.
Horror show!  :D  My Russian teacher mentioned that film in one of our classes.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Oniya

Yeah, I was puzzling over the connection between horror movies and 'something good' and she's all "хорошо!'  Not that horror movies aren't something good, but it's not all that intuitive a connection.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

gaggedLouise

#68
Quote from: Lilias on June 14, 2011, 02:56:27 PM
Is that why there are so many Swedish crime writers? Shine in the written word because it would never work in the spoken kind? ;)

There are lots of subpar Swedish crime writers that ship horsecarts of books at home but whom you guys never get to read, because they are nowhere near a Stieg Larsson or a Maj Sjöwall/Per Wahlöö. C:)  ;D Stieg Larsson was a true original, and a really racy writer. Not sure if he was a great mystery constructor but he sure knew how to create his own thing with style. There aren't many like him.

But yes, I'll give it that the good ones of Swedish crime novels are better these days than local crime tv and cop movies. For some years it felt as if every film director or screen writer here wanted to do a Scarface or a The Wire set in Stockholm. And they so don't - it comes out stiff and unconvincing. Well, the Millennium movies here, with Michael Nyquist and Noomi Rapace were above that, but they could lean on a trilogy of assured big hit books and their rich, crisp, sometimes deadpan dialogue. Most of the local production is nothing like that.

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

ReanimateMagnus

Japanese Sado-Masochistic Laughing Gameshow.

Having learned a second language can be painful in Japan.

DudelRok

#70
I can read a fair bit of Polish and Welsh thanks to both an online game I used to play that was dominated by Polish speakers and a girl I wanted to get to know better who was fluent in Welsh better than English. Polish and Welsh were pretty close, but Swedish was murder to even look at. O.o

Not enough of either to get by, mind you. I stopped both early on when things didn't work out in some manner or fashion.

I can say, "Hello, my name is," In quite a few languages (like the above Welsh and Polish). Can also say, "I don't speak Spanish," in Spanish mostly due to where I live (Florida). I can pick up context clues within written text for it and Japanese (when it's written with English letters). Not sure how I can do either of those, really. Picked it up somewhere.

I know how/where English borrowed words come from and know how to properly pronounce my Rs... but what I know is horrible specific and limiting.

Like with everything else, I know a little bit about a lot but ain't good in any. :( I've been tempted to learn Spanish but I don't really have the means, right now. And Polish was just oddly fun! XD

"Witam, ja jestem Dudel!" (I don't remember the spelling.) But it's amazing how well people will treat you if you ONLY greet them in their native tongue then switch to English. I also knew "Hi" and several other general greetings for Polish. "Good day," etc... don't really remember to well, now. :(

I AM THE RETURN!

DudelWiki | On/Off Thread | A/A Thread

Oniya

I think that's the first time I've seen Welsh and Polish compared to each other.  *blinks*  Of course, I don't know many people that have bothered to learn any amount of both languages.

(In theory, I should have more of an interest in Polish than I do - family heritage and all that.  Welsh was always a bit more interesting to me.)
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

JadenMystic

#72
Quote from: Michi No Sora on June 06, 2011, 09:49:29 AM
I speak English.
Je parle un peu français. (I haven't used it in...forever, so please don't test me...I probably even got that sentence wrong)
I'm also in the middle of learning American Sign Language. It might not be verbal, but it's still a language.

I can also speak these 3 plus a little bit of Español. I LOVE singing and signing songs on Sunday mornings at church for the congregation even tho there isn't anyone deaf in the church. :-) I have an Aunt in New Jersey that is a Sign Language Interpreter.

A/A(update 1/27) Ideas(update 6/15) O/O&Chars(update 2/1)

there are times when a change of direction is for your highest good. It takes courage to change direction. Choose the path your heart agrees with and walk with your head high and your eyes open. Don't be afraid.

Ensilumi

I speak German, which is my mother tongue, fluent English (I usually think in English, even) and a bit of Finnish. I used to know some Spanish as well, but I really never got to use my knowledge so I just forgot.

As far as understanding goes, I find that I can actually read Danish and Dutch pretty well, Swedish is harder but I still understand some. Haven't tried Norwegian, but it's probably similar.

Krysia

I speak English - not so well even if I was born here. English is a very hard language to learn even for natives. I should say I speak it fine, but typing it takes me a bit because of grammar.

I took a few semesters of Chinese (Mandarin) in college for fun. All I remember is how to ask for Chinese food and telling people my name. I still remember how to write the characters ironically. Must be something to do with an artistic brain.

I'm better at Japanese speaking it then reading or writing it. I also have a book to learn Korean that I picked up on Ebay to try it. For Rosetta stones I have Korea, Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin).

Flower

Hmm, English is my first language but I'm currently working on Spanish. This is just my personal opinion but to my ears other languages besides English just sound so beautiful. Maybe this is just the grass is greener over there effect lol

I have the Rosetta program for it but I don't think that using it alone is the best way to learn. Taking classes with other people and reading books is helpful for me. I also love listening to different songs and watching some televison shows in Spanish.

It is pleasing after studying for a while to hear someone random speaking and completely understand. :)

I only wished that I had developed an interest in learning different languages earlier in life. Maybe one day I will be completely fluent in Spanish so I can move on to Russian or maybe German. 

dana eleanor

I actually know American Sign Language and I am fluent in it. Won't work here, but it is a language.

meikle

 ): .אני לא מדברת עברית
Kiss your lover with that filthy mouth, you fuckin' monster.

O and O and Discord
A and A

Nico

I speak English and German, both as native languages.

I understand a little Spanish by now, some Italian and French, thanks to my boyfriend.

dana eleanor

I tried to learn Spanish, but it was too hard for me because I have speech impediments that are connected with me being hard of hearing, so I just stuck with American Sign Language. It's easier for me to talk with my hands because I'm able to read the facial expressions and be able to be myself. Speaking in my native language, English, is harder than signing even though I had speech therapy for most of my life.

Malina

I was so happy these past weeks, I watched a few films in French, with subtitles, and was really sure I understood barely a word. But there were several occasions where I instantly knew the subtitles were wrong. I apparently actually did understand some of it, quite a bit actually, it seems. And, yes, the subtitles really were wrong, the context revealed it a bit later in each case. I thought my French was near as dead and gone as my Latin, but maybe there's hope for a tiny, tiny resurrection, even?

Oniya

I watch the History Channel for WWII documentaries to do the same thing on my German.  I've caught a couple errors there, as well.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Valerian

I once caught something in Russian that the subtitles had overlooked, and I was terribly proud of myself.  :D  I realize that sometimes there isn't enough time to get everything subtitled -- if the characters are speaking quickly, they'd be awfully hard to read -- but really, whatever they do have time to translate should at least be accurate.  It seems like it should be so simple...
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Malina

*shares the bliss of 'I do understand a little' with Oniya and Valerian*  XD

What's at once amusing and bound to make you cringe is when they use your native tongue in some book or film - all the wrong way, and in films, often with the most dreadful pronunciation. *gigglefits* -> 'It seems like it should be so simple...' ;D

Oniya

Okay - I apparently know enough Spanish to be able to laugh hysterically at the commentary from the luchador wrestlers.  Not sure where I picked that up.  O_o
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

ReanimateMagnus

I know how you feel, I know enough Spanish to enjoy soccer. ^^ I picked mine up when I worked at McDonalds.

Izzie Aditi

Dutch is my first language. Have written + spoken English from the age of 12 (so 10 years now, and still improving).

Then there's German and French: I'm able to read and understand German, but speaking..not so much anymore. French is even rustier, I can't believe that once upon a time I could read Rousseau in French! All that's left from my French knowledge is some basics like "I don't want that", "I need a stamp" (wut?!) and the like.

I'm also slowly getting into Swedish, as boyfriend's first language is Swedish and it's very similar to Dutch (in writing, at least). 
“Redheads are said to be children of the moon, thwarted by the sun, and addicted to sex and sugar.”