NationStates Jolt Archive

How many do you know?

And why?

And do you think it's good to learn different languages?

As for myself, I speak English, French, a little Portuguese, Japanese (illiterate), and I have some familiarity with Amharic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Yiddish.

I learned French because we do in canada. Portuguese because I have portuguese heritage, Japanese because I was bored and a friend was learning, Amharic because I find it interesting, Yiddish because of my grandfather, and the rest because I go to school with many chinese people.

And yes, learning languages in awesome :mp5:

I am fluent in English, I'm trying to learn latin,I know enough spanish to say "I don't understand spainish", and I know how to say "Hello" in about 4 languages.

Completely fluent in English.

I can effectively communicate in written Igpay Atinlay.

I can count to ten in two or three other languages and know a handful of Japanese swears. :D

Fluent in English
Can understand spoken Danish very well, can speak it a bit... enough get by for a few weeks. Almost illiterate, though.
Speak some French. Again, enough to basically get by.
Speak one semester's worth of Latin.

Fluent in English, illiterate in Punjabi, somewhat familiar with French.

Fluent in English, French and for the most part Arabic. English because of living in the US. French because it is my families native tongue and Arabic was an outcropping of serving in the Persian Gulf War. I can also speak and write in Spanish but not fluently. I know bits of Italian too.

I'm okay with spanish, and somehow become pretty good when I get drunk.

I'm okay with spanish, and somehow become pretty good when I get drunk.

I speak fluent drunk too.

Fluent in English, survivable in Japanese, though functionally illiterate (damn kanji!), can say hello, yes, and count to 10 in a few different languages, and remember enough Klingon to get into a fight should I ever encounter one. :D

I think I speak English fluently, as well as read and write.

I can pronounce words in Italian, for the most part.
I can also read a bit of both Italian and German.

I kind of just make the German up though.. it's close enough to English. Plus, I figure if there are no Germans there at the moment, no one will know if I am right or not. If there is a German native or speaker around I'll have him/her translate, since Europe is much better in the multi-language department.

I speak fluent drunk too.

I had two oral spanish exams. Took the first one sober, got a C. Took the second one drunk, got an A. My professor said "you seemed much more comfortable with the language, allowing you to speak much better, without getting stuck looking for the right word or grammar structure."

I had two oral spanish exams. Took the first one sober, got a C. Took the second one drunk, got an A. My professor said "you seemed much more comfortable with the language, allowing you to speak much better, without getting stuck looking for the right word or grammar structure."

lol, clearly you need to be drunk more often.

English, Mandarin, Korean, and latin.

Spanish So so didn't ever make an effort to learn it just was there for 10 days when i was a teenager and learned enough to hold a decent conversation though this is likely due to my roots in Latin.

lol, clearly you need to be drunk more often.

Given my last two weeks, my liver would tend to disagree.

However, if I was around Spaniards or other Spanish speakers, then yes. Drunk is good. That lets me say more than "Where's the bathroom?", "There is a flaming monkey in my pants" and "Would you care to unmake the bed?"

I am (hopefully) fluent in both Portuguese and English, though better in the former, my native language.

I can also understand and read Spanish pretty well as most native portuguese speakers can do, but there are always some words I have to skip while reading.

I know the very basics of German, but delving deeper in a German text gets me completely confused. I intend to learn others of course, as I love learning new languages. :)

Fluent
German
English
Polish

Semi-Fluent
Japanese
Spanish

I'm fluent in English and I can get by with Italian if I have to.

My problem is, I want to just know a language and not have to go through the process of learning it.

Fluent in English, working on Spanish. I think learning several languages is fun and useful; after I finish Spanish I'll probably move on to another, like Italian. They all offer different ways of expressing and thinking about the world.

English.

I also know a bit of Spanish, but not a whole lot. I also know a couple words in German and French. That's about it.

I'd like to learn a few languages like Russian, Gaelic, and perhaps Swedish.

English. I know just enough Spanish to order food in a Taco Bell. :p

Meh, I'm limited to european languages.
Italian, german, russian, english; latin and ancient greek; some french, portuguese, spanish, czech; and -of course- milanese.

How many do you know?
With any degree of fluency? Just one.

And why?
Because my high school only offered French and Spanish, and I ended up taking Spanish and the teacher sucked.

And do you think it's good to learn different languages?
Yes, I do. I would love to know how to speak Irish or Scottish Gaelic. Or Icelandic.

Fluently I speak Finnish and English.

I also understand written Swedish enough to get by due to having taken 6 years of mandatory classes in school, although I've been actively trying to forget and boycott the language ever since.

I have been studying Russian for a year and a half, but due to time limitations, that project is now on an indefinite hold. Maybe some day I'll be able speak it properly.

Lately I've been studying Slovene on my own, because I happened to come across some Slovenian music videos on Youtube, and they rock. I want to learn to understand the lyrics without the help of an online translator.


As for studying languages, I can understand that some people might enjoy it, but mostly it's just a waste of time. Sure, speaking lots of weird and rare languages is good for impressing people, and a few people might need them in their work as a translator or a historian for example, but other than that, language is just a tool of communication. It would be simplest for everyone to learn one common language, and that language currently de facto being English, my opinion on language studies is that everyone speaks English already, and if they don't, they should.

Fluent Romanian (native) and English (live in England).

I wouldn't starve on the street in France, Germany, Spain or Italy (i.e. I know basic conversation, prices, asking for stuff or for directions etc. in those four languages)

And that's pretty much it.

German as my native language, English fluently and French just about enough to make myself understood...

Fluent English (I was born there and still live there) :p

Know some French like basic things:)

Learning Spanish :)

I'm fluent in English, can read and write Latin, and can fumble my way through basic spoken French.

Fluent in english
Fluent in british
Semi-fluent in french. (I know enough [broken] french to find an inn, get a room for the night, find an airport, and travel home. It'd be the equivalent of "I need a room in a big house to sleep in for the night.", however.)

How many do you know?

And why?

And do you think it's good to learn different languages?

As for myself, I speak English, French, a little Portuguese, Japanese (illiterate), and I have some familiarity with Amharic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Yiddish.

I learned French because we do in canada. Portuguese because I have portuguese heritage, Japanese because I was bored and a friend was learning, Amharic because I find it interesting, Yiddish because of my grandfather, and the rest because I go to school with many chinese people.

And yes, learning languages in awesome :mp5:

Fluently, I speak: Spanish, Asturian, Valenciá and Galego, I also speak English, French and Japanese.
I understand Portuguese and Italian (obviously because of their similiraties with Spanish), and I have a rudimentary understanding of German.

I can speak quite a bit of French, a wee bit of Spanish and a little German. And English, obviously. I can read a lot of French and German, far more than I can actually speak, and my written German is absolutely fürchtbar, so feh.

Polish (native), English (you guessed it...), some German (I would't overestimate my sk!llz in it, but they'll do in a pinch). Plus I've taught myself Greek alphabet, a number of single words from here and there, and I guess I could understand to some extent other Slavic languages if I concentrated hard enough >.<

I had French lessons as a child, and lived in the Channel Islands where French is common in place names etc. In school I was taught French, Latin and Spanish. As an adult I have tried to learn French and Japanese.

I still cannot speak a second language - it seems that trying to teach me another language is like showing a dog a card trick...

Fluent(enough to read a newspaper, or a novel)
Chinese dialects
English
Chinese


Basic(enough to hold a conversation)
French
German
Japanese
Korean
Malay


A few words (or so)

Vietnamese
Thai
Spanish
Hindi
Indonesian

Fluent in English, good at French and Japanese, basic in Ewe.

I know a smattering of a fair old few and I can speak French well, Russian enough to be understood, as well as rudimentary Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Czech. My only problem at the moment is thinking in said languages... I'm mixing Spanish and Czech a lot in my mind for some reason. 0_0 I know what I'm going on about, but I'm not sure anyone else would.

EDIT: Oh yes. I still remember a lot of Latin vocab and some of the grammar too.

I know a smattering of a fair old few and I can speak French well, Russian enough to be understood, as well as rudimentary Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Czech. My only problem at the moment is thinking in said languages... I'm mixing Spanish and Czech a lot in my mind for some reason. 0_0 I know what I'm going on about, but I'm not sure anyone else would.

EDIT: Oh yes. I still remember a lot of Latin vocab and some of the grammar too.

What you're going on about is fairly common when one's learning a new language or has a smattering of a few of them. I remember that when I was learning French in school, I used to mix it with a lot of Valenciá and Asturian (Iberian dialects I'm fluent in). It happens to almost everyone.:p

Fluent in English, good at French and Japanese, basic in Ewe.

You can talk to sheep?

Just the one. I used to be passably capable in Spanish but after near ten years of not using it my ability has degraded significantly.

You can talk to sheep?
I'm not too baaaa-d myself :p

How many do you know?

Oh, about a hundred or so I know the Dutch, English or actual name of, and of many of them I know whereabouts they are being spoken.

And why?

Well, I came across them in various publications, and remembered some of 'em.
:p

What you're going on about is fairly common when one's learning a new language or has a smattering of a few of them. I remember that when I was learning French in school, I used to mix it with a lot of Valenciá and Asturian (Iberian dialects I'm fluent in). It happens to almost everyone.:p

Mixing French and Japanese was worse; especially in Japanese oral. :p

Mixing French and Japanese was worse; especially in Japanese oral. :p

I bet it was. Mimuro-san est kawaii et sugoi, n'est pas? :p

I speak English, as I'm from America. I also speak quite a bit of Italian, being of Italian heritage; it's a fascinating language, I think. I also have quite a bit of proficiency in Spanish, because I took it for four years in high school.

I definitely think everyone should know more than one language. When they say that it helps you understand your first language better, they are definitely not kidding.

Onay erehay peaksays igpay atinlay?

Onay erehay peaksays igpay atinlay?
Eugh, pig latin.

Eugh, pig latin.

Nday I skay... Nyoneay peaksay igpay altinlay? Uoyay ailedfay otay nsweray ymay uestionqay. :p

English, of course, and enough Latin (four years, and I got a 5 (highest score) on the AP Latin Literature exam last year) to read it pretty well and write somewhat. I've also taken a year of French, so I know a little bit of that.

Fluent in English and Spanish, semi-fluent in French (mostly it's a lack of opportunity to speak it that causes me to say semi-fluent) and Cree.

Spanish I learned because my husband is Chilean, and I was obsessed with travelling in Latin America for many, many years. French I've studied since elementary school because it's one of our official languages and was offered. Cree because it's my native language, and I would feel foolish not learning it.

I can understand Portuguese and Italian fairly easily, as well as spoken Greek. I can also understand Anishnabe well, as it's related to Cree, and Oji-Cree is also intelligible enough. I grew up around Nakoda Sioux, so I can understand a fair amount of their language also.

Irish, English, French with a cúpla focal of Spanish.

Attempting to break into Arabic at the moment.

How many do you know?

And why?

And do you think it's good to learn different languages?

As for myself, I speak English, French, a little Portuguese, Japanese (illiterate), and I have some familiarity with Amharic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Yiddish.

I learned French because we do in canada. Portuguese because I have portuguese heritage, Japanese because I was bored and a friend was learning, Amharic because I find it interesting, Yiddish because of my grandfather, and the rest because I go to school with many chinese people.

And yes, learning languages in awesome :mp5:

Fluent in English. Slightly fluent in French. Can't speak Spanish very well, but I can sometimes understand when people speak it. Slightly familiar with German.

I can speak English, a tiny bit of Japanese, Latin, spanish, French, German and Swedish

I want to learn Japanese, German, Greek and Latin.

As an American, of course I'm fluent in English. I'm semi-fluent to fluent in Spanish (Castilian Spanish though, there's too many colloquialisms and idioms in Latin-American Spanish dialects to confuse me). I can speak some German. I'm beginning the process of learning Japanese, as I will be there for at least one year starting in July.

I take French and I hate it!! Je ne pas parler francais or however you spell it

I take French and I hate it!! Je ne pas parler francais or however you spell it

Tu ne peut pas parler francais... that´s the correct way of writing.:p

English is my first language. I know a good amount of Spanish and I am able to write and read in Hebrew (never used it so I forgot almost all of my words) and right now, I'm teaching myself Russian.

English is my first language. I know a good amount of Spanish and I am able to write and read in Hebrew (never used it so I forgot almost all of my words) and right now, I'm teaching myself Russian.

The only thing I know how to say in Russian is ¨Das Sveendanya¨. That´s it. Slavic languages, with the exception of Romanian (which I understand because it has a lot of Latinized words), are way beyond my understanding.

Fluent in English
Can understand spoken Danish very well, can speak it a bit... enough get by for a few weeks. Almost illiterate, though.
Speak some French. Again, enough to basically get by.
Speak one semester's worth of Latin.

Where did you learn Danish? I don't imagine it is spoken much in Athens, Georgia.

I speak, read, and write in English perfuctly. I can read Spanish, and can understand non-native speakers. (Native speakers speak too quickly for me.)

4. Well, 3 and a bit. I never did pay much attention in French.

The other 3 would be English, Irish and German.

I speak, read, and write in English perfuctly.
:eek:

4. Well, 3 and a bit. I never did pay much attention in French.

The other 3 would be English, Irish and German.

Irish? I have always been interested in learning Irish, Manx or Scottish Gaelic. Is it hard?

:eek:

That was intentional.

No, really, it were.

I'm fluent in English - my home language.
I'm learning French and German pretty fast at school, and I'm very slowly learning Arabic because my dad's making me.
I also speak a secret language with my friend - Sevenesthran. I named my nation after that lol. I find pig latin hard.

Har e suü Sevenesthran.
Here is some sevenesthran.

The only thing I know how to say in Russian is ¨Das Sveendanya¨. That´s it. Slavic languages, with the exception of Romanian (which I understand because it has a lot of Latinized words), are way beyond my understanding.

A lot of people say Russian is hard, but I tend to disagree. Polish is hard. I'm pretty sure Polish uses a latin alphabet, but jesus that does not make it any easier to learn.

I am fluent in both English and Welsh

A lot of people say Russian is hard, but I tend to disagree. Polish is hard. I'm pretty sure Polish uses a latin alphabet, but jesus that does not make it any easier to learn.

Ojietc: the only word that I know in Polish. And I probably spelled it wrong.

English is may native tongue, and I can read (and, slowly and with a thick accent, speak) French. I am also learning Icelandic. Why? Because it is interesting, and I hope to use it to segway into German.

Irish? I have always been interested in learning Irish, Manx or Scottish Gaelic. Is it hard?

Irish is Ok. It follows the same patterns and sentence structure as most European languages, has lots of words imported from English and words have no male/female distinction.

I speak English and Irish.

I want to learn French, but I keep on being too lazy. I suck.

Irish is Ok. It follows the same patterns and sentence structure as most European languages, has lots of words imported from English and words have no male/female distinction.

I see. Thanks.

You can talk to sheep?

That's actually just how it's normally romanised -- in Ewe, it's Eʋegbe. But most people don't know how to pronounce the 'ʋ', so I figured I'd romanise it for you all.

Also, I get that question all. the. time.

I also forgot to mention in the original post that I know intermediate American Sign Language (ASL) because they use the same in Ghana and I can use it to converse with Deaf students at the Volta School's Deaf branch.

The only thing I know how to say in Russian is ¨Das Sveendanya¨. That´s it. Slavic languages, with the exception of Romanian (which I understand because it has a lot of Latinized words), are way beyond my understanding.

Actually, Romanian is a romance language, along with Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, and Portuguese. A few friends of mine who know Latin say that Romanian is actually the closest modern language to Latin.

English, written Latin and a teeny bit of French I can remember. In future education, I'll be required to learn several long-dead languages (want to be a historical linguist).

English is my native language (being Australian). I also learnt Italian all throughout primary and high school, but don't really remember much now - I would like to pick it up again in the future. I am currently studying Japanese part-time, and thoroughly enjoy it :) I hope to be at least vaguely fluent by the end of next year or so (bleh, good luck).

I really respect those who are fluent in more than one language, especially in multiple languages, and would like to be like that one day. I think learning secondary languages is highly undervalued and mishandled in Australia, and I'm always amazed by the number of languages that most European people learn, just as a matter of course.

I count myself lucky that I never had to learn English :rolleyes:

one (amerenglish)

i don't claim to know it as well as i would like to

and it wouldn't have been my first choice

(i guess i know half a dozzen words in each of nihongo, deutchie, francois, and chicano, all or most having to do with trains and railroads, which i've always found more fascinating then hoomans)

=^^=
.../\...