GenMarshall
High Elven ISB Capt & Ghost Agent
Native Language: American English
I've been thinking about getting back to Japanese.
I've been thinking about getting back to Japanese.
What languages do you speak/are you learning?
- Thread starter Ashcristokos
- Start date
I speak:
Polish - native
English - sort of fluent
Arabic - it's very difficult to say, but I know grammar quite well, but I suck at talking I guess. I finished Arabic Studies though, translated a 550-pages long chronicle into Polish, so it can't be that bad.
French - I used to be good at French. Now I'm not. I can still read without that much difficulty, but I can't talk
Turkish - basic knowledge, deteriorating with each day.
Latin - I used to be good at Latin, now I'm forgetting it almost completely.
Edit: I used to learn Aramaic and Persian for a year as well, but I can't remember anything, almost.
Polish - native
English - sort of fluent
Arabic - it's very difficult to say, but I know grammar quite well, but I suck at talking I guess. I finished Arabic Studies though, translated a 550-pages long chronicle into Polish, so it can't be that bad.
French - I used to be good at French. Now I'm not. I can still read without that much difficulty, but I can't talk
Turkish - basic knowledge, deteriorating with each day.
Latin - I used to be good at Latin, now I'm forgetting it almost completely.
Edit: I used to learn Aramaic and Persian for a year as well, but I can't remember anything, almost.
If you've been able to learn one language (your native language), and you understand some of the concepts behind it, then you're also able to learn a second. It's somehow the same, after all.
Rather similar to Tahitian, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Hawiian, for example aloha is aroha in te reo (spoken Maori).
I noticed that we have sent people up to Hawaii to help them set up total immersion schools where the kids will speak only Hawiian while they are at school.
Winner
Diverse in Unity
Seems pretty similar. Are there major differences in pronunciation?
Estonian sounds familiar but different. Some of it I can clearly understand but a lot is lost but still Estonia<3
How is it with Czech and Slovakian? They're are similar, no? How similar, does it sound like drunken Czech?How would you say those previous sentences in Czech?
Slovak-Czech are basically dialects of the same language (for linguists, "language" is actually a pretty contentious term, because it's often abused for political reasons). They are about 95-99% mutually intelligible, depending on the various regional varieties and their combinations. I understand Slovak basically the same I understand Czech, but then I was been born in the good old Czechoslovakia and about a third of my friends (as well as one of my past sort-of girlfriends) are Slovak, so I am probably not much of a representative sample. It is sometimes said that Czech children don't understand Slovak that well these days (unlike Slovak kids who regularly watch Czech TV and understand everything), but I think that's grossly exaggerated. Unless you're deaf, stupid, or both, you will understand Slovak. Perhaps not everything, but what you don't get is usually recoverable from the context.
English: Hello, my name is (...) and I live in Czechia. I like it here.
Czech: Ahoj, jmenuji se (...) a žiju v Česku. Líbí se mi tu.
Slovak: Ahoj, volám sa (...) a žijem v Čechách. Páči sa mi tu.
It may look like there are different words, but everybody knows those, so it isn't a problem. The rest is pretty much the same, with some differences in suffixes and grammar (and a softer pronunciation).
Language: Greek
Barbaric tongue: English
Ok, in reality i like English a lot as a language... I read a number of books from the English, if it is the language of the prototype or if i cannot find a greek translation.
By definition it still is a barbaric tongue, if we go by the Exonym for it
(and of course, Exonym is now used in English as well 
)
Barbaric tongue: English
Ok, in reality i like English a lot as a language... I read a number of books from the English, if it is the language of the prototype or if i cannot find a greek translation.
By definition it still is a barbaric tongue, if we go by the Exonym for it
(and of course, Exonym is now used in English as well )
MilesGregarius
Half-baked Renegade
Same with Thai and Lao. I speak a decent amount of Lao but have little difficulty getting by in Bangkok - except in cases where my Lao would fall short in Laos as well.
MilesGregarius
Half-baked Renegade
Mother Tongue:
- English
- Spanish (provided I'm not trying to communicate with a speed-talking, slang-slinging Mexican.)
- Korean
- Lao (with a thick country accent.)
- German
- Japanese (used to be fairly competent, but studying Korean erased most of my vocab; grammar still solid.)
- Latin (Jesuits pounded the grammar in, but the vocab is long gone.)
- Akha (can get myself a meal and a cup of tea.)
- French (4th grade with Ursuline nuns.)
- Lahu (can get myself a meal, a glass of water, a cup of tea, and a shower.)
- Tz'utujil (can conjugate "eat" and "go".)
rugbyLEAGUEfan
Deity
Fluent in my native language
[YOUTUBE-OLD]FUzVgJJ65vw[/YOUTUBE-OLD]
[YOUTUBE-OLD]FUzVgJJ65vw[/YOUTUBE-OLD]
English is the only language I can speak at all fluently, but I have some basic French, German, and Spanish.
I can also read and write musical notation (though not very quickly), which I guess is a kind of language.
I can also read and write musical notation (though not very quickly), which I guess is a kind of language.
Cheezy the Wiz
Socialist In A Hurry
English - native
German - Mediocre. I did 3 years in high school, tried to keep up with it; rubbish now, but I could pick it up again quickly (I knew I had a layover at Munich airport a few years ago, and so I bothered to re-learn enough German to get by. I was surprised how much came back so quickly)
Arabic - total crap. Studied one year in college. Barely remember any words, but I can read the script just fine.
Russian - Not great. studied one year in college, plus a visit to the country. Continuing my education on this, aiming toward at least conversational mastery.
Swedish - Total crap. More of a past time than anything else, no formal training. Phrases, words, simple sentences. I probably know more Italian via music and art than I do Swedish.
Trying to learn some Irish, which is very hard. Through cultural assimilation I've learned bits of Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, and Greek. Enough to recognize shared roots and word origins, and pick up some of what people might be saying. By no means am I able to communicate in them.
German - Mediocre. I did 3 years in high school, tried to keep up with it; rubbish now, but I could pick it up again quickly (I knew I had a layover at Munich airport a few years ago, and so I bothered to re-learn enough German to get by. I was surprised how much came back so quickly)
Arabic - total crap. Studied one year in college. Barely remember any words, but I can read the script just fine.
Russian - Not great. studied one year in college, plus a visit to the country. Continuing my education on this, aiming toward at least conversational mastery.
Swedish - Total crap. More of a past time than anything else, no formal training. Phrases, words, simple sentences. I probably know more Italian via music and art than I do Swedish.
Trying to learn some Irish, which is very hard. Through cultural assimilation I've learned bits of Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, and Greek. Enough to recognize shared roots and word origins, and pick up some of what people might be saying. By no means am I able to communicate in them.
Wrymouth3
Emperor
Native tongue: English
Near Fluency: Hebrew
Can hold a basic conversation on almost anything: Russian
Bits and pieces (Know a few sayings, a few words, can read some of it): Spanish, Yiddish
Trying to get a grasp of: Arabic, German, Polish, Latin
Near Fluency: Hebrew
Can hold a basic conversation on almost anything: Russian
Bits and pieces (Know a few sayings, a few words, can read some of it): Spanish, Yiddish
Trying to get a grasp of: Arabic, German, Polish, Latin
I'm a native speaker of English, with reasonable French and soldier's German (enough to be able to read it and understand it, even if the actual speech is a bit garbled), schoolboy Latin and, since joining CFC, self-taught Ancient Greek. As a result of the English and German, I usually understand Dutch and Afrikaans.
Cheezy the Wiz
Socialist In A Hurry
I feel like mine needs some updating.
My Russian is at conversational level. I read and write much better than I speak, but I can handle many topics without much problem.
Along with Russian has come Ukrainian, which I can read alright, but speaking is much harder.
I've also entered the beginnings of learning Uzbek.
My Russian is at conversational level. I read and write much better than I speak, but I can handle many topics without much problem.
Along with Russian has come Ukrainian, which I can read alright, but speaking is much harder.
I've also entered the beginnings of learning Uzbek.
Paul in Saudi
Emperor
English, as a native. Spanish, which I learned in a number of bedrooms across Latin America. Italian, assuming it is just Spanish spoken while moving the hands.
salty mud
Deity
A year bump, not bad!
Anyway:
My native language is English. Can get by reasonably well in Portuguese and know a fair bit of Spanish. I've started to learn German so my current level is abominable at best.
Like the OP, I like learning languages. It's fun to do and opens doors into other cultures and ways of life. I pity people who refuse to learn another language, especially the ones with the "why bother" attitude.
Anyway:
My native language is English. Can get by reasonably well in Portuguese and know a fair bit of Spanish. I've started to learn German so my current level is abominable at best.
Like the OP, I like learning languages. It's fun to do and opens doors into other cultures and ways of life. I pity people who refuse to learn another language, especially the ones with the "why bother" attitude.
SamSniped
DJ Goodboye
Native English speaker, and I've been learning Spanish for 2 years now. Pretty good at it. I also know Latin very well, though that's not really a spoken language anymore...
