Inspired by Janggut--what languages do you speak?

[cleglaw]

janggut said:

it is always good to polish or brush up your English proficiency every once in a while (every 2 years, for example) by taking up classes or try out some of the numerous quizzes that are available online. i find that we tend to forget about the basics after a while, & this is especially true of those who speaks English as their 2nd, 3rd, 4th ..... language.

I speak English, Spanish with about 80-90% fluency, and a smattering of Hindi. Also I can count to 10 or more in about a dozen languages--European and Asian.

Chinese seems to me the most difficult to pronounce, and Japanese seems to me to have the most writing systems to master of any language--2 alphabets plus Kanji. (I studied Japanese and French years ago, but I am not much good in either).

[Ubereil]

Swedish fluenty (guess why ) and my English is pretty good (not too sure about spoken English, since I mostly read it... What do I mean, mostly, I NEVER speak English! ). I allso know some German, but far from enought to be able to make a conversation in it .

Übereil

[Glance A'Lot]

Well, obviously German perfectly, then English rather adequately and my French is fluent though rusty (meaning my understanding is absolutely fluent, but when speaking or writing I'm not as fluent as I used to be).
Broken Latin, Spanish, Italian...

[peterh]

Besides Danish, I speak English fluently (though with an accent ) and I speak German well enough to have a casual conversation.

I understand Norwegian and Swedish, as especially Norwegian is close to the Danish language. That also means it's possible to have a convo where one person speaks Danish and the other Norwegian.

Oh, and I can say a few words and count to 20 in French (though Frenchies only really need to know the words "I surrender" in their language ) and I can count to 10 in Japanese.

[Alrik]

German ;D English rather fluently (reading/writing better than speaking, due to lack of formal practise), 4 years Spanish at school, never used since, 1 year French.

My greatest advantage is kind of an talent to find a certain meaning in a word comparing similar sounding words from all languages I know.
Works more or less.

I once used to know a certain swaer-word in 4 languages. ;D

[Elliot Kane]

English is it for me, really. I still recall a smattering of schoolboy French and German, but I'm nowhere close to fluent in either. I don't really have enough of an interest in languages to develop my skills further.

[ss]

English...and Pig Latin.. ;D

[Ubereil]

peterh said:

I understand Norwegian and Swedish, as especially Norwegian is close to the Danish language. That also means it's possible to have a convo where one person speaks Danish and the other Norwegian.

I can understand Norwegian somewhat, but those barbaric danes who's trying to imitate pigs or something like that is pretty much impossible for me. I've got more luck with german, and that's saying something...

Übereil

[Mea Culpa]

hmm lets see: English, Dutch, Some Italian French and German a small smattering of Arabic and 2 words of Polish (why does that look like something for your shoes? ) and if I try hard some Chinese but boy that is with a despicable accent ! Ooh and I can say "I love you" in Swedish
a little leet and some Internese ;D

[killerzzz]

I speak English and French fluently, Spanish and Latin half-hazardly (hoping to look those up again soon), and a few words of other languages here and there. I want to try and learn Japanese, Lebanese, and German in time. ;D

alrik said:

My greatest advantage is kind of an talent to find a certain meaning in a word comparing similar sounding words from all languages I know.
Works more or less.

Same here. But you gotta be careful sometimes.

Like if you say something wrong in Spanish to a Spanish guy, and you try to say "I'm embarassed", you might toss this up: "Soy embarazado". He would just look at you funny. Then look at your stomach. See, "soy" means "I am", but "Embarazado" means "pregnant". Then you'd be really embarassed.

Killerzzz

[LaFille]

French, English relatively fluently (though I still happen to be thrown off by some at times ), I can understand Spanish some and know some odd words here and there in a few other languages. Apart from that dog and a few bird languages, but in these lasts deep verbal understanding lacks. ;D

[janggut]

so the girl from Quebec can speak to animals! i only know one animal language - cats. ;D

as for me, well, i speak/read/write English (obviously) with decent (however debatable) proficiency. the same goes for Malay language, which is the official language of Malaysia, though with less proficiency when compared to English.

for languages that are spoken only, they're my 'father' tongue, Bidayuh (spoken by less than 200,000 people throughout the whole world, even then there are dozens of dialects) as well as Chinese, particularly Hokkien dialect. i know only a smattering of Mandarin dialect. as for other languages, there is another 'tribal' language that i know - Iban. & that's it.

@ Cleg -> thanks for the acknowledgement! anyway, your list of language is also very impressive & i know Europeans especially older ones are proficient in many languages. i know this Belgian guy who can speak English, French, Dutch, Latin, Spanish etc.... .

language is wonderful!

[cleglaw]

Once I was staying in a Frankfurt hotel overnight in transit. The tub had no stopper and so I called the front desk. A man came by with a stopper and installed it. Since he apppeared to speak English I asked him how to turn on the heat. He looked at me with a bewildered expression--not understanding what I had said.
I noticed that his nametag said his name was Aziz, and some Indians have that surname--so I said to him in Hindi that there was no heat. His eyes lit up, and he repeated the word, "garmi", and showed me how to operate the thermostat.
Then he asked me where I was from. I replied, "I am an American, but I speak a little Hindi."
He said, "I don't speak Hindi."
It turned out that he was from Afghanistan, and understood Urdu--which is similar to Urdu to an extent.

So, there I was--an American in Germany speaking to an Afghan in Hindi who understood me in Urdu. Very cool.

[Galadriel]

I speak Flemmish, wich is slightly different from Dutch, but only in sound , English is ok I guess, ask the people I have been talking to on the phone so far ;D, my french is rather good, allthough rusty as well, I don't use it that much, but I understand it very well. Don't tell my dad, he's a Frenchman
I can say a few words in Russian, Roumanian, Hungarian, Latin, Spanish and Italian. German is a language I really hate, no offence to the German members here though. I never had the need to learn German, has something to do with a previous life I think
And for dialects, I can speak most of the Belgian dialects wich all sounds funny and juicy if you ask me ;D

[Alrik]

cleglaw said:

So, there I was--an American in Germany speaking to an Afghan in Hindi who understood me in Urdu. Very cool.

Cool story ! ;D

[Konrad Flameheart]

galadriel said:

I speak Flemmish, wich is slightly different from Dutch, but only in sound , English is ok I guess, ask the people I have been talking to on the phone so far ;D, my french is rather good, allthough rusty as well, I don't use it that much, but I understand it very well. Don't tell my dad, he's a Frenchman
I can say a few words in Russian, Roumanian, Hungarian, Latin, Spanish and Italian. German is a language I really hate, no offence to the German members here though. I never had the need to learn German, has something to do with a previous life I think
And for dialects, I can speak most of the Belgian dialects wich all sounds funny and juicy if you ask me ;D

What? no elven??

[Mea Culpa]

oooh good call, Konrad ;D

[Galadriel]

snigit said:

galadriel said:

I speak Flemmish, wich is slightly different from Dutch, but only in sound , English is ok I guess, ask the people I have been talking to on the phone so far ;D, my french is rather good, allthough rusty as well, I don't use it that much, but I understand it very well. Don't tell my dad, he's a Frenchman
I can say a few words in Russian, Roumanian, Hungarian, Latin, Spanish and Italian. German is a language I really hate, no offence to the German members here though. I never had the need to learn German, has something to do with a previous life I think
And for dialects, I can speak most of the Belgian dialects wich all sounds funny and juicy if you ask me ;D

What? no elven??

Damn, I knew I forgot something ;D
Lle quena i'lambe tel' Eldalie, Konrad? ;D

[Mea Culpa]

taudl Jallil, jhal uk 'udtila naut telanth Eldalie

[Alrik]

Umblegrumble !


(Looks weirder that way )