?????? ???? Board Languages

[kylecawazafla]

?????? ?????Which languages are you most familiar with and speak or encounter on a regular basis? Which alphabet do you know best, if it is even one? If you moved from country to country, how long did it take you to pick up the language if you have at all yet?

I grew up in California with English being my main language, and Afrikaans as a side language with my parents. Since then I have enough German to hold a superficial conversation, although I picked it up from being in Germany instead of taking classes, and inversely took classes in Spanish and am semi-okay in it now (3 months in the Canary Islands helped A LOT) . I also went to a high school in Seattle with a strong asian influence so picked up about 100 characters worth of Mandarin through friends, although I hope to pursue it farther while I have the chance! What's your story?

[Exotic Life]

I was growing up in The netherlands so Dutch is my main language, but i was growing up in the city Schiedam and Spijkenisse. I have some dialect then where i now live...

I have learning on school Englisch, so that is the second... When i see germain, i can read it and get it but i can talk it.... And i know some french words

Robbin

[metalfan]

English is my first language. I took Spanish in school in South Texas from 7th grade and was at obe time fluent. It helped that there was a very large Hispanic population so you got a chance to use it.

In college I took Mandarin for a year and did well. We had to speak, read and draw characters. But it was a 5 hour class and I couldn't continue to fit it into my schedule, so I switched to French and later Latin. But in all honesty, I really only speak English.

I am familiar with Runic scripts as well as the English alphabet.

[Gbarce]

The most wide spread native language in the Philippines is called Tagalog but there are many other dialects.  I can converse in Tagalog but even being exposed to the other dialects throughout my life I never picked up any of them.

The mode of education in the country though is based on American English and I use that all the time.  I actually think to myself in English.

*If I spell a lot of words wrong on this forum though its more because I got too dependent on the Spellcheck function on most other computer programs that unfortunately is not present here.  You guys probably notice me writing "teh" instead of "the" all the time (annoying isn't it)-- blame it on poor finger coordination and me being too lazy to go back and correct it.

I am not sure if this is also true in other countries but over here we tend to mix both English and Tagalog words into day to day conversation.  We call it "Taglish".

Some people just have a talent for languages and they pick things up very easily-- I am not one of them.  I took up 6 units of Japanese in college- I retained nothing of that language now-I don't even know how I passed.

[DoomsDave]

English is my mother tongue, but I took Deutsch (German) all through Junior High, High School and college, and I think I know enough to get into a barroom brawl in Germany.  

I've also picked up a bit of Spanish, which has come in handy, both in Guada La Habra and the Big M.

[Tad]

I am fluent in english, spanish, and tex mex spanglish/slanglish (good with the prison crowd and smugglers)  I was doing pretty well with ukranian for a while but since abbie picked up so much english so quick, we have abandoned the uke talk!!

[Dave-Vero]

Typical American.  Seven years of learning Spanish, but lost whatever speaking/listening proficiency I had.  Can still follow newspapers.  And of course "Pan's Labyrinth" was followable.

[Kim]

Native English speaker; was once fairly fluent in French, but I don't use it often enough.  Reasonably conversant in Spanish which I hear daily.  Took some German classes, but only know enough for travel purposes.  Before my trip to Italy last October, I took a short course in Italian.  It was really fun, and I learned enough to participate in conversations.  Italian is so expressive;  I'd have to say it's my favorite language.  I tried learning a little Portuguese, but found it more difficult than I expected.  Haven't had any exposure to asian languages yet.

As far as alphabets, it was fun learning to read road signs in Greek.  That might have been interesting in Morocco too, but there were hardly any signs. (We took a lot of unintentional detours.)

[amazondk]

I was raised speaking English.  I then picked up Spanish pretty well in the early 1970's while travelling around South America.  And, then came Portuguese which I started to learn in 1974.  I now speak more Portuguese than English on a daily basis.  I would say I am as fluent in Portuguese both spoken and written as I am in English.  I even have my Word program configured in both languages which makes the spelling easier.  I studied some Mandarin in college, but only remember what my name is and how to say a few simple things.    After living and working quite a few years in Miami and travelling extensively on business Spanish became pretty natural.  But, I need a day or so to clear my head of Portuguese to be able to get things straight.  Although the two languages sound quite a bit different their structure is very similar and it is easy to get things mixed up.

[Jeff Searle]

For me, just english, there's enough words that I, A)still don't understand and   can't spell. So why would I want to learn another language ? Food for thought......

Jeff

[Tad]

Searle you rat you said you were fluent in FIVE languages on that other post when we were jockeying for scotts sidekick job!!

[JakeK]

English is my first language. I did study German while in high school and in college. I was semi-fluent in German right after graduating, thinking in the tongue, no translating in my head, but i stopped using it and most has faded away for now.

[BS Man about Palms]

Just english, mostly.

took spanish in middle school, did ok, went right to french and the spanish teacher dropped over once because she heard me speaking french with a spanish accent!  

Never seem to practice spanish enough    mostly "hablo poquito espaniol"

did have a Greek friend teach me how to read greek and pronounce it, I got to where I could read plenty of it out loud and he said I did great on it.  Had no clue what I was reading though.

Gene-

glad you cleared up the "teh" thing...

[palmmermaid]

English is my native language.  My mother forced me to take 4 years of Latin in high school and I am so glad she did!  I enjoyed it and it was easy.  When I started working for AT&T as an overseas operator, I picked up Spanish in about 5 months.  I was fluent and often asked to translate for other operators.  It helped that I had the foreign operators to practive with every night!  At that time, there was no direct dial to the Caribbean, Central and South America.  And of course I lived in Costa Rica for a year and spoke only Spanish, except at work.  I was able to think in Spansih and read and write it fluently.  The Latin certainly was helpful with this!  Thanks, Mom!

After so many years away from it, I can still remember at lot.  I am able to understand more than I can speak but I am sure if I spoke only Spanish for a month or so it would all come back.  I can understand a little Portuguese and Italian.  But French??  That may also be derived from Latin but it is very difficult.  Like English, things aren't pronounced the way they are spelled.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

The only Spanish I remember from my nursery days is "Tiene pala?".  But the phrase "Mas cerveza, por favor." has served me well over the years.

We used to speak EZ language when we were kids(sort of like Pig Latin).  It confounded everyone who was not in the know, but I forget it all now.

Jerry

[steve 9atx]

English.  Formerly fluent, now passable German.  Read Latin.  Read Attic (5th C BC) Greek, my language in undergrad school.  A few words of Modern Greek and Czech. Enough Spanish to get knifed on a construction site.

Steve

[Jeff in St Pete]

English is my native language but I´m still trying to become fluent in Spanish.  I moved to Costa Rica one year ago and thought I would be fluent after 6 months to a year of living here.  Well, a year later and I still would not consider myself anywhere near fluent.  I find that the older I get, the more difficult it is to learn another language.  I had 3 years of Spanish in High School and 2 more years in College but that was back in the late 70´s and early 80´s.  It seemed so much easier back then.  So many people speak English here that I don´t find myself trying to speak Spanish as often as I should.  But still, sometimes I feel like I am right on the verge of becoming fluent, and other times I get so frustrated and feel like I don´t know anything!

[amazondk]

Jeff,

It took me about 3 years to become what I considered relatively fluent in Portuguese.  And, that was living in Brazil.  One of the best things is to read as much as you can in the language.  Then as your fluency increases try to write as much as possible.  Understanding what people are saying is the easy part.  When you start to express yourself well in the written language it is a sure sign that fluency is developing.  Personally my various long term relationships with Brazilian women have been a major contribution to mastering the language.  But, that is another story.

dk

[Al in Kona]

While English is my native tongue, living in SoCal hearing and using certain Spanish words comes with the territory.  My best friend was Mexican-American and his family spoke mostly Spanish so I got very indoctrinated with them.  Entering college I decided I wanted to learn it properly so I minored in Spanish and did learn it well and correctly.  Got married and my wife's family basically spoke only Spanish so I got plenty of practice using it.  However since we moved to Hawaii 14 years ago I don't use it much but I find that whenever I get immersed into it again most of it comes back pretty quickly.  

Also, I spent a year in Japan while in the military service and learned Japanese well enough to feel comfortable to travel around by myself while there.  I've not used it in years and have forgotten much of it.  

The only other language I studied was a semester of evening classes in Brazilian Portuguese as we were planning a trip to Brazil and it was a help in basic communication.

[kylecawazafla]

These have all been very interesting to read! Thank you for sharing.

[bgl]

This is a very interesting topic. Swedish is my native language, even though I don't get many opportunities to speak it. When I graduated from school (many years ago...) my German was actually better than my English, but not having spoken German during all these years, I would not be able to engage in a conversation today. If need be, I know I could get up to speed in a couple of weeks though!  My first wife was from Norway, and I have worked in both Denmark and Norway, but I don't technically speak either Danish or Norwegian. Typically, when someone from either Sweden, Denmark or Norway talks with someone from one of the other two countries, both will be speaking their respective languages. They are relatively close to each other, but you must know all those words that are different, or identical words that may mean different things, or you could quickly find yourself in trouble...!

The definition of fluency is also interesting. Understanding jokes in a different language is a good indicator. My personal definition is that when you're not aware of what language you're thinking in, then you're fluent in that other language.

[DoomsDave]

(bgl @ Jan. 05 2008,22:11)

QUOTE

This is a very interesting topic. Swedish is my native language, even though I don't get many opportunities to speak it. When I graduated from school (many years ago...) my German was actually better than my English, but not having spoken German during all these years, I would not be able to engage in a conversation today. If need be, I know I could get up to speed in a couple of weeks though!  My first wife was from Norway, and I have worked in both Denmark and Norway, but I don't technically speak either Danish or Norwegian. Typically, when someone from either Sweden, Denmark or Norway talks with someone from one of the other two countries, both will be speaking their respective languages. They are relatively close to each other, but you must know all those words that are different, or identical words that may mean different things, or you could quickly find yourself in trouble...!

The definition of fluency is also interesting. Understanding jokes in a different language is a good indicator. My personal definition is that when you're not aware of what language you're thinking in, then you're fluent in that other language.

Guten Abend, Herr Bo . . . .

[amazondk]

Bo,

I think you are right as to the thinking in the language.  I think in both English and Portuguese mixing them together.  There are some things I believe you can express better in one language than another as well.  

dk

[Carlo Morici]

I have always been a sponge for languages, luckily (and I have always talked "too much", in any language). The second time I hear a word, it stays forever. My mother language is Italian. Daily, I speak mostly Spanish and write English. I am fluent in Spanish, English, Italian. I read all written French and Portuguese, I speak a good French but I can't write it, while I barely speak any Portuguese. I am also fluent in Sicilian Dialect, but nobody cares. I studied five years of Latin and ancient Greek at school I finished 15 years ago but I never met any Ancient Roman to speak to.

Then I can say things in German, mostly about plants! Such as  "I have a garden with large palms and potted plants, with evergreen leaves..." or "Oh, what a beautiful little cactus!"... and so on, but nothing that really make much sense.

Palmotrafficante, I have never understood - are you a Texan based in Mexico, a Mexican in Texas? Where is your famous nursery "THE FARM" ? Tex or Mex?

Anyway,  Otra cervecita por favor.

Carlo

[Hollywood Palms]

Native American English speaker.

Degree in German Language and Literature-but how often do I really use it?!?!

Spanglish-to a point

Spanish-understand lots, can't respond well or correctly.

Hawaiian-same deal as Spanish.

David/Kawika

[Walter John]

I speak city language

"How are you this morning ?"

country

"How ya goin ?"

back country

"gedday"

deep country

"uh"

I learnt some letters in French and some Latin in case Caesar Augustus would invade.

[Jason Baker Portugal]

Well... about 10 years ago I was fluent in 8 languages: english and french at home in CDN as a child, worked in germany (german), studied at the uni and was in love in Jordan (arabic), had fun with a turk (turkish), an italian (italian), a greek (greek), many brazilians (portuguese) and married a spaniard (spanish/portuguese). Other languages I didn´t stick around enough to be really fluent but I could speak enough to get around pretty good are maltese, dutch, danish, japanese, korean and urdu/hindi. Now a days I only speak portuguese, german and english fluently on a daily basis. I speak french, spanish and italian a couple of times a year so they are getting rusty but are still good and my arabic and turk are really starting to suck although I can understand the songs when I hear them. Apart from the lack of use of these languages I am getting older and have 3 cildren and I neither have time to practise languages nor to go travelling.

Kyle,

I wish you lots of fun learning more languages;).

[Gileno Machado]

The weird Portuguese is of course my mother language...(people in Portugal describe it as the last and most beautiful flower of Lascio (Latin)), but in terms of international survival our mother flower is yet to bloom...

With the new times of Mercosur, South America is inventing a brand new language, called Portuñol, but it still very difficult for us Brazilians to understand the folks in Argentina with their italian accent, though we can communicate very well with Spanish people, Colombians, Peruvians and other Southamericans and Caribbeans.

Having attended a Jesuit school during most of my young life I had to take French and Latin classes for many years and English was just optional extra class with audiovisual method technique. As a foreign exchange student in Indianapolis in 1976 and then travelling to London often after that, I decided to stick with English and try to get fluent in order to survive in Europe on my own, backpacking adventures in the early 80's. I took a year of German in College too but not enough to get lost in Switzerland anymore.

The ideal scenario would be to learn business English (and Mandarin) enough to make money, French enough to fall in love, a little italian to get drunk and a few bad words in German for when you get really mad...  Brazilian Portuguese enough to go partying and maybe some Latin in order to look for new palms... :cool:

[Carlo Morici]

(Gileno Machado @ Jan. 07 2008,16:08)

QUOTE

The ideal scenario would be to learn (...) a little italian to get drunk ...

Hey. Italian is to ask for food, I think Spanish is much better to get drunk    :laugh:  

[amazondk]

I have to agree with Carlo.  This is really true if you happen to be in Venezuela.  Getting drunk is what they do best.

dk

[BS Man about Palms]

Gileno's game plan is pretty solid!

[Zac in NC]

I speak English as my native tongue and I am trying to learn Spanish. I know a few curse words in German, French and Spanish( I know, juvenile)

Zac