Languages of the Playground

[Ethrael]

I don't know if this has been done already, so shut me up and slap me twice over the left cheek with an oversized carp whilst singing praise to Finland if it has. :smallbiggrin:

What languages does everyone speak/want to learn/have anything interesting to say about?

Me: I speak English and Greek fluently, speak a bit o' French and Spanish, and study Latin and Ancient Greek. I love languages overall, and one of my life goals has been to learn as many Indo-European languages as possible, dead or alive, starting with Old Norse next. That's not to say I want to learn others too. :smalltongue:

So, post the languages you speak, talk about the ones you want to learn and maybe there'll be someone who knows a thing or two about them. Oh and posting language-based websites can help too. Something I'll do once I get back to my archive in London.

[randman22222]

I speak English, and am learning German, but aren't fluent yet. I speak some Spanish and Japanese as well, again, not fluent.

I wanna learn Arabic and Russian.

[Ego Slayer]

I am fluent in English and l33t, and I can speak some Spanish/am currently learning it. :smalltongue: I'd like to learn a bit of French at some point... because French is sexy.

[Lord Herman]

I speak Dutch and English. I also speak some German and French, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian, and Irish.

I'm majoring in Celtic Studies, so I'm learning all kinds of celtic languages. I've had Old Irish and Modern Irish classes last year, and this year I'll have Middle Welsh and Modern Welsh.

[Player_Zero]

Sexy eh?

Hmm... Maybe I should learn French...

Personally, I only really speak English. I did GCSEs in German and French, but that's pretty much it.

I can also speak Wapanese too, I suppose. :smalltongue:

[Spiryt]

Well, I can speak Polish and English. Fluently? Well, that's.... delicate matter, but I'm trying :smalltongue:

I also can understand something (very small something) in German.

I generally like languahes, but I'm too lazy to learn one.

Besides the whole charm of unknown, mysterious word, is that is unknown and mysterious. :smallwink:

[Dallas-Dakota]

I speak dutch and english.
I know enough french and german to get around with.
I know various sentences and cries in Quenya and Sindarin(Both languages combined, its eldarin, elvish) and continue to study them. And ofcourse know various bits of others languages of Tolkien, but they aren´t completed, and I´m not supplementing them untill my linguistic knowledge is far greater.
I know bits of latin.
I know enough flamish to get around with.(Especially since its a look-a-like of dutch)

And littles bits of spanish.

[Morty]

I speak Polish(duh) and English fluently. I'm learning French and Latin, but I'm far from being fluent in either, although I'd probably be able to have a brief talk in French. Given that I aspire to be a linguist, I'd better get to work... I've been told I've got a linguistic talent, I'm just too lazy to use it properly.

[Ethrael]

Kaelaroth announced in our "Linguistics" lessons (I know, so stupid) that the most popular fantasy language in the US was Klingon (did I spell it right?) and in the UK it's Tolkien's Elven. Or is it the other way round. But anyway, I wanna learn at least one fantasy language, there so cool.

How did you go about learning Sindarin and Quenya, d-d?

[Destro_Yersul]

I speak English. I have spent rather a lot of time improving my vocabulary in it, and I think I'm rather good at the whole English speaking thing now.

I can count to ten in French, German and Japanese, but that's about it for other languages. I'd like to learn more German though, because it's such a cool language.

Oh, and I'm practicing to be able to write in Tolkien's Dwarf-Runes. Can't really speak it, cause no-one knows what it is.

[Spiryt]

I know various sentences and cries in Quenya and Sindarin(Both languages combined, its eldarin, elvish) and continue to study them. And ofcourse know various bits of others languages of Tolkien, but they aren´t completed, and I´m not supplementing them untill my linguistic knowledge is far greater.
I know bits of latin.
I know enough flamish to get around with.(Especially since its a look-a-like of dutch)


Heh, Tolkien languages are fun. Where you're taking them from BTW? I've got a bit word from the Silmarillion, but that's all.

[Saithis Bladewing]

I boast a high degree of fluency in English and 1337, and I know a smattering of Japanese, Swedish and German (not enough to hold a conversation, but enough to understand and say a few basic things.) I'm interested in increasing my fluency of Japanese and Swedish, and I'm also interested in possibly picking up Russian at some point.

[Ethrael]

I can read and write in Anglo-Saxon Futhorc runes. I'm not sure if they're the ones the Dwarves apparently use but I know Tolkien uses. I've just memorised the alphabet, I don't know any actual words.

[DraPrime]

I speak English and Polish fluently due to the fact that I'm the son of two Polish immigrants. I also know a small bit of German. I know a decent amount of Spanish. And I can also read Russian, but I only half understand it.

[randman22222]

I can read and write in Anglo-Saxon Futhorc runes. I'm not sure if they're the ones the Dwarves apparently use but I know Tolkien uses. I've just memorised the alphabet, I don't know any actual words.

I had a DnD campaign that used Futhorc runes extensively. :smallbiggrin:

[Sneak]

I butcher English, and I speak decent Spanish. Not really. I semi-speak mediocre Spanish.

[Dihan]

I can speak English and Welsh. Very exciting, I know.

[Haruki-kun]

I speak fluent English and Spanish.

About three years ago I took courses in German, but I didn't get far, so it doesn't count. I also took High School French, and I can survive, but I'm not really fluent. It was over a year ago.

I speak a little Japanese and am currently taking classes to get better at it.

[Spiryt]

I can speak English and Welsh. Very exciting, I know.

Welsh is really, awesome, although only if you aren't trying to learn it, though. :smallwink:

[Ethrael]

@^ Very true, I have a certain drawing towards any relatively Celtic-based language, that's why I want to learn Old Norse too. Not necessarily very useful but Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is close to Elder Futhark, so it wouldn't be that hard...

Just so you all know, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Futhorc).

Oh and I used the runes in one of my DMing sessions, it sorta blew up in my face since all their characters knew how to speak the language when I thought none did...

[Ilena]

I know english, and horse, i want to learn Latin, Ancient Greek, current Greek, and German,

[randman22222]

@^ Very true, I have a certain drawing towards any relatively Celtic-based language, that's why I want to learn Old Norse too. Not necessarily very useful but Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is close to Elder Futhark, so it wouldn't be that hard...

Just so you all know, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Futhorc).

Oh and I used the runes in one of my DMing sessions, it sorta blew up in my face since all their characters knew how to speak the language when I thought none did...

Oh, come to think about it, it was Elder Futhark, not Futhorc.

[Telonius]

English and (rapidly deteriorating) German here. A few personal ranks in Decipher Script allow me to kind of almost understand Dutch. But that's only for reading it, not for understanding it when it's spoken.

[Ethrael]

Speaking of runey stuff, I was in Italy not long ago, and in the museum of Arcaeology of Florence. I saw a pretty big iron statue of an Etruscan Chimera with 5 letters on it in what I thought was the Futhorc I read. I just realised from wiki-ing that Anglo-Saxon Futhorc comes from Elder Futhark which comes from an Old Italian Etruscan alphabet. That explains my confusion now.

[Scarblade]

I speak danish and english, a bit of german and french too.
I would like to learn the kind of runes the danish vikings used, latin, ancient egyptian hieroglyphs, spanish, japanese and chinese (whatever the different is).
That's what I would like to speak for now, I'll proberly think of some more later on in life, since I'm very interested in languages :smallsmile:

[Lord Tataraus]

True to the American ideal, I speak the only language that matters American English! Screw all those other languages with their universal rules and consistency! :smalltongue:

...yeah, I tried learning other languages, but I just don't have that talent. I can understand a tinsy bit of German and have a decent understanding of the workings of Quenya, but lack the vocabulary.


How did you go about learning Sindarin and Quenya, d-d?

Ardalambion (http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/) has a course on Quenya that is really good, I've learned the basics through it, but with college I haven't been able to get very far.

Edit: What's with all the French? The language is dieing for a reason, let it rot (sorry if this offends any French people, but it is a fact and I hold nothing against you...unless your a Parisian, I'll never go back to that place again)

[Dihan]

@^ Very true, I have a certain drawing towards any relatively Celtic-based language, that's why I want to learn Old Norse too. Not necessarily very useful but Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is close to Elder Futhark, so it wouldn't be that hard...

Last time I checked Old Norse was North Germanic not Brythonic, Goidelic, Gaulish or Celtiberian. The last two of those are completely extinct though.

Cymraeg am byth! :smalltongue:

[Calamity]

I want to learn many languages, because languages are great. Sadly, only a few I will be able to have the time to learn. I'm thinking of maybe doing a little bit of Italian next? I did GCSEs in both Spanish and Frence (High grades on them, too) and I'm doing Spanish at AS.

College has enrichment courses for beginner Italian. Maybe I could do intermediate French.

C'est la vie. :smalltongue:

[Ego Slayer]

Not really. I semi-speak mediocre Spanish.
Hahah. That's 'bout where I'd put my Spanish speaking skills too...


Sexy eh?

Hmm... Maybe I should learn French...
Dooo eet. :smallwink:

Of all the things I've had to learn, Spanish/language has always been the most enjoyable. :smallconfused:

[Whoracle]

Let's see...

I speak English and German fluently, am currently learning Norse and Swedish, can understand written spanish, dutch and italian as well as some french. Also: Some drow.

As far as script goes, I can fluently read and write futharc, ogham (what's known of it, anyways) and can read parts of the kyrillic, greek and elven alphabets.

[Hzurr]

I'm fluent in English and French, but between the French and living in Texas all my life, I can follow a good bit of Spanish.

I took a Russian class for a bit, but the whole "words can have 3 genders" thing really threw me. It shouldn't have, but it did I was in it for a semester before coming to my senses and realizing I had 15 hours of French credit that I should consider using.

Right now, the languages on my list are: Spanish (because that bloody French is useless in Texas), and one of the following: Hebrew, Japanese, or Arabic. And no, wanting to learn Japanese is not for Anime. I hate Anime with a burning passion

Quenya is really cool, but I'm not nearly enough of a nerd to take the time to learn it (but I am juuuust enough of a nerd to be able to appriciate the people who do).

Oh, and for those of you who said French is a beautiful language...stop. It really isn't. You want a beautiful, sexy language then learn Italian. *drools*

@Lord Tataraus: I got to go to Paris for the first time this summer, and after having to spend time in that much proximity to American tourists, I would be an angry bitter Parisian as well. I stopped using English at all, just so I wouldn't be associated with them.

But yeah, the French are fully aware that the influence of their language is diminishing. It's made them kindof bitter and spikey and...well...French.

--Edited because for spelling, because I apparently don't know what letters look like. *face palm* --

[Player_Zero]

Dooo eet. :smallwink:


Pourrais-je refuser une demande comme ça? :smalltongue:

[Wraithy]

I can go to the shops in German, French, and Italian speaking countries with almost no problem.
Can understand most French and German conversations (but can't really contribute to them)
I took a year long course on Japanese and want to continue learning it one day.
Oh, and I can English speakings good yes.


Its all because I went to a "language school", which is good if you want to go to a school to learn languages, but is pretty awful if you only go to it because its your local school. The really annoying thing is that they force you to take at least one language there, especially horrible if you have no aptitude for languages.
Also its hard to go through even one assembly without the head teachers droning on and on about the "international ethos" of the place. [/rant]

@Hzurr: Beauty is entirely subjective when referring to anything, languages included, I'm sure that somewhere in the world there is even a person who finds Estuary English beautiful.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Ardalambion (http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/) has a course on Quenya that is really good, I've learned the basics through it, but with college I haven't been able to get very far.)
Ardalambion is indeed a good place for learning Quenya. Where I learned some.

For phrases, name translations, translations from the movies(Including extended additions) AND books and a reasonably good dictionary, Arwen-undomiel. (http://arwen-undomiel.com/elvish.html)

Overal very good for both Sindarin and Quenya. Council of Elrond. (http://www.council-of-elrond.com/encyclopedia/languages/sindarin1.html). very good dictionary.

Be carefull that you do not get Grelvish. For it is a mix of Quenya, Sindarin and other stuff as well.

I used one other as well, which was great. It gave real lessons, the guy behind it all e-mailed everybody who was taking it as well if they needed advice orso. I only had three full lessons done orso before my pc crashed, and then gone from my mind and I couldn´t find it again. :smallfrown: I remember the first lesson being on pronounciation. So if anybody knows of it...Linky?:smallfrown: Please.

Tolkien´s dwarven runes are based upon Futharc if my mind recalls correctly.

[Telonius]

Oh, and for those of you who said French is a beautiful language...stop. It really isn't. You want a beautiful, sexy language then learn Italian. *drools*


The most interestingly beautiful accent I've ever heard spoken was from an Italian woman speaking in German. I don't know how, but those two accents really worked well together.

I found the Riesen dialect to be lovely, too. Most of the southern German and Bavarian accents really don't deserve the reputation they have as being harsh-sounding. (Haven't been to the north or the east of the country, so I couldn't say about those).

[Dallas-Dakota]

I hate Anime with a burning passion

Quenya is really cool, but I'm not nearly enough of a nerd to take the time to learn it (but I am juuuust enough of a nerd to be able to appriciate the people who do).

Oh, and for those of you who said French is a beautiful language...stop. It really isn't. You want a beautiful, sexy language then learn Italian. *drools*


But yeah, the French are fully aware that the influence of their language is diminishing. It's made them kindof bitter and spikey and...well...French.
Seconded and fixed.:smallwink:

[Telonius]

That Ardalambion link reminds me of my attempt to translate Tolkien's Naffarin sentence. I have the paper at home somewhere, but I seem to remember using "Elves" for "Naffarinos" and something about the bent path of the moon.

[CurlyKitGirl]

English, French (doing an A Level in it), I've actually picked up enough Japanese to understand basic sentences and phrases. I also know some very basic Modern Greek. I can also do numbers 1 - 10 in German (and some very basic stuff in German) and Spanish.
I will be learning Ancient Greek providing the college provides it; I'm also learning Medieaval Latin, Old Norse and Anglo Saxon runes by myself just because.

EDIT:
I also know some basic Cornish and some incredibly random words of Irish or Gselic or whatever you call it.

[WalkingTarget]

Sadly, I only know English. I had a few years of Spanish back in high school (the only foreign language my dinky little school offered), but not much of that actually stuck (nouns and adjectives I'm probably ok, verb conjugation not so much). I think I just have problems learning languages if taught in that manner. If I was dumped into another country and had to deal with immersion I might do better.

That being said, I know a bunch about languages (Linguistics sub-concentration at university). I've explained to many people why native Japanese speakers put a lot of 'o' or 'u' sounds at the end of English words and why they have trouble with the l/r distinctions. I've given RP characters names that were words borrowed from Xhosa (mostly to annoy the other players who can't do clicks properly). I can puzzle out the pronunciation of words written in Cyrillic or Greek alphabets (most of the time). I know that the Hawaiian language only has 8 consonants (if you count the glottal stop) but that [t] isn't one of them (and that the official state fish is the humuhumunukunukuapua'a). I know that the Hungarian language is one of the few (if not only) to have 2 basic color words for "red" (in that one isn't a subcategory of the other). I know many things, but none of it is inherently useful in itself since I don't know enough of any particular language to communicate meaningfully. :smallfrown:

One thing I keep meaning to do:

I would like to learn to speak the phrase "I'm very sorry, but I don't speak [language]. Can we continue in English?" fluently in as many languages as possible.

If I could just have the knowledge dropped into my head, I'd like to know all of them. My top 5 otherwise (chosen mostly for phonological reasons) are, in no particular order, русский язык (Russian), Magyar (Hungarian), 日本語 (Nihongo - Japanese), Cymraeg (Welsh), and Deutsch (German).

Come to think of it, I'd like to be able to read things like Beowulf and The Odyssey in their original forms too, so count in some of the old "dead" languages too (Latin, ancient Greek, Old and Middle English, etc). Wow, I'm greedy, aren't I.

[Dihan]

I would like to learn to speak the phrase "I'm very sorry, but I don't speak [language]. Can we continue in English?" fluently in as many languages as possible.

Cymraeg (Welsh)

Even though everywhere of any note in Wales would just speak English (unless you count the small villages in mid and north east Wales noteworthy, of course) and the phrase is redundant, it's basically "Dw i ddim yn siarad Cymraeg. Wyt ti'n siarad Saesneg?". Sadly there are no Ll sounds anywhere in there.

[B-Man]

I like to think that I am fluent in English despite having a slow start at being able to talk. I may've been walking by 8-9 months old but it took me 'til I was about 4 and a half to talk. I'm semi-fluent enough in French to be able to live in Québec. My written French is better than my spoken French (and my grades prove it: 95% for my Grade 10 written exam, 75% for my spoken).

I know enough Spanish and Italian to understand what's being said but I don't know enough to be able to reply. Despite what my marks say.

I would love to learn Latin and Japanese. Latin out of general interest and Japanese 'cause I like the sound of the language.

[Dallas-Dakota]

I speak fluent pig latin.:smallcool: :smalltongue:

[Winter_Wolf]

English is my native language, of which I speak and/or understand several regional dialects. Fluent Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, but for the love of all that is good, don't write me a long message in romaji or pinyin. The gods will curse your tongue and your fingers.

I want to learn Russian, but it's a lot harder than I expected it to be, and I'm self studying, so there's a heck of a learning curve. Tried German and forgot almost all of it, semester of Spanish and somehow I think I actually regressed in that class, which is impressive (to me) since I started with no skill ranks in it.

Loving the Firefox add-ons for Chinese and Japanese. Chinese Pera-kun and Pera-pera kun respectively. You need to fiddle with Pera-pera kun to make it work. Specifically, going to the rikai-chan page and downloading a dictionary file to make it work.

Dict.cn/en/ is a mostly useful online Chinese/English two way dictionary, sadly I haven't found its equivalent for quality, functionally elegant online Japanese/English dictionaries.

[WalkingTarget]

Even though everywhere of any note in Wales would just speak English (unless you count the small villages in mid and north east Wales noteworthy, of course) and the phrase is redundant, it's basically "Dw i ddim yn siarad Cymraeg. Wyt ti'n siarad Saesneg?". Sadly there are no Ll sounds anywhere in there.

Heh, thanks! That is a shame as the ll sound is one of the noteworthy phonological things about it that I find interesting.

Those were two separate thoughts (not that I did a good job of pointing that out). The languages I mentioned were the ones I'd like most to be able to speak, not necessarily the ones that would be most pressing for that particular phrase.

[thubby]

english
1337
i know enough spanish and japanese to not be completely screwed were i left in the respective countries.

[Atomsized]

I speak English, as you can see, and Vietnamese, although i am REALLY bad at it, this friend of my parents came up to me and said i spoke Vietnamese like an American ((>.>)) so that's a general sense of how bad i am. And also, I'm currently taking German, i can speak it fairly decently, and i wish to learn Japanese in the future. Hmmm, maybe I'll buy some books when I'm not procrastinating......

[Gorbash]

I took a Russian class for a bit, but the whole "words can have 3 genders" thing really threw me. It shouldn't have, but it did I was in it for a semester before coming to my senses and realizing I had 15 hours of French credit that I should consider using.

Well it actually makes more sense that way, but the real kicker with Slavic languages are its declinations. 7 of them. Try learning 7 versions of every word you know depending on which case you use it in. It's nigh impossible. I'm having trouble with french due to incosistency in various tenses (subjonctif... how I loathe it), I can't even imagine how would it be for non-slavic speaker to learn it.

Serbian is my primary language, I have Cambridge CPE, and currently I'm taking french courses (I can read it, write it and speak a little given enough time to think about it, but my goal is fluency), but it's going slow...

[Dihan]

Heh, thanks! That is a shame as the ll sound is one of the noteworthy phonological things about it that I find interesting.

Those were two separate thoughts (not that I did a good job of pointing that out). The languages I mentioned were the ones I'd like most to be able to speak, not necessarily the ones that would be most pressing for that particular phrase.

Ahh right. Ok. Tried saying Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch recently? There are plenty of Lls in that. :smalltongue:

Alternatively, you can start with something simpler like Llanrwst, Llanrhaeadr. Llanefydd, or any of the other 600 or so places that follow similar conventions. Or further more, you may say llongyfarchiadau to a llofrudd from Llundain. :smallbiggrin:


EDIT: I hate how the boards split Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch up so.

[Zephra]

Hmm. Have studdied, but am not fluent in Latin, German, Spanish, and Sign Language (ASL) But I feel dumb compared to all you 'fluent in twelve language' people who seem to be posting here... :smalltongue:

[Atomsized]

But I feel dumb compared to all you 'fluent in twelve language' people who seem to be posting here... :smalltongue:

Don't worry, you're not alone. :smallsmile:

[mangosta71]

I speak English almost like a native...>.> I'm fluent in Spanish. Well, the version of Spanish that's spoken on the streets of Santiago, at least. My senior year in high school some exchange students taught me to curse like a sailor in German, but I'm afraid I've forgotten most of what they taught me.

[Calvin33]

english
1337
i know enough spanish and japanese to not be completely screwed were i left in the respective countries.

Me too, but i also speak lolspeak and german and english.

[Gem Flower]

My mother tongue's English, I speak French really well, but I'm not fluent. I can... sing the Finnish national anthem in Finnish! I can count to fifteen or something in Spanish, I know a few phrases in Quenya and Sindarin. I think that's it.

[RTGoodman]

Well, I spent English fluently, and I'm rather fluent in Latin after 4 semesters at the university level. Of course, I have to have time to look up words since our focus was on grammar rather than vocabulary, but I never really have to worry about speaking Latin (just reading). Because of the Latin, though, I can basically read (and occasionally understand verbally) Italian and French, and Spanish works occasionally, too (since I was forced to take 2 useless semesters of it in high school anyway).

I also did a few semesters of German and know enough to get around, but it's been about 6 months without speaking it at all and I'm getting a bit fuzzy.

I'm looking at going to grad school for Celtic Studies if I can get in anywhere they offer an MA/PhD program in it (so, basically, Harvard if I stay in the US), so I'll have to learn at least a few Celtic languages (probably Old Irish, Modern Irish, and maybe Welsh). I'd like to learn Old Norse as well, but I haven't done much to work on it on my own.


How did you go about learning Sindarin and Quenya, d-d?

I know a few sentences and words in Quenya and Sindarin, and it's all from Ruth S. Noel's book The Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth. I highly suggest it if you're interested.


Sadly there are no Ll sounds anywhere in there.

You know, I'm a self-proclaimed Celt-ophile, but I STILL have no idea how the Ll is supposed to sound. Every time I hear someone say it it's a different way. Maybe it's just my ignorant American ears, but I swear I've heard it pronounced as just a "ch" (like the Scottish loch, sometimes as an "s", sometimes as an "sh", and sometimes as a pseudo-"zh" sound. For you speakers, what's correct? Or is it a dialect thing?

[Mephibosheth]

I am fluent in English and conversant in German and Hindi and Urdu. However, if you want to be technical about it, separating Hindi and Urdu is really just a way of padding my ego, since they're almost the same when spoken. The big difference is in the writing system (Hindi uses the Devanagari script used for Sanskrit and Urdu uses the Nastaliq script used for Persian). I also know a smattering of Telugu (the major language of Andhra Pradesh, India and the surrounding areas), but my Telugu vocabulary is miniscule.

My list of "want/need to learn" languages includes improving my Telugu and learning Malayalam (the major language of Kerala in SW India), Farsi/Persian, and Welsh. Unfortunately, I can count the number of universities that teach Telugu and Malayalam on the fingers of one hand. *sigh*

నమస్కారం!

Mephibosheth

[Dallas-Dakota]

I speak Llama.

Gets real handy with Atreyu.


:smalltongue:

[Dihan]

You know, I'm a self-proclaimed Celt-ophile, but I STILL have no idea how the Ll is supposed to sound. Every time I hear someone say it it's a different way. Maybe it's just my ignorant American ears, but I swear I've heard it pronounced as just a "ch" (like the Scottish loch, sometimes as an "s", sometimes as an "sh", and sometimes as a pseudo-"zh" sound. For you speakers, what's correct? Or is it a dialect thing?

It's Ll. It has no English equivalent. Though I believe it's a voiceless lateral fricative.

Basically, you put the tip of your tongue behind your teeth, and breathe out... It makes sense to me!

@V: That... Except I disagree with it making a "sh" sound. :smalltongue:

[WalkingTarget]

You know, I'm a self-proclaimed Celt-ophile, but I STILL have no idea how the Ll is supposed to sound. Every time I hear someone say it it's a different way. Maybe it's just my ignorant American ears, but I swear I've heard it pronounced as just a "ch" (like the Scottish loch, sometimes as an "s", sometimes as an "sh", and sometimes as a pseudo-"zh" sound. For you speakers, what's correct? Or is it a dialect thing?

My understanding, it's its own sound (voiceless alveolar lateral fricative).

Make a 't' sound. Feel where your tongue touches the roof of your mouth behind the teeth. Put your tongue in that position and keep it there. Now breath out so that air goes around the sides of your tongue like 'l' only without having your vocal cords doing anything. It's a voiceless fricative, so it'll kind of sound like 'sh' but different.

Anybody who speaks it feel free to correct me, though.

Edit - hooray! I seem to have remembered it right.

Edit again - yeah, it's distinct from 'sh' but I wanted to make it definite that the breathing out part makes a sound. I guess now that I try if I hold my tongue in that position I can't not make it make the sound while exhaling through the mouth, so I guess that's moot anyway.

[adanedhel9]

My native language is English. I used to say that I was fluent in Spanish, but it's been several years since I've used more than a few sentances at a time. So now I say I'm highly proficient. Between Spanish and a background in linguistics, I can get along in spoken Italian, and I can generally read Portugease, French, Italian, and Catalan. I know a few words in Greek and can read the alphabet, so on a good day I can get the gist of something written in that language.

I'm interested in learning Greek, Arabic, Nahuatl, and Japanese, but I don't have enough motivation to do anything about any of these at the moment.

[Exeson]

for me. English very well, I can speak (but not read or write) Afrikaans fluently. I also studied French, Latin and Ancient Greek for my GCSE's.

Interestingly Afrikaans was my first language, I learned English at the age of 6 when i moved to england. Of course my English is now better than my Afrikaans by a long shot.)

[Zar Peter]

Well, speaking more or less German (well, Viennese dialect, but not the hard form of the Viennese dialect like the guys in the 10th or 12th district speaking, mine is better understandable for German visitors :smallbiggrin:)

And I write here so I don't forget the English I learned at school (which must be British, since I write colour).

I tried to learn myself some czech but didn't get very far.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Interestingly Afrikaans was my first language, I learned English at the age of 6 when i moved to england. Of course my English is now better than my Afrikaans by a long shot.)
Just curious, how much is Afrikaans like dutch?
*notices you don´t speak dutch, or is unknown.
Hoi, hou dit alstublieft dit even een momentje vast, dankjewel.
Translation : Hi, please hold this for a moment, thenks.

[Mordokai]

Slovenian, English and Croatian for me. I understand a little of Spanish, but not really that much. I'm aiming to learn another one, but so far hasn't managed to get to it yet. Somewhere in not so near future, I will.

[Gorbash]

Slovenian, English and Croatian for me. I understand a little of Spanish, but not really that much. I'm aiming to learn another one, but so far hasn't managed to get to it yet. Somewhere in not so near future, I will.

Well if you speak Croatian, then you can freely say that you speak Serbian, Bosnian and a bit of Macedonian also. :smallwink:

[Mordokai]

Some people would claim that is generalising and some people are very cranky when I do that :smalltongue: :smallwink:

[Gorbash]

Well the difference between Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian is the same as the difference between English and American. Few words here and there, accent and that's it. Nothing insulting in that. But if you don't want to generalise than you can just say that you speak all 3, but like I said, you can't really count them as separate languages. :smallwink:

[Exeson]

Just curious, how much is Afrikaans like dutch?
*notices you don´t speak dutch, or is unknown.
Hoi, hou dit alstublieft dit even een momentje vast, dankjewel.
Translation : Hi, please hold this for a moment, thenks.

Well like I said I can't read or write Afrikaans but it has a lot of dutch in it.

It is basically a bastardized language of English, French, Dutch, German and a little bit of other stuff as well.

Its a great language for swearing in, it sounds really harsh. :smallbiggrin:

[Spiryt]

I always wondered, Zar Peter, are there some major differences between German used in Germany and those used in Osterreich/Sweiz?

[Mordokai]

Well the difference between Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian is the same as the difference between English and American. Few words here and there, accent and that's it. Nothing insulting in that. But if you don't want to generalise than you can just say that you speak all 3, but like I said, you can't really count them as separate languages. :smallwink:

You and me realise that, but I know a few people that get upset at that. So, I rather stay on the safe side and don't claim that :smallsmile: But yes, by understanding one, you can quite easily understand all three of them.

[Tormsskull]

Believe it or not, I speak English, and I have had a total of 8 years of classes immersed in Spanish. Two in Jr. High, Four in High School, and Two in College. I plan to buy that Rosetta Stone thing eventually and practice my Spanish so that I don't lose it.

If I wasn't so tied up with everything else (or lazy) I'd take up French (cause it sounds cool, and I want to know what those stereotypical waiters mean when they make that Huh huh sound), and Russian. Russian only because it is so guttural and brash. And for some reason there is a mystique for me in that.

[Lord Tataraus]

I always wondered, Zar Peter, are there some major differences between German used in Germany and those used in Osterreich/Sweiz?

Haha! That reminds me of one of my German cousins, she was a true Bavarian. Then she got a job working with a Switzerland-based company. She started to discuss something with a Swiss coworker in German (this is in the Swiss-Deutsch area). After 5 minutes of trying to understand each other and getting nowhere they switched to English. Neither person could understand the other because the Swiss-Deutsch is that much different, I imagine it has a heavy influences from French and Italian.

[Zar Peter]

I always wondered, Zar Peter, are there some major differences between German used in Germany and those used in Osterreich/Sweiz?

There are some words which are completely different... Quark (=quark) in German is Topfen in Austrian for example... it's easier for people of southern Germany to talk with people from Austria (eastern) than with people from northern or eastern Germany... and no one understands the Swiss or the Vorarlberger (most western state of Austria) if they don't speak very slow and really try hard to speak the official German language.

German is no language, it's a construct some people made so the people in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have a base to converse in...

[Shas aia Toriia]

I know some English and French, would like to learn Latin, and I'm studying Elven right now.

[Hzurr]

I'm having trouble with french due to incosistency in various tenses (subjonctif... how I loathe it),

I feel you...thank God the subjunctive has only come up...er...once in a blue moon in all of the English language, and most of us don't even realize it when it does happen. (Hmm...I can only think of two times that it regularly occurs)



It is basically a bastardized language of English, French, Dutch, German and a little bit of other stuff as well.

Ironic, since English is already the bastardization of practically every other European language...

[SilentNight]

English and I've been learning Japanese.

[Dallas-Dakota]

I'm studying Elven right now.
Which kind of Elven?

[Ethrael]

I want to stab the subjunctive till it bleeds.

For anyone who speaks Spanish and wants to learn Italian, don't. It'll be far too confusing imo. I get mixed up just from the languages I speak.

Oh and thanks everyone for the links to Quenya and Sindarin, I might be trying those out in a mo...

And I've just checked my copy of the Hobbit, and Tolkien runes are Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. I can read them cos he's written the English words in them.

Oh and @WalkingTarget (I think): Reading the Odyssey is painful to the Ancient Greek student. It's hurts me brainy!

[Dallas-Dakota]

Oh and thanks everyone for the links to Quenya and Sindarin, I might be trying those out in a mo...
I want you to understand, that both Quenya and Sindarin are not really languages for everyday talk, unless you're a true expert, more for poems, songs, cries, greetings and such.

[Paladin29]

I am from Spain so I speak spanish, I have a survival english and I´d like to learn japanese someday.

[Xyk]

I speak english only but can read* latin. I would very much like to speak dutch and especially italian.

* by read I mean get the general idea.

[Wraithy]

And I write here so I don't forget the English I learned at school (which must be British, since I write colour).


Spelling isn't that important in English (contrary to what some people may believe), it took a very long time for English to standardise its spelling, if you read Shakespeare he will often spell the same word completely differently in two sentences written right next to each other (and he regularly spelt his name differently).

The main difference between American English and standard English is that the American spellings are more phonetic in relation to an American accent (which although there is some regional variation, it is generally quite similar throughout the country), whereas in England a phonetic standard spelling for the whole country would be next to impossible due to the almost uncountable number of different accents.

Or maybe I just don't think spelling is important because I'm dyslexic, who knows.

[WalkingTarget]

Oh and @WalkingTarget (I think): Reading the Odyssey is painful to the Ancient Greek student. It's hurts me brainy!

Yeah, I can imagine. I'd like to skip that whole "student" part. :smallbiggrin:

I didn't say that I had any hope about my abilities to actually learn all of those. I'm almost in awe of people that manage to pick up fluency in a language after, say, adolescence.

[mangosta71]

Only way to really learn a foreign language is immersion. I was 20 when I went to Chile, and I was fluent in Spanish after about 5 months. I'd had a two month crash course in the language before that, and two years of Spanish in high school (four years before). But I have a gift with languages. There were guys that went with me that never reached the comfort I had at 6 months after two years.

[black_Lizzard]

Ich bin eine agricola tou carpou et wheat.

if you can read that, you're just as weird as me.

I know English, obviously, i'm rusty on my Latin, but i was forced into 3 years of it, a good bit of koine Greek (can read most sections of the New Testament if i work at it), and i know random phrases in German (mostly from Muzzy films and the music i listen to).

[shadowxknight]

I was born in China, so my Chinese is actually better than my English :smallbiggrin:
Of course since I've been in United States for almost a decade, my ability to write in Chinese has gone to hell:smallsigh:
I'd type up a few phrase for you guys, but I don't think the board has the unicode for Chinese characters.

[FdL]

My mother tongue is Spanish.

I speak English fluently.

I also can handle french, I'm better at interpreting than producing, but I'm pretty good (I've done translations from french to english and I can read and watch stuff in french).

I also know basque as some sort of second first language, since I lived in the basque country for a lot of time.

[celestialkin]

I dream of learning so many languages. Sadly, all I know is my native language (English) and some very broken Spanish. I am losing the Spanish more and more each day, though. I will certainly forget it once my mother passes thankfully.

[Lyserdigi]

Native Finnish speaker, with fluent english abilities.

Studying Japanase atm. Slowly and for the fun of it, as a hobby. I can read and write (musical) notes.. I also understand some fundamentals of Spanish, Italian, and German... enough to order a meal and not to get lost... Have read 3 years Latin, About 10 years ago, although i have forgotten it almost completely.

-L-

[Hlaine Larkin]

Native French, with English as my second (well, as my 1b, I grew up learning both at essentially the same time).

[Nychta]

I speak, um, English. I understand some Cantonese, a tiny amount of Hokkien, and I speak and read very basic Mandarin. My Spanish is pretty good in all 4 areas.

[Fri]

Beside my mother language, I obviously speak english. I used to speak german (though not very fluent, but enough for reading), but having not using it for years I've completely forgot it.

[Kimusabe]

I speak English, as this is the language spoken by everyone around me. I am learning Spanish in school and (for some reason beyond my comprehension) am in the Advanced class in my year. I used to speak a little bit (a REALLY litle bit, and I've forgotten it all now) of Japanese which my Primary school friend taught me (who I haven't seen for several years :smallfrown: and I miss her). And I can count in Korean. but I'm not really fluent in any language except English, and even then, my gramaar and spelling are really bad. But I make do with it.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Ich bin eine agricola tou carpou et wheat.
I am a (street?) (?) and (corn?).


?

[UnChosenOne]

I'm native Finnish speaker with notso good english (Good understanding and normal/bad writing). I also understand german and swedish.

[bosssmiley]

[COLOR="DarkRed"]I don't know if this has been done already, so shut me up and slap me twice over the left cheek with an oversized carp whilst singing praise to Finland if it has. :smallbiggrin:

What languages does everyone speak/want to learn/have anything interesting to say about?

Well, you asked for it.

*fishslap, fishslap*

♪♫ Oi maamme Suomi, synnyinmaa,
soi, sana kultainen!
Ei laaksoa ei kukkulaa,
ei vettä, rantaa rakkaampaa
kuin kotimaa tää pohjoinen,
maa kallis isien. ♫♪

:smallbiggrin:

Eggy speaks fluent Queen's English, conversational German, tourist French, limited Italian and Spanish, and schoolboy Latin. I can also make out Dutch, Danish and Frisian provided the speaker talks s-l-o-w-l-y and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y. Greek is just, well, Greek to me.

[KingRexII]

I'm terrible at humanoid languages. I can no longer speak my native tongue of Ilokano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilokano_language), though I can understand it when my parents speak it to me. I can speak well enough in English, and I know enough Polish to talk to my 2 year-old.

Now computer languages -- my repertoire has great deal more depth and breadth in that arena. I'm fluent in Java and C, conversational in Perl, Javascript and other scripting languages. My SML is a bit rusty, but I can pick it back up if I need to. I understand enough of the assembly languages not to destroy things (I think), and given a translation manual, I can probably add two numbers in machine code.

[Ethrael]

@bossmiley: I popped a laughing muscle. :biggrin: I was actually describing the opening scene of Spamalot. Oh that was hilarious.


Ich bin eine agricola tou carpou et wheat.

I am a farmer of fruit and wheat. Haha! No translating devices used there. :smallsmile:

Although you might want to be a bit more specific of which καρπός you're talking about. In theologic Greek it's used way too often metaphorically.

[Shikton]

Norwegian! WOOHOO! Yeah. And English of course, but that's a given seeing as we're bilingual here. I can also curse in various languages, but can't we all? =P

Anobody keeping count on how many people speak which language?

[Ethrael]

I could, I guess, like an index or summink, I think it might be interesting...

[Kneenibble]

Ahh right. Ok. Tried saying Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch recently? There are plenty of Lls in that. :smalltongue:

Alternatively, you can start with something simpler like Llanrwst, Llanrhaeadr. Llanefydd, or any of the other 600 or so places that follow similar conventions. Or further more, you may say llongyfarchiadau to a llofrudd from Llundain. :smallbiggrin:


EDIT: I hate how the boards split Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch up so.

I have to admit, sir, that after reading that post I am tastefully attracted to you. I'm sorry to fetishize your culture but I'm also fascinated by Celtic languages and I absolutely support their dogged revival. I attended a few classes on Irish, it felt wonderful to speak. Conas ta tu?

And the same to the fellow interested in Indian languages. ऄछ है। May I ask for what reason?

I've been to Tamil Nadu, and while I picked up a little Hindi speaking with northern Indians there, I admit I absolutely could not pronounce a word of Tamil and everytime I tried with my brother's maid she laughed at me. The script is super cool, but I'll be ****ed if I could ever speak it. I asked people to teach me and even looked at books. Wierdest phonetics ever. है न?

Please allow me to say that this is one of the coolest threads I've seen in my short time at this forum.

I have decent French, but with an awful accent; I can read and write (classical) Latin with proficiency; I've studied Japanese a little bit, but I sucked at it, and continue to suck; and I've studied Anglo-Saxon enough to translate slowly with a dictionary beside me. That's all I got.

Does anybody speak a native American language? The local ones in the area I live are seeing something of a revival. They also "sound cool".

[Shas aia Toriia]

Which kind of Elven?

High, of course.

[Jade Falcon]

German (well, I am german) and english as secondary language of course. My french was pretty good some years ago, but it suffered without exercising. Furthermore my best buddy teached me to speak some greek, but it isn´t noteworthy.

[Prophaniti]

I am, of course, extremely fluent in english. I know a handful of phrases in spanish, german, and french. More importantly, I'm familiar with most of the pronunciation rules for those languages, if not so much with the grammar. So, hopefully, if I ever get around to visiting other countries, they'll at least be able to understand my halting speech as I read from a phrasebook:smalltongue:.

I would dearly like to learn more german, and I would also like to learn russian. I probably need to learn more spanish, as it is easily the second most common language in the western/southwestern US, where I live. French is more 'meh' to me, though. I don't have any real desire to learn it, though I wouldn't mind, if I were going somewhere they spoke it.

[Jade Falcon]

I always wondered, is german a difficult language to learn?

[The Extinguisher]

I speak English (although apparently, I suck at it) and I really, really want to learn Icelandic.

[Don Julio Anejo]

I'm Russian, so I obviously speak Russian... I also grew up in Ukraine so I speak Ukrainian too. Now I live in Canada... so yeah, I speak English (duh). And I'm pretty good at conversational French, although I can't read it very well.

[Ethrael]

I found a website a while ago in England which has several languages, their difficulties and details and user reviews on them. It's really useful for learning new ones. I'll post once I get back to my favourites there...

Oh and Serbian, Oh how I love Serbian. I know some may say that it's so similar to other slavic languages how can I make it out. I just find it so much more beautiful. I'd love to learn it but my parents can't be bothered with me learning it especially since only 4,000 people speak it. They tell me to learn Russian instead. :smallsigh:

Gorbash, you're so lucky...

In other news, I've finished the index up to this post, so I'll be posting it in the first post soon. I've put you down for any language you have said you could even just count in, so if someone asks you what the language is like and you don't know, it's me fault. :smalltongue:

[SDF]

I am conversationally fluent in Japanese, but haven't studied it for a few years.

I'm actively learning Arabic right now, and am doing pretty well so far. I'll be fluent by the time I get my undergraduate degree. I'd also like to be fluent in French by the time I finish med/grad school.

[Dallas-Dakota]

SDF, that is SO awesome. *hails SDF*

[SDF]

I was lucky my high school offered Japanese. I took it for three years, went to Japan and had a blast.

Since I've gone to Uni I've been working on medical projects in Africa, and would like to join Doctors Without Borders when I get done with med school. In Africa everyone speaks either English, French, or Arabic. After I get those three down I might go back to Japanese because it was really fun. The thing is I'm not much of a language person, it takes a lot for me to learn a language well. So its a work in progress.

My cousin on the other hand is amazing with languages. She speaks 6 or 7, and studied languages at Cambridge.

[Mephibosheth]

And the same to the fellow interested in Indian languages. ऄछ है। May I ask for what reason?

I just completed my undergrad in international relations and South Asian studies. I focused my studies (as much as possible) on South Asia as a part of the global system and am especially interested in Indian foreign policy. Indian languages are part of the territory, especially for someone whose only forseeable job opportunities involve knowing (or at least being familiar with) Hindi at the very least. Plus, they're a lot of fun to learn and the region is generally under-studied in the US (and always has been). Also, what's that first character supposed to be up there? All I can see is a square.


I've been to Tamil Nadu, and while I picked up a little Hindi speaking with northern Indians there, I admit I absolutely could not pronounce a word of Tamil and everytime I tried with my brother's maid she laughed at me. The script is super cool, but I'll be ****ed if I could ever speak it. I asked people to teach me and even looked at books. Wierdest phonetics ever. है न?

I don't have any Tamil (though I'm sure I'll pick some up before long), but I won't deny the script is incredibly cool. From what I've read about it, it does seem pretty weird though. I've only spent about a weekend in Tamil Nadu. I feel fortunate that Telugu pronounciations are almost identical to Hindi, despite the craziness of the script (one of my friends routinely advocates a theory wherein the Telugu script actually originated on the moon and was developed by moon men).

Mephibosheth

[Ossian]

Bene bene bene....da dove cominciamo?

Italian (Native) and English (Skill Emphasis). French (colloquial, tourist and market haggle) and Arabic (see French). Passive spanish is all right, and something like 50 words in German (and 10 in Irish).

Of course I enjoy touring cathedrals and reading Latin stuff on walls. After learning the Alphabet I can read sounds, if someone draws them for me (*does the bulywyf face in the 13th warrior*).

I loved the "Beowulf" to death, and with the english text next to it I managed to get a sense of where the Old English scop was going.

Basta cosí?=

O.