Speaking another language

[Optic]

Out of curiosity:

• What languages can you speak and understand And also what is your proficiency?
  
• Any new languages you would like to learn?
  
• Have you spoken any basic phrases recently of another language (e.g. travelling)?
  

My responses:

 

What languages can you speak and understand and also what is your proficiency?

English (native)

Born in Australia so it's my first language. Australian English has it's own unique vocabulary and slang. Common ones include "Chuck another snag on the barbie!" and "Fair dinkum!" and "Fair go!" We also have a habit of adding suffixes to terms. Examples: Ambo (Ambulance), Sparky (Electrician), Fireie (Firefighter) and so on.

 

Cantonese (basic)

Parents speak it at home and it's the first Asian language I've been exposed to. I can understand most of it but I can only speak basic phrases. I love watching Hong Kong films that are in Cantonese! I would like to improve it one day.

 

Any new languages you would like to learn?

I would like to learn Japanese, because many of my Anime Blurays and DVDs do not have English subtitles. Those that know an Asian language can easily relate to how difficult it can be to translate certain phrases into English because the context can easily change from its core meaning so I do wonder how accurate English subtitles really are for fansubs and even official releases. In addition sometimes the closest English word doesn't match the translation fully. I don't have any examples in my head right now but when I remember I'll post one up!

 

However a basic one that comes to mind is食飯 in Cantonese (sik-fan), commonly used to say it is dinner time. But literally translated it means to eat rice. Both are correct meanings but translating it directly in say Google Translate you will almost always get the literal translation...

 

Have you spoken any basic phrases recently of another language (e.g. travelling)?

During my Europe holiday in September 2012 I learned some Lithuanian! Some cute phrases, such as Labas (Hello!), Atsiprassau (Excuse me!) and the one that took me awhile to get right... Aciu (Thank you!) pronounced similar to "Ah-choo!" but without the emphasised 'h' in 'Ah'. Many of the younger people there knew English but the older people often did not so it was safer to start off in basic Lithuanian to ask if they spoke English. I think my Australian accent didn't help my Lithuanian pronunciation as I was misunderstood several times but they really appreciated the effort.

 

How about you?

[Taalen]

What languages can you speak and understand and also what is your proficiency?

English

Pretty much the same situation as Victor, English is my first language

 

Filipino

My parents speak illonggo around the home,a dialect most prevalent in the Southern areas of Philippines. I have a fairly basic understanding of it.

Tagalog, the national dialect is another story, I get completely lost when hearing it. However if Taglish (tagalog english) is being spoken I can sometimes grasp the conversation.

 

Any new languages you would like to learn?

I actually haven't been very motivated towards learning a new language at all, hasn't really occurred to me why!

 

Have you spoken any basic phrases recently of another language (e.g. travelling)?

Forgive me for sounding blunt, but nope

[NightDancer]

I can speak: Dutch (Native), English and German! ^^

Also some basic French and Japanese but the other 3 fluently. I actually prefer the English language above Dutch in the way of expressing things. I do like it that the German and Dutch language are quite similiar so it was easy to learn it. ^^

[valerauko]

What languages can you speak and understand and also what is your proficiency?

 

Hungarian (native)

I was born Hungarian, which is probably a huge blessing. Hungarian is one of those languages you probably stand no chance in learning as a foreigner. It has complicated grammar, insane conjugation and lots of homophones. Too bad that because Hungary is a tiny country with practically no influence abroad and there're but 15 million Hungarians spread around the world, there isn't much practical use to the language.

 

English (derp)

I've studied English for about 10 years in school and I've been actively using it in everyday conversations (mostly online) for almost a decade now. Still, I've never lived in an English-speaking environment, so I probably sound very unnatural. At least (according to others) I don't have a bad accent. I need to use American English when fansubbing, and that probably shows, but I love British English a lot. The accent, the slang, it's just better than AmE.

 

Japanese (don't laugh at me)

I've lived in Japan for over four years now and I had the language hammered into my brains at probably the best place in Japan (TUFS JLC). By now I'm fluent in both everyday and professional Japanese. I translate about a dozen of anime series every week for various fansubbing groups. My reading speed is laughable when compared to native Japanese and I still misunderstand stuff sometimes (mostly due to the total lack of Japanese background), but I think I'm improving.

 

German (I don't even)

I studied German for over six years back in Hungary. I was about to take my advanced exam when I got my scholarship in Japan, and since then I haven't used German whatsoever. I still have a basic understanding of it and I can read and mostly understand youth literature (I still have the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on my shelf in German), but I don't think I could say a whole sentence or take part in a discussion. Probably if I were thrown into a German-only environment suddenly, my old studies would resurface rapidly, but at present I'll just stick to "Ich spreche kein Deutsch."

 

Any new languages you would like to learn?

I studied Spanish for half a year or so back in Hungary. I'd love to pick that up again. Also, Russian and Chinese. Too bad unless my future job requires me to learn them and provide courses, I probably never gonna learn them.

 

Have you spoken any basic phrases recently of another language (e.g. travelling)?

I can say "I don't speak {insert language here}" in pretty much every tongue I encountered. Other than that, I can say "Please finish boarding and leaving the train. The doors are closing" in Czech and a few swearwords in Chinese. I also picked up a few words of French and Italian, but that's more like the common European vocabulary.

[chiefyamaki]

I speak, read and write in English (British), Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia.

 

As far as proficiency goes, I guess I can say that that I'm okay with them as I am able to use them to communicate with others with not much trouble.

 

I am trying to learn Japanese, but for some reason the language doesn't like me and till today I am unable to memorize even the katagana and hiragana table. :\

[Nami]

• What languages can you speak and understand And also what is your proficiency?
  

I speak slovenian (native), english, german (not like an expert ... xp), serbian + croatian (these two language are pretty much the same and are very similar to slovenian language ). I can also understand spanish (I watched spanish telenovelas a lot when I was young and I had spanish in school for 3 years) and I'm learning mandarin chinese (basic). I was also studying japanese for a month

 

• Any new languages you would like to learn?
  

I would like to learn how to speak swedish, italian and french. Since no one speaks slovenian language we have to learn other languages ;D

 

• Have you spoken any basic phrases recently of another language (e.g. travelling)?
  

Yeah, probably :Đ but just the basics ("My name is", "Thank you", ...)

[Fab]

Languages spoken well:

 

English (Main):

Well, English is like the main tongue over here in Singapore. Apparently, back in the early days, they pushed for Singaporeans to be taught in English to help the country's economy somehow. So pretty much every Singaporean speaks english no matter what race the are

 

Chinese: (Secondary):

Well, my second language, learnt it along side English. But have problem writing out the characters on Paper

 

Hokkien (Dialect)

A dialect commonly used by the older generations, slowly picked it up by listening to them talk. Most of the older generations in Singapore, especially those in the 70s and above normally speaks only dialect. Not all though.

[SoarUponClouds]

Cantonese is my first language (or dialect..I don't know) my parents had this thing where they believed that it wouldn't be right for me or my sisters to not know our own language, so they didn't allow us to speak English at home. But now I'm speaking English more often I'm starting to get an ascent

 

English is my second language. I learnt English when I moved to Australia. I think I was 4? I still remember how horrible it was though. I had no idea what my class mates were saying. I think okay with it now, my ascent occasionally comes out though.

 

I did Japanese for language class in primary school and I'm currently learning Korean.

[Ciara]

Woo, I love languages!

 

Other than English, I can speak Tagalog fluently. I am quite confident to say that my Spanish is getting better too. I can have a basic conversation and could grasp it. Some words in Spanish are quite similar in Tagalog too because Philippines were once under the Spanish rule, I want Spanish to be my third language for sure.

 

I used to teach myself Korean and took Japanese for two years in high school but didn't learn sh*t and forgot them afterward. I would like to pick up on this again on my spare time because I have the books for it. Same with Dutch.

 

So far the countries I've been in can speak English so I'm happy, but I'm thinking of picking up some Dutch and Portuguese for some future plans. =)

[valerauko]

How do you make yourselves sit down and learn a language? I'm having trouble rebooting my efforts into learning Russian and Spanish...

[Nami]

I have just started to learn swedish language and since I do it on my own I borrowed a book about swedish grammar (a good one, where everything is explained ), a swedish workbook (to practise) and a CD so that I can practise how to speak. And after a while I will probably download a few swedish series and hope to understand a little :Đ

 

I know that some people are learining new languages with reading books (starting with children books and so on). That's probably okay if you already know the basics (or if the language you're learning is already similar to one you already speak).

[Optic]

How do you make yourselves sit down and learn a language? I'm having trouble rebooting my efforts into learning Russian and Spanish...

@@Bioengineered is fluent in Spanish I believe, so maybe you could poke him for some pointers.

[Yuuki_Radosian]

English (Native)

Afrikaans (2nd language)

Japanese , I understand most of it when I hear it , and I know Hiragana , Katakana . . . not so well and I know some basic Kanji

IsiZulu , I used to do lessons from 5th grade to 10th grade (these are compulsory in SA in public schools , I started 5 years late because I was in a Catholic private school) I used to be highly proficient but I haven't used it in years so I can only remember a little.

 

I would like to learn:

Old English

Middle English

Norse (tried to teach myself a little but didn't get very far)

Gaelic

Cantonese

Mandarin

Hindi

German

Russian

 

I often say random phrases in Japanese when talking to my friends and we often use Gujarati , Zulu and Afrikaans phrases when talking to each other . Though here in SA its quite common for people to speak in mixed languages (ie: start in English move to Afrikaans . . . then IsiZulu and then end with English again) also much of the Indian population speak either Hindi or Tamil so most here our colloquial is spread over about 6 languages (including Xhosa) and no matter which is your main we frequently use terms and phrases from the others.

[Nuh1000]

Well I know several,

 

I basically learned English, Urdu, and Arabic at around the same time, but If I had to put a Native I'd say English.

As I grew up, I learned Spanish, French (They're both very similar) and Hindi, But I'm still expanding on my French .

Any new languages you would like to learn?

 

Well after I'm done with french I'd love to learn Mandarin or Old english.

[EmperorQinmon]

Um,

*looks at how everyone knows at least 2 languages*

Eh, uh, I know, eh English(native), aaaahnd that's it.

[Yuuki_Radosian]

Well after I'm done with french I'd love to learn Mandarin or Old english.

Hells yeah I , Old English for the win

[Guest Jupiter]

I can't speak another language other than English. I did take Spanish in high school and know a few words in that. Always wanted to learn Gaelic or Japanese. However I'm not motivated enough or inspired to do so.

[Optic]

I think part of the reason I've found it hard to be motivated to learn another language is every country I've been to on holiday is really English friendly OR English is taught as a second language for most people for the residents..

[Yuuki_Radosian]

I think part of the reason I've found it hard to be motivated to learn another language is every country I've been to on holiday is really English friendly OR English is taught as a second language for most people for the residents..

It's hard to get through life here without learning at least a bit of the other official languages (we have 11 of them).

Living here without learning another language is pretty hard as most people are able to (at least on a conversational level) speak 2-3 languages , there are of course those who refuse to learn the other languages , but they put themselves in a bad position for when they look for work later on.

[drill]

I can speak quite a few Japanese phrases, but I can't form sentences at all. Other than that, I can understand some Spanish, but can't speak it. Which is helpful around here as there are a few native Spanish speakers. And then you have English, but you knew that already.

[Orius]

What languages can you speak and understand And also what is your proficiency?

 

American English (basic)

English is our first language around here (Singapore), though I wouldn't necessarily call it a 'native' language. Malay's probably this country's native language... not that I speak it myself.

 

Anyway, Singaporeans have this terrible native form of English called "Singlish". It sounds like Hokkien mixed with broken English. Yeah, it's pretty bad, and though I avoid it whenever I can, speaking with the locals can sometimes influence you. I know a lot of nationalist patriots around here just love to advocate Singlish like it's something to be proud of... heh. Singaporeans.

 

Anyway, many of them were annoyed by my American English, because Singaporeans mostly used the British English, a result of the British colonization in the past before the country became an independent nation. They would call me pretentious and stuff whenever I used American slangs - a result of watching too many American movies and cartoons. I didn't really care, and I went on speaking better English than they ever did. Bunch of nationalist elitists.

 

Hokkien (native)

This is the dialect of Chinese that my parents use around the house, and the only other form of Chinese that I know how to use. There are a lot of notorious profanities associated with the language.

 

Mandarin (native)

And of course, there's Mandarin, which I haven't used for a very long time. I can't even write the Chinese characters anymore, having not used them for such a long time. But it hardly matters, as I'd often stick to English-use online anyway.

 

Any new languages you would like to learn?

Not really. I tried my hand on Japanese because I wanted to read visual novels. It didn't stick. It's a tough language to learn, especially when you get older.

 

Have you spoken any basic phrases recently of another language (e.g. traveling)?

Nope. I don't travel much, if I travel at all. The further place I got away from this god-forsaken island was Sentosa, and that's just off the coast. My parents did bring me to some Asian countries back when I was a baby though, but I was too young to remember anything.

[FSL29]

I can speak Indonesian, English and Korean though my skill in Korean is not as good as it is in Indonesian, but I can talk about daily life stuff with it, as long as it doesnt get too complicated, and I also can understand Malaysian language given its similarity with Indonesian, but not the language I use very often.

Well I would like to learn a few languages, like Russian, Greek, Japanese and Chinese, but with the time I have I dont think its possible .

Yes, I travelled to Dandong(a city in China), and well not a lot of chinese people can understand English so I have to learn some basic phrases.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Guest

[SanguineTear]

I can speak, read, and write French, though not particularly well, and know a tiny bit of Arabic that I've picked up from my dad.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Guest

[Evil Bunny of Doom]

My native language is greek so yeah,I think I speak it quite well ....although at times I feel my english is better ._. (too much time on the internet.....) most of the times I forget greek words but remember them in english so yeah, I'm hopeles....Other than that, I know a bit of french but I always hated it for some reason (no hate plz). In high school I also learned latin (yeah,cause when I die I might meet a roman dude and be like:"Ceasar est homo magnificus!" wth did I just say???)

 

I'm actually quite fast to pick up words and stuff so I know phrases in many languages and throw them at random times and people just look at me in amazement . I'd really like to learn a bunch of other languages, including japanese, chinese, russian and swedish.

[Columbus]

Just English. No other language.