What languages do you speak/read?

[Yaur]

I've heard that the majority of the people here are not native English speakers, but obviously everyone here has some level of english literacy. This in turn suggests that a large percentage of the posters her are at least bi, if not poly, lingual. My curiosity is peaked and I wonder, what languages do we speak or, perhaps more appropriately, read and at what level?

For myself:
English: Native/Fluent
French: Basic
German, Russian, and Spanish: Trivial

[hannah_arendt]

Polish- native

English- around C1
Spanish B2-C1
German- B1
French A2

[Lokasenna]

I speak English fluently, and can be conversational in French, Spanish and Icelandic. I can also read Old Norse, Old English and Latin at a relatively advanced level.

As for reading, well, if you know at least one romance and one germanic language, you can pretty much read anything from Europe except stuff written in Finnish or Hungarian. I've read books in language I do not speak and have never studied, and managed to get the gist of what is being said - for me, usually books in Danish, Norwegian and German.

[Helga]

Icelandic is my native tongue, I also speak English, I understand Danish and Swedish and can read them well. German a bit too but I just don't have the nerve to try and speak anything except Icelandic and English

[Eman Resu]

I can also read Old Norse, Old English....


I'm jealous; runic representation gives me fits even in A.S. fuþorc; I'd love to have the wherewithal to derive modern Germanic antecedents from their origin.

As a child: French (first), Italian and German; later Dutch, plus the classical languages: Latin, Greek, Hebrew and sufficient Sumerian to read cuneiform as long as it's not Akkadian phoneosymbolic stuff. About 18 months into a study of Middle Aramaic Syriac, which is approximately the equivalent of simultaneously hitting yourself with an hammer while stepping on Lego bricks.

I have a smattering of English as well.

[hannah_arendt]

I speak English fluently, and can be conversational in French, Spanish and Icelandic. I can also read Old Norse, Old English and Latin at a relatively advanced level.

As for reading, well, if you know at least one romance and one germanic language, you can pretty much read anything from Europe except stuff written in Finnish or Hungarian. I've read books in language I do not speak and have never studied, and managed to get the gist of what is being said - for me, usually books in Danish, Norwegian and German.

Iam jealous, Loki:) I wish I were similar skills to you. Maybe on eday you`d try Polish?

[SentimentalSlop]

Being an American, I haven't had much opportunity to learn a foreign language. We're not very good at speaking more than one language in this country lol.

I'm fluent in English (duh), can read/write in Korean, speak/read some Japanese, and that's about it. I would very much like to learn multiple languages. I find Korean and Japanese extremely beautiful, Russian is awesome (and I love Russian authors), and I would like to learn Greek in order to get a better understanding of the Gospels. I feel so pathetic because I only know one language...

[kev67]

I used to study French and German quite hard at night school and at home. I got to quite a high standard, but nowhere near fluent. I was always rather frustrated by my inability to understand French and German films or radio stations very well. Later I studied Italian as an evening class, but I did not reach as high a standard before losing interest. I have worked through cassette courses in Spanish, Dutch and Serbo-Croat, but I can remember virtually nothing of them. Even more annoyingly, I can remember very little Latin, despite studying it at school for three years. Well, I say studying, I spent most of my time looking at the clock, wishing it was over. Maybe I will study it again one day. I like it when an author slips in a bit of French or German and I understand it without looking at the footnote: it makes me feel educated. I don't like it when I come across a phrase in Latin and I don't understand it: it makes me feel ignorant.

[kiki1982]

Dutch/Flemish native
English C2+ (my hubby says, I hope so, because most of my translation work comes into English)
German B1 (understanding C1/2, because of my native language)
French A2-B1 (reading a little bit better, but my English suffers too much if I read French, so I've ceased to read in it pretty much) after 8 years' school
Spanish A1 (reading B1, with a dictionary B2. I translated a leasing contract once. It must have been good, because they asked us back. Quite amazing, since I learnt it from SOS mi Vida :blush:)
Russian A1 (after two years' self-study)
I have notions of Italian and Czech now (I won't perish of hunger or thirst if I lose my hubby over there ;)). That's about it.

[Eman Resu]

I have notions of Italian and Czech now (I won't perish of hunger or thirst if I lose my hubby over there ;)). That's about it.


In Prague, even without any Czech you can't go hungry. All you need are, "prosím" and "díky," and to find the nearest kavárna with a dessert counter. Drool, point to something with chocolate and raspberries, and say, "prosím."

;)

[OrphanPip]

I speak English and French fluently, I can struggle through Old English (language requirement in graduate school), and I speak very basic German as a result of an attempt to learn it to impress an ex who was studying German literature.

[kiki1982]

In Prague, even without any Czech you can't go hungry. All you need are, "prosím" and "díky," and to find the nearest kavárna with a dessert counter. Drool, point to something with chocolate and raspberries, and say, "prosím.";)

Ah, yes, but they're ever so pleased when you seem at least to understand them in crude terms. I'm already at the stage where I can go 'jedno pro mie, prosim' and know what I'm getting, and I can order a coffee in the accusative case. Trying to say 'tri' and 'stiry' with that r + hacek probably makes them laugh because it's not quite right, but they seem amused at any foreigner trying at all.

[Lokasenna]

I'm jealous; runic representation gives me fits even in A.S. fuþorc; I'd love to have the wherewithal to derive modern Germanic antecedents from their origin.

Runic script is a whole different kettle of fish, though I'm okay with runes. I can translate them, but it's a slow and painful process involving the checking of much secondary material. But yes, the Germanic language are fun - thanks to Old Norse and Old English, I'm actually better with Old High German than I am with modern German.


Iam jealous, Loki I wish I were similar skills to you. Maybe on eday you`d try Polish?

I'm not a natural linguist, I just get lots of opportunity to practice, which is the main thing. I had forgotten huge amounts of French until last year, when I had a Parisian housemate to practice with. I would love to learn some Polish (I've even had the pleasure of chatting with a number of Polish Old Norse academics at various conferences, and I'm interested in their work) - though I'm afraid the likes of German and Danish are, of necessity, higher on my list!

[claytonk983]

I know only to language to speak and read.That is Engligh and Kannda . But i like to learn other languages.

[Zemouli Chahra]

Arabic= native language
Speak: French, English
Read and discuss in Arabic and English

[JBI]

English, and Chinese(modern and classical) fluently. Hebrew at a I can understand but find it hard to speak. Italian at a worse level, since I have not used it in years, and find that one of my failures, along with French which I never had the grasp of. My Japanese is now coming along but that language is the hardest thing I've yet encountered, even harder than French.

[faithosaurus]

I'm pretty boring. My native language is English, but I can speak, read, and write Spanish quite well. I'd like to learn German.

[Darcy88]

I read quite a few now. A year ago I could only read english and a little french and spanish. Now I can do German pretty well, Polish some, Russian a bit, and Chinese, the last one quite poorly, though I'm working on it. Gaelic is one I am intrigued by. Old Norse too is one I've done a tiny bit of. I love learning new languages. I quit creative writing almost a year ago and have been putting all that time into language study, which I find far more rewarding. Latin and ancient greek I have descent grasps upon though I am no scholar. Sanskrit and Japanese I can read easily. My mental and physical health took a steep decline rescently and I find listening to language cds and reading foreign language dictionaries and reading other language books easier than attempting to write another novel. I hate creative writing now. I had a Gogolian moment and literally burnt the novel I'd spent two years writing. It was half wilderness survival, half romance, a wannabe Jack London/ D H Lawrence novel, but I have lost the desire to be known as a poet or novelist or anything artistic at all. I want to study law once I am feeling better mentally and physically. Until then I will keep learning languages and reading books which interest me, which, at the moment, happen to be more popular stuff, like Stephen King and John Grisham, and Robert Ludlum, though I am making my way slowly through a Latin version of Lucretius, as well as a novel by Peter Maas.

[hadeelkouta]

English and Arabic. Fluently.

[Frostball]

As a typical American, I only speak a single language fluently and that's English. However, I've recently jumped neck deep into learning French by myself. The main method I've been using is Rosetta Stone, which I've found surprisingly effective especially since I'm learning alone. That's not all though, I've been watching French movies. I've changed the language settings in every video game I can to French, which is especially helpful when I've more or less memorized what all the buttons or menus say, so I'm constantly looking at french versions them now, which I find surprisingly effective. I've also downloaded quite a few e-books about learning French on my computer. I should soon be getting War & Peace as a gift, and I specifically asked for the P&V translation because I heard that it has a large amount of untranslated French in the body of the text, and the translation of said French in the footnotes. In short, I'm really wanting to add this language to my repertoire and I'm trying every means I can think of.

On that note, does anybody have any specific suggestions of a good book for an English speaker learning French? The E-books that I've downloaded so far are alright-- not that I've gone through them all yet-- but I was wondering if anybody knew any particularly good French learning book I could pick up.

[Calidore]

I've changed the language settings in every video game I can to French, which is especially helpful when I've more or less memorized what all the buttons or menus say, so I'm constantly looking at french versions them now, which I find surprisingly effective.

Excellent. I would have thought of doing that for DVDs of movies I knew well, but not video games. My only concern in either case would be that I'm learning from a translation that may or may not be literal enough to learn from. For an extreme and entertaining example of this, I offer the DVDs of a Japanese giant-monster show called Ultraman (which was on after-school TV when I was a kid). The English dubbing and subtitles are often completely different, to hilarious effect. I think generally subtitles are more accurate because they don't have to match the actors' speech, but it might be good to know enough of the language first to be able to tell what you're getting.

I've also heard that one of the best ways to learn a language is by watching newscasts, because the scripts are written to be understandable by people at any educational level.

[Frostball]

Ah, interesting idea with the newscasts. I see what you mean. Just like with most magazines and newspapers, they are written to be understood by a 5th grade reading level, or something like that, just to include as many people as they can in their readership.

I could see your concerns about translations. My favorite game to play in french so far is Civilization 5. All the words for discoveries like agriculture, masonry, electricity, etc., as well as city improvements like libraries, barracks, temples, etc., and units like warriors, spearmen, cavalry, etc., all translate over really well. With this game I get a nice dose of vocabulary of random things like that.

[Snowqueen]

English and Arabic. Fluently.

I tried to learn both these languages at school. My English was ok, but I did poorly in Arabic.

[The Kid]

English is my native language. I speak español, but I speak it like a chicano bastard. This is because I grew up in a household where English was primary, but Spanish I speak with the older members of my family. I'm learning it in school now, so now I'm beginning to speak a little more like an educated person.

[fiona250]

i speak kiswahili,french. english .

[latimeri]

To speak, is nothing, the poorest language - most likely-occur among the native speakers.

[latimeri]

I know a man who know seven different languages, but-still have nothing to tell nor to say.

I read quite a few now. A year ago I could only read english and a little french and spanish. Now I can do German pretty well, Polish some, Russian a bit, and Chinese, the last one quite poorly, though I'm working on it. Gaelic is one I am intrigued by. Old Norse too is one I've done a tiny bit of. I love learning new languages. I quit creative writing almost a year ago and have been putting all that time into language study, which I find far more rewarding. Latin and ancient greek I have descent grasps upon though I am no scholar. Sanskrit and Japanese I can read easily. My mental and physical health took a steep decline rescently and I find listening to language cds and reading foreign language dictionaries and reading other language books easier than attempting to write another novel. I hate creative writing now. I had a Gogolian moment and literally burnt the novel I'd spent two years writing. It was half wilderness survival, half romance, a wannabe Jack London/ D H Lawrence novel, but I have lost the desire to be known as a poet or novelist or anything artistic at all. I want to study law once I am feeling better mentally and physically. Until then I will keep learning languages and reading books which interest me, which, at the moment, happen to be more popular stuff, like Stephen King and John Grisham, and Robert Ludlum, though I am making my way slowly through a Latin version of Lucretius, as well as a novel by Peter Maas.

[lawpark]

On my third try to learn enough Hindi/Urdu and maybe one day I can understand Bollywood movies without sub-titles.

[Delta40]

Does body language count?

[Lokasenna]

Does body language count?

Sign-language might? I have a friend who put it down as his 'other language' for a job interview, and got the role...

[Delta40]

Ever notice that some people have the 'wrong' body language. I'm not talking about persons with special needs. It's subtle. Eye contact maintained too long during conversation, invasion of personal space. Things which we don't think about normally but we get a sense of discomfort or something not being quite right. Just an observation.

[The Kid]

Ever notice that some people have the 'wrong' body language. I'm not talking about persons with special needs. It's subtle. Eye contact maintained too long during conversation, invasion of personal space. Things which we don't think about normally but we get a sense of discomfort or something not being quite right. Just an observation.

Ha! You describe me exactly. That's the reason I'm very forgiving when other people invade my space or are "socially awkward". I guess I don't speak body language well.

[jenn25]

Hi,
I use an English language and I also know and understand some Filipino words. My friends taught some words. I’m taking a French language lesson too. My mom told me that it would be an advantage to be able to speak other language too.

[tstanton]

It's amazing some people speak 3 languages and more here, can't wait to get there myself! English is my native language, working on French right now, going really well. I've tried free resources, but wanted a bit more on the tech side. The program I'm learning from now is through Rocket Languages. Ever hear of it? Pretty much has everything I need or want in a course, esp the MP3 access to listen on the way to work or while exercising. It seems to make my world a bit more French when traveling with it...

[Maria May]

Serbian,because it's my native language,and I also speak English fluently,I've been studying it for 7 years...I also speak a bit of German and Latin :)

[Annamariah]

My languages would be:
Finnish (native)
English (excellent)
Swedish (fluent)
Russian (I studied 50 credits worth of it in the university, so I know the basics, but I'm nowhere near fluent)

Since I know Swedish, I can read Norwegian and Danish (and some Icelandic), if I have to, but I can't speak or write them myself. I understand written German surprisingly well, though I've never studied the language. As Lokasenna said, most European languages are closely related to each other.