Languages?

[ciallkennett]

It's interesting to look through this topic and see the differences between attitudes of those from different countries in learning languages - those in the UK seem to have a "meh" attitude, while some of the Americans and those of other nationalities tend to take it a bit more seriously, and are better than us Brits.

Anyway, I am fluent in English (UK) and English (US). I know French with basic knowledge, having got a C in it for GCSE about a year and a half ago, and having one of my closest friends being French.

I understand most of Chav and Street, but don't speak it.

I'd love to learn more French, but, us Brits are awful at languages.

 

[Thekingin64]

English, Welsh and German for me.

 

[Brookes]

I can speak English.

I got an A* in French at GCSE but since then, which was only like a bit over a year ago, I have forgot most of it.

I got an A* in German at GCSE and have continued to A level and would say I know a lot of grammar to form a proper sentence in most circumstances, but don't know loads of vocab. I reckon I could keep a conversation going though, I'm pretty good at speaking it.

So yeah, I reckon 2.

 

[jokerman]

For those of you wanting to learn German, don't waste your time. Spanish or Mandarin Chinese are much wiser choices IMO.

Just to give my opinion, I think actually it depends on what you need it for. German is a massively useful language for doing business in Europe, so it can be very important.

Spanish is important if you're in America (north and south), but not so much in Europe.

 

[A-Kid]

I can say 'spirit of the alps' in german!

I speak my own version of English 'cause I like to do everything a bit different (or just be akward). Basically a mix of US and UK words depending on what I feel like doing. None else as I don't care for another language to be dead honest unless it involves something interesting. I'd rather not waste my time on bull. I did German, Spanish and Frog at school, but spend more time having cocks drawn on my books/ watching the clock/ planning on what to do at break than learning anything.

I always feel tension mounting when writing about other countries.

 

[thx]

Finnish and Swedish are my mouthertongues' (if there can be two that is, anyway).
English I've learned for god knows how long and I use it everyday with reading and speaking (with intl. corridormates etc.) I'd say I know it, although of course it's not up to the standards of an average Brit I guess. Studied German for six years, understand most of written text, less when hearing, which heavily depends on the accent though, my own speaking is very simple and bad tbh.
Then I've also studied Spanish for half a year, plus on my own time, know the basics and few hundred words etc. Norwegian and Danish (but mostly) written are quite easy aswell due to their similarities with Swedish, the same would apply to Dutch although to a slightly lesser extent. Estonian would be about the same as Dutch, but I understand more of the speaking. Funnily enough in continental written portuguese I understand some words in most sentences, but don't get me started on the spoken language.

I'd say I know 4 languages, but then there are quite a few that I understand something in.

 

[Mushroom]

I know how to say thank you in 11 languages (including English). Also some other random words. I got a French GCSE D, and don't remember most of it. Took a spanish beginners course, remember more of that, as its a better language. But the rest I picked up on my way through thanks to work and working with different nationalities.

 

[Anonymous]

Just found out that Afrikaans is based on Dutch and is very similar in the writing at least, so add that to my list of languages I understand

 

[jokerman]

^Speaking it is very differnt though. You have to speak Dutch with a South African accent...

 

[Pokemaniac]

Hmm... I swear I made a topic like this not too long ago...

Either way, this is my list.

I speak Norwegian and English pretty well. Some time ago, I knew enough French to survive in France as well, but after the exams, that went down the drain for good. My "understanding only" list is a bit better, though:

Nynorsk - a different "way of the language", to para-quote Norwegian law. Basically, Norwegian dialects in written form.
French - still understand it somewhat.
Danish - well, understanding spoken Danish is hard even if you are a Dane yourself. But I think everybody can speak it. Just wire your tongue to a wall socket while choking on a potato. Then try to read the weather report (bus time tables also work) loud.
Swedish - as loefet said, very similar to Norwegian.
Icelandic - a bit like Nynorsk. At least in written form, It's dead easy.
Dutch - only written, and only basic.
German - only written.

When your country's history is so connected to the neighbouring countries, it's easy to understand their languages. Though, Russian, Finnish and Sami I understand no better than you do.

 

[herbinator]

I speak english, spanish and I learnt german for 2 years. Im not great though. I would really like to learn finnish aswell.

 

[CMonster]

Oh, I guess I could also include Latin, as I've taken five or six years and I understand it pretty well... at least the grammar aspect, not necessarily the vocab.

 

[herbinator]

^^I also did latin, but for only about 2 years.

We had a dull textbook with some guy, and as always, ciceillious es in horto!

 

[corkscrew]

reply

I speak English as a second language, I am learning German and my first language is gibberish :lol:

 

[jokerman]

If you have a quick look at some of his other posts, you'll realise he probably wasn't far off :wink:

 

[s15c]

Woohoo. I'm the most multilingual. My mom is from Russia, my dad is from Spain, my best friend is Philippine, I speak English at school, and I am learning Latin.

 

[caffeine_demon]

well - I've used english all my life now...

And i also speak a fair amount of french and german- a little more than enough to get by, but I struggle a bit..

I'm fluent in sql, SAS, cobol, and basic too....

 

[CMonster]

^ Which is why I stopped taking it (latin) after 5 years.

 

[KristofWB]

As a Belgian I speak Dutch, of course. Maybe I should have chosen 4 languagues because I think the general Dutch and Flemish Dutch are totally different. I can also speak the Holland Dutch, which sometimes is a language on its own :lol:

And in Belgium, its obligated for Flemish kids starting from 11 years old to speak a second language, which is French. So I've been learning French since I'm 11 years old, so I'm pretty fluent in French, only speaking. I can write French, but I think it's sometimes to difficult.

And ofcourse, English.

 

[furie]

I learnt some Flemish a long time ago (can't remember it now).

There was a reenactment group (The Burgundians) who issue all of their battle orders in Flemish (the language of the medieval Burgundian). It's very cunning of them, because it means (like in a real battle), the enemy can't understand the commands issued, and you know that any Flemish command is yours. Like the Burgundian mercenaries used in the Wars of the Roses by the English, they're a tight, highly trained professional fighting force. Very hard to fight and you always got a good pasting.

I got one of them drunk one night and got him to teach me the phrases for back down, retreat and scatter. The next day in the middle of the battle against them, I started yelling the Flemish commands at them which initially got them to back off and allow us to attack openly and then get them to retreat across the field. The cry soon caught on on our side and everyone was yelling the Flemish commands to scatter at them. They caught on, but it really buggered them up for a while.

Sadly, it was a long time ago and I no longer remember the orders, so I can't class Flemish as a language.

I'm fluent in Binary and Cobol though