How Many Languages do you Speak?

[TheGreenTBer]

The grammar rules are even worse:

Let’s help Uncle Jack off his horse.
- is quite different than -
Let’s help Uncle, jack off his horse.


Just one little, itty-bitty comma and a capital/lower-case letter discrepancy means the difference between a kind act, and the kinda act that gets one sent to prison.

I fail to see the problem.

With either statement.

 

[Bumpus]

I fail to see the problem.

With either statement.

 

[buddahsmoka1]

Three. English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

 

[Egg]

I once worked with a fellow from Russia, he could speak a few languages to a degree and pointed out that English has so many different words that are pronounced different and mean different things but spelled the same. Minute was the one example he gave, put the accent on the second syllable and you're referring to time. Put the accent on the first and you're talking about a small amount of something.

" In a minute I will take this out of the oven and add a minute amount of seasoning."

I found this out the hard way in learning languages like Tagalog.

Even Cantonese, to name a couple.

Intonation on the wrong syllable, is you insulting someone.

Right one, is a profound compliment.

 

[Pasha71]

Russian (native), English (fluent), Belarusian (understand everything, but speak with difficulty, since I haven't been living in Belarus since 1987). Due to Russian and Belarusian, I can also understand Ukrainian pretty well. Can also understand bits and pieces of Polish and other Slavic languages. Can understand a little bit of Latvian (lived in Riga in 1987-90).

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Russian (native), English (fluent), Belarusian (understand everything, but speak with difficulty, since I haven't been living in Belarus since 1987). Due to Russian and Belarusian, I can also understand Ukrainian pretty well. Can also understand bits and pieces of Polish and other Slavic languages. Can understand a little bit of Latvian (lived in Riga in 1987-90).

How different is Belarusian from Russian?

 

[JMCx4]

But also speak Creole, can put sentences together in Tagalog and speak enough Cantonese to get by. ...

To get by what - the Chinese police checkpoint?

 

[Pasha71]

How different is Belarusian from Russian?

They're close (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian are all East Slavic languages) yet different enough that someone who speaks Russian will only understand some of Belarusian. My brother who grew up in Latvia says he doesn't understand Belarusian and Ukrainian well, while I do (I grew up in Belarus).

 

[mattihp]

Being a diverse website, with hockey fanatics from everywhere it seems, I am curious as to what languages some of you speak.

Whether fluently, broken or learning, how many languages do you speak?

I would say I speak four languages fluently.

Finnish
Swedish
English
Spanish

I speak more than passable norwegian. I can hold conversations at a basic level in french and Estonian. I understand danish, italian and romanian pretty darn well.

 

[cupcrazyman]

I took french from grade 9-12 & I can't carry on a conversation in french.

 

[mattihp]

I took french from grade 9-12 & I can't carry on a conversation in french.

Have you tried reviving your skills with Duolingo or other free online resources? I've learned most of my french from listening to music and watching movies but Duolingo gave me a couple of extra steps!

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I took french from grade 9-12 & I can't carry on a conversation in french.

Because languages are often taught incorrectly. They focus too much on grammar when they should focus on how to conduct a conversation.

Think about it: if non-English native speakers try communicating in English to you and they have technically incorrect grammar, butchered spelling and are forgetting pronouns...can you still understand what they are trying to say? Very, very often, the answer is yes. The focus should be on intelligibility and conversation first, then you refine your skills later. At one point I could nearly read Spanish fluently and at no point have I been able to speak it anywhere near fluently...because I had to think in English and translate to Spanish. That's not fluency.

 

[BoJet]

German, English, French, Spanish and enough Dutch and Greek to get around. Learning Greek was my self-isolation project.

 

[adsfan]

My wife will tell you that I am not fluent in English. In decreasing order of fluency:

I took 3 years of French in high school and took a refresher in 2004. It is time for another one. In 2012, I had to translate for a guy from Quebec. He was able to say thank you in English at the end. Nobody in upstate New York seems to speak French. That was a surprise.

I took 2 years of German in college. I was able to speak to some people in Austria in 2009, so some of it stuck.

My mom's parents came from Hungary. I picked up some of the language from them. Look up kifli (keef-lee)!

I have picked up some Italian from my wife's family. I speak more than the Italian-American guy at work.

I learned very little Spanish playing soccer. I can order a beer or ask for the bathroom. ¡Manos!

I know about 5 words in Arabic. That darn soccer again.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

My wife will tell you that I am not fluent in English. In decreasing order of fluency:

I took 3 years of French in high school and took a refresher in 2004. It is time for another one. In 2012, I had to translate for a guy from Quebec. He was able to say thank you in English at the end. Nobody in upstate New York seems to speak French. That was a surprise.

I took 2 years of German in college. I was able to speak to some people in Austria in 2009, so some of it stuck.

My mom's parents came from Hungary. I picked up some of the language from them. Look up kifli (keef-lee)!

I have picked up some Italian from my wife's family. I speak more than the Italian-American guy at work.

I learned very little Spanish playing soccer. I can order a beer or ask for the bathroom. ¡Manos!

I know about 5 words in Arabic. That darn soccer again.

As a person born and raised in Upstate NY, this is correct. The border counties (Franklin, Clinton, etc.) don't have as strong economic ties to Quebec as you might think. There are some, but not as much as many other border counties. However, SUNY Plattsburgh is just an hour (pending border traffic) from Montreal and sends a ton of college-aged tourists to...certain parts of Montreal on a routine basis.

Conversely, Madawaska, Maine (which is right across the St. John River from Edmundston, NB) has over 80% of its families speaking French at home at least partly because of the strong economic ties with Edmundston, which is almost entirely Brayon French- speaking.

 

[beowulf]

Do Elven and Klingon count?

 

[Egg]

To get by what - the Chinese police checkpoint?

True story, I have had to at an airport before while getting stopped by half a dozen cops before boarding an aircraft.

Am luckily a very calm person, as they were seemingly trying to break me by ordering me to sit down after having pulled me aside for a "routine inspection".

I would then get ordered to stand up, only to get ordered to sit down.

By the 4th time, my rage is boiling, but again--wrong country to say a thing in.

Softly and politely, while sniffling my anger:

"But sir, I was asked to sit down by this officer"

He angrily orders me to stand, only to then get corrected by the officer who had made the initial orders.

I then realized they weren't trying to break me. They had horrific communication skills.

All this for hesitating for a second about the precise price of the items inside my suitcase (gifts) (all legal), and had read up on all laws involving this so was breaking none.

Agent: "I want a specific number".

Me: (confused as to whether I had done something wrong): "Uh, about 600USD"

I would never go back unless I kept all receipts and calculated it prior to being at the airports if loaded with gifts, none identical to make it clear they aren't for resale.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

French, English, Portuguese (Brazilian)

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I speak English and I can read/understand (a bit) French, I just can't really speak or write it too well myself.

 

[HabsAddict]

I had a friend who wanted to speak Klingon. So one say he groweled something, I looked at him, trying to decide is he needed a straight jacket or a hug....

Grown man should not talk in Klingon, it's not a good look....

 

[mattihp]

I had a friend who wanted to speak Klingon. So one say he groweled something, I looked at him, trying to decide is he needed a straight jacket or a hug....

Grown man should not talk in Klingon, it's not a good look....

Finland has quite a few klingon speakers. A couple of them being native speakers.. that's parenting

 

[Hippasus]

I speak English and I can read/understand (a bit) French, I just can't really speak or write it too well myself.

This is like me but German instead of French.

 

[babylonzoo]

English French German and Mandarin

 

[sdf]

English French German and Mandarin[

You can talk with fruits?

 

[cupcrazyman]

Does Klingon count ?