# What language can you speak? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618 "2004-08-13T00:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618/81 "2004-08-17T10:58:54Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Wait a minute! You don’t get to turn me down as well, do you? [sub]Er, you _are_ female, aren’t you?[/sub] > > Finnish… :: swoon :: _thud_ Lol, sorry I am not! Someone pointed out to me in another thread recently that my name gives the impression that I am female. I was like, what? 😕 Then, doh! :smack: The origin of my name was explained in this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=270389&highlight=invidious) recently. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618/82 "2004-08-17T11:31:32Z")
> [@Mycroft Holmes](#): > > Ik spreek ook nog heel goed Nederlands. Als het om de esthetische kwaliteit van een taal gaat, is Nederlands het tegenovergestelde van Portugees. … … Hey! :mad: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618/83 "2004-08-17T12:20:25Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Hey! :mad: Well, you have to admit, it’s probably the only language in the world that sounds like you’re trying to spit up a hairball half the time. 😃 Then there are all those weird dipthongs like “ieu”, “eeu”, “ooi”, “ui”, etc. All of that doesn’t really make for a musical language. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618/84 "2004-08-17T14:30:59Z")
> [@InvidiousCourgette](#): > > Lol, sorry I am not! Someone pointed out to me in another thread recently that my name gives the impression that I am female… No prob! I have to admit though that “Invidious Courgette” sounds like something one would whisper to one’s paramour in the heat of passion (especially in French): _Ah, ma petite courgette invidieuse… je veux tu serre et tu porte à une rêve d’amour…_ 🙂 (Then again, I think my brain goes out the window when I encounter Finnish…) > [@Angua](#): > > Well, in keping with this thread, I shall reject you as poetically as I can, in Hindi… > > Mein kisi aur se pyar karthi hun. Wo mera dil churalia, aur mein islelyen pagali hun. Mein kya karun? She rejected me! She rejected me! :: swoon :: _thud_ \< **Sunspace** hits head on French-Esperanto dictionary, comes to senses\> Errr… where was I again? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618/85 "2004-08-17T14:39:34Z")
> [@Mycroft Holmes](#): > > Well, you have to admit, it’s probably the only language in the world that sounds like you’re trying to spit up a hairball half the time. 😃 Then there are all those weird dipthongs like “ieu”, “eeu”, “ooi”, “ui”, etc. All of that doesn’t really make for a musical language. For obvious reasons, I feel the same about Afrikaans. Those guttural Gs are not easy if you’ve never had to use them before. The phrase “Gelukkige verjaarsdag” (Happy Birthday) sent me into hysterical laughter the first time I tried to say it. And the dipthongs are indeed strange. There are some I still can’t get quite right in Afrikaans: uu, ie (when followed by an R). Luckily, I can r-r-r-r-roll my Rs no problem so that much wasn’t an issue anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618/86 "2004-08-17T18:26:17Z")
Hmnn…Dunno. **Sunspace** , arme schat, laat me die lelijke buil op je hoofd voor je verzorgen…daar, is dat niet al een stuk beter? ::spits out hairball musically:: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618/87 "2004-08-17T18:39:12Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Sunspace, arme schat, laat me die lelijke buil op je hoofd voor je verzorgen…daar, is dat niet al een stuk beter? > > ::spits out hairball musically:: _blink_ :: breaks into a bit of a sweat at **Maastricht** ’s musical accent :: :: rushes over to [babelfish.altavista.com](http://babelfish.altavista.com) :: Dank u! Ik voel beter nu veel! 🙂 :: crosses fingers :: ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618/88 "2004-08-18T12:06:36Z")
> [@Mycroft Holmes](#): > > Actually, your doctoral thesis probably sounds better in Hindi than in German. German is the language of Göthe and Schiller, but it’s not a very _pretty_ language. speaking of doctoral theses, I always wanted to present mine as a kind of Gregorian chant: > > "On the use of quartz crystal microbalaaaaannnnnnncceeeeeesssss > to measure the depppppoooooossssssiiiitttttiiiiiiooooonnnnnn > of copper ions in a gold llllllaaaaaayyyyyyyyeeeerrrrrrr. > > Aaaaaaaammmmmmmeeeeeeennnnnnnn." > > For some reason my Prof wasn’t really keen on that idea. 😃 Hey, I can speak in Gregorian chant, although involuntarily. I once wanted to ask a girl out, and it came out in as: “If you mind my aaaassssskkkkiiiinnnnggggg, will you go out with me forrr llllllunnnnnnnncccchhhhhhh anndd aaaaa moooooviiiieeeeee” :smack: The girl wasn’t keen on my idea as well 😃 . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-can-you-speak/259618.md?page=4)