Grew up speaking Spanish off and on, so I have a working knowledge of that.
Also speak Woleaian and the related dialects of Trukese and Ulithian. Maybe 1,000 people speak Woleaian. Add another 300 for Ulithian and 4,000 for Trukese.
They are three of the languages of the Carolinian Islands of the Western Pacific. I was in the Peace Corps there for three years, became quite proficent in the language. Hard to find a fellow speaker, however, and since the language isn’t a written language, I haven’t had much practice in recent years. I am very rusty.
You are shitting me. That’s nothing short of amazing!
Dutch is my mother tongue (Dragon Phoenix, I didn’t know we were fellow countrymen! I guess that’s a compliment to your excellent English. ;)).
I suppose my English is near fluent. I’ll leave it to others to comment on that. I’m hardly ever lost for a word, and after 6 years of high school English, 6 years of college lectures and literature in English, two years of working in a 95% Anglo environment, AND almost two years in this nuthouse, I think I’ve gotten the hang of it sufficiently.
My German is well enough to get by in casual and business conversations, although I do make the odd grammar mistake. I had 5 years of German in high school, and spend a lot of holidays skiing in Austria - since I was usually in Vorarlberg, I made it a point NOT to adapt the local accent. It’s quite hidious. My vocabulary is well enough to compensate for my grammar mistakes, and I’m told my accent isn’t too “Dutch” either. When you want an example of how NOT to speak German from a Dutch point of view, there’s only two words: Rudi Carell. German posters will now be shuddering in their chairs.
I’m adequate at French. Six years of high school training, and a lot of summer holidays in the south of France. Enough to hold a casual conversation, but not enough for business purposes. I could if I trained some more. My written French is good, but it DOES take me a lot of time.
I speak enough Spanish to get around ever since I went to Mexico last year. I’m grateful if they know a little English as well, however… Spanish is one language I hope to improve on.
Italian is another language I’d love to learn.
Soda, you’d probably pick up Dutch pretty easily, being Swedish (and DAMN is your English good!). But as you said, the international applications for it are limited.
I speak English fluently, because it’s my native tongue and because I love words and language in general. I also love slang and colloquialisms, and like dashing my speech with a smattering of them.
I also speak French from taking it throughout elementary school and high school. I’ve also taken a little in university, but the lack of regular use has made my French suffer. I can understand spoken and written French, and can carry on a conversation in…most situations. If I were to be in a discussion in some specialized field, I might feel a little lost. However, everyday conversations are not usually a problem. I wish there were in more situations where I had to speak French on a regular basis.
I’ve know a little in a few languages; a few phrases here and there in Spanish, Italian, and German. I’ve learned them from different places (from friends who’ve taken classes in them, from foreign films, etc.).
I also know some basic Japanese. I tried learning it on my own for a while but became too busy. However, I’m going to work on it this summer and my friend Hidekazu has said he’ll help me.
Once upon a time many years ago, I wanted to be a foreign language teacher. I have a pretty good language aptitude, and had I known then what I know now, I’d have pursued a career as a linguist. Unfortunately, all I could see to do with language in 1972 was teach, and in my county, there was a glut of language teachers, so I wound up joining the Navy instead… but I digress.
French - rusty, but I could survive in France
Spanish - rustier, tho I think I could get along and make myself understood in most day-to-day situations
German - I had 2 semesters - did great with the instructor who was a native speaker, developed attitude when the instructor was the smart-ass grad student. But I can still say Ich bin krank and Ich bin mude…
Polish - a few words… when I was a kid, my mom wanted to teach us, but we were too cool to care. Now the native speakers in my family are all dead and my folks remember little… bummer.
Japanese - I learned to introduce myself and say a few phrases, but it was almost 30 years ago.
Farsi - I taught myself to read the numbers, but it’s kinda tough to learn a language without hearing it.
I read that the gov’t is in need of linguists for mid-eastern languages… if I was younger, I’d be on my way to school in Monterey. Ah well…
My hero, Sir Richard Francis Burton, was fluent in a host of languages, travelked the world, and translated several classics (including the Arabian Nights). I’d like to do a hundredth as well.
It’s not for lack of trying.
I studied eight years of Polish in grammar school. The problem was, it amounted to eight years of first-year Polish. I know a handful of words.
I was the last generation of Alter Boys to memorize the Mass in Latin. I was so taken by it that I went out and bought Latin Made Easy in fifth grade and studied on my own. I took two years of Latin in high school, going so far as to translate parts of Menaechmi into English and even having a go at the Epigrams of Martial. Nowadays it’s all rusted into immobility.
I took three years of Spanish in high school. I found that this was not enough to help me with directory assistance over the telephone in Spanish. It does enable me to read the billboards in the Spanish-speaking parts of town.
I studied Japanese on my own for a few years. At the end I could speak Japanese at the “Shogun” level – that is, I knew Japanese as well as if I’d learned it entirely by watching the miniseries “Shogun”.
I find that I can fake my way through technical papers in foreign languages if I have a dictionary. I’ve learned that this is the way most of my professors did it back when “knowing” a foreign language was a prerequisite for your Ph.D., so I’m not unduly impressed by them anymore – I “know” French as well as my ex-advisor did, by that criterion.
But now that I’m writing about mythology I really wish I knew more foreign languages.
English: My native language. French: I took four years of it in high school. I can read and write it well enough and I can follow a conversation if the other person doesn’t go too quickly, but my pronunciation is horrid. Latin: Took two years in high school. I can stumble through The Gallic Wars. Ancient Greek: Two semesters my freshman year in college. I’ve lost most of it, but I can struggle through the Greek New Testament if I have a grammar and lexicon at my elbow. Spanish: Sesame Street taught me how to count to ten. Later on I picked up a few phrases from working around Spanish speakers and watching Sabado Gigante. I can also kind of understand written Spanish. Italian: Food and swear words. Russian: I can sort of read it because a lot of the letters look like their Greek equivalents, and I also know how to say ‘hello’, ‘thank you’, and ‘I am an American’.
English is my mother tongue. Mastering it is still a daily struggle.
As far as modern languages go, I’ve studied French for several years, and can read it competently. My listening comprehension and spoken skills are in serious disuse.
I’ve studied German less, but I can still read it fairly well. Sure, it takes me hours to translate one scholarly article (badly), but I can do it. I cam certainly order a beer, but don’t ask me to give directions.
That’s it for the moderns. My best language uber alles is definitely Latin. Give me an English text and a Roman author and I can do a passable imitation of his style in a few hours. My prose is, of course, better than my verse. But I have written more than a few correct, if doggerel hexameters.
I’m a little less skilled in Ancient Greek, but I can still translate just about anything. I have trouble with drama, though. I’d rather read Plato than Aeschylus.
My Middle High German and Old English are quite good. With a glossary I can slough through just about anything from the Anglo-Saxon or Mittelhochdeutsch corpus. Same with Old French. I’m working on learning Occitan now, definitely one of the most wonderful languages I have ever studied. Icelandic and Old Norse are on the horizon when I’m done reading through the troubadour poems.
So that’s that. I’m probably forgetting something, though.
I am fluent in English (native tongue), and I speak and write moderately competant German. I took 4 years of German in high school, and two semester in college. I can understand a lot more than I can speak, but I can get my speaking ability to improve fairly rapidly if I’m exposed to it in any significant way.
ASL. That is, I sign.
Well enough so that hearings think that I’m fluent, and just poor enough to give myself away as a hearing to the Deaf.
And a bit of Russian and French.
GrizzWife is fluent in French. She can’t get enough of SCOLA on cable when France or Quebec is on.
GrizzSon is still only babbling. (hey, he’s only 6 months old… and was two months premature at that!) But I sign to him when I speak to him and I SWEAR that I saw him sign “Dad” to me the other day.
My mother tongue is English. French is as close to a second language as I have, and I’m fairly proficient at it (however, it should be said that I speak Cajun French, not standard Francais French. What can I say, I’m from Mississippi. Louisianna is right next door).
I know a good bit of German, mostly self taught. A ballroom dance teacher of mine was born and raised in Germany, and that spurred me into learning his native language. I found it surprising simple to learn; German is rather similar to English in some ways.
I took half a year of Spanish and retained just enough to get by, as my middle-school teachers were crap. I also know a few basic phrases, greetings, and swear words (always important!) in Russian, Italian, Japanese, and Croation. My father taught me how to say “goodbye” (didi mow) and “hello” (la da) in Vietnamese, which he learned while in the Armed Forces.
Another friend of mine is the child of two deaf parents, and she gave me an American Sign Language sheet to learn from. I have it pinned on my wall and practice often. I have the most trouble with “g” and “h”. Other than that, I’m half-way decent. No where near as good as she is, though.
Puedo hablar el español, pero, no puedo hablar tan bueno como un hispanohablante :).
Anyway, i´ve taken 2 years of spanish in College, which is logical, being a Spanish major. My speaking skills arent as good as my writing and comprehension skills. So, that´s why i plan to study abroad for a semester. I know i can hold enough of a conversation in it though, and native speakers say my accent is very good (in other words, i dont really sound like an American when i speak it).
I´m fluent in English of course.
I did take a summer long intensive course through the Monterey Institute of International studies (they had enough money lying around to pay for me). The course was a Tagalog course. I was able to write simple page long essays at the end, but i´ve lost most of what i learned. I can still understand certain things, however.
Oh and Drastic, here´s how i´d say what you meant to say:
Conozco un poco de español, pero he olvidado mucha de la lengua. No hay la necesidad para mi que usar la lengua.
Trans: I know a little spanish, but i have forgotten much of the language. There is no necesity for me to use the language
(the translation is literal, and since I am not a native speaker, that´s just what ¨feels right¨ to me…i may have made mistakes, which is why i really need to go overseas :)).
English, of course, is my native language. I started studying French when I was five (though I haven’t taken a class in a couple of years), so I’m pretty good at it by now. And I can read Latin and Old English, though I’m not too good at OE yet. (I’ve only started studying it this year.)
Well, I admit to padding the list some . . . Malay and Indonesian are actually the same language! So are Hindi and Urdu. You get two for the price of one.
Conozco un poco de español, pero he olvidado mucha de la lengua. No hay la necesidad para mi que usar la lengua.
Trans: I know a little spanish, but i have forgotten much of the language. There is no necesity for me to use the language
Should be then: No tengo necesidad de usar la lengua. or No hay necesidad para mi de usar la lengua.
May you like and learn on your time abroad. Good to know you like Spanish enought to make it your major. (Sorry, I come from a place where some people think Spanish is useless, but that’s for another thread)
