Languages

[ModernSpartacus]

As we have many different nationalities ect here, I was wondering: How many languages can you guys speak? 

 

I want to learn a new language so I want some ideas. I currently speak fluent English (duh), high beginner level French, basic Latin and very basic German. I'm spending the next year on my French and then the next 2 years learning Spanish. I'll go back and improve my Latin and German eventually.

 

I'm also planning on eventually attempting to learn Italian, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and, if I get the chance in this lifetime, Ancient/Classical Greek.

 

So, what are your experiences with languages?

[I-Jo]

english and profanity here

 

oh edit

I'm deeply proficient in sarcasm. 

[mekman59]

Swedish, English, fairly well versed in Dutch, I used to be able to write Old Norse in rune form but I'm out of practice. 

[Nuala]

French and English. Enough Italian to survive, forgot most of my Spanish and Latin. I am trying to learn Finnish and hope that maybe one day I'll be able to pronounce Danish

[ModernSpartacus]

Swedish, English, fairly well versed in Dutch, I used to be able to write Old Norse in rune form but I'm out of practice. 

 Wow, Old Norse? That's freaking awesome.

[Lyra Rigby]

English (first language), some Spanish (took 3 years in high school and 1 in college, worked with immigrants at my former work), some French (took 1 year in high school), small amount of Japanese (picked up from manga and anime), currently learning Chinese (using tower of babelfish methods and SRS)....I'm ok with languages, but not great. I'm a very visual person, so it usually easier for me to read and write a language than it is to speak it.

[ModernSpartacus]

english and profanity here

 

oh edit

I'm deeply proficient in sarcasm. 

Amen sister. Sarcasm and Profanity are my mother tongues.

[I-Jo]

Good- we can converse then if we ever meet up. It's really fucking hard to talk to people if they are not fluent in sarcasm- I have to have a god damn translator for some of my conversations- people can be so uptight and literal sometimes.

 

SUPER CERAL folks- SUPER CERAL. 

[humanperson832]

Fluent in English, sarcasm, and potty mouth/humor (though I'm trying very hard to put a cap on that last one). Can understand Portuguese, Spanish, and French, in that order. Could stumble through a Portuguese conversation if necessary.

[Ancalagon The Black]

English, Bengali, Hindi (all native level). Kannada (beginner), Spanish (broken; took 4 semesters in college; can understand/read well and speak haltingly), Mandarin (learning ; rank beginner).

 

If you count constructed languages then Quenya and Sindarin. Very native.

[Nara]

English, can understand quite a bit of French, Little bit of Spanish and I'm learning Japanese (bout a good amount) at the moment :3

[shortstuff]

English is my first language although with some of my spelling you wouldn't know it.

I am currently learning Spanish as part of the current challenge, and I wouldn't mind learning Japanese at some point

[Wolfhorde]

Grew up with German, early exposure to English (due to growing up with technology/early PCs). Started really getting into English when I was 13 and oddly enough it's now my language of choice because of it's versatility. Basic French skills I'm looking to upgrade over the course of the next six months. Definitely want to have a crack at Spanish & Portugese, too. Maybe also Italian and Russian.

[chaosgundam]

Fluent in Afrikaans and semi-fluent in English. I also understand small amounts of German and dutch (If its spoken very slowly)

[Tocho]

Swedish (native)
English (fluent)
Spanish (advanced but quite limited vocabulary although it's steadily increasing in size)
Esperanto (fluent but don't get to practice it very often)
Latin (basic/intermediate level)
German ([very] basic)
Portuguese (I understand but can't speak)

I'd like to improve my Spanish as well as improve my German a lot, and also learn Russian or Mandarin. Or maybe both. I'ld never reach a level of fluency in either, though.

As I'm a Scandinavian I can obviously understand most of spoken and written Danish and Norwegian.

[terrormortus]

Native Tongue is English and I'm currently in the process of learning French. After that I want to tackle Spanish (as I live in the US) or Japanese (as I have a fair amount of chances to use it).

 

These are long term goals however, so may be years and years before I learn them.

[Raikas]

I speak English, French, Afrikaans and Dutch and can fake German under pressure.  I can pull off a vacation-level fluency of Spanish after a couple of days of immersion.

 

I had a very basic level of working fluency in Tamil at one point (I lived in Chennai briefly), but I've lost all of it aside from a few pleasantries.  I was a Linguistics major at university and in my fourth year was fluent enough to write a Vietnamese-Kiswahili comparative grammar, but I've forgotten virtually all of the former and only slightly less of the latter (saved only by the fact that my in-laws grew up in Kenya and sometimes throw some vocabulary around).  I frequently wish I'd chosen more internationally useful languages rather than the two I did (the requirement was for any two non-Indo-European languages and I thought I'd save myself some effort by choosing two that used the Latin alphabet).

[magi192]

Spanish (native)

English (native)

Italian (out of practice, but conversational)

 

I want to practice speaking and writing Italian more and afterwards learn Latin, French, Portuguese. Then I'll tackle Mandarin and either Korean or Japanese.

 

After that: Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Swahili, Dutch, German, Russian...in no particular order...and for some of them, I just want to reach a conversational level.

[Bekah]

english and profanity here

 

oh edit

I'm deeply proficient in sarcasm. 

 I second this one. Plus mediocre Spanish, I understand a lot, but speak very little, its mostly because of confidence and not ability though...and I know a few phrases in Italian and Arabic 

[ModernSpartacus]

Spanish (native)

English (native)

Italian (out of practice, but conversational)

 

I want to practice speaking and writing Italian more and afterwards learn Latin, French, Portuguese. Then I'll tackle Mandarin and either Korean or Japanese.

 

After that: Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Swahili, Dutch, German, Russian...in no particular order...and for some of them, I just want to reach a conversational level.

Awesome! We want to learn similar languages then, let me know how that goes. I'm trying to work out whether I should just learn to read and write Latin, or to speak it as well.

[magi192]

Awesome! We want to learn similar languages then, let me know how that goes. I'm trying to work out whether I should just learn to read and write Latin, or to speak it as well.

 

I plan to read and write Latin and Ancient Greek, and maybe speak them. Knowing myself, I'll probably listen to a ton of videos featuring speakers and then move on. I'm embarrassed to say it, but I tend to be impatient when it comes to speaking a new language. >.<

[Maj. Bloodnok]

fluent in English (first language) and in Spanish (Dad from Latin America; you'd better believe he made me learn!).  Reasonably functional in Catalan, some basic knowledge of German, French, and Latin, a little Anglo-Saxon, and the ability to get slapped in a half-dozen other languages.  Would love to learn Arabic and Italian, but with all the other demands on my time, it'll be tricky.

[ModernSpartacus]

I plan to read and write Latin and Ancient Greek, and maybe speak them. Knowing myself, I'll probably listen to a ton of videos featuring speakers and then move on. I'm embarrassed to say it, but I tend to be impatient when it comes to speaking a new language. >.<

Don't be embarrassed, I'm also really impatient when it comes to EVERYTHING. I usually get really excited for several weeks/months and then lose interest. I'm hoping that I've found my passion, along with history, music and literature, and I'll stick with it. I know it will take at least a year to get to any level of competency with Latin and I've only been learning for 2 days, but I already find it fascinating. I've found some great websites and books if you want some. I'm planning on spending a year or 2 studying Latin before moving back onto French and German for couple of years and then hopefully I'll get to a competent/fluent level in those three so I can learn new languages!

[magi192]

Don't be embarrassed, I'm also really impatient when it comes to EVERYTHING. I usually get really excited for several weeks/months and then lose interest. I'm hoping that I've found my passion, along with history, music and literature, and I'll stick with it. I know it will take at least a year to get to any level of competency with Latin and I've only been learning for 2 days, but I already find it fascinating. I've found some great websites and books if you want some. I'm planning on spending a year or 2 studying Latin before moving back onto French and German for couple of years and then hopefully I'll get to a competent/fluent level in those three so I can learn new languages!

 

I would like the recommendations! Thank you! I plan on immersing myself in Italian media and wandering around Little Italy this summer, so hopefully I can start on another language next year in the fall... Heh, I say that, but it's not like there's ever an end to learning a language. There's never an end to practice. =3

[green eggs]

Native (UK) English + fluent (Austrian) German + veeeeeery rusty high school French.