In a previous post,
Art of Backpacking taught us how to learn a different
language. Even though a lot of people around the world speak English, you might hit places where English is not so common. Even if you know a few words here and there, wouldn't it be nice to say a little more?
My native language is English. I grew up in a Spanish household and it is my second native tongue. Unfortunately, I do not use it enough and I seem to be having trouble speaking it. I can understand it perfectly, but I get fumbled in my words.
When I attended college, I took Modern Greek for a year and a half. I was able to have small conversations a few years ago, now I can barely remember the Greek Alphabet.
Now I find myself wanting to pick the Rosetta Stone for Italian or French after a certain
editor started learning French.
So many languages, so little time! But in all honesty, It would be great to have the complete package with a third language.
How many languages do you know? What would you like to learn?
Comments (71)
One. Afrikaans.
I know English but I would love to learn something else but I don't know what.
I know English and Pennsylvania Dutch and German
I also know some Hebrew and some Arabic
English (obviously), Spanish (kinda obviously) and I've taken a couple years of Japanese (I plan on getting my Japanese certificate next semester!). I'm not totally fluent in Japanese but I know enough to talk to people and get around on my own. (I actually got lost in Japan once and was able to get back all on my own!)
I plan on learning another new language. I was thinking about Russian but everyone tells me it's a dying language and theres no use for it and that I might as well branch off of Japanese and start Mandarin. We'll see. lol.
English, Spanish, German, Toisan Chinese
Little bits of Japanese, French, Mandarin
English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese. Used to be better at Russian, French, Spanish, Latin and Hebrew, Cantonese, Native Hawaiian, but okay with exposure. Some German, Portuguese, Korean, Thai, but not enough to be conversationally functional.
Hawaiian Pidgin, but I don't think that actually counts, although one would say that venturing out into the Hawaiian Countryside without an understanding of Hawaiian Pidgin would make communication with locals difficult.
Oh, and Klingon, apparently.
Bagh Da tuH mogh ChojaH Duh rHo!
@MangoWOW@xanga - Russian is a dying language, yes; but I say if you want to learn it by all means do it :) It seems that you're deeply multilingual already; which means picking up two or three more languages shouldn't be a problem, right?
Learning Mandarin will, by far, be more useful than learning Russian; but the way I see it is the more linguistic families we know, the better we understand language as a whole. Also, just for being able to read Russian Literature in its native form is a wonderful thing. :)
@chow@ireallylikefood - must say..thats pretty damn impressive! lol
@chow@ireallylikefood - Haha thank you. Like I said, we'll see. I plan on learning as many languages as I can, of course I have to go one step at a time. I might go ahead and take mandarin but I think if I still want to learn Russian in two years, I'll go ahead and do it.
First language I learned in my household was Japanese, then English. In
elementary school we also had a Japanese teacher and a Hawaiian teacher
that would come to our classrooms once a week. In middle and high
school I took a total of 5 years of French, and now I'm retaking
Hawaiian. So, that's four: Japanese, English, Hawaiian, French. :)
Makemake au e a`o i nā `ōlelo o nā `āina `ē!! (I like to learn different languages.)
@chow@ireallylikefood - And I don't really know if Pidgin would count, it's just a local
dialect/slang you know? Although you're right, some places people use
real heavy Pidgin that it'd be hard for someone who knew nothing about it to understand what those people were saying.
@silskezz@xanga - Hey there Silvia :)
It's the Klingon, right? I know Klingon men are sexy like that.
*grunt*
Hasn't Tripcrazed asked this before? I speak 5 languages well enough to carry on a conversation, and I could prooobably carry on in French if I tried hard enough. And if the other person were really patient.
english - native language
cantonese (I speak it fluently however my writting and reading skills are quite poor)
french (I have not fully grasped the language but I do have the main concepts acquired)
italian (still a long way to go from grasping the majority of the concepts)
I also understand a bit of Mando however I can not speak it nor read or write
@importantnonsense@xanga - You know what's nice is the revitalization of the Hawaiian language, especially after it died out as a language. I'm really happy about that. My cousin, full blood Japanese guy, is actually completely fluent in Hawaiian now. Like, going to Ni'ihau and talking to old Kupuna kine fluent. I heard Hawaiian is the #1 language at UH now. That's awesome.
You know I heard Pidgin is actually considered a language, but I don't think so. I agree, it's a dialect/ sub-dialect; as much as Creole is. Props on the Hawaiian character map btw, I should do that but I'm too lazy to switch out just for the occasional okina, haha.
Nice seeing other Kama'aina here :)
@chow@ireallylikefood - Someone told me once that pidgin was a language of its own, but I'm pretty sure you are right, it's more of a sub-dialect. It's kind of rough to understand sometimes, though! Interesting, but rough. For me, anyway :)
One and a half. English, and Spanish. I say half because I definitely don't know everything about Spanish but I could probably keep up a pretty decent conversation if we're speaking at a moderate pace haha. I've spoken only Spanish for six days straight to natives, sooo I think I'm pretty good. But you can never stop learning :)
i know english, thai and laotian ^^ english was my 3rd language and i also know many other little words and phrases in many other languages too ^^ i would love to fluently know korean, japanese and chinese ^^ i think i'd be good for life if i just add those 3 languages to my system xD
@chow@ireallylikefood - I know, the Hawaiian culture is really coming back now, which is so beneficial for the Hawaiian community here. Uncle Kimo, who is a kumu hula, he came to my Hawaiian Religion class last semester and talked all about the Hawaiian renaissance that's going on; it's what we need, I think. And I almost didn't get put into Hawaiian because choke people were trying to get that class. At my high school I know they took away French now, and instead they've got Hawaiian 6 since lots of kids wanna keep going with the language.
Haha, yeah, it took a while to get all the codes for the letters with `okina's and kahakou's, but it just looks way more impressive that way. :) Besides I gotta represent for the language you know.
english, mandarin and dialect similar to taiwanese.
English, Vietnamese, and learning my 3rd year of French right now.
I wish I can learn spanish too. (:
Vietnamese, English, French (un peu) and a little of Korean :)
Damn, everyone here are so talented in languages.
I speak 2 and a bit more..
Mandarin. English. Tiny bit of Cantonese, Spanish and Japanese...
I can understand most Cantonese..
Mother tongue is Vietnamese, but English comes easier now. A little French, tiny bit Spanish.
My goal: 5 fluently before 30.
I wanna learn Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Latin!!! forgot Italian lol
Four. I also know a little bit of Korean and Chinese, but I'd like to speak it fluently.
English and Cantonese. At the moment I'm learning Korean. I'd like to learn Japanese and Italian.