Kasimir Posted May 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 I've added some Irish and modern Greek to my earlier proficiencies, but I'm embarrassingly bad at both of them >> By 'embarrassingly bad', I mean that my friend tells me he's embarrassed to know me when we practise Irish with each other. There was this occasion when I confused the statement 'The children eat' and happily exclaimed, "I eat the children!" Needless to say--learning languages. All these things seem to happen (There was this guy in my German class who mispronounced "I work at night" and ended up saying "I work naked" to much laughter.) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delightful Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 I SPEEKS EENGLEESH. I FEELS DUMM. Especially if that's the best English you got! :P :) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orlion Blight Posted June 2, 2015 Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 I want to learn all languages. I love it. Of course, I'm failing Spanish, so I doubt I could actually become fluent in anything other than English. Correction: you're failing the Scholastic delivery of Spanish teaching. Don't let that keep you down. Don't let school's grades decide for you what you do, or don't know; or even what you're capable of knowing. School is great for some subjects with certain people. the thing is, is that anyone is capable of learning anything. You've learned something: school is not the best medium for you in particular to learn Spanish, and likely other languages. Try different ways. Podcasts have become a relatively ignored, and yet amazing, tool in teaching and learning. Youtube his hundreds of channels on languages. Try reading books in other languages, and decipher them into English (treat it like a game,) then translate other things by hand into a different language. You could directly incorporate the few words you do know into your own daily lexicon. For example, I have taken to signing the words or letters I know in ASL as I speak them. So maybe when you're writing notes for stuff, or writing schedules, you write them in whatever langue you're learning. Or you could find a friend who speaks Spanish, and see if they'll help you. Learning a language is a lifelong commitment, there are thousands of ways to do it. So keep trying Agreed. In my experience and observation, the curriculum for learning Spanish in high school and college is atrocious. If it's anything like what I went through, it's a whole lot of pointless busy work (re-writing the same sentence fifty times with only a change in the conjugation of the verb and such maddening work). Any beauty, rhythm, or art is often lost and reserved for only the few masochistic enough to persevere through years of that basura. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasimir Posted June 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 I'm hoping this doesn't count as thread Awakening, but I just want to check: given the number of people who've talked about their language learning experiences or proficiencies--is it possible to find anyone who might be interested in practising a language with a 17S partner? I can't offer srs bsns Chinese, but I'd be interested if anyone wants to fail at practise their German together Don't ask me about Greek or Irish though. I'm pretty sure that the Greek economy will fix itself up before I actually speak Greek properly >> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ookla the Absent Posted August 25, 2015 Report Share Posted August 25, 2015 Mostly fluent in English y español, und ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. My mother speaks also Japanese, my father knows some Italian, and my grandfather knows way too many languages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the winter system Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 I'm a native Swedish speaker and I, as well as a proficiency test I took a year or so back, would like to consider myself fluent in English (it put me on the high level for a native speaker my age and way over the chart for someone who speaks it as a second language.) I've also studied a bit of Spanish - five years or so - where I am on a conversational level, if a bit rusty. In my early teens I was - for some reason - hanging around on a Danish forum, but I don't remember much of what I learned then. I do understand it, however, though for a Swede that's more a matter of dechiphering what sounds you are hearing rather than actually knowing Danish, and in College we have had lectures in both Danish and Norwegian (which is much easier to understand - you can hear what they are saying! Nynorsk is a bit of a pain in you-know-where though...) I also know a little bit of Italian due to an interest I used to harbour when younger (I bought a Swedish-to-Italian dictonary and phrasebook) as well as a few words and sentences of Japanese as well as kana, no kanji though... they're hard. This I learned from manga and "learn Japanese"-books I got from the library. Currently I'm trying to get a hang of German from my boyfriend's relatives whenever they are in the country. I would also like to know Icelandic/actual Olde Norse, because trying to translate runes is kinda hard without it, and Latin so I can read medieval manuscripts. Svenska? Jag talar svenska... (very very very badly). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sera Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 - I have native Portuguese proficiency - I can read English very well, write clearly, understand clear accents, and barely speak due my own thick accent. That makes me a functional mute. :| If you threw me in an English-speaking country right now I'd, no kidding, silently gesture a lot and always have pen & paper on me. Due shared language roots I can: - Glean the meaning of written and spoken Spanish, and also make myself understood (but I dislike Spanish) - Glean the meaning of written and spoken Italian, having decent pronunciation, though I probably don't know enough to make myself understood because it's full of false cognates with Portuguese - Understand a couple of words in Japanese, having good pronunciation due shared phonemes with Portuguese. I can only read romaji words, and no kanjis I'd like to... You know, speak properly in English someday (I'm currently working on it), and perhaps also learn Japanese. The pronunciation is easy for me, and I like this language. Maybe Italian and French as well, in some far point of the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathoth Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 I am a native swedish speaker, I am pretty decent in english and I tried to learn Lojban, turns out completely regular and logical is a challenge too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Left Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 Native English, took two years of Japanese which taught me one syllabary and a smattering of vocab I've forgotten, and a lot of Japanese culture. Im applying for an immersion program next summer to learn either Hindi Turkish or Farsi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the winter system Posted September 22, 2015 Report Share Posted September 22, 2015 I: Have native english.Studied Arabic for 2 years Started Duolingo on Swedish. Have studied Spanish since earlier this month. Is fluent in gibberish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Slowswift Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 Native English speaker here, with three years of Latin and a year of French. I've forgotten just about all of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinnacle-Ferring Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 (edited) I grew up bilingual. I can speak English and Hebrew fluently. I know a smattering of words from other Latin-based languages i.e. French, German, etc. and I can sometimes puzzle out some text, but when I hear them spoken I usually can't make out heads or tails of it. Edit- I guess I can also say that I know basic Aramaic. I'm a religious Jew and I always like to say that Aramaic is to Judaism like Latin is to Catholicism. It just comes with the package I guess. Edited February 16, 2016 by Pinnacle-Ferring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunbird Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 (edited) I'm a native English speaker, but I've taken 2.5 years of German classes at BYU, so I can make myself understood in most mundane, everyday topics all right. I've been able to stumble through a few novels in German--mostly ones I've read before in English, though, like Cornelia Funke's Dragon Rider (Drachenreiter is the German title) and Dan Wells's John Cleaver books. Funny story: the reason I originally decided I wanted to learn German was because of the Marvel character Nightcrawler from the X-Men. (This was after I watched the original trilogy of X-Men movies for the first time. ) Edited February 16, 2016 by Sunbird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrae Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 I'm a native speaker of English, and I know a smattering of Chinese. I can speak it, but having an intelligent conversation with it is difficult for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mestiv Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 No surprise from me. I speak Polish as my native language and I know English well enough to communicate as indicated by my presence here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RippleGylf Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 Native American English speaker, and I've been learning French for 4 years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oversleep Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 (edited) Native Polish here. And I'm fluent in it. Now, it would seem it's not big deal to be fluent in your own language, right? Nope. There's a ton of mistakes people do every day. Since I'm a little bit grammar nazi I sometimes correct my family during conversation. Usually I'm right, often we end up discussing which form is correct (maybe both?), sometimes a dictionary is needed... Polish is hard. Don't get me started on writing - there are some sounds you can write in two different ways. There are rules which describe when and which way is correct, but many people often do mistakes. (I suppose it's like people who write "should of" instead of "should've").I am also fluent in English - I can read books in English and understand them, but to get all the words I still would need a dictionary. I have no idea what my speaking skills are - I can talk quite well, but probably my accent is messed up. I watch some TV series without subtitles, at first I watched 40 minute episode for like an hour to understand what they said, but now it's better. Usually.I was learning German for...six years in school, but never learned.Now I will have a one semester of language and I can pick whatever I want. After playing Assasin's Creed in original I started to love Italian, but I think I will pick Japanese. I heard grammar is not that complicated. Edited February 16, 2016 by Oversleep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamEternal Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 (edited) Native speaker of portuguese, I've been taught how to speak english since an young age and can do so fluently enough to make myself understood, although my acent is still very unsubtle, and I often pause to find the right words. I believe ability to write in english does not need to be described, yes? Or my ability to read in english, since the only book Brandon wrote I read in my own language was Mistborn: The Final Empire. Edited February 16, 2016 by DreamEternal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delightful Posted February 17, 2016 Report Share Posted February 17, 2016 I grew up bilingual. I can speak English and Hebrew fluently. I know a smattering of words from other Latin-based languages i.e. French, German, etc. and I can sometimes puzzle out some text, but when I hear them spoken I usually can't make out heads or tails of it. Edit- I guess I can also say that I know basic Aramaic. I'm a religious Jew and I always like to say that Aramaic is to Judaism like Latin is to Catholicism. It just comes with the package I guess. Aramaic comes with the package for guys; I know very little of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pestis the Spider Posted February 17, 2016 Report Share Posted February 17, 2016 (edited) I am a native Polish speaker. That's my first language and the language I know best. However right now I am technically bilingual, as I use English on daily basis, I think in English a lot and so on. So basically I am totally fluent in English, and only my accent really differentiates me from an average English native speaker (my accent is very Polish ). However despite my accent I am rather easily understandable, so it's all good. I also used to speak quite decent German, but forgot most of it, because of lack of practice. I also know some basic Italian, and some extremely basic Chinese. At some point I would like to continue learning German, Italian and Chinese, and also learn Swedish. However, currently I have no time and no money for that. Edited February 17, 2016 by Pestis the Spider 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChickenPlague Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) Native: Latvian Fluent: English Bearable: German Pretty bad: Russian Edited February 24, 2016 by ChickenPlague Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delightful Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 I have ancestors from Latvia! Though they probably spoke Yiddish. What's Latvias claim to fame these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChickenPlague Posted February 25, 2016 Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 What's Latvias claim to fame these days? Some basketball player? I don't know really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkness Ascendant Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 I was born in Pakistan and moved to Australia when I was 3. So I grew up bilingual. I speak, read and write Urdu and English. I can read Arabic. I can understand some Latin and Ancient Greek. Yes. That's me 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunbird Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 I was born in Pakistan and moved to Australia when I was 3. So I grew up bilingual. I speak, read and write Urdu and English. I can read Arabic. I can understand some Latin and Ancient Greek. Yes. That's me Wow, upvote for knowing exotic languages! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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