Languages

[Andúnië]

Just curious...

What languages other than English do you speak? Are there any you can only understand (by listening) or read? And also, what languages are you learning or want to learn?

I don't recall a similar topic around here, but it might be interesting just to share. I'll add my input later, as I have to go now.

[Beren One-Hand]

Well I can read/translate ancient Greek, though mostly from an academic standpoint.  It is not for speaking, but mostly for study purposes.  I have a Greek New Testament (what the NT was written in originally).  These days I am a bit rusty as I have been out of school for a few years now.

I understand bits and pieces of other languages - i.e. Russian, German and Tagalog, but cannot speak any of them fluently.  I took German throughout highschool and by the end of it I could speak a broken German, but had little in the way of chance to keep it up; thus it fell by the wayside.

[chaz]

the languages i speak know and use go in this order i learned:

1. English

2. Русский

3. Español

[Beren One-Hand]

Chaz: you can speak Russian?  Fluently?  That is fascinating if true.  I have been to Russia in my travels and my wife speaks Russian and lived there for two years.

[Lairënuriel]

I speak french very poorly.

[Leora]

Chaz: you can speak Russian?  Fluently?  That is fascinating if true.  I have been to Russia in my travels and my wife speaks Russian and lived there for two years.

You LIVED in Russia?    Where?



(many people speaking Russian for a site with a single *Russian*)


Yes, so my naitive is Russians, second is English, quite obviously, and I can still sorta understand/speak French, but that's a really long story. As in, I learned it for 4-5 years, knew it well, had a good vocabulary. Then I switched two schools in both of which I had to start learning it from zero. Now I really can't stand the language...

[chaz]

well I'm starting to get fluent, but the problem is only like one other person in a 30 mile radius also speaks russian, and hes not as fluent.  On my i-pod though i put a language learning thing on it so i have russian on my i-pod,...

By order that i'm good in:

1. English-only cause i use it everyday

2. Español-taking this class in school(99 semester avg) out of all the freshmen, i'm the most Spanish literate

3. Русский

[Beren One-Hand]

Leora: I travelled there and spent only three weeks there.  I went to Maikop, Krasnadar and Moscow.  But it was my wife that lived there for two years.  She lived in St. Petersburg and Novasabersk (probably the wrong spelling).  She can speak Russian.  I only know a few words.  We did not know each other when we went to Russia, as we went at seperate times.  We loved our time there and love the Russian people.   

[Leora]

Leora: I travelled there and spent only three weeks there.  I went to Maikop, Krasnadar and Moscow.  But it was my wife that lived there for two years.  She lived in St. Petersburg and Novasabersk (probably the wrong spelling).  She can speak Russian.  I only know a few words.  We did not know each other when we went to Russia, as we went at seperate times.  We loved our time there and love the Russian people.   

Aah, well, that's all nice. (It's Novosibirsk)
?? ?? ??-???, =P

[Leora]

AAaaaaahahhaaah! Sorry folk, only double posting to comment on how funny my previous post looks 

NO! Ia govorila, cho mi teper' na russkom obshatsia mojem 

[Andúnië]

So... Mandarin Chinese, which I learned at the same time as English. It's not nearly as good, since I don't use it very often, and I reading has gone downhill as well. I can understand but not speak Taiwanese, which is really similar to Mandarin. I'm also currently learning German which is quite fun. I've only been at it for a few months though, so I rather suck.
Is anyone good with Latin? I've always wanted to be able to translate to and from it, but all I've been able to do thus far is to (correctly) pronounce disjointed words without knowing their meanings.

[Beren One-Hand]

Leora: thanks for the correction.     Spaceeba.  Nice to have a Russian on this site.  You should try and get some of your friends to join the site.  More Russians on here would be good - to balance things out a bit more.

[HeruMorna]

I have native fluency in English and Hindi.

Funnily enough, even though I'm a native of Bengal, I only have conversational fluency in Bengali. I can speak it well and understand it perfectly, but my pronunciations would stand out.

I can understand Marathi and Gujarati very well since Mumbai is filled with people from both places.

I used to be really into French but have lost touch for the last 4 years and the language has completely slipped me by.

I have also attempted to learn German, Spanish and Russian at various stages, but they didn't last too long.

[Bombadil_Ulmo]

I speak English as my native language.
I'm taking Spanish in school.  I hold my own pretty well in class, but I couldn't carry on a conversation with a native speaker unless they were talking really, really slowly. 
I can say a few things in French (including "shut your mouth," with many thanks to my teacher from a few years ago  ).  However, my spelling in French is absolutely atrocious.
Some of my friends take Latin, and I can say all of one word in it  .  (Rex means King)

[Lexicalized]

Well, being American, my native language is...tada, English!  I also have never learned another language...lame of me, right?  I guess.  *shrugs*  When you're homeschooled...it's hard.  Books just don't do it. 

But now that I'm in college, I'm going to learn Spanish.  I start Spanish 101 this semester...I'm pretty excited...I'll end up taking four classes of it at least. 

What I'd really love to learn is Latin.  I took four days of a high school latin class and LOVED it.  I don't know what it is about that language, but it fasinates me!