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Old 02-08-2005, 08:18 AM   #1 (permalink)
beauty in the breakdown
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
What languages do you speak?

I think it would be interesting to see what languages (other than English, of course ) everyone here speaks. I suspect there are some esoteric language speakers around here somewhere, and at the least, we can see what the most common languages spoken around here are. Also, are there any languages you really want to learn?

I speak decent German, and am planning on studying there for a year next year to become as fluent as possible. I can also understand a good bit of Spanish, but cant speak it as I havent had to in several years, and my German has seemingly replaced all my Spanish speaking ability. I really want to learn French, and may start working on that this summer with the hope of learning it better when I am in Europe next year--it shouldnt be hard for me to get to France for long weekends to practice it.
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Last edited by sailor; 02-08-2005 at 07:14 PM..
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:25 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Location: Illinois
I used to be pretty good at Spanish, but after not having spoken it regularly for two years, I've forgotten a lot of words and verbs. I can speak pretty decent Spanglish though.
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:33 AM   #3 (permalink)
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I'm fluent in German, and my 5-year-old daughter speaks both German and English as native languages. She prefers German though.

We live in Miami, and we wanted so much to have her speaking Spanish as a native speaker, but allowing only Spanish videos hasn't really worked yet, although she does know a lot of words.

I took four years of German in high school, but never really spoke it until I married a German. Now we speak only German to our daughter, and English to each other.
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:35 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Location: Belgium
English (duh )
Dutch
French

understand German,

really want to learn japenese and spanish, but that won't be happening anytime soon I'm afraid

Maybe if I took a trip to Japan for a year, hmmm...
Should really look into that.

Also, a handful of Swedish and Finnish swear-words, but that doesn't really count, now does it
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:36 AM   #5 (permalink)
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Location: Shirt and Pants (NJ)
I speak english, but i studied Latin for about 5 or 6 years (1 or 2 in elemenary school, and 4 in highschool). I'm rather glad i picked latin to study (i cant speak it) because it gave me a basic understanding of the many romantic languages and english. *shrugs*

Though i must admit that while i did spend so much time taking latin i should have spent more time learning more latin words. I forgot a lot of what i learned already anyway so i guess it doesn't matter much. :P
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:37 AM   #6 (permalink)
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Location: Colorado
3 years of Latin, what a waste. I can pick up a lot of words in most European languages, though.
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:41 AM   #7 (permalink)
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Location: Guatemala, Guatemala
My first language is Spanish, and i also speak English and a little French. As soon as i get the time, i'll try to learn Chinese and German.
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:41 AM   #8 (permalink)
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Location: Chicago
I speak fluent restuarant... ( I can decipher a menu and order in French, Portuguese, Brazilian, Spanish, Mexican, Italian, Japanese and probably a few others)

If a person talks slowly, and doesnt use slang, I can understand French and Spanish (6 years of Latin helped that a lot) As for speaking French, I make the mistake of thinking in English and translating to French - which makes me slow - and also causes me to screw up verbage a lot. (I was in a store in Brussels, talking to a woman in the store, in French, and mistakenly said my brother was a big dog, rather than he had a big dog)
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:44 AM   #9 (permalink)
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Location: Alexandria, VA
English (obviously), some hideously broken German, and Spanish. I'd love to learn Gaelic, but I don't see that one happening
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Old 02-08-2005, 08:57 AM   #10 (permalink)
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Location: Duisburg, Germany
decent english and, since I'm german, german.
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Old 02-08-2005, 09:01 AM   #11 (permalink)
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Location: Lion City
Sadly I only speak English and French (not well, but I can carry on a conversation).

I am always jealous of polyglots.
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Old 02-08-2005, 09:13 AM   #12 (permalink)
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Location: Yonder
I was fluent in French when I graduated from High School. It's been all downhill from there, though I demonstrated to myself I could still have a respectable conversation with a native Francophone last summer.
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Old 02-08-2005, 09:50 AM   #13 (permalink)
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Location: Tokyo, Japan
Japanese all the functional stuff, and some decent conversation.
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Old 02-08-2005, 09:53 AM   #14 (permalink)
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Location: Some place windy
English and Spanish reasonably. I was fluent in Spanish in college, but my Spanish fluency has declined considerably since then.

I would like to speak more than English, but I don't have much of a need to. I don't travel outside of the US very often and I don't encounter many individuals who don't speak English where I live.
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Old 02-08-2005, 09:54 AM   #15 (permalink)
/nɑndəsˈkrɪpt/
 
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Location: LV-426
Finnish, Swedish, German and French.
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Old 02-08-2005, 09:59 AM   #16 (permalink)
SiN
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Location: ...more here than there...
Englisch und Deutsch.

I had 2 yrs french in HS and 1 semester of Latin in college, and would like to learn more Latin.
Wouldn't mind learning a bit more spanish.
Russian would be kinda cool too.
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Old 02-08-2005, 10:26 AM   #17 (permalink)
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Location: Ontario
Only English, and many would say I don't even speak that enough.
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Old 02-08-2005, 10:30 AM   #18 (permalink)
caz
Tilted
 
Location: Illinois
I can speak english (obviously) and some spanish. I have relatives in Meixco. I definitely understand spanish better than I speak it though. If I were going to learn any other language it would be French or Italian
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Old 02-08-2005, 10:34 AM   #19 (permalink)
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Location: Top of the World, Mom!
Being half swedish and half french:

French
Swedish
English, all fluent.
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Old 02-08-2005, 10:57 AM   #20 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Location: Meechigan
I would like to learn another language, but there is nobody else around that really speaks other languages, so that makes it kinda hard. I bought a whole bunch of "Learn to speak Japanese" type books, and I have spent time studying it, but I feel that I am not really getting good practice if there is nobody else around that can speak it.
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Old 02-08-2005, 11:00 AM   #21 (permalink)
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Location: California
English and French.
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Old 02-08-2005, 11:04 AM   #22 (permalink)
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I know English, (of course) and French (enough to get by)
However... studying linguistics has enabled me to learn all the different SOUNDS from different languages, just not the words themselves....
And, I really really want to learn Gaelic if I can ever find the time.
 
Old 02-08-2005, 11:07 AM   #23 (permalink)
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Location: CA
I know a wee bit o' Spanish. Nothing to write home about.
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Old 02-08-2005, 11:15 AM   #24 (permalink)
Professional Loafer
 
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Location: texas
English
Bad English
German
French
Latin
Spanish (some)

Trying to learn Kanji

Not completely fluent in any of them (heh), but have learned, conjugation can be a bitch.
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Old 02-08-2005, 11:26 AM   #25 (permalink)
Sauce Puppet
 
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semi fluent Spanish.

I know some very very basic phrases in Japanese.

I want to continue with Spanish till I'm fluent, and learn more Japanese. Would also like to pick up some Portuguese also.
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Old 02-08-2005, 12:49 PM   #26 (permalink)
Tilted
 
o.k. bragging on my sister. she somehow received all linguistic talent. she speaks mandarin, japanese, french, spanish and english. i have enough trouble with english.
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Old 02-08-2005, 12:50 PM   #27 (permalink)
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Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Swedish like a native of course, and enough German to get by. I understand Danish and Norweigan unless they speak too fast. I studied a bit of Russian, but not much stuck. If I could learn another language it'd be either French or Italian. Italian for the operas and French for all the excellent comics that never gets translated.
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Old 02-08-2005, 01:10 PM   #28 (permalink)
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Location: Southern California
I speak Hungarian fluently. And English of course.
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Old 02-08-2005, 02:06 PM   #29 (permalink)
I'm a family man - I run a family business.
 
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Location: Wilson, NC
English, and a small bit of Spanish
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Old 02-08-2005, 02:07 PM   #30 (permalink)
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Location: Winston-Salem, NC
I speak English. I would say I can speak Spanish like a lot of people, but it really means I took 2 levels of it in high school. In other words, I can pick out words and phrases, but speaking it is the exaggeration of the century.

-Lasereth
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Old 02-08-2005, 02:18 PM   #31 (permalink)
beauty in the breakdown
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Wow... A lot more German speakers than I ever would have expected. Thats good to see!
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Old 02-08-2005, 02:18 PM   #32 (permalink)
Psycho
 
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Location: chicago, illinois
Well i speak English, and am fairly good with French, and I understand cantonese and a little tagalog.
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Old 02-08-2005, 02:24 PM   #33 (permalink)
Psycho
 
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English is my mother tongue; plus French [thanks to 4 years of high school, taking ap french right now]; ironic though, since I learned just as much French in one week there than I did 3 years at school :P


Nice thread everyone.
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Last edited by keyshawn; 02-08-2005 at 02:31 PM..
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Old 02-08-2005, 02:59 PM   #34 (permalink)
Psycho
 
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Location: i live in the state of denial
English and bad English...okay, now that the Fifth Element reference is out of the way, I speak English, conversational Spanish (not fluent), and some Italian (in the process of learning it).
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Old 02-08-2005, 03:14 PM   #35 (permalink)
Junkie
 
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I speak medicalese.

I can order dinner from a menu in Spanish, French, and maybe German without accidentally getting anything I would not be willing to eat.
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Old 02-08-2005, 03:20 PM   #36 (permalink)
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Location: backwater, Third World, land of cotton
I speak and understand Spanish pretty well, and I am currently learning Portuguese.

Quote:
Originally Posted by maleficent
I speak fluent restuarant... ( I can decipher a menu and order in ... Portuguese, Brazilian, ... and probably a few others)
What's the difference between Portuguese and Brazilian?
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Old 02-08-2005, 03:21 PM   #37 (permalink)
My custom title's the shit!
 
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Location: Canada
semi-fluent german, a little rough though, and 3 years of french in school, other than that, just english
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Old 02-08-2005, 03:28 PM   #38 (permalink)
Tilted
 
Location: New York
I speak English, my first language was Spanish, so I am fluent in that also, and my boyfriend is taking Japanese as his foreign language requirement in college so I know very little of that. Hopefully I will learn enough to someday go to Japan with him, although I have a feeling he will be doing a lot of translating :P
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Old 02-08-2005, 04:30 PM   #39 (permalink)
Tilted
 
English and a "dab" of polish..
The gf is teaching me
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Old 02-08-2005, 05:44 PM   #40 (permalink)
Upright
 
Location: Athens, Ga
Portugese and Brazilian, while technically the same language, have been isolated for so long that they are more removed than, say, Swedish and Norweigian. It's not as bad as Sicilian and Italian before the advent of radio and TV, but there are quite a few idioms that don't translate across the pond.

As to languages I speak...
English (native language)
Spanish (more or less fluent)
Japanese (I've forgotten most of what I learned)
German (currently taking it)
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