For me, English, unfortunately I haven't learned my own language! =X Tagalog [Philippines].
I'm learning Italian in school though, I used to be excited about it, must be my new teacher. I'd like to learn Gaelic one day though which won't happen!
Dow sometimes writes to me in Japanese on this site.
I still regret I learned German while I was an exchange student in Edinburgh. I really want to learn Scottish Gaelic now. Scottish songs are much more beautiful and sophisticated than Irish ones, you know.
I spent the first half of my life in Israel, and so I speak Hebrew. When talking with other such friends of mine, we intermix the languages, based on which one provides the best phrase for the moment. We call that Heblish
Use it or lose it. My Spanish was, a few years ago, fairly good (A-level standard), but I've lost a fair bit. You need to be doing it every day near enough to keep on top of it, and to think in the language, otherwise it slips down your brain's list of priorities. Same as playing an instrument, I guess. I still know basic French from school, and can use that for simple conversations.
I used to speak Latin, but I've lost most of it now through lack of practice, or perhaps because no-one hits me with a leather strap any more.
I also used to speak Gaelic reasonably well, but now only retain what's necessary for my wife and I to have a conversation that our kids won't understand. (Actually, my daughter latched on pretty early to the fact that "Bia Sasta" means "Happy Meal")
My school French was passing standard, and now I can read the dual labeling on the stuff in Canadian grocery stores. On another thread, Gzeg pointed out that the French for Egg Nog translates to "Chicken Milk," but did you know that Grape Soda is "Raisin Drink?"
I tried to learn some technical Russian once, but that was a completed disaster. My mind couldn't get around a whole new alphabet.
Apparently I don't speak South Philly, despite several years of working there. On a recent visit to a record store there with my son we were approached by a man who said "mulpya." I asked him to repeat himself three times before my son, now beside himself with laughter, translated: "may I help you?"
I speak fluent Jonnish. That is the language of my 11-year-old son Jonathan who doesn't have a first language. He started speaking English at the age of four or five and has never really mastered it. Jonnish is quite a complicated (or simple) language full of spoonerisms, triple negatives, and opposite meanings.
Gaeilge beag, eine kleine Deutsch, I can read the Cyrilic Alphabet real easy.... and I'm working on Danish and Norwegian and actually speaking Russian, and Greek, and Yiddish, and eventually moving on to Romanian and Mandarin Chinese.
Ooooh, speaking of alphabets... I'm going to recite the NATO alphabet for the Hell of it!
Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
Xray
Yankee
Zulu
Wonder if those are actually the real ones haha, well I know I got a majority of them... Anyways, I should go back and write a very strange Italian dialogue between a half jellyfish half Vienna sausage thing and a depressed alien...
I know loads of languages, but only a few words of each - I have a penchant for reading the ingredients of food products in various languages and listening to SW radio. There are too many lanuages to seriously learn any one of them - although I am making a semi-serious attempt at Portuguese at the moment.
On a good day, I am reasonably fluent in English. On a better day, or after a few days' practice, I am conversant in German. A few years ago I was almost fluent in Latvian, but I don't get much practice these days.
I'm sorry to hear that some people hate to learn or to have learned German.
Knowing German would help a lot to read my website
I hated to do Latin at school - should have taken French instead. A few years ago I started to learn Dutch - a very enjoyable language.
Apart from the fact that knowing English is a bare necessity these days - I love the language, including dialects.
Gaelic may be nice for songs - but isn't it quite difficult to learn?
Danny, you're right. I used to be fairly fluent at reading French and Latin, have a decent grasp of spoken Japanese, and have some basic Spanish. All gone now due to lack of use, except for a handful of excellent insults in Latin and the capacity to remember assorted Japanese phrases whose common point is that they utterly lack applicability. (How often do you need to know the Japanese for "cat's pajamas"? Not to mention, how often do you need to thunder out "Quosque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra"?)
I can speeeek gibberish
Avez vous das fernsehen, muy amigo.
Delete this thread! It may not be politically contentious, but it is less OT than the recent 'smoker's' thead (Is there ANYTHING above to do with music?'
I speak East-Texan and can get along well speaking West Texan as well. Since I married a Yankee, I'm learning to speak (what she calls) common American English. Although most days, I wind up disappointing her.
Cheers
Sean
I speak a little french, read a lot more. English awas my first language. Now I'm making a big effort to learn Irish. Also I'm picking up a bit of Germn, Hebrew, and Russian along the way.
Don't delete this thread!!! Over at Chiff and Fipple, there are far more off topic discussions going on that would make one believe that this is actually not terribly OT. Keep the thread, this stuff is fun!
Mountain goat, 23 is a few more than I can manage but I speak good French, Dutch with a Flemish accent, reasonable Gaelic and whatever German I remember from A-level. Currently dabbling in Spanish.
My first language is french, so I speak it fluently. As you might have noticed, I can speak a bit of English (my father is from Vancouver), and I can understand, and almost speak - if I've got no choice, persan (my mother is from Iran).
I've also been learning German for many years in school (I still must think for hour to make a correct sentence), Latin for 4 years, and ancient greek for 3 years (I know a bit of modern greek, as hello, thank you...)
To do justice to slow airs you've got to understand the Gaelic. Similarly, if you're singing, playing or accompanying a song (i.e. a tune with lyrics) in a language that isn't your own, then you would do well to learn that language, way beyond merely being able to pronounce it, otherwise there's the real danger of making a nonsense of the song.
er, hasn't this brought Irish music into this thread at last ?
I suspect there is a strong link between learning a language and learning a new instrument or new music genre. If only because it takes about the same time to become reasonably fluent in a language as in playing an instrument (5 - 7 years, say?).
Trevor
Daiv, just checking, but isn't Esperanto that language that someone created to make it an easier language to understand? And kind of just fell through a hole?
My dad (who was one of the first programmers in the world scarily enough) keeps wanting me to learn russain, italian, hungarian, and some wierdo language that they used to use for computer programs, but don't use now (no idea why-personnally I think the old fellows a bit gone in the head), and my mum wants me to learn shorthand.
Think yourself blessed if you have anywhere NEAR normal parents.
These days fluent Swedish and German and excellent northern Irish English. Fluent French as an undergrad, but that has deteriorated considerably, though I still read it easily. Also read Danish and Norwegian and had a go at old Norse too. Pitiful spoken Irish though I can still translate it well enough with the aid of my dictionaries. Can even painfully plough through Latin with a grammar and dictionary at hand. The only remnant of my ancient Greek studies however is the ability to impress friends by reading the Greek labels on olive oil bottles.
armand - haha, well, if you put it that way, yes. but it didnt "fall through a hole". more people speak it now than irish and welsh combined. anywhere from 2 - 10 million people.
it was created to be an international secondary language (or "auxiliary") not meant to replace any language, just take on the job of french of old, latin of older, and english of now. though not in a tyrannical way (in theory).
as for if it will ever happen... i dont know. part of me says maybe, as the world grows, and as international communication is needed, but i am not that optimistic. people will hate it just because its not cool and they cant feel important knowing it, or will be like, "just learn elvish. its made up and cooler".
but personally, i dont care. i enjoy it. its sad speaking a language most people never heard of, and knowing that theres probably only a handful of people within a 100 miles that speak it, but thats also pretty great. i can say or sing or write whatever i want and no one will get it. haha, but thats not why i love it. its a beautiful language, with a rich culture of nice people who speak it. i taught myself a few years ago and rarely use it for any real purposes, just mumble and sing to myself and just have fun with it. i sometimes chat online with it. i did meet a guy in france, and i've voice chatted with him a couple times (or once, i dont remember. maybe 2ce) and we had a great convo. he played the accordian for me, and i for him the flute and concertina.
i had never spoken to anyone that spoke esperanto, and rarely dont much with it online, and we talked without a hitch. understood him perfectly, him me (he voice chats / listens to radio all the time tho).
everyone who speaks esperanto i have met is really nice, friendly, and curious to learn about your culture, and its just a great opportunity.
and nothing beats the feeling of t alking to someone, and forgetting your not speaking your native langauge, and then realizing, "o wait, neither are they... we both learned this for this purpose; to go half way and meet people on level ground".
so who knows, if esperanto was popular it might lose its charm, it might not. i dont know . i dont care. it works for me and thats all that matters.
Armand - I know, late, but there are distractions - LEARN TAGALOG!
Regretfully I've lost any Chamorran I had as a child, well, 'child-like' (teen), even the swearing. I fell in love with Philippino cuisine and also a lovely cross Philippino/Hawaian - one very sweet woman, and conversant. I love the sound of that language - as well as the cuisine and some other cultural content. It is never too late to learn. There are several book/tape courses for Irish and Scots Gaelic, but I suspect that will be another thread for you to start. For the Irish side of things, some are regional dialect, and I would recommend those over the generalist courses, such as 'Buntus Cainte', but even better if you can make one of the residential courses, some of which include Irish music and dance too.
english and spanish were my first co-languages...which I speak fluently, between those two I can discern Italian, portuguese, some french and german, a lot of latin and a bit of gaelic
*splutter*... you'll soon get into trouble if you go round saying that, Slainte!
If that were true, there would only be three languages in Europe; the Romance, the Germanic, and Basque. A certain amount of mutual comprehensibility does not make two languages the same. French and English, for example, share plenty of Latin root words but are obviously not dialects of the same language. Nor are English and German.
Among my family, we speak Armenian, and our church services are in that language. I studied Russian at the university level and almost finished a second major in it, but since my grandmother died, there isn't anyone to speak it with.
Modern Greek. I think it was seeing Irene Pappas in "Zorba The Greek" that got me into that, when I was doing Classics at school. Modern Greek descends very directly from Ancient Greek - even some very unclassical-sounding words have come down in a devious way from ancient words or expressions, though of course there are Turkish and European words too. I spent some time there in the '70's; the more Greek I learned, the more I came to realise how much some people resented the UK/USA for their role in the '40's Civil War and supporting the '67-'74 dictatorship. There was a limit to my desire to be on the receiving end of this, but without necessarily wanting to represent one's country abroad, one almost inev-itably does so; and I did learn something of Greece's modern history.
Apart from Greek, nothing's stuck. I did a lot of Latin but don't take an interest, although my English grammar's probably based on it to this day. At a tender age I did French, and blythely assumed it was the world's second language (apologies to French readers who'd say it was the first!).
I've stumbled round France with it, but met practically no-one outside who knew it who wasn't him/herself French. I've started Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Swedish, all written in sand. Preparing for a short stay in Sweden I learned enough to make sense of newspapers there, and was struck by the number of words identical to lowland Scots dialect words. Maybe I'd better get back to first base and concentrate on trying to understand Geordie and Makkem, a whole lot nearer home!
Soo.... Speak another language?
Soo.... Speak another language?
For me, English, unfortunately I haven't learned my own language! =X Tagalog [Philippines].
I'm learning Italian in school though, I used to be excited about it, must be my new teacher. I'd like to learn Gaelic one day though which won't happen!
Cheers and school,
Armand
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by armandale
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Dow sometimes writes to me in Japanese on this site.
I still regret I learned German while I was an exchange student in Edinburgh. I really want to learn Scottish Gaelic now. Scottish songs are much more beautiful and sophisticated than Irish ones, you know.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by slainte
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
German in Scotland? Okaaay. I had to be an exchange student in Germany to learn German. They didn't tell me I could have learned Gaelic instead
I speak English too. And a bit of Afrikaans and a bit less of Xhosa, but some.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by Q
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I spent the first half of my life in Israel, and so I speak Hebrew. When talking with other such friends of mine, we intermix the languages, based on which one provides the best phrase for the moment. We call that Heblish
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by improziv
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Use it or lose it. My Spanish was, a few years ago, fairly good (A-level standard), but I've lost a fair bit. You need to be doing it every day near enough to keep on top of it, and to think in the language, otherwise it slips down your brain's list of priorities. Same as playing an instrument, I guess. I still know basic French from school, and can use that for simple conversations.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by Rudall the time
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Er, good luck with the Gaelic Armand - tha mi duilich gu bheil e uabhasach hard!
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by nick b
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I speak some South Philly and a little Sout Side Chahcahhhgo......jusda udder day I said hey how bout dem der Bearz!
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by Robby B.
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I used to speak Latin, but I've lost most of it now through lack of practice, or perhaps because no-one hits me with a leather strap any more.
I also used to speak Gaelic reasonably well, but now only retain what's necessary for my wife and I to have a conversation that our kids won't understand. (Actually, my daughter latched on pretty early to the fact that "Bia Sasta" means "Happy Meal")
My school French was passing standard, and now I can read the dual labeling on the stuff in Canadian grocery stores. On another thread, Gzeg pointed out that the French for Egg Nog translates to "Chicken Milk," but did you know that Grape Soda is "Raisin Drink?"
I tried to learn some technical Russian once, but that was a completed disaster. My mind couldn't get around a whole new alphabet.
Apparently I don't speak South Philly, despite several years of working there. On a recent visit to a record store there with my son we were approached by a man who said "mulpya." I asked him to repeat himself three times before my son, now beside himself with laughter, translated: "may I help you?"
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by grego
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Wegian, bit of Deutch and a fair bit of Swedish.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by snorre
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
If anyone wants to a wee bit of Irish stop off at Giota Beag http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/blas/learners/index.shtml.
It's based on the northern dialect but it's fun and easy to pick up.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by NickP
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I speak fluent Jonnish. That is the language of my 11-year-old son Jonathan who doesn't have a first language. He started speaking English at the age of four or five and has never really mastered it. Jonnish is quite a complicated (or simple) language full of spoonerisms, triple negatives, and opposite meanings.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by rocking bow
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Gaeilge beag, eine kleine Deutsch, I can read the Cyrilic Alphabet real easy.... and I'm working on Danish and Norwegian and actually speaking Russian, and Greek, and Yiddish, and eventually moving on to Romanian and Mandarin Chinese.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by Pádraig
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
rocking bow - I think Jonathan has a bright future ahead. I know some politicians who speak the same language
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by improziv
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I hate having to do French and German at school (the teachers are NO help whatsoever) so that's why I'm dropping them next year! YIPPEE!
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by Folkie Junkie
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Oh, and Improziv, you're probably right about politicians speaking another language, but I don't think it's Jonnish.
I think it's probably more along the realms of verbal diarrhea.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by Folkie Junkie
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Picked up italian and german while working in those respective countries.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by _Steph_
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Ooooh, speaking of alphabets... I'm going to recite the NATO alphabet for the Hell of it!
Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
Xray
Yankee
Zulu
Wonder if those are actually the real ones haha, well I know I got a majority of them... Anyways, I should go back and write a very strange Italian dialogue between a half jellyfish half Vienna sausage thing and a depressed alien...
Cheers and free period!
Armand
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by armandale
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Salamat PO!!!! agus slan go fóill
and it makes my head hurt SO VERY MUCH
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by I_Fel
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I know loads of languages, but only a few words of each - I have a penchant for reading the ingredients of food products in various languages and listening to SW radio. There are too many lanuages to seriously learn any one of them - although I am making a semi-serious attempt at Portuguese at the moment.
On a good day, I am reasonably fluent in English. On a better day, or after a few days' practice, I am conversant in German. A few years ago I was almost fluent in Latvian, but I don't get much practice these days.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Starp citu, Conan can speak 23 languages, play piano accordion, bodhran, harmonica and dance all at once.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Stopfordian.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by Leftheris
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I'm sorry to hear that some people hate to learn or to have learned German.
Knowing German would help a lot to read my website
I hated to do Latin at school - should have taken French instead. A few years ago I started to learn Dutch - a very enjoyable language.
Apart from the fact that knowing English is a bare necessity these days - I love the language, including dialects.
Gaelic may be nice for songs - but isn't it quite difficult to learn?
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by kuec
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I think German's a lovely language.
Can be sexy too: Franke Potente in Run Lola Run, zum beispiel.
*sigh*
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by Q
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
'On another thread, Gzeg pointed out that the French for Egg Nog translates to "Chicken Milk," but did you know that Grape Soda is "Raisin Drink?"'
Hen's milk would be a better translation, and "raison" (french) doesn't equal "raison" (english). It equals grape.
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by s1m0n
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
ok. I'll go stand in the corner...
# Posted on December 7th 2004 by grego
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Danny, you're right. I used to be fairly fluent at reading French and Latin, have a decent grasp of spoken Japanese, and have some basic Spanish. All gone now due to lack of use, except for a handful of excellent insults in Latin and the capacity to remember assorted Japanese phrases whose common point is that they utterly lack applicability. (How often do you need to know the Japanese for "cat's pajamas"? Not to mention, how often do you need to thunder out "Quosque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra"?)
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by sara g
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
S1m0n, tu as raisin...
You're ok Greg, you can come out of the corner now.
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by Gzeg
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
some binary, some COBOL...haha.
no, i speak a fair amount of german, and very little amount of spanish. woohoo! goin to deutschland this summer!
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by Bard
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
There are 10 kinds of people: those that understand binary and those that don't.
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by rocking bow
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
one hundred fifty words of kitchen table Hungarian.
I can ask questions in Hungarian....can't always understand the answers.
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by bt
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Si, Senor, un poco espanol, beaucoups de Francais- I loved studying German at University and took 2 years of Korean...
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by CC
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I can speeeek gibberish
Avez vous das fernsehen, muy amigo.
Delete this thread! It may not be politically contentious, but it is less OT than the recent 'smoker's' thead (Is there ANYTHING above to do with music?'
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by Ottery
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Or rather, it is ... MORE OT.......
unless OT Means 'on-topic'
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by Ottery
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Duh!
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by Ottery
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Oh man... I love it!
Cheers and annoying siblings,
Armand
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by armandale
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I speak East-Texan and can get along well speaking West Texan as well. Since I married a Yankee, I'm learning to speak (what she calls) common American English. Although most days, I wind up disappointing her.
Cheers
Sean
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by txfiddler
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Nihongo, zen zen wakarimasen!! : )
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by Ani Trec-Noc
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I speak a little french, read a lot more. English awas my first language. Now I'm making a big effort to learn Irish. Also I'm picking up a bit of Germn, Hebrew, and Russian along the way.
Don't delete this thread!!! Over at Chiff and Fipple, there are far more off topic discussions going on that would make one believe that this is actually not terribly OT. Keep the thread, this stuff is fun!
-Mike
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by CaliforniaPiper
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I forgot... also speak Cape Breton... "down north in the Highlands, I knew a fellow who played the ca-tar, I did"...
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by CC
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Mountain goat, 23 is a few more than I can manage but I speak good French, Dutch with a Flemish accent, reasonable Gaelic and whatever German I remember from A-level. Currently dabbling in Spanish.
Tot straks
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I heard you speaking Dutch to someone at The Porterhouse. I don't know what accent you had, but it wasn't Belfast.
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Oh I know about those OT topics, religious stuff, xbox games, video games in general, and earthquakes or something or other!
Cheers and school,
Armand
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by armandale
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
My first language is french, so I speak it fluently. As you might have noticed, I can speak a bit of English (my father is from Vancouver), and I can understand, and almost speak - if I've got no choice, persan (my mother is from Iran).
I've also been learning German for many years in school (I still must think for hour to make a correct sentence), Latin for 4 years, and ancient greek for 3 years (I know a bit of modern greek, as hello, thank you...)
# Posted on December 8th 2004 by DanaH
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Tha mi ag ionnsachadh Ghaidhlig ged a tha Beurla agus Ruseis agam.
Speak Russian and naturally English as well as learning Scottish Gaelic.
# Posted on December 9th 2004 by hiharin83
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
To do justice to slow airs you've got to understand the Gaelic. Similarly, if you're singing, playing or accompanying a song (i.e. a tune with lyrics) in a language that isn't your own, then you would do well to learn that language, way beyond merely being able to pronounce it, otherwise there's the real danger of making a nonsense of the song.
er, hasn't this brought Irish music into this thread at last ?
Trevor
# Posted on December 9th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
I suspect there is a strong link between learning a language and learning a new instrument or new music genre. If only because it takes about the same time to become reasonably fluent in a language as in playing an instrument (5 - 7 years, say?).
Trevor
# Posted on December 9th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
some of each:
japanese, chinese, french, spanish, arabic, esperanto, latin.
esperanto and english are my best.
# Posted on December 9th 2004 by daiv
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
English first, then Danish, French and German, in that order
# Posted on December 9th 2004 by To-Tretur
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Daiv, just checking, but isn't Esperanto that language that someone created to make it an easier language to understand? And kind of just fell through a hole?
Cheers and hopefully getting pipes,
Armand
# Posted on December 9th 2004 by armandale
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
My dad (who was one of the first programmers in the world scarily enough) keeps wanting me to learn russain, italian, hungarian, and some wierdo language that they used to use for computer programs, but don't use now (no idea why-personnally I think the old fellows a bit gone in the head), and my mum wants me to learn shorthand.
Think yourself blessed if you have anywhere NEAR normal parents.
# Posted on December 9th 2004 by Folkie Junkie
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
These days fluent Swedish and German and excellent northern Irish English. Fluent French as an undergrad, but that has deteriorated considerably, though I still read it easily. Also read Danish and Norwegian and had a go at old Norse too. Pitiful spoken Irish though I can still translate it well enough with the aid of my dictionaries. Can even painfully plough through Latin with a grammar and dictionary at hand. The only remnant of my ancient Greek studies however is the ability to impress friends by reading the Greek labels on olive oil bottles.
# Posted on December 9th 2004 by LongNote
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
armand - haha, well, if you put it that way, yes. but it didnt "fall through a hole". more people speak it now than irish and welsh combined. anywhere from 2 - 10 million people.
it was created to be an international secondary language (or "auxiliary") not meant to replace any language, just take on the job of french of old, latin of older, and english of now. though not in a tyrannical way (in theory).
as for if it will ever happen... i dont know. part of me says maybe, as the world grows, and as international communication is needed, but i am not that optimistic. people will hate it just because its not cool and they cant feel important knowing it, or will be like, "just learn elvish. its made up and cooler".
but personally, i dont care. i enjoy it. its sad speaking a language most people never heard of, and knowing that theres probably only a handful of people within a 100 miles that speak it, but thats also pretty great. i can say or sing or write whatever i want and no one will get it. haha, but thats not why i love it. its a beautiful language, with a rich culture of nice people who speak it. i taught myself a few years ago and rarely use it for any real purposes, just mumble and sing to myself and just have fun with it. i sometimes chat online with it. i did meet a guy in france, and i've voice chatted with him a couple times (or once, i dont remember. maybe 2ce) and we had a great convo. he played the accordian for me, and i for him the flute and concertina.
i had never spoken to anyone that spoke esperanto, and rarely dont much with it online, and we talked without a hitch. understood him perfectly, him me (he voice chats / listens to radio all the time tho).
everyone who speaks esperanto i have met is really nice, friendly, and curious to learn about your culture, and its just a great opportunity.
and nothing beats the feeling of t alking to someone, and forgetting your not speaking your native langauge, and then realizing, "o wait, neither are they... we both learned this for this purpose; to go half way and meet people on level ground".
so who knows, if esperanto was popular it might lose its charm, it might not. i dont know . i dont care. it works for me and thats all that matters.
# Posted on December 10th 2004 by daiv
Armand - I know, late, but there are distractions - LEARN TAGALOG!
Regretfully I've lost any Chamorran I had as a child, well, 'child-like' (teen), even the swearing. I fell in love with Philippino cuisine and also a lovely cross Philippino/Hawaian - one very sweet woman, and conversant. I love the sound of that language - as well as the cuisine and some other cultural content. It is never too late to learn. There are several book/tape courses for Irish and Scots Gaelic, but I suspect that will be another thread for you to start. For the Irish side of things, some are regional dialect, and I would recommend those over the generalist courses, such as 'Buntus Cainte', but even better if you can make one of the residential courses, some of which include Irish music and dance too.
http://www.gael-linn.ie/ - their Home page -
and as their button for the 'English' version of the site is a bit miniscule, here's that next link:
http://www.gael-linn.ie/homeirish.aspx?&lang=En
# Posted on December 10th 2004 by ceolachan
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
english and spanish were my first co-languages...which I speak fluently, between those two I can discern Italian, portuguese, some french and german, a lot of latin and a bit of gaelic
# Posted on December 12th 2004 by zoukmike
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, and Galician are not different languages but just dialects.
# Posted on December 12th 2004 by slainte
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
*splutter*... you'll soon get into trouble if you go round saying that, Slainte!
If that were true, there would only be three languages in Europe; the Romance, the Germanic, and Basque. A certain amount of mutual comprehensibility does not make two languages the same. French and English, for example, share plenty of Latin root words but are obviously not dialects of the same language. Nor are English and German.
# Posted on December 12th 2004 by Nell
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Effter tvu yeers ooff U.S. heegh schuul Spuneesh, I steell cuooldn’t speek a vurd ooff it. Ifentooelly I lunded in Germuny, steyed sefeen yeers, und leerned Germun flooently. Effter 15 yeer beck in zee U.S., zee Germun’s roosty. Bork Bork Bork!
# Posted on December 13th 2004 by BarryM
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Among my family, we speak Armenian, and our church services are in that language. I studied Russian at the university level and almost finished a second major in it, but since my grandmother died, there isn't anyone to speak it with.
# Posted on December 13th 2004 by Aragorn
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Modern Greek. I think it was seeing Irene Pappas in "Zorba The Greek" that got me into that, when I was doing Classics at school. Modern Greek descends very directly from Ancient Greek - even some very unclassical-sounding words have come down in a devious way from ancient words or expressions, though of course there are Turkish and European words too. I spent some time there in the '70's; the more Greek I learned, the more I came to realise how much some people resented the UK/USA for their role in the '40's Civil War and supporting the '67-'74 dictatorship. There was a limit to my desire to be on the receiving end of this, but without necessarily wanting to represent one's country abroad, one almost inev-itably does so; and I did learn something of Greece's modern history.
# Posted on July 31st 2006 by nicholas
Re: Soo.... Speak another language?
Apart from Greek, nothing's stuck. I did a lot of Latin but don't take an interest, although my English grammar's probably based on it to this day. At a tender age I did French, and blythely assumed it was the world's second language (apologies to French readers who'd say it was the first!).
I've stumbled round France with it, but met practically no-one outside who knew it who wasn't him/herself French. I've started Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Swedish, all written in sand. Preparing for a short stay in Sweden I learned enough to make sense of newspapers there, and was struck by the number of words identical to lowland Scots dialect words. Maybe I'd better get back to first base and concentrate on trying to understand Geordie and Makkem, a whole lot nearer home!
# Posted on July 31st 2006 by nicholas