Do You Speak Any Language Other Than English?
- Thread starter Mem
- Start date
Drifterwood
Superior Member
French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch ish. Afrikaans, Greek, Cantonese, Tagalog ish, and my American is improving.
Korean baffles me.
I would claim to know a little Arabic, but Alex will spank my botty.
Korean baffles me.
I would claim to know a little Arabic, but Alex will spank my botty.
Interesting that French is way ahead of Spanish, even though the U.S. has a huge Latino population (I know we're not all American here, but a lot are).
I would guess that maybe it's because French, until recently at least, was still the language that educated people wanted to know and studied in school. Certainly in my generation this was true. French was the language of culture and learning, even if Spanish was more widely spoken. No one studied Asian languages back then. My grandparents spoke a little French, and my parents studied it. I then studied in France and still spend time there every year. I'm glad to see there are so many French speakers here.
I would guess that maybe it's because French, until recently at least, was still the language that educated people wanted to know and studied in school. Certainly in my generation this was true. French was the language of culture and learning, even if Spanish was more widely spoken. No one studied Asian languages back then. My grandparents spoke a little French, and my parents studied it. I then studied in France and still spend time there every year. I'm glad to see there are so many French speakers here.
- Mem,
I was surprided about that too.
Je parle un peu de Francais, je l'etudie a L'ecole (many moons ago) ,mais je oubliet beaucoup.
I don't know how to use the accents and I'm sure the spelling that I remembered is a bit off.
Drifterwood
Superior Member
Indeed - LOL, but not a lot :biggrin1:
I am not really taking the piss Mem. Good for you for knowing some that you may not need to know.
whatireallywant
Sexy Member
Unfortunately, none. I do know a little bit of Spanish (took it in high school), but not nearly enough to be able to carry on a conversation in Spanish. I've forgotten nearly all of it since high school, because of no chance to practice in my hometown. Ironically, much later, after I forgot nearly all of it, I moved to Indianapolis in an apartment complex next door to a Mexican grocery, and now live in San Antonio! I could use that Spanish now! I could even get a better paying job since a lot of jobs here require you to be bilingual in English and Spanish.
circumstances
Just Browsing
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2005
- Posts
- 265
- Media
- 0
- Likes
- 0
- Points
- 161
- Age
- 34
- Location
- South Florida
- Sexuality
- 100% Straight, 0% Gay
- Gender
- Male
- Mem,
There is a joke that goes a Spanish guy is talking to a French guy.
the French guy says "je nais comprends pas"
and the Spansh guy goes "por que este me dice que no compra pan?"
(sorry I can not write well in either of these 2 lauguages)..make that three.
At least I told it once and made a Portugese guy laugh.
the French guy says "je nais comprends pas"
and the Spansh guy goes "por que este me dice que no compra pan?"
(sorry I can not write well in either of these 2 lauguages)..make that three.
At least I told it once and made a Portugese guy laugh.
bobabooey69
Cherished Member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2007
- Posts
- 3,399
- Media
- 5
- Likes
- 494
- Points
- 303
- Location
- Florida (United States)
- Sexuality
- 100% Straight, 0% Gay
- Gender
- Male
All that will come in handy if you're ever sent back through time to the 17th century and need to negotiate a treaty between the warring naval powers of yore.
Principessa
Expert Member
I spent a summer in Italy, in grad school and discovered something about myself I wish I'd known sooner. I excel at learning a language by immersion. I went there literally speaking only pasta. The first week was rough. By week 4 I could converse comfortably with native born Italians, though I sometimes had trouble responding because of my poor vocabulary. I understood what was being said to me but I didn't have an extensive enough vocabulary to respond. :redface:
I took French (earned A's & B's) and Spanish (failed miserably) in high school. My first few weeks in Italy I would often start a sentence in Italian then go to French and end in Spanish. :tongue: Thank God most Europeans know more than one language! I didn't even realize I was doing that until a French shop keeper in Tuscany pointed it out to me.
In conclusion, I know enough French, Spanish, and Italian to order from a menu in those languages and be reasonably certain of what I will receive. :smile:
I took French (earned A's & B's) and Spanish (failed miserably) in high school. My first few weeks in Italy I would often start a sentence in Italian then go to French and end in Spanish. :tongue: Thank God most Europeans know more than one language! I didn't even realize I was doing that until a French shop keeper in Tuscany pointed it out to me.
In conclusion, I know enough French, Spanish, and Italian to order from a menu in those languages and be reasonably certain of what I will receive. :smile:
joejack
Cherished Member
About your poll. For your information Hebrew and Yiddish are two very distinct languages. Hebrew is a Semitic language closely related to Arabic. Yiddish, on the other hand is a dialect of German, which is of course a Germanic language, as is English, which in turn are in the Indo-European group of languages. So Yiddish is more closely related to Hindi than Hebrew. Of course all observant male Jews are required to learn Hebrew for religious purposes. Yiddish was spoken as a first language by the Ashkenasi Jews of northern, central and eastern Europe for about a millenium. The genocide of the last century killed off most of them, and the ones who managed to escape it adopted other languages as their native tongues, such as English or Modern Hebrew. The state of Israel discourages speech other than Modern Hebrew. As a result, Yiddish, a rich and once vibrant language is on the path to extinction as the holocaust survivors die off. 
Principessa
Expert Member
Wow! I didn't know that. Thats interesting. The state of Israel discourages speech other than Modern Hebrew. Hmm, that seems a bit wrong, to exclude Yiddish. As a result, Yiddish, a rich and once vibrant language is on the path to extinction as the holocaust survivors die off.
How sad, I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood so my speech is naturally peppered with Yiddish. It freaks out some people because I'm black. :tongue: I hate to see cultures die or get stamped out. :frown1:
I think I want a little nosh, later dude. :smile:
Similar threads
