What languages does everyone speak/study?


Aino
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I apologize if this has been posted before, but I have been unable to find a post regarding this topic after searching. English is my first language and I like to think that I am fluent. I am simultaneously studying about seven languages at once because I'm quite fickle due to a very short attention span. :P

Vietnamese is my absolute favorite language; I've been studying a bit and I love it so much. I watch a lot of Vietnamese cooking shows, movies, and listen to music in Vietnamese so I'm picking up some vocabulary in addition to studying. Recently, I decided to learn Khmer/Cambodian. I was intimidated by learning the alphabet at first, but it wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. I just really like Austro-Asiatic languages, I think.

Next on my agenda is Finnish. I have a fascination and love for the language and I have been studying it for the purpose of personal research to do with Finnish composers (finding resources), history, literature, etc. I hope to be fluent one day.

I also really love Arabic and have been studying the script lately. I listen to a lot of music in Arabic and I don't trust romanizations, so I'd like to learn the lyrics from reading it properly in its Arabic script. I am starting with Modern Standard Arabic and may move onto a dialect later.

I studied French and Spanish in school years ago. I fear that I am losing what I have lost, so I am reading and studying to keep both fresh in my mind. I was never fluent in either, but oh well.

Due to my obsession with Korean dramas and Korean pop music, I have picked up a little bit of Korean here and there, but I haven't studied it in-depth. I learned how to read a bit of Hangul so I can learn lyrics properly, rather than relying on romanizations.

I might want to study Russian and German eventually, but that is not a priority right now. I have been studying the Cyrillic alphabet, which is quite useful. I am also fond of Mandarin and Cantonese, so I think I may study both before I consider Russian or German.

I love languages; I am perhaps a bit overzealous. I am interested in everyone else's language endeavors. What languages do you all speak?

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I am simultaneously studying about seven languages at once because I'm quite fickle due to a very short attention span. :P

Same here!:D I usually get very excited about a language (for whatever reason), study it for a few weeks and then lose interest...then again, learning languages is just a hobby/passion of mine and I don't usually do it for practical reasons - so the fact that I don't really learn them is not a big issue...it's enough for me that I get a feel for the language, its history and so on...

Apart from my native Bulgarian, I also speak English (for practical reasons - work/study), some Russian (for family reasons - my mother is Russian)....I've also learned some 10-15 other languages: German (in High School), French (in Uni), I'm a big fan of everything Celtic so I've learned almost all Celtic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton), used to live in Cyprus (a Greek island) so I speak some Greek as well, I also like the Mesoamerican and South American native languages - I've learned Classical Nahuatl (language of the Aztecs) and a tiny bit of Quechua, I also like the Maori culture (love the Haka:D ) and so learned some Maori, I'm (or was) a weird kind of Tolkien fan - never read his books but really liked his language creations - so used to speak quite a bit of Quenya (one of his elvish languages:P ), also one of the few languages that I keep coming back to is Esperanto - I just love the culture and the fact that it is so beautifully logical and easy to learn....oh and I'm currently learning Turkish cos my girlfriend is Turkish and that seemed like a good enough reason to give the language a try^_^

p.s.1 there are probably a few other languages that I've given a try but I can't think of them at the moment...

p.s.2 I really want to learn Ukrainian one day cos I have some Ukrainian blood in me + the language is very beautiful, I also love Arabic - not just the language but the culture, music, everything...

p.s.3 oh and on a different totally unrelated note - I got my Patriarchal blessing today - I know it has nothing to do with the topic but I just had to share it...it was such an amazing experience!:)

Edited by Ivo_G
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Javascript, php, HTML, C++, VBS... oh, wait

You speak them? You totally outgeek me.

I do not speak any language well other than English, but I can still get by in Italian, and I could survive using French or Spanish. At one time, my Spanish was pretty good, but that was a while ago. Similarly, I used to be reasonably fluent in Italian, but that was tempo fa. You will also hear igpay atinLay, ij, oop, um, ack, various snippets of Alsacian and Pittsburghese, and the occasional German phrase (but rarely from me) around the Vort household.

Edited by Vort
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Only English, my parents spoke Russian at home but they did not teach us, or allow us to mimic Russian. That was in the days when parents were determined that the children only speak English so we could succeed as Americans.

In my house, trying to convince my parents of the merits of bilingual education would get you a quick invitation to the other side of the front door.

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Hebrew and English are my native languages. I've since learned Russian to a high degree of fluency, so I can read books, watch tv/films, and listen to music as well as speak it. In fact, most of what I do watch is in Russian. My wife is Ukrainian, so I'm learning that as well. Studied Azeri for a couple of weeks. Mighjt pick it up again, one of the easiest Turkic languages.

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Hebrew was one of the first languages I was exposed to as a child. My aunt came back from Jerusalem with a tape of children's songs in Hebrew, and I learned them all. She tried to make me study more, but I was a stubborn child and was not interested. :(

I'm (or was) a weird kind of Tolkien fan - never read his books but really liked his language creations - so used to speak quite a bit of Quenya (one of his elvish languages:P ),

It's funny that you mention that; Tolkien was a philologist who was inspired very much by the Finnish language and culture, and his Elvish languages were very heavily influenced by Finnish. That is one of the reasons that I became interested in the language.

Congratulations on your patriarchal blessing!

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There's a big difference between: 1.) silently reading a text in a certain language and understand what it says, 2.) understand a formal speech or a news cast in a specific language, 3.) understand a conversation or a movie in that language, 4.) writing down what is in your head using a specific language, 5.) expressing what is in your head in a formal oratorical speech using a specific language, 6.) conversing with another person in that language.

I can do all of those in the following languages:

1.) Cebuano Visayan

2.) Boholano Visayan (different from Cebuano as English is from Ebonics)

3.) Pilipino

4.) English

I can do 1 and 2 and just a little bit of 3, 4, and 5 in Castillan Spanish.

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I apologize if this has been posted before, but I have been unable to find a post regarding this topic after searching. English is my first language and I like to think that I am fluent. I am simultaneously studying about seven languages at once because I'm quite fickle due to a very short attention span. :P

Vietnamese is my absolute favorite language; I've been studying a bit and I love it so much. I watch a lot of Vietnamese cooking shows, movies, and listen to music in Vietnamese so I'm picking up some vocabulary in addition to studying. Recently, I decided to learn Khmer/Cambodian. I was intimidated by learning the alphabet at first, but it wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. I just really like Austro-Asiatic languages, I think.

Next on my agenda is Finnish. I have a fascination and love for the language and I have been studying it for the purpose of personal research to do with Finnish composers (finding resources), history, literature, etc. I hope to be fluent one day.

I also really love Arabic and have been studying the script lately. I listen to a lot of music in Arabic and I don't trust romanizations, so I'd like to learn the lyrics from reading it properly in its Arabic script. I am starting with Modern Standard Arabic and may move onto a dialect later.

I studied French and Spanish in school years ago. I fear that I am losing what I have lost, so I am reading and studying to keep both fresh in my mind. I was never fluent in either, but oh well.

Due to my obsession with Korean dramas and Korean pop music, I have picked up a little bit of Korean here and there, but I haven't studied it in-depth. I learned how to read a bit of Hangul so I can learn lyrics properly, rather than relying on romanizations.

I might want to study Russian and German eventually, but that is not a priority right now. I have been studying the Cyrillic alphabet, which is quite useful. I am also fond of Mandarin and Cantonese, so I think I may study both before I consider Russian or German.

I love languages; I am perhaps a bit overzealous. I am interested in everyone else's language endeavors. What languages do you all speak?

Utahese, light c++, TI-80, leet, spattering of mexican, and profanity....
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Guest LiterateParakeet

English is my first language, and I like to think I am fairly proficient at it. I learned Spanish on my mission, and though that was a long time ago, I work on keeping it alive in my mind. And I have a passion for American Sign Language (ASL).

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I studied Latin and Spanish in prep school and did so well on the Spanish Achievement Test, I placed out of language for college. Still, I like languages and ended up taking some German, Mandarin, and at the Univ of London I took Old English so I could read Beowulf in the original. When I did my doctoral comps, I needed something completely different to 'rest' my mind and took up Danish, as I had Danish-speaking friends and research partners.

One of my college jobs was working for the Early Modern English Dictionary looking for first usage of words. We worked on literature from the Tudor period through Shakespeare's First Folio. So, yes it is English, but not always the way we are used to it.

My son was a Southeast Asian Studies major and did pretty well in Vietnamese, but as others have said, if you don't use it, you lose it.

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I took Spanish three times on middle school cuz it was the only language offered. In high school I studied two years of German and one year of French. Not long after I started French, I began dating my HS sweetheart. I would always try to woo her in French, but she hated it. She said she didn't like now knowing what I was saying.

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I studied Latin and Spanish in prep school and did so well on the Spanish Achievement Test, I placed out of language for college. Still, I like languages and ended up taking some German, Mandarin, and at the Univ of London I took Old English so I could read Beowulf in the original. When I did my doctoral comps, I needed something completely different to 'rest' my mind and took up Danish, as I had Danish-speaking friends and research partners.

One of my college jobs was working for the Early Modern English Dictionary looking for first usage of words. We worked on literature from the Tudor period through Shakespeare's First Folio. So, yes it is English, but not always the way we are used to it.

My son was a Southeast Asian Studies major and did pretty well in Vietnamese, but as others have said, if you don't use it, you lose it.

I apologize if this is too personal, but may I ask where he studied? I have been searching for institutions that teach Vietnamese, but they are very scarce.

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