# Forum General General Discussion  languages

## possopo

just a fun question, how many languages do you all speak and what is your approximate level? 
i'm fluent in english and spanish, i sort of speak russian and german and i have some knowledge in italian. and i'm french. 
my goal is to be fluent in all five.

----------


## BlackMage

I am a very bad students in a very large amount of languages.  I am fluent in English, decent in Russian, crappy in German, French, Spanish, Arabic, Latin, Greek (Modern and Ancient), and I can understand if a Chinese person asks me if I'm an American  ::

----------


## Tambakis

Fluent in English and Spanish, I can understand most of what's said in Russian and German. I can get along in Latin and Montenegrin. I know some Arabic and Greek, mostly chants and prayers, but those still count.  ::  I also know a bit of Irish, not much but I'm working on it.

----------


## krobatshov

German, English, Turkish ......currently 40% Russian...but my knowledge of Russian copes with the day...so in a few years I can count Russian as a "fluent" language too  ::

----------


## Dogboy182

If only V was here   ::  . He could wow us all with his swedish fluency. In his memory. 
~ Skissa i gissa !  ~ (<----Swedish)

----------


## Pravit

Fluent English, very good German, good Russian(reading and writing mainly), OK French, conversational Thai, and little bits of Arabic and Chinese. Krobatshov, I'd give you the old "Yay, I'm happy you speak German" greeting, but I'm tired. Do you live in Germany or Turkey?

----------


## Angel_of_Death-NZ

well, i took 2 years of French and got a B...and i speak english...and i have no places to buy russian learning books where i live, and i dont want to buy over the interent... so  ::

----------


## waxwing

Tambakis, it's better, I think, to call it 'Irish Gaelic'. I don't think one usually says 'I speak Irish'.
Personally I don't speak anything anymore. For example, I said to one of my students yesterday '.. It's very interesting place..'   ::   
как мне не стыдно !   ::

----------


## umania

English and a little bit of russian.

----------


## Tambakis

> Tambakis, it's better, I think, to call it 'Irish Gaelic'. I don't think one usually says 'I speak Irish'.
> Personally I don't speak anything anymore. For example, I said to one of my students yesterday '.. It's very interesting place..'    
> как мне не стыдно !

 Umm..no. Actually my friend Curran and his family only speak Irish at home and I called it  "Irish Gaelic" once. I'll never do that again. I got reemed, not fun.

----------


## Линдзи

Yeah, a lot of Irish people get quite huffy about that.  Definitely "Irish."     

> Do you call your language "English Germanic"?  Hmmmmmm?

----------


## Friendy

> ......currently 40% Russian...

 That reminds me a story I once witnessed. A little girl (of kindergarten age) said to her mother's friend: Я знаю половину английского языка. (I know half of the English language).
Now about myself: Russian (native), English (with some degree of fluency), German and French (very poor, except reading).

----------


## waxwing

Well thanks for that about Irish, I didn't know it.
I suppose we always used to call it 'Irish Gaelic' and 'Scottish Gaelic' to show that they were somehow related languages. I don't really know nuffin about 'em though.

----------


## snark

Ive got okay russian fluent in english spanish, I can communicate bare necessities in German and Japanese and French. I understand written portuguese. 
но кокой я крутой!!!

----------


## Jasper May

i talk Dutch good (im from holland) & very bad english. sorry!!   ::

----------


## Dogboy182

Friendy and Jasper. Вы чё ?? How can you say your english is not good ? If i would have just met u on the internet somewhere and had no idea of your backrounds, i would never be able to tell that you are not native english speakers ! Maybe your accents are strong, or your reading skills arn't great (but i bet they are   ::  ). But i would classify you both as "Fluent" in English. You both use words that i don't even know sometimes   :: . 
This reminds me of V. He has been learning english the same amount of time as my german foriegn exchange student. Exept, V talks like a native, with _almost_ no accent, he could easily pass for an american. While my german student had a very thick accent, and made mistakes which were, understandable, but obviously he was foriegn. 
Jasper and Friendy, you both speak wonderfully beuatiful english (as beautiful as english can be) and you should be proud of yourselfs.

----------


## waxwing

dogboy, ты чччё??  ::  
I think Jasper was extracting the urine... he is actually a native speaker. Either that or someone else was using his account. 
As to Friendy, she's top notch, considering she's Russian and (I think) hasn't spent a long time in an English speaking country. Her mistakes are rare enough to be noticeable. Hmm, come to think of it, a lot of native speakers make way more mistakes, especially in spelling.

----------


## Dogboy182

> Hmm, come to think of it, a lot of native speakers make way more mistakes, especially in spelling.

 Like me   ::   
BTW Jasper is in the netherlands.

----------


## майк

> a lot of native speakers make way more mistakes, especially in spelling.

 I agree. In my experience, most native English speakers write poorly in English: poor spilling and poor grammer   ::   They don't care to take care. And they don't bother to check their spelling. In contrast, foreign language speakers often put us to shame. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we (in England) have placed less emphasis on learning another language than in Europe, Eastern Europe (wherever that is), the Russian Federation and, well, everywhere else! In learning another language you first have to understand how your own language works. The consequence is that your ability to use language, in general, improves.

----------


## Jasper May

I was indeed extracting all manner of bodily fluids. I was bored. But thanks for the compliment anyway, Dogboy. Y'know, I did a test at brainbench.com and apparently have a larger vocabulary than 98% of all native English speakers.   ::  Was rather pleased wiv meself after zat, you can imagine. Don't know how much significance you should attach to results received from a site that calls itself 'Brainbench' though.

----------


## Friendy

Thanks *Dogboy* and *waxwing*, but I haven't said that my English was bad. I meant that it's not fluent enough according to my standards of fluency, I also think that evaluating someone's fluency basing on what one writes on a forum is rather approximate. It indicates some skills, of course, but it doesn't give the idea about the easiness with which a person expresses himself in foreign language and that is the main component of fluency, IMHO.

----------


## bad manners

> i talk Dutch good

 Learn it from the book? 
Myself: English well talking and here speaching American.

----------


## Jasper May

verry good, yes. not from hte book, sily sir "bad manners" sir, im teh fantastic duthc speeker cozz my mother is dutch and i live in nederland and im kewwwl!!11!   ::  lolol.

----------


## scotcher

> ...of course, but it doesn't give the idea about the *ease* with which a person expresses himself in foreign language and that is the main component of fluency, IMHO.

  ::

----------


## Friendy

Thanks, scotcher.  ::

----------


## astarz41

I'm fluent in Russian and English and i hope to be fluent in French some day (I'm currently in French IV in high school)   ::

----------


## Dogboy182

> I'm fluent in Russian

 
lucky you.   ::   ::   ::

----------


## Fritos

wut R U tallkin abowt, Amerikans dun't hav bad speling and gramer. I no four a fakt that I am exselent in English. 
P.S. On a side note I have been reading Huck Finn in my English class. I think that book takes the cake for the worst grammar, especially the character Jim. He speks lik funy all like dumb purson!

----------


## майк

> P.S. On a side note I have been reading Huck Finn in my English class. I think that book takes the cake for the worst grammar, especially the character Jim. He speks lik funy all like dumb purson!

 Made good sense though! - "_It's lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened_".

----------


## astarz41

> lucky you.

 I'm just lucky I was "born with it." I can't imagine learnign Russian as a foreign language...all the tenses in French are already difficult enough for me.  Though I guess I have it a little easier because I can relate a lot of grammar to Russian while native English speakers can't. Plus I think that kids in the US should start learning foreign languages a whole lot earlier. I started English in kindergarten in Russia and it was a whole lot easier to learn than French is right now.

----------


## Kamion

> skissa i gissa

 Not that I want to say anything bad about your Swedish, дорогой Dogboy, but what does that mean? They all mean things individually but together they just look weird. Maybe you want to write "skissa och gissa"?

----------


## Евгения Белякова

I speak English, but I am not a native speaker. I am was adopted and Russian was my first language, but my adoptive parents are Americans and so I wasn't exposed to it anymore so I forgot it.  Now I am relearning it, and it seems to be coming back.
I also take Spanish in school and I want to be fluent  ::

----------


## NYgirl3

I haven't been in this forum in soooo long,lol 
Ok, I speak Russian(native), English(completely fluent without an accent) and Spanish(conversational but not fluent).  ::

----------


## Sean

I couldn't agree with you more astarz, they should be teaching foreign languages to kids at a younger age. As for me I speak english as a first language and my Japanese is tolerably good. (enough to survive anyway.) My russian is pretty good, at least I think it is. I'm a beginner in Chinese and I learnt German for two years in primary school but I've forgotten most of it now. I can still remember the numbers and how to introduce myself.

----------


## BlackMage

Guten tag, Ich heiBe smartdude.  (No german experience needed.)
where B = Beta

----------


## Pravit

Mr. SmartDude,

----------


## Jasper May

You snobby little... 'More or less'...   ::   The eszett is pronounced _exactly_ as 'ss'.

----------


## Pravit

I know it is, dear Jas-Jas, but I wanted to be extra sure, because saying it is pronounced exactly like "ss" could have some super anal-retentive guy saying "but using 'ss' or '

----------


## Jasper May

Da da, I thought as much. I just love picking on anything you say about the German language.  ::  I'm jealous, that's what I am.

----------


## Pravit

Jealous you are? Why, you've overtaken me in Chinese and most likely Russian by now. I must satisfy myself with the remnants of my former glory, do excuse my snobbishness!

----------


## Angel_of_Death-NZ

Jasper, i am curious...what is your IQ?

----------


## Jasper May

Why? I haven't had it tested, but some louche internet-test a couple of years ago told me I'm a 186.   ::  Ridiculous, naturally.

----------


## Линдзи

IQ tests are passe.   
Seriously.  They don't measure anything useful, really.  And they're rendered totally moot by the theory of multiple intelligences.

----------


## Dogboy182

> Not that I want to say anything bad about your Swedish, дорогой Dogboy, but what does that mean? They all mean things individually but together they just look weird. Maybe you want to write "skissa och gissa"?

 
It's a game i used to play with V on some swedish website. I forget how to say AND in swedish, so i just put I. But skissa / gissa means "Draw and guess". And that's about all the swedish i know... besides
Prutt med fart.

----------


## Jasper May

I know they're pass

----------


## Zhenya

I speak English, Russian, Swedish, French, some Finnish, Norwegian and German... 
very interesting languages...

----------


## irisheyes

I'm going back a few pages here but I've been away.  Just to point out that I say that here you could ask someone if they speak Irish and it's fine to put it that way  - just remember it's 'slainte' instead of 'cheers' in the pub.    We have an prominent Irish language T.V. station which gets good ratings & there are a lot of Irish language learning / travel programmes.  There's an Irish Language Cafe in the city.  Probably not much chance of a huge revival but it's plodding along well.  Strangely I have different people say that when spoken fluently it doesn't sound altogether dissimilar from Russian. Anyway my native language is Irish.  I speak English and am improving in Russian.

----------


## Kamion

> Prutt med fart

 haha, very important to know (mycket viktigt att kunna)  ::

----------


## Pinczakko

I'm only fluent in english and bahasa Indonesia (for nation wide language). Knows a little bit of arabic. But for tribal language with small amount of active speaker back in my hometown (you may call it a bit ancient language), I'm fluent in three of them. Another joke, I'm fluent in three non-human language   :: . The last three are computer languages. Actually I know 4, but the last one I consider is a toy language. The computer languages are C, C++, and Assembly language   ::  .

----------


## Юлия

German --> fluent (mother tongue & school)
Italian --> very good (well I'm italian)
English --> good (myself&school)
Latin --> translating into german (school)
Korean --> actually i just can read it (myself)
French --> I've just begone to study it (at school)
Russian --> Well..I started with it two weeks ago...(myself)   ::

----------


## Psyche

Norwegian: Fluently,I`m Norwegian.
English: Fluently, school, leisure etc.
Russian: Began to study it myself a year ago, I`m not very good.
French: School. I s### at it. I`m trying to improve. 
And I want to learn Arabic. Spanish would be nice too. And German, Italian and Kurdish. Albanian, Polish and Hindi also.

----------


## Pravit

> And I want to learn Arabic. Spanish would be nice too. And German, Italian and Kurdish. Albanian, Polish and Hindi also.

 Don't forget the Punjabi!

----------


## Линдзи

Irisheyes - I've been intending for a while to learn Irish; do you have any suggestions or recommendations on good resources for a beginner?

----------


## JK519

I can  speak in English,Korean,Cantonese and a little bit Russian

----------


## The_lamb

Hey guys why don’t you also tell us you age?
It amazes me that some of you know so many languages. I want to know several foreign languages too. So could you tell your age? That would give me some ideas how long it takes to be more or less fluent in several languages.
Russian is my native language, and I’m okay in English (I’ve been living in America for three years). And I’m only 23 (or maybe I should say I’m already 23  ::

----------


## Начальница Камчатки

hey, i just happened to glance in this forum... It was a surprise to see someone who speaks Indonesian! It was one of my first languages (along with English) but I haven't spoken it for so long, that I've pretty much forgotten it. I'm only fluent in English, and I know some Russian and French.

----------


## Alex_Ivanov

Начальница, простите, чего?   ::

----------


## Duck_Waters

Loo loo loo, native English, ok French, working on Russian and Japanese. I miss Spanish and German. 
~dUcK! 
PS - for the lamb -- I just turned 19.

----------


## Babushka

I'm fluent in English and I'm studying Russian at the moment.  ::

----------


## Cliffy

Hmm.
Really, what about age of people. I am 26 already and i had time to learn only English and very little Spanish. English for business and Spanish for my soul. And i want to learn Sweden  but I have not free time! Do you have so much free time?

----------


## Zhenya

I can teach you, Cliffy!  ::

----------


## BJ Hendy

hmmm... languages
English - i live in australia so...
Italian - been learning it for four years at school and i'm almost fluent in it
French - very very very basic i spent a year learning it at primary school
Russian - been trying to learn it for over a year but have gotten absolutely no where 
i also have *very* limited vocab in tamil, elvish, atlantean, old english, ancient egyptian, and other various, useless languages that my boyfriend speaks (except for atlantean... that's my way of getting back at him but i liopai saano).  
for the person who asked about ages i'm fifteen atm almost 16 but have only been learning languages for the last five years.  
allora. for the americans/brits here could you tell me some slang you guys use? i'm interested in the difference between american/GB slang and aussie slang. and do you guys know what 1337 is? my friends use it but i don't get it oh well.

----------


## американский13

whoa! i didn't know there were so many russian learners around my age.(14)  I thought i would be criticized for my youngness and youth-minded intellectual abilities   ::

----------


## Pravit

I was 12 years old when I began to learn Russian, so don't let age bother you! Although I don't really believe it's easier to learn languages at a younger age, you can think of all the time you saved by starting early!  ::  
About "1337" I had a good laugh. Dogboy, it's yours.

----------


## Dogboy182

In britian i hear they walk around and say something is "Leet", while here in america we walk around saying "Man that was so one three three seven". I think that's the biggest diffrence i've seen. 
(you're 14, i was 15, it's not that big of a deal).   

> I don't really believe it's easier to learn languages at a younger age

 I know a brother and sister, moved here from Rostov 3 years ago. The Guy is 18, his sister is 15. The guy, can speak conversationaly perfect english, but he has an accent and sometimes fumbles. yet, his sister who is now 15, (moved here when she was 12) who i never talked to untill today, speaks perfectly perfect accentless normal english. 
I think that age can play a diffrence... Once you get to a certain point, the muscles in your mouth (along with your brain) can't / wont want to work to creat difrent sounds, and your brain has a harder time accepting the info. 
I know that difrent people have diffrent skills, they both seemed to learn english just fine, but i think it's pretty obvious age had something to do with it here.

----------


## майк

> I think that age can play a diffrence... Once you get to a certain point, the muscles in your mouth (along with your brain) can't / wont want to work to creat difrent sounds, and your brain has a harder time accepting the info.

 I think I can vouch for that assessment Dogboy   ::   ::   ::    I'm so old that I've forgotten how old I am  ::   - if I knew I was going to live this long I'd have taken more care - but I didn't   ::   ::   ::   And, so Dogboy, your description is perfect.......  ::

----------


## Евгения Белякова

That reminds me, Dogboy. A friend of mine father came from Russia at age 1. He spoke English with a Russian accent, even though he had lived in the USA for almost his whole life. And his wife came here at age 15, and she spoke English with no accent at all. Though she wrote things phonetically. I think you can't generalize it, because for each person it's different.

----------


## VendingMachine

> A friend of mine father came from Russia at age 1. He spoke English with a Russian accent, even though he had lived in the USA for almost his whole life.

 Bollocks. At the ripe old age of 1 no one can be said to have a specific accent - at that age you just babble producing all sorts of sounds in all kinds of accents. Either he grew up in a Russian ghetto surrounded by speakers of Russian 24/7, or you're telling porkies.

----------


## Pravit

I have an Arabic friend who's 17 and his older brother is 20-something. My friend still speaks with an accent yet his older brother speaks with a completely normal American accent. 
Perhaps it is easier to pick up on accents and such when you're younger,  but I don't believe it is easier to actually learn/master languages when you're young. Most people master languages when they are older, as far as I would know. 
BTW, I have never heard anyone say "one three three seven." I was expecting a hax0r worthy definition of 1337 from you, Dogboy! Shame!

----------


## BlackMage

1337 is a language used primarily by reclusive gamers (myself) and h4x0rs (myself) to hide from the real world.  It is pronounced leet, and derives from the number 31337 (pronounced elite), the internet port used primarily for system exploitation (hacking), in the early days (Apple ][)

----------


## Knave

I speak English, French, and Spanish fluently. I've studied French for 4 years and Spanish for 3 years consistently. I'm now studying German, but my vocabulary is very limited. On the other hand, I know everything about the grammar! I study Russian also, Russian is my favourite language of all! My grandmother is Russian, but I never see her. I think Russian sounds the best of any other language known to this world!

----------


## Dogboy182

ROFL. Age 1 ? I don't believe you. You can't even talk at age 1... (maybe like "poo poo, weener" but no real words". It's impossible to say that someone has an accent when moving at age 1. 
I too know someone, Сергей, the Serjified russian, who moved here from belorus when HE was 1 (so small, he tells me, he couldn't walk up our big american stairs), and he now knows perfect english.   
lol, 1... are u sure u don't me like, 111. 
@pravit. Die.

----------


## BJ Hendy

thanks for sort of explaining 1337 (or leet) to me... i sort of get it now although i still don't understand it and why do you use it as a descriptive word... to me, being an aussie, it's just another useless sms language or a way to write three word stories. mnah doesn't matter i'll survive without it   ::

----------


## Dogboy182

It just means like cool. But, no one really says it to be seriouse... Usually its just joking around. 
Like, wow MR forum is so 1337. 
BTW, i downloaded this sweet 5 Kiloton nuke add on for OFP... 1337.

----------


## net surfer

*BJ Hendy*  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

----------


## BlackMage

People in my neck of the woods use it all the time. 
"Dude, I'm F****** 1337!"
"This new X-Box game is teh uber 1337!"
"OMFG PWN!"

----------


## TiaraNEug

You guys have once again broken the rules and strayed away from the topic, but I shall follow. I have never heard 1337 before in my life. That's hysterical. I'm sure if I said it around here I'd either get laughed at or shot at. Depends on the neck of the woods, of course. Leet. Is it in the dictionary? 
@Dogboy...you're really beginning to bring me down with all this death talk. Seek help.   ::   Note to self: This was my 100th post!

----------


## Dogboy182

I don't even remember my 100th post. Oh wait, yes i do, i was like, man im n00b.

----------


## limelight

Fluent english and French, good German, understanding a bit of Spanish and try to learn Russian. Italian is my native language. 
I wish to improve English, French and German and move on to Russian, Spanish and Portoguese seriously. By the way, recently I passed my First Certificate Exam in English with grade A . Now I'm looking forward for the CAE in English and DELF in French.  
Anyway, I really love this forum, where there are so many people interested in languages and loving to study them. I feel like at home...   ::   
Ciao a tutti

----------


## TiaraNEug

> I don't even remember my 100th post. Oh wait, yes i do, i was like, man im n00b.

 Oh hush, Dogboy. Gimme 2 years. I'll be right where you are! And you will probably be president of some former USSR country or something.

----------


## Dogboy182

Hah ! yes. Well that would be cool. Most people give up (exept me and pravit, the 1337 guys). 
I get to "help" russians learn english in my 2nd period class since i am a senior and i already did all my other hard classes. Although most of the time we just mess around.

----------


## Евгения Белякова

Maybe he wasn't a year old, I just know he was young. And he was surrounded by his Russianspeaking parents, he spoke perfect English, I never said he didn't, but he remained to speak with a Russian accent. I don't know how strong or little... 
My Polish friend was born in America and lived here her whole life, but from speaking Polish with her family/parents she has an accent in English. She speaks English perfectly, a lot better than me, though she has a Polish accent.

----------


## майк

[b]])og8o

----------


## TiaraNEug

майк, you have way too much time on your hands.   ::

----------


## майк

> майк, you have way too much time on your hands.

 ! |<|\|o\/\/ lol

----------


## TiaraNEug

::   ::

----------


## Pravit

майк:
we0r sp34k0r diffr0r dial0rts.

----------


## TiaraNEug

> майк:
> we0r sp34k0r diffr0r dial0rts.

   ::  *sigh* I'm surrounded by them.

----------


## майк

> майк:
> we0r sp34k0r diffr0r dial0rts.

 *|D|2a\/!t*: j00 4150 h4v3 4 h34vy 4cc3n7  ::

----------


## Zhenya

No-one learning good-ol' Nordic languages anymore like Finnish or Swedish?

----------


## Pravit

Why learn Swedish when you can learn 1337?

----------


## wednesday

hmm it's-a nice-question  ::  
native-turkish+advanced-english+intermediate-german+elementary-russian(hope-to-improve-very-soon  ::  )

----------


## TiaraNEug

Ok, I was so confused. I'm like, "WHAT?" And then I realized that Wednesday was actually answering the question. Isn't it nice when people follow the rules?! спасибо, wednesday.

----------


## fx

French: mother tongue
English: fluent
German: good 
Italian: very good
Spanish: very good but rusty
Russian: 60% of my target level

----------


## Bjoern

I speak english. Norwegian and spanish! 
My spanish Is excellent hehe. . i think! Sometimes have a few problems but when i am in spain which is always. . i can speak spanish forever hehe

----------


## bad manners

Is ADJ

----------


## BlackMage

A very 1337 excerpt from a conversation... 
(13:07:5 ::  Me: How about, "Government Secrecy Cripples Thai Economy"
(13:08:01) Joe: 1337
(13:08:04) Joe: you hax3d me
(13:08:20) Joe: we can just talk about like
(13:08:25) Joe: how every economy got pr0n[ed]

----------


## Mina

I am teaching myself English, German and Russian, but i still can't speak German and Russian, because they are very difficult. Well, I can write and read English, but I still can't understand spoken English...  ::

----------


## brett

Why I learnt Russian= The dark art and emotion.I been brought up in a smiley country(Australia), and I like to find expression that's under-pursued.(This darkness is why I love the Nordic culture too).My fave art is mysteriously always Russian.Tchaikovsky and co. in the classical music.The Eastern European native music, and gypsy.Kandinsky is my fave artist.Russian literature is bluntly cynical, therefore offsetting my upbringing suggesting "we must smile all the time".WE must live through the negative emotions too.
Zhenya, yes there are people learning good old Nordic languages anymore.Mig, for en! Finnish is what I feel to be the most aesthetically pleasing language in the world.J.R Tolkien also said as much. 'Suomi'(Finnish) being the inspiration of his 'Elvish' in Lord Of The Rings.My Swedish, Danish and Finnish interest came through my perception of Scandinavia being successful at Western Society.And their respect of nature.I love wolves and wilderness.There's one Norwegian here on the forum.I ask you, is it neccessary that I buy any dictionary or grammar book for Norsk, or will my substantial Svenska och Dansk items get me by in Norge?
I'm closing in on fluency in French.My concentration is often poor, but when I ease up, I feel I'm almost fluent.I'm learning all the basic phrases in as many languages as I can.3-CPO from Star Wars is my idol.Though, 3000 languages is unlikely.But who says we must restrict ourselves to the possible? Not me! 3-CPO, watch your back, I'm comin'! (pphht, yeah right!)
I'd like to take care of all the major languages in my community- Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi etc.But my pet favourites always get me going to them instead.And due to concentration issues, I tend to go for the easier ones first, like Swedish.For an English speaker, that's baby stuff.Vice-versa.That'd be why many Swedes don't have obvious accents.Only if they say a 'long' sentence, can one tell they're not native English speakers.
What think you all of Esperanto? (Incase you're unaware, its an attempted 'global language', but hasn't taken off).Does the world benefit from a universal language? My view= Never should mother-tongues be replaced.But, in schools and government, a global language would help break down some barriers.The UN shoulod push for a neutral (hence not English) global language for future generations of officials, and students.Though, it is exciting not knowing each other's languages, it makes travelling that much more exotic and mysterious.So, if there weren't so much political troubles in the world, I'd scratch that idea of a global language.
I'm 28 years old.My reason for learning languages is an expression of me trying to make the place friendlier.So the local immigrants don't feel that we locals don't care about their culture.It's helped me realize that ethnic people who seem rude and cut off, are only that way because they think 'we' don't care about them.So, it's helped my relationship with the community, and I think it make them feel that much more included.If I smile at them, they usual smile back.All it takes is for one person to havre the courage to initiate first contact.That's my reason for linguistics.

----------


## Pravit

Dark art and emotion? Never thought of it that way. When I think of "Russia", I never really think "dark", but I guess everyone has their own ideas about it. 
Anyhow, welcome. Have you learned any other languages before? And how do you plan to learn Russian?

----------


## Plastic-Saint

Well, ive been a member for a while, im 18 (next week)...so...languages: 
English: Fluent.(I got a 690 on the SAT verbal section ^_^) 
German: 2 years in High School... I can get around and understand almost   everything. Although forming my own sentences is difficult much of the time. 
Japanese: An extremely small ammount.(and I mean EXTREMELY) 
Russian: Bought a course book and dictionary a week ago... working on memorizing the alphabet off and on... trying to decide if I want to continue with it or refocus on german. 
|_337: |=|_|_|3|\|7 !|\| 0|_|) 5|<00|_ |_337 
--plastic

----------


## ericbannon

[quote=Линдзи]Yeah, a lot of Irish people get quite huffy about that.  Definitely "Irish."     

> Do you call your language "English Germanic"?  Hmmmmmm?

 [/quote:28xdj0gd] 
Yes, you can be sure of that -- myself speaking as a Paddy from the Cabbage Plot of Europe. Usually just call it Irish. Live in certain part of the coutry and speak it, and the government will reward you .... 
Maith th

----------


## spymoose

Hey guys. Coulda made a new topic but figured I'd do it here. 
Is it hard to learn two languages at once? I don't mean on my own, I mean taught in school? I will be learning Russian in university as part of my program. I live in Canada so French is widely used in my city and I know the basics, but knowing it well will present more job opportunities. But would it be too difficult to learn Russian and French at the same time?  
Thanks

----------


## Vala

> Hey guys. Coulda made a new topic but figured I'd do it here. 
> Is it hard to learn two languages at once? I don't mean on my own, I mean taught in school? I will be learning Russian in university as part of my program. I live in Canada so French is widely used in my city and I know the basics, but knowing it well will present more job opportunities. But would it be too difficult to learn Russian and French at the same time?  
> Thanks

 Hey. IMHO, you CAN learn 2 languages at once. That's what I and many of my friends do. It's just easier to study languages of one "family group". Say, to study English and German is easier than English and Japanese or German and French.  
It just depends on you.

----------


## possopo

spymoose wrote: 

> Is it hard to learn two languages at once?

 no, it's not difficult. most students do that anyway. and russian and french have words in common ::

----------


## Zhenya

Take any Indo-Europeean languages, and study them at the same time, and there will be many things incommon, not only which you may recognize at first sight, but later - perhaps if you study two languages of which one in NOT a IE language, you'll see just how much they have incommon...

----------


## uno

I know html.  
That's a seriously hard language.     ::

----------


## possopo

naaaa, it's fokofing easy ::

----------


## brett

EDIT: I posted in the wrong bloody thread again.Man, I suck!

----------


## BlackMage

"4 hr3f="h77p://www.g00g13.c0m"

----------


## Николай

I've only been studing languages for around three months. I study French and German in school, and devote all of my free time to the study of Russian, which I absolutely love. Schools in America really need to teach languages earlier. 
So:
English (Fluent)
German (Basic)
French (Basic)
Russian (Basic)
Greek (alphabet   ::  )
Latin (Basic)

----------


## BlackMage

No it isn't Pravit see nothing here except....  KIRBY DANCE !!!1  
<(^.^<)  (v^.^v)  (>^.^)>  ^(^.^)^ <(^.^<)

----------


## Pravit

This is the third time this thread you've listed all the languages you can speak. Cut it out, "BlackMage."

----------


## Ljosha

> just a fun question, how many languages do you all speak and what is your approximate level?

 Russian, native
English, fluent
Italian, not bad
French, a bit rusty
German + Latin = with a dictionary 
I can also read some Ukrainian and Polish just because they're Slavic, not because I've ever learned them properly.

----------


## BlackMage

> Cut it out, "BlackMage."

 Done and done in the most literal sense of the phrase, "cut it out." 
@Линдзи: I swear if you join in and make this a gang-bashing I will personally cut you out.

----------


## Линдзи

> @Линдзи: I swear if you join in and make this a gang-bashing I will personally cut you out.

 I don't even know what that is supposed to mean.

----------


## BlackMage

> Originally Posted by BlackMage  @Линдзи: I swear if you join in and make this a gang-bashing I will personally cut you out.   I don't even know what that is supposed to mean.

 And I'd rather not have to show you.

----------


## Denise

I speak German semi-fluently and 'am in the process of becoming fluent in Russian and of course, english  ::

----------


## DenisM

Ok, here I go: 
russian - native
english - good enough
german - used to know it rather good but almost forgot it now because of lack of use and practice.
spanish - trying to learn
C++ - fluent   ::

----------


## Евгения Белякова

You're fluent in English. What do you mean 'good enough'?   ::

----------


## Dogboy182

Denise. You look like a gangster in your picture. Your like "Ёу ёу, где the vodka at? ёу ёу. It's cool.

----------


## DenisM

> You're fluent in English. What do you mean 'good enough'?

 My spoken english is not as good as I want it to be  ::

----------


## Евгения Белякова

::  You will get better  ::

----------


## Dogboy182

I don't look like as much of a gangster as i would like to.

----------


## Niamh

Govoryou po anglysky, frantzusky i irlandsky. But Russian is the dream!!  ::

----------


## brett

*Niamh*, speaking Irish, does it mean you can understand Scottish aswell. How mutually intelligible are they?

----------


## nightfaerie

English - native 
Latin - good, but a whole lot of good that does 
Spanish - bad (which doesn't make sense because my grandma was fluent, but my dad never learned it from her) 
Russian - errm...getting there 
Sioux - taught to me by family 
Armenian/Croatian - conversational; taught to me by friends 
Dutch*, German, French, Italian - dabbled in  
* dutch is probably the funniest language you will ever hear or see...there are words with three "e"s in a row... "eee..."   
Whoever said that languages should be taught earlier is absolutely right. I always envied this one girl whose parents sent her to language school at a very young age, so she was fluent in 7 languages by the time she was 10. If we learned them younger, when the part of our brain responsible for language is more active, things would be so much better...

----------


## Lucas

Helloooooooo again
I can speak (Spanish) quite well, a decent english ( I guess), I was able to speak Arabic in my childhood (said my relatives) because until 8 y.o  I was living in Morocco but now I can not I have forgotten everything. I can understand and speak ( a little) french, Italian and Portuguese ( is close to spanish). Russian is my next goal.

----------


## scotcher

> *Niamh*, speaking Irish, does it mean you can understand Scottish aswell. How mutually intelligible are they?

 There's no such language as _Scottish_. The Celtic language closely related to Irish is simply called _Gaelic_ in Scotland. _Scots_, on the other hand, is/ was a germanic language closely related to English. The latter gradually usurped the former as the de facto national language, just as it was itself later usurped by modern English after the Union.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic_language

----------


## N

> * dutch is probably the funniest language you will ever hear or see...there are words with three "e"s in a row... "eee..."

 Big deal  ::  
длиннош*еее*  ::

----------


## Zhenya

I think Niamh is goodlooking   ::

----------


## Zhenya

Yes dutch is just weird, I was at a restaurant in Rome a while a go, and when there was dutch guys next to me, hadn't I known it was dutch i'd say - a crossing of English German and arabic  ::

----------


## Niamh

> *Niamh*, speaking Irish, does it mean you can understand Scottish aswell. How mutually intelligible are they?

 Any that I have has been similar but I haven't heard much. Scotcher- whats the phrase for your cheers? Slainte barr or something? Well there we'd say i mbarr na Slainte but I think they both mean the best of health so yea, similarites to the point of maybe Italian and Spanish now I reckon.
Zhenya- spasibo bolshoi   ::

----------


## Zhenya

> Zhenya- spasibo bolshoi

 Yahooo I'm being adressed to by a woman!   ::   ::   
By the way, "Baile atha cliath" - Dublin right, but what's the litteral translation?

----------


## net surfer

> I don't look like as much of a gangster as i would like to.

 A little but shorter haircut, some tattoo, a few gold tooth and a heavy gold chain (about a pound or two).

----------


## DenisM

> Originally Posted by Dogboy182  I don't look like as much of a gangster as i would like to.   A little but shorter haircut, some tattoo, a few gold tooth and a heavy gold chain (about a pound or two).

 You forgot to mention about one mandotory accessory of a real russian gangster :a golden cross with a gymnast  :: .

----------


## net surfer

> You forgot to mention about one mandotory accessory of a real russian gangster :a golden cross with a gymnast  :mrgreen:.

 I think it's not a good idea to blaspheme at Christmas.

----------


## DenisM

> Originally Posted by DenisM  You forgot to mention about one mandotory accessory of a real russian gangster :a golden cross with a gymnast .   I think it's not a good idea to blaspheme at Christmas.

 Take it easy, I didn't mean to offence anyone...
I'm not religious and I just forgot about it.   ::

----------


## Niamh

> By the way, "Baile atha cliath" - Dublin right, but what's the litteral translation?

   ::  Get this---Wattleford..........

----------


## Zhenya

Wattleford...hm........

----------


## net surfer

> Take it easy, I didn't mean to offence anyone...
> I'm not religious and I just forgot about it.  :thanks:

 I was not offended, I just thought it was not right. Проехали.

----------


## scotcher

> Originally Posted by brett  *Niamh*, speaking Irish, does it mean you can understand Scottish aswell. How mutually intelligible are they?   Any that I have has been similar but I haven't heard much. Scotcher- whats the phrase for your cheers? Slainte barr or something? Well there we'd say i mbarr na Slainte but I think they both mean the best of health so yea, similarites to the point of maybe Italian and Spanish now I reckon.
> Zhenya- spasibo bolshoi

 No idea Niamh, I can't speak a word of Gaelic. It's 'Here's tae ye!' in Scots though  ::

----------


## Niamh

> No idea Niamh, I can't speak a word of Gaelic. It's 'Here's tae ye!' in Scots though

 Hehehe! Have you seen the film "So I Married An Axemurderer"?? The Scottish dad is ledge! I love the bagpipe karaoke scene.

----------


## fantom605

Better late than never, I always say!   
 English - Native
 Spanish - Semi-Fluent (I know all the tenses and rules, just not all grammer)
  Portuguese - Conversational, I can understand pretty well
  Russian - Just starting, basic rules and phrases 
  And, of course, being a programmer, Java, C++, VB6, VBScript, Basic, HTML, XML, .NET, Assembly Language (this stupid language was required in college...(?)) C#, all fluent  ::  
 -Fantom

----------


## Водка

I'm very tallented 
English 
little Maroi (New Zealand)
little Italian
little Greek
little Japonese
Little chinese
little arabic
little german
tiny bit russian
and other languages

----------


## brett

A little Maori? You're not Maori are you? (Yes, I know you live in Australia, but I see more Maoris in my suburbs than I saw in main street Auckland for the days I was there  ::  ). The reason I ask is because I don't know how worthwhile learning the language is for me. Becasue, I never hear them speaking anything but English. I only know that the Haka and other rituals are learnt in the mother tongue. The strength of their accents suggest to me that maybe they do. But, that could be put down to the Kiwi neighbourhoods they've imigrated from.

----------


## DDT

Kamate! Kamate!
Ka ora! Ka ora!
Ka mate! Ka mate!
Ka ora! Ka ora!
Tenei te tangata puhuru huru
Nana e tiki atu Whaka whiti te ra
A Hupa ... ne! a H upa ... ne!
A upa ... ne! kaupa ... ne!
A upane, ka upane, upane, kaupane Whiti te ra! Hi!!

----------


## Jca

Hi, I'm new to this forum!! 
My native languages are:
     Spanish
     Catalan
     French 
Other languages I speak: 
     English
     Russian
     Hungarian
     Chinese
     Italian 
And others I'm studying or studied:
     German (here in Berlin i'm surrounded of German!!)
     Japanese
     Basque
     Adyghe
     Georgian
     Hebrew 
And others I would like to speak:    the rest of languages!! 
But for the moment, I'll do my best to refresh my Russian here. 
до свидания!
JCA

----------


## Jca

> And, of course, being a programmer, Java, C++, VB6, VBScript, Basic, HTML, XML, .NET, Assembly Language (this stupid language was required in college...(?)) C#, all fluent

 Stupid language?? It's wonderful!!!!   ::

----------


## Angel_of_Death-NZ

how on earth do you manage to learn all those languages? are you proficient in most of them?

----------


## jojofry

wow all i can speak is English (my mother tongue) and I still suck at it.
I am attempting to learn French and Russian too, would like to do German someday but I doubt I will be able to at school.

----------


## fantom605

> Stupid language?? It's wonderful!!!!

  I'm sure that it is useful, and would have given me a better understanding of programming, but it was the last class required from my CS degree, and was required ONLY after I learned C++, Java, and VB...   What, no binary???   ::

----------


## Jca

> I'm sure that it is useful, and would have given me a better understanding of programming, but it was the last class required from my CS degree, and was required ONLY after I learned C++, Java, and VB... What, no binary???

 Lucky you, I hadn't Assembler at my CS degree here in Barcelona. But I had already known it when the the fever of  Spectrum, Vic 20, and all those gadgets arrived in the 80's. But god, I'm not so old!

----------


## Jca

> how on earth do you manage to learn all those languages? are you proficient in most of them?

 Do you mean me? Well, not so proficient. Apart from Catalan, Spanish and French (speaking them since childhood), and English (after many years struggling with it and nowadays working almost 8hrs a day in English), in the rest I'm still a student. 
лет 12 назад я говорил лучшеe, чем  сейчас, когда учился и пробыл  в москве, но конечно совсем (только совсем?) забыл. поетому я сдезь сейчас.

----------


## Darobat

Я учусь русский язык, но я могу говорю по-английский язык.   
My probably wrong attempt ^^.  I'm learning Russian, but English is my native language. 
After mastering russian, I hope to learn German or Punjabi.

----------


## Pravit

::  Don't forget the Punjabi!

----------


## MasterAdmin

> Hi, I'm new to this forum!! 
> My native languages are:
>      Spanish
>      Catalan
>      French 
> Other languages I speak: 
>      English
>      Russian
>      Hungarian
> ...

  

> French: mother tongue
> English: fluent
> German: good 
> Italian: very good
> Spanish: very good but rusty
> Russian: 60% of my target level

 That's impressive. Молодцы! 
I have a question, though. What are your criteria for being "fluent"?

----------


## Moryachka

My two cents: 
English - native
Russian - reading and listening, can understand at least the gist of most anything except the floweriest poetry, street slang and badly mumbled/drunk   ::   Russian.  Jokes often have to be explained to me, though.  My writing's not so bad, but my speaking's not that great...
Czech - just started learning a couple weeks ago.  J

----------


## Aleph

Russian, Ukrainian - mother tongue
Hebrew - fluent
English - good
French - have only started (about 6 months) and as of now can only read 
German - few hundred words and some basic grammar, rusty .  
.. and of course C/C++, VB, VBA for AutoCAD and Solidworks, APDL (Ansys Parametric Design Language) .    ::

----------


## Линдзи

> Don't forget the Punjabi!

 Hee.  What a great TV commercial that would make.

----------

