Your languages (and proficiency in them)

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2006-01-02 09:43pm

Primary Language- English: I can write/read/speak/understand English very well, of course, as it's my native language

. I'm much better than average, and apparently have an extensive vocabulary (judging from tests.) Apparently this means I've wasted good brainspace on remembering stupid, pointless rules for proper useage instead of something important

.

German: Only two years of high school German, but I'm a bit better at it than I think would normally be expected of someone with such a small degree of instruction. Still bad. Oh so very bad.

Japanese: I can read it, somewhat. It's the one I'm currently learning (on my own, no one teaches it in the schools hereabouts.) I don't care to learn to speak, understand, or write it. Just read. Ha ha, I suck

.

Neko_Oni · Post by **Neko_Oni** » 2006-01-02 09:57pm

English : My native language. I'm not the best, but I read, so I figure that puts me above the average person my age (though maybe not the above the average on this forum).

Japanese : Can read a little, quite good with the spoken component. Learnt it because of Japanese relatives and a general love of J-pop culture.

wilfulton · Post by **wilfulton** » 2006-01-03 12:17am

English: (united states: northwestern dialect) native speaker

German: some proficiency, but I've lost a bit as I haven't spoken much in over two years now. I can still read German newspapers, however.

Spanish: see above, but I can still understand a few words of spanish (but not one of my puerto-rican co workers, he talks way too fast)

French: a few words, I took a semester got a C-.

Latin: bits and pieces, I can understand various quotes people make in that language without having to grab for my dictionary...most of the time.

Arabic: A few words, still don't know the alphabet yet. Mostly limited to words and phrases I learned while deployed to Iraq.

Japanese: I know two words! (but I wouldn't recognize them in written form)

Swahili: one word Uhuru means freedom (where do I remember that from?)

Languages that I made up-

Torownyian (Sephian dialect: completely made up)
Eldranian (Sephian dialect: looks like English)
Nordic (Sephian dialect, derived from German and latin)
Patrian (Sephian dialect, crude latin)

Helkaran (simplified latin, elements of spanish and english, key is that it that alliteration appears in the sentence, letters also look different, but have the same or very similar sounds)

Falazzi-Nirah (an alien tongue, completely made up)
Chaos languages (several variants, all completely made up)

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2006-01-03 01:29am

English and castellano.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2006-01-03 02:09am

English my first language and the only one I can actually communicate with. I know some French (because I had to learn it in school), but I havn't had any need to use it since then, so my proficiency in that language has atrophied. I can generally read French, but I can't communicate in the language in either writing or conversation.

I have some knowledge of Latvian, solely because the ethnic bacground of my paternal grandparents. Despite both being fluent in English, they prefer to speak to each other in their native tongue, even in the presence of others. Other than a few random words and phrases in several European languages, that's about it for my language skills.

Archaic` · Post by **Archaic`** » 2006-01-03 02:31am

English (Australian) - L1 Native Speaker

Japanese - 二年間オーストラリアの大学では勉強した。そして、一年間日本で住んで間に日本の大学で勉強しました。ことし、日本に帰るつもりだから、また復習しなければなりません。

EDIT: Damn IME. -_-; Always screws up my characters.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-01-03 03:53am

English is my first language. Then there's...

Pick wrote:Japanese: I can read it, somewhat. It's the one I'm currently learning (on my own, no one teaches it in the schools hereabouts.) I don't care to learn to speak, understand, or write it. Just read. Ha ha, I suck .

I took two years of it at a high school which has sheep and greenhouses around the back.

Then I forgot most of what I'd learned.

Danny Bhoy · Post by **Danny Bhoy** » 2006-01-03 08:40am

English: The UK version. I can occasionally do a West of Scotland, maybe even Weegie, accent, depending on my level of sobriety and my company.

Mandarin: I speak 华语 sufficiently fluently that mainland Chinese think I'm a mainlander if they are just listening and not actually looking at me. But my 简体中文 reading has deteriorated to the extent that I can only read newspapers with difficulty. My 繁體中文 reading is just about good enough to decipher sex ads.

French: I damn near flunked final year yoonie French (which if I did I wouldn't have graduated despite a high 2.1 honours average for my other courses that year). It's now a somewhat basic level of reading but barely survival level in speaking.

Arabic: With one year of Modern Standard Arabic I can read enough to make out the gist of simple news articles and the breaking news ticker tape on Al Jazeera or Arrabiya. Since nobody fucking talks in MSA, my Arabic speaking is at best survival level, although most Arabs who have heard me speak Arabic claim they can understand what I said (having listened to tapes of my speaking, I can say that I sound like a S'porean Chinese trying to speak Arabic). I might remember enough of the Egyptian colloquail to get around by taxi in Cairo tho.

Russian: enough to recognise alphabets and read/recognise certain words and place names but I don't know shit about the grammar.

German: from British comics on WW2. E.g. "Kamerad!" and "Gott im Himmel". Also from WW2 history books, terms like Vernichtungschlacten, Geschwader, Schlachtkreuzer, and the names of various Waffen SS divisions (Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf etc.)

Forgot to mention my A grade in Latin at the GCE 'O' Level standard (primarily reading and comprehension not speaking). Not that I bothered to keep up with it since then.

Thinkmarble · Post by **Thinkmarble** » 2006-01-03 09:29am

First language is german and I am fluent in english.
I know around 100 to 150 words and signs in Mandarin with upwards tendency

.
I also had 4 years of latin, also I have lost most of my proficency.

Alferd Packer · Post by **Alferd Packer** » 2006-01-03 11:23am

English is my first language, German my second. I'm one step shy from fluent in German.

Crabbypants · Post by **Crabbypants** » 2006-01-03 11:43am

I've mastered many important phrases in french - Gratuit a l'interieur! Source de 7 elements nutritifs essentiels! and of course - Sans gras!

I'm currently trying to unravel the mysteries of l33t but so far my fuckwit is quite poor.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2006-01-03 11:57am

I'm fluent in English, and have a rusty basic understanding of Latin. I have forgotten everything I learned in high school Spanish.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2006-01-03 12:12pm

I speak English and can read it and American English like a pro.

I actually use the word fortnight.

I can usually read French, and used to be able to speak it.

I used to know some german, but that's almost totally evapourated.

I know a few words in latin, and slightly more in Spanish.

I can usually read 1337.

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2006-01-03 04:11pm

english is my first and pretty much only lanuage.

although I am picking up on spanish as my job has me in constant contact with those that do not speak english, and it can be very dangerous for me to not learn any of it.

Mr. Coffee · Post by **Mr. Coffee** » 2006-01-03 08:09pm

I've got a very limited (but stedilly growing) knowledge of Spanish. mainly because I work with a lot of Latinos that speak little or no English. Most of them are damned good workers, and I'd hate to loose a good tile guy because of a langauge barrier, so I asked my partner, Gomez, to start teaching me Spanish so I could communicate with them.

On a side note...

What do you call someone that speaks three languages?

Trilingual.

What do you call someone that speaks two languages?

Bi-lingual.

What do you call someone that speaks one language?

An Average American... *Rimshot*

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-01-03 08:34pm

Wait - American "english" is seen as one WHOLE language now?

*rimshot with cymbal flourish*

Greymalkin · Post by **Greymalkin** » 2006-01-03 09:31pm

English is a native language (American English, to be specific), and while my spelling is horrible, my grammer is passable.

I took about three years worth of Japanese in college, I'm not too bad at conversation and I read Japanese alright. Granted, I have had about year of non-use, but I haven't forgot everything.

I know some Latin words and phrases, I've learned these mostly while studing anatomy and the law, both of which have a lot of latin terms, also from my mother, she took Latin in high school.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2006-01-03 09:42pm

I've got a certificate somewhere that says on it I can speak german...and I think once upon a time I could, but halting attempts to get from A to B and excellent ability to order drinks once I get there is all that remains.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2006-01-03 09:48pm

weemadando wrote:Wait - American "english" is seen as one WHOLE language now?

*rimshot with cymbal flourish*

If you're going to go there, then shall I start in with all the cracks about English English? I daresay the city of London has almost as many dialects as the entire United States.

Mr. Coffee · Post by **Mr. Coffee** » 2006-01-04 01:27am

Rogue 9 wrote:
weemadando wrote:Wait - American "english" is seen as one WHOLE language now?

*rimshot with cymbal flourish*
If you're going to go there, then shall I start in with all the cracks about English English? I daresay the city of London has almost as many dialects as the entire United States.

Better yet... If you're REALLY going to go there... Should I point out that the majority of English speakers by nationality are American?

*Rimshot, with Annagoddivida length drum solo...*

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2006-01-06 07:17am

Russian, German, English. Roughly same level for all three. English a bit lower than Russian/German, but not that much.