Your languages (and proficiency in them)

Luzifer's right hand · Post by **Luzifer's right hand** » 2006-01-02 01:48pm

German: My mother tongue, although some people claim that what we Austrians speak is not German.

English: I hope my English is not too terrible.I have only a little bit practice speaking it.
It worked well enough when I visited at Glasgow in August 2006 though.

A little bit Czech.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2006-01-02 01:50pm

Taiwanese is my first language, I still speak & understand it at a functional level but when the countless idioms start getting tossed around I become lost pretty fast.

English is my 2nd and best language, speak it with an accent, I can write clearly in it but using fancy words & sentence structures is a skill which I don't have. My writing resembles detailed police incident reports more than anything else, tells you everything you need to know but in a pretty plain & boring way. You wouldn't want to read anything I've written that's longer than a page unless you're the kind of person who enjoys watching grass grow.

French is something I was forced to learn in school, I can still read some French newspapers and my basics aren't too bad yet. Can't really speak it anymore unless you count "Bonjour" and "Au Revoir", though I can still understand spoken French pretty well.

Spoken Mandarin Chinese I can still understand, I can pick up most basic conversations as long as the accent's not too bad but I can't speak, read, or write if if my life depended on it.

On a sidenote, we had fun days back when I worked at the bike shop every time we opened up an expensive Shimano part. The whole shop would gather around and try to read the manuals which were written in at least 10 different languages. "I think that means insert dildo"..."you're a dildo"...

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-01-02 01:54pm

Hmm.

Written or spoken?

Written: English, bunch of different dialects, insofar as that can apply to the written word. I suppose I'd be labeled as generic English, no real 'dialect' per se due to corruption from various different regional accents and gratuitious use of both British and American spellings of different terms.

Spoken: rather a mishmash of Signed English and American Sign Language, with a smattering of native Nigerian signs, and of course gestures, some regional, some not so much. I've been told my fingerspelling is an entirely different language though (Rochester Method), though...

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2006-01-02 01:55pm

Vietnamese- 1st language- can speak it decently, read it w/ difficulty, can't write.
English- 2nd and best language- slightly crappy w/ grammar though.
Spanish- Forced to take it in highschool, forgot most of it after 1 year already ...

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2006-01-02 02:06pm

I speak the good English. Occasionally this leads to arguments with other English speakers (i.e. "wudda" vs "water", "gravy" vs "sauce", "ray-di-a-tor" vs "rad-i-a-tor". That last one can get nasty). I have a very slight speech impediment (I have a little bit of difficulty with certain "r" sounds, so people usually think I'm from Boston), but if I actually applied myself I could get rid of that.

I used to be able to read and write Latin decently, but a year without using it meant my Latin skills have degraded a little. Since I've got Latin classes coming up, they'll start improving again. As a nice side-effect, I could usually parse out the general meaning of basic Italian and Spanish stuff.

Although I lived for a year in Tokyo and a year in Okinawa, I never had more than a very basic grasp of Japanese, which isn't helped by the fact that everyone in Japan is eager to practice their English on you. I can, however, swear vividly. This was very useful.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-01-02 02:07pm

English is my first language,

I'm conversational in Spanish and Russian, though I am much better at reading Russian than spanish. I knew a very few words of arabic, and I can read greek. I also read old norse.

Father tried to get me to learn latin, but it just wouldn't take.

Fleet Admiral JD · Post by **Fleet Admiral JD** » 2006-01-02 02:57pm

Speak, Read, Write fluently: English (American), English (Britain)
Speak (sorta), Read, Write at a mediocre level: Latin, Ancient Greek
Know a few words of: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian

General Soontir Fel · Post by **General Soontir Fel** » 2006-01-02 03:02pm

First language: Russian. I read and speak it often, but I haven't written anything in years--I could do it, but I'd be very slow.

Fluent in: English (American). I suppose I speak the California dialect with a Russian accent, whatever that is.

Took Spanish in high school, but forgot most of it by now. Could probably become semi-fluent with several weeks' intense practice.

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2006-01-02 03:08pm

Obviously I'm fluent in English. Reasonably proud to say I have no regional accent other than the bit about me being American.

I used to be very fluent in Spanish, seeing as how quite a bit of my family speaks that as their first or only language. Since I moved away from them I've gotten out of practice so I can barely follow a conversation between native speakers.

I started learning Japanese but had to drop it halfway through the semester due to personal issues. I suppose I know enough to stop myself from starving if I was stranded in Japan, though.

Post by **Coyote** » 2006-01-02 03:09pm

Scale of 1-to-10, with 10 being fluent and comfortable, and 1 being barely comprehensive...

American Dialect English:
9.8 Speaking, Comprehension, Reading and Writing

Hebrew:
5 Speaking
4 Comprehension
2.5 Reading and Writing

German:
4 Speaking
4 Comprehension
3 Reading and Writing

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2006-01-02 03:17pm

Luzifer's right hand wrote:German: My mother tongue, although some people claim that what we Austrians speak is not German.

Absolutely

That's like Swiss claiming to speak German

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2006-01-02 03:25pm

- American English is my native tongue.

- Je parle francais un peut. Je lis francais, et espanol,

That's about the extent of it.

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2006-01-02 03:56pm

I speak an ungodly mixture of American English, British English, and everything else I can get my mitts on. Being reasonably gifted at mimicry, I tend to pick up the surrounding flavours of the language I hear around me swiftly. Grammar is my bane, though.

Swedish is my mother tongue, and I speak it fairly well, I should hope.

As for my German, well... give me a month or two of living in Germany and I could probably pass muster as a native for a while, but as of now my German has been allowed to rust quite a bit. This is unfortunate, but I'm currently working on rectifying that mistake, seeing as how I plan on studying for a career as a translator. That would, of course, necessitate my learning some more languages. Spanish and Japanese comes to mind...

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2006-01-02 04:08pm

I speak and write American english fluently, and I can cobble together a few basic sentances in Latin. I'm not that wordly, I guess.

Faabio · Post by **Faabio** » 2006-01-02 04:23pm

Finnish is my mother tongue. Fluent in english (altough my speech could use some practice) and I somewhat understand Swedish (enough to get by)

Currently learning Japanese and will try Latin sometime in the future.

Wyrm · Post by **Wyrm** » 2006-01-02 04:54pm

My native tongue is English (American, with some of the more colorful (colourful?) English words and terms). My German language proficiency has been rusting away for eight years, but I can still recognize simple sentences. I can speak simple and halting Japanese, and can read and write it better than I can can speak it.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2006-01-02 05:03pm

I speak English fluently, enough so to confuse listeners with insufficient vocabularies.

French, I speak inconsistently.

I know a few choice curse words for other languages, but that's about it.

Post by **Zaia** » 2006-01-02 06:13pm

weemadando wrote:English. Real english, not that Americanised crap (you see how Americanised had a s in it - the way its meant to!). Excellent at spoken and written.

Oh, for the love of, Anders; give the anti-American thing a rest. It's old.

English: Fluent
Spanish: Passable conversational with a little advanced vocab
Italian: Basic (numbers, very limited question/answer ability, lots of swear words, some kitchen utensils)
French: Whatever Eddie Izzard and my 7th grade intro to French class taught me
Hebrew: Less than basic, can still read some cursive alphabet, almost none of the printed, and only remember a smattering of vocab

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-01-02 06:18pm

Fluent in English as my native language.

Some knowledge in German, though I never got beyond the level of novice, and my vocabulary always bit.

Barely any Japanese, although I still recognise quite a bit of hiragana and katakana, plus the various words, terms, and phrases you recognise from watching enough subtitled anime.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-01-02 06:21pm

Dutch: native
English: I'll let you be the judge of that
French: highschool, very rusty
German: understand a bit when spoken to
Spanisch: "vacation" level (si, non, uno cerveza, dos cerveza, tres cerveza,... and stuff like that)

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2006-01-02 06:29pm

Supposedly, I learned Mandarin Chinese before English, but right now, I'm much more proficient in English than Chinese. My verbal skills with Chinese are good, my reading is tolerable, and my writing is abysmal.
そして、ちょっと　日本語を話せる

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2006-01-02 07:40pm

German- My native language, therefore I can speak and write it fluent.

English- I can read it without problems and writing isn't that big a problem. But don't ask me to speak for a longer time in it.

Spanish- VERY limited things I've learned in school, ready to be forgotten.

ImpishAngel · Post by **ImpishAngel** » 2006-01-02 08:48pm

English- Speak very well...stutter when i get nervous though. My spelling sucks...but that's with any language.

Spanish- Advanced level 4, i can speak and write, and read, for the most part.

Italian - I can listen and read it, but not speak it.

American Sign - Alphebet, and a few words, that's about it.

Polish - Little bit here and there. I can understand certain frases but can't spell or read it.

Mlenk · Post by **Mlenk** » 2006-01-02 09:30pm

I'm totally fluent in American English, Spanish and Tagalog (the national language of the Philippines).

I can read and write nearly perfect in German, but if you ask me to talk in German for an extended conversation, forget about it.

I have medicore speaking abilities in French and Italian.

I spent about a year in Japan when I was 16 and I still remember most of the things that I learned there, though admittedly I'm not nearly as good nowadays.

As for other major languages of the Philippines, I can speak Bicol and Illocano somewhat fluently, though from what I've been told from my parents and relatives, I have a definite accent when I talk.

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

.