Cunning Linguists raise your hands - second language anyone?

[WriterDom]

I speak English and Redneck. And a little Spainish.

 

[missy_me]

.....

 

[Netzach]

I find it, Brazilian Portuguese, more beautiful then Spanish or French - but then I may have just made a strong association in my mind with the language, the fresh fruit and the lovely people in Brazil when I traveled there.

My altered state of mind may have helped as well, but that is another story for another time....

I agree it's the real language of love. French and Italian get all the spotlight.

You could say "I'm going to kick your ass motherfucker" and it comes out sounding inviting and squishy.

It's the opposite of German.

I have the skeletal remains of conversational French. I wasn't fluent, but my notion of fluency pretty much requires being raised bilingual - I could have had this conversation in French at one point. Now I can point and grunt.

 

[BiBunny]

I had to take a lot of Spanish in high school and as an undergrad in college, but it never really stuck. I can study a paragraph for a little while and figure out the gist of what it says, but that's not really very useful, unfortunately. About the only thing I learned is how to execute decent enough pronunciation, so as not to get snickered at in Mexican restaurants.

One of my English professors is originally from Italy. He's fluent in several languages, but his primary ones are English and Italian, of course. He's done several Italian-to-English (and vice-versa) translations of different works of literature.

He speaks completely unaccented English. But his pronunciation is so beautiful that I could just close my eyes and listen to it forever. He doesn't do what linguists call the "schwa" sound. Each vowel is perfectly stressed and accented, but it doesn't sound false in the least, just very precise. I it.

 

[jockdom]

Wow, what a question... they're completely different language families, and they sound completely different. But whether a Gaelic speaker speaking Icelandic... no, my brain can't even wrap round the question. Not very at all, I think is the answer.



Scots sounds quite like Scandinavian because it is strongly influenced by Scandinavian languages - but Scots isn't anything like Gaelic (a confusion people often make)

Doric(spoken in the area around aberdeen,banff,buchan) sounds a lot like scandinavian/german/dutch because there was a lot of trade between the north east and the hansiatic league also the herring fishing Industry played a big part in it. I struggle with Doric!

My mum lived in shetland for a while they use some scandinavian.

 

[bridgeburner]

Scots sounds quite like Scandinavian because it is strongly influenced by Scandinavian languages - but Scots isn't anything like Gaelic (a confusion people often make)

Okay, now I'm confused. Are there three different languages? I know that the Irish tongue is generally called Gaelic, but I've heard it called "Irish" as in "Does he talk Irish?"

I assumed that Scots Gaelic was one language --- a totally different one from Irish Gaelic, but still just one language. Is there Scots and Scottish Gaelic or am I misunderstanding you?

 

[jockdom]

Okay, now I'm confused. Are there three different languages? I know that the Irish tongue is generally called Gaelic, but I've heard it called "Irish" as in "Does he talk Irish?"

I assumed that Scots Gaelic was one language --- a totally different one from Irish Gaelic, but still just one language. Is there Scots and Scottish Gaelic or am I misunderstanding you?

Scots gaelic and Irish gaelic are very similar and the speakers of the two would have little problem understanding each other. It's a common misconception that gaelic is the original language of scotland, It was actualy brought to scotland by a Irish tribe, the scoti, to the northwest coast of scotland. Before that most of scotland spoke welsh. Nowasays only a small percentage of the population, mainly in the northwest highlands speak gaelic. The lowland scots never spoke it, their language scots is more akin to old english.

 

[jockdom]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language
This might explain it a bit better.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

I *used* to be fluent in Italian... >45 years ago, when we lived there <sigh>. I can still figure out a fair amount of the dialogue in movies that have people speaking in Italian, though not as much if it's *all* in Italian, but to try to speak it with a native speaker now, I think I'd stumble and fumble and make a right ass of myself, most likely. I like to think, though, that were I to go back to Italy for any kind of extended period (like >a couple of months), I would be able to pick at least most of it back up. Gawd/ess, I'd love to go back there to live....

 

[Sayyid]

I'm a sucker for languages. I've studied a bunch.

My native language is English and I took French in school (since I'm Canadian) and right now I'm trying to improve my ability with it.

I studied Arabic on my own because I really wanted to learn it.

My friend and I picked up some Swedish on a whim and got pretty handy with it for a while.

I've tried my hand at a number of other languages, too many to name, as diverse as Polish and Hebrew, but never got very far with any of them. My eventual goal is to know about 5.

 

[Yasashii_Kaze]

Used to know ASL and Melanesian Pidgin. Don't know how fluent I am in either one, since I haven't practiced in ages. I do know I can still read MP.

 

[rinka]

I'm Swedish, so Swedish.

I speak a relatively rich English, with a fair-sized vocabulary and decent grammar. Still feel that I lack nuances sometimes, especially when I'm emotional.

I was very interested in languages while growing up. In high school (or corresponding in the Swedish system) I took French, Spanish and Latin (besides English, which is mandatory). I loved Latin. The grammar, exploring the origins of words and deducting meaning from modern languages and so on.

My French never really took off, I understood a lot and could read and write. I just never spoke it outside of the classroom, so never learned natural conversation.

My Spanish could have gone the same way, but a trip to Spain a few years later made me want to pick it up. A few years later again I did, and that in turn lead to a few months spent in Ecuador. At the end of that I was semifluent in Spanish, I could hold a meeting or simpler seminar, make a few successful jokes at a party and share my opinions. Not having practiced much in the last 10 years has made me very rusty, though, so now I basically want to hide when someone unexpectedly asks me if I speak Spanish. I like to think I could quite easily revive it, still.

My absolute favorite language is Kiswahili. On a trip to Tanzania and Kenya many years ago I completely fell in love with it. When I came back I took a beginner's class in it and my love grew even more. It is soo beautiful and the construction is brilliant and very unlike the other languages I've studied. Would love to learn more and go back to East Africa to use it.

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

Good for you, Mr Lingual! LOL.

The Swedes, Danes and Norwegians I've met here have all said that they can understand each other's languages pretty well. Finnish, on the other hand, they say is very different and very hard to learn. The Fins I've met have taught me a few words and, yeah, really tough language.

Finnish is the odd man out. The only two peoples who speak related languages are the Magyars of Hungry and the Mongolians. The Finns were the tribe who went all the way to the west.

Language is strange. Use it or loose it. I took four semesters of German in college and could never hold a conversation. A month in a German neighborhood in Chicago made a world of difference. Unfortunately, that was years ago. My neighbor across the street is German but it would be a burden on him to attempt the language. If you know the fundamentals -- class room grammar -- listening to others speak the language makes for a real difference.

Of course, understanding and speaking are different. Years and years of opera have given me a good grounding in Italian, but I never speak it.

 

[bridgeburner]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language
This might explain it a bit better.

Thanks for the link. I've now been geeking out over Linguistics for the past hour.

Language is so fucking cool!

 

[Elenia26]

English is my second language. Hindi is my first.

I can also speak Punjabi, and some Spanish. I know a smattering of French, Italian, and Japanese. I can understand Urdu.

I love languages.

 

[the captians wench]

I started learning spanish in middle school. When I got to my last store, a good percentage of the crew spoke spanish. The great thing about that is that they are eager to teach you their language, I think so it's easier on them and they don't have to speak english. I had a few crew members who helped me with my spanish, I would speak spanish, they spoke english. When I got to my current store there was only one hispanic and now she only works one day a week, so I don't get to practice as much. I tease her that she needs to come up to practice with me because I'm starting to dream in spanish again. (I do this when ever I start worrying about loosing it)

I'm told I speak it very well. I don't tend to agree. I mean, sure I can tell some one to take out the trash, or wash the dishes, or help them order, but conversations are sketchy at best. But I'm told I have the gramar down, I just need to expand my vocabulary.

I know a couple words in Japanese. My ex husband was taking it in college and I helped him with his homework some times.

I can read Gaelic, but haven't a clue what most of it means. Still it was fun to see and figure out while walking around Dublin. I think it would be fairly easy to pick up with everything written in both Gaelic and English on everything. We'll see how long it takes me before I know just enough to get me obsessed enough to actually work at learning. I'm betting around 3 trips.

 

[Kajira Callista]

Italian
I remember how i loved to listen to it when i was little and didnt really understand it. Everything always sounded so soft but urgent.
Used to be able to speak it, write it, read it and understand it.
Now I can listen and understand and half speak it if it's a good day and the person I am speaking to doesn't care how broken it is.

 

[Netzach]

My absolute favorite language is Kiswahili. On a trip to Tanzania and Kenya many years ago I completely fell in love with it. When I came back I took a beginner's class in it and my love grew even more. It is soo beautiful and the construction is brilliant and very unlike the other languages I've studied. Would love to learn more and go back to East Africa to use it.

I took a semester of once a week immersion Kiswahili at a profs house. I was in it for fun and others were headed to Tanzania, so I wasn't the best student. I mean I'm literally at "Hujambo, Sijambo" kindergarten stuff at best.

In addition to being beautiful, it's the most grammatically sensible, economical, and consistent language probably on the planet. The grammatical simplicity itself is poetry.

 

[Etoile]

I'm fluent in ASL, and signed English too.

What????? I did not know this! How come we've never talked about this?!?!?! I knew about gracie but not you!


Ahem.

My native language is English. My second language is ASL.

My preferred language is ASL. I reluctantly conduct myself in English because I have to.

It's weird. I call ASL my "heart" language. It's the language I feel I was born to use, even though I wasn't born deaf, and didn't become hard of hearing until I was 25. I've been signing my whole life, thanks to babysitters, family friends, etc. but I wouldn't say I achieved fluency until about age 20.

I don't know if it makes any sense that my preferred language isn't my native language. I mean, who WANTS to use their non-native language all the time? I do. I am hard of hearing, but I hear well enough to do just about everything a hearing person can do, including my profession of ASL/English interpreting. So if I can behave like a hearing person, why does it feel more RIGHT to use ASL? I don't know.

Anyway, ranting and musing over.

I also speak/read French at an intermediate level. I can write it too but I am petrified of errors so I'm constantly correcting myself!

I'm a big language nerd though. I can get by in Russian on my own, I can get by in Spanish with a little help (false cognates trip me up), I've studied Japanese Dutch and Italian and Esperanto.

 

[graceanne]

I speak English and Redneck. And a little Spainish.

LOL I always say that K's bilingual - he speaks English and Texan.

The first time I said this to my mom she almost stopped breathing she laughed so hard.

It wasn't that funny.

Ahem.

My native language is English. My second language is ASL.

My preferred language is ASL. I reluctantly conduct myself in English because I have to.

It's weird. I call ASL my "heart" language.

This is how I feel and felt about sign language, but with no one to share it with I'm losing it.

I still sign when I'm pissed. lol

 

[Etoile]

Thanks for the link. I've now been geeking out over Linguistics for the past hour.

Language is so fucking cool!

Not to take up more of your time, but have you seen http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp ?

 

[Etoile]

This is how I feel and felt about sign language, but with no one to share it with I'm losing it.

I still sign when I'm pissed. lol

There is a very big video community out there! Try http://www.deafvideo.tv to see what people are talking about, and join in yourself! There's deaf folks on seesmic and youtube too.

 

[graceanne]

There is a very big video community out there! Try http://www.deafvideo.tv to see what people are talking about, and join in yourself! There's deaf folks on seesmic and youtube too.

Oh. Cool!

I should have figured. lol

 

[Kumani]

I speak english, french, learning italian

 

[CutieMouse]

English, English, and English.

I keep trying to teach myself Latin, just because I really really really want to learn Latin (hi! masochist!), but I am more of a classroom/lecture/take notes/be tested sort of learner, so it continues to kick my ass.

I did manage to sort of pick up a bit of French from cataloguing c18 books. I have no idea what it's supposed to sound like, but if I read a bit and run it through a translator, I'm usually about 60% right. I might have gotten to the same point with Italian, if I'd handled more books in that language.