This topic is locked
How many languages can you write/speak fluently? Which ones?
And! I'll give you the following scenario:
You read newspaper articles. In how many different languages would you be able to understand more than 90% of the article?
I'll start:
I speak/write English and Swedish fluently, and newspaper articles would, except for the two "aforementioned" languages, be restricted to Danish, Neo-Norwegian (Nynorsk), Bokmål Norwegian, and maybe, if I know the topic well, Faroese, Spanish, German, and with more luck Portuguese and French.
Your turn!
Languages
- #1
- 23 October 2011 - 05:38 PM
- Hero
- Member
You are quite the polyglot, aren't you? 
I speak/write English and Portuguese fluently. If I understood some of the topic, I could read a newspaper article in Spanish. If I knew the topic well, I could maybe read it in Italian, but not so sure.
I speak/write English and Portuguese fluently. If I understood some of the topic, I could read a newspaper article in Spanish. If I knew the topic well, I could maybe read it in Italian, but not so sure.
This post has been edited by Hero: 23 October 2011 - 05:45 PM
- #2
- 23 October 2011 - 05:45 PM
- glittergal84
- Member
I can speak and write English and spanish. Though I've been seriously lazy with my spanish -_-
I know some Japanese to...
I know some Japanese to...
- #3
- 23 October 2011 - 05:49 PM
Hero, on 23 October 2011 - 05:45 PM, said:
You are quite the polyglot, aren't you?
Not really! The Swedish, Danish and the two official Norwegian writing forms are very similar to each other -- much more similar than, say, Spanish and Portuguese. Having grown up in a bilingual home made me interested in languages though. I studied Spanish and German in school (Spanish for five years, German for one), but I've lost almost every conversational ability in them
Quote
I speak/write English and Portuguese fluently. If I understood some of the topic, I could read a newspaper article in Spanish. If I knew the topic well, I could maybe read it in Italian, but not so sure.
Ah! Portuguese is cool! Which language's your native tongue?
- #4
- 23 October 2011 - 05:53 PM
My native tongue is English, and I have an intermediate knowledge of French (certainly more than enough to read a newspaper article).
If it came to reading Spanish, I could figure out maybe 25% of a newspaper article, depending on the subject.
My dad's side of the family is originally from Norway/Sweden. My uncle and my dad's cousin were both born in Norway and can still speak the language. Unfortunately I know very little Norwegian myself. Det er trist, nei?
If it came to reading Spanish, I could figure out maybe 25% of a newspaper article, depending on the subject.
My dad's side of the family is originally from Norway/Sweden. My uncle and my dad's cousin were both born in Norway and can still speak the language. Unfortunately I know very little Norwegian myself. Det er trist, nei?
- #6
- 23 October 2011 - 06:05 PM
Hero, on 23 October 2011 - 05:54 PM, said:
Portuguese 
What made you interested in it?
Also, I aspire to learn a lot of languages, and the Nordic ones are in the top
What made you interested in it?
Also, I aspire to learn a lot of languages, and the Nordic ones are in the top
When we had to choose a second foreign language, aged 10 or 11, we could then choose from Spanish, German and French. I don't know why I really chose Spanish. German seemed strange and awkward (and wasn't so "hip" those days in school!), French just seemed nasal. So I chose Spanish, and through Spanish I learnt that Portuguese was a similar language grammatically and lexically, but... it just sounded AWESOME in my ears!
I remember that in lower high school we got some capoeira visitors from Brazil. Unfortunately they neither spoke Swedish nor English. I was so enthralled by their moves and everything. I was determined to speak with them! And I did! In my two-year old Spanish!
(they did understand me! and I them
!)As to the Nordic languages... ah, they're great! Learn them! You will never be disappointed!
- #7
- 23 October 2011 - 06:06 PM
- Detta
- Member
Write/Speak fluently in English and Latin, I can write and read in Japanese, but only Katakana. And I only know grammar and vocab through anime. 
I could probably read an article in Latin and understand it fairly well, but then again, who writes articles in Latin anymore?
I could probably read an article in Latin and understand it fairly well, but then again, who writes articles in Latin anymore?
- #8
- 23 October 2011 - 06:08 PM
wacko, on 23 October 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:
My dad's side of the family is originally from Norway/Sweden. My uncle and my dad's cousin were both born in Norway and can still speak the language. Unfortunately I know very little Norwegian myself. Det er trist, nei?
It's always cool having Scandinavian roots!
But... where are you now? Where'd you grow up?
Detta, on 23 October 2011 - 06:08 PM, said:
I could probably read an article in Latin and understand it fairly well, but then again, who writes articles in Latin anymore?
The Pope does!
- #9
- 23 October 2011 - 06:10 PM
- Lux Aeterna
- Member
I could read an article in English, because I know English.
...
I could probably get the general context of a French article, but not the exact wording.
I want to know Spanish and Japanese, but I don't know those yet.
...
I could probably get the general context of a French article, but not the exact wording.
I want to know Spanish and Japanese, but I don't know those yet.
- #10
- 23 October 2011 - 06:20 PM
- Hero
- Member
hurmu, on 23 October 2011 - 06:06 PM, said:
Portuguese was a similar language grammatically and lexically, but... it just sounded AWESOME in my ears!
I remember that in lower high school we got some capoeira visitors from Brazil. Unfortunately they neither spoke Swedish nor English. I was so enthralled by their moves and everything. I was determined to speak with them! And I did! In my two-year old Spanish!
(they did understand me! and I them!)
As to the Nordic languages... ah, they're great! Learn them! You will never be disappointed!
I remember that in lower high school we got some capoeira visitors from Brazil. Unfortunately they neither spoke Swedish nor English. I was so enthralled by their moves and everything. I was determined to speak with them! And I did! In my two-year old Spanish!
(they did understand me! and I them
!)As to the Nordic languages... ah, they're great! Learn them! You will never be disappointed!
Ha! That's cool. I don't usually hear of many people who are that interested in Portuguese, even less by capoeira -_- (myself for example, lol)
And I never realized Portuguese was grammatically and lexically similar to Scandinavian languages. That's curious. Welp, at least it'll make things easier for me
This post has been edited by Hero: 23 October 2011 - 06:22 PM
- #11
- 23 October 2011 - 06:21 PM
hurmu said:
But... where are you now? Where'd you grow up?
I was born right here in Canada. It was my great-grandparents who immigrated here from Norway. So there's a bit of distance between us and our Scandinavian roots.
My mom's side came from Belgian immigrants. My great-grandma used to make a phone call every Christmas to her relatives in Belgium.
Also, Portuguese confuses me more than it should. Maybe if you Portuguese-speakers actually used articles and prepositions that made sense when compared to other Romance languages, then I could pick it up quicker.
- #13
- 23 October 2011 - 06:39 PM
- Hero
- Member
wacko, on 23 October 2011 - 06:39 PM, said:
Also, Portuguese confuses me more than it should. Maybe if you Portuguese-speakers actually used articles and prepositions that made sense when compared to other Romance languages, then I could pick it up quicker.
Try german.
This post has been edited by Hero: 23 October 2011 - 06:53 PM
- #14
- 23 October 2011 - 06:42 PM
Hero said:
Try german.
Ugh, German. Can't say I ever had much success with that language. Damn you, neuter gender! Then again, Latin has that as well, so maybe I shouldn't complain.
- #18
- 23 October 2011 - 06:48 PM
- Hero
- Member
But being serious now, what exactly do you think doesn't make sense?
Also, it may depend on the variation; I speak Brazilian Portuguese, so if you're talking about European Portuguese I may not know what you're talking about.
Also, it may depend on the variation; I speak Brazilian Portuguese, so if you're talking about European Portuguese I may not know what you're talking about.
This post has been edited by Hero: 23 October 2011 - 07:24 PM
- #19
- 23 October 2011 - 06:53 PM
- BasketCase
- Worse than SoulTH
Banned 
Fluent in spoken and written word of english since It's my first language. I can speak/write french a bit (3 years) although I could understand some a french article but not 100%.
I know some german as well as a little bit of schweizer Deutsch (swiss german) but not enough to hold a conversation. this would also apply to Hausa which I know some phrases in
I know some german as well as a little bit of schweizer Deutsch (swiss german) but not enough to hold a conversation. this would also apply to Hausa which I know some phrases in
- #21
- 23 October 2011 - 07:23 PM
Je etudie le cours de Francais I et Latin III (french word for advanced here.)
Yes, my french is horrendous at best. Please don't be mad.
Yes, my french is horrendous at best. Please don't be mad.
- #22
- 23 October 2011 - 07:32 PM
- Lux Aeterna
- Member
Johnny Hurricane, on 23 October 2011 - 07:32 PM, said:
Je etudie le cours de Francais I et Latin III (french word for advanced here.)
Yes, my french is horrendous at best. Please don't be mad.
Yes, my french is horrendous at best. Please don't be mad.
You're doing what most people who are new to a language do--literally translating.
It was mostly just the unnecessary capitalizing of the language words and the fact that you didn't string the words together as "j'etudie." You don't have accents, but that's fine, it's a pain to type those. 8D But it made sense.
- #23
- 23 October 2011 - 08:01 PM
Optime! Etiam Scio in latinum loquabor.
- #24
- 23 October 2011 - 08:04 PM
- Lux Aeterna
- Member
Yes, and it seems you know it a lot better than me.
Which isn't saying much since I don't take Latin. xD
Which isn't saying much since I don't take Latin. xD
- #25
- 23 October 2011 - 08:06 PM
- Blackheart
- Member
I can do that with spanish and english and possiblely japanese a little bit
- #26
- 23 October 2011 - 08:13 PM
- CJSBiliskner
- Member
English (obviously), some amount of french, and Chinese (simplified, since traditional is a pain in the @ss.)
- #27
- 23 October 2011 - 08:14 PM
Since we can all learn from each other:
Je prends les cours Français I et Latin advancé III. (I am taking the classes French I and Advanced Latin III.)
Hero, I will get back to you when I have more time.
Johnny Hurricane said:
Je etudie le cours de Francais I et Latin III (french word for advanced here.)
Je prends les cours Français I et Latin advancé III. (I am taking the classes French I and Advanced Latin III.)
Hero, I will get back to you when I have more time.
- #28
- 23 October 2011 - 08:30 PM
- Carcharocles
- BCI Member
@Wacko: I could use your input on something. ^_^
As for me, I speak English, pure and simple. I'd LOVE to be bilingual, but there is a lack of good foreign language teachers in my area. Stupid heartland.
As for me, I speak English, pure and simple. I'd LOVE to be bilingual, but there is a lack of good foreign language teachers in my area. Stupid heartland.
- #30
- 23 October 2011 - 09:08 PM
- ReyOzymandias
- Childish, as usual.
Member 
I'm a native english speaker, I could probably peruse a newspaper in german without much trouble, and I can understand most spoken german (although I'm mostly used to listening to standard high german and cologne-area accent). I know bits and pieces of swedish, finnish, russian, japanese, romanian, and italian, but I'm not particularly capable in any of them.
- #32
- 24 October 2011 - 01:21 AM
- Boringamus
- Member
I speak English exceptionally, if I do say so myself, and I'm currently in the process of taking my second year of Japanese class. I've taken 2 years of Spanish classes as well.
However, I'm very, very, bad at learning new languages, so despite all my classes I speak/write Spanish and Japanese very poorly.
I could probably understand a newspaper article written in Spanish to a certain extent, but I couldn't say the same for Japanese.
However, I'm very, very, bad at learning new languages, so despite all my classes I speak/write Spanish and Japanese very poorly.
I could probably understand a newspaper article written in Spanish to a certain extent, but I couldn't say the same for Japanese.
This post has been edited by Boringamus: 24 October 2011 - 03:14 AM
- #34
- 24 October 2011 - 03:12 AM
- Momoa
- Member
English is my native language, and I can read enough Japanese to understand a newspaper, and I speak it well enough, I guess. I'm not too good at writing it because I'm not studying thesedays. I can type it, if that actually counts...
I learn Spanish, German and Latin at my school, and I find German and Latin very difficult.
My grammar is poor in all the languages that I am able to speak
I learn Spanish, German and Latin at my school, and I find German and Latin very difficult.
My grammar is poor in all the languages that I am able to speak
- #37
- 24 October 2011 - 12:00 PM
- TheMysteriousMan
- Member
Only English, which is weird cuz my dad speaks fluent spanish. I tried learning it, but im just no dang good at learning other langauges.
- #38
- 24 October 2011 - 07:03 PM
Native spanish, but I've found myself using english much more lately. I'm fluent in english, and learning german and japanese (I'm horrid at those).
- #39
- 24 October 2011 - 07:12 PM
- Arnas Baubkus
- LOOK AT MY FUCKING FACE YOU DIPSHIT MOTHERFUCKER
Member 
English and lithuanian - fluently.
Can understand and speak a bit of german.
Can undetstand russian.
Can understand and speak a bit of german.
Can undetstand russian.
- #41
- 24 October 2011 - 08:43 PM
Right, where was I before? Oh yeah:
English: The goat eats the book in the library.
French: La chèvre mange le livre dans la bibliothèque.
Italian: La capra mangia il libro nella biblioteca.
Spanish: La cabra come el libro en la biblioteca.
Portuguese: A cabra come o livro na biblioteca.
In the first case: consistently la / la / la, whereas Portuguese = a. To make it worse, a is a different word altogether in the other three languages, with the general meaning of to, in, at. (In French, it takes the form à, to distinguish it from a which is yet another word.)
In the second case: you can see the similarities between le / il / el, whereas Portuguese randomly inserts o. Again, o is a different word in Italian and Spanish, meaning or. The plural in Portuguese is annoying too. Whenever I see os, I'm reminded of bones, because that's what the word means in French.
In the third case: all the languages have their idiosyncrasies, but Portuguese is the worst. I guess the etymology is something like en la > en a > na, but holy elision Batman.
Long story short: you Portuguese-speakers need to reintroduce the letter 'l' to your definite articles.
English: The goat eats the book in the library.
French: La chèvre mange le livre dans la bibliothèque.
Italian: La capra mangia il libro nella biblioteca.
Spanish: La cabra come el libro en la biblioteca.
Portuguese: A cabra come o livro na biblioteca.
In the first case: consistently la / la / la, whereas Portuguese = a. To make it worse, a is a different word altogether in the other three languages, with the general meaning of to, in, at. (In French, it takes the form à, to distinguish it from a which is yet another word.)
In the second case: you can see the similarities between le / il / el, whereas Portuguese randomly inserts o. Again, o is a different word in Italian and Spanish, meaning or. The plural in Portuguese is annoying too. Whenever I see os, I'm reminded of bones, because that's what the word means in French.
In the third case: all the languages have their idiosyncrasies, but Portuguese is the worst. I guess the etymology is something like en la > en a > na, but holy elision Batman.
Long story short: you Portuguese-speakers need to reintroduce the letter 'l' to your definite articles.
- #42
- 24 October 2011 - 09:03 PM
OMG! I go away and there are 35 replies to this topic! Woo!
I don't know where to begin, but I am very grateful for all of your stories
As to what wacko said, I'd like to contribute with the Nordic case. Unlike other Germanic languages, the Nordic languages put their articles (generally) at the end of the noun.
Swedish:
Geten äter boken i biblioteket.
Norwegian (conservative Bokmål)
Geiten eter boken i biblioteket.
Norwegian (Nynorsk)
Geita et boka i biblioteket.
Danish:
Geden æder bogen i biblioteket.
Faroese:
Geitin etur bókina* í bókasøvnunum*.
And I won't even bother with Icelandic!
OK, I ticked a few words with an asterisk (*). The words ticked have their endings both due to their article but also what case they have. Bókina is the accusative version of bókin ("the book") which in turn comes from bók ("book"). Similarly but differently, bókasøvnunum is the dative version of bókasavnið ("the library"), itself coming from bókasavn ("library" or "[place of] collection of books").
I don't know where to begin, but I am very grateful for all of your stories
As to what wacko said, I'd like to contribute with the Nordic case. Unlike other Germanic languages, the Nordic languages put their articles (generally) at the end of the noun.
Swedish:
Geten äter boken i biblioteket.
Norwegian (conservative Bokmål)
Geiten eter boken i biblioteket.
Norwegian (Nynorsk)
Geita et boka i biblioteket.
Danish:
Geden æder bogen i biblioteket.
Faroese:
Geitin etur bókina* í bókasøvnunum*.
And I won't even bother with Icelandic!
OK, I ticked a few words with an asterisk (*). The words ticked have their endings both due to their article but also what case they have. Bókina is the accusative version of bókin ("the book") which in turn comes from bók ("book"). Similarly but differently, bókasøvnunum is the dative version of bókasavnið ("the library"), itself coming from bókasavn ("library" or "[place of] collection of books").
- #43
- 24 October 2011 - 09:49 PM
- Hero
- Member
wacko, on 24 October 2011 - 09:03 PM, said:
Consistently la / la / la, whereas Portuguese = a. To make it worse, a is a different word altogether in the other three languages, with the general meaning of to, in, at. (In French, it takes the form à, to distinguish it from a which is yet another word.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can see the similarities between le / il / el, whereas Portuguese randomly inserts o. Again, o is a different word in Italian and Spanish, meaning or. The plural in Portuguese is annoying too. Whenever I see os, I'm reminded of bones, because that's what the word means in French.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the languages have their idiosyncrasies, but Portuguese is the worst.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can see the similarities between le / il / el, whereas Portuguese randomly inserts o. Again, o is a different word in Italian and Spanish, meaning or. The plural in Portuguese is annoying too. Whenever I see os, I'm reminded of bones, because that's what the word means in French.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the languages have their idiosyncrasies, but Portuguese is the worst.
So the problem is that you relate other languages to Portuguese. Maybe you shouldn't do that?
You should try starting fresh with each new language. Just because they are related to some others you shouldn't expect them to be the same
But yeah, Portuguese is indeed different from the others.
This post has been edited by Hero: 24 October 2011 - 10:54 PM
- #44
- 24 October 2011 - 10:51 PM
Yeah, my problem is that I basically use my knowledge of French to help me understand the other Romance languages, but Portuguese doesn't lend itself so well to that.
Also, I studied French from third grade to university, I have long-time Italian neighbours and friends, and I've been to Mexico four times. Unfortunately I've had no Portuguese influence in my life, so that doesn't help either.
Also, I studied French from third grade to university, I have long-time Italian neighbours and friends, and I've been to Mexico four times. Unfortunately I've had no Portuguese influence in my life, so that doesn't help either.
- #45
- 25 October 2011 - 02:12 AM
- ReyOzymandias
- Childish, as usual.
Member
German has been my basis for learning most other germanic languages, but it kinda became a burden when learning north germanic languages like swedish and icelandic. I've learned to approach each new language with an empty mind.
- #46
- 25 October 2011 - 02:28 AM
- Hero
- Member
I'm aiming to learn French and Finnish soon.
Also I kinda like Portuguese, but this bitch ---> ç <---- ruins everything.
It is simply atrocious and useless, and every word that contains it is instantly and completely ruined.
Also I kinda like Portuguese, but this bitch ---> ç <---- ruins everything.
It is simply atrocious and useless, and every word that contains it is instantly and completely ruined.
This post has been edited by Hero: 25 October 2011 - 06:35 AM
- #47
- 25 October 2011 - 06:34 AM
The cedilla also appears in French. C'est trop mauvais, non?
It's rather useful in Turkish though.
It's rather useful in Turkish though.
- #48
- 25 October 2011 - 03:07 PM
- ReyOzymandias
- Childish, as usual.
Member
Hero, on 25 October 2011 - 06:34 AM, said:
I'm aiming to learn French and Finnish soon.
Hell yeah, I adore the finnish language, we should practice together because I have no one to practice with who won't be condescending about it.
- #49
- 25 October 2011 - 09:03 PM
- esalaka
- Banned
ReyOzymandias, on 25 October 2011 - 09:03 PM, said:
Hero, on 25 October 2011 - 06:34 AM, said:
I'm aiming to learn French and Finnish soon.
Hell yeah, I adore the finnish language, we should practice together because I have no one to practice with who won't be condescending about it.
I hate people who mispronounce Finnish or make grammatical errors
If you ever see me, speak English~
- #50
- 25 October 2011 - 09:06 PM