How many here have a foreign language?

[California Girl]

I speak French - badly. LOL.
I speak some gaelic - badly. LOL.
I used to be ok at German but stopped.
I used to be pretty good at Spanish.

I hate languages.... but I do try to speak some of the language of whatever country I am visiting.

Two of my brothers are exceptionally good at languages and speak all kinds of weird shit... but they could be making it up for all I know.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Since I've been a member of this board, I've picked up a few "liberalize" words and phrases. It's a dead language. No need to learn much of it.

 

[Sunni Man]

I am in the process of learning Arabic. There are 3 main categories. And the 28 letters are the same.

1) Classical: The Quran is written and spoken in this form. It is like Shakespeare times 100

It has all kind of vowel marks and breath guides. So that the speaker pronounces every word with precision. Thus every muslim reciter, in China, Egypt, Sudan, or anywhere in the world, even if they cannot speak arabic. Recites the Quran exactly the same way.

2) Modern Standard: news papers, magazines, are written in modern standard. Also, news and other formal programs on TV are broadcast in modern standard arabic. Everyone in the middle east understands this form of arabic, but it is not spoken between people.

3) Colloquial arabic: this is the language of the arabic street. Every arabic country has it's own version of arabic. Thus an Egyptian has difficulty understanding an Iraqi. Or a Saudi would have problems understanding a Palestinian. This is because the arabic language has alot of localized slang words mixed in with the arabic of each country..

 

[slackjawed]

I speak english as my first language.I grew up in a household with yiddish being spoken. I know enough Hebrew to read but not always understand what i am reading. I took german in college because it was 'easy'. Spanish is not a foriegn language here, but I can communicate in Spanish. I have learned some Athabascan and can communicate at a third grade level with Apaches and Navajos, again, not a foriegn language.

 

[Sunni Man]

I have learned some Athabascan and can communicate at a third grade level with Apaches and Navajos, again, not a foriegn language.

Athabascan??

Were you stationed in Alaska?

 

[slackjawed]

I have learned some Athabascan and can communicate at a third grade level with Apaches and Navajos, again, not a foriegn language.

Athabascan??

Were you stationed in Alaska?

No Sunni, I wasn't. The Apaches and Navajos speak a branch of Athabascan and I have spent a lot of time working on the Navajo Nation, The White Mountain Apache and the San Carlos Apache.

 

[Sunni Man]

I have learned some Athabascan and can communicate at a third grade level with Apaches and Navajos, again, not a foriegn language.

Athabascan??

Were you stationed in Alaska?

No Sunni, I wasn't. The Apaches and Navajos speak a branch of Athabascan and I have spent a lot of time working on the Navajo Nation, The White Mountain Apache and the San Carlos Apache.

I grew up in Oklahoma and went to school with Comanche's, Kiowas, and Apaches, in the FT. Sill area.

Geronimo is buried there at the "Fort Sill Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery".

 

[Yukon]

I speak English, Arabic, and Latin.

 

[slackjawed]

Athabascan??

Were you stationed in Alaska?

No Sunni, I wasn't. The Apaches and Navajos speak a branch of Athabascan and I have spent a lot of time working on the Navajo Nation, The White Mountain Apache and the San Carlos Apache.

I grew up in Oklahoma and went to school with Comanche's, Kiowas, and Apaches, in the FT. Sill area.

Geronimo is buried there at the "Fort Sill Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery".

Yeah, Geronimo and his people were not allowed to come home until 1914 when they were no longer deemed "prisoners of war". he had died by then, so there he stays. At one time there was movement to bring his body back to his 'clan burial plot' near Dragoon Arizona, but it was not allowed. In the early 1970's, the AIM tried to steal his body and were not successful. There is reason to believe that during the 1920's or 30's that a fraternity stole his skull and a leg bone but it has never been proven.
back in the 1930's though they did encase his grave in concrete. That little concrete border around it is supposedly a little 'flower box' built into a big chunk of concrete.
I have as one of my friends the tribal archeologist for the White Mountain Nation and he has shown me several artifacts that the tribe doesn't allow to be displayed that belonged to Geronimo and Naichee.

 

[Yukon]

I learned Latin when I was studying to be a Priest.

 

[Anguille]

And you learned Pig Latin when ...?

 

[American Horse]

I took eight years of Latin. Then, I had to learn French because a job I had required me to live there for a couple of years. I never took a French class, but my immersion into the language combined with my Latin background made it easy for me to pick it up. I was fluent within three months (thinking and dreaming in it) and did not speak a word of English for months on end. When I did, it was only to help UK tourists briefly.

Immersion is the way to go.

Si, that's a whale of a lot of Latin. Sounds like a Catholic School perhaps. I took two years of Latin, which was all my school offered at the time. I saw it as a way to advance my understanding of the structure of English and Romance languages, as well as a way to develop my vocabulary. I thought Latin would help me in either Spanish or an Italian environment if so immersed. Latin derivatives are ubiquitous in English, much more than we are led to believe. I still play around with it, and I have more Latin dictionaries in the house than I do English ones.
.

 

[Si modo]

I took eight years of Latin. Then, I had to learn French because a job I had required me to live there for a couple of years. I never took a French class, but my immersion into the language combined with my Latin background made it easy for me to pick it up. I was fluent within three months (thinking and dreaming in it) and did not speak a word of English for months on end. When I did, it was only to help UK tourists briefly.

Immersion is the way to go.

Si, that's a whale of a lot of Latin. Sounds like a Catholic School perhaps. I took two years of Latin, which was all my school offered at the time. I saw it as a way to advance my understanding of the structure of English and Romance languages, as well as a way to develop my vocabulary. I thought Latin would help me in either Spanish or an Italian environment if so immersed. Latin derivatives are ubiquitous in English, much more than we are led to believe. I still play around with it, and I have more Latin dictionaries in the house than I do English ones.
.

Yeah. Make that eight semesters - three years in school, then two more semesters in undergrad. Sorry about that.

 

[germanguy]

I speak French - badly. LOL.
I speak some gaelic - badly. LOL.
I used to be ok at German but stopped.
I used to be pretty good at Spanish.

I hate languages.... but I do try to speak some of the language of whatever country I am visiting.

Two of my brothers are exceptionally good at languages and speak all kinds of weird shit... but they could be making it up for all I know.

Gaelic ? Whoa...You are very brave - I have no effing clue how this language works.
But it sounds beautiful.

regards
ze germanguy

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Je parle francais mais je parle tres peu et tres mal.

 

[Old Rocks]

Took Spanish in high school, German in college. After 20+ years in sawmills, I can hardly hear well enough to understand English, let alone German or Spanish.

A long time ago I was working at a mill with some Mexicans. I got on well with them, and often took lunch with them. One time, they had a freind with them, and I really had a hard time understanding his Spanish. I mentioned this to Edwardo, and he laughed, and said "they are from Texas, you should hear their English!".

 

[Anguille]

Je parle francais mais je parle tres peu et tres mal.

Que dises?

 

[Cecilie1200]

I took a year of Russian in high school, speak a smattering of Spanish and read a bit more, and can communicate effectively in ASL, which is classified as a foreign language by most colleges in that they will accept it to fulfill the foreign language requirement.

Funny story: My husband took ASL as his foreign language in college, as did his fiancee at the time. One day, they were having lunch together in the Student Union and he made her an indecent proposition in sign language. He noticed that the man at a nearby table looked very startled and left quickly. He found out later that week that the man was the new ASL adjunct professor.

 

[American Horse]

Funny story: My husband took ASL as his foreign language in college, as did his fiancee at the time. One day, they were having lunch together in the Student Union and he made her an indecent proposition in sign language. He noticed that the man at a nearby table looked very startled and left quickly. He found out later that week that the man was the new ASL adjunct professor.

Ya gotta be careful what ya say in a public place! That one I could probably produce not knowing what it looks like.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Funny story: My husband took ASL as his foreign language in college, as did his fiancee at the time. One day, they were having lunch together in the Student Union and he made her an indecent proposition in sign language. He noticed that the man at a nearby table looked very startled and left quickly. He found out later that week that the man was the new ASL adjunct professor.

Ya gotta be careful what ya say in a public place! That one I could probably produce not knowing what it looks like.

Let's just say that ASL is designed to be a very . . . visually descriptive language.