MUFC Posted September 1, 2019 Posted September 1, 2019 I speak English and Punjabi, what about the rest of you? Does anyone regret not learning an additional language during their lives? Or paying attention to language in school?
nudge Posted September 1, 2019 Posted September 1, 2019 Fluent in Lithuanian, German, English and Russian. Used to be near-fluent in Dutch and Spanish but not anymore as I haven't used either for over a decade; still can read in both though. Have rudimentary skills in Thai and Khmer but not anywhere near good enough to hold a conversation - just the essentials for getting by in common daily situations (e.g.basic stuff like greeting and addressing people, basic conversations at a shop, in a restaurant or bar, asking for directions etc.) which is a pity; I started learning Thai properly at one point and loved it but gave it up when I moved elsewhere. Currently learning Mandarin. Always loved learning new languages as each of them kind of opens the whole new world for you.
IgnisExcubitor Posted September 1, 2019 Posted September 1, 2019 I can read and write in English, Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit. I can understand Gujarati, Urdu and Bengali. Can understand quite a bit of Punjabi. I quit half way through on Portuguese(Brazilian). I hope to resume that some day. I just love how it sounds. And it's technically a dialect of Marathi/Konkani, but I think I can add Malvani here as well. I do not however speak or understand most of Konkani.
Toinho Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 English, Australian and intermediate Japanese. But I never use Japanese anymore.
nudge Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 14 hours ago, IgnisExcubitor said: I can read and write in English, Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit. I can understand Gujarati, Urdu and Bengali. Can understand quite a bit of Punjabi. I quit half way through on Portuguese(Brazilian). I hope to resume that some day. I just love how it sounds. And it's technically a dialect of Marathi/Konkani, but I think I can add Malvani here as well. I do not however speak or understand most of Konkani. How many languages are there in India? Also, how similar (or different) are they?
Administrator Stan Posted September 2, 2019 Administrator Posted September 2, 2019 English. Gujarati I can understand more than I can speak it. I can hold small conversations though. Bits of French, Spanish & German.
Subscriber Pyfish+ Posted September 2, 2019 Subscriber Posted September 2, 2019 English and very broken French. Currently teaching myself Spanish but it isn't going well.
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted September 2, 2019 Subscriber Posted September 2, 2019 38 minutes ago, nudge said: How many languages are there in India? Also, how similar (or different) are they? Way too many. But depending on state borders you can start to see micro-blends in the languages and then as you go further in they take a whole twist. A good example of this is the border between Goa and Karnataka, theres a place called Belgaum. Now, they claim to speak Konkani similar to what we speak in Goa but its like hearing something that sounds totally alien till you ask them to speed it up a bit and then it starts sounding familiar. I suppose its also the same when it comes to word etymology in Europe right? Romantic languages like French and Spanish have cross-functional word origins and then over time the usage and colloquial factors have morphed the words. At least that's what my Italian professor used to tell us when we were told about pronunciations and their origins. I didn't really take him seriously as he was mostly high when we were taught haha.
True Blue Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 English, i understand a bit of Portuguese as i lived in Portugal during my youth and some German.
Berserker Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 Spanish, English, and a bit of both Portuguese and Italian.
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted September 2, 2019 Subscriber Posted September 2, 2019 Just now, Berserker said: Spanish, English, and a bit of both Portuguese and Italian. Dont forget Hindi considering you're after our women in Bollywood.
Administrator Stan Posted September 2, 2019 Administrator Posted September 2, 2019 1 minute ago, True Blue said: English, i understand a bit of Portuguese as i lived in Portugal during my youth and some German. Given where your career took you and given you are a Spanish footballer, surely you know that language too?! Perhaps some Japanese picked up recently too?
nudge Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 4 minutes ago, Mel81x said: Way too many. But depending on state borders you can start to see micro-blends in the languages and then as you go further in they take a whole twist. A good example of this is the border between Goa and Karnataka, theres a place called Belgaum. Now, they claim to speak Konkani similar to what we speak in Goa but its like hearing something that sounds totally alien till you ask them to speed it up a bit and then it starts sounding familiar. I suppose its also the same when it comes to word etymology in Europe right? Romantic languages like French and Spanish have cross-functional word origins and then over time the usage and colloquial factors have morphed the words. At least that's what my Italian professor used to tell us when we were told about pronunciations and their origins. I didn't really take him seriously as he was mostly high when we were taught haha. The part in bold sounds just like regional dialects, that's mostly what I was wondering about (if there's a high degree of inter-intelligibility). I suppose the differences between languages in India is larger than the differences between German dialects for example? And yes, the part about word etymology in European languages sounds right. While languages in the same language family are not necessarily mutually intelligible, there are many lexical and phonetical similarities. I find it particularly true for Romance languages and Slavic languages.
nudge Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 Also @Mel81x you might find this interesting: https://medium.com/@subhashkak1/romuva-and-the-vedic-gods-of-lithuania-3aae469ff2f1
True Blue Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 29 minutes ago, Stan said: Given where your career took you and given you are a Spanish footballer, surely you know that language too?! Perhaps some Japanese picked up recently too?
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted September 2, 2019 Subscriber Posted September 2, 2019 17 minutes ago, nudge said: The part in bold sounds just like regional dialects, that's mostly what I was wondering about (if there's a high degree of inter-intelligibility). I suppose the differences between languages in India is larger than the differences between German dialects for example? The problem is that its not just regional dialects because the words and their usage also change as you state. The place i mention has a heavy Kannada influence because its also in Karnataka so there are also changes in the way Konkani is used but its called Konkani simply because they have similarities. The differences are much larger than just dialects and they also dont share the same script (which is way more weirder) and to illustrate the example with the two places I am talking about. Konkani in Goa follows two scripts - English (Portuguese phonetics) and some use Hindi but Konkani in Belgaum is purely Kannada. You can use this reference for other languages across the country as well. For e.g. Marthi has a very similar sound to Konkani and thats why a lot of people from here can pick it up but its not the same really. My sister picked it up within two years of living in Mumbai and I can understand parts of it but thats as far as my understanding of Marthi really goes.
Moderator CaaC (John) Posted September 2, 2019 Moderator Posted September 2, 2019 I could get by in German when I was in the army in the 70s but lost most of that when I got de-mobbed in 1974, and as the wife said a lot of German words sound like some Scottish words so she picked it up (Basics) quite quickly I can understand a little bit of Polish like Good/Morning/Afternoon/Evening, how are you, I am fine and see you later etc this is mainly because the supermarkets we shop in here in Leith have a lot of Polish staff and I have picked it up from them.
IgnisExcubitor Posted September 4, 2019 Posted September 4, 2019 On 02/09/2019 at 16:59, nudge said: How many languages are there in India? Also, how similar (or different) are they? Apparently 22 major languages, hundreds of minor languages and hundreds of more dialects, depending on regions, cultures, etc which @Mel81x rightly explained. Some have historical connections. Yes, they are similar to some extent. Plus, quite a few share the same writing script. For example : Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit are written in Devnagri script.
Inverted Posted September 5, 2019 Posted September 5, 2019 English obviously. I'm conversational in German but make a lot of little mistakes. I can have basic interactions in Danish - it used to be close to conversational but I'm out of practice. I did French in school but have completely forgotten it, apart from the most basic questions and responses, but it's not any better than languages like Spanish or Italian which I've spent a couple of hours on with Duolingo. For some reason Germanic languages stick better with me than Romance ones.
Panflute Posted September 5, 2019 Posted September 5, 2019 Dutch, English and Spanish. I used to speak a bit of Catalan for the hell of it, and I can bluff my way through German enough to hold a conversation.
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