What languages does everyone speak?

[StephyMei1112]

Since we have such a diverse, culturally wide spectrum of a board here I thought it would be interesting to see what languages everyone was proficient in =)

I am fluent in only Cantonese and English. I can get by somewhat in Hakka (a Southern Chinese dialect), Mandarin, Shanghainese and French. I would love to be more multi lingual though and be able to speak a Eastern European language and become fluent in french as well.

All my grandparents speak Cantonese, one of my grandmothers spoke Hakka in addition to Cantonese, the other grandmother spoke Mandarin and Shanghainese fluently.

My friend used to say: "don't feel bad - your brother can't even speak proper english". This is an actual exchange we had yesterday morning:

"Wai, nei yum sai d chang zup ah? (Hey, you've finished all the orange juice?)"

"yea, sorta drunk it up ill shoot it on da shoppin list kays? laters"

He's 22 - why he speaks like a 14 year old wannabe gangsta is beyond my comprehension.

 

[Zizzy35]

I speak Italian, but I'd really love to learn German.

 

[sillysally]

I'm only fluent in English. I know a little Spanish, but one of my goals is to improve. I've done the free trial of Rosetta Stone, and really enjoyed it. The program is expensive but I keep eyeing it....

 

[Dizzy]

English! I can get by in France as I've been there more times than I can remember, but don't actually speak it. I also know a little Welsh. My other half is fluent in Welsh, it was his first language and still uses it daily.

It's weird hearing him speak and not understanding a word he says

 

[oakash]

English. I'm well accomplished.....

 

[Miakoda]

English. Well, the U.S.'s version of English. lol

I can also read and understand spoken Spanish quite well, and I can speak it enough to get by. I also know a little bit of Portugese, since that was the dialect my Spanish teacher taught us in high school.

 

[GipsyQueen]

I'm fluent in German and English, though German is my native language.
I can get by in Italy and France though

 

[Miakoda]

If I could, I would LOVE to learn Cajun! In my opnion, instead of forcing Spanish down everyone's throats, as is starting to happen, I think Louisiana schools should offer Cajun and Creole languages to their students.

 

[Doberluv]

English is the only language in which I am fluent. I know some Czech and a little German. But I was married to a Czech for 21 years and when I met him, he barely knew any English. He was fluent in his own language, Russian and German. Any of the Slovic languages, he could get along with because they're so similar. (but Russian is not like the slovic languages) When his Mom or sister would come to visit, they spoke only a few words in English, so on their long stays, I wound up learning quite a bit of Czech. I've not used it much these last years and it kind of regressed a lot. lol. His English is very good. He learns languages very quickly. He speaks with better grammar than most native English speakers. His vocabulary is very good too. It just amazes me because I suck at learning other languages. LOL.

Czech has some sounds that are very difficult to make if you're language is Germanic, like English is. It has one sound, unique to that language that is in the Guiness Book of World Records as being the most difficult to make, even for the Czechs! LOL. Someone described the sounds that language makes as the sound one makes when sloshing through a mud puddle with galoshes on. lol.

There's a tongue twister they have: Three thousand three hundred thirty three silver street sweepers put water on three thousand three hundred thirty three silver roofs. (Třitisíce třista třicet tři stříbrných stříkaček, stříkalo přez třitisíce třista třicet tři stříbrných střech.) that I tried to master. It's hilarious sounding. My ex can hardly even do it.:rofl1: Here below, you can listen to it:
http://www.omniglot.com/soundfiles/czech/tonguetwisters/tt4_cs.mp3

 

[crazedACD]

Just English...I know a teensy bit of Spanish, sentence structure, and can get the jist about what someone's talking about, but not enough to say I know spanish.

 

[MandyPug]

Canadian English only =)

They tried to teach me Quebec french but it didn't sink in.

 

[Red.Apricot]

English and a little Spanish; not enough to have real conversations, though.

 

[~Dixie's_Mom~]

*in a southern accent* American.

Haha jk! English. But I've taken Spanish and French lessons. Not even close to being fluent in either. Lol! Still taking french though, so maybe one day?

 

[Doberluv]

I LOVE...absolutely love southern accents! They're so fun and contagious. I'll start talking like that within 5 minutes of speaking with a southerner. LOL.

 

[Fran101]

-English.. well duh lol
-French (which was my first language. I speak it fluently but have problems writing lol it's been a while.. **** verb conjugations.)
-Spanish (I am pretty good at conversational spanish. Total **** at writing/grammar)

 

[houlahoops]

Croatian is my first language, and I'd like to say I'm fluent in English but I definitely still get tangled up sometimes especially when people are talking quickly!

I also took six years of Spanish in school, so not fluent but probably upper-level. Two years of French as well (along with three of Russian). And of course I can get by in Bosnian and Serbian.

 

[Paige]

English only but I am getting pretty good at understanding toddler jibberish.

 

[*blackrose]

I only know English. I know enough Spanish to survive should I become stranded (Im hungry, I'm thirsty, where is the bathroom? Lol) and if I'm reading it I can pick apart some words for a rough translation, but other than that I can't speak it at all. I can count to ten in German and that's about it.

 

[JessLough]

Fluent in English and (Canadian) French. Fluent enough in Spanish and ASL to hold a conversation and eavesdrop on people

 

[Dogs6]

I'm fluent in English only. I have taken 5 years of french but I think my results from this year will speak for themselves lol.