Languages You Speak/Would Like To Speak/Are Learning
Original post
Posted by Unknown user, 18.08.2007 - 17:35
Personally...
- (As you *might* have noticed) I speak English. Not really well, but I think I can say I know the basis. But it is not my first language: French is. I don't want to sound pretentious or anything, but I speak French really well. Yet, it is the third language I learnt.
- My mother language is Arabic, it was the first one I learnt as I am Moroccan and was born in Morocco. But my parents speak French more than Arabic, and I started going to a French school when I was 5, thus, I started forgetting Arabic. I was still as able to understand it as before, but I couldn't speak it anymore, past my 8th birthday. (Some other important factors were involded, but it is not necessary to mention them.)
- The second language I learnt was Spanish, because of/thanks to Spanish TV channels and my grandmother, who only spoke Spanish and Arabic. But when we left the city where we were living (Tanger, just in front of Spain), I stopped watching Spanish channels, and left my grandmother as well, and then, forgot Spanish too
.- That's when French comes. It became my first language around 8. As the French school system wants it, I started learning English at 11. And I unexpectedly didn't have any difficulty with it. I have always had the best mark in that subject, without making any effort for that. Unfortunately it is still not enough. I realised my level was not as good as I thought it was.
- The next year, (I was 12) I chose Latin, but I had to stop after a few months, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to start Spanish the following year. I started re-learning Spanish at 13.
- But since I took Spanish at 13, I couldn't take German at 15. I had too many subjects and the teachers wouldn't let me add German. Yet it is the language I really want to learn. I like the sonority of it, and I watch German TV channels just to hear it, even if I don't get a word of it
.- As a consequence, the two languages I can speak the best are French, and English.
As you see the topic is vast, there is a lot to say...
| GraveRoot Posts: 8  |
Damn, I wish I could speak Russian. Or German. It would be glorious. I speak English. I'm Canadian, so it's not British-English. But I'm also from Missouri, USA. So I've brought with me a bit of slang and a slight accent. Where I'm from, it's soda. Where I am, it's pop. For the first year getting a drink at a restaurant would lead to a long conversation of slang phrases and cultural difference over the borders with the waiter/waitress. Lunch was always late.
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| Nexus Asshat Posts: 265  |
I'm really focusing on learning Spanish ... so anyone who speaks Spanish fluently, feel free to contact me and be my online conversation buddy! 
---- If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for everything
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| Nexus Asshat Posts: 265 |
I don't know if I have an accent ... sometimes I let a Canadian accent slip out (about, out, etc. Kinda like Ricky from Trailer Park Boys, or Sheepdog from Razor:P!), other times I have a french accent ... I think I normally am without an accent. Exactly as stated above the 'nondescript' "American" accent ... but who knows what the fuck is going on with me.
---- If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for everything
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| JD Account deleted |
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| Tormentor666 Posts: 222  |
I think I've never seen this topic... As I study English Philology, I'm quite interested on languages. I speak English fluently and Spanish, my mother tongue. I studied Polish two years ago, but I didn't get to speak it, just the basics, although I must say I LOVE IT. I will start with German this summer, I hope to get a grant for a language course in Berlin.
---- WARFARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| Kitty Posts: 231  |
Hebrew, english, german, casual russian and japanese. i'd really like to study sanskrit. 
---- ...And I meowmeowmeow!
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705  |
Hmm... I don't know how could I miss this topic... Or maybe I didn't, and just cant remember I've been here. Well, I speak Serbian, which is my native language, English (obviously), and started learning Russian last year. So far it progresses great I'd say, and for that I should thanks to Russian movies, music, and of course the fact that I already speak one Slavic language which makes the learning of Russian a lot more comfortable. Also I'd like to mention that I've become crazy about Russian slang, which is vast and amazingly creative. Anyone interested in such things, take a look at this website - http://www.russki-mat.net/e/Russian.php I will probably start studying Slovak this year too, since I can do it for free on my faculty. The reason is that I want to know at least one South, East, and West Slavic language, and after that, I don't know, but I'll probably start learning something else... Maybe Romanian, or German. But generally speaking, I would learn only languages I would have the chance and need to use, I'm not interested in wasting time learning something like Coptic Egyptian or Mongolian or whatever.
---- 
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10085  |
Written by Stalker on 20.03.2011 at 19:58 haha, good luck with Romanian, from what i've heard it's one of the hardest to learn(if you really want to speak correctly, the number of rules are insane). on the other hand it's useful to know that pizda and curva have the same meaning
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| Ernis 狼獾 Posts: 6807  |
Written by Stalker on 20.03.2011 at 19:58 Chinese... every fifth person on Earth speaks Chinese... and it won't be surprising when one day Chinese replaces English... German is useful, for sure... and instead of Romanian you could consider starting with a more widespread Romance language such as French, Spanish or Italian... French is probably the most important for it was the international language until 20th century when Americans came with their English... Spanish is then again spoken by more people, it's even widespread in the US... and Spanish is somewhat easier in grammar... Italian is also an option because it's geographically close to Balkan... Why don't you just learn Latin, it's the base for most European and even non-European languages internationally...
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 |
Written by Valentin B on 20.03.2011 at 20:07 Lol, pizda is Slavic word, so I know what it means, kurva also (if not Hungarian or smth) but it means whore, pizda is pussy in most Slavic languages, with slight variations. Anyway, I started listening to Bucovina recently, and noticed how kick-ass actually Romanian words are... Pronunciation is easy as I see, but for grammatical irregularities, I really wouldn't know, I planned on consulting you first anyway hahah  And yeah, as I see Romanian has a lot of Slavic words too, (well, no wander, being an Romance island in the middle of Slavic sea ), and Ive noticed that it's mainly valid for nouns, not to that extent other words.... For instance, on Bucovina's Duh EP, out of 5 song titles, 4 have Slavic word(s) in them (I mean just the titles!), and the bands name also means "beech wood" in Slavic languages What exactly do you consider the toughest part of Romanian btw?
----
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10085 |
Written by Stalker on 20.03.2011 at 20:29 the grammar.
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| Kitty Posts: 231 |
Written by Stalker on 20.03.2011 at 20:29 wasn't kurva meaning 'witch' (as in an old hag)? and yep, pizda is a slavic word indeed, although iv'e already heard romanian people cursing 'pizdamat' or something like that. heh
---- ...And I meowmeowmeow!
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10085 |
Written by Kitty on 20.03.2011 at 20:50 that's "baba".. and "pizdamat"? that's pretty creative
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| Kitty Posts: 231 |
Written by Valentin B on 20.03.2011 at 21:21 da da
---- ...And I meowmeowmeow!
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| Ernis 狼獾 Posts: 6807 |
Written by Valentin B on 20.03.2011 at 20:45 No grammar can be harder than this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3KLSX1HBCU Romance languages are easy compared to Uralic ones...
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 |
Written by Kitty on 20.03.2011 at 20:50 Dont know for Romanian, but mat' is mother in Russian, and the root is the same for other Slavic languages... So that would mean "your mother's c*nt", which is, at least in Serbian very common swear word
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10085 |
Written by Stalker on 20.03.2011 at 22:18 yeah, in romanian it's "pizda mă-tii"(the "ă" is pronounced like the u in "burn"). it's like 75% of the vocabulary is latin, 15% slavic and 10% other stuff.
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| Stalker Lone wanderer Posts: 2705 |
Written by Valentin B on 20.03.2011 at 23:52 Kinda cool we share the same swear words hahah How do you say dick btw haha?
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10085 |
Written by Stalker on 24.03.2011 at 22:24 Pula... just like the town in Croatia of the same name  (ironically, there is a community of people with Romanian origins near that town, called Istro-Romanians... not sure if they named the town though haha)
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| XV535Virago Posts: 78  |
Lol Valentin dude..teaching people to curse in Romanian? Well, i speak Romanian, English, some Spanish & some German. And i can curse in Serbian,Nerwegian and Finnish . LOL.
---- True norwegian Dimmu Burger : zero tolerance to pickles must be issued!
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10085 |
Written by XV535Virago on 24.04.2011 at 09:52 it's an art, haha with the number of swears we have it could take quite a long time haha.
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| Tranquillizer Account deleted |
Tranquillizer
Account deleted Quote:Quote: Exactly, when your language allows to curse anything at anyone, it really lets your creativity shine A fine example of this ancient and revered art form...
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10085 |
Written by Malphas on 24.04.2011 at 18:10 exactly, that's the slavic influence right there in the romanian language... there's even a cursing in romanian which literally means "fuck your mom's god". what the hell 
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| XV535Virago Posts: 78 |
Written by Valentin B on 24.04.2011 at 18:14 Valentin, there's even an article on Wikipedia about Romanian profanity, with very very explicite explains, but i don't think im alowed to post a link. By the way, can someone tell me a curse or two in Polish? Please?
---- True norwegian Dimmu Burger : zero tolerance to pickles must be issued!
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| Sophist Posts: 298  |
Serbian, Bulgarian, Enlglish, can read and understand German, but can't write or talk for shit, I'd love to learn it but I can't find the time.
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| ANGEL REAPER Posts: 3687  |
Written by Malphas on 24.04.2011 at 18:10 oh shit she is good........
---- "Cross is only an iron,hope is just an illusion,freedom is nothing but a name..." "Build your walls of the dead stone...Build your roofs of a dead wood..Build your dreams of a dead thoughts" 
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10085 |
Written by XV535Virago on 08.05.2011 at 11:06 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuptYzLgT1E - the ultimate swear combo from my former polish flatmate i know the following: spierdalaj kurwa (pronounced spirdalai curva) = get the fuck out of here, you bitch he also told me that waly(pronounced vali) means "to fuck" or something. that's right, THEY, or to be more precise, I, INVENTED THAT WORD AFTER ME. >:[ and also know pizda means the same thing
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| 0rpheus Posts: 391  |
Speaking of cursing... Arabic slang rules and this is one of the most common curse word in - and not only - Egypt, Palestine and Jordan.
---- I would prefer not to.
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| Ernis 狼獾 Posts: 6807 |
Written by 0rpheus on 08.05.2011 at 23:42 In Egypt the Estonian word "läheme/lähme/لحمه" (we go/let's go) made them giggle... I heard it means "raw meat" or sth... especially since a phrase such as "اوکی لحمه" (all right, let's go) is quite frequently used... Plus the Finnish male name Seppo made them giggle plus also the word for "hush/be quiet" which is "kuss/کوسّ" Especially when a lady told her husband to shut up in the presence of Arab speakers... "Seppo, kuss!"
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