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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kosh on September 16, 2004, 06:06:58 pm

Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kosh on September 16, 2004, 06:06:58 pm
What secondary languages can you speak or are studying? This is just a random thought of mine.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: kode on September 16, 2004, 06:10:00 pm
english.
and I knew a little german a couple of years ago.

not studying any language now.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Rictor on September 16, 2004, 06:10:11 pm
Serbo-Croatian.

Though I can "understand" most Slavic languages, especially Russian. As in, pick up the odd word here or there, and get the general gist of the conversation.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Martinus on September 16, 2004, 06:12:19 pm
[color=66ff00]Japanese though I've not had a lot of time to devote to learning it of late.
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Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kamikaze on September 16, 2004, 06:13:32 pm
I don't have to take one in high school (Unless English is counted) because I'm bilingual, I just have to take the SATII for Japanese (should be very easy).
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: GoulMeister on September 16, 2004, 06:13:54 pm
i learned german in school but can rember very little, in my country (ireland) we speak english primarly but i also know some irish or gaelic as this is taught in school right the way through.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Ford Prefect on September 16, 2004, 06:13:55 pm
I took French for three and a half years, but I got tired of my incompetent teacher, which is a shame because I like the language.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Taristin on September 16, 2004, 06:14:35 pm
I've studied French, Spanish and German... I can't actually speak any of them fluently, but I can get the gist of what's said in most all of them. :)
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Solatar on September 16, 2004, 06:15:17 pm
Finally gotten to a school with a foreign language program (highschool...'bout damn time..).

I'm taking French.

EDIT: The choices were Latin, Spanish, or French though...and I just don't like Spanish...
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: beatspete on September 16, 2004, 06:18:08 pm
I'm too stupid/lazy to learn any languages, did german in school but all i can remeber now is a few nouns. Most of my brains 'extra vocabulary' space is taken up by technical words and stuff to do with engineering....
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Martinus on September 16, 2004, 06:18:53 pm
[color=66ff00]I studied French and Irish at school but neither language really grabbed me. I know a bit of French but my Irish is hopeless I can say a few things like window and old bag (we had a female teacher who made our lives difficult). :D
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Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Rictor on September 16, 2004, 06:21:41 pm
oh man, I would love to learn Gaelic (thats what you're talking about, right). Its such a beautiful language.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Taristin on September 16, 2004, 06:22:15 pm
Ahh... Mistuck...(sp?) ;)

My spanish teacher was such, also.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Carl on September 16, 2004, 06:28:36 pm
Bah. no need for another language when i know the superior american english!
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Ghostavo on September 16, 2004, 07:09:39 pm
English... a bit french (extremelly little) due to classes I had :ick:
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kosh on September 16, 2004, 07:32:59 pm
I forgot to tell what I'm doing.


I took 2 years of German in high school and I'm now studying Chinese at my university.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Martinus on September 16, 2004, 07:39:17 pm
[color=66ff00]Mandarin, Cantonese or Hakka Kosh?
[/color]
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Grey Wolf on September 16, 2004, 07:44:50 pm
4 years of French, ending just over a year ago. What do I remember? Very little. Je ne parle pas Français. :p
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Taristin on September 16, 2004, 07:49:41 pm
Ich spreche franzosich nicht. (sp?) Meh. I've forgotten most of it already. :(
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Jetmech Jr. on September 16, 2004, 08:20:32 pm
bah, I'm taking my first year of Spanish.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kazan on September 16, 2004, 09:20:37 pm
Ich spreche Deutsch
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kosh on September 16, 2004, 09:25:12 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Mandarin, Cantonese or Hakka Kosh?
[/color]



Mandarin, since it is the official language. The simplified is the only one taught abroad and in the PRC as I understand it.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Martinus on September 16, 2004, 09:40:06 pm
[color=66ff00]Second most spoken language here is cantonese would you believe,far more than Irish.
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Title: Secondary languages
Post by: an0n on September 16, 2004, 09:44:42 pm
I can figure out most stuff once I've got the basics like 'the', 'and', 'you' and 'fisting'.

After that it's just a case of memorising equivelants. No-one gives a **** about proper grammar coming from a foreigner anyways.

I can speak decent-ish French, crappy German and I used to know some Russian, but I forgot it all.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: delta_7890 on September 16, 2004, 09:58:43 pm
I'm taking Japanese..  Definately need to study more..
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Stunaep on September 16, 2004, 11:15:43 pm
Hm....

English (fluently, as you may or may not have noticed)
French (near-fluently)
Russian (big big troubles with reading, but curse fluently)
Finnish
A bit of italian.

[edit]
and for the record, French is the second most beautiful language in the world, next to estonian. And don't even try to deny that. :p
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kosh on September 17, 2004, 12:03:50 am
Chinese is better. You get to draw pictures for words. :p
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Clave on September 17, 2004, 01:04:33 am
I was in Paris and asked this guy where I could get cigarettes, he looked at me like I was crazy, but I kept saying 'tabac' over and over until he pointed in the right direction...

French was my best subject at school (96% in last test) but I hardly used it since.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kosh on September 17, 2004, 01:10:29 am
Go to France, or hang out with french international students. Then you will use it. :p


EDIT: And cigs are bad for you anyway.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Sesquipedalian on September 17, 2004, 02:41:41 am
*enter the dead languages nerd*

If you ever misplace your time machine and need to ask people for directions around Rome or Athens in the second century in order to find it again, I'm your man!
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Setekh on September 17, 2004, 02:45:27 am
Ancient Hebrew! That's awesome. I can't really read it but my lecturer forces us to dabble in it a bit in Biblical studies. Very funky.

Unfortunately, I don't actually have time to learn any secondary languages in my course specification. :o
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Windrunner on September 17, 2004, 02:53:18 am
I have swedish and serbo-croatian/bosnian as my primary languages, english is my second.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: aldo_14 on September 17, 2004, 05:57:35 am
Scots & broads Scots :D

I should try and learn Catalan sometime, so I can go back to Barcelona and not resort to bizarre hand waving.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Clave on September 17, 2004, 06:08:24 am
Quote
Originally posted by aldo_14
Scots & broads Scots :D


Now that's something I always have trouble with....

But it won't stop me taking another holiday there, got to love the beauty of the Highlands. :cool:
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: kasperl on September 17, 2004, 10:30:21 am
The Highlands are fantastic.

'nyway, I speak English, the quality of which only the native speakers here can judge.
I studied both French and German, and I can do basic phrases, read the papers a bit, and sometimes ask for directions.
I took one year of ancient Greek, and aside from the alphabet, all is gone.
Latin is something I can more or less decipher. (Someone go back in time, and either shoot Virgil, or tell the guy to write like someone might ever try to read it.)

I sadly know not a single word of Russian, though I will study it once I get out of school (or after Uni, more like), same for Arabic, and Chinese.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: aldo_14 on September 17, 2004, 10:33:10 am
Quote
Originally posted by kasperl
The Highlands are fantastic.


Depends how much you like sheep & crofts.  And fishing.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: kasperl on September 17, 2004, 10:38:20 am
I don't especially like fishing, I do like long walks, cold wheater, and far views. Don't mind fog either, though.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: an0n on September 17, 2004, 10:40:03 am
"Aye, y'v mastered a dead tongue, but can ya handle a live one!?"
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: TopAce on September 17, 2004, 10:45:55 am
English: fluently if I know what to talk about :)
Italian: I am not good at it, since the level of language education outside English and German is quite low in Hungary.
German: A few words: Deutschland, Östereich, Essen, Ungarn, Englisch, Schlafen, Zangarifughe(mosquito coil), Stahl, Bank and some more.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kosh on September 17, 2004, 03:53:17 pm
I thought german was fairly easy (except for a couple of things) because it is so similair to english.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: TopAce on September 17, 2004, 04:00:04 pm
German is certainly closer to English than Italian is.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kosh on September 17, 2004, 04:05:02 pm
That's because english is a germanic language and not a romantic one (those would be italian, french, and spanish).
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: karajorma on September 17, 2004, 04:18:43 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Kosh
That's because english is a germanic language and not a romantic one (those would be italian, french, and spanish).


And Portuguese (Which I speak a little of) :D
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: kode on September 17, 2004, 05:36:34 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Kosh
That's because english is a germanic language and not a romantic one (those would be italian, french, and spanish).


it's more of a mix of a lot of different language kinds.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Kosh on September 17, 2004, 06:27:10 pm
It's origins are germanic. It has assimilated things from other languages.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Knight Templar on September 17, 2004, 08:42:52 pm
Spanish & Russian (just starting. fear)
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Rictor on September 17, 2004, 08:47:26 pm
Ti sukoblat.

...you know that much, right? Assuming I have the spelling down, which I may not, considering I have never had the occasion to write Russian.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Knight Templar on September 17, 2004, 08:49:53 pm
Well, it's not in crylic, so I don't recognize it. I haven't had class in two weeks though... which reminds me that I should study.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Stunaep on September 18, 2004, 06:08:42 am
Quote
Originally posted by Rictor
Ti sukoblat.

...you know that much, right? Assuming I have the spelling down, which I may not, considering I have never had the occasion to write Russian.


Suko and blyad are two different words though (even if they have the same meaning).

And as for english, you'd be surprised how many words in english come from french.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: kasperl on September 18, 2004, 06:13:28 am
Since the English court spoke French for a long time, it hardly surprises me. It just saved my ass in French tests for the last 4 years. (Just add er, some `'^s, and pray)
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Clave on September 18, 2004, 06:30:36 am
Fenêtre XP....
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: kasperl on September 18, 2004, 06:36:29 am
I know it hardly works all of the time, especially since the French hate using words from another language. (Will you believe they seriously have an institute to make new French words for foreign things?) Ordinateur is a computer, for example.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: Singh on September 18, 2004, 07:02:57 am
I used to learn English (first language), Hindi (second language) and Kannada/Sanskrit (third language). Unfortunately, I failed in all but the first.
Title: Secondary languages
Post by: TopAce on September 18, 2004, 10:01:05 am
Quote
Originally posted by Stunaep
..
And as for english, you'd be surprised how many words in english come from french.


Deja vu or pied á terre for example?