What languages do you speak?

[[deleted user]]

Are you multi/bi-lingual? :)

[νєяαℓι∂αιиє]

I speak English. And maybe a bit of Alien. Otherwise, no. :D

[[deleted user]]

Alien? Awesome!

I speak English, and a tiny little bit of Indonesian. (which will be useful if the likes of Tomorrow, When the War Began ever really happens)

[νєяαℓι∂αιиє]

Emily wrote: "Alien? Awesome!

I speak English, and a tiny little bit of Indonesian. (which will be useful if the likes of Tomorrow, When the War Began ever really happens)"

I always wondered who the people were that invaded Australia! If it was ever mentioned I couldn't remember.

I am actually learning German for school.

[[deleted user]]

Veralidaine wrote: "Emily wrote: "Alien? Awesome!

I speak English, and a tiny little bit of Indonesian. (which will be useful if the likes of Tomorrow, When the War Began ever really happens)"

I always wondered who ..."

It wasn't mentioned, but we discussed it in English class ,year 8, and we came to the conclusion that it would have been the Indonesians. They are (Supposedly) slowly building up their armies and the military is gaining more control...and as we saw with East Timor they are definitely out for more land. So it really is possible. But it really is also fiction.

I am so jealous! I have always wanted to learn German but my school only offers Indonesian and Italian. I (obviously) chose Indonesian..

[György]

I speak English and I know a bit of French and even less Italian. I am intrigued by language, its structure and its role in this world.

[[deleted user]]

György wrote: "I speak English and I know a bit of French and even less Italian. I am intrigued by language, its structure and its role in this world."

I have found that a large number of people in the world speak French. It makes me wonder, will the next universal language (like English is ) be French? Because I hope not, as I do not have the ability to roll my 'r's or whatever it is they require.

[György]

In German it is required to make the funny "r" sound AND the funny "ch" sound. The most difficult to pronounce thing I have ever come across in my life is the name of the German composer Richard Wagner.

[[deleted user]]

Oh, I can make the"ch" sound. And I have been told by the few German guys I have met that I can do the accent pretty well, I just need to learn the language proper and practice.

[Jonathan]

I only speak English fluently and nothing else...I want to learn French but I'd have a terrible accent.

I'm studying linguistics and that's fascinating looking at how English as a language has progressed. I'm interested in some of the other Middle Eastern languages too...

[[deleted user]]

I'm not even sure if my English is fluent. I mean, I have been known to throw in a few choice words of various other languages from time to time...

[Danny, Business Bro]

I speak English and am taking an Italian course in University. I think I might like Italian better than English actually.

[[deleted user]]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "I only speak English, and I find the concept of other languages very befuddling. Like, do you think in another language, or do you still think in English?"

Oh my gosh! I asked my dad this question and he looked at me weirdly and told me to go read "some fantasy story or whatever". I have never found out the answer yet...

[[deleted user]]

Well, that is definitely interesting... I need to find a person from an English speaking country but has a different language as their first language, and then ask them this question.

[Jonathan]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "I only speak English, and I find the concept of other languages very befuddling. Like, do you think in another language, or do you still think in English?

Oh, and I just ordered Tomorrow When the ..."

Nope that would be fluent English if you speak the occasional word from other languages. You're 'borrowing' them as linguists say. And not returning them...

My mum learnt to speak fluent Indonesian and she even dreamt in that language. My linguistics studies indicate that true bilingualism only happens up to a certain age and then you only can learn another language as a second language (or third, fourth, fifth). I have friends that can speak 4 to 5 languages as second languages.

Apparently the brain learns to think in a set language up to a certain age according to what you are exposed to. Then your brain's access to the language learning centres changes physically. So while you might learn to speak in other languages I believe you think according to your 'mother' language and then translate into the other languages you know and want to speak.

I'd like to learn Latin maybe if I had a choice of anything. Latin fascinates me as a 'dead' language.

[György]

I'd like to learn the grammar and structure of all ancient languages.

[[deleted user]]

I would really like to learn more about Cuneiform. It is so fascinating. Have you read the book Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon. It is really interesting, and I recommend it if you interested in things such as Cuneiform and the decoding of it. :)

[[deleted user]]

Jonathan wrote: "I'd like to learn Latin maybe if I had a choice of anything. Latin fascinates me as a 'dead' language."

My brother can speak Latin. Some, anyway. I can a little bit too, but not much and I hardly speak it, so it doesn't really count.

[[deleted user]]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "I only speak English, and I find the concept of other languages very befuddling. Like, do you think in another language, or do you still think in English?"

Okay! So, I was at school today, and was talking to my Science teacher, who (I learned) lived in Germany for a few years about a decade or so ago. Anyhow, she could speak fluent German, was surrounded by German-speaking people all the time... I asked her this question and she said that the language you are surrounded by (in this case German) permeates the subconscious and mind in such a way that even when she came back to Australia she still thought mostly in German, and would randomly start spouting out some German rather than English. And she said her dreams, she would be dreaming and the people would be talking in German, or the writing was in German. She also said that even now, around a decade later, she still does it occasionally.

I have finally found an answer to the question :)

[Jonathan]

Emily wrote: "The Mighty Katara wrote: "I only speak English, and I find the concept of other languages very befuddling. Like, do you think in another language, or do you still think in English?"

Okay! So, I wa..."

Like I said there's a device in your brain that linguists call the LAD (language acquisition device) that's accessible up to a certain age. After that you can only really think in whatever language you learnt naturally as a child. There are children who've never been exposed to language and couldn't pick it up later which support this.

[György]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "Emily wrote: "The Mighty Katara wrote: "I only speak English, and I find the concept of other languages very befuddling. Like, do you think in another language, or do you still think in English?"

..."

It isn't weird. It's psychoanalysis.

[[deleted user]]

:D I also found more out about this thing today while talking to a guy I know who is from Switzerland originally. So, his parents were from two different but neighbouring cantons, and so he spoke both of his parents dialects (which were pretty similar, he said). Anyway, when he began at school, he had to learn High German, as was the requirement for all people in Swiss schools to do. When he reached higher grades, he had to learn two Foreign Languages - English and French were his - and now he has picked up a bit of Latin too.

Anyway, I asked him this question about what language does he think in, since he can speak many languages. His answer was that at first, he thought in the Swiss dialects of his parents, with High German as well. Then, when he moved out to Australia, English began to overcome the German thoughts, and now after living here for about five years or so, he thinks mostly in English but occasionally the German, French and Swiss pop up. He also said that he dreams in all of the 5 languages he speaks, even though his French is not used much at all and not practiced much either.

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that in regards to what language your thoughts are in depends on what whether or not you can speak the language well, and whether or not you are surrounded by it a lot.

That doesn't make sense...so let me try again. :)

If you speak English well, and are surrounded by English speaking people a lot (or most) of the time, then you will more than likely think in that language as well. If you, however, speak English (it is your mother tongue) and also German (you have learnt it) and are surrounded by German-speaking people all or most of the time, then it is highly likely that, while at first you will think your thoughts first in English and then go through the process in your mind of translating them to German before you speak, then you will gradually begin to skip the translating process and just think straight away in German.

I hope that makes sense. Please let me know if you agree :)

[[deleted user]]

I'm bilingual--I speak English and Chinese (Mandarin to be specific).

Right now I'm extremely jealous of my parents--my mom can speak five languages, but she had to work so she couldn't teach me. Grrrr.

[Taggerung]

I speak fluent English, what a surprise. To habla un poco Español, pero no bien. I also speak some of the "dead" language, Latin. How on earth is it dead?! I use it in church every Sunday! :D

[Neeru]

Hey guys great topic... I speak german (coz I was born in austria), punjabi (my parents are indian) and english ( coz we move to australia 8 yrs ago) lolzzz

[Ella]

I'm bilingual. I speak Finnish and English fluently. (I'm Finnish, and I lived in Finland until I was 8, then we moved to the US.) I've studied a year of Spanish in school, and I know some Swedish.

[Jasmine]

Never noticed this thread until now... weird o.o
Anyways, I speak fluent English and sorta fluent French (trying to get the bilingual certificate).What I find stupid about learning a language at school is you never learn practical phrases and words. For instance, I can conjugate the French verb "mourir" in at least 5 tenses, but I have no idea what a pan is called...

[Ella]

I find it funny how people just throw the word "fluent" around. (No offense to anyone!) I think you should have to live in a society that speaks that language (or speak it at home) before you can say you're fluent.

[Nermin]

Well, Ella, I am fluent in Turkish but I have never been to Turkey or lived in a Turkish society, so I kinda don't agree with you there.

back to the topic, I speak my own mother tongue, English, Turkish and some Russian. I wish I spoke French though.

[[deleted user]]

I speak English, Australian, American....

Just kidding, I only speak English. :) Although I have a strong desire to learn German, go to Germany and stay there for a while, and then return to the English speaking countries.

[[deleted user]]

Why does everyone else seem to be fluent in another language than their native language? :( It makes me awfully sad.

[[deleted user]]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "Emily wrote: "Why does everyone else seem to be fluent in another language than their native language? :( It makes me awfully sad."

I only speak one too."

Yay, I am not alone in my isolation of language! :)

[Robyn]

English
French
German

[Ella]

Robyn wrote: "English
French
German"

All of them fluently?

[[deleted user]]

Robyn wrote: "English
French
German"

Super jealous.

[Robyn]

Ella wrote: "Robyn wrote: "English
French
German"

All of them fluently?"

I've been taking French since grade 4 since it's the law in Canada and I just started German in September.

[Ella]

So you're fluent in English, (almost?) fluent in French, and learning German.

[Jasmine]

You live in Canada too? Sweet! Greetings, fellow Canadian!

[[deleted user]]

Why is everyone Canadian? I feel left out... :(

[Ella]

Emily, I'm not Canadian either! Jonathan is Australian also. Why an I the only Finn? (Even though I live in the US currently, even though that will change in about 18 days...)

[[deleted user]]

Jonathan's Australian too, which is cool. Finn? Like, as in from Finland? COOL!

[Ella]

Yeah, you didn't know that before? Oops!

[Gianluca]

Italian, which is my first language, and English.