Languages, which ones do you speak?

[The Weekenders]

I have studied Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.I actually studied Telugu and Hindustani but that's a million years ago... The only one that "stuck" was Italian. It came very easy to me and I could actually speak it when I went there on holiday. It didn't seem to help, though in overcoming the "here's another Yank tourist" bit.. I got one compliment at the Vatican...

I don't know why it is that Italian comes so much easier. I am surrounded by Spanish speaking people, but I just find it harder to pick out words, etc. I think Italian has the most direct-to-Latin word foundations and it's very logical in pronunciation for the foreigner (unless you get into fancy regional dialects or something) . I find Portuguese words to be a bit easier to remember in my mind's eye than Spanish because it's notation is kinda peculiar and imperfect.

If you are into challenges, I kind of think it would help more to learn French, if social acceptance as a traveler is a factor. I dont think speaking Italian will get you anywhere better in Italy. You have to have family there to be treated well, unless yer a cute young lady, which you are not, to my knowledge.

[chrisoff]

If you are into challenges, I kind of think it would help more to learn French, if social acceptance as a traveler is a factor. I dont think speaking Italian will get you anywhere better in Italy.

It's not so much for social acceptance, just that I aim to go to those places at some point and I always feel bad not being able to talk to locals in their own language besides please and thank you.

The other reasons can probably be explained by that hobbies thread...

[A-Musing]

I speak fluent Standard American English.
However, having grown up in the shadow of New York City, I can axe you if you wanna peesa DISS? And could well enough GeddoudaTOWN!, and/or simply FUGGEDDABOUDIT!!!

You know what I'm SAYin.' ovvah heeah?

[CHasR]

Tha beag Gaelic agam, agus
Je parle un peu Francais.
+ Inglese.

One could call Glaswegian and Philadelphianese their own seperate idioms, though. Just ask someone from Philly to say, " Aw, I'll order a water." and you'll see what I mean.

[Caroluna]

I used to be fluent enough in Portuguese that I could pass for Brazilian for about 10 minutes at parties and such.

Brazilian-- "Bla, bla, bla, studying this, doing that"
me-- "Oh! Wow! You don't say! My goodness!"
B-- (here a long joke)
me-- laughs in correct place
B-- Cool party huh, I brought the barbecue, what did you bring?
me-- I brung the fruit salad.
B-- Um, you're not actually Brazilian, are you?

I got to that point by hanging out with Brazilian grad students for about 2 yrs. They loved to give me tapes of their favorite music. I'd write the lyrics out as best as I could, and then ask them to correct what I had written and give me a translation. This was such a great experience, because along with the language I'd also get the story of why the music was meaningful for them.

For me, the words and phrases from lyrics stuck with me much better than what I learned from language tapes.

I purchased two courses on tape (10 tapes and 12 tapes) and listened to them obsessively. I took 3 college courses. When I actually went to Brazil, for the first 2 weeks all I could hear was the last word of every sentence. All the rest of the sentence went by in a blur. But I had enough vocabulary to be able to play 20 questions until I finally figured out what was going on.

Almost all the Brazilians I met were extremely hospitable about me learning their language, and enjoyed to the hilt the comedy that comes from the inevitable mistakes and miscommunications. They laughed with me, not at me.

Wow, I miss it!!

Haven't worked on it for about 10 yrs...when I get back to it I plan to get the Rosetta stone series.

Anyway, I really recommend getting some music and working with that!

[The Weekenders]

Yeah, Caro, I learned it so I could sing the songs. And those words really stick with you. Considering how much Bossa Nova has become elevator music, I find myself filling in the words when I hear it in various and sundry place.

It was also my mother and grandmother's native tongue (both were raised by the same godparents), but they spoke Azorean Portuguese which is a lot less exciting than my favorite carioca accent...

[anniemcu]

English (rusty), American (a bastardization of English), and enough Spanish to get myself into trouble, and possibly enough to get back out.

[Doc Jones]

I speak American English as a native speaker, Spanish with near-native fluency and enough Haitian Creole to have a rudimentary conversation.

Haitian Creole is a fun language...sort of Tarzan French...a big improvement in my view.

Doc

[Caroluna]

I learned it so I could sing the songs. And those words really stick with you. Considering how much Bossa Nova has become elevator music, I find myself filling in the words when I hear it in various and sundry place.

Se voce disser que eu desafino amor
Saiba que isso em mim provoca imensa dor
So previlegiados tem ouvido igual ao seu
Eu possuo apenas o que deus me deu....

(now I'm going to be singing that the rest of the evening )

[djm]

Oh, you're much too modest, Deej. You communicate in Crap very well indeed.

Gosh, that means a lot, coming from you.

Hah! This is why us geeks win at life.

Winning at Zelda and winning at life are not quite the same thing, but you're onto something there. I can feel it.

now I'm going to be singing that the rest of the evening

Oh, I don't think so.

djm

[Nanohedron]

Oh, you're much too modest, Deej. You communicate in Crap very well indeed.

Gosh, that means a lot, coming from you.

You're most welcome.

Besides Crap, I allso speke Anglisc, whann that on ye Chiffe and Fyple I am welle beholden that I use it swych as I maye.

Studied French and Japanese, but they have all but withered away for lack of use.

[BigDavy]

Tha beag Gaelic agam, agus
Je parle un peu Francais.
+ Inglese.

One could call Glaswegian and Philadelphianese their own seperate idioms, though. Just ask someone from Philly to say, " Aw, I'll order a water." and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0rgETg2Hoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpVD5-IKAIo

David

[Jack]

Je parle un peu Francais.

Français isn't supposed to be capitalized, and I think you need an article ("le") in front of it, don't you? It's a disappearing sound, so you often don't hear it, but it's still there in writing.

[hathair_bláth]

Thanks for the BBC link, chrisoff! I just started college French, which has been interesting. I'm slowly catching on, but I'm so used to Spanish pronunciations that unlearning is slowing me down a bit. I've also found a few language tutoring podcasts than I'm going to check out. I can read quite a bit of the darn language, but I'm having a heck of a time trying to speak it!

Other than that, I speak enough Spanish to get me in trouble, and I am fluent in Southernese.

[Jack]

I speak enough Spanish to get me in trouble...

The only Spanish words I recognize really well are puto and mariposa. The first means "faggot" (in the deragotory sense), and the second one can mean "faggot" (in the same sense) or, curiously, "butterfly."

I wish that the word "butterfly" in English also meant "faggot." I think it's a really beautiful phenomenom, even though it's not supposed to be.