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wonderinglinguist
Lorien
May 6 2014, 5:59pm
Post #1 of 48
(614 views)
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How many languages do you speak?
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How many languages do you speak and which ones?
By "speak" I mean you could hold a decent conversation with someone, so not necessarily full fluency 
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BlackFox
Half-elven
May 6 2014, 6:02pm
Post #2 of 48
(438 views)
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My native language Estonian and English.
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Annael
Immortal
May 6 2014, 6:52pm
Post #4 of 48
(426 views)
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English of course; I used to be fluent in French but no longer, but I can understand it when spoken to me and fumble some replies.
I have also studied Italian and German and can ask simple questions in both.
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malickfan
Gondor
May 6 2014, 6:52pm
Post #5 of 48
(419 views)
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Only English, though I know a little German
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By a little I mean the very basics-i.e I could probably get the gist of Roadsigns, instructions and small talk, and get by in an emergency but nothing much to brag about.
(This is secondary school level German so I'm not sure if it would even count)
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Elanor of Rohan
Lorien
May 6 2014, 6:56pm
Post #6 of 48
(436 views)
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Italian (my mother tongue)
German (better written than spoken though)
French (I can understand it both written and oral, I speak it in simple everyday life situations)
Well, I have also studied Latin and Ancient Greek (but I voted 4, because the poll was about speaking).
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
May 6 2014, 8:09pm
Post #7 of 48
(417 views)
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I read Spanish well enough to have read LotR and the Hobbit in Spanish, and I can write a reasonable letter if I have a dictionary in hand, and I can speak and listen, but only verrrry slooooowly. My vocabulary isn't as good as it was when I was younger.
I can also kind of make out French when I see it in writing, especially if it's something technical (I read a book on sundials in French once.)
(Oh, and I read Chaucer's treatise on the astrolabe in his original English, which kind of feels like a foreign language.)
After I spent a couple of summers in Germany as a teen, I was able to kind of understand some German, at least enough to get a feel for the pattern of the sentence even if my vocabulary wasn't very good.
And I know a smattering of words in Serbo-Croatian, Turkish and Hebrew, just from knowing lots and lots of songs in those languages after forty years of doing international folk dancing. But I certainly wouldn't say I speak those languages. If you ask me if I speak Turkish, I know enough to say "Cok az" (but not enough to know how to type the proper first letter, which should have a little dangly thing under it.) That means "Very little."
My latest folly was to read the first chapter of Genesis in Hebrew, with the help of a dictionary. It went very slowly, and took me about a month :-D I felt like a kindergartner, struggling with that aleph-bet.
(This post was edited by Aunt Dora Baggins on May 6 2014, 8:11pm)
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Elanor of Rohan
Lorien
May 6 2014, 8:15pm
Post #8 of 48
(421 views)
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Would you count Middle English as a foreign language?
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In that case I'm afraid I would have to add it as well (I read Medieval English literature at University) and I read both Canterbury Tales and Sir Orfeo.
Jeez, I'm feeling a bit too bookish on this thread...
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
May 6 2014, 8:23pm
Post #9 of 48
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I've forgotten most of the high-school Spanish that I learned. Much of my Japanese as also atrophied from lack of use.
(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on May 6 2014, 8:24pm)
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Arandiel
Grey Havens
May 6 2014, 8:48pm
Post #10 of 48
(405 views)
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Since the standard is 'conversant'...
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I know 4: English (native speaker), German (nearly fluent years ago, now conversant), French (as long as folks slow down, I'll get the gist of the conversation), and Italian (again, basic conversation, mostly of the 'where is the train station?' and operatic varieties).
I've also poked around in Ancient Greek and a bit of Latin, but not for conversation - for reading, which is a whole 'nother ball game!
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wonderinglinguist
Lorien
May 6 2014, 9:31pm
Post #11 of 48
(396 views)
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that you and Aunt Dora have read books in ancient languages! Really, I am in awe! How did you go about learning how to read it?
Hmm...well, I would consider Sign Language as a language, so I suppose ancient languages count, too!
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Elanor of Rohan
Lorien
May 6 2014, 9:38pm
Post #12 of 48
(404 views)
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I studied Latin and Ancient Greek at high school
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I can even read poetry in metrics .
I studied Middle English at University and I also wrote a dissertation on Thomas Chatterton (the Romantic poet who tried and recreate a fake Middle English, pretending to have found ancient manuscripts).
And then what do you expect from a Professor Tolkien fan?
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
May 6 2014, 10:31pm
Post #13 of 48
(376 views)
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...to learn French and German, but am not really competent in either. I can barely exchange pleasantries, order in a restaurant and conduct purchases. 
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DaughterofLaketown
Gondor
May 6 2014, 10:39pm
Post #15 of 48
(379 views)
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Never be ashamed of being too bookish!
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You should be proud of your accomplishments.
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Meneldor
Valinor
May 6 2014, 11:08pm
Post #17 of 48
(370 views)
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Elanor, have you read Le Morte d'Arthur
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in Mallory's original language? It took me a while, but I got through it eventually. I thought it was easier than Chaucer.
As for me, I learned a little French in school many years ago, never got much use out of it. I studied Koine Greek a few years ago so I could read the original New Testament (slowly and with much consultation with the dictionary), but never learned to hear or speak it.
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cats16
Half-elven
May 7 2014, 12:38am
Post #18 of 48
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English and Spanish. I can recognize some Italian, too. But I'd love to learn more, such as French, Elvish and Russian, to start.
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Annael
Immortal
May 7 2014, 1:01am
Post #19 of 48
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I'm fluent in medicalese 
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wonderinglinguist
Lorien
May 7 2014, 1:01am
Post #20 of 48
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Of course! How have we forgotten that one so far?  Good point, Cats16!
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
May 7 2014, 1:03am
Post #21 of 48
(359 views)
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Chaucerian English is close enough
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to modern English that someone like me who is completely untrained can make it out. The trick is to read the words out loud. It also helps having read a lot of Shakespeare, which is kind of an intermediate step.
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cats16
Half-elven
May 7 2014, 1:22am
Post #22 of 48
(345 views)
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Only here can I suggest that as a language I'd like to learn.
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Elarie
Grey Havens
May 7 2014, 1:30am
Post #23 of 48
(351 views)
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Nowadays, just my native English
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At one time I could read and hold very basic conversations in Russian and German, but that was a long time ago - it would take lots and lots of brushing up and re-learning to get back to that.
As for my high school Spanish, it never really counted - but for some reason I do still remember lesson # 1 - how to ask directions to the library from some guy named Juan - go figure.
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Elanor of Rohan
Lorien
May 7 2014, 10:14am
Post #24 of 48
(344 views)
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but I have read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl in a modern translation.
The funny thing about Middle English is that you must pronounce it "how it is written" and, after years of training on the English pronunciation, you have to forget everything and pronounce it as an Italian would do .
The results were hilarious, I still recall my professor's disgusted expression...
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Angharad73
Rohan
May 7 2014, 10:40am
Post #25 of 48
(355 views)
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I speak English and German to native speaker standard (I studied translation and interpreting), plus French fluent enough to hold my own - most of the time - with my husband's family, although some other accents still confusticate me.
I also studied Spanish for four years, but have forgotten most of it. And then there was that time when I wanted to learn Arabic - that lasted for about a year, and I have forgotten all but a few words. I have also tried to give Irish Gaelic a go, but did not get very far.
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