Languages

[Class172]

Inspired by the 'languages themed' night on guess the station a few nights ago, I was thinking what languages is everyone able to speak on here? Are we all multi-lingual, or are you stuck with English?

This thread can be used to communicate in other languages and test your writing skills.

Poll: Please don't vote for a language if you only know numbers or a few words.

 

[valenta]

If you'd asked me 15 years ago, I might have been able to tick French. But unfortunately it has been a while since I got my O level in the subject, so it is just English for me.

 

[AlterEgo]

I speak French to a good GCSE standard. I also studied Latin at school, and although I don't "speak" Latin as such, I understand much of it.

I also speak a little Latvian, not quite to conversational standard.

 

[Hydro]

Good GCSE French here too, helps having a Francophone partner. Seeing her family is a bit daunting but I seem to get by without too many problems.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I could always get by in French at business meetings in Europe, but found English is universally accepted due to American involvement in many situations in which we found our Consultancy had an involvement.

One point to note was when I was in Canada at the Toronto office, I made numerous visits to the Quebec region, where French is very strongly a main language base. Many years ago, General de Gaulle, in a visit to Quebec in 1967, created controversy with his attempt to influence a separatist agenda for Quebec, by his "Vive le Quebec libre" speech.

 

[WestCoast]

I ticked English, French and German.

I can speak German quite well (not yet fluent though), and I can read and write in that language to a certain level.

I have studied French up to AS-Level (i.e. half an A-Level). I can hold a conversation and I've got reading/writing skills in that language.

I know very basic Spanish and Dutch - I can count (up to 100) and can probably just about 'get-by', but nothing more than that. It's of the "hello, how are you?", "where is the bank, please?" standard. I can understand quite a bit of Dutch when spoken/written, but I struggle to reply to that.

I know a few words of Polish, Czech, Finnish and Italian, but there is no way I could hold a conversation!

 

[lemonic]

English (unsurprisingly), German (to A Level standard), Polish (reasonably fluent).

I didn't tick French, because despite getting an A* at GCSE, after doing German A level, I can see that there is no way you can learn a language only to GCSE and still be able to talk fluently.

 

[yorksrob]

I'm afraid i learnt only one thing in a-level french - and that was not to try and speak french !

 

[trentside]

I can get by in France - in other words, I can form sentences and make myself understood. The same can be said for German. I don't claim fluency or even full understanding of either, but I can get by. I won't vote for either - not sure I can claim competency.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I can do a bit of French - 'Je vais du cheval' is 'I do the horse [riding]', and I know enough probably to get by, but not enough for a conversation...

 

[WestCoast]

I can do a bit of French - 'Je vais du cheval' is 'I do the horse [riding]', and I know enough probably to get by, but not enough for a conversation...

I'd probably go for "Je vais de l'equitation" if I wanted to say that (which I never will).

 

[First class]

Dw i ddim yn deall!!!!

Annigonol ydy un iaith....

 

[flymo]

I'm from Newcastle so apart from English and Geordie , living in Hong Kong I have picked up a fair bit of Cantonese (Traditional - reading, writing and speaking) and to a much lesser extent Tagalog, (Philippines) as my wife is from there.

Mandarin is increasing here also, still mostly gibberish to me though....

At school I learned French and German but a tad rusty on these now.

 

[WestCoast]

Dw i ddim yn deall!!!!

Annigonol ydy un iaith....

Dwi ddim yn deall Cymraeg!

*thanks Google*

 

[First class]

edit - wrong...

 

[Class172]

Well as I haven't said so far here goes:

French - I have been learning French since year 2 and I have started GCSE French. I can have a conversation in French and I am also able to read and write it well.

Spanish - I started started Spanish two years ago and I am able to have a basic conversation and can also read and write some. Unfortunately I had to drop it when I chose my GCSEs but at least I know some.

Latin - I can't really hold a conversation in Latin but I am able to read and translate it, as well as write it. I know a large range of vocabulary and I started it two years ago. I am also taking it as a GCSE choice.

English - well, duh, obviously!

 

[gg1]

Just English for me.

I took GCSE French and German but got pretty poor grades and had another stab at learning German a few years ago without much luck.

Odd thing is, even though I really struggled with meanings and sentence structures when trying to learn German the second time, I was told my pronunciation was generally spot on.

 

[WestCoast]

Odd thing is, even though I really struggled with meanings and sentence structures when trying to learn German the second time, I was told my pronunciation was generally spot on.

English is a West Germanic language and once you know the rules of pronunciation then it's normally relatively OK. However, I find the grammar, particularly in the written mode, to be more challenging than, say, French.

Above all, English is a hard language to learn for those who are not native speakers, especially with its wide range of tenses and strange spelling practices (which natives sometimes struggle with!).

 

[EirikhO]

I do English quite good, can keep simple conversations going in German and speak Norwegian at a native level.

 

[Crossover]

Primarily English here

I know bits of French and can understand signs and bits of conversations but nowhere near fluent (did that to GCSE)

I know bits of German and as with French, can understand a few things. Although I have only done a year at school of it, I have a better "working" knowledge of German (been there for longer periods than France) and do find it easier to an extent to understand.

I know a few odd words of Welsh too, but it is literally only a few and mostly for saying, not spelling. The exception to that is "araf" (pronounced "arav" I am reliably told, due to the single "f") which is plastered on nigh on every road in Wales!

 

[Lampshade]

I can speak German casually and a bit of Tagalog, but not enough to tick the 'Other' box

 

[mbonwick]

English, GCSE French and fluent sarcasm.

(Does West Cumbrian count as a separate language too?!)

 

[HST Power]

I think it would be fair to say I speak very good French having learned it intensively; but my German on the other hand is rather poor. I can do a fair bit of German, though in comparison to my French it's terrible. I plan to travel to Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands in two years time which presents a good opportunity to start on the Spanish, but we shall have to see whether or not I can be bothered!

 

[Mojo]

I always wish I could speak another language and am rather ashamed when I go abroad that I can't.

I did Spanish GCSE and can say a few basic things when I go abroad.

I hope that once I am settled down into a full-time job I will try and learn.

 

[Daimler]

Eh bien, moi, je parle français et anglais - en effet, j'étudie le français (et l'histoire) à l'université.

 

[SS4]

I can speak a bit of French and a bit of German (got Rammstein to thank for a not unsubstantial part of my German ).

Like English I am better at reading and writing rather than listening and speaking.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I also speak Crap and can partially understand Yam-Yam

 

[W-on-Sea]

English (native), French, Russian (both slightly rusty for speaking but basically OK - I use them more for reading at the moment), and lesser amounts of Ukrainian, lesser still of German, and reading knowledge of some others (probably Italian or Serbo/Croat the best of em)

 

[4SRKT]

Ten bate van Class172, 'Dutch' heet 'Nederlands' in de nederlandse taal

 

[Tomonthetrain]

I speak (Black Country) English French Germany & Sarcasm

I can understand some welsh but not much.

 

[martinsh]

Es varu runat Latviski - sliktak neka dzimtnieks bet es varu sarunos ar mana draudzene. Paslaiks galvenais problema ir si dators nav speciala burtiem.

I speak Latvian. Also French (5 years in school), German (2 years in school, forgot a lot when I learnt Latvian, but can still parrot-quote the text book !), Italian, Spanish (picked up a bit on holidays), Dutch (learnt a few sentences when I worked there), and odd words of Welsh, Polish, Russian and Malay ("ini keretapi" = here is a train !!).

Can also understand quite a bit of Lithuanian due to it being similar to Latvian.

Oh, and "tsingwah kaugat termon" = "please stand clear of the doors" in Cantonese ! I can read one Chinese character as well !