A question about languages.

[KGIII]

What languages, other than English, are you conversationally fluent in?

You should be able to read and write in these languages - maybe with some infrequent translator help for when you're confused.

Me?

Well, I took a bunch of Latin and even some Ancient Greek, almost all of which I've long since forgotten. 'Snot a whole lot of chances to keep oneself fluent without diligent and purposeful effort, which I did not do.

I'm reasonably fluent in Spanish. I can speak and read it well enough, but my spelling and sentence structure are attrocious.

 

[Brickwizard]

I am reasonably fluent in speaking Greek [when in Greece or Cyprus I am often taken for an Athenian or Cretan] but lacking in the reading and writing department. I know just enough Spanish/Portuguese/German to get the gist of what they are saying. Dutch is a lot easier, as it is closely related to old English.[and I had to learn to read trade catalogue in Dutch, as they didn't do them in English, but again I am not fluent] .my biggest problems are Antipodeans and Americans.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Japanese, Chinese (Beijing dialect), Indonesian and Malay (basically the same)

 

[wizardfromoz]

...my biggest problems are Antipodeans

Bloody Nora I think he is talking about us Aussies. I resemble that remark.

 

[MikeRocor]

I (pretend to) know just enough Greek to suppose that "Antipodeans" are those who are adamantly against all forms of feet and "Americans" is, no doubt, a word meaning "not mericans". (just kidding)

I took French all through high school but never really became "conversational", let alone "fluent" in it. -And- that was a few decades ago?

 

[Terminal Velocity]

Greek is my mother tongue, a dialect of it in particular. My English are that you all know and appreciate in this forum

 

[lomszz]

Only languages I understand & speak is Finnish and English

 

[Brickwizard]

a dialect of it in particular.

What would that be, On my travels, I found spoken Greek has as many dialects as British English, and Cypriot Greek is more akin to what American English is to standard British English often it doesn't seem to even be related

 

[Terminal Velocity]

What would that be, On my travels, I found spoken Greek has as many dialects as British English, and Cypriot Greek is more akin to what American English is to standard British English often it doesn't seem to even be related

I grew up in a rural area in Crete, there they speak a thick dialect of Greek, it differs in many ways from standard Greek, in syntax and vocabulary but they are mutually intelligible if you try a bit. In the school of course we were doing standard modern Greek. When I moved to mainland I carried with me that thick dialect and at start was a bit awkward but I adapted quickly.

The Cretan dialect is very important to the history of modern Greek language, a connective link to medieval, we are now trying to preserve it.

 

[Brickwizard]

I grew up in a rural area in Crete, there they speak a thick dialect of Greek,

I am self-taught, but have been to Crete many times [that's probably how I picked up some of the accent], Us Brits are not known for speaking other languages especially the harder ones like Greek, so it's a surprise to the locals when I do,

 

[gvisoc]

Other than English, Galician and Spanish from Spain --a.k.a., Castilian.

I am Spanish by birth, from a region of Spain that has 2 official languages, Galician and Castilian --this is the name of the Spanish variant from Spain.

Galician is a language that has a common trunk with Portuguese, but they drifted apart in the middle ages and Galicia was subject to much more "influence" from our Castilian "friendly neighbours". Both Galician and Portuguese are closer to Latin than Castilian, and although I don't speak Galician since about 25 years ago I feel I could be fluent in a couple of hours of warming up.

 

[Tolkem]

Spanish (native), English and French fluently, and some (very little) Portuguese and Italian. Would like to learn Russian, German and Japanese.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Nice to hear from you "Hornet".

 

[Tolkem]

Nice to hear from you "Hornet".

Oh, have been very busy with work ＼（´Ｏ｀）／. Nice to hear from you too!

 

[KGIII]

Oh, have been very busy with work ＼（´Ｏ｀）／. Nice to hear from you too!

Ah, that explains it. It's good to see you and know that you're okay.

 

[joãocabral]

I have a question, don't know if i should open a new thread to ask this, but since the subject is related, I'm gonna use this one.
I'm from Brazil, my native language is Portuguese, and I'm also native in English, but the way i learned English wasn't by studying, reading, etc. I just learned the same way i learned Portuguese, it was natural for me, it was by playing games, listening songs, that kinda stuff. And now I'm trying to learn Spanish, and a fact i acknowledged about myself is, that, i don't know how to learn a language, even though I'm fluent in a foreign language, I don't know how to actually learn one.
So, my question is this, how do you guys study when you try to learn a new language? you buy courses, books, try apps, what's your thing?

 

[KGIII]

So, my question is this, how do you guys study when you try to learn a new language?

Formal study and immersion. For example, I was attached to the embassy in Peru many years ago. So, I can speak and read (sort of) Spanish. I still practice my Spanish skills when I get the chance.

I'm also fairly fluent in ASL, but I don't have any deaf people in my life to keep that current - and it'd be entirely useless in the context of this thread.

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @joãocabral and welcome to linux.org

So, my question is this, how do you guys study when you try to learn a new language? you buy courses, books, try apps, what's your thing?

A valid question I am happy to answer, but perhaps not here.

If the OP (Original Poster) David G. @KGIII prefers to keep this confined to

What languages, other than English, are you conversationally fluent in?

Then you could start your own thread here in Off Topic, maybe starting something like this

Title

how do you guys study when you try to learn a new language?

and go on with, for example

This Thread was prompted by reading https://www.linux.org/threads/a-question-about-languages.46750/

I'll wait to see what David feels.

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[KGIII]

If the OP (Original Poster) David G. @KGIII prefers to keep this confined to

So long as it doesn't go too far off topic. But, you're probably right.

I asked this question wondering if we had the man power (we do not) to do some real translation in a non-English sub forum. I don't believe we do.

 

[Brickwizard]

I don't believe we do.

Agreed