Se habla ingles?

[hackthis_archive]

I had a dream last night that I had to make this poll. It's just for curiousity's sake, but you know me, I may try to pick your brains later if I want one of my characters to start cursing at people in Russian. Even though my keyboard isn't equipped for Russian.

ETA: I define 'speak' as some degree of fluency/proficency where you can a) carry on a conversation b) curse prolifically and summon a policeman in said language and/or c) survive if you are kidnapped, tied up, dropped off in that country with nothing but your name, and can communicate well enough with other people (without sign language) so you can get back home.

Too much Burn Notice what?

ETA 2: Yes, kids, I know that Scandinavian and Eastern European are regions and not languages, but in some instances you have to generalize because unless it's for a paper, I'm not listing 600 languages.

[Poll #1077017]

Comments

[green-queen.livejournal.com]

I can get by in Japanese, but I can understand it better than I can speak it and can only read 2 alphabets out of 3, so I didn't count it. Language is tricky!

[serialkarma.livejournal.com]

Oh, well, in that case you'll notice my icon!

[hey-mockingbird.livejournal.com]

:D yay a gold star!! I don't know WHY I know all these things!! I was very bored in school, I guess...^_^ I took French for like eight years or so, and am still doing it now, but my step-dad's been having conversatons with me in French since I was five, and my dad was the one who taught me Gaelic....we have cousins who speak it, and tey taught HIM. And pronounciation IS a bitch, but it's fun! Aaaand Old English was my mom's doing, and my little sister just gets bored and wants to learn new things. At NINE YEARS OLD, she is speaking Spanish fluently (she goes to a Spanish Immersion school, has since she was three), and took Japanese and Mandarin Chinese because she was bored.

My family is so weird. ^_^

[sanzina89.livejournal.com]

I can speak in Italian and try to speak in English. I don't if to say American English or British one, 'cause at school we have to study the second, but I see American tv shows ;)
Oh, I can read and translate Latin in Italian because Latin is a subject you study in many Italian high school^^

[manynames.livejournal.com]

I can carry out a simple conversation in Welsh, but I'm not proficient enough anymore to be able to tick it in good faith!

[sparky77.livejournal.com]

I am all about the useless languages. I was almost a classics major until I came to my senses, but I studied Ancient Greek, Old English, and a form of Gaelic, but I never took Latin because my ancient Greek teacher hated Ancient Rome and I liked him, so I never bothered with the Latin. Also, I can swear a bit in Ancient Greek. It might possibly be the most useless thing I know how to do.

[smonsterbite.livejournal.com]

Speak fluently: English, Romanian (Moldovan dialect), French (may require a glass of red wine or two)
Read: above plus Italian and some Spanish
Tourist phrases/curse in: all of above plus German, Russian
Count to ten and invite someone to a movie, politely: Japanese

[fatema.livejournal.com]

You forgot Bengali! And as for the cursing, hmmm... Shu-or. It means pig. It's a huge insult because most Bengalis are Muslim or Hindu and pork is forbidden. A pig is a huge sign of filthy habits and everything that goes against the Muslim/Hindu religions, so it's a very big insult.

[transtempts.livejournal.com]

Spanish and French - reading and speaking reasonably well. Spanish I use more, as I have to do translating for patients at times, and I listen to a lot of music in those languages, that's a good way to keep yourself used to the sounds of it.

German- I can handle basic questions and swear. Japanese and Russian, the same.

[zeenell]

I hit greek for the attic greek *g*

Mhmmm, even if I have issues with the fucking tenses (damn you aorist. And damn you middle voice)

I can read the bible in ancient greek, but I can't remember which dialect that actually is - I just know it's not attic.

Oh you damn jesuit college I transferred from!

[aurora]

*is proud of language knowledge*

Also, the only Eastern European language I'm fluent in is Bulgarian.

[rhea-carlysse.livejournal.com]

I didn't click on cyberspeak, I am so smart.

Also, whoa, 35 people who speak Spanish, I'm not alone *_*

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

this include the skill of being able to translate nearly any language known to man if it's an away message?

Seriously. So the new Rosetta stone.

[pandorablu.livejournal.com]

So I speak/read/write English (America), English (The Queen's Version), as well as that silly one called Cyberspeak. Know enough Spanish to get myself in trouble (but not really enough to hold a fluent convo). Thanks to Firefly I know how to curse in Chinese semi-fluently, but that's about it. Also know some Elvish curses.

... why is it that you always learn the curses of a language first?

[zeenell]

I, yes. I hate when that occurs.

(ha, on the other hand, we got to practise reading greek and latin by reading mythology. You know, where the wife/brother/whatever is mad at the father/husband/brother-in-law/king, what have you... so they serve the kids for dinner.)

I kind of miss those classes...

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

... why is it that you always learn the curses of a language first?

Because they're essential in any language darling. It's a memory priortization! Okay, you can't find the bathroom, but at least you can tell someone to go fuck themselves.

[overnighter.livejournal.com]

Hee. If you define it as actually speaking the language, I am hopeless, but if you are more creative in your definitions, I learned enough Gaelic to win a bar bet (and can basically introduce myself, order beer and tea, and curse colorfully), and spent a year learning way more rudimentary Russian than my total failure to speak it might suggest.

And while, after eight years of instruction, I would count myself as barely competent in Spanish, I do have a massive cholo glossary compiled, left over from an old work project. It's come in handy more than once, I must confess, in fic.

[rhovanhen.livejournal.com]

Chinese - It would be impossible to list more of the dialects and languages of China, but I picked Cantonese as the closest option for me. And as mentioned in other posts, nice definition of 'speak'. Could I hold a serious conversation with a college professor (or even a college student)? No. A friendly merchant or fellow cafe-goer? Probably.

(Off topic, but of possible interest - "Do You Speak American", a book on regional American English dialects.)

[vylit.livejournal.com]

I can converse in Spanish, and I can read it, but it's not the kind of Spanish that you'd talk in front of your mama.

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

This is absolutely true. The native population speaks Marathi, the large immigrant population from north India speaks Hindi, but Bombay is home to a very large number of communities, who speak practically every language in India. This is why, among other things, discussing a potential bargain in front of a shopkeeper in your native language is completely useless. You might tell your mother in Malayalam or Kannada, "this is absolutely shameless, I could get those earrings in Hyderabad for twenty rupees," and the shopkeeper, in spite of not speaking a word of Malayalam or Kannada, will still have picked up enough to butt right in and inform you in Hindi that he doesn't know why you say that, madam, because it's not like you're ever going to get something of such quality in Hyderabad even if it's cheaper there!

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

Hi! I speak Marathi, Malayalam, and a bit of Tamil and Gujarati in addition to the stuff I checked in your poll.

I also read the Italian sports pages, so if you ever somehow have a burning desire to know what a spoon is doing on the football field, I might be able to help.

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

An Ancient Greece teacher who hated Ancient Rome. I am shocked I tell you. Shocked.

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's just damn impressive. You get a gold star.

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

LOL.

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

LOL. You are awesome, thank you for my education!