Your Languages?

[sneezedreamer]

I forgot one: does sign language count? One of my favourites is the sign for "bacon and eggs"...not quite sure why xD

I think it should...many people at my high school took two years of sign language to fufill our basic language requirment, rather than taking a spoken language like Spanish or Italian.

[Raining Strawberry]

I forgot one: does sign language count? One of my favourites is the sign for "bacon and eggs"...not quite sure why xD

I think it should...many people at my high school took two years of sign language to fufill our basic language requirment, rather than taking a spoken language like Spanish or Italian.

I agree that it should definitely count! It's not spoken, obviously, but is still a mode of communication. I have yet to learn it, but I took a linguistic anthropology class when I started college and we talked about sign language. It has a different grammatical structure than English (or the language of which ever country it's used in), so it must be its own language.

Another (possibly) interesting tidbit that I learned-- as a person grows from an infant into a child, the part of the brain responsible for hearing sits and waits to be stimulated. Since it's not, the brain eventually shifts its communication focus to the sight region, relying more heavily on that to learn the language. Although my memory may fail me... this might actually be in regards to blind people learning Braille, in which case the brain would shift its focus from the sight region to the touch and hearing regions.

Heh. Sorry for the brief tangent!

[Kiwifruit]

Another (possibly) interesting tidbit that I learned-- as a person grows from an infant into a child, the part of the brain responsible for hearing sits and waits to be stimulated. Since it's not, the brain eventually shifts its communication focus to the sight region, relying more heavily on that to learn the language. Although my memory may fail me... this might actually be in regards to blind people learning Braille, in which case the brain would shift its focus from the sight region to the touch and hearing regions.

I'm not sure about deaf people, but I know blind people have a better sense of touch and hearing than sighted people. Would this mean that the blind would find learning a new language easier, do you think, since they're more used to communicating purely through spoken language and not body language?

And since we're counting it: I'm pretty good at sign language and can hold fairly speedy conversations in it. I used to talk with one of my friends in class using this method all the time when the teacher's back was turned, the teacher never knew... I've fallen out of practise a bit though, since I don't actually know anyone else who can use it.

[Raining Strawberry]

I'm not sure about deaf people, but I know blind people have a better sense of touch and hearing than sighted people. Would this mean that the blind would find learning a new language easier, do you think?

Well, if any one of your senses is blocked off for any reason, your other senses tend to grow sharper. (Say, your hearing get better if you're stalking people in the dark. ) So therefore, I would imagine that deaf people likely have better vision than those who can hear, and blind people have better hearing. It makes sense to me that your sense of touch would improve more greatly if you lost your sight than your hearing, since you'd need your sense of touch to get around if you can't see, whereas if you can't hear you can still get places. But I'm not sure 100% how this affects the communication centers in the brain.

So I don't really know... but it'd be a fun topic to research!

[Mirf]

It's not spoken, obviously, but is still a mode of communication.

So is morse code .

I would define a language by having it's own set of grammar rules and words. I think sign language qualifies for that as someone who learned it in france can talk to someone who learned it in america and doesn't suddenly wonder about the placement of the color from the car. At least i think it works that way .

[Raining Strawberry]

I think sign language qualifies for that as someone who learned it in france can talk to someone who learned it in america and doesn't suddenly wonder about the placement of the color from the car. At least i think it works that way .

Actually, I believe there are dozens of sign languages used by different countries around the world. For instance, in the US your class would be called ASL, specifically for American Sign Language. I don't really know anything about other sign languages though.

[Mirf]

Really? I didn't know that . I'm not sure if i would count it as an actual language then. more like an accent or variation of an existing language then i suppose .

[Klingon]

my native language is (American) english but I speak a little bit of Nippon (Japanese) and am always wanting to learn more (to bad my Itekki gf's no help) and am pretty good with German. I have been told once ( by foreign exchange student) that my German accent is really good. (in fact asked if i was from there- which I'm not but...) I'm always wanting to learn more of it though. the only signs I know are of a military nature and the 1 we're not supposed to use (but I use it anyways lol) *rolls eyes* um I'm also learning to speak Klingon... does that count as a language?

[sneezomania]

Being German, my first and native language naturally is German.

Second one is English, I'd say it's good enough to communicate about things I'm interested in and visiting English speaking countries without risking to starve. My written English is much better than my spoken English - so be glad that you read me and don't hear me.

Third one is Latin, but there's not much left now - I know some fixed idioms like contradictio in eo ipso, conditio sine qua non, de mortuis nihil nisi bene - but that's all about it.

Fourth one is French, but just un tout petit peu.

It's impressing to see how many of you are interested in learning German. In my imagination, learning German is very difficult for non-Germans, the German grammar with its thousands of exceptions and special rules must be horrible for someone with another language as his native one. In Germany we say "deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache" - "German language, difficult language". So I'm glad that I'll never have to learn German as a foreign language.

[Hawkeye]

My first language is English.

I've been taking French for almost five years, but I'm nowhere near fluent. I understand more than I speak, but I speak better than I write. I'm to the point where I can usually carry on a conversation as long as the other person speaks a little slowly, and I can usually get the gist of movies and such that are in French.

[sneezy_kiwi]

New Zealand has three official languages:

English

Maori

Sign Language.

I speak all of them with varying degrees of ability (do you actually "speak" sign? hmmm). Our sign language is different to the American version, though I think there are some signs in common. I also speak a little French - reading, writing and speaking it.... though my tenses are a bit dodgy.

-kiwi-

[haeeshoo]

My native tongue is a weird dialect - spoken by only a few thousand people in the world. I won't name it here

since I'm still somewhat paranoid about being recognized

I am very fluent in Dutch (lezen, schrijven en spreken).

I know more than basic English (reading, writing, speaking) and I have known more than basic French (lire, ecrire et parler) the latter one is mostly gone due to lack of practice).

Other than that I have some notions of German (much more understanding than speaking/writing) and

I took a few years of Russian as hobby project in high school (by now I only remember the alfabet, and even that's flaky )

I can still read some Latin - but I must admit that lack of practice also made this fade away somewhat.

I also happen to "speak" multiple computer languages (the ones I value most are Pascal, Python, C, C++, Lisp and Prolog)

and I can read and write musical notes

Languages I would like to learn some day (or at least get a taste of): Swedish, Italian and, why not, sign language (as used by deaf people).

[Frostybite]

I really only speak English (the American version) with a bit of California valley dialect thrown in there. I understand small bits of varying languages as related to martial arts (Korean, Japanese, Chinese) but these are extremely limited and I wouldn't really want to try to pronounce even the words that I do know. I also understand some sign language and some Spanish. Pretty limited all the way around but I can at least understand a few things.

Personally I would love to be able to read Japanese, especially as many of my teachers notes were written in Japanese and they really don't translate well, or so I have been told.

[obsessed]

haeeshoo, that's way too impressive.

I can read music too!

I'd love to learn sign language.

[Kiwifruit]

Since people seem to be counting this: I can also read music. I can write it too, but my composition skills are lacking, to say the least

[SomethingClever]

My first language is Hebrew, and I also speak Arabic and English... I lived in Israel until I was twelve, when I came to the US, but my parents are American, so I already new English pretty well, because that was the language we mostly spoke at home...

[snuffle-bunny]

My first language is English, but I can understand and speak a very little French - I understand more than I speak. I can also understand a few words of basic German.

I can use the basic sign language alphabet - don't know if these signs are universal?

[nolongeractive]

Well, I really only speak English. I speak some Spanish just from taking it for a few years, but I'm not very good. And, as you know, I can say "across from!" in Japanese, and that's about all I need to know. x]

[katia]

I speak English.

I was required to take French in school when I was younger, but I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and my school didn't actually have a teacher who knew French, so we just played Scrabble with bonus points if you used a French word.

I know basic sign language.

And I'm extremely fluent in music.

Also, I happen to speak Pig Latin just as well as I speak English, which is a huge accomplishment as I'm sure you know, after spending several months when I was seven refusing to speak anything else.

[Ciuty80]

my mother tongue is GERMAN =)

so if anybody needs help contact me

but my history is a bit different

i was born in the philippines, was adopted by germans,

moved to germany, first contact to philippinos was 1997

i wanted to learn tagalog, but it´s kind of difficult because i don´t learn spanish

i lived with my family 5 years in greece (when i was a child) so i know the basics in greek

i can speak and write english very good, french a bit cause i choose it in school

and since i loved to watch animes i want to learn japanese,

also because my husband´s grandfather is half japanese^^

and i really love this language

[Nova]

My first language is Swedish - The quickly disappearing language *laugh* I love Swedish, it's beautiful (especially some dialects), and think it's a shame people start using English words as much as they do. I sometimes feel as if forty percent (or so) of many conversations I have with other swedes is in English *snicker*. I try not to do this, but the occasional "right" slips out anyway.

That said, I think I'm okay with English (like most Swedes) - both spoken and written. I would like to say I'm good, but as my boyfriend is an English major, I compare myself to people who are insanely good at it. Aaaanyway - I manage, evidently, as I've survived my trips to English-speaking countries.

I can't speak Spanish at all, but I understand the most basic things when I hear it. So, I'd say I know enough to help my boyfriend's sister with her homework, and she's been studying it for a year.

I can read Arabic letters and often put the correct vowels where they should be, though I wouldn't understand much of it. My vocabulary isn't that fantastic. I also speak some *clears throat* Modern Standard Arabic - Fuṣḥā. Again, not much. I probably wouldn't understand it spoken, unless someone spoke very, very slowly.

[Kiwifruit]

That said, I think I'm okay with English (like most Swedes) - both spoken and written. I would like to say I'm good, but as my boyfriend is an English major, I compare myself to people who are insanely good at it. Aaaanyway - I manage, evidently, as I've survived my trips to English-speaking countries.

Are you kidding?? You're excellent at English, much better than a good chunk that have it as their first language! I would never have picked you as having English as a (second? third?) language. So unless you can read/write it far better than you speak it, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about

[tFM!]

My first language is English. I started taking Spanish freshman year, I continued it this year, and I'm planning on taking it the next two years of school too. I'm still not too good at it though. I can speak/write a limited amount, but I can understand more than I speak.

I would really like to learn German and Gaelic someday though. Languages are fun

[Quills & Wells]

English is my first language

I picked up sign language as a young child (used to be fluent, but getting rusty now from lack of use)

French: I can read it well, write it somewhat decently, can't speak it very coherently though

Spanish is one I consider myself fluent in, although my speaking skills aren't good enough for me yet.

I understand a fair amount of Portuguese since it's similar to Spanish

Same goes for Italian

I have a friend from Germany who is teaching me German, so I understand basic German for now

I know a few words in Chinese, Russian, Hebrew, and Latin

I tried to learn Gaelic once via language tapes. I don't reccommend it! After 6 months, the one thing I could say with any sort of accuracy was hi...and apparently even that didn't stick

[Demon327]

I'm fluent in AutoCAD Being an engineer I received a "C" in English, which is my first language, and was happy.

I know US Military Morse Code, apparently North American Railroad Morse Code is different. I can read, but not translate Hebrew. A good friend of mine is trying to teach me French, but it is killing me. It took me two weeks to master (hahaha) I am happy to see you again. Another friend of mine is teaching me Spanish one word at a time. My newest word is dia del pago which means payday! I know a few phrases in German and would like to learn much more before I travel to Germany in 2012 to continue my genealogy research. I have relatives in Elmsland if any Germans here are from that region.