kopernikus Posted February 18, 2004 at 04:57 PM Report Posted February 18, 2004 at 04:57 PM Well my mother tongue is Swedish. And the nice thing about speaking a Scandinavian language is that you can claim to know the others ones as well (Norweigan, Danish) since they're really dialects of the same tongue ... It's kinda silly that we aren't just one nationstate instead of three if you ask me. So, I know 4 languages... ;) Of course I study Mandarin as well or I wouldn't be here Quote
smithsgj Posted February 19, 2004 at 02:52 AM Report Posted February 19, 2004 at 02:52 AM But kopernikus is it necessarily so? Isn't there one nationality (Norwegians?) that can't understand one of the others (DAnes?)? I've overheard conversations between Scandinavians where communication has broken down and they've been forced to use English, I'm fairly sure. Your argument is trundled out quite frequently as evidence that Cantonese and Mandarin are separate languages blah blah. Quote
wushijiao Posted February 19, 2004 at 07:24 AM Report Posted February 19, 2004 at 07:24 AM spanish, putonghua (learning), some russian Quote
kopernikus Posted February 19, 2004 at 12:42 PM Report Posted February 19, 2004 at 12:42 PM Well, ok, I have to admit that as a Swede it's sometimes hard to understand the Danes, and it gets harder the farther away from Sweden they grew up. But it's mostly a matter of the way the prunounce things, it's like they've got their mouths stuffed with porridge all the time. This seems to have become worse the last years, and I heard of a study that said that Danish toddlers have a smaller vocabulary than their counterparts in other countries - simply because the Danish words are harder to distinguish from each other! But of course they catch up over time... So yes, to be honest I prefer using English when talking to Danes, problem is the ones I've met have seemed slightly offended when I switched... So we've usually went with them speaking slowly (I'd rather have them speak clearly, but I don't think they know the difference! ), repeating every other sentence a couple of times Yeah, using the notion of what a nationstate should be to argue over language is pretty clumsy, especially when applying the concept to an entire civilization... Compared to 18 million Scandinavians. Quote
Guest Arsenii Posted February 21, 2004 at 03:51 PM Report Posted February 21, 2004 at 03:51 PM -I speak Romanian and -Russian as mother and Father's languages. -English -PutongHua (can read, speak, but listen badly) -Japanese (almost have forgotten the material I have learne in a year) -some (half a year learning) Bahasa Melayu (Indonesia). Hey, guys! Do u use instant messengers? We could practise languages on line:) Yahoo! Messenger: kinkune2002@yahoo.com.cn MSN: kinkuen2003@hotmail.com ICQ#: 250-809-723 Quote
Guest Martinshanghai Posted March 1, 2004 at 08:10 PM Report Posted March 1, 2004 at 08:10 PM English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Shanghainese (some), (Latin, some Greek ) M. Quote
Guest high_criteria Posted March 2, 2004 at 02:50 PM Report Posted March 2, 2004 at 02:50 PM english nepali chinese hindi(never studied but can understand and speak) ;) well, i want to learn french and japanese in addition... Quote
Guest high_criteria Posted March 2, 2004 at 02:51 PM Report Posted March 2, 2004 at 02:51 PM English' date=' French, German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Shanghainese (some), (Latin, some Greek )M.[/quote'] oh my gosh!!! Quote
Lu Posted March 4, 2004 at 04:10 PM Report Posted March 4, 2004 at 04:10 PM Dutch, English, Mandarin, German, I used to know French, and studied Latin and Greek. I plan to learn some Spanish, and if I ever get the oppprtunity I'll study Cantonese 'cause I can't stand not understanding them. Quote
seahorse Posted March 5, 2004 at 05:24 AM Report Posted March 5, 2004 at 05:24 AM I can speak mongolian,chinese,english. and my english is better than my mongolian,so I feel bad,cos I'm a mongolian. Quote
Guest MienhSieqv Posted March 15, 2004 at 04:38 PM Report Posted March 15, 2004 at 04:38 PM Hi, I speak English and Mien only. Quote
smithsgj Posted March 16, 2004 at 07:20 AM Report Posted March 16, 2004 at 07:20 AM Hi, I speak English and Mien only. Mien. Wassat? 1 Quote
ankong Posted March 16, 2004 at 11:20 AM Report Posted March 16, 2004 at 11:20 AM Sa was dee krup - I can speak Thai, and I would like to learn more Putonghua. Quote
Guest MienhSieqv Posted March 16, 2004 at 04:48 PM Report Posted March 16, 2004 at 04:48 PM Hi' date=' I speak English and Mien only.[/quote']Mien. Wassat? Mien? go to www.iumien.com there's a dictionary. I'm the nationality of Iu Mien and I speak Mien. Quote
smithsgj Posted March 17, 2004 at 01:21 AM Report Posted March 17, 2004 at 01:21 AM It's a form of Lao, then? Quote
Guest Merlin Posted March 17, 2004 at 10:01 AM Report Posted March 17, 2004 at 10:01 AM Hmm... I speak: Russian Hebrew English And a little bit of some other languages anata wa? Quote
OM3RTA Posted March 18, 2004 at 03:15 AM Report Posted March 18, 2004 at 03:15 AM Hi I speak: Indonesian (somewhat the same as Malay) Mandarin English I'm from Indonesia btw... Quote
ashe Posted March 18, 2004 at 05:46 AM Report Posted March 18, 2004 at 05:46 AM Well lets see I know English I can say how old are you,1 - 10, hello, goodbye and so on in mandarin I'm learning something every day!! I can use sign language too!! lol my chinese teacher @ school is cool Ashe Quote
trooper Posted April 5, 2004 at 03:36 AM Report Posted April 5, 2004 at 03:36 AM I stumbled across a website in the UK created by someone who has studied quite a few languages. Can anyone beat his total? http://www.omniglot.com/language/experiences.htm Quote
geek_frappa Posted April 5, 2004 at 04:01 AM Report Posted April 5, 2004 at 04:01 AM i think the only person who can beat that resume is her: she speaks so many languages fluently... it's scary. Madeleine Albright Quote
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