How many languages do you speak fluently?

[draeke]

Mamma mia quanta gente parla italiano qui !

 

Anyhow... as you know I speak Italian, Spanish, English.

Then I can understand everything in French (but cannot speak) and am starting to learn and speak Portuguise (I am already fairly confident and understand a lot). I would love to speak Russian but I lack time and will to study hard (I tried when at University and was really hard, I learnt the alphabet but then stopped).

 

I do find languages to be so interesting and important that I guess everyone should at least try to speak 2 or 3, one being English other than his native tongue.

@Procyon: have you found any difference between the attitude of Japanese and Chinese or do you think they behave in the same way? My brother has had amazing experiences and enjoyed so much the time he spent as a tourist in Tokyo and Okinawa and I have seen some wonderful photos. He can speak Japanese too.

[Imba]

Draeke, davaj suki

[reger]

Greek, English, Italian, Spanish and a little French...

 

I was very lucky to have 2 great Spanish teachers at Uni and very unlucky to have an awful French teacher. (languages were an optional free course).

Since I speak Italian, Spanish and also did Latin at school, I can read Portuguese very easily but never got around to studying it, in fact I can understand a lot of stuff when Portuguese ppl speak but when Brasilians open their mouth, I'm totally lost.

 

EXCLUDING ENGLISH - Depending on were you leave, some languages are more useful, I'm talking professionally!

 

i.e

North America: Spanish

South America: Portuguese or Spanish (if you are Brasilian)

Central/Northern Europe: German

Eastern Europe: German and Russian

Iberic: Spain - Portuguese (Vice Versa)

 

Obviously this is a generalisation but it holds some truth,,,

In Greece, I'd say Italian and German would be the most useful (unlike French, which is quite popular),

Im not sure whether youre talking about geographical eastern europe or political eastern europe?

Because some part of northern europe is being called eastern due to political reasons(Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) and in these countries you better speak english or stfu, because in Estonia rarely anyone will bother to speak with you in russian, in Latvia there will be more speakers, were more tolerant here(which is also our biggest fault) and then there are quite many russian speakers in Lithuania, but english should be your main language if you come over here, not russian, if you prefer russian over english in Latvia or Estonia, that definitely will be received as an insult by Latvians and Estonians !

Dont know how are they about this in Lithuania tho.

 

 

Draeke, davaj suki

Is that japanese, because it sure sounds like one !

[Rotwang]

Is that japanese, because it sure sounds like one !

I don't think so, AFAIK Japanese has no 'v' sound nor is there any way to end a syllable with 'j' in its phonetic alphabets.

[Procyon]

@draeke: one thing is to visit a country as a tourist, you tend to see everything thru rosy glasses and even if you're in a situation where you're seen as a nuisance, you hardly will realize that. It takes some living in the country to understand the subtleties. Japan is a marvellous place and I have great memories, I met Goa there, to mention only one of the many great experience I had there. But also I heard things like "I hate when foreigners sit by my side" in loud voice on a bus. Or "foreigners in this room smell really bad, don't they?". Don't call me ultra-sensitive, cause I am not. I usually don't care much about these sort of comments. But after some time, it starts hurting. So, that's why I say: don't learn Japanese, let them communicate with you in their broken Engrish, at least you won't understand what they're saying about you.

 

@Rotwang: the kanas really don't have sounds we know for letters "j" and "v" as in the sentence. However, more and more they're looking for alternatives to be able to pronounce unknown sounds to them. In this case "davaj", they use their equivalent of the letter U with ten-ten in order to produce a sound similar to V. Vivian, for instance, is pronounced "Bibian" in classic kanas. But there's a modern written alternative that can produce a sound similar to "Vivian", though not quite the sound of V as we know, but not distorted as "Bibian". As for J, they can use the sound of "zhi". For instance, Nataraj, can be pronounced in two ways: the classic "Nataraju" or in a more modern usage "Natarazhi". (Edit: these examples are considered a deviation from the cult norm of Japanese, you won't see this in newspapers for example, but you can see this on the streets and, close to home, I saw this in many flyers I collected)

 

@Imba: if this is Japanese, did you mean "Draeke, I like Davaj"?

[draeke]

I think he said: давай суки -> come on bitch/es! meaning: start studying Russian and don't be lazy

interestingly enough if I transliterate also draeke it becomes: драке давай суки meaning: let's fight bitch ..

am i right imba?

[radi6404]

It is easy to understands Slavish languages if you understand one slavish language, I understood it aswell.

[CoLoUr DoTZ]

@draeke: one thing is to visit a country as a tourist, you tend to see everything thru rosy glasses and even if you're in a situation where you're seen as a nuisance, you hardly will realize that. It takes some living in the country to understand the subtleties. Japan is a marvellous place and I have great memories, I met Goa there, to mention only one of the many great experience I had there. But also I heard things like "I hate when foreigners sit by my side" in loud voice on a bus. Or "foreigners in this room smell really bad, don't they?". Don't call me ultra-sensitive, cause I am not. I usually don't care much about these sort of comments. But after some time, it starts hurting. So, that's why I say: don't learn Japanese, let them communicate with you in their broken Engrish, at least you won't understand what they're saying about you.

 

That is really sad to read. I would still like to think that maybe you had bad luck or were in the wrong part of japan and that the majority is not like that..... love to hear someone's else experience. Anyone, from or in Japan, around to give an insight about this subject??

 

Racism is sadly a widespread problem.

[Imba]

Davaj can mean give me or cmon/lets... suki are bitches

[Padmapani]

i thought kurva (or KYPBA in my lazy man's cyrillic) is the most common word for bitch in slavic languages? or is that one more like whore?

 

 

 

 

 

Mamma mia quanta gente parla italiano qui !

si, si, signore. este sera la luna e bella! pero ora mi italiano e finito.

[Procyon]

Davaj can mean give me or cmon/lets... suki are bitches

 

Funny, "suki" means "to like" in Japanese, like in "saikaderiku toransu dai suki desu" (I like psychedelic trance very much).

[Procyon]

 

That is really sad to read. I would still like to think that maybe you had bad luck or were in the wrong part of japan and that the majority is not like that..... love to hear someone's else experience. Anyone, from or in Japan, around to give an insight about this subject??

 

Racism is sadly a widespread problem.

I guess you haven't been following international news, or you would be aware of the imbroglio caused by recent racist comments by the powerful mayor of Osaka (in short he said that the Phillipine, Chinese, Korean and other women from the countries they invaded and raped during WWII were "comforts" necessary for the well being of Japanese soldiers). MInd you this is an official statement. So the example comes from above. Tokyo's even more powerful mayor Ishihara is another one who keeps saying that third world citizens are "sub-human". Of course, a great part of the Japanese population is not racist, but a foreigner is more than probable to meet one in awful occasions. I didn't have bad luck, as you suggest. Quite the contrary. Given that I have good lookings and dress sharply, I was not the subject of prejudice as I know some other people were. On the other hand I also know lots of the so-called "japanophiles", people who deny vehemently that this sort of racism exists in Japan, and more often than not, it's the so called "victim" who is over-sensitive to "normal racist situations"...if you can believe that.

 

Fresh news:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/hashimoto-offers-to-meet-comfort-women-to-apologize

 

Edit: I forgot to mention Debito (an American living in Japan who has been fighting racism and prejudices, in Japanese!). A brave man.

http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html

[Imba]

i thought kurva (or KYPBA in my lazy man's cyrillic) is the most common word for bitch in slavic languages? or is that one more like whore?

 

 

 

 

 

si, si, signore. este sera la luna e bella! pero ora mi italiano e finito.

 

 

Kurva is bitch or in cyrilic курва, and is used for balkan countries, Slovakia (can be suka too), Czech + kurWa in Polish

[CoLoUr DoTZ]

I guess you haven't been following international news, or you would be aware of the imbroglio caused by recent racist comments by the powerful mayor of Osaka (in short he said that the Phillipine, Chinese, Korean and other women from the countries they invaded and raped during WWII were "comforts" necessary for the well being of Japanese soldiers). MInd you this is an official statement. So the example comes from above. Tokyo's even more powerful mayor Ishihara is another one who keeps saying that third world citizens are "sub-human". Of course, a great part of the Japanese population is not racist, but a foreigner is more than probable to meet one in awful occasions. I didn't have bad luck, as you suggest. Quite the contrary. Given that I have good lookings and dress sharply, I was not the subject of prejudice as I know some other people were. On the other hand I also know lots of the so-called "japanophiles", people who deny vehemently that this sort of racism exists in Japan, and more often than not, it's the so called "victim" who is over-sensitive to "normal racist situations"...if you can believe that.

 

Fresh news:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/hashimoto-offers-to-meet-comfort-women-to-apologize

 

Edit: I forgot to mention Debito (an American living in Japan who has been fighting racism and prejudices, in Japanese!). A brave man.

http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html

I've been surfing through Debito website and the stuff there reminds to times and things that should not happen again. Japaneses you should know better.

Thanks for sharing I had not idea such a shame is happening in Japan.....

[Richpa]

Slavic languages are indeed pretty much similar, especially here on Balkans (south slavic language branch) where languages like Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian are practiclly the same, but it got some differences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_standard_Bosnian,_Croatian_and_Serbian

 

I'm having a bit hard time to understand Slovenian and Macedonian because I find their terms, pronunciation a bit more different and harder to understand than C-S-B. But when you focus you can understand them aswell. Speaking about other slavic languages, I can understand some words from Russian, Slovakian, Polish, because they got similar strucutre like my language.

Speaking about the dialects, most of people are under the 'štokavski' diealect but there are more, anyway, it's explained here in details:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtokavian_dialect

 

 

 

[reger]

I think he said: давай суки -> come on bitch/es! meaning: start studying Russian and don't be lazy

interestingly enough if I transliterate also draeke it becomes: драке давай суки meaning: let's fight bitch ..

am i right imba?

If told to you, then it its said in a wrong manner, correct way would be davaj suka=come on bitch!

drake davaj suki means nothing.

drake can be used for example: lets get ready for fight, davajte gatovitsa k drake

fight=draka

get ready for fight=k drake

during fight/in fight guns were used=v drake bili izpolzovani ognestrelnije oruzhija

 

Davaj, suka, budem dratsa = Bitch, lets fight!

 

Hehe, there goes all the russian language, shame, so much good culture spoiled by soviet era and soviet chav descendants around the globe.

[reger]

Oh, regarding that english dude in Japan fighting against racism:

Putting signs in russian saying that only japanese people can enter or that only japanese speaking people can enter building or that non-japanese can enter only if they ar together with japanese seems quite reasonable to be as far as it concerns dealing with russians abraod - they have been known for decades to be rude, offensive, aggressive and lacking respect towards anything foreign while being foreigners themselves, thats the harsh truth to you all rusophiles out there !

 

The same applies to certain types of tourists from other countries, but not to such large extent as in case of russians.

 

All in all its their country, if they dont want foreigners in some certain places, Im fine with that, I mean, its dumb to put a pressure on their culture just to be able to go anywhere YOU THINK you want to go, nowhere in the whole world you have right to go anywhere you want neither do anything you want.

 

Yet, at the same time, its dumb and as bad as their dreaded foreigners, when japs say its OK to rape women, kill and do other war attrocities as long as its done to non-japanese by japanese. Fuck that and also talking loudly against foreigners, well, its just fucking dumb and shows general low level of intellect among certain groups of people in Japan that still live in fucking dark ages.

 

I hope I made my point clear.

[Procyon]

It is easy to understands Slavish languages if you understand one slavish language, I understood it aswell.

I have some curiosities about these languages:

 

1) a German speaker will understand naturally what languages? (As in a Portuguese speaker will understand Spanish naturally)

2) and a Russian speaker?

3) and a person who speaks one of the Slavic languages will understand what?

4) German, Russian and Slavic languages are mutually understood by their native speakers?

[radi6404]

No, someone who speaks one slavic language will understand more or less most others. I understand Bulgarian and Macedonian, since in my part of Bulgaria close to the border the dialect is Macedonian, so I understand Serbian pretty well, Croatia, Slovenia and even Slovacian and Polish pretty well, not every word but I get the sence of the subject, the same applies about Bulgarian for any other slavic speaker, the languages are similar.

[Padmapani]

I have some curiosities about these languages:

 

1) a German speaker will understand naturally what languages? (As in a Portuguese speaker will understand Spanish naturally)

2) and a Russian speaker?

3) and a person who speaks one of the Slavic languages will understand what?

4) German, Russian and Slavic languages are mutually understood by their native speakers?

 

a german speaker will naturally understand not even the whole german language area, although you will get a few words or if you're lucky complete sentances of dutch (and flemish i think) and very few words of danish, swedish and norwegian.

 

i don't understand swiss german or german from the extreme north of germany at the first listen. it takes a few hours to adjust to understand half of it and a few days to get most of it (and probably years to understand everything). on the other hand it's little effort for me to talk in a way as to be unintelligible for anyone from the northern half of germany, but still be perfectly clear for anyone from austria.

[d.leerium]

Four at the moment: German (my mother tongue), English, Norwegian and Dutch (the latter needs some brushing-up, though). A bit of Low German, too, but it's a local variant that most other Low German speakers would have difficulties with. I should be able to do some codeswitching from Norwegian to Swedish if necessary, after a short period of adjustment. It's a shame I forgot almost all of my French.

[K-BAN]

lucky you guys! just English for me. I wish I knew Spanish fluently like my dad (Im half Puerto Rican) but not! we didn't get us speakin it as kids. oh well! I do wonder what it would be like to be fluent in 2 or more languages and to just switch-a-roo while talking. ahah! would be so cool!

[radi6404]

But you do not benefit from it, so it is ot worth it. I speak 4 languages and get no job or appenticeship, so languages wont help you a lot.

[K-BAN]

But you do not benefit from it, so it is ot worth it. I speak 4 languages and get no job or appenticeship, so languages wont help you a lot.

Working in an airport would benefit from it so much! Whether that is a job you would want is another story ;p

[radi6404]

I want everything I can get, but Germany is a rasist country and against anyone who has some problems. I have a little eye problem and one of my eyes has brighter colour, which is the reason no company takes ime here.

 

4 languages, great computer skills, good communication skills, noone wants me.