Thedelldays Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 (edited) I ask as a friend is being "encouraged" by work to learn Somali......and its killing him.. I speak (not fluent) Spanish myself..... I can imagine supa dupa verbal speaks arabic BTF speaks French Turkish speaks...Turkish Dune speaks german and Deppo speaks shyt Edited 18 January, 2011 by Thedelldays
bridge too far Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I can also manage a bit of Spanish and Italian (enough to order beers, coffee, ask directions and ask if people can speak English). I have a very small smattering of Greek and I did briefly learn Russian many years ago. With both these languages, I struggled with the cyrillic (sp?) alphabet.
buctootim Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I ask as a friend is being "encouraged" by work to learn Somali......and its killing him.. I speak (not fluent) Spanish myself..... I can imagine supa dupa verbal speaks arabic BTF speaks French Turkish speaks...Turkish Dune speaks german and Deppo speaks shyt Its difficult enough to learn European languages to a good standard. Don't know anything about Somali specifically but as soon as you start to get into different alphabets, tonal languages, three gender endings, differences for people of higher or lower rank etc it becomes a total nightmare.
trousers Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I can speak Northern: "Appen as like that bluddy Thatcher woman clurzed doon all t' pits and t' factrees and left us with nowt but t' arses t' sit on for 't rest of born daize. Y' al reet pet?"
RedAndWhite91 Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I do quite a good Liverpudlian accent, and I seem to adopt a completely new language when I'm drunk.
Verbal Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I can speak Northern: "Appen as like that bluddy Thatcher woman clurzed doon all t' pits and t' factrees and left us with nowt but t' arses t' sit on for 't rest of born daize. Y' al reet pet?" Your accent is terrible.
trousers Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Your accent is terrible. I'm not surprised...it's a coalition...
SuperMikey Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I'm competent in French, would love to learn Swedish but can't get my head round it.
Fuengirola Saint Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I ask as a friend is being "encouraged" by work to learn Somali......and its killing him.. I speak (not fluent) Spanish myself..... I can imagine supa dupa verbal speaks arabic BTF speaks French Turkish speaks...Turkish Dune speaks german and Deppo speaks shyt Hablas Español? De donde has aprendido este idioma? Creo que hubiera mucho mejor si aprendimos por lo menos un idioma otra que nuestro
trousers Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Hablas Español? De donde has aprendido este idioma? Creo que hubiera mucho mejor si aprendimos por lo menos un idioma otra que nuestro That's a helluva lot of eels you've got in your hovercraft there if you don't mind me saying
ericb Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I speak Spanish (fluent), Portuguese and a little Catalan. I can also understand French to an extent (i have to concentrate like hell mind) and can read Italian (mainly since it's so similar to Spanish). Nothing particularly special about speaking another language mind, hell even Beckham can do it!
buctootim Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I'm competent in French, would love to learn Swedish but can't get my head round it. Don't bother. I tried but the bloody Swedes just answer you in flawless English! A lot of Swedish students dont even speak Swedish to each other, they use English.
Deppo Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Just French, German, Spanish and Arabic for me. And a spot of Polari. I can also get by in Portuguese, Dutch, Polish and Italian but not what I would call 'conversational'. I can read Latin, but I haven't really had much opportunity to speak it over the years so I couldn't converse in it. I've always thought I'm quite well equipped for international espionage.
hamster Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Un bissen deutch (?) and a little felatio when holidaying down that way.
Deppo Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I think you have your languages mixed up a little there, hammo.
ericb Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 And a spot of Polari Had to google that to find out what it was but it's now entering my lexicon of **** taking!
dune Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 (edited) I used to enjoy whickers world and Alan once said "never attempt to converse with the natives in their language as it puts you at an immediate disadvantage" and I have always stuck by these wise words. When David Niven was caught up in the boxer rebelian in 55 Days At Peking you didn't hear him trying to talk his way out of trouble in pidgeon Mandarin. It's very un British to ever attempt to speak a foreign language. Edited 18 January, 2011 by dune
Deppo Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I am as adoring as dune of the English language. I love the multi-cultural origins of it. The influence of foreign countries can be heard in every syllable, every cadence, every intonation. The Latin/Greek/French/German/Arabic/etc roots of our words make it such a beautiful multi-cultural language and it is a wise man who loves English so and can appreciate how other languages were able to colonise parts of it.
Turkish Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I ask as a friend is being "encouraged" by work to learn Somali......and its killing him.. I speak (not fluent) Spanish myself..... I can imagine supa dupa verbal speaks arabic BTF speaks French Turkish speaks...Turkish Dune speaks german and Deppo speaks shyt vaffanculo testa di cazzo ver**** dich schiesse kopf.
buctootim Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I am as adoring as dune of the English language. I love the multi-cultural origins of it. The influence of foreign countries can be heard in every syllable, every cadence, every intonation. The Latin/Greek/French/German/Arabic/etc roots of our words make it such a beautiful multi-cultural language and it is a wise man who loves English so and can appreciate how other languages were able to colonise parts of it. Too true Deppo. Take that old English word 'dune' for example. "from Gaulish *dunom (thus related to down (n.2)). The French word (13c.) is held to be an Old French borrowing from Germanic". Or that lovely old name Tristram, from the Welsh 'Drystan' I believe.
Verbal Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I am as adoring as dune of the English language. I love the multi-cultural origins of it. The influence of foreign countries can be heard in every syllable, every cadence, every intonation. The Latin/Greek/French/German/Arabic/etc roots of our words make it such a beautiful multi-cultural language and it is a wise man who loves English so and can appreciate how other languages were able to colonise parts of it. You forgot Indian.
Deppo Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 You forgot Indian. Indeed, the list of influences is much greater than that which I transcribed.
badgerx16 Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Stick a cornishman and a geordie in a room and let them try to converse in English.
suewhistle Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 And a spot of Polari. Oooh, varda you! Personally good Italian (natch, see my location), conversational French (had a few compliments when popping over the border to France) and bluffing in German..
The Majestic Channon Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 I'm competent in French, would love to learn Swedish but can't get my head round it.[/QUOT Why? Just ask i'm fluent.-) It took me a while though
dubai_phil Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Speaking foreign languages - Pah. We're British. Just shout & wave your arms a lot.
The Majestic Channon Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Don't bother. I tried but the bloody Swedes just answer you in flawless English! A lot of Swedish students dont even speak Swedish to each other, they use English. Well yes, they are probably in england to learn english
hutch Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Speaking foreign languages - Pah. We're British. Just shout & wave your arms a lot. Shokran gazeer.
Verbal Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Shokran gazeer. Or (phonetically): ughrub kaffir.
buctootim Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Well yes, they are probably in england to learn english[/b] Uppsala University students.
hutch Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Or (phonetically): ughrub kaffir. No question, I am, in Islamic terms, a "Kaffir". But ughrub?
Verbal Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 No question, I am, in Islamic terms, a "Kaffir". But ughrub? Get lost. But it was aimed elsewhere.
ecuk268 Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Je parle un peu de francais, mais je ne suis pas un specialiste. Far from putting you at a disadvantage, I've found that the French really appreciate you trying to speak their language and are usually very helpful.
dune Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Speaking foreign languages - Pah. We're British. Just shout & wave your arms a lot. You sound like Ian Foot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S2wWVGprMQ
Saint Martini Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Don't bother. I tried but the bloody Swedes just answer you in flawless English! A lot of Swedish students dont even speak Swedish to each other, they use English. Just don't let them know you speak English and if they do just ask them to speal Swedish. I've lived in Sweden about 2,5 years now and I was fluent after about 1,5 years (it helps that my wife is Swedish). Its really not that hard a language to learn even though I have an advantage being Dutch, the languages are somewhat related.
Fowllyd Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Its difficult enough to learn European languages to a good standard. Don't know anything about Somali specifically but as soon as you start to get into different alphabets, tonal languages, three gender endings, differences for people of higher or lower rank etc it becomes a total nightmare. As one who learned Russian to degree level, I can assure you that the alphabet is a piece of p*ss, especially compared to what comes later. Three genders and six cases for nouns etc, decidedly odd ways in which some of those cases get used. But it's the verbs that are the real killers, especially verbs of motion. The concepts involved are ones which we don't really have in English. Never tried any really tricky alphabets (Chinese being the obvious one) or tonal languages, though I made a few vague efforts at Vietnamese (six tones) when I was there fifteen years ago. Would take a great deal of practice I think.
hamster Posted 18 January, 2011 Posted 18 January, 2011 Oooh, varda you! Personally good Italian (natch, see my location), conversational French (had a few compliments when popping over the border to France) and bluffing in German.. You lie Sue. Urban Dictionary: BLUFFING Where a man eats his own or someone else's pubic hair. James, I heard Justin just shaved his pubes! James: "Yeah, dude! We were bluffing all night long!"
Petersfield Saint Posted 19 January, 2011 Posted 19 January, 2011 German (the missus is from Berlin) and Spanish though that's rapidly fading as I never get to practice it these days; same with French which I used to be good at but have almost forgotten now. Seems my brain can only cope with one foreign language at a time! Far from putting you at a disadvantage, I've found that the French really appreciate you trying to speak their language and are usually very helpful. +1 - same in every country I've ever visited; the locals appreciate you "having a go" even if it's only a few words.
Kingsland Codger Posted 19 January, 2011 Posted 19 January, 2011 After learning French and German - not to any great standard; a good (but not great) 'O' level - I then lived for many years in Japan. I studied/picked up the language so I could get around easily enough, buy a train ticket, order a meal, buy stuff in the shops - that kind of thing. A fair bit of this requires being able to read kanji (Chinese characters) and I guess I was about two-thirds of the way to being 'literate' by the time I came to leave. I could slowly decode (rather than 'read') a newspaper provided the topic wasn't too highbrow. Back in Europe I find speaking French a bit of a problem in that from time-to-time Japanese words slip into my sentences without me realizing what I have done which serves to confuse the listener and leave me similarly puzzled as to why he doesn't understand what I've just said. Which raises a question - if one is stronger in one foreign language, does that language come to the fore when speaking another foreign language in which one is not so strong?
norwaysaint Posted 19 January, 2011 Posted 19 January, 2011 After learning French and German - not to any great standard; a good (but not great) 'O' level - I then lived for many years in Japan. I studied/picked up the language so I could get around easily enough, buy a train ticket, order a meal, buy stuff in the shops - that kind of thing. A fair bit of this requires being able to read kanji (Chinese characters) and I guess I was about two-thirds of the way to being 'literate' by the time I came to leave. I could slowly decode (rather than 'read') a newspaper provided the topic wasn't too highbrow. Back in Europe I find speaking French a bit of a problem in that from time-to-time Japanese words slip into my sentences without me realizing what I have done which serves to confuse the listener and leave me similarly puzzled as to why he doesn't understand what I've just said. Which raises a question - if one is stronger in one foreign language, does that language come to the fore when speaking another foreign language in which one is not so strong? Without a doubt. I used to speak reasonable German, but since I started speaking Norwegian, I can't speak German at all. I can speak Norwegian and I can read Danish, because written, it's about the same (can't speak it or understand much when they talk though). I can also understand a bit of Swedish as it's similar, but when I travel to Sweden, I'm better off talking in English than the mish-mash of bad Swedish and Norwegian I tried there at first.
angelman Posted 19 January, 2011 Posted 19 January, 2011 Can speak French. Use it for work. Have had a few dreams in French which is a bit scary as I don't want to turn into an arrogant homosexual.......!
HK_Phoey Posted 19 January, 2011 Posted 19 January, 2011 I can speak (reasonably well) and read (some) Japanese, and have a little bit French and German
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