Saint Martini Posted 19 January, 2011 Share Posted 19 January, 2011 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. Same here, used to be rather good at German but since I've started speaking Swedish I cannot come up with a single German sentence. Swedish words just keep popping up in my head. As for Norwegian and Danish, I can read and understand both quite well but cannot speak either but in my experience I can just reply in Swedish to both Norwegians and Danes and they'll understand it fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingbattigger Posted 19 January, 2011 Share Posted 19 January, 2011 I can speak English, Mrs D on the otherhand is multi-lingual or a know-all depending on my mood!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 19 January, 2011 Share Posted 19 January, 2011 From the Armchair Anarchists Almanac, a great book by Mike Harding. Apologies if I've misremembered. The only phrase an Englishman needs to know in any language is :- "Do you speak English? No? Well, fetch me someone who does" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 19 January, 2011 Share 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.......! I don't think that speaking French in your dreams will change you to be arrogant. If you are generally charming, I think you'll probably remain a charming homosexual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperMikey Posted 19 January, 2011 Share Posted 19 January, 2011 I'm competent in French, would love to learn Swedish but can't get my head round it. Why? Just ask i'm fluent.-) It took me a while though I have Swedish blood in me, so I feel that I kind of have to! Plus the country is amazing, i'd love to visit there sometime in the near future and be able to speak Swedish rather than relying on the Swedes to speak English to me (which they all do tbf). Quite often hear my Gran speaking Swedish on the phone and it sounds awful, but i'd love to be able to speak it. Would also like to learn Italian and Spanish in the near future, which oughtn't be too hard considering they're both romance languages like French so they should be quite similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai_phil Posted 19 January, 2011 Share Posted 19 January, 2011 From the Armchair Anarchists Almanac, a great book by Mike Harding. Apologies if I've misremembered. The only phrase an Englishman needs to know in any language is :- "Do you speak English? No? Well, fetch me someone who does" Oh alright, just for Dune... I've been lucky to travel to many many places. Do you need to know a foreign language? No. Would it be nice to speak a foreign language? Yes. I can order food & beer in French German & Spanish (which is THE most important thing in anyone's travels!) But the magic thing that works everytime is to Smile (pleasantly) and say "I'm sorry I don't understand a single word you are saying" After that everything is easy, even in Vietnam. The smile first then watch the body language second (especially in Bangkok) My kids spent 8 years being taught Arabic in the schools down here. Not one of them or any of their classmates can say anymore than I can which is hello, thankyou and whatever. But they can ask for the "Check Please" in a restaurant in 187 languages. Languages are very helpful and useful, but being the polite but dumb Brit also has a lot going for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 20 January, 2011 Share Posted 20 January, 2011 I love languages and being able to say at least a few words to the locals. Like most people of my age I took Latin at school and it certainly helps with a lot of european languages. I speak French, which I use a lot in my business, German, Spanish, and I have spent the last 4 years in Italian evening classes. The trouble is that it is so similar to Spanish that it has partly driven out those words from my memory. I used to do a lot of business in Denmark and over the years picked up quite a bit of that language. First you need to find out if they're talking about you, then you need to know the numbers so you know how much they are willing to pay. Before I get too old I'd like to have some sort of understanding of Russian, Chinese and Arabic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al de Man Posted 20 January, 2011 Share Posted 20 January, 2011 I speak fluent Cantonese. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in Hong Kong are very hard of hearing so I have to repeat myself a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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