Language Help/Discussion/Advice Thread

[Mitch Chesman]

All my life. First word was in Greek, and I went a to Greek Orthodox Private School as well. If you didn't get it, I'm Greek-American. :p

[Stahl]

When my mom learned Russian she never liked the cases.

There are so many cases and suffixes and rules overall... @_@ Russian is a great language to take slow. XD

[Jam Scone]

All my life. First word was in Greek, and I went a to Greek Orthodox Private School as well. If you didn't get it, I'm Greek-American. :p

Oh, I see. xD I put you down as native, shall I change it to fluent? But oh, that's pretty cool. Same as me then, learning English along with your first language? :P

There are so many cases and suffixes and rules overall... @_@ Russian is a great language to take slow. XD

I'd say all languages are great to take slow, no good rushing them, right? :3c

[Mitch Chesman]

English is really my native, as I grew up in the states, spoke English for mostly everything, with the exception of 10 or so hours of Greek in school a week. Its Native English, and Really, really fluent in Greek.

[Jam Scone]

English is really my native, as I grew up in the states, spoke English for mostly everything, with the exception of 10 or so hours of Greek in school a week. Its Native English, and Really, really fluent in Greek.

A bit different to me then. I spoke only Welsh until I was about four or five when I started learning English along with it, using Welsh at home and with family, and English when in school. Now I just use English pretty much everywhere because now that we have a non-Welsh speaker in the house it would be confusing if we just spoke Welsh.

[Jolene]

My family is Portuguese. Sometimes, I wish my great-granddad spoke Portuguese around his kids and they continued the tradition. Then I'd know it now. Being bilingual must be awesome.

[Voltaire Magnezone]

My family is Portuguese. Sometimes, I wish my great-granddad spoke Portuguese around his kids and they continued the tradition. Then I'd know it now. Being bilingual must be awesome.

For a Filipino, being bilingual is somewhat "naturally obtainable". In school, one gets to learn Filipino and English (well, if English counts as an extra language).

[White Phoenix]

Fluent in English. I have had a semester in German (a long time ago). I have an interest in etymology so other languages are also of interest. I know some words in other languages to speak them, but I’m not experienced with the grammar to carry on a conversation. I have been able to help customers who don’t speak English since I understand some words.

I am better at reading the languages than speaking them, since I*can associate the words because of the interest in word formation. However, the non-European languages I have no reference for. I am just now figuring out Japanese for a couple of projects that I am currently working on.

[Jam Scone]

Fluent in English. I have had a semester in German (a long time ago). I have an interest in etymology so other languages are also of interest. I know some words in other languages to speak them, but I’m not experienced with the grammar to carry on a conversation. I have been able to help customers who don’t speak English since I understand some words.

I am better at reading the languages than speaking them, since I*can associate the words because of the interest in word formation. However, the non-European languages I have no reference for. I am just now figuring out Japanese for a couple of projects that I am currently working on.

I've added you in. c: Ah, that sounds interesting. What languages have you worked on, then? It must be fun helping people out who don't speak English very well at work, do you enjoy that? c: I wasn't sure what to put you down as for German, I said "previous learnt language", but that doesn't really make much sense. xP

[White Phoenix]

Anything that contributed to the English language. 8-S Basically the Romance languages and German. Yeah, the German didn’t really take since I never had anyone to practice speaking with. About the only thing I remember is the first sentence I learned: Ich gehen durch den Park.

I spent a lot of time reading the dictionary, especially the histories of where the words came from. If you can see the patterns between the languages, it makes it easier to recognize the words. The Spanish word for ‘water’ is ‘agua’ which is from the Latin word ‘aqua’. Aquarius is the water-bearer. A customer came in and asked for agua. So I was able to figure out they wanted bottled water. I live near Ann Arbor so we get people from all over the world. Sometimes its easier figuring out what they are saying then understanding people who only know English and were born in this country.

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

I am a native Finnish speaker. For other languages I consider myself being quite fluent in English and Swedish and have moderate German skills. And I also know a few phrases in Estonian and Hungarian.

[porkchopsandwiches]

I have foolishly chosen Chinese language class in my university... The writing system is daunting, however, I was able to memorize some scary characters like 警; 察; 鬱;爆; 霸 pretty quick for some reason. The 5 tones are also quite annoying.
I also know Russian, and a bit of English, as demonstrated in this post.

Edit: Concerning the original post, Katakana is a writing system in Japanese, not a separate language. xD

[Kthleen]

French question: what does "ça le fait pas de" mean? I was looking for something and ran across this (again):

J'avoue, jolie Fake
Putain ça le fait pas des Français qui se parlent sur un Tagboard Japonais

I'm pretty sure it says "I admit, nice fake," and "putain" means something like "shit" or "fuck" (or, used as an adverb, "fucking") and then it says something about French people who talk to each other on a Japanese tagboard, but I'm having trouble with that "ça le fait pas." I keep thinking it literally translates to "that/it doesn't make it" but has the sense of "it's not" (as in "It's not French people who talk on a Japanese tagboard"), but I'm not sure.

[Jam Scone]

I am a native Finnish speaker. For other languages I consider myself being quite fluent in English and Swedish and have moderate German skills. And I also know a few phrases in Estonian and Hungarian.

I'll add you in. c: Wow, you're a first for Finnish, Swedish, Estonian and Hungarian. Are those languages quite similar, or vastly different?

I have foolishly chosen Chinese language class in my university... The writing system is daunting, however, I was able to memorize some scary characters like 警; 察; 鬱;爆; 霸 pretty quick for some reason. The 5 tones are also quite annoying.
I also know Russian, and a bit of English, as demonstrated in this post.

Edit: Concerning the original post, Katakana is a writing system in Japanese, not a separate language. xD

Adding you in now! Those characters look a bit daunting, it's pretty amazing that you managed to memorize them so quickly. What are the five tones, if you don't mind me asking?

French question: what does "ça le fait pas de" mean? I was looking for something and ran across this (again):

J'avoue, jolie Fake
Putain ça le fait pas des Français qui se parlent sur un Tagboard Japonais

I'm pretty sure it says "I admit, nice fake," and "putain" means something like "shit" or "fuck" (or, used as an adverb, "fucking") and then it says something about French people who talk to each other on a Japanese tagboard, but I'm having trouble with that "ça le fait pas." I keep thinking it literally translates to "that/it doesn't make it" but has the sense of "it's not" (as in "It's not French people who talk on a Japanese tagboard"), but I'm not sure.

@Jack Pschitt; @Jolene; @Caite-chain; @Shadows; @Buoy; Do any of you guys have any idea? >:?

[Jack Pschitt]

I suck at French, don't look at me. :I