looksgoodinred Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 as someone who only has a passing command of one language (English), i've always been fascinated by people who can become fluent in multiple languages, with relative ease. i'd love to be fluent in French, Italian and Swedish but seemingly lack the ability, after multiple attempts. how many, and which, languages do you speak? and are there others you'd want to master? To find out whether anyone could really learn so many languages, Mr Erard set out to find modern Mezzofantis. The people he meets are certainly interesting. One man with a mental age of nine has a vast memory for foreign words and the use of grammatical endings, but he cannot seem to break free of English word-order. Ken Hale, who was a linguist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and died in 2001, was said to have learned 50 languages, including notoriously difficult Finnish while on a flight to Helsinki. Professional linguists still swear by his talent. But he insisted he spoke only three (English, Spanish and Warlpiri Link to comment
Ke1t Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I speak English and a little French. I don't know if I'm incapable of learning a new language or if it's just because I'm not motivated. I was in Russia for a couple of month a few years ago, and by the time I left I was getting reasonable with the language, to the point I was able to order breakfast at a McDonalds in St Petersburg and get exactly what I'd asked for. Now I can remember maybe two words of Russian. The loon, however, is a little mad genius. He made up his own language called 'Rockive'. This was all fun and games until we realised that 'Rockive' was nothing more than a collection of words he considered to be 'bad', but figured he could get away with if he presented them under the guise of being a foreign/made up language, and therefore not subject to the English definition. He was more than a little put out when we banned Rockive... but he's moved on to new and more evil projects since then, so he keeps busy. Link to comment
tup Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I can sprassen a bit of the old teutonia. However, there's no need to learn another language as the rest of them are pish, and I've no time for foreigners, or foreign travel. Link to comment
Bluto10 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 am fluent in french, itailan and dutch. living n holland being fluent n dutch is nigh on pointless unless you get a letter from the water board, council or whatever.day to day living is easier in english. dont think there many countries as bilingual as holland. denmark and sweden to some extent. and norway from what i hear. Link to comment
tup Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Harsh on yersel bluto min, don't forget you have stilted English as well. Link to comment
Bluto10 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Harsh on yersel bluto min, don't forget you have stilted English as well. doubt it tup. i just dont proof read, like you do, and i touch type. Link to comment
dervish Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Tried rakes of different ones canna do any. When I get abuse from foreign friends I just tell them "nah well it's easy for you if you're gonna learn a language you learn english but for me theres so much choice". I jokingly say that but it's also true. Thinking of learning French (properly) because they are almost as ignorant as us and refuse to learn english(unlike loads of places). Link to comment
Site Sponsor Dom Sullivan Posted January 4, 2012 Site Sponsor Share Posted January 4, 2012 Once new a professional "Accountant" who in all seriousness thought that his first language was "Doric"! What a tube and explains why his Accountancy practice went bust!! Link to comment
stef Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Studied German in school but have never used it since and consequently can't speak it. I do get by in French and Italian however. (not as good as I should e though) Link to comment
tightbreeks Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 french is good enough to go on holiday and not make a tit of masel. and some latin! Link to comment
Ke1t Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 french is good enough to go on holiday and not make a tit of masel. and some latin! Well, that'll be handy if you ever fall into the clutches of invading Roman legions. SISTITE! Malleus Aevum! Link to comment
Ke1t Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 In vino veritas, cunts. In Vino Crapula Link to comment
dervish Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 In Vino Crapula in vino magna Link to comment
Dandyesque Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 in vino magna English, Gaidhlig and French though I wouldn't consider myself fluent in all of them. Used to speak a bit of German as well but not used it for years so only.a smattering remains Link to comment
robbo Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 french is good enough to go on holiday and not make a tit of masel. and some latin! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb2HTY_1zOY i was always keen to learn latin. could do french when i was at school and somehow retained enough to get by. picked up bits and pieces of portuguese when in portugal, then somehow picked up words and random sentences in italian from playing assassins creed Link to comment
Dynamo Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I want to learn a language but need to convince someone to do it with me, cos I'll have nobody to talk to in it otherwise Well unless I go to the country, but that wouldnt be often. Sacre bleu! Link to comment
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