Societas Via Romana - Discussion Archives

Salvete!

Allright, it's brag time. What languages do you speak? What languages would you like to learn? What languages do you understand?

If you're not into languages, why not?

Valete,
Draco

Salve Draco!

Depends what you mean by "speak". I speak English and French, if not fluently, then at least at a basic level of understanding. I also speak French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Hebrew at a very touristy level. I also know how to say hello, goodbye and thankyou in Latin.

Goodbyeus friendus,
Marcus Scribonius Curio Britannicus.

SALVETE OMNES.

Forgive me, I'm a product of the American educational system...
I speak: English and Gaelige (functional).
Studied: French, Spanish, Italian, Latin and Valencian.

VALETE BENE.

Salvete,

I speak fluently: Dutch, English
I speak: French, German
I know: very little Japanese (a few words) and some Latin

valete,

salvete

I speak fluently french (normal i'm french)

I speak english

I know a lot of words of italian

I know a few words of german and spanish and latin

But it's rigth that the french translation of the site is not correct !!! So if you want a good french translator : here i am !!!

Aulus

Salvete!

My mother language is Dutch, with English as a good second and German in third position. My French is okay in terms of comprehension, but production is a different issue altogether. Next is Norwegian, which I can both read, write, understand and talk a little with Finnish and Latin closing the row.

I retain some notions of ancient Greek from secondary school, and through my knowledge of Latin and French, I can passively understand the other Romance languages. Same goes for the Germanic languages.

Aulus Aelius Germinius wrote:But it's rigth that the french translation of the site is not correct !!! So if you want a good french translator : here i am !!!

The French translation is my doing, I apologise .

Valete,
Draco

Salvete,

Only English. I'm afraid when I went though High School(in the ancient '60's) they did offer Latin and French. At the time a few boys did take these course's but it was mainly the girls that took them. Back then I would have never thought I would ever need Latin. I am planning on taking a Spanish
class(Mexican/ Latin American Spanish) soon.

Marius is right about the trap. I've already been corralled into providing the Spanish translation.

Spanish ability comes from a six month intensive course, living in Venezuela and Colombia for five years, and having a Colombian wife. As a result, I can also dance salsa and merengue. As my wife says, I'm "Latino por friccion".

Italian comes second, from some use at home with my mother, self study, and Berlitz classes from time to time.

Spanish and Italian are close enough that speaking one is a detriment to learning the other. There are too many false friends (words and phrases that look alike but mean completely different things), and the use of prepositons makes the two look like they are from different language groups.

I also studied Japanese for a year a night school, purely for enjoyment. But I can do no more than ask directions and order in a restaurant now.

I'd like to learn Turkish and Indonesian as well....

Oh, four years of Latin in high school and university seem to have left little impression, as this Societas is constantly reminding me.

Tergestus

The French translation is my doing, I apologise .

Salve Draco,

Sorry i didn't want to be indelicate with you ! My english is bad too

Aulus

Salve Germini,

I don't feel particulary insulted, I should be ashamed because I had French for 8 years and only so little remains of it now! I'll just blame the education then .

Vale bene,
Draco

Salve Draco,

So am i !!! In France, the educationnal system is not very compatible with the language learning. J'en suis la preuve vivante

Vale bene

Aulus

I recently realised how terrible my French is, despite learning it on and off for 15 years. I have therefore started to chat online with random French people, which has really brought it crashing home how much I've forgotten. So you're not the only one Draco.

Salve Curio,

Hehe, can you speak with the uvular r aka [R]?

Vale,
Draco

Being English, my knowledge beyond a particular point is a little limited, but I can speak French and Welsh fairly well, some German, and can read Spanish, Swedish, and (dare I mention it) Esperanto... Oh yeah, and apparently English!

Salve Prime,

How come you can read Swedish?

Vale,
Draco

Salvete

Well I'm a little bit embarassed that my knowhow of languages is limited to Dutch, English and a little bit of French.
valete

Romulus

Gnæus Dionysius Draco wrote:Hehe, can you speak with the uvular r aka [R]?

Salve Draco,

You're gonna have to explain that one I'm afraid - I don't know if it's my knowledge of French that's at fault, my knowledge of humour or the fact that it's the early hours and I'm bloody tired but either way I have no idea what you're talking about.

Bene vale,
Marcus Scribonius Curio Britannicus.

Salve Curio,

Well, you must have noticed that the French have another type of 'r' than the English do, which often poses difficulties for anglophones in particular, and people who speak with a tip-of-the-tongue-r in general (i.e. Spanish or Italian people, for instance).

Vale bene,
Draco

Salve Draco

In answer to your question about being able to read Swedish...

After visiting Sweden a couple of times (and falling in love with the place) I was intrigued by the language, so I bought myself a teach-yourself book and learnt a bit - it's not too difficult for a native English-speaker to read - the grammar is not too far from English and as I know some German I found the lexicon not too much of an effort. The real problem however is in pronunciation - it's a tonal language which for most Europeans who don't speak tonal languages it makes it a lot harder to get right.

Ave