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Foreign Languages
Topic Started: 10 Mar 2009, 07:11 PM (116 Views)
Janny
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Ninja
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I love 'em, but my horrible memory won't let me study that many... So, what foreign languages do you people know and love?

I had a highschool mate that knew Russian and managed to write little notes for tests in Russian. But when the teacher asked what they were she just said that they were verses from prayers that helped her concentrate for the test. xD

I've struggled to master French for about 13 years and I still don't like it... After my French oral entrance exam my mouth muscles were hurting horribly... It really annoys me that French forces us to get so exhausted, just uttering a word is a workout for the mouth...
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Ruum Taedor
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Other than English, I speak Visual Basic, Structured Query Language, and Jibberish. (In other words, I'm a computer geek and speak goodly English and no other languages.) I do like to read between the lines, though hehe.
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When Pauline and I emigrated to South Africa in 1980 we were expected to speak Afrikaans as soon as we stepped from the plane . To be Bi-lingual in those days in S.Africa was to speak English and Afrikaans.
I soon picked up a working knowledge , as it is a very basic and simple language but quite unattractive and gutteral.
When I worked on a gold mine in Boksberg - Benoni , I was the only person who couldn`t converse with the other male nurses and English is supposed to be the No1 language in the world.
They introduced me to the special `mine language of `Fanagalo`which was a combination of or b******isation of many languages - German,French , Dutch ,Zulu and English some English slang words emanate from Fanagalo like Scoff for food or grub which I think came from Fanagalo for Skaaf meaning snack or grub.
I was stood in the Mine Hospital square one morning with about 5 or 6 other guys waiting for the Doctor to arrive . I was the only person who could not make myself understood until up came the `blackest` black chap I have seen and he spoke in perfect Oxford English with not a trace of accent and it turned out that he was Malawian previously Nyasaland.
They say that Afrikaans is easy to speak and learn - just think of a silly way in English of saying what you want to say and that is Afrikaans.
I had a little knowledge of Zulu but it is difficult with all the `clicks.`
Cliff/ Bunky
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Dolphin
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My Son - Laws Father married a person from Veneswala amd she has many Languages.

Her Own
Aribic
Spanish
italian
German
French.


And is now learning more she is very fluent in these Languages as it seems that people from other Countries are more willing to learn other languages rather than the BRITISH are.

And it is said the the U S A adopted the English Language then changed a lot of the spellings.
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DREMEJonah
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Roeddwn i'n siarad tipyn bach o Gymraeg ond dydw i ddim yn wedi ei siarad hi ers rhai o mlynedd.
I used to speak a little bit of Welsh but I haven't spoken it for some years.
Edited by DREMEJonah, 11 Mar 2009, 06:23 PM.
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cimmee
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I used to live with a gal who was Colombian. We only spoke spanish in the house. I learned a lot, including the fact that Spanish is a great language for invectives...


There is no problem in the human condition that cannot be solved by the proper placement, timing, tamping and fusing of high explosives.
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Some people have a natural talent for `picking up` on languages and I knew a guy once when I was medical repping for Ciba Labs Ltd. who could speak 13 different languages fluently including Russian and Chinese. He fled Poland at the outbreak of the war and kept ahead of the German occupation and picked up Polish Dutch, French .Russian etc .
I remember Hubert Sieffert and he was an amazingly brilliant chap , He lived in West Mersea and his knowledge of chemistry was second to none and he could blind us all with science. He also served under Marshall Tito in Yugoslavia.
Cliff/Bunky
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High Priestess
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A bit of German, a bit of Welsh, limited French and Double-Dutch :p
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Maurrie
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a bit of German......bombarded with French here in Canada but not so much here in the west...could ask for a loo or a coffee......lol..and just good basic English.
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb
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Cajunbug
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Janny that is funny about the Fench hurting your mouth. It comes natural to me as I been speaking it all my life. I had to learn English when I started school. Now that I am living in Texas and have a lot of Mexicans around here, I am learning Spanish.
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