Any of you guys speak other languages?

I can speak and understand Tex/Mex.

I once took a foriegn language course at the Border Patrol Academy when it was in Glynco. The instructors taught Castillian Spanish, couldn't understnd much and didn't learn much. Not whats spoken in Texas by the Locals.

Rule 303
 
Reminds me of the three fellows loitering outside a pub after closing time, when an Italian (?) in an Alfa Romeo roars up to them and stops, apparently to ask directions (in Italian). When no one answers, he repeats his question in French. Still nothing. Finally, he tries German. Still no reply. Disgusted, he shifts into gear and roars off. One of the fellows turns to another and says, "You know, we're as bad as the Americans. We really should know more than one language." The third replies, "Oh, I don't know. That bloke with the Alfa knew three, and it didn't do HIM any good."
 
They're probably too modest to mention it, but our members Q-Ball (Swedish) and Sasu (Finnish) have excellent English.
 
Good Tex/Mex, but my Spanish got much better when working in southern Spain for a summer.

I was coming along in Indonesian, but the job played out.

Went to Kazakhstan, but couldn't get past good morning in Russian or Kazakh.

Worked with a bunch of Irish guys and started with their lilt, had to catch myself.

CR/JPG
 
I'm re-learning Russian and can follow some conversations well enough, even though my own side of the conversation need a lot of work. I can get through a basic transaction in Estonian. Hea hind! Aitah!
 
I can speak Spanish (although not as well as I used to). I can still read it fairly well, but my conversational skills have faded. I have always thought I should buy the Rosetta Stone kits (both to improve my Spanish and possibly pick up a new language), but those things are expensive.
 
Fairly good Spanish [Argentine Dialect i get stared at and laughed at in Mexico], Good enough Italian to have a conversation, order off of a menu in Portuguese and French, fluent in Irony and Sarcasm thanks to raising a few kids.
 
mtgianni said:
Fairly good Spanish [Argentine Dialect i get stared at and laughed at in Mexico], Good enough Italian to have a conversation, order off of a menu in Portuguese and French, fluent in Irony and Sarcasm thanks to raising a few kids.
Click to expand...


Don't worry about it: I've met Argentines who don't think much of Mexicans. :D They were deeply resentful that most of us think of everyone below our southern border as "just a bunch of Mexicans."

T-Star
 
I am descended from french/canadian parents, never learned to speak french and always felt a little guilty. Language, along with music and software, has always been hard for me to understand. They must all be controlled by the same part of the brain - and obviously I am lacking in that area !
 
I've read that German is supposed to be a good 2nd language to English, the sentence structure is allegedly similar. If so, I've thought it might be interesting to try.

I took French in high school, but I was never even close to being fluent. I could read it and sort of understand it, but translating English -> French was much more difficult.
 
I can curse fluently in several languages, but most folks feel that ESL would be good next choice.

Buck
 
I have a Bostonian accent which to the rest of the country seems like a foreign language. Before retiring, in the workplace I would converse with folks from Houston frequently. Some funny conversations, we had to spell certain words to understand one another.:)
 
At one time or another I could read, write, and speak German, Spanish, Greek. I could get along in Italian. Was able to barter in Albanian, Yugolsav and Croatian.
 
Some famous English playright said that our two countries were only seperated by a common language, or words to that effect. Meaning of course that we Americans were murdering the language.
 
My mother often spoke of a parent/teacher conference when I was a lad. This question came up. Should young John study latin or any other language?
Sister Mary Bridget Doeland ( Little Sisters of Perpetual Misery) is quoted as saying," The boy can hardly grasp his mother tongue. Let us not confuse him."
When I think of this I remember O'Carolan's 'Ode to the Landlady'
"I prey thee tombstone, let not Bridget back whence she came.
For she will turn your liquor sour and put your house to shame.
Manys the faultless poet, through her by drought been cursed.
Now she's buried, Devil plague Her!
With Thirst, Thirst, Thirst!"
 
Chamorro and French. When I was going to attend college a foreign language was a requisite, maybe it still is? Anyway they asked if I could speak a foreign language and I said yes, Chamorro. "Huh"? There was no one there to test me so I had to learn "another" language. Go figure?

One thing I find amusing is Swamp Wars, Swamp People or what ever it is. I'm sitting there watching this show and it's "supposed" to be in English but there are sub-titles? hmmmmm...........

Wasup wit dat?

"Thoot um Lizabeth, thoot um"! :D
 
I can speak Polish and a little Ukrainian. Writing is harder... and I should practice both more. I learned from my grandfather who could speak pretty much every Slavic language. The church I went to growing up had a mass entirely in Ukranian, which helped me a lot.

I took Spanish in school but can't speak it very well any more.
 
Japanese.

Went to German schools as a kid, and was fluent at the time but it's mostly long gone now.

A smideon of French left over from from high school.
 
German from High school and college. Fisherman Spanish from Baja. Used to understand Dutch and a smidgen of Frisian from my grandfather. Tagalog from a Eurasian girl friend/room mate I had for 2 years.

Cajun from another girlfriend (is Cajun English? French?). Even a little British.
 
I studied some German but having no one to converse with I kind of lost some of it. I could always read it better than I could speak it. Working in a jail I found it was best to know at least a few important words and phrases in a couple of languages. I know most of the Spanish swear words and can say "lock in" in Spanish. "alto" has come in handy on more than one occasion.
Back when I was in college I studied a bit of Latin, again, more to be able to read it than speak it.
 
Raised in my maternal grandmothers house , we spoke Ukrainian around the house. Too bad I didn't keep up with it after she died.

Dad spoke fluent Polish. As WWII closed down and he recovered from frostbite suffered at the Battle of the Bulge , he went on to help liberate and talk to Polish concentration camp survivors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
What's your language, other than English?
2 3
Replies
89
Views
3K
Cyrano
Cyrano
PALADIN85020
I miss the good old days...
2
Replies
46
Views
5K
quneur
Q
T
  • Locked
FS (MS): Olympus E-620 DSLR Camera package; custom holster for various S&W pistols
Replies
10
Views
1K
TheGreatGonzo
T
O
Funny but long and fairly accurate
Replies
8
Views
2K
RobertJ.
RobertJ.
oldfella
Scary Scenario...
Replies
5
Views
2K
cjw3
C

Latest posts

Back
Top