What languages dyall speak?

[Nunavut Pants]

English, of course. Some of the heavier dialects are gibberish to me (there is some reality show from Scotland I think that I can only understand the word "f*cking", which is OK because it's every other word) but I can sometimes sound a bit like someone from a different country/area if I try.

French, a fair bit, but it's very rusty. I can read some German and understand less when spoken, and don't speak much of it. My Spanish and Italian are both of the "cafe" variety--e.g., enough to get a meal. I can puzzle out a few Russian words in Cyrillic, and can even speak a few words of it in a way that makes Russians think I am a native. (For about 1/4 second.)

[protege]

Does Pittsburghese count? While you don't hear the dialect as often now, it's still here. For example, "Are you taking the trolley downtown to Liberty (Avenue) for a beer and a sandwich?" becomes "Yinz ridin' da streecar dahntahn to S'Libertyf for an Arn and a sammich?"

But seriously, I only speak English fluently. I took 4 years of Spanish, but that fell into disuse some years ago. Also, I can understand "trailer park," "moron," and related languages. However, I don't speak them

[dalesys]

I used to speak Toddler. As a teen I was Speaker-To-Animals for my mother....

[Mikkel]

I speak Danish, English and German (badly). I can understand Norwegian and Swedish and can usually remember which words are different (or the same words that mean something different ). I know the numbers and some greetings in Croatian and can read a simple text in Dutch after having sold Batavus bikes.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I speak English and Angrish equally well.

[EricKei]

Tanasi - Modern Hawaiian and Hawaiian english (according to a friend who lived there for several years) have a fair amount of Japanese slang and other terminology in it, and Japanese has a surprising amount of Portuguese loanwords (e.g. "pan," which means "bread" in many languages...including Japanese). Perhaps that is the connection.


On the JP in HI -- He told me that many residents, even those of not of HI/JP descent, will use mixed sentences such as "Hey, wanna go tabe?" for "Hey, wanna go out for some food?" (tabe is short for "tabemono," "food" in JP)

[HotelMinion]

Merican English, shorthand, and Spanglish. I watch a lot of subbed anime so basic Japanese too. :-D

[LadyofArc]

Learning languages in school wasn't really a thing until I was in high school. And then it was whatever your school offered. Mine had Indonesian and Italian, where as my brother's had German and an Asian language but I can't remember which one. A few years into high school, Dept of Education started pushing for languages in primary schools. I think that is fantastic. I think it would have been easier for me to pick another language then. Now, it's near impossible for me to pick up spoken language, but it is easier to expand on my ability to read French.

You must be WAY older than me then, as I cannot recall a time where I did not learn a second language in primary school (mine was French). I was a 90's kid.

(first high school I went to did French, Indonesian or Italian, second high school I went to did German or Japanese at the time, but eventually added French. I've since learned that the first high school dropped Indonesian entirely after I left. First high school also had the option where you could go to one of the nearby high schools and join them for a language class)


As for languages, aside from English, I know a smattering of words in these languages:

- French
- Japanese
- Kaurna (the Aboriginal language in my hometown - a lot of suburbs and places near me had some origin in that language and this caused a bit of a stir when I was a kid for an entirely different reason - I'll explain below)
- Auslan (fingerspelling, a few first aid phrases, hello, how are you, my name is and a few other phrases.)

When I was younger, I learned that the name for a particular river near me meant "Women's river" in the Kaurna language. As it happened, the local council district also went by the same name. As a teenager, they tried to shorten that name to appeal to the young'uns, except that by doing so, they were basically calling themselves the "Women's Council District." Yeah, that got changed back pretty quick (although they did keep their logo, which was far nicer than their older one).

[Kit-Ginevra]

OK I'll give it a shot... Marni niina?marni'ai