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The Language Thread


neave

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It's no secret that there are KBers from every corner of the globe as well as some real brain-boxes. So, what languages can you speak and at what level?

 

I can speak Higher-level German and I'm learning Polish, but am at a very basic level just now.

 

Over to you.

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Doctor FinnBarr

Basic German, enough to eat drink and travel, unfortunatly I speak it with a heavy Seigerland accent which topped with my Scottish accent leaves a lot of Germans struggling!

:confused:

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My Albanian is still OK, my Portuguese can get me around aswell. Whilst living in Albania, Brasil & Mozambique I learned these and used to do traslation work but 8 years of not using them every day means I'm more use at reading a menu than translating Shakespear

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skotskosparta
My Albanian is still OK, my Portuguese can get me around aswell. Whilst living in Albania, Brasil & Mozambique I learned these and used to do traslation work but 8 years of not using them every day means I'm more use at reading a menu than translating Shakespear

 

Speak enough Czech and Slovak to get by without a problem,

 

Understand a bit of Polish, Russian and Croatian.

 

Would love to learn Spanish or Italian.

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Used to speak fluent French, but don't any more. Can get by and easily make myself understood, but I've forgotten a lot so that's about as far as it goes now.

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Used to speak French and Spanish near enough fluently but these days I'm not half as good, sadly. I can still chat away and read them well enough but I struggle to keep up with television for example....I've also lost a ridiculous amount of vocabulary. It's a shame because I spent flippin years getting to that point and its something I'd really like to keep up but despite all my intentions to do refresher courses etc., I still haven't gotten around to doing anything about it.

 

I did also learn Portuguese for 2 years and was okay with conversational stuff but I forgot everything I'd learned very quickly when I gave it up. Crazy pronunciation....

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chester copperpot

Stayed south of Paris for approx 6 weeks in between leaving school and joining Uni. Did higher French, and was pretty much fluent in it, but the less you use it, the more you forget.

 

I actually am more confident speaking French when I'm half cut, as was evident when I was chatting away to Nade in French at the Bonnyrigg Hearts dance. I dunno if he was suitably impressed or rather scared TBH, but I felt like Michel Platini that night chatting away to him about fitba.

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Can speak basic french and am currently learning Spanish.

 

Have to say since I started Spanish the French is coming back more too, normally when I start mixing the two together.

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Ray Winstone

Higher level German

 

and absolutely crap French - would get me by if it had to.

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Can speak basic french and am currently learning Spanish.

 

Have to say since I started Spanish the French is coming back more too, normally when I start mixing the two together.

 

Haha...classic case of Frespanol. Usually occurs when you mix foreign languages with too much alcohol....

 

:blush:

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yvonnejambo

I worked in Italy and Spain when younger and whilst I would never claim to be fluent in either I did enough to get by. Now I could barely string a sentence together in either :sad:

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yvonnejambo

Can I add a wee bit Thai, spent a month over there visiting my dad and think myself and my son learnt to speak more thai in that month than my dad has attempted to learn in the 5 odd years he has lived there!

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I can just about get away with ordering things and asking directions in French and Italian.

 

Annoys me that I have never learnt a language properly, maybe a project for the year. Probably Italian as it is easier to practice in Edinburgh with Italian restaurants and shops.

 

My father in law speaks about half a dozen languages.

 

English, Arabic, Norwegian, French, Spanish and Italian. He can also get by in German if he needs to.

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A few years back, I was working in the north of South Africa and travelling into Mozambique. All the white guys spoke Afrikaans and all the black guys spoke Shangaan/Tsonga. Each had their opinions on which langauge I should learn. One black guy was particularly vociferous and eventually taught me how to say "Good Afternoon" - "In Hele Kani". That afternoon I had to go to Nelspruit. As I got out the car, a black street seller approached me. "In Hele Kani", I said in my best Shangaan. He looked at me and said "I'm sorry I don't speak English".

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maltese jambo

Italian, Maltese and some arabic...

 

how come quite a few people mentioned polish?

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Italian, Maltese and some arabic...

 

how come quite a few people mentioned polish?

Well my burd's Polish and I'm going over there in the summer, so I thought it would be polite to at least be able to say a few phrases. ****ing difficult language though; thank God her English is immaculate.

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Doctor FinnBarr

If in doubt just assume that every foreigner is deaf, shout at them in English, works every time!

;)

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Higher in French which I can still read well but have a limited vocabularly after 30 years. Just helped (well , actually , did )my daughters re-sit French homework and got A* for it :rolleyes:

 

O Grade German which I am now putting to use 30 yearsd after passing it.

 

used to be able to do a bit of Dutch

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christhejambo

I'm fluent in French after living there for a year. Have also studied German up till 2nd year at univesity, so am fairly comfortable in that also. Started night classes in Mandarin Chinese in February too.

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My Eastern European languages are improving. Well at least I know how to ask for a dance if you know what I mean.

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Denny Crane

German & French at GCSE level. Plus a smattering of Czech and Polish (although given my Mum's roots with the latter, I really should be more fluent - possibly down to a few family rebellions from the pair of us. Although I've an aunt and uncle who are fluent). Also have conversational Scouse!;)

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German and some pretty basic Polish i've been learning of a few birds at work.

 

snap.

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Well my burd's Polish and I'm going over there in the summer, so I thought it would be polite to at least be able to say a few phrases. ****ing difficult language though; thank God her English is immaculate.

 

 

I have been over to krakow. If you have a basic knowledge of maybe 10-20 phrases you will be fine. most people I met spoke english to some degree anyway.

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Could probably get by if dropped in the middle of a French-speaking country.

And can speak Shetlan' fluently.

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tommythejambo

I can understand what folk from the West Coast are saying.

 

I can also swear in French and Polish. If you ask me the first things you shoudl learn in any language are the swear words.

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rossthejambo

i did french up to higher but not used it in ages. could probably understand it if i read it and could probably struggle through in france for a week or 2.

 

would really like to learn a few more languages. spanish is next on the list

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When im in a country for any league of time I try and make an effort to learn some basics. I got by in Hungary, france and egypt.

 

When you go abroad it is often the case they want to speak english to practice and learn more, just makes us lazy. At school I was hopeless at languages though but it is completely different when you are in a country hearing it from native speakers.

 

China was a struggle but thankfully many speak at least a bit of english and I can never get to grips with "weedj"

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Couls probably get by in Germany.

 

Can get on okay in Italy. Never had any real lesson's, just found it extremely easy to pick up. Grammar is shocking mind.

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