My native language is Slovenian, I also speak English (8 years of primary school + 4 years of secondary school + 1 year at college, but I bascially taught everything from TV especially The Fresh Prince From Bell Air, so thx Will Smith, best teacher evah!:devil: ). I took Latin in 1st year of college, but only the basics of grammar and medical terminology. I speak basic Croatian, but basically I can understand Croatians without any bigger problem and they can understand us if we speak Slovenian to them. I also speak basic German, I had it for 4 years at secondary school and I hate myself right now so much that I didn't pay more attention to it, because - no news there - Slovenia sucks so much and I'd really love to get out, preferably to Austria or Germany. So this fall I'm gonna start the German course and hopefully in a half of a year my ''adjektiv deklination'' will get a bit better The grammar is the sh*t that I just can't handle, when I speak to any Germans (or German speaking person) they just laugh and laugh

Apart from Finnish, I speak and write fully fluent English and good Swedish.

I read Latin without problem and understand its grammar, but I don't have the vocabulary to produce it. Which would be pointless anyway, as I only need it to understand medieval texts in my line of study and future work.

I'm brushing up my German at the moment. I took 5 years of it on grades 5-9 in comprehensive school, so it's been seven and a half years since I last had anything to do with the language. It's surprising how fast it comes back to you, though. And I was surprised and relieved to see how simple the grammar is, compared to Latin. There's no ablative, vocative or locative, and nouns aren't usually even inflected in the four cases. Again, vocabulary is a problem. But again, I only really want to be able to read and reference German research and maybe some primary sources, so I don't worry about carrying a conversation.

I think I'll pick up French at some point, and might go for Ancient/Koine Greek too. That pretty much gives me the tools to understand any text produced in Europe over a period of thousand years or so, with some effort. (Excluding the Arabic texts in Spain, anyway.)

Grammar and syntax has always been pretty easy for me. And I think languages are fun and interesting as theoretical constructs and collections of rules. I enjoy reading articles on linguistics even if I don't speak the language. I've never been very interested in using them in everyday life, though. I think I'm pretty much the opposite of the typical learner.

OK so now I've mostly polished up my languages and have just 4 main ones, in order of proficiency:

-Romanian
-English
-Spanish
-German - though I need to practice a bit more for my job

and bits and pieces of others (meaning that I wouldn't be lost in those countries and can make a bit of conversation but nothing too complex: italian, french, portuguese, dutch, swedish, norwegian, and polish).

Taken classes in French and Japanese. Not close to fluent in either, would like to improve in both, but never have the time. Also want to learn Korean because I watch Baduk TV, but they've got it subtitled now, but the live games aren't so i could still use it for that. Pretty much a pipe dream though.

English of course. I know a great amount of Arabic and Farsi.

Written by Guest on 20.09.2012 at 18:26

English of course. I know a great amount of Arabic and Farsi.

from being in the army in the middle east?

My first language is French, and I also speak English fluently. As for languages I'd like to learn, Finnish is number one on my list, followed by Icelandic, maybe Faroese just for the fun of telling people that I speak Faroese, Norwegian and German. :p

Written by cadenceofthewind on 20.09.2012 at 23:01

My first language is French, and of course I also speak English fluently. As for languages I'd like to learn, Finnish is number one on list (for a number of reasons), followed by Icelandic, maybe Faroese just for the fun of telling people that I speak Faroese, Norwegian and German. :p

YAY a fellow french Canadian !!! eh eh, don't we all speak english fluently tsss.. (ok ok, not in Quebec city, Lac st-jean... I guess many more) scratch that. lol nice to meet you.

Written by Guib on 21.09.2012 at 02:05

Written by cadenceofthewind on 20.09.2012 at 23:01

My first language is French, and of course I also speak English fluently. As for languages I'd like to learn, Finnish is number one on list (for a number of reasons), followed by Icelandic, maybe Faroese just for the fun of telling people that I speak Faroese, Norwegian and German. :p

YAY a fellow french Canadian !!! eh eh, don't we all speak english fluently tsss.. (ok ok, not in Quebec city, Lac st-jean... I guess many more) scratch that. lol nice to meet you.

Haha, I think there are a few French Canadians roaming around this website. At least, I've seen two or three. In any case, nice to meet you too!

Written by Valentin B on 20.09.2012 at 19:32

Written by Guest on 20.09.2012 at 18:26

English of course. I know a great amount of Arabic and Farsi.

from being in the army in the middle east?

Yes and no.

When I found out where I was going I started to learn Arabic. I wasn't going into someone else's country like that without at least knowing their language. I'm taking classed now for both of them, just because.

Written by Guest on 21.09.2012 at 21:56


When I found out where I was going I started to learn Arabic. I wasn't going into someone else's country like that without at least knowing their language. I'm taking classed now for both of them, just because.

Can you read and write or just talk?

Written by Guest on 22.09.2012 at 00:33

Written by Guest on 21.09.2012 at 21:56


When I found out where I was going I started to learn Arabic. I wasn't going into someone else's country like that without at least knowing their language. I'm taking classed now for both of them, just because.

Can you read and write or just talk?

Just speak. I'm pretty fluent in Arabic.

Written by Guest on 22.09.2012 at 17:23

My native language is Luo but I forgot how to speak it though i understand it to some extent. I currently know english, swahili and sheng. learned some german in high school though i dropped the language in my second year of high school as i didn't enjoy it and it was pulling my grades down.

So you're near like Lake Victoria?

Written by Stalker on 19.09.2012 at 16:06

Slavic languages rule, for me, learning to speak a Slavic language feels like cheating

You don't know what real cheating is. My former flatmate went to a beginners' level Russian class and did the exam (just for the credits) and he was a native Russian speaker. Of course, he concealed it from the teachers... now that's what I call cheating...

Another former flatmate of mine was from Slovakia and she had pretty good English. As much as I understood, Czech and Slovak are nearly the same. I'd pick Slovak, though, because it lacks that unpronounceable and nasty sounding R... Wherever Czechs have this "rzschsh", the Slovaks just say "r"...

Written by Guest on 19.09.2012 at 17:48

Can read Cyrillic, Urdu and Persian but won't understand a word.

Yep, you might recognise the letters but can you pronounce the words. I can read and write some Persian but I can't pronounce Arabic to save my life... usually one letter is pronounced completely differently in Arabic and Persian respectively plus both have their own special diacritics and letters that they don't share such as گ and پ (G and P)
Also... ظ ز ض are all Z in Persian while they represent different sounds in Arabic... same goes for س ص ث all of which are just S in Persian...
It's the same thing with Latin letters... English, German, French, Vietnamese etc which all use these letters, each pronounce in a way of their own... English being a particularly complicated case...

Cyrillic... Russian pronunciation is clearly different from the ones of the other languages that use the alphabet... for example Г can be G but it can also be an H or even a V sound depending on a particular word or syllable. Plus, the O can sound either like an A or an O depending on the stress which also shows that Russian isn't exactly one of those languages where every letter has just one sound such as Serbian is. Generally speaking... among languages using the Latin letters, the easiest to pronounce are Croatian, Italian, Spanish, German and the likes... French can be a bitch because it has lots of words where the letters aren't pronounced any longer, thus making differently written words share the same pronunciation. English, of course, is by far the worst because it's the most incoherent of them all... No letter has any fixed pronunciation and unless you have memorised the sounds for every particular word, it can be impossible to guess... I saw my schoolmates struggle with it... I have no idea whether being part Aussie and having my grandmother occasionally speak English with me from an early age played a part but it never was a problem for me...

Written by IronAngel on 19.09.2012 at 23:08

And I was surprised and relieved to see how simple the grammar is, compared to Latin. There's no ablative, vocative or locative, and nouns aren't usually even inflected in the four cases. Again, vocabulary is a problem. But again, I only really want to be able to read and reference German research and maybe some primary sources, so I don't worry about carrying a conversation.

Latin and German have nearly identical grammar. They're like close sisters with one wearing less clothes, that's all... German does have both ablative and dative (technically) but as they have become identical, the two cases have merged into one. And vocative and locative are rarely used even in Latin which leaves you with just nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and ablative. Remember, dative and accusative can be counted as one which means that German with its nominative, genitive, dative and accusative has exactly the same set.

I do agree, though... the pronunciation in Latin can still be more clear which means that you can see and hear the difference between dative and ablative.

But if you have, let's say... a word like "lupus" then (lupus, lupi, lupo, lupum, lupo) the ablative and dative are the same as you can see...

Ego habeo mihi unam flascam vini emptum - Ich habe mir eine Flasche Wein genommen. Note that the word (n)emen means "buy" in Latin but "take" in German... I know that in Classical Latin a phrase with simple past such as "Ego mihi unam butticulam vini emi" would sound more logical... with using "bottle" instead of "flask" which might be more of a German-particular word... Then again, butticula (bottle) is a diminutive of buttis which is the same word as the German Bütte... which shows once more that they are related a lot more closely than Finnish to Sami or Hungarian...

Written by Ernis on 23.09.2012 at 19:35

Written by Stalker on 19.09.2012 at 16:06

Slavic languages rule, for me, learning to speak a Slavic language feels like cheating

You don't know what real cheating is. My former flatmate went to a beginners' level Russian class and did the exam (just for the credits) and he was a native Russian speaker. Of course, he concealed it from the teachers... now that's what I call cheating...

Another former flatmate of mine was from Slovakia and she had pretty good English. As much as I understood, Czech and Slovak are nearly the same. I'd pick Slovak, though, because it lacks that unpronounceable and nasty sounding R... Wherever Czechs have this "rzschsh", the Slovaks just say "r"...

Yeah, you're right. Czech and Slovak are largely similar, with Slovak being easier to write, pronounce, and understand. It's kinda, clearer. And even the grammar is a bit simpler, I think.

Vietnam dialect is pronounced and spoken like Italian, I could guess could be because it is made by a Spanish or Italian priest with the influence by Latin and Italian text... the nice thing I found was when my roommate who from Dutch pronounced same of Vietnamese with Dutch language, pronounced same.. I can say Vietnam is the only country in Asia having Latin-like in language, colonialism is not bad : )))

Written by FOOCK Nam on 24.09.2012 at 20:09

I can say Vietnam is the only country in Asia having Latin-like in language, colonialism is not bad : )))

Vietnamese is nothing like Latin... What you probably had in mind was that it uses Latin letters...

Written by Guest on 24.09.2012 at 11:39

Written by Guest on 22.09.2012 at 17:23

So you're near like Lake Victoria?

yup, i live in Kisumu a port town. Why, u been here?

Why are you talking to yourself?

Written by Ernis on 24.09.2012 at 22:44

Written by FOOCK Nam on 24.09.2012 at 20:09

I can say Vietnam is the only country in Asia having Latin-like in language, colonialism is not bad : )))

Vietnamese is nothing like Latin... What you probably had in mind was that it uses Latin letters...

Yeah I was meaning so : ) , it has Latin letters, the only country in Asia having that unique traits. Even now the vocabulary pools of Vietnamese still not vast like English, but yes with Latin letters it easier to follow the world where English is the most and a must language needed to know : )

Written by FOOCK Nam on 25.09.2012 at 12:39

Vietnamese has Latin letters, the only country in Asia having that unique traits.'

I think you forgot Tagalog... and now that I think of it... You also forgot that Turkey (which is in Asia too) uses Latin alphabet and so do Malaysia and Indonesia. Also, I've heard that Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan too are now using Latin letters. So Vietnam doesn't seem to be that unique any more...

Written by Ernis on 25.09.2012 at 12:51

Written by FOOCK Nam on 25.09.2012 at 12:39

Vietnamese has Latin letters, the only country in Asia having that unique traits.'

I think you forgot Tagalog... and now that I think of it... You also forgot that Turkey (which is in Asia too) uses Latin alphabet and so do Malaysia and Indonesia. Also, I've heard that Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan too are now using Latin letters. So Vietnam doesn't seem to be that unique any more...

Oh you seem knowing a lot about language .

Written by Ernis on 25.09.2012 at 12:51

Written by FOOCK Nam on 25.09.2012 at 12:39

Vietnamese has Latin letters, the only country in Asia having that unique traits.'

I think you forgot Tagalog... and now that I think of it... You also forgot that Turkey (which is in Asia too) uses Latin alphabet and so do Malaysia and Indonesia. Also, I've heard that Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan too are now using Latin letters. So Vietnam doesn't seem to be that unique any more...

I guess he should've said Eastern and South-Eastern Asia ? LOL

Written by Ernis on 25.09.2012 at 12:51

Written by FOOCK Nam on 25.09.2012 at 12:39

Vietnamese has Latin letters, the only country in Asia having that unique traits.'

I think you forgot Tagalog... and now that I think of it... You also forgot that Turkey (which is in Asia too) uses Latin alphabet and so do Malaysia and Indonesia. Also, I've heard that Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan too are now using Latin letters. So Vietnam doesn't seem to be that unique any more...

You forget that Singapore also uses Latin alphabet

But then again that is cheating since the official language of Singapore is first English, then Bahasa Malay anf then whatever

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.09.2012 at 07:29



You forget that Singapore also uses Latin alphabet

But then again that is cheating since the official language of Singapore is first English, then Bahasa Malay anf then whatever

I study whit girl wfrom Singapour her 1th lanuadge is english, then follow chinese, since her parents I think forcre her study chinese

Written by Bad English on 27.09.2012 at 12:17

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.09.2012 at 07:29



You forget that Singapore also uses Latin alphabet

But then again that is cheating since the official language of Singapore is first English, then Bahasa Malay anf then whatever

I study whit girl wfrom Singapour her 1th lanuadge is english, then follow chinese, since her parents I think forcre her study chinese

yeah Singapore is mixed with Chinese origins, some Indian, and native I guess with mix with Malay and Indonesian, etc... I dont know much about those Southeast asia besides Indochina, but almost of them were colonies of England, Dutch... so there are Chinese and Indian overthere...

@Marcel when you wa sliving in Singapour did you learned some local lanuadge?

Written by Guib on 27.09.2012 at 05:57

Written by Ernis on 25.09.2012 at 12:51

Written by FOOCK Nam on 25.09.2012 at 12:39

Vietnamese has Latin letters, the only country in Asia having that unique traits.'

I think you forgot Tagalog... and now that I think of it... You also forgot that Turkey (which is in Asia too) uses Latin alphabet and so do Malaysia and Indonesia. Also, I've heard that Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan too are now using Latin letters. So Vietnam doesn't seem to be that unique any more...

I guess he should've said Eastern and South-Eastern Asia ? LOL

yeah definitely, I dont know much about Asia places near Russia and Europe,... well I can say Asia is pool with largest racial traits and language variety. They say Europe is old-continent but actually more united than Asia (of course EU), but Asia has half 3/4 tradition having not changed much, only political system and living instruments influenced by the West...

Asia places near Russia areChina, Japan (Rus still has ocupied theritories same like Kenigberg) Mongolia, Kazahstan
So its not hard figure out in what lang they speek therebesides in Rus ha smany othe rlanuadge sit self inside what local folk speek

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.09.2012 at 07:29

You forget that Singapore also uses Latin alphabet

But then again that is cheating since the official language of Singapore is first English, then Bahasa Malay anf then whatever

Good point. But yes, that's cheating because English wouldn't exactly count as an Asian language although Malaysian makes it legitimate. I've had some passengers from Singapore every once in a while at the airport but so far all of them have been Han Chinese. I'v heard there's a significant community of Han Chinese not only there but also in Malaysia.

Written by Guib on 27.09.2012 at 05:57

I guess he should've said Eastern and South-Eastern Asia ? LOL

Nah, that wouldn't save him. Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia all are in that region...

Written by Ernis on 27.09.2012 at 15:35

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.09.2012 at 07:29

You forget that Singapore also uses Latin alphabet

But then again that is cheating since the official language of Singapore is first English, then Bahasa Malay anf then whatever

Good point. But yes, that's cheating because English wouldn't exactly count as an Asian language although Malaysian makes it legitimate. I've had some passengers from Singapore every once in a while at the airport but so far all of them have been Han Chinese. I'v heard there's a significant community of Han Chinese not only there but also in Malaysia.

Actually Mandarin is on a par with Bahasa Malay as joint second language in Singapore. It least it's one of the three main official languages. Or used to be, maybe they've changed it by now.