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The Languages Thread

Discussion in 'Zoo Cafe' started by lowland anoa, 17 Sep 2016.

  1. animalszoos

    animalszoos Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    29 Feb 2016
    Posts:
    357
    Location:
    UK/Dubai
    I am able to speak:
    English: Fluent (according to Duolingo)
    Dutch: Fluent (according to Duolingo)
    Norwegian: Fluent
    German: Almost fluent (according to Duolingo)
    Spanish: Conversational (according to Duolingo)

    Unfortunately, I have forgotten all of the Malay and Mandarin (and some French) I learned in Brunei, but then I gained Norwegian and Spanish from moving to Norway.
    I am able to speak English and Dutch fluently because those are the countries I come from (I am half Dutch and half English) and I was able to pick up German and Norwegian fairly quickly because they are similar to Dutch (especially German). Plus I have been in Norway for a good number of years and I learn it 3 times a week and speak it in public.
     
    Last edited: 20 Apr 2017
  2. Crowthorne

    Crowthorne Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    13 Jan 2014
    Posts:
    1,587
    Location:
    UK
    Fluent English, and can just about understand Spanish if it is spoken slowly. Have been learning German, Dutch and a bunch of other languages on Duolingo on and off for a while now, as well as brushing up on my Spanish.

    Also had a year worth of Arabic lessons at work (Gulf dialect mainly, but as our teacher was Palestinian we learnt some of that dialect too), but I was pretty awful at it. I can have a good go at reading it, but that doesn't always mean I know what it actually says, and I can understand some spoken words. The most complicated sentence I could string together was 'The chicken is under the table', but I've since forgotten the word for 'under' so I can't even say that any more :rolleyes:
     
  3. MagpieGoose

    MagpieGoose Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    29 Mar 2015
    Posts:
    1,299
    Location:
    UK
    I am fluent English. I can speak basic Welsh and very little bit of Spanish and French.
     
  4. elefante

    elefante Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    12 Aug 2009
    Posts:
    2,147
    Location:
    North Dakota, USA
    I'm fluent in English and Spanish. I can understand and read some Italian, Portuguese, and French due to their similarities to Spanish.
     
  5. aardvark250

    aardvark250 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    4 Jan 2016
    Posts:
    1,980
    Location:
    Land of the 'vark
    I can speak English,Cantonese and Mandarin.
     
  6. ZooBinh

    ZooBinh Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    2 Sep 2017
    Posts:
    3,370
    Location:
    Ohio
    Um, my first language is Vietnamese, and am both fluent in English and Vietnamese.

    Sorry to bring up an old thread.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 8 May 2018
  7. Buldeo

    Buldeo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    8 Aug 2012
    Posts:
    515
    Location:
    The Yay Area
    I'll play.

    I speak English (American) and a fair amount of French. I wouldn't claim any sort of proficiency, but I get by. I'm better at reading. I could be fluent, but the chances to practice are few and far between.

    I picked up some Malagasy -- basic greetings, etc. -- but I do want to gain some proficiency in Hindi eventually.
     
  8. TheEthiopianWolf03

    TheEthiopianWolf03 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    3 May 2017
    Posts:
    723
    Location:
    United States of America
    I know English and Amharic (those being my stronger languages)

    French I know a little bit but so far all of it came from high school and BYU.
     
  9. Mr.Ivory

    Mr.Ivory Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    7 May 2021
    Posts:
    1,125
    Location:
    Chicago, Illinois
    I'm fluent in English and Spanish, but I can say some phares in German and Mandarin, and some word's in Swahili
     
  10. amur leopard

    amur leopard Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    23 Feb 2019
    Posts:
    4,162
    Location:
    London
    Fluent English and French, decent German and tiny bit of Chinese. Used to know a decent amount of Latin as well as Ancient and Modern Greek but all but gone now unfortunately but either way the two dead ones hardly count.
     
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  11. Platypusboy

    Platypusboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    2 Oct 2021
    Posts:
    711
    Location:
    Sadly nowhere near a platypus
    I’m fluent in English and Finnish and know some Swedish (enough to get by)
     
  12. PossumRoach

    PossumRoach Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    23 Feb 2018
    Posts:
    2,663
    Location:
    Munich
    I know no one asked me but I know English and Turkish. I had German class from middle school until my last school year but I sucked at it. I also tried learning Japanese but forgot most of what I learned because I procrastinated a lot. Same procrastination is the reason why I stopped learning Dutch through Duolingo. Per Florida's secondary education requirements I had to take Spanish for two semesters. But once my college found out that I took most of my education in Turkish I was relieved form the need to take Spanish class for a second semester.
     
  13. Randomname0183

    Randomname0183 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    3 Oct 2021
    Posts:
    213
    Location:
    Kent, UK
    I’m fluent in English and Spanish, and also know a good bit of French as well. I also understand Italian to an extent.
     
  14. KevinB

    KevinB Well-Known Member 5+ year member

    Joined:
    11 Apr 2015
    Posts:
    2,334
    Location:
    Flanders
    The only language I would call myself truly fluent in is Dutch, my native language.

    I have a good knowledge of English in terms of reading, writing, speaking and animal names, but I wouldn't call myself truly fluent in English as there are still some marked differences with Dutch.

    I can understand French relatively well when reading or listening to it, but I was never good at French back in school and I don't think I can manage more than basic conversations in French.

    I understand German and Spanish to an extent when reading or listening, but cannot do conservations in those languages.

    I used to know Latin and Ancient Greek, but those are dead languages anyway and almost a decade and a half post-high school that knowledge is largely dead now, aside from certain terms that occur in for example scientific names or terms.
     
  15. WalkingAgnatha

    WalkingAgnatha Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    4 May 2020
    Posts:
    749
    Location:
    New Zealand
    Fluent English, passable? Mandarin, and then barely any cantonese and probably by now non-existent shanghaiense.
     
  16. Youssarian

    Youssarian Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    1 Feb 2012
    Posts:
    107
    Location:
    Louisiana
    Fluent in English, I can get by in German, and I am a beginner studying Hawaiian. I studied Mandarin in high school, but have forgotten most of it.
     
  17. Mickey

    Mickey Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    16 Jun 2019
    Posts:
    695
    Location:
    Italy
    Thanks for the recognition:D
     
  18. Lota lota

    Lota lota Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    22 May 2022
    Posts:
    504
    Location:
    Sweden
    Fluent in Swedish of course :rolleyes:
    Norwegian is very similar so it's easy for me to understand.
    Pretty fluent in russian,probably around 75%.
    Ukrainian and belarusian are similar to russian so I can understand them almost as good.
    English probably around 85%.
     
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