Languages?

[Amanogawa 79]

Excuse me for asking this totally out-of-sumo question.. for between-bashos' sake! :-)

Edited April 11, 2003 by Amanogawa

[Kintamayama 45,093]

Well, Hebrew as mother tongue (it's actually Japanese, since it's the first language i learned to speak..)-then English, Japanese, and I can get by with my French, Arabic, and my amazing German. Ask any member of the German forum..

And I know a few Finnish humans, but that probably doesn't count..

[Doitsuyama 1,185]

Ah, yes, Kintamayama's awesome German. But didn't he claim on the German sumoforum that it wasn't his fault, but the blame is alone with babelfish from altavista?

For me, the correct answer probably is Zero, but since this wasn't in your list I choose to elevate my English to "being able to speak". Actually, I don't have a clue about my spoken English, as Germany is another country where you have no problems speaking only one language. So I almost never speak English...

[Yoavoshimaru 0]

My girlfriend speaks 6 languages well, and several others at various levels of fluency -- that's her big hobby and job as well.

I, unfortunately, speak less languages  :-(   Nonetheless, I like sumo and she doesn't, so I get to vote in this poll.

[Onnagumo 4]

I voted two. Besides my native language (Dutch) I know English and German, not exactly flawless, but good enough to be understood. I could read a text in French if I really do my best, but my ability to speak French is next to none (I haven't spoken it since I left school), so I didn't count that language.

I wish I knew Japanese! :-(

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

Finnish and English I can speak and write well enough but then comes interpretation problems.

Swedish is Finland's other official language and it is taught a lot in school so most Finns speak at least some Swedish. Then again it is easy to talk in English with Swedes as they master that so active Swedish usage is easy to forget if one doesn't live in bilingual areas in Finland.

In German I "can" communicate but it is quite difficult and vocabulary level is not high. It is much easier to understand German and reading German sumoforum has given an incentive to revive that language a bit! :-D

In French I can say "Beuacoup le vache" and exclaim when eyes meet a dog..CHIEN!!! Merci! Bon appetit! Oui! Other than that French is a mysterious bundle of vowelwaves which sounds sexy when female French woman speaks. I never learned to say the French "bear" when a 3 year old French-Canadian tried to teach me that. I think it is something like

[Kintamayama 45,093]

Ah, yes, Kintamayama's awesome German. But didn't he claim on the German sumoforum that it wasn't his fault, but the blame is alone with babelfish from altavista?

Actually, it's a mix between Yiddish and German. The Bubblepiss thing I did once as a joke. My problem is der spelling usually..then I use Bubblepiss for verification purposes only..Finnish human can vouch for my Deutche, as we like to speak many distant languages via ICQ.

[Manekineko 200]

I voted three, although I can properly speak/write/understand only English and Deutch. French I can understand (if folks speak nice and slow) and read (comix! ), Italian I can read (manga are so much cheaper in Italian translation), Japanese I can understand (very rudimentary) and read (with extensive dictionary aid). I can read and I suppose understand Russian, but also with dictionary aid. Closer to home I can understand both Serbian and Slovenian, but couldn't speak or write them properly if my life depended on it. My, this turned out to be a longish list...  :-(

Oh, and I learned Latin in highschool, but forgot everything but few phrases, and some prayers. (Being an angel...)

(if you're wondering: understand = understand spoken language).

[Kotoseiya Yuichi 3]

Deutch

Errr...? Dutch? Deutsch? :-(

(I know what you mean. I just couldn't resist.)

[Kotoseiya Yuichi 3]

I voted two. I know some Finnish and clearly less English so in a land were these two are widely used, I wouldn't die of hunger.

What else? Of Russian I remember most of the alphabets but nothing more. Of German I remember almost all alphabets and some phrases like the legendary "Achtung, Ich habe meine Identit

[QttP 0]

Not many... Only Russian, Hebrew and English. Russian and Hebrew being my native languages, and English being the third.

I suppose I'd like to learn a few more languages, I just don't have the time. Or can't find the time.

[Doitsuyama 1,185]

German, not exactly flawless, but good enough to be understood.

This is clearly an understatement, at least in the written form. Onnagumo's German is MUCH better than that of a LOT of people (native German speakers) writing in the German sumoforum. In fact, I couldn't believe it when she excused for her writing as she isn't native German. Onnagumo, let me state that your writing is just perfect.

[QttP 0]

Nonetheless, I like sumo and she doesn't, so I get to vote in this poll.

I blame it entirely on you. How could you not have passed the love to sumo to your girlfriend? :-( I got some of my friends and even my parents to like it.

[Zenjimoto 40]

Well, I put down two...  I am actually at a point in my life where my native language (Austrian dialect of German) has by far been surpassed by my second language, American English - at least as far as writing goes.  Even when it comes to speaking, I feel more at ease with English these days, especially in a public setting.  My German public speaking skills are non-existent, as this was something I learned while over here in the USA as an exchange student.  When I went back to Austria after my year here, I had to realize that all I had learned about public speaking in English (certain phrases and jokes that work great in English when giving a speech) simply don't work or don't exist in German.  Since I have practically no opportunity to speak my native with anyone around here, I feel my German skills declining.  Nevertheless, I sometimes amaze myself how nicely colloquial Austrian comes back to me in a familiar setting, such as kidding around with my friends and family, and how certain funny nuances, jokes or word-plays in Austrian are still with me (stuff that would be impossible to translate into English).  Besides, I find that I have actually intensified my native Carinthian (province of Austria) sounding dialect when I speak, despite not having lived there for eons.  I think it is because many of my family members speak with that dialect, and I comfortably fall back into it.  After all, I was born there! :)

I guess I am one of those "native speakers" whose German is worse than Onnagumo's.  My German punctuation, spelling and especially capitalization, which I have given up on, are atrocious! :D  I am certainly more versed writing in English than in German. Not sure why... I guess cause I spent most of my college (where I did most of my writing) and otherwise "mature" life in the USA.

As far as other languages, if I add them all up, I could probably scrape together a third language :D

I had four semesters of Japanese, but most has left me, except for some phrases, most kana and quite a few kanji.  Married to a Bengali, I of course have picked up quite a bit of that, at least enough to every once in a while catch them off-guard :)  I also find Spanish incredibly easy due to its similarity to English, and Dutch incredibly easy due to its similarities to German, but I would not go as far as to say that I know these languages.  But I am rather good in figuring out what is meant, when seeing them, at least in writing.

I unfortunately had to take 5 years of Latin in school, a complete waste of time IMHO... I would have much rather had another living language instead!  Oh well...

Cheers!

Zenjimoto

[Kaikitsune Makoto 209]

I unfortunately had to take 5 years of Latin in school, a complete waste of time IMHO... I would have much rather had another living language instead!  Oh well...

Live and well in one area of life and international too. I see no other choise for you than medical school.  :-(

[Kintamayama 45,093]

Not many... Only Russian, Hebrew and English. Russian and Hebrew being my native languages, and English being the third.

Geez..I'm always the last to know these things..I knew you spoke a bit, but native language???

So now we are three..

[Kotoseiya Yuichi 3]

I unfortunately had to take 5 years of Latin in school, a complete waste of time IMHO... I would have much rather had another living language instead!

[ragerkawa 0]

My native language is English, and I speak French fairly well.

[Zenjimoto 40]

I unfortunately had to take 5 years of Latin in school, a complete waste of time IMHO... I would have much rather had another living language instead!  Oh well...

Live and well in one area of life and international too. I see no other choise for you than medical school.  :-(

Um, what I did NOT mention was, I absolutely STANK in Latin :)  I somehow managed to make my way through it...  :)

Cheers

Zenjimoto

[Nekonishiki Banji 375]

Hi Amanogawa and folks, sorry for being away for a so long time.

As for me, besides my mother tongues, Hungarian and Russian, I know this my broken English and I sometimes even understand native speakers as well.  :-D Knowing Russian, of course I can understand most of Slavic languages more or less, but I don't consider it as KNOWING these languages.

I also understand German quite well, but if I have to speak it, my German partners usually ask me after a time if I speak English. :-( Watching Spanish and Italian movies, I was suprised how much I understand of them, too.

I used to learn Arabic some years ago, and I even remember a lot, so now, watching certain :-@ broadcasts, at least I can read the titles and understand the texts a little.

As for Japanese, my Kanji knowledge is quite limited, I didn't count the Kanji known by me, but they may be about 4-500, mostly based on shikona  :-( but of course it's not really enough to Kanji only, but rather the jukugo. I can't speak or understand much Japanese, except some phrases.

Summarizing, I voted with 3 in the poll (Hungarian, Russian, English), because knowing the first some lessons from teaching books of many languages, is still not knowing them.

[Onnagumo 4]

Onnagumo, let me state that your writing is just perfect.

(Blush...)

Thank you, Doitsuyama. But I don't speak German nearly as well as I write it, and when I post a message on the German sumo forum, I take my time to write it. (Now you know why I seldom post there  :-(  )

And now let me return the compliment: as far as I can see, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your English in the written form!

Amanogawa: I think you deserve a compliment too! Personally, I think it is much harder to master two languages so completely different from each other as Japanese and English are, than it is to speak three or four languages related to each other and sharing the same alphabet (like Dutch, German and English, in my case).

[Yoavoshimaru 0]

Other than that French is a mysterious bundle of vowelwaves which sounds sexy when female French woman speaks

:-P  (Hehe...)  :-(

So funny  :-)

So we have a 3rd hebrew speaker on the forum, Qttp, in addition to Kintamayama and myself -- that's pretty cool.  

And yes, kanji are so tough to learn

:-D  :-(

[QttP 0]

So we have a 3rd hebrew speaker on the forum, Qttp, in addition to Kintamayama and myself -- that's pretty cool.

Yep, that's cool allright. :-) Only that I am the second, and you are the third. :-P And the P is capital. :-D

P.S. Joking, take no offense

[Kotoseiya Yuichi 3]

I have again trouble falling asleep so I might add here that my father's father's (or was it mother's) mother was said to have been able to speak six languages very fluently. :-D Too bad most of my paternal relatives are either dead by now or not old enough to have met her so I can't say which those languages were but I venture to guess Finnish, Swedish, Russian, German, French and perhaps... Estonian? Probably not English anyway.

My paternal family used to live near Terijoki, the "Finnish riviera" (nowadays Zelenogorsk, a distant suburb of St. Petersburg) before it was lost to the Soviet Union in WW II so I believe she worked in some position with the tourists coming abroad. One seldom realizes how soon these kind of details are lost. Only few generations...

Edited April 11, 2003 by Kotoseiya Yuichi

[Amanogawa 79]

Thank you everyone, for taking your time to vote, or to leave

nice messages here to share your language histories or

backgrounds. I have been so much enjoying each and every

post with great appreciation and interest. Again, to me, it

almost feels like a miracle that many of you talk about speaking

foreign languages just matter-of-fact-ly. I think I'm in happy

shock now realizing how full the world is with numberless

languages. And how neat having a place like this where we can

visit every often, talk and share, beyond all the differences of

languages. :-P

Thank you, Onnagumo-zeki, for your kind words. But my English

is still so pathetic -pathetic enough that I can't tell Rs and Ls

for ever..... :-D