The World's Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

Member Survey: What languages can you speak, write, or read?

What languages can you speak, write, or read?

I only know English, though I did take a little French in junior high school, and some Spanish in high school. I can make some basic sentences in Spanish, understand some phrases, and can usually understand or guess the meaning of simple billboards or advertisements in Spanish. I consider myself moderately proficient at French pronunciation. For example, I can often pronounce wine names, types, or labels correctly.

Second question: Why do you have an interest in language?

I think I like language for the sound of it. Most of my language skills are in my ears. I know when something sounds right, even if I don’t know why. My biggest challenges with English are remembering certain rules of punctuation, and remembering the names and functions of the parts of speech. I suck at diagramming sentences. However, I know when something sounds confusing or poorly worded.

I love to listen to poems or audiobooks, too, especially if they are well read, and performed by a British person. I also memorize and recite poems all the time, and I think it must be for the pleasure of hearing them inside my own head once again.

I also appreciate language for its emotive qualities. I can read a sonnet by Shakespeare and be moved to tears, and I think how incredible it is that a man can write a short verse, and some 400 years later it can affect me—or anyone for that fact—to the point of tears. That is the magic of language.

Tags: bilingual, language, reading, speech, trilingual, words, writing

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Hein on August 12, 2009 at 10:57pm

English is my primary language (and my college major).
I can read and write Spanish but not fast enough to be fluent...at all.
I can guts my way through written Latin and Italian.

Permalink Reply by JayBarti on August 12, 2009 at 11:40pm

English, English, English.

As for why I love language, well for starters I love to read, reading is my main outlet of relaxation. I also work in publishing, not as a writer but as a specialized publishing tech (support, training, implementation...).

I have done this for years now, so much so that I begun to appreciate how amazing language is, and how poorly it is used by a lot of people. I can not claim to be anything but an amateur, when it comes to any understanding of construction of a sentence, much less a paragraph. I just try and make sure it makes sense to the best of my ability. I may not know how to write, but I recognize what well written should look like.

I am hoping to expand my communication skill set here.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on August 13, 2009 at 9:04am

I can not claim
Correction: Cannot is one word.

I may not know how to write, but I recognize what well written should look like.
Correction: I believe well-written should be hyphenated in this sentence, as well and written are modifying one another, like when blue-green is hyphenated.

If you rewrote the sentence like this: I may not know how to write, but I recognize what a well written sentence should look like. Then you would not need to hyphenate well and written, because both are modifying the word (noun) sentence.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Permalink Reply by JayBarti on August 13, 2009 at 11:19am

Thanks, for some reason I always screw up contractions and those double words like "cannot".

Permalink Reply by Jaume on August 13, 2009 at 11:29am

I can not claim
Correction: Cannot is one word.

Are you sure of this? I clearly remember being taught that can not, cannot, and can't were all grammatically correct in high school.

[Edit - copied & pasted from the Wiktionary:]

Usage notes

Cannot is frequently but mistakenly written as can not, yet these have quite different meanings. In cannot (or can't), the particle not is related to can, whereas in can not the particle not is related to the verb following can. Consider the following remarks about squares on a chess-board:

* A chess square can be white. This is true.
* A chess square can not be white. This is also true, since it can equally be black. ( = A chess square is able to be not white.)
* A chess square cannot be white. This is false. ( = A chess square is unable to be white.)
* A chess square cannot be red. This is true (on any normal board). ( = A chess square is unable to be red.)

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on August 13, 2009 at 12:00pm

@ Jaume: Good catch. I think both ways are correct. I think is his example, can not should have been one word.

I cannot wait for Friday to come!
I cannot play football. (Means that I am not good at it.)
I can not play football today. (Means that normally I can play football, but not this particular day.)

The plane cannot take off.
A plane can not be made of paper and string and hold up under duress.

I also think that you can use can not in some instances where you want extra emphasis: I don't care how many times you say it. The plane can not take off in this weather! Here, you would stress CAN NOT verbally.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on August 13, 2009 at 10:07am

English is the only language that I am fluent in. I know some Slovak. A few words of Spanish. Some Sign Language. And, I took German in school. I also know a couple words in Russian and Hungarian.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on August 13, 2009 at 10:14am

Well, like you, I know a few words in other languages, such as Japanese. I also forgot to mention that I can fingerspell in ASL, but I have forgotten most of the other signs.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on August 15, 2009 at 12:59pm

The only language I get any practice in, besides, English, is Slovak. My parents are Slovak

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on August 15, 2009 at 4:54pm

Is that similar to Russian?

I would have used the term Slovakian. Is that incorrect to add the ian at the end?

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on August 15, 2009 at 4:57pm

It is a Slavic language but, they aren't the same. It is incorrect to add it but, Many people do.

Permalink Reply by Eduardo on August 13, 2009 at 6:15pm

My native language is Spanish and over the years I've learned English because I've been surrounded by it my whole life, from movies to TV and music (I live in Mexico). I can also understand and speak a little French and this is the language that I'm studying right now; I hope I can learn this language just like I learned English, I didn't went to a school, I learned by myself.

I started liking English because I saw it as an escape route from things I didn't identify with in my country, like TV programs and music. As my English became better I got to know a little bit more about a culture that I considered to be more free of taboos and with more things to say outside of the typical religious, male chauvinistic, mexican society.

I think I consider learning English as a important element that helped me get rid of gods and superstition; and I believe that by learning French another world will open for my eyes to see.