languages

[hindupridemn]

What languages do you speak? I speak Englisha and Spanish fluently and some French, German, and Hindi. I can read most other romance languages and Dutch and know the Russian, Greek, and Korean writing systems.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

I speak English, some French, and some Japanese. My Arabic, Middle Egyptian, and Sanskrit is very broken, seeing as these are religious languages for me, and hence I only use certain words in them.

 

[Gaura Priya]

I can only speak English, conversational French and Spanish, and can understand Tagalog (I'm Filipino). And of course, Esperanto!

My linguistic wishlist would definitely include Arabic and/or Persian. And European Portuguese is a beautiful language.

Yet I can recite a few prayers in Bengali and Sanskrit, and a couple in Arabic and Persian.

 

[Watchmen]

What languages do you speak? I speak Englisha and Spanish fluently and some French, German, and Hindi. I can read most other romance languages and Dutch and know the Russian, Greek, and Korean writing systems.

What does it mean to "know the Russian, Greek, and Korean writing systems?"

 

[Tarheeler]

What does it mean to "know the Russian, Greek, and Korean writing systems?"

I can't answer for hindupridemn, but I would take it to mean that he recognizes the letter system and is possibly familiar with phonics. Each of them are very different from English.

I'm learning the Hebrew alef-bet. While I recognize the letters and am starting to be able to sound out words, I still have no clue what they mean. One step at a time :yes:.

It is much different than when I took French in high school; I already knew the alphabet. I just had to learn the words themselves.

 

[Penumbra]

Language has been my weakness. I didn't have the option to start learning it in school until 9th grade (which is ridiculous; one should learn them while young).

I can only speak English well. I know some German.

 

[BeckyRose1998]

English, some Spanish, and some French

 

[Caladan]

Hebrew, English, basic Arabic. and just enough Middle Egyptian and Attic Greek to get me going in the field. whether by recognizing the source, month or year a wine amphora was sent from Athens to the coast line of Israel, or which Egyptian Pharaoh passed through which site and on which geographical route in Israel or the middle east. or reading about the exploits of significant high priests in the Egyptian elite, in texts related to the Book of the Dead, when I got the chance to finally come face to face with these papyri, after previous years of studies about them.

 

[chinu]

What languages do you speak? I speak Englisha and Spanish fluently and some French, German, and Hindi. I can read most other romance languages and Dutch and know the Russian, Greek, and Korean writing systems.

• Language of Expressions, if you cooperate with your brother so.. .
• Language of Sweetness and meekness, I'll try my best, even if you don't cooperate with your brother so.. But still, i'll be a learner, i think .

_/\_
Chinu

 

[Caladan]

• Language of Expressions, if you cooperate with your brother so.. .
• Language of Sweetness and meekness, I'll try my best, even if you don't cooperate with your brother so.. But still, i'll be a learner, i think .

_/\_
Chinu

And English, obviously. the one which is actually practical on day to day basis.

 

[Levite]

English and Hebrew fluently; very good Aramaic and very good Middle English; some Latin, some Anglo-Saxon, and some Yiddish; and a smattering of French, Spanish, Italian, German, Irish Gaelic, and Ladino.

 

[Vinayaka]

I only speak English. But a more curious question would be the impact of languages on interfaith dialogue. For example, Inuit, or so I am told, has 30 words for snow, whilst languages originating in tropical countries have none. Similarly, some religious concepts don't exist in all languages because there are no words for them. So particularly in translations of religious texts, confusion may abound, as the individual doing the translation often only thinks in his or her mother tongue. An example from Hinduism is Shiva the destroyer. The term 'destroy' does not accurately portray the concept. Dissolution would be better, but even then it probably doesn't convey the concept or attribute that well. Some cultures like some North American native ones didn't understand 'ownership' so the signing of treaties had a whole different meaning that what they may have thought. I'm sure there are countless misscommunications because of the limiting effect of language.

 

[Nooj]

Only English fluently. Some others to varying levels.

 

[croak]

I only speak English. But a more curious question would be the impact of languages on interfaith dialogue. For example, Inuit, or so I am told, has 30 words for snow, whilst languages originating in tropical countries have none. Similarly, some religious concepts don't exist in all languages because there are no words for them. So particularly in translations of religious texts, confusion may abound, as the individual doing the translation often only thinks in his or her mother tongue. An example from Hinduism is Shiva the destroyer. The term 'destroy' does not accurately portray the concept. Dissolution would be better, but even then it probably doesn't convey the concept or attribute that well. Some cultures like some North American native ones didn't understand 'ownership' so the signing of treaties had a whole different meaning that what they may have thought. I'm sure there are countless misscommunications because of the limiting effect of language.

On the subject of Inuit words for snow: Eskimo words for snow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. But I do agree with what you've said.


I personally speak only English fluently. I can speak Arabic, although I tend to butcher it — and then only my dialect, for the most part — and I can read it, but not necessarily understand what I'm reading or pronounce everything properly. French I understand mostly in written form, but when it comes to me speaking or writing, I stumble (especially spoken). I know random words in other languages, but that doesn't count.

I wish I could be fluent in Arabic and French, and know a smattering of other languages. Maybe one day I will, when I turn old and my feathers turn ragged.