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I was just wondering what languages everyone speaks. I speak English (oc), Mandarin (traditional, but my fluency goes down every year for some reason), a teeny tiny bit of Spanish (that I mostly forgot), and basically two or three words in German, which probably hardly counts, but yeah. Does anyone have any tips on how to become rly fluent in a language? Besides taking classes, exposure (TV, radio, home life), constant use, that type of stuff? Also, anyone have any favorite songs in different languages? I know we can't post in other languages, so I'll just say, I LOVE Teresa Teng (Sweet on You, The Moon Represents my Heart (but this one was actually written by two other people, she just made it famous)...). Also I love to sing You Look So Good When You Smile. These are all English translations of Chinese songs.
submitted by CelineBurning Bright, age As Needed, The FireMist Sea
(August 2, 2023 - 11:20 am)
(August 2, 2023 - 11:20 am)
Hey! So, languages. I ofc speak English, and I am learning ASL (American sign language) I know how to say hello in several languages, and and I know some Spanish ( not a lot)
And YES I do listen to other languages. I enjoy listening to a band called Faun, which I believe is Norwegian, not 100 percent sure, but it sounds so pretty. Aaaand... I love love love Bangtan Boys (BTS) and they're Korean, so most of their songs they sing mostly Korean, and a bit in English. They have three English songs, Dynamite, Butter, and Permission to Dance.
(August 2, 2023 - 3:50 pm)
Nice! I never knew that's what BTS stands for! I want to learn ASL and Braille, but you can imagine how that's going! Also want to learn Morse Code! Are there different versions of ASL?? I didn't think so but it kinda feels like it
(August 3, 2023 - 11:10 am)
There aren't different versions of ASL, though one thing may have different variations of signs. There's other sign languages, like BSL, (British sign language) and there are several others. And, fun fact, sign language has been around since 1817
(August 3, 2023 - 3:05 pm)
OHH, that makes much more sense, thanks!! And huh, didn't know that!
(August 4, 2023 - 10:17 am)
I speak English and Spanish, although I'm more comfortable in English And I also love to listen to songs in other languages, even when I don't understand them! "Behet Ghol Midam" by Mohsen Yeganeh is an Iranian song that I absolutely love... fortunately in the video I found of the singer performing it, subtitles in English are provided, so you can actually see what it says, and the lyrics' meaning is gorgeous! I also love Russian and Cossack songs, and Gaelic songs. Btw, I think we are allowed to post the titles of songs in other languges :)
(August 3, 2023 - 11:17 am)
I WANNA LEARN IRANIAN SO BAD! It's so pretty and almost.. nostalgic? Like, it just feels so nice and flowy to speak.
(August 4, 2023 - 12:43 pm)
I know, right? :)
By the way, I am completely in awe of how you've managed to dabble in so many languages!! How do you keep them all straight?? How do you remember all the different words and sentence structures?! It's all I can do to speak fluent Spanish and you have eight languages down! Plus you're dabbling in others? I'm lost in admiration :)
I have checked out Hindi, Greek, Portuguese, Turkish, and French, but that basically amounts to learning a few words or just finding out a little about the language in general, and not getting any farther. Like, if you ask me how to say the word "shirt" in Hindi, I know that. But not much else. And of course I know Aiscuc (my own language) but it's not a complete language yet.
(August 5, 2023 - 5:37 pm)
English, Hebrew, and one semester of university Japanese.
(August 3, 2023 - 3:12 pm)
ANYTHING I CAN GET MY HANDS ON-
English, Spanish, French, Danish, Irish Gaelic, Tagolog (the main language of the Philippines), Japanese and Mandarin are all pretty advanced
Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Arabic, Russian, Italian, Hindi, Zulu and Korean in no particular order are less developed, partially because it's a bit harder for me to access resources on many of them, or I'm just slightly less focused on them
And then for fun I've kinda picked up and looked over a little bit of Portuguese, Turkish, Greek, Latin, Esperanto, Swahili, Cantonese, Mongolian, Polish, Basque and Navajo amongst other smaller dialects, as well as how to write in Mayan. Several of these are rather difficult for me to study rather amateurishly, or are not terribly practical.
Still, I love learning more, and somewhat vicariously experiencing a wave of culture and personhoods beyond my own through languages from across the world! It gives me a sense of satisfaction that little else does, and is definitely a bit of a hyerfixation brought to you from my neuro-divergent potato-brain.
(August 4, 2023 - 12:42 pm)
Woah. That. Is. A. Lot. Of. Languages. THAT'S AMAZING YOU KNOW SO MANY!!! And are fluent in quite a lot too! You named like 29?? :) I wish I knew (even if only a bit) that many too! But I lack the focus and persistence of learning all those new words and definitions and tones so... I'll just stick with my main two please!
I like playing Jasmine Flower on the piano! Sweet and beautiful.
(August 4, 2023 - 3:54 pm)
I speak English and Mandarin, but also I know a few phrases in Taiwanese. As for songs, I enjoy many songs in Mandarin, and my favorite singer is G.E.M. It's really interesting to see what languages other people know!
(August 4, 2023 - 7:12 pm)
UPDATE!
I have pretty good French now (Je parle français). Like, I could definitely get around in France. I don't have the best French, but pretty good. So:
I speak: English, Hebrew, Japanese, and French, all of which have different alphabets. So:
I can read and write: Germanic alphabet, Hebrew alphabet, hiragana, katakana, some kanji, and French alphabet.
(September 3, 2023 - 10:24 am)