Thetownend.com

Just wondering what Languages our users are fluent in?

Growing up to Polish parents i naturally leaned to speak the language. I didn't spend my Saturdays paying in the park, i spent them going to Polish school.

If you're thinking of learning Polish, here is an example of the world of pain you are in for.

(https://preview.redd.it/4qr7bvghimb31.jpg?auto=webp&s=ee933499043523021e2b34d588d87d5a95dcc134)

I can get by in Thai, but I don't speak it as well I should be able to by now. I'm lazy like that; pretty much everybody that I know speaks English.

No wonder your name is 'Chubbs' if you have to do all that eating!  ;D

Its a lot easier these day, which is why i think people have gotten lazy with learning languages. Why bother when everyone can speak English. 20/25 years ago this was not the case, especially in Poland so you had no choice.
As I've got older, my speaking has deteriorated, but I've no issues reading or understanding it and love eavesdropping on conversation when they dont think i can understand what they are saying. 

Its very apt...

I do love languages but am not fluent in any other than English, sadly. I was pretty good at French until I left school. I've also picked up little bits of Italian, Czech, Thai and Malay (and probably others) when visiting places but as soon as I stop using a language I tend to forget it all.

Latin, I did it at school. Bristolian, I had family there  :)

Russian, but not as fluent as I should be.

I think that's the issue, you have to use it constantly to keep up to speed. Growing up, as well as school, my mum and dad would watch polish TV and we would holiday to Poland sometimes twice a year so it was always fresh. As I've grown up, and seldom needed to use the language, my speaking is not as good as it should be.

Love languages and how they open doors for you. It's true that most people speak some English these days, but if you want to sell stuff in Europe, as I've been trying to do for 35 years, you need to speak their languages. I'm native-level French, and get by in German. Also did Latin at school, which has been helpful in deciphering Spanish and Italian.

Looking at that Polish only makes me feel I should have started 40 years ago. There isn't enough time left to start working it out now!

I've always fancied having a go at learning Gaelic or Welsh.

Down the years having done a lot of walking in Wales, learning the basics of place names and pronounciations, was fun.

I've a mate who's a poyglot, his most recent language was Turkish, he swears by watching satellite TV as a way of learning. Perhaps you could do the same with Welsh.... S4C etc.

I'm barely fluent in English!

Chuubbs, are all of those standard polish or regional variations or what?!

I love the idea of learning languages but I am on the whole shite at them.

I could probably just about cobble by in French (if I had the confidence - I don't) and can probably order a beer in Spanish and Italian and that's just about it!

Embarrassing really! I spend most of my time abroad these days cycling in Belgium and the Netherlands, and almost without exception everyone speaks English better than I do! Have been toying with the idea with having a go at Dutch as its one of the easier languages.

Talking of which I notice my Garlic has come up in the garden this morning, hopefully a sign of spring.

Jag-shemash

English - 'tis my mother tongue,
French - fluent, and should be after 22 years living here....
German - O level standard (but that was almost 40 years ago). I worked in Germany for a couple of weeks about 20 years ago and was surprised that, after a couple of days, I was able to get by quite comfortably.

Yeah, same here.
Polish is a wonderfully sweary language.

I’m struggling with Greek. OK with the basic niceties but it’s the alphabet which makes it difficult to learn.

Malaka

That's about the only thing I learned when I was there.

Useful!

Not sure about regional variations but Polish has a formal and informal tense which are basically different languages. I did a Polish course a while back. Never got fluent and can barely remember any now.

Also learned a bit of French, Spanish and Russian at various times but it never sticks if you don't practice.

I was fairly fluent in Khmer for a while. My wife would tell you I was always shite, but meeting her was when I started to lose it. She was almost always there to communicate or I'd look to her to translate a conversation I was having, rather than trying to work it out for myself.

Of all the languages I've picked up bits of, if I had to learn one it would be bahasa Malay/Indonesia. Seems fairly straight forward.

What John said.

Embarrassed to say that despite living in Luxembourg for 9 years I barely topped up my school French and I really regret not making much more of an effort with French and even a bit of German.

Our long term goal is to do an Audrey and move to Turkey permanently when we no longer need to work and so know a little bit of Turkish, which I hope to get much better at over the years. I do try when I am over there, but just don't know enough to have a conversation and usually give up after I have stated 'Ikki Bira Lutfen'

I don't speak a word of Turkish, but I'll guess that means 'one beer please'?

Close, 2 beers please. 1 is actually Bir in Turkish so that would have been Bir Bira Lutfen.

Fascinating huh!

I always find that shouting "beer" while motioning the drinking arm going to the mouth is always enough, with my knotted hanky on my head and red lobster glow on my cheeks and chin.

You are welcome for this "international sign language" advice.

I'm fluent in pointing at stuff.

My Dad excelled himself when we were on holiday in France as kids, by motioning over the waiter in a beach bar and gesticulating at his pint carefully enunciating "Cette biere est cloudy, je cannot see mon finger through it". The waiter looked at him witheringly and said "I'm from Leeds, mate".

:D

My dad could speak a bit of German, but when it came to understanding it, he wasn't so clever.

Back in the days before sat navs and expensive flights we would drive to Poland. Whenever we got lost, my dad was pretty good at asking for directions. Some local would spend a couple of minutes giving directions... and off we went. Every-time my mum would ask "so what did he say" my dad would always reply "i have no idea."

My dad was fluent in Polish and Arabic, had passable Spanish, French and German from his postings in the 1950s with the army but would still go to Spain on holiday and ask to see the chef in the hotel and proceed to tell him the best way to fry his eggs, my dad ran a b&b for 10 years and was very proud of his egg frying ability!

He often got a lot of very bemused looksm suffice to say he knew very little cooking terminology in Spanish.

I'm kind of in the "Reeves4England" boat and I should practice more. I always make an effort wherever I go and I do believe this is appreciated by 'proper' locals more often than not. Even if it ends up with them chuckling. It's an ice-breaker to a degree and shows we all do have some kind of common ground.

We joke about body language but it does play a huge factor in understanding more about a situation.

I talk regularly with a German girl I met in Turkey and a Turkish girl I met there too. We sometimes talk in their native languages and this helps. I feel I'm better at absorbing/listening to a language and understanding, rather than speaking it and getting it fairly wrong; if that makes sense?!

Usually though, I find myself in a situation much similar to the 'la plus grand-mére' or 'la plus grande merde' type of scenario. Easy or intentional mistake to make, I guess. Especially if it's an in-law.

Mandarin, whilst not fluent can get by pretty well with speaking and listening, never bothered with reading or writing (far too much effort)

Thai, used to do pretty well when I lived there in my 20’s for a couple of years

German is pretty good after several beers, cannot remember a thing when sober

I'm learning American.  It's actually quite funny who often I'll trot out a word that has everyone bamboozled, and most of the time the Southern hospitality thing kicks in so they don't tell me.  I've picked up the expressions to let me know I've just lost everyone now.

"I prepared this on the back of a fag packet" went down well!  The poor chap I was talking to looked like I'd just kicked him in the nuts.

One of the reasons I went this way was my lack of ability in learning new languages.  My view was I;d only move to somewhere I could get involved in - I hate the British attitude that prevails, at times, in Spain for example.  I am not saying it doesn't happen with other Countries as well, but it's a bit British to want everyone to talk English, or just assume they will know.

Ha! Have a friend from Baltimore who said to me "Does everyone in England talk like that?" It was only "Don't put all your eggs in one basket", which surprised me they didn't understand.

use fortnight. it'll blow their minds

Many years ago, answering a question from my belle-soeur I replied (or I tried to say) to a question "J'ai l'habitude"......She heard it as "J'ai la bite rude", which surprised her, to say the least.

But what was she actually asking for EB?  :soapy tit wank:

Too long ago for me to remember......but I have a sneaky feeling she deliberately misheard me  8)

I hope you cleared things up by telling her you meant, you prefer your chicken with the skin on?  :girlgiggle:

I called my wife a hoarder once (she is).

I took me a while to convince her that the last 3 letters in the word change the meaning of it entirely.

Bet you was in the dog house for a bit!

Thanks FH/Jayo/another for the extra 1k+ cunt points, love you  ;)

I’m getting there with Spanish