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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 14:02:17 )
Hiya!

What languages do you;
Speak/read/want to learn/ recognize parts of?
(fictional ones count too!)

So, i have this weird thing that whenever i hear or see some language i feel the need to study them
(i mean i tend to give up just as quick cause i get distracted easily at times oops)

Anyway they're really interesting interesting to me so, please tell me about your experiences with languages!
(feel free to share sources for studying them as well, admittedly i just mess around with Duolingo, oops)


Personally: i speak Dutch (and one of it's dialects) and English
I can understand a little bit of German, reading it being easier than trying to understand people speaking german
But that's mostly cause it looks/sounds a lot like Dutch.
However i can not, for the life of me, speak it :'D

Currently: Lowkey trying to learn spanish [note to self to not give up on it just yet]

That and i have a tendency to recognize/decipher random sentences in languages i don't really know lol
Or at least parts of it/ some of the context i suppose. Not 100% accurate though

Would love to learn: Spanish, Russian and idk probably Japanese or something
Used to really want to study Latin as well, maybe some day :')

Was quite hyper writing this so let's just hope what i just wrote is somewhat coherent . (:
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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 16:15:15 )

I speak conversational cantonese, I can get by and make small talk but nothing complex.
I really want to learn it properly so I can communicate better with my fam HAHA... but the resources are very limited

I took a year of mandarin in college, which was also the first time my illiterate ass learned how to read/write chinese ALDKJF I don’t use it at all so I’ve forgotten a lot. I have little confidence in writing characters, but I can read an elementary sentence or type with a pinyin keyboard... most mandarin I remember by trying to connect it with canto but the two are very different.

I took 3.5 years of spanish in middle/high school, most of which I've also forgotten ALDKFJ there's no way I could speak it, but I remember a lot of vocab and I can sometimes piece together the meaning of a conversational sentence in writing.

I taught myself japanese hiragana and katakana for the sole purpose of reading lyrics at karaoke... and that's it ALKJFDLJK

languages are so cool tho! I'd love to learn more, I just wish I had time/dedication. I tried duolingo for a lil, but it didn't stick bc it felt very memorization-based, and I don't learn languages very well that way.

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Donator — AAAAAAAAAA Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 17:33:47 )


    fluent in eng and mando chn
    know some french due to being canadian
    took (mandatory) french in grade school, elective spanish but forgot most of it
    took jp for years and now i'm semi-passable at it, great for consuming jp media haha

    bonus: i can understand minnan dialect chn but can't speak it for shit

    rn i'm sorta half-assedly trying to maintain/learn more jp on my own, was taking conversational classes before covid hit akdjfkfjfj

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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 17:38:41 )
@Hachi:
Oh Cantonese is something i don't hear a lot about!
Actually had to look it up, had no idea the two languages where related in a way o:

And that's a cool reason, it might just double as extra motivation as well to try and become more knowledgeable about the language c:
Also learning languages is probably easier when you have people to practice with.

Where you raised bilingual? (if you don't mind me asking)

And the characters do seem a little intimidating
if my mind serves me right, weren't there multiple ways of writing the same character or am i confusing things with Japanese here?
This is also the first time i've heard about a pinyin keyboard, still not quite sure what it is/does
Is it like converting words/letters to characters automatically or? o:

Ah, i feel, they made us learn french and german at school, i too remember very little of it haha. :')
Wish they would've offered Spanish though, rip.


Also that's amazing lmao :vanora_xd:


And that is true, duolingo is mostly memory based but i feel like it's one of the few (free) sources that include quite a bit of content
so far the duolingo owl and i are still on good terms lol.
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Donator — Whatever Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 17:51:11 )
Are ya ready, guyz?!

I knew ASL, but it's been so long I need to take classes again lol
I can generally tell Korean from Japanese or Chinese, but Japanese uses a lot of Chinese symbols so sometimes telling the two apart can be hard

Put ya guns awn!
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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 17:51:28 )
@pachi:
Ah i see!
Any idea if there's any big differences between Canadian and European French? o:

And admittedly that's why Japanese is on my ''wish list'' as well
Being able to watch stuff without subtitles sounds like the dream

That sounds really cool.
Dialects are amazing. Sometimes i wonder how they're not their own languages since some of them differ so much the original language.
(we have quite a bit of dialects over here, oops. But also, for some reason, the people up in the north (the Frisians) have their own language, to this day im still clueless as to why that is an official language haha)
You ever planning on learning how to speak the dialect as well? o:

Oh how has that been going for you?
Any sources in particular you're making use of? o:
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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 17:58:20 )
@Kitalpha Hart:

That's neat! Would you say it's difficult to learn?
Seems like learning ASL differs a lot from learning spoken languages o:

Had no idea they used some of the same characters actually.
In my mind , between japanese and chinese, japanese looks more playful/round-ish to me while chinese characters look '' sharper ''
Not quite sure how to describe it.
But can imagine if some of the characters/symbols are the same (and you're aware of this) it becomes quite hard to tell apart. o:
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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 19:26:32 )

@Siron: my parents tried to raise me bilingual, but I think overexposure to english at school and in media (and um... internalized racism) made me lose too much cantonese. I don't speak it nearly as well as my older sister does.

hmm there's simplified chinese and traditional chinese, in which a lot of the same characters are written differently. eg. the word for love can be written as 爱 or 愛

in chinese, some characters are pronounced the same but are written different and mean different things, if that's what you're thinking of?
in jp, some kanji are written the same and mean the same thing but pronounced differently depending on context.
languages are so confusing ALDKFJ

yeah exactly! pinyin is the romanized form of mandarin, so it's a keyboard with the roman alphabet, and you type words like "ni hao" and it pops up as "你好"

do you live somewhere with a lot of french/german speakers? most ppl here learn spanish bc we have a lot of spanish speakers. I thought I would use it more often but ALDFKJD nope
the most difficult thing about learning a language is the upkeep

that's true! I do like how accessible duolingo is, I wish there were more resources like it. I think it's a good place to start, and esp if you want to learn some phrases for traveling.
ALDKFJD whenever the duolingo owl slides into my dm's I feel fear
maybe someday that fear will turn into motivation

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Donator — Whatever Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/13 20:50:29 )
Are ya ready, guyz?!

@Siron: where I live if I travel twenty miles some signs are entirely different
I live between two large Deaf communities so there's a lot of words with different signs

Put ya guns awn!
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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 02:12:20 )
@Hachi: I see, i see
And can imagine that over exposure to one language might take it's toll on another.
Still think it's cool you're trying to get better at it though, is she one of the people you regularly practice with? o:

Oh that might've been what i was thinking of yep
is there a rule of using simplified vs traditional or is it all about personal preferences?

And they are, like how some languages have exceptions and with others it's like
the whole language is an exception like please, don't do this to us :'D

Oh that sounds cool, really convenient too
Is the roman way of writing the words a legit thing as well or is it more like idk, a stepping stone of sorts?
(hope you don't mind me asking these questions, i'm a curious person)

And i live very close to the border of both Germany and Belgium
Not the french part of belgium but you know, most of them can at the very least speak it so i guess that's why they chose that over other languages :')


And aw, well at least it's fun when you can, even if just partially, tell what they're talking about in songs or in tv shows that have spanish in it.
Yes, rip @ the upkeep ;-; Agree with you one that one.


Yes i just realized i missed a few days, am scared to check my mail now
Careful, it feeds on our fear :')
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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 02:24:02 )
@Kitalpha Hart:
Oh wonder why that is. o:
I hope the rest remains mostly the same or they at least have a way to communicate/figure out the different ones.
At the same time it's quite interesting too how they end up developing different signs.

Suddenly reminded of this video about the community in VR chat i saw a while ago.
They had rooms/worlds dedicated to ASL to help people out and i think they even made some new signs to easily communicate some things in game!
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Donator Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 02:31:59 )
**** (> o . o <) ****

I speak Mandarin Chinese (but can't write that much Dx ), English and Malay. Cantonese on other hand, I can understand a little bit but I don't speak or write despite coming from a family that mainly speaks Cantonese and Mandarin lol

I would like to learn Italian and Japanese someday as I find them interesting. Oh, and maybe Balinese even though I'm not very fluent (ow o ; )
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Donator — He/They Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 06:29:47 )

The only language I really know is English. I took French in school, but only got the first year of it and had to take that twice, thanks to moving partway through the year. Forgot most of what I learned by now, but still remember bits and pieces... enough that I could ask for the nearest library I guess but not enough to hold a conversation :^P
I know even less of Spanish and German, just enough I can pick out some key words/phrases and maybe even get the gist of what someone is talking about if I'm lucky. I'd like to eventually learn enough of those to be able to communicate/get by. I don't have to be totally fluent, but "not helpless" would be nice.
And I don't know hardly any ASL, but I think that would probably be ...handy... to learn.

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Donator — She/her Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 08:57:09 )


I used to be fluent in ASL. I really liked it, but then I moved to England for two years and BSL is nothing like that, and at the same time I was learning Japanese. So I lost it.
I kinda am worried that if I studied ASL again I would lose Japanese, but I like that one better. XD I have friends that I speak with in Japanese.


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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 13:22:36 )
@ChiffonOrange:
Oh Malay, as well as balinese, i don't hear often either!
Do they share some similarities with oter languages you know or are they completely different? o:

And Italian sounds cool too


@Nephila:
ohh, you ever plan on expanding your knowledge on french or is it more like something you had in school for a bit remembered/ something you studies as hobby?



@Count Trashula:
Every words/sentence counts!
Oh spanish and german are both 2 very different languages, is it purely out of interest or do you live in an area with a lot of spanish/german speakers? o:
And yeah i don't think one necessarily has to strive for fluency, being able to help yourself in more than one language is already a very helpful, and fun, thing.

Also 10 points for that pun


@Totalanimefan:
Ohh, i wonder if there's some form of sign language that's considered most, how would you call it, most universal/widely understood?
Never actively tried studying to languages at once, let alone trying to learn one spoken/written vs sign language
What would you say is the biggest difference between learning the two? o:
And japanese really sounds like a lot of fun, speaking other languages with friends is a great way of practice too
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Donator Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 14:45:20 )
**** (> o . o <) ****

@Siron: Hmmm... I would say they're completely different *inserts thinking emoji* due to the pronouncations, words, etc. Then again, I don't hear Balinese often either

Yeah *nods* Except I can't even roll the R word that perfectly lol (; _ ; )
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Donator — Whatever Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 14:50:23 )
Are ya ready, guyz?!

@Siron: ASL is a conglomerate of local sign languages plus a more universal set of signs (at least in the States) smashed together, from what I can tell
The local changes are stuff like "happy birthday" tho, not really ever anything too major

Put ya guns awn!
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Donator — Frog bless Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/14 19:13:00 )

Like a lot of people here I took Spanish in school, but forgot most of it. I can catch words and phrases sometimes... maybe even roughly translate something written but will probably make a lot of mistakes.

I took a few Japanese classes in college, but didn't keep with it. Now my Japanese and Spanish are kind of mixed up in my head.

When Duolingo came out I tried learning Esperanto for a little bit, but again, I'm unable to keep up with it. That's an interesting language though.
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Voltie Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/15 07:06:09 )

@Siron: oh nah ADLKFJ I think I've talked to my sister in english like all my life so it feels weird to talk to her in anything else HAHA
I talk to my dad in canto tho, bc he doesn't understand english very well

countries use exclusively simplified or traditional on their signage/menus/etc! iirc simplified is used in mainland china, and traditional is used in HK and taiwan.

english is definitely a "language of exceptions" that's for sure ALDKFJ

the romanized form is a stepping stone used to teach non-mandarin speakers - it's not really used too much in the real world. it makes mandarin much more accessible for learners, but learning with it makes you kind of dependent on it.

oh I see, that's very cool! it sounds like you live in a very lingually-diverse area. lots of people to practice with!

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Donator — She/her Posted 4 years ago ( 2020/07/16 01:37:37 )


@Siron: it’s ASL history time. Lol
There is no universal SL just like there is no universal spoken language however French and American are the most popular around the world.

ASL is based off French SL because the French where the first to open a school for the deaf And had people from around the world studying there.

England being England and hating the French said well we don’t like that and we are going to open our own school. So they did and it was 2-handed based instead of mostly one dominant hand based like what most deaf people naturally do. (Because the British school had hearing people making up the language). The British only was able to influence Australian and New Zealand SL.

So most of the worlds SLs are based off of FSL. And FSL and BSL aren’t comparable.


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