How many languages do you speak?

[KLscilevothma]

I speak English, Mandarin and Malay. I learned Japanese and Latin for a while, but didn't have enough time to continue my linguistic studies. My father speaks Cantonese and my mother can speak Hainanese. Coming from a country near Singapore, I don't normally speak but can imitate the Singlish (singapore english) accent which is similar to the Hong Kong accent, although I prefer not to.

I speak in a weird (to foreigners) mixture of English, Malay, Mandarin and Cantonese while with my friends, because we all do where I'm from. An example of a common line in Malay and English: I kena marah oleh teacher.

It's a common practice for many Hong Kong people to include some English words in a sentence, though I think it's not a healthy use of language. I do it often too, probably because I'm studying in a school which uses English as a medium of instruction. In a Cantonese oral exam, I spilled out an English word accidentally which was really embarrassing. :tongue:

By the way, what is the official language in Brunei? Sometimes I'm really confused about the languages used in some South-East Asian countries. I met a few Chinese-Malasians before and I was amazed how well their Cantonese and Manderin were (probably better than mine :tongue: )!

I think I don't have strong Hong Kong accent when speaking English as I had a very good English teacher when I was about 9 years old. She corrected our so called Hong Kong accent and taught us to pronounce English words correctly.

Oh by the way, I can speak Chinlish too

 

[olde drunk]

NONE -

none of the idiots i talk to understand a word i say.

sigh,
olde drunk

 

[Atrius]

english, french, hebrew, spanish, computer(not binary, just complicated stuff some other don't understand), binary(some), and idiot(don't ask) so 7

 

[Monique]

oh, and I know some C++ and HTML too :tongue: (little)

 

[Imparcticle]

NONE -

none of the idiots i talk to understand a word i say.

sigh,
olde drunk

Yes, I know what you mean. I spend a lot of time simplifying my vocabulary so people can understand what it is I am saying.

 

[jimmy p]

Yes, I know what you mean. I spend a lot of time simplifying my vocabulary so people can understand what it is I am saying.

Can you dumb it down a little...two syll-a-bles (struggle! :tongue: ) or less!

 

[Imparcticle]

ha, funny.
here I go:
Ya, me see what u mean. Me try to not speak hard fancy words that r long. 'cause this way they won't get no confusion from peoples.

You gettin' that jimmyp?

 

[jimmy p]

all but con-fus-ion. But yeah, i catch your drift!

 

[recon]

It's a common practice for many Hong Kong people to include some English words in a sentence, though I think it's not a healthy use of language. I do it often too, probably because I'm studying in a school which uses English as a medium of instruction. In a Cantonese oral exam, I spilled out an English word accidentally which was really embarrassing. :tongue:

By the way, what is the official language in Brunei? Sometimes I'm really confused about the languages used in some South-East Asian countries. I met a few Chinese-Malasians before and I was amazed how well their Cantonese and Manderin were (probably better than mine :tongue: )!

I think I don't have strong Hong Kong accent when speaking English as I had a very good English teacher when I was about 9 years old. She corrected our so called Hong Kong accent and taught us to pronounce English words correctly.

Oh by the way, I can speak Chinlish too

The official language here is Malay, which in my opinion is a rather primitive language. I don't think there are many linguists specializing in Malay because new words in the Malay dictionary are strikingly similar to English words. Just look at the Malay word for e-mail: e-mel. And the Malay word for television: televisyen. The Malay word for radio is radio, and for film it is filem.

Because of this similarity, students here have trouble differentiating between the two. One of my classmates is now in hot water with our English teacher after misspelling television in an essay.

 

[Pattielli]

Anyone here can fluently speak Japanese ?

こちらで、日本語をできる方がいらっしゃいますか。

 

[Pattielli]

Oh, forgot to say, except Dr Michio kaku and Doctor's children

 

[honestrosewater]

Has anyone *mastered* a language?

 

[Monique]

Anyone here can fluently speak Japanese ?

こちらで、日本語をできる方がいらっしゃいますか。

だれでも日本語を理解できる :)
Are you from Japan, Pattielli?

 

[Pattielli]

I came to live here since I was abc years old..Mastering a language is a real pain.
Japanese language's Keigo (respectful(?) style) is an example ? It is difficult and easy to misuse words for older people and words for younger people...<smile>, KenSon Go, Teinei Go is much easier.. and below written style (Futtsu Go) for Monique is much more easier ...
すごい、どうして日本語をかけたの +confused+,　日本語をどのぐらい勉強したか。使っている キーボードは日本語の。

 

[Monique]

Thank you Pattielli, but I didn't study Japanese and I don't have the keyboard.. but I do have my sources :)

I just know to pick up a phone with mushi mushi :)

 

[Pattielli]

<sml>Well, I have no idea...
But I think people say moshi moshi not mushi mushi. </sml>

/* When written in Futtsu Go, honyakusofuto won't work well, I guess, but you can go to babilon.com where I think they have a better service, anyway, I think you are really great when knowing a lot of languages...<sml>*/

 

[Megus]

I speak languages as follow:

1) Polish
2) English (weird, isn't it ? ;))
3)a little German

 

[i_wish_i_was_smart]

1)french
2)english
3)spanish
4)german

 

[Janitor]

english be the onliest language i can speak good, but i am alway trying to get gooder at it

 

[Monique]

For the dutch speaking, also add afrikaans to your list

I have an Astronomy book written in afrikaans ..

Meteoorreëns: Die beste tyd om meteore te sien, is die vroeë oggendure tussen 02h en 04h want dan is die deel van die Aarde se atmosfeer wat voorwaarts in die Aarde se baan beweeg, in 'n goeie posisie om meteore op te vang. Die snelhede waarteen meteore die Aarde se atmosfeer in die oggendure binnedring is groter want die Aarde se snelheid van 29,785 km s-1 moet by die meteore se snelhede getel word. Die relatiewe snelhede is dan om en by 70 km s-1. Die snelhede van die meteore wat die navolgende deel van die atmosfeer binnedring, is sowat 40 km s-1. Teen die hoër snelhede van die oggendure is die flitse van die brandende stofdeeltjies helderder.