Home Language?

[majestic62]

Hey Guys

So I was wondering. what is your primary/home language? And do you speak any other languages?

I speak English primarily. But I can also speak a language called Afrikaans quite a bit, and Zulu just on a very basic level.

Just some information, South Africa has 11 official languages! :o English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa being some of the main ones. Afrikaans is the newest language in the world. It originates originally from Dutch. It was spoken by the first Dutch settlers in South Africa in the 1600 or 1700s or something like that. It is quite widely used language, it is taught in all schools, and it is actually quite an easy language to learn. I would say about 90% of all the small towns here are primarily Afrikaans.

Zulu is one of the languages of the native people here. I learnt it for a couple of years in school. But I think I have forgotten most of it by now! :p

So what languages do you guys speak?

[musi]

at home i speak Russian with mom and dad.
i watch cartoons in english and watch euronews in english and talk with a few friends in other countries and you guys in english as well. :)
i speak Estonian at the uni with teachers and Estonian speaking students and all over the town in shops, at cinemas, in cafes and so on.
i can also speak German, but i mostly need it for work and i am thinking of going to Germany to study, so i know the language pretty well.
i have learnt French a couple of years ago, but now i am good at understanding, but not speaking.
and i know Spanish on the most basic level there can be :)

but knowing Zulu sounds great! is it a funny language?:)

[majestic62]

Zulu is a wierd language, there are vey small little variations in words and sentences that can change a meaning completely so it can be confusing :P

I love Afrikaans though! Its actually such an awesome language, its really expressive, and I am English but Afrikaans has such wonderful ways of expressing certain things that English could never do :) And some of their sayings ae hilarious. I actually started an entire thread on another forum at one stage all about Afrikaans sayings :)

So do you live in Russia musi?

This was post number 500 for me!!!!!!! :D YAY!

[skye]

Are you a Russian born and living in Estonia musi? :)


I speak Slovenian all the time. I only use English to write on the forums (and I can hear it on tv too, since we subtitle everything here). I also speak German, although I haven't been using it for quite some time now, since there's no need to.

I once tried to learn some French as well and even before that some Spanish, but I think it's not really worth mentioning, cause I've forgotten most of it.

[musi]

yeah i am a Russian born, or, more specific, Soviet born :D i moved to Estonia before it became independent from USSR so i practically moved into ESSR. but i am Estonian by citizenship so everywhere in Europe that counts as a nationality.. weird, isn't it?:)

[musi]

Are you a Russian born and living in Estonia musi? :)


I speak Slovenian all the time. I only use English to write on the forums (and I can hear it on tv too, since we subtitle everything here). I also speak German, although I haven't been using it for quite some time now, since there's no need to.

I once tried to learn some French as well and even before that some Spanish, but I think it's not really worth mentioning, cause I've forgotten most of it.

what language group does Slovenian belong to, skye? is it more Slavic or more Romanic?

[oceanflower]

I speak English only. Mads speaks Danish and English, but he only speaks Danish to our little William, and I don't understand much of it.

[Jezebel]

I only speak English. I took French in school for a few years but I only remember a handful of words now.

[Goldfishies]

I speak English with my parents and friends. I took French classes for seven years and I can speak it pretty well, but I don't have many opportunities to use it.

[skye]

what language group does Slovenian belong to, skye? is it more Slavic or more Romanic?

It's a Southern Slavic language.

[majestic62]

I speak English with my parents and friends. I took French classes for seven years and I can speak it pretty well, but I don't have many opportunities to use it.

Its definitely nice learning other languages but I think its silly how some schools teach foreign languages that the pupils may never use. if you are in Europe for example and learn another European language Im sure thats fine, but like my one friend is learning French in school and I doubt she will ever get the chance to use. Besides maybe for a short holiday or something.

[oceanflower]

Its definitely nice learning other languages but I think its silly how some schools teach foreign languages that the pupils may never use. if you are in Europe for example and learn another European language Im sure thats fine, but like my one friend is learning French in school and I doubt she will ever get the chance to use. Besides maybe for a short holiday or something.

Right. I studied French in high school and university...I got straight A's and could read books in French. I visited Paris, France when I was 16 and didn't use much French, as everyone spoke English. I've never been back. I haven't even been to Quebec, Canada. And now I've forgotten practically everything I learned. I can barely say a whole sentence in French. All those hours of studying....ack!

[majestic62]

Haha! That must be frustrating!! ;) At least the languages I know I will be able to use for the rest of my life. :)

[skye]

Its definitely nice learning other languages but I think its silly how some schools teach foreign languages that the pupils may never use. if you are in Europe for example and learn another European language Im sure thats fine, but like my one friend is learning French in school and I doubt she will ever get the chance to use. Besides maybe for a short holiday or something.

If you're European and English is not your mother tongue, then you're most likely learning English at school. Most people will say that knowing some English is useful, but in everyday life it's practically useless unless you're on the internet all the time. Even knowing a language of another European country is not all that useful unless you travel around a lot. And most of us don't. I could never understood why Americans have to learn French at school - I mean France is so far away. Spanish would be a more obvious choice.

[Goldfishies]

Its definitely nice learning other languages but I think its silly how some schools teach foreign languages that the pupils may never use. if you are in Europe for example and learn another European language Im sure thats fine, but like my one friend is learning French in school and I doubt she will ever get the chance to use. Besides maybe for a short holiday or something.

At my school last year, a lot of people chose to study Latin as their foreign language, which I thought was strange since the language is extinct and doesn't have much practical use. I mean, does it really help students to understand languages in general? Just because someone can recognize what a word means doesn't indicate that he or she will be able to apply that skill in daily conversation.

[Goldfishies]

Right. I studied French in high school and university...I got straight A's and could read books in French. I visited Paris, France when I was 16 and didn't use much French, as everyone spoke English. I've never been back. I haven't even been to Quebec, Canada. And now I've forgotten practically everything I learned. I can barely say a whole sentence in French. All those hours of studying....ack!

That will probably happen to me as well :(

[musi]

At my school last year, a lot of people chose to study Latin as their foreign language, which I thought was strange since the language is extinct and doesn't have much practical use. I mean, does it really help students to understand languages in general? Just because someone can recognize what a word means doesn't indicate that he or she will be able to apply that skill in daily conversation.

well, they say that knowing Latin might help you understand the European languages better, that is not medical Latin, but Latin as it is. however, i just think it helps you if you will learn any other languages after learning Latin. in everyday life it is probably completely useless, but my cousin could read the writings on the tombstones when we were on excursion in Germany. :)

[vierdreieins]

Latin is used primarily for studying the Classics in the original language, like Cicero, or for studying later philosophical works that were written in Latin. Other than that, besides the small amount of Latin that's beginning to be re-introduced into the Catholic Church... It's kind of pointless. But I'm one of those people who wants to learn every language in existence for fun, and Latin is on the top of the list. :p I'd love to speak it... Church Latin has a wonderful sound to it.

My main language is English, and I speak a little bit of German. I'm in second semester, and I know enough to construct relatively long and complicated sentences about how I get to places on the bus. :rolleyes: But overall I'm learning it just because I've been smitten with the language for years, and it was difficult learning it on my own. It's really helped me understand my own language better, as well, which sounds cliche but I swear it is true.

Learning a new language is probably one of the more difficult (and therefore enjoyable) ways to expand your mind. It has to go above and beyond general memorization, and that's what I love about it.

[skye]

Latin is used primarily for studying the Classics in the original language, like Cicero, or for studying later philosophical works that were written in Latin. Other than that, besides the small amount of Latin that's beginning to be re-introduced into the Catholic Church... It's kind of pointless. But I'm one of those people who wants to learn every language in existence for fun, and Latin is on the top of the list. :p I'd love to speak it... Church Latin has a wonderful sound to it.


If you love to learn and speak it, then there's no need to talk about usefulness. :good:

[mazarane]

I mainly speak English. My German is reasonable, as I studied it for quite a while, and then spent the final year of my university course studying there.

I'd like to learn French and Spanish to at least a conversational level..

[ArthurDent]

Hey Guys

So I was wondering. what is your primary/home language? And do you speak any other languages?

I speak English primarily. But I can also speak a language called Afrikaans quite a bit, and Zulu just on a very basic level.
So what languages do you guys speak?

:) I am married to a South African. Afrikaans could be quite a rough language to listen to (You have the meannest swear words :)) but Xhosa is cool (what, with all the clicking etc.).

Anyhow, My mother tongue is Hebrew and, obviously, I find my way with English. I have a limited Arabic (I once knew how to read it too) and that's about all.

[majestic62]

:) I am married to a South African. Afrikaans could be quite a rough language to listen to (You have the meannest swear words :)) but Xhosa is cool (what, with all the clicking etc.).

Yeah it can be REALLY mean, but used correctly it can be really good! :)
Ive never learnt xhosa before.

[Star_Anise]

I speak English, that's all I've ever spoken, but I learnt Japanese for six years. Don't think I remember much now, which is a real shame, because a)it's a damn hard language to learn, and b) I plan to use it some time in the future. Oh, hang on,

neko ga suki desu!*

I'll never forget how to say that, I think.

*I like cats

[Nanoitsu Shuam]

My native language is Finnish. I begun to actually learn English a few years ago, although I've been comparatively good in it from when I went to the first English class at the age of ten.

I was thinking about learning Italian, and then Spanish a week or two ago, but then I realized that even my English vocabulary isn't yet nearly as good as it should be (I rarely give attention to the grammar, because I really only need English when I read books); so I'll pass learning any other language than English, no matter how less difficult to master absolutely.