How many languages do you speak?

[BirdyBee]

I really want to learn some endangered languages. I'd probably start with African languages.

Also I found a website with info and resources for endangered languages

Endangered Languages Project - Search

The Endangered Languages Project is a collaborative online platform for sharing knowledge and resources for endangered languages. Join this global effort to conserve linguistic diversity.

www.endangeredlanguages.com

 

[Rozalka]

I admire people who have motivation to learn few languages - I often love looking at/listening to other languages but I don't have any motivation to learn more.

I sometimes like listening to some movie multilanguages and I was surprised by never seeing Afrikaans - I checked different movies languages lists and I didn't find it anywhere... or maybe it was skipped or other movies have... I'm just curious - do you have most foreign movies in SA in English? I looked at the list official languages and I remind one series having Zulu version, so I guess that some movies are translated to some SA languages

 

[HeatherG]

talking of understanding other similar languages - once time I listened to a song in Slovak and I understood literally every word knowing only Polish and basics of Czech.

In general Czech and Slovak are very similar languages (well, Czechia and Slovakia were one country) and these two countries often have one version of TV shows (eg Got Talent) because they don't need any translation to understand each other, the same thing is with a Czech bird magazine - I have a Polish translation but Czechia and Slovakia have one.
So, if you know Czech, you will understand Slovak too😅

My dad’s dad’s family is from the mountainous region of southern Poland. I am not sure if they were Polish or Slovakian. It seems like it depends on when the people emigrated and what their home country was called at that time. What do you think? How do you say where your family is from when speaking of a country that has changed hands and territories many times?

 

[BirdyBee]

I admire people who have motivation to learn few languages - I often love looking at/listening to other languages but I don't have any motivation to learn more.

I think learning a language takes a lot of effort, but once you're fluent, or speak it well, you'll be very satisfied.

I sometimes like listening to some movie multilanguages and I was surprised by never seeing Afrikaans - I checked different movies languages lists and I didn't find it anywhere... or maybe it was skipped or other movies have... I'm just curious - do you have most foreign movies in SA in English? I looked at the list official languages and I remind one series having Zulu version, so I guess that some movies are translated to some SA languages

Movies are rarely translated to Afrikaans here too, most foreign movies are in English. Depends in where the movie was produced. Usually it's movies made in South Africa that are in languages such as Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, etc, but some are in English. A lot of people here in South Africa don't speak Afrikaans or other languages, although most people can at least understand another language in South Africa.

South Africa has twelve official languages! That's a lot. From the top of my head, I can think of a few, Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, English, etc. I will try find a full list and share it here.

 

[BirdyBee]

Ok, here is the full list(also apparently there are only eleven official languages, but South African sign language might be added sometime):

Zulu
Xhosa
Afrikaans
English
Northern Sotho
Setswana
Southern Sotho
Tsonga
Swazi
Venda
Ndebele

 

[Rozalka]

My dad’s dad’s family is from the mountainous region of southern Poland. I am not sure if they were Polish or Slovakian. It seems like it depends on when the people emigrated and what their home country was called at that time. What do you think? How do you say where your family is from when speaking of a country that has changed hands and territories many times?

Poland has very complicated history - I looked for old maps and it looks like Polish-Slovak (then Czechoslovakia) border isn't really changed

Honestly, I'm not sure how it works with nationality - with countries which don't exist any longer, the "new country" is their nationality... not sure how it works with border changes but I think that "the 1st version" is your nationality
My great grandmother was from Masuria, when she was born it belonged to Prussia (part of Germany) but I think she had to migrate because she had 100% Polish name. From what I heard from my grandma, when she was a child, the resides of her countryside were divided 50-50 Poles and Germans because some Germans decided to stay and some Poles decided to move there.

 

[HeatherG]

Poland has very complicated history - I looked for old maps and it looks like Polish-Slovak (then Czechoslovakia) border isn't really changed
View attachment 46098
Honestly, I'm not sure how it works with nationality - with countries which don't exist any longer, the "new country" is their nationality... not sure how it works with border changes but I think that "the 1st version" is your nationality
My great grandmother was from Masuria, when she was born it belonged to Prussia (part of Germany) but I think she had to migrate because she had 100% Polish name. From what I heard from my grandma, when she was a child, the resides of her countryside were divided 50-50 Poles and Germans because some Germans decided to stay and some Poles decided to move there.

Poland has very complicated history - I looked for old maps and it looks like Polish-Slovak (then Czechoslovakia) border isn't really changed
View attachment 46098
Honestly, I'm not sure how it works with nationality - with countries which don't exist any longer, the "new country" is their nationality... not sure how it works with border changes but I think that "the 1st version" is your nationality
My great grandmother was from Masuria, when she was born it belonged to Prussia (part of Germany) but I think she had to migrate because she had 100% Polish name. From what I heard from my grandma, when she was a child, the resides of her countryside were divided 50-50 Poles and Germans because some Germans decided to stay and some Poles decided to move there.

It would seem that those people were either Polish or Czechoslovak if you are correct.

I have another grandpa who was “Russian prussian” whatever that means. But most of them were from the same general area I guess.

 

[BirdyBee]

It's quite interesting to learn about your family history. I want to know more about my family history. All I know is that my ancestors were in the Groot Trek(think it was my great-great-great grandmother... not sure)

 

[BirdyBee]

I grew up in south Louisiana and while my grandfather on my dads side was fluent in French (Cajun) and that whole side of the family speaks it; my dad was never taught and I only took classes in k-12 so I can get by if I need to but am by no means conversational! It has made for some funny/awkward encounters at funerals when we see our small-town relatives who still mostly speak Cajun French.

There’s some kind of interesting research about the disappearance of the Cajun French language as a dialect in Louisiana - basically it was treated as illegitimate, instructors were required to teach in English, and if French was taught it was Parisian French. They actually instituted corporal punishment for children who insisted on speaking it in a school setting - and when those kids grew up, they didn’t teach their own kids French.

All this to say, my French is atrocious and my grandfather used to cuss in (Cajun) French because he knew he could get away with it in front of us, lol.

Apparently it's an endangered language:

Did you know Cajun French is endangered?

The Endangered Languages Project is a collaborative online platform for sharing knowledge and resources for endangered languages. Join this global effort to conserve linguistic diversity.

www.endangeredlanguages.com

 

[wrench13]

Foxy, if you can get fluent in Chinese/Mandarin that is a hot ticket in the business world. TO the right firm , that ability gets you close to a 6-figure salary almost immediately. My son was going to take it, but elected for Spanish, which admittedly is more immediately useful in NYC, but Chinese would have netted him a much better starting salary. Stick with it !

Me I speak English, a smattering of German but I am fluent in Parrot and Music!! I was pretty fluent using HTML but I have not used that in 20 years.

 

[Rozalka]

I speak Polish (as native) and English (learnt in school).
I was learning German too but honestly I forgot most things and sometimes I try to understand something (reading or watching) and I can understand only some very basic words.
Sometimes I try to learn Czech on my own and I understand it much better German but probably it's mainly because I hardly ever use German and Czech has many similar words to Polish so I often just guess them.
Why Czech? It may be a bit confusing but I started learning mostly through parrots.

I had few lessons of Russian but I shouldn't count it because I don't even know how to read😝 The teacher learnt us some basic words/sentences (only pronunciation) but I forgot almost everything (eg I remember how is "Monday" and "Tuesday" but not the rest days of week)

Afrikaans 🤝 Polish
No "th" sounds and "w" pronounced "v"

It's another moment when I try to learn Czech again... Interesting for how long, recently my motivation for learning other languages is so bad.
Also, after 3,5 years of not learning German, I decided to come back because recently I wish I forgot many things (also, interesting if just few days😝) - in the past I was happy that I don't have to learn it any longer but now I think it would be so cool to speak 4 languages.

 

[Smaragdeidechse]

I speak German as a native language and I’m more or less fluent in Luxembourgish. My dad‘s side of the family lives very close to the Luxembourgish border and the dialect they speak is quite similar to Luxembourgish, so I never hat trouble to understand it. After finishing school I lived and worked a year in Luxembourg and it has just stuck with me ever since. I‘m fluent in reading and day-to-day conversation. I’ts a super lovely language and O can just encourage everyone to take a look at it!

I was taught English, French, Spanisch an a little bit DGS (German Sign Language) in school. But apart from English I can‘t really hold a meaningful conversation in those nowadays. I‘m not bad at reading in French and Spanish as I understand way more than I can speak. I’m currently trying to improve my Spanish and bringt it back to a better level.

 

[HeatherG]

I speak German as a native language and I’m more or less fluent in Luxembourgish. My dad‘s side of the family lives very close to the Luxembourgish border and the dialect they speak is quite similar to Luxembourgish, so I never hat trouble to understand it. After finishing school I lived and worked a year in Luxembourg and it has just stuck with me ever since. I‘m fluent in reading and day-to-day conversation. I’ts a super lovely language and O can just encourage everyone to take a look at it!

I was taught English, French, Spanisch an a little bit DGS (German Sign Language) in school. But apart from English I can‘t really hold a meaningful conversation in those nowadays. I‘m not bad at reading in French and Spanish as I understand way more than I can speak. I’m currently trying to improve my Spanish and bringt it back to a better level.

Sounds a bit like me. I can read novels in French but can’t speak that well.