What Langauge(s) Do You Speak?

[LedReign]

why isn't music on here?

 

[DeathFromBelow]

why isn't music on here?

This is OT. No musicians here.

 

[Darth Handsome]

This is OT. No musicians here.

No real semblance of sanity or decency either.

 

[4StringAxe]

I learned the first day that nothing was sacred and most replies are like being enama'd with a fire hose.

 

[Pilgrim]

I speak English and some Texan.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

I speak English and French

 

[Milk]

French (native language) and english too.

 

[BboogieXVII]

Murican English by default.

I can speak a good amount of Chinese and can get the drift of quite a bit more verbal Chinese than I can actually speak. Reading Chinese is a lot like getting a proctology exam as far as I'm concerned but can do a little. I live in Arizona so can curse and be rude a little in Spanish.

 

[Gaolee]

mmmgh. ourrrgh. roogughhga. uhuhuh.

 

[Paul M]

English, Tagalog (Filipino), Potty Mouth, and I used to be able to speak basic Pangasinan but I have forgotten it now.

 

[machine gewehr]

Turkish by default.

English with American, British, Russian, Irish, Turkish accents.

Also the usual male communication language, the fart and belch language.

 

[Ultradust]

Ah! School me please! See my post about 2 or 3 above yours and straighten out my rudimentary knowledge. Macaroni Tony thanks you...

Picking up a little bit of Korean from Korean TV. So far I know that they say "imida" when answering a question and "iMNika" when asking one. And it seems like if you're being somewhat rude you call someone "do" and yourself "ne-GA"

An excellent observation/inquiry, Macaroni Tony! I wish I could firstly go into detail with the pronunciation of Korean vowels, but that will have to be dealt with separately...Us Westerners especially have a horrible time with 어 eo, which is roughly between Oh, Ah, and Uh, but practically comes out of your throat, not your mouth!

But I digress...

There are roughly five degrees of formality in Korean, which not only affect verb endings and adjective suffixes (the two most common honorific changes), but there are even a suite of exclusive nouns and verbs that can only be applied to each. On a very related note, you are correct in noting the imnida/imnikka relationship, although this is limited to the highest level of formality that I find myself using with some of my clients, other people's parents, and strangers on the street, but is a form I don't usually use that much even with my parents-in-law, substituted with a "personal formal" form, a softer form you'll hear all the time in dramas that ends in 요 yo.

The other points you have mentioned is part of one of the most difficult for non-native speakers to grasp: Korean pronouns. I'll only superficially address first and second person.

Remember when Psy got strangely under fire in the West for using the word niga (you, colloquial personal informal) in one of his songs? The worrisome part of the situation with folks happily clarifying things online left-and-right was that while it is indeed one of a dozen words for "you", using the word niga liberally without knowing its context would result in one insulting probably 90% of people he/she would encounter, being reserved for very close "friends & lovers", younger siblings, and even, er…people you are angry at and are trying to start a fight with. Sound confusing yet?


To give you an idea of what a mess this can be, although there are roughly a half dozen primary words for "you", many linguists include substitutional pronouns (2nd person reference words) because they can behave as "you" in certain cases, bringing the number up to somewhere between 12 (some of my original text books) and 16 (Cambridge University Press' Korean Language textbook), depending on who you ask! What's worse, the majority of them cannot be used in formal situations, in which (like in Japanese), the 2nd person pronoun is replaced with a professional title, or if deemed "safe", the individual's first name followed by 씨 sshi (like さん -san in Japanese), although depends greatly on the situation and great care always has to be taken to establish one's role/position in relation to the other individual. Along the same lines in regard to such 2nd person reference words, in both North and South Korea a stranger can respectfully be called 선생님 seonsaengnim (lit. "(esteemed) teacher", which has the same Sino-Chinese root as the Japanese 先生 sensei



Simplified first person pronouns and their accompanying particle suffix are relatively simple, depending on formality, part of speech, and whether emphasized in the sentence or not: 나는 na(neun), 나를 na(reul), 내가 nae(ga) which you noted, 저는 jeo(nun), 저를 jeo(reul), 제가 je(ga)...I won't explain the differences right now.

But check out the diversity with the main 2nd person pronouns...I'm intentionally leaving out a few

• 너(는) neoneun - You, emphasized. Informal personal and completely devoid of any respect, great for "talking down to subordinates and younger siblings". The "do" you referred to is actually the root, 너 neo

• 네(가) nega - You (as above informal personal), subject of a sentence, phrase, or clause. Sounds almost indistinguishable from 내가 naega, so a few decades ago niga became used as a colloquial replacement.

• 너희/너희들들 neohee/neoheedeul - plural form of the above informal personal. Note: 들/deul is Korean's primary plural suffix

• 당신 dangshin - You, as between older married couples, but also used in confrontational situations with strangers. Kinda feels like "dear"

• 그대 geudae - You, poetic - Used in pop songs a good deal, has a "Shakespearean" vibe about it.

• 자기 jagi - You (literally "self") and is used between loved ones and also frequently by women toward anyone they're fairly close to. "honey"

• 자네 jane -You, mostly used by guys toward another younger or subordinate dude

• 여러분 yeoreobun - You, formal, plural. Similar to Japanese みなさん minasan

 

[macaroni tony]

English, Tagalog (Filipino), Potty Mouth, and I used to be able to speak basic Pangasinan but I have forgotten it now.

I was thinking the other day, how weird it is that I have picked up NO Tagalog. Zero words. And I grew up with a lot of Filipinos

 

[macaroni tony]

An excellent observation/inquiry, Macaroni Tony! I wish I could firstly go into detail with the pronunciation of Korean vowels, but that will have to be dealt with separately...Us Westerners especially have a horrible time with 어 eo, which is roughly between Oh, Ah, and Uh, but practically comes out of your throat, not your mouth!

But I digress...

There are roughly five degrees of formality in Korean, which not only affect verb endings and adjective suffixes (the two most common honorific changes), but there are even a suite of exclusive nouns and verbs that can only be applied to each. On a very related note, you are correct in noting the imnida/imnikka relationship, although this is limited to the highest level of formality that I find myself using with some of my clients, other people's parents, and strangers on the street, but is a form I don't usually use that much even with my parents-in-law, substituted with a "personal formal" form, a softer form you'll hear all the time in dramas that ends in 요 yo.

The other points you have mentioned is part of one of the most difficult for non-native speakers to grasp: Korean pronouns. I'll only superficially address first and second person.

Remember when Psy got strangely under fire in the West for using the word niga (you, colloquial personal informal) in one of his songs? The worrisome part of the situation with folks happily clarifying things online left-and-right was that while it is indeed one of a dozen words for "you", using the word niga liberally without knowing its context would result in one insulting probably 90% of people he/she would encounter, being reserved for very close "friends & lovers", younger siblings, and even, er…people you are angry at and are trying to start a fight with. Sound confusing yet?


To give you an idea of what a mess this can be, although there are roughly a half dozen primary words for "you", many linguists include substitutional pronouns (2nd person reference words) because they can behave as "you" in certain cases, bringing the number up to somewhere between 12 (some of my original text books) and 16 (Cambridge University Press' Korean Language textbook), depending on who you ask! What's worse, the majority of them cannot be used in formal situations, in which (like in Japanese), the 2nd person pronoun is replaced with a professional title, or if deemed "safe", the individual's first name followed by 씨 sshi (like さん -san in Japanese), although depends greatly on the situation and great care always has to be taken to establish one's role/position in relation to the other individual. Along the same lines in regard to such 2nd person reference words, in both North and South Korea a stranger can respectfully be called 선생님 seonsaengnim (lit. "(esteemed) teacher", which has the same Sino-Chinese root as the Japanese 先生 sensei



Simplified first person pronouns and their accompanying particle suffix are relatively simple, depending on formality, part of speech, and whether emphasized in the sentence or not: 나는 na(neun), 나를 na(reul), 내가 nae(ga) which you noted, 저는 jeo(nun), 저를 jeo(reul), 제가 je(ga)...I won't explain the differences right now.

But check out the diversity with the main 2nd person pronouns...I'm intentionally leaving out a few

• 너(는) neoneun - You, emphasized. Informal personal and completely devoid of any respect, great for "talking down to subordinates and younger siblings". The "do" you referred to is actually the root, 너 neo

• 네(가) nega - You (as above informal personal), subject of a sentence, phrase, or clause. Sounds almost indistinguishable from 내가 naega, so a few decades ago niga became used as a colloquial replacement.

• 너희/너희들들 neohee/neoheedeul - plural form of the above informal personal. Note: 들/deul is Korean's primary plural suffix

• 당신 dangshin - You, as between older married couples, but also used in confrontational situations with strangers. Kinda feels like "dear"

• 그대 geudae - You, poetic - Used in pop songs a good deal, has a "Shakespearean" vibe about it.

• 자기 jagi - You (literally "self") and is used between loved ones and also frequently by women toward anyone they're fairly close to. "honey"

• 자네 jane -You, mostly used by guys toward another younger or subordinate dude

• 여러분 yeoreobun - You, formal, plural. Similar to Japanese みなさん minasan

Thanks a lot ultra! You've shed a ton of light on my ignorance, about 10% of which I actually understand. So now I am slightly less ignorant about Korean

 

[icks]

French, english, dutch, italian, spanish.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I studied Spanish in high school and college for 5 years, but learned more in a year of dating an exchange student. Nothing improves your vocabulary like trying to sweet talk a co-ed. I learned some Mandarin the same way.

 

[sfxster]

Spanish as mother language, English and some Portugese

I can understand easily English but since I'm in a country where only 4% speak decent English I can't work on my accent

Was trying to learn some Russian on my own but it's kinda difficult

 

[drumsnbass]

Spanish as mother language, English and some Portugese

I can understand easily English but since I'm in a country where only 4% speak decent English I can't work on my accent

Was trying to learn some Russian on my own but it's kinda difficult.

Da!

I'm always surprised how difficult Portuguese can seem for some native Spanish speakers... How's it for you?

 

[Tituscrow]

French, english, dutch, italian, spanish.

Have your first 'like' buddy. That's an impressive armoury of lingo you have there.

You're on the spreadsheet.

 

[macaroni tony]

Have your first 'like' buddy. That's an impressive armoury of lingo you have there.

You're on the spreadsheet.

Pfft....Dutch is easy if you speak English, just add an extra vowel to each word and change your "D"s to "T"s

And Italian is just Spanish with more hand gestures