Languages!
 

what's your native language?

what languages do you speak/read/write/understand? how/why did you learn them?

what languages would you like to learn? why? (doesn't have to be a realistic goal.)

what languages do you appreciate the most and why?

English is my first language.

I can kinda sorta pick my way through high-school Spanish and French. I took Mandarin Chinese lessons, but remember none of that outside of shi-shi (thank you). I'm currently studying Russian and can read much, much more than I can understand in conversation or actually speak (that's pretty common when learning a language). I started Russian just for something challenging to do.

My primary language is English but with a strong Northern Irish (or "Norn Iron") dialect and accent. This would be much harsher than the softer, lilting brogue associated with many parts of southern Ireland.

My accent, more than the language I speak, is an important part of my identity as "Place" is incredibly important to me and my accent identifies where I'm from and who I am.

I also speak some Irish language, although unfortunately cannot write it. It is a beautiful language that I would be able to speak better. Otherwise, some knowledge of Mandarin, French & German but have no inclination to increase my understanding or proficiency of these.

My twin brother is fluent in 14 languages, including Japanese. He never studied Japanese but picked it up when working for a Japanese company in the UK after graduating. He subsequently completed his MBA in Tokyo in Japanese and it's now essentially his first language as it is the language he uses in his home with his Japanese wife and their family. Needless to say, I never had the same talent for languages.

yay! :) i love reading everyone's responses.

my native language is u.s. english - mostly southern/aave dialect. my mom pretty much beat my accent and dialect out of me as a child so it'd be easier for me in school. now i speak with a more neutral accent but it changes when i'm talking to my family or if i'm angry.

i had to study spanish in k-12 but i've forgotten most of it - i can still read and understand it pretty well but i'm hopeless at speaking. i want to learn more and become better at speaking. when i was in college i studied chinese, sanskrit, and tibetan for my degree, and a bit of biblical hebrew for giggles. i'm hopeless at hebrew now, but i can carry on a conversation in mandarin and tibetan (lhasa dialect), and i can read sanskrit with a dictionary usually. i'm a bit rusty though - i'd like to be more conversant in tibetan and better at reading classical tibetan.

i learned to read arabic script to be able to read and pronounce from the qur'an, but i don't understand grammar. i really want to learn more qur'anic and spoken arabic. i've been studying haitian creole just out of personal interest and i'm hoping to become fluent (or at least conversant).

i think i most appreciate tibetan, haitian creole, and arabic. i love the sounds of arabic and i love the tibetan script. i learned the script mostly through doing calligraphy and i find traditional tibetan art really interesting.

what's your native language?

I would say Spanish, since I spoke it first and know it equally to English.

what languages do you speak/read/write/understand? how/why did you learn them?

English, Spanish, and Southern. The Spanish I learned from my Mom and because she made me go to a tutor when I was in elementary and living in rural TN and refused to speak it with her 'cause I didn't want to be different.
The southern I learned because of where I live. I don't just mean the southern accent, or the y'all or ya'wont'to. I mean the hidden meanings, like when you say someone's baby is "precious". Everybody knows you mean they ain't cute, but you can't call a baby unfortunate looking. :)

what languages would you like to learn? why? (doesn't have to be a realistic goal.)

Italian - 'cause I'm gonna go there some day. And sign language 'cause it's pretty to watch and I don't have to train my vocal chords to make different sounds.

what languages do you appreciate the most and why?

Any of the Asian or slavic languages because my mouth can not make those sounds.

what's your native language?
Southern, North Carolina hillbilly twang aka English (wait til y'all hear me speak, then y'all will know what I'm talking about lol)

what languages do you speak/read/write/understand? how/why did you learn them?
Tiny bits of Spanish and French. I made the mistake in school of taking one year of Spanish followed by four years of French, so no matter which one I begin speaking, I will finish with the other. :|
I can still read most French with a perfect accent, even if I can't translate all the words. I can also curse in Romanian, but I don't know if that counts for anything or not lol

what languages would you like to learn? why? (doesn't have to be a realistic goal.)
Hindi, Punjabi, Mandarin Chinese, Gaelic. Those are just some of my favorite languages to hear.

what languages do you appreciate the most and why?
Most Middle-Eastern dialects, because I can't seem to get my mouth around those either. lol

I speak Southern too; it goes hand in hand with the ability to speak "sarcasm."

I only speak English but know tiny bits of French (high school) and ASL (my sister learned to sign at a previous job). If someone is signing slowly I can probably understand most of what they are saying.

I wish I could speak fluent French, Italian, Latin & ASL. But, I think that all language is beautiful.

:sparklyheart: