Omniglot forum • View topic - What languages are you learning and plan to learn?

jonniez · Joined:Tue 19 May 2009 2:48 pm Posts:1

Languages I'm studying:
German
French

Teaching myself (trying to):
Dutch

Some interest:
Latin, Irish (heritage), Icelandic, Finnish.

I also want to create my own language eventually, if I ever figure out how to go about it.

formiko · Joined:Sun 19 Apr 2009 8:31 am Posts:404 Location: Angola

Talib wrote:

I would undoubtedly feel more connected with my heritage if my father had passed on the Polish language and if I still attended Mass, but there you go.

You're not Arab?

Sobekhotep · **Posted:** Mon 29 Jun 2009 7:05 pm

formiko wrote:

Talib wrote:

I would undoubtedly feel more connected with my heritage if my father had passed on the Polish language and if I still attended Mass, but there you go.

You're not Arab?

He's a Polish Canadian!

Talib · Joined:Sun 19 Apr 2009 8:22 am Posts:768 Location: Canada

Haha, I wish! Then I'd be fluent already.

I'm flattered you were sufficiently impressed by my language skills that I could pass for a native, but I don't think I'm that good yet. I intend to study it next year at university.

formiko · Joined:Sun 19 Apr 2009 8:31 am Posts:404 Location: Angola

Talib wrote:

Haha, I wish! Then I'd be fluent already.

I'm flattered you were sufficiently impressed by my language skills that I could pass for a native, but I don't think I'm that good yet. I intend to study it next year at university.

I'm not a good judge of Arabicness. You just say min fadlak and I'm impressed

(That's the extent of my Arabic

)

Talib · Joined:Sun 19 Apr 2009 8:22 am Posts:768 Location: Canada

More than most know.

But you'd better know شكرا too in that case.

scottrupe_1 · Joined:Mon 29 Jun 2009 6:51 am Posts:10 Location: Oklahoma

My Language list
==============
Definitely
------------------
Spanish
Russian
German
Greek
Mandarin
Cantonese
Sanskrit
Arabic (MSA or Egyptian)

Definitely Maybe
------------------
Some African language (possibly Shona b/c my brother-in-law is from Zimbabwe)
Hindi
Arabic (Dialect [unspecified])
Italian
French
Latin
Ancient Greek

If my head hasn't exploded yet
------------------
Swahili
Zulu
Arabic (another dialect)
Quechua
Hungarian

Sobekhotep · **Posted:** Mon 06 Jul 2009 5:20 am

scottrupe_1 wrote:

Definitely
------------------
Spanish
Russian
German
Greek
Mandarin
Cantonese
Sanskrit
Arabic (MSA or Egyptian)

3 centums, 2 satems, 2 Chinese varieties, & Arabic. Interesting mix. Good luck trying to master all those!

scottrupe_1 wrote:

Arabic (Dialect [unspecified])

Gulf/Khaliji! :mrgreen:

scottrupe_1 wrote:

Quechua

Now that's an interesting language. The vowel system is almost identical to Arabic's!

Neqitan · Joined:Fri 17 Apr 2009 9:59 pm Posts:397 Location: Canada

MSA's got /æ:~ɐ:/, /i:/, /u:/, /ə/, /ɪ/ & /ʊ/ (3 short, 3 long) though, not that similar.

And the Mashriqi vernaculars have a larger list! Like Egyptian's /æ:~ɐ:/, /ɑ:/, /i:/, /u:/, /e:/, /o:/, /æ~ɐ/, /ɪ/, /ɑ/ & /ʊ/ (four short, six long).

For a Spanish speaker, this is frustrating!

Talib · Joined:Sun 19 Apr 2009 8:22 am Posts:768 Location: Canada

For an Arabic dialect, I recommend Egyptian or Levantine (my personal favourite). Gulf Arabic might be useful too for business purposes.

Neqitan wrote:

MSA's got /æ:~ɐ:/, /i:/, /u:/, /ə/, /ɪ/ & /ʊ/ (3 short, 3 long) though, not that similar.

Close - it's more like /ɐ/ and /æ:/ but I'm not entirely sure what that short /a/ is, exactly.

Quote:

And the Mashriqi vernaculars have a larger list! Like Egyptian's /æ:~ɐ:/, /ɑ:/, /i:/, /u:/, /e:/, /o:/, /æ~ɐ/, /ɪ/, /ɑ/ & /ʊ/ (four short, six long).

Most dialects have a system something like this.

Anyway my eventual goal is learn the six official languages of the United Nations. I know English, some French, and Arabic and Spanish would be a snap. Russian and Mandarin are a lot more intimidating though.

If I ever master all these, I might try Hindi because it seems useful, and maybe Japanese.