What Languages Do People Speak?

[Somewhat]

I realised just how difficult it is when I saw other people learning Russian - I never had problems with it, of course, because it was my first language. Спасибо! Как Казань?

Казань отлично. Но в Австралии, я думаю, гораздо лучше

Ну, сейчас здесь просто холодно и неприятно но да, когда здесь лето, совсем неплохо. Ладно, давай отдадим англичанам форум.

[Lera]

В мои дальнейшие планы входит посещение Австралии и Новой Зеландии. Буду знать, что у меня есть здесь единомышленник. English, only English...

[bethanwy]

Does anybody else here speak welsh?

Ish. I suppose I could have a conversation with you about my favourite tv shows or where I went on my holiday because that's what I just had to do for my exam. The basic stuff is kind of implanted in my head after constantly learning welsh in infant and junior schools. Bloody difficult language. It's pretty sometimes, though.

[Charon]

two worlds- I'm not quite an expert, but I'll take a stab at the translating.

1. Es werts hibsch schnö merka, dass des Übasetzad ned so leicht is!
Before looking at your German translations: It is worth noting, that the translation is not so easy!
After looking at your German translations: You all will quickly notice that the translation is not so easy!

2. Bei uns Östarreicha gibts sogoa Wörta, de im Deitschn komplett ondas hoassn: Tomatn zum Beispü hoassn bei uns "Paradeisa" und d´ Konfitüre - wiass bei de Deitschn hoasst - hoasst bei uns "Marmelad".
Before: In Austria there are some words that are completely different than German: tomato, for example, we would call "Paradeisa" and marmalade - as it is called in German - we call "Marmelad".
After: In Austria there are even words that are completely different in German: for example we call tomatoes "Paradeiser" here and marmalade - as it is called in German - we call "Marmelad".

3. Bei uns sogn d´ Leit ah ned Brötchen sondan "Semmen"!
Before: Here we call rolls "Semmen"!
After: Here people don't call rolls "Brötchen" but rather "Semmen"!

4. I hob scho vü Deitsche troffn, de mim obaöstareichischn Dialekt übahaupt ned z´recht kemma sand. De hom fost goa nix vastondn!
Before: I hope you're familiar with German already, because the Austrian dialect is not at all easy to get right. Some can understand almost nothing!
After: I have already met many Germans, who can't manage the Austian dialect at all. They have understood almost nothing!

Well, except for #4, I didn't drastically change my answer after seeing the German. So was that German dialect Hochdeutsch or what?

[Silverfist]

I speak English, French, and Hebrew.

[Sibylle]

Oh gosh, only two. French and English (only my second language so I still make mistakes). You would think I could speak Spanish quite well after 7 years of taking classes but I'm ashamed to say I didn't have good teachers and therefore cannot make full sentences for more than two minutes (although I've been told I have a decent accent, it's a start !). I plan on taking my grammar books and my vocabulary books and study to be able to speak it a bit better as soon as I can, though. School's crazy and the classes I take in Spanish are a joke (I think I know the difference between ser and estar after 7 years, thank you very much, but they just won't bring us to the next level).

To the one who couldn't find the translation for "earphones", it's "écouteurs". "headphones" would be "casque", "casque" is also the translation for "helmet". To buy them when in France, pointing at your roomates' ears, humming, and taking cash out of your bag is of course efficient too.

[tyche]

I speak a bit of German (enough to be able to have a really basic conversation), a tiny bit of Japanese and an even tinier amount of French. Well ok maybe a few phrases of French.

I'm determined to learn Spanish one day, it's such a cool language.

[Lera]

I just began studying Japanese... I can only say "wow"... It's very beautiful. And not so difficult as I thought..

[trench_coat101]

i agree that at first glance, japanese seems hard, and as you keep at it it doesnt seem all that bad after all, but learning two alphabets and a script thats practically chinese makes it hard as you progress. they say that japanese is the backwards language but its not quite, its just more logical than english.

[Blossom]

I'd say Japanese is really easy to begin with, but then gets stupidly hard. Most of the language sticks to certain rules, which is good, but unless you really have the time to study hard then it's really really confusing. I've had to quit because I just don't have the time to get my head around it any more.

[trench_coat101]

id agree with that. On the other hand there are less ways to say things where as in english we have so many variables

[Viorphon]

I know English, German, Latin and a little bit of French.

[trench_coat101]

jeepers man where do you come from? thats heaps

[Aletheia Dolorosa]

jeepers man where do you come from? thats heaps

In most parts of the world, multilingualism is actually quite common.

[trench_coat101]

ah, touche, though youd think that her in New Zealand, being a culture made of som many cultures we would be like that too. I think we may have colonialists to thank for that.