What languages do you know?

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 2:53 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hi everybody. I just registered! (yay!)

I only speak English. However I know some Japanese and I am continuing to try and learn it on my own. And what got me interested in it originally was probably the fact that I grew up playing Final Fantasy games. =)

Last edited by okumasama on Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:39 am; edited 6 times in total

the truth is you don't have to know perfectly a language to watch a movie or a drama in this language. I've be using dramas as practise material for my japanese studies for three years now. Subtitles are nice, makes me understand every detail but since I am not a native English speaker anyway, lots of times my ear will just listen to Japanese than reading the English..
I guess I am not the only one using dramas for practising ^^

Well here are languages I can undersand (languages & translation is my major in uni as well):
Greek - Native
French - Native (but not spoken for years... but still able to use it I guess Tongue

)
English - Proficency
Italian - Superiore (Proficency)
Japanese - JPTL Level 3 (Hopefully rising to Level 1 soon... Yeah... cheers

I am going to college in Japan this summer)
German, Spanish, Chinese & Russian in university - I can't really figure out my level...

I guess most people know some everyday words in some other languages too... same here. Since I am studying in U.K. and in a university city such as Cambridge, it's quite hard (even rare sometimes) to find English people around... so you get to meet to almost every kind of people. So you also get to learn some basics from every language (since you listen to these everyday)... There are times that I am wondering if this is really a city in U.K. or a city in China, India or Japan... Globalization Blink

at it's maximum.... whatever. I am still wondering why English became the global language... It has to do with Britain and USA's power last century I guess... Anyway. I think Spanish and Chinese are the next more useful languages (due to population).... That leaves me with my native language not really useful (only Greeks speak Greek and there are not many (about 15m around the world)).... Whatever.. you know ... it is night, I have nothing better to do and I am writing this ... hehe Laugh

talk you soon

PS: lol I forgot... I can read very well (because nobody speaks anyway) Ancient Greek (nothing to do with modern Greek) & Latin (yeah we even had to do that in school for 6 years) .... but that's not much of use in modern days, is it?

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 3:34 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Yes I don't think you need to know a language perfectly to understand dramas. My roommate who speaks cantonese (and has no knowledge of japanese) was watching my jdramas without subtitles and she still got most of it. Well, it works best with cheesy love dramas since you can pretty much understand it without dialouge.

I grew up in the US but watching jdrama since I was one (my parents watched it all the time) really helped me keep my language. I'm still fluent. Yeah, so when I see bad subtitles for jdramas I get frustrated (can't help it) Glare

although the dramas from here are pretty good.

I'm trying to learn korean but I can catch some of the words since there's some similarity of words in Japanese. Chinese, I can't really understand it but I can read Chinese characters so it helps when there's Chinese subtitles. Mr. Green

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 12:48 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Well my mother language is Maltese, but I speak fluentely English and Italian. At school I studied also French but since I hated it I didn`t really advanced a lot in it.
For 3 years now I have been studying Japanese, but there is still way to go. I can only read something over 1000 Kanji, but my aim is 2000. Only time will make you good in Japanese, atleast that`s what I have learned so far ^_^

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 7:55 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

here's what i know:
english-fluent
vietnamese-fluent
chinese (mandarin)- took 1 semester, was real fun, remember some
japanese- been studying since junior year of high school, been studying for 8-9 years, graduating w/japanese as my secondary major soon ( i hope), lived in japan for a total of 3-4 months (1 summer trip in 1996, 1 winter break trip in 1998)
korean- i've just started learning for about 2 years or so (off and on), studied about half of the alphabet..lol, planning on a trip to Seoul this summer. Mr. Green

I'm a native English speaker. My other language is Hawaiian, which is probably a totally wasted effort. Sad

--- groink[/quote]

Groink-
I don't think Hawaiian is a wasted effort!!! I went to visit my in-laws in Honolulu last year and we went to Kauai too. I really like the Hawaiin language! We're hoping to move to Honolulu sometime this year and I'd like to pick up the Hawaiian language! Smile

I hope it doesn't end up being a dead language someday, but you never know and at least you had a chance to learn it. ;) I too am a native English speaker. I'm pretty fluent in Japanese after 4 years of self study and with the help of my husband's step-mom, she's Japanese. I don't need the subtitles but every once in a while. I've thought about learning Chinese since there's a bigger Chinese community where we're living now and sometimes going to the asian food market is a pain! LOL! I also know bits of Spanish (lived in Denver for 6 years - HUGE Spanish community! And took 2 years in HS), French, & Italian. I've always liked languages though and have tried learning Russian and Gaelic! I'm just weird! Tongue

Andrea

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 6:10 pm Post subject: langage Post Rating: 0

i understand :
-french very well because i am french
-english

that's all ...

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 1:30 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I speak
Canto
Mando
Viet
English
and French. and can read them.

But I do watch and have quite a bit of Korean movies. and I rely on the english subtitle.

I dont' ahve any Japanese movie or anything in the entertainment category that is Jap.

Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 5:08 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

written and spoken french, english and vietnamese!! woohoo!! Tongue

i know a bit of cantonese also, just pick up lines....

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:36 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

chinese. i only understand few korean and jap words. when i say few i mean less than 30 so you can probably guess my proficiency in korean and japanese language. Big Smile

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:01 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I'm currently studying Japanese and read hiragana and katakana, but can only understand some verbal and a few kanji. I managed to watch all of Minami kun no Koibito w/out subs and im currently watching Orange Days w/out subs.

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:25 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Since I voted, might as well leave a message too. Chinese-Canadian, care to guess which one I voted for? Laugh

I also studied Japanese for a month then lived in Japan for 7 months (to CamCam: living in a country doesn't automatically mean you'll learn the language, I didn't, and I lived in a town where most speak only japanese Mad

) Oh, and I've been watching more than a dozen or so Korean films in the past while, sadly, my korean is still limited to "hello" Tongue

Now, if only I can understand Mandarin, then I can talk to the really cute girls that I always see in town Blink

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:30 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Been studying Japanese for about a year now. I get maybe 50% of the conversations when I watch un-subbed JDoramas. It's too easy to get distracted, zone out and just stare at the pretty ladies, though. But if I put the effort into it, I can understand a lot. I can read Japanese way better than comprehending what I hear, though. I guess 'cause I have more time to think.
I did find that I got a lot more out of Korean dramas w/ Japanese subs. Heh. Goes w/ the whole reading better thing, I guess.

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:59 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I speak and can understand Korean but only up to a certain level...my vocabulary is limited and I don't know the latest "sayings". When I watch the korean dramas, I can only understand about 70%. If they discuss anything to do about their work or health or whatever, I'm lost. Which is why I NEED the English subtitles. Thank Goodness for FanSubbers and D-Addicts! Big Smile

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 5:31 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I rely on subs when watching J and Kdramas Crying

Don't know what I would do without bludawn and pucca our official d-addicts Kdrama provider Laugh