Do you speak any foreign languages

[Barbsjw]

I studied several in college (I'm a native English speaker), but am rusty with a couple because I'm not currently using them. Here's my rundown:

Spanish (currently use frequently)
ASL (use occasionally)
Mandarin (no use ATM)
Arabic (not using anymore)

 

[DazzlingAnna]

Here's mine:
With German as native tongue....

English (currently use frequently)
French (use occasionally)
Turkish (very poor level, no using at the moment)
A few words only:
Spanish, Greek, Arab (I can greet someone, order drinks and meals )

 

[Broseph]

Native English speaker but also speak German, a little Farsi and Arabic as well. Not surprisingly I know the word for ‚fat‘ in a few other languages

 

[Colonial Warrior]

I was born in New Jersey but raised in Puerto Rico. I speak Spanish as my native and English mostly online.

I spoke a lot of English at college. I was meeting some friends from the US mainland and recently I was speaking English by phone with one of them.

It's very hard to adjust to the speed of speaking but that friend is helping me a lot.

I am also interested in learning languages like Portuguese. German, and Japanese.

 

[Pattie Vincent]

I only know English language lol

 

[Tad]

Well, I'm a native English speaker and I'm semi-competent in French ... but those are both official languages here so I guess no 'foreign ' languages

 

[Shotha]

I'm a native English speaker and I speak:-

French, Greek, German, Yiddish, Welsh - fluently

Japanese - enough to be helpful in the hospitality industry

Georgian - very rusty

Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic, Ancient Greek, Latin and Old English (as there's no one to practice talking with, I only have reading skills.)

And I'm studying Sanskrit. I can now read the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit and I help other students with it.

 

[Tad]

I'm a native English speaker and I speak:-

French, Greek, German, Yiddish, Welsh - fluently

Japanese - enough to be helpful in the hospitality industry

Georgian - very rusty

Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic, Ancient Greek, Latin and Old English (as there's no one to practice talking with, I only have reading skills.)

And I'm studying Sanskrit. I can now read the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit and I help other students with it.

Very impressive!

 

[Jerry Thomas]

Fluent in English and German (I was a university student in Germany), but I can read Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Esperanto with varying degrees of proficiency. Languages are one of my hobbies.

 

[Shotha]

Very impressive!

I did all of the language options I could at school, then French and Modern Greek at University. I've worked as a translator, interpreter and language teacher.

 

[fat hiker]

English is my mother tongue.

18 years in a bilingual government job means I not only speak French, but sometimes even dream in French.

Took German in high school, Spanish in university, though both are quite, quite rusty.

Lived in the former Czechoslovakia for a year, so used to speak Czech semi-fluently. Because the Slavic languages are all quite close, I can often recognise and pronounce words in Polish, Croatian, and other Slav languages.

Can do the "tourist thing" in Hungarian and Finnish.

 

[Barbsjw]

@fat hiker is there a such language as Slovakian?

 

[Shotha]

@fat hiker is there a such language as Slovakian?

I would think that Slovakian is a common mistake made by people trying to name the language of Slovakia, which used to be part of Czechoslovakia. The country is officially the Slovak Republic but it is more commonly referred to as Slovakia. Their language is Slovak. My understanding is that the language is to all intents and purposes the same as Czech. The different orthography is used partly to emphasize the difference in the two languages, because Czechs and Slovaks regard themselves as being ethnically different.

 

[Shotha]

We should have a language or at least an argot for fat people and their admirers.

 

[DiamondEyes]

My first language is English (Born in England) and I speak Welsh fluently (lived in Wales). I can talk a lot in rhyming slang too. I know a few phrases in Spanish, Latin, Arabic and Italian. I can do very basic signs in BSL.

 

[Broseph]

We should have a language or at least an argot for fat people and their admirers.

Amen

I suppose we have a few unique words—‘bisizual’made me laugh the first time I heard it, even though it may or may not be a description of a mythical creature. Apple and pear have way more connotations for me than for the non-fat lovers out there—at least I assume they do.

I’ve also thought that we need a secret hand shake or code word. I once saw a mixed size couple in California and—an assumption on my part—figured the guy was an FA. I had an impulse to start chatting with him but realized I had no idea how to get things going. Hand shake or code word—then we‘d be like the early Christians who drew a fish in the sand, if that story is even true...‘jiggle’ might be an appropriate code word Although, say that to someone who‘s not among the initiated—prepare to be slapped

 

[Iannathedriveress]

I'm learning German

 

[DazzlingAnna]

I'm learning German

Sehr gut!

 

[Shotha]

Amen

I suppose we have a few unique words—‘bisizual’made me laugh the first time I heard it, even though it may or may not be a description of a mythical creature. Apple and pear have way more connotations for me than for the non-fat lovers out there—at least I assume they do.

I’ve also thought that we need a secret hand shake or code word. I once saw a mixed size couple in California and—an assumption on my part—figured the guy was an FA. I had an impulse to start chatting with him but realized I had no idea how to get things going. Hand shake or code word—then we‘d be like the early Christians who drew a fish in the sand, if that story is even true...‘jiggle’ might be an appropriate code word Although, say that to someone who‘s not among the initiated—prepare to be slapped

When my best friend and I were starting up New Zealand's first ever Chubs and Chasers Club, we had a code word for fat men, especially the handsome ones. It was "guru". We used this word, because it's original Sanskrit meaning was "heavy". The usage of this word, with which most people are familiar, is metaphorical and refers to the "weight" carried by a guru's discourses and opinions on spiritual matters.

I agree that we need a secret handshake or code word. Gay men used to ask stranger's, "Are you a friend of Dorothy's?" We could use something like, "Are you a friend of Sybil's?" It would have to be a fairly uncommon name or word to avoid false positives. Any other ideas?

 

[Broseph]

Interesting about the word 'guru'--I didn't know that. I like the "friend of X" idea, but can't think of a good name at present.