Language

[Ribombee]

I can now officially say...

 

我会说一点中文。(I can speak a little Chinese).

 

I've been in my Mandarin class now for five weeks.

 

Speaking of which, I need to learn some new vocabulary and characters for next week.

Edited September 27, 2015 by harlequinraven

[senyi]

I can now officially say...

 

我会说一点中文。(I can speak a little Chinese).

 

I've been in my Mandarin class now for five weeks.

 

Speaking of which, I need to learn some new vocabulary and characters for next week.

ooh nice nice harlequin!

 

i'm learning mandarin too and it's pretty fun c:

 

also, if you don't have a chinese dictionary, MDBG is a pretty useful site! it works as a dictionary and it shows you the radical/tone/stroke order of the character c: if you need someone to practice/get help from, i don't mind helping :,D

 

aha, i'm a day too early, but 中秋節快樂！！！

[Indigo_Dragon]

My first language was ASL, or American Sign Language. I'm more fluent in my second language of English however. I can still hold a conversation in ASL though, whoot! <3 I know some Spanish and used to know more but now its dwindled to the basic phrases and some insults. Same with Japanese. >.>;;

 

I want to know more Japanese one day. :3 Finnish, Gaelic, more Spanish too! <3

[Ribombee]

ooh nice nice harlequin!

 

i'm learning mandarin too and it's pretty fun c:

 

also, if you don't have a chinese dictionary, MDBG is a pretty useful site! it works as a dictionary and it shows you the radical/tone/stroke order of the character c: if you need someone to practice/get help from, i don't mind helping :,D

 

aha, i'm a day too early, but 中秋節快樂！！！

Oh my gosh! It can add to Skritter?! That's awesome! Xiexie!

 

We are going to go watch the lunar eclipse tomorrow, which will be a fun way to celebrate. There isn't exactly a festival around where I live. Haha!

[Cottoncat]

My native language is Finnish, but I strongly think my English is pretty good too, at least people usually understand what I'm saying! Um, typing, since my English isn't all that fluent when I get to actually speak it - the Finnish accent in English is pretty cringeworthy to listen to, especially when it comes from me.

[m_overdone]

My native language is Finnish, but I strongly think my English is pretty good too, at least people usually understand what I'm saying! Um, typing, since my English isn't all that fluent when I get to actually speak it - the Finnish accent in English is pretty cringeworthy to listen to, especially when it comes from me.

You're English is pretty good, if you ask me! (and Finnish seems like such a cool language.)

 

English is my first language, but I also speak French, and I've been trying to learn Czech (which isn't as difficult as people make it out to be - the one ginormous challenge is that I'm trying to self-teach/I'm not taking formal lessons).

[Cottoncat]

You're English is pretty good, if you ask me! (and Finnish seems like such a cool language.)

Thank you kindly, it is a pleasure to hear that! I've been studying it at school for over six years now, so I guess the effort has been worth it so far - at least I've improved a lot since I started to speak English around the internet as a fourth grader.

Finnish is pretty nice, even though there are all the plurals that have to be learned, even for us native speakers. Even I found it difficult to name all the plurals for a test once.

 

I also speak Swedish a little (very rarely though, usually during Swedish class only), though I'm a complete novice at speaking it. I've studied Swedish for two years, and it really isn't one of my linguistic strengths.

[Finduilas]

Fluent English speaker, reader, and writer.

 

Competent Spanish reader and writer, basic speaker.

 

Basic French reader and writer, very hard for me to formulate and pronounce sentences out loud though. Still learning.

[hedy]

Fluent in Finnish speaking, writing, reading.

 

Fluent in English, speaking, writing and reading.

 

Good in Swedish reading, but OK-ish in speaking and writing.

 

Basics of German speaking, reading and writing.

 

Basics of Spanish speaking reading and writing.

 

Also some knowledge of Norwegian and Samí.

[Jortaani]

I can speak, read and write in Finnish and English pretty fluently. I can also speak, read and write Swedish, but not that well. I'm able to deal with Swedish-speaking Finnish people, but I think I'd have a hard time with real Swedes. I also know basics of Russian language

[wtf]

Everyone is so multilingual here

I and completely fluent in English and Chinese in reading, writing, and speaking. I'm learning French and Korean currently

[Laureleen]

I am fluent in English and have just started teaching myself Swedish. Beautiful language!

[KuukiKiller]

I speak Estonian, English and German and I'm learning Russian, I can understand Finnish and I'm probably going to start learning Swedish and Spanish next year

[lanette]

My mother tongue is Sinhalese, but I am also very fluent in English - both writing/reading and speaking. I also speak tiny bits of Spanish and understand a little Italian and Hindi.

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2015 by lanette

[Tomato_Juice]

I grew up speaking English and Chinese, but English was always my main language. I've been learning Spanish for 2 years now. Chose Spanish as Chinese is the 1st most spoken language, Spanish is 2nd and English is 3rd, so it'll be kind of cool if I could speak all three of them.

[theorangeduck]

English is obviously my first language, and I've been learning Spanish for about 3 years at this point.

Edited October 12, 2015 by theorangeduck

[Husky51]

English is my first language...

I know a lot of Spanish but don't have the opportunity to use it enough to become fluent with it. I can usually understand and make myself understood with a bit of effort.

 

Know a few words of Russian, German, French, Farsi Arabic and Japanese. Enough to say hello, thank you, etc and a bit more.

[andromedae]

I speak perfect english.

 

Mi idioma natal es el español, lo puedo hablar y escribir perfectamente.

^ My native language is spanish, I can read and write perfectly in this language.

 

Je peux parler un peu de français, j'apprend dans l'école, c'est mon troisième année, mais je comprendre plus ou moins.

^ I can speak a little bit of french, I learn it in school, it's my third year, yet I only understand it sometimes.

Edited March 30, 2016 by andromedae

[Natevaelle]

English isn't my native language but it is the language I understand best and use all the time.

 

In school, I learned Spanish. In university, I learned German and Italian. But of those three languages, it is only German that I still get to review to date.

[kuokou]

i speak fluent english but the only other language i know very well is japanese. i learned a lot from one of my best friends a few years ago, and i took classes online on a site called memrise. id say i speak a bit of spanish but its really just the basic stuff that every us citizen has to know lol

[Wildmoon]

I speak mainly Estonian and english.

Estonian since I am Estonian, and English, because its the language "the world speaks" so to say. (Plus, I've lived and am currently temporarily in the UK)

 

Other languages I speak include:

 

Finnish (reading, writing, speaking) as I lived in Finland for a few years, too.

 

German (reading, writing and speaking) I have also lived in Germany.

 

Russian: (I only really understand spoken, I used to know some of the reading and writing, but have since forgotten) In Estonia, Russian is a second language, and some parts of Estonia are now Russian speaking. I just hope the Estonian language never dies out though.

 

Swedish: (mainly reading and writing, but a little bit of speaking too) when I lived in Finland, Swedish was taught in my school as a "second language"

 

Korean: (broken, a little reading, a little spoken, ect) I had a Korean friend, and have visited Seoul in the past (best street food in the world!)

 

Japanese: (Basic phrases Spoken, and Katakana/Hiragana reading) I have studied Japanese in spare time, and was actually supposed to move to Japan last year for a language course, but issues popped up and i was unable. I am lucky enough to be going on vacation there soon though.

 

I also know a few spoken words in: Dutch, French, Spanish and Chinese.

 

[Shienvien]

Russian: (I only really understand spoken, I used to know some of the reading and writing, but have since forgotten) In Estonia, Russian is a second language, and some parts of Estonia are now Russian speaking. I just hope the Estonian language never dies out though.

It's mostly only the settlements on the Russian border, though - everywhere else, you're more likely to run into people who speak English, especially if they are under thirty (English is also the "safer" option by far, due to some cultural conflicts ). My grandparents speak Russian, my parents and I never properly learned it, and most people who went to school or university with me, excluding those with actual Russian heritage, can't speak it either.

If anything, English (which most younger people speak freely) is a bigger threat to the Estonian language, since the amount of Russian speakers has been at a very sharp decline ever since the occupation ended, and very little influx of Russian words happens anymore (there is more lending from Finnish, to be fair, which makes sense, since the languages are so close to begin with).

In return, there are plenty of occasions where people will incorporate English into their speech - especially bad are the instances of English words with mildly altered spelling/pronunciation, which just sound like bad broken English with an atrocious stiff accent. *shudders* English sounds much better when spoken like English, I tell you...

Edited July 5, 2016 by Shienvien

[Wildmoon]

It's mostly only the settlements on the Russian border, though - everywhere else, you're more likely to run into people who speak English, especially if they are under thirty (English is also the "safer" option by far, due to some cultural conflicts ). My grandparents speak Russian, my parents and I never properly learned it, and most people who went to school or university with me, excluding those with actual Russian heritage, can't speak it either.

If anything, English (which most younger people speak freely) is a bigger threat to the Estonian language, since the amount of Russian speakers has been at a very sharp decline ever since the occupation ended, and very little influx of Russian words happens anymore (there is more lending from Finnish, to be fair, which makes sense, since the languages are so close to begin with).

In return, there are plenty of occasions where people will incorporate English into their speech - especially bad are the instances of English words with mildly altered spelling/pronunciation, which just sound like bad broken English with an atrocious stiff accent. *shudders* English sounds much better when spoken like English, I tell you...

I know. I mean it in a more joking way, haha. Not that I have anything against Russians, because I don't. Other than the homophobicness of their country.

 

But for some reason, when I was in school, even though I'm only 20 now, so we're talking early 2000's, I was made to learn Russian in school as well as some English. And i'm in the more southern area, near Tartu o.O

But yet a friend of mine didn't learn Russian, and instead learnt more English. Maybe it differs from school to school, but she was in Tallinn when she was in school, where I believe there are more Russian speakers. so idk.

 

Still, Russian does make up 66% of foreign languages in Estonia.

 

It's mostly around Narva area (and near the Russian border, like you said) that have Russian speaking communities, and areas where Estonian is a minority language, or not spoken at all, which strikes me in a way, as odd. But I suppose its the after affects of being under soviet occupation. I guess when you really look at it, it's just like regional accents can be.

 

For instance, Võro, is quite far from standard Estonian, though still , in some ways, similar.

I never really saw any similarities at all with Russian and Estonian, but you are right, Finnish can be really close

for a basic example:

Nimeni On and "Minu Nimi On" in Estonian.

 

I'm lucky that I had the chance to live in other countries, like England, so my English isn't so badly broken. I still have an odd accent though. Which mixes between the places I have lived, haha.

My Grandmother used to tell stories her parents told her about the Soviet invasions/occupation. She was actually born 3 days before the russians invaded Tallinn in september 1939. She would often paint a grim picture, and so did history lessons.

 

I'm sorry though, I didn't mean to sound ignorant about the language, I think Russian is also a beautiful language when I hear it. I also have nothing against Russians at all. I'm not a racist person..I just don't want to imagine living in an Estonia like my Gran grew up in. :I

 

 

[Shienvien]

I was made to learn Russian in school as well as some English. And i'm in the more southern area, near Tartu o.O

But yet a friend of mine didn't learn Russian, and instead learnt more English. Maybe it differs from school to school, but she was in Tallinn when she was in school, where I believe there are more Russian speakers. so idk.

The standard way of teaching languages is teaching Estonian as first (because it's the native/official language), English as the secondary/B language, and then one tertiary/C language, which is either one from a selection or a strictly determined one depending on school (in my school, you could choose between Russian/French/German, some schools will only have Russian, or only French, etc, with some allowing to pick a 4th language). So you will end up learning at least three languages in any case.

Estonian-English-Russian is common. (In this order - I recall the number of proficient English-speakers in people 30-50 was higher than those of Russian-speakers, and drastically higher among those between 20-30 or up to 20, according to some survey a couple of years back.)

 

For the sake of comparison, my university (TÜ) had a mandatory English class, and some classes which were entirely taught in English (especially later on), but no mandatory Russian, and non-language classes in Russian were not even an option.

 

My Grandmother used to tell stories her parents told her about the Soviet invasions/occupation. She was actually born 3 days before the russians invaded Tallinn in september 1939. She would often paint a grim picture, and so did history lessons.

You tell me... I don't think there is any family here without horror stories of that time. My entire father's side of family was sentenced to death at one point, and was only saved by the neighbours getting executed on the spot in their stead, either due to laziness or administrative errors (my family was away at the time), just to mention one thing.

It is very important to make the distinction between the people and the government. USSR is by no means equal to Russian people (especially since they weren't always too much nicer towards their own people than ours - protest what your country's doing, and you'll take the bullet for treason and sympathizing with the enemy yourself). Wars, occupations and cruel dictators are terrible things in general... The Russians were victims almost as often as we were.

 

OT: I think the Estonian in your signature should read, "Olen loonud ilusaimaid asju kõige pimedamatel aegadel" to match the English?

[Pixiefee]

Flemish and proud of it!