Obviously all of us here speak English (well, approximately).
But what other languages...
1) Do you at least partially know?
2) Have you taken classes in?
3) Do you want to learn?
______________
As for me:
I took two years of Japanese during my first two years of high school. I couldn't take the third year class because it cancelled due to lack of interest, so I haven't been using it. I only remember the hiragana and katakana writing systems, the basic grammar rules, some words/phrases and less than a few dozen kanji, including the numerals one through ten.
But a couple weeks ago I was at the Grand Canyon and remembered enough to approach a group of Japanese college students on tour and say, "Big, isn't it?", "How do you say 'Grand Canyon' in Japanese?" (as a joke) and "Nice to meet you!" I've been meaning to pick it back up.
I took a quarter of Spanish in middle school, but forgot pretty much everything.
Currently, I am taking Chinese 101 (Mandarin Chinese) in college, and it's quite fun and challenging.
In Mandarin Chinese there are four tones of voice that are individually used in conjunction with Pinyin (the English spelling of a Chinese character, ala Japanese Romaji), which changes the meaning of the sound completely.
You can teach yourself the pronunciation of all the sounds using simple and handy college-hosted websites like these:
Go to Pinyin chart
I find that years of playing 2D fighting games in which the characters utter a bevy of how-do-you-spell-that noises ("sueh!"; "hua!"; "shia!") actually helps my Chinese pronunciation.
______________
I've been meeting with a group of Christians for the past year now, in which there's a wide range of racial/national backgrounds, and many speak two or more languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Russian, English as a first or second+ language, Korean, Japanese, Polish, and more. The people come from everywhere, from Taiwan and mainland China, Mexico, Europe, India, Uganda, Japan, and too many others to list, but everyone interacts without a hint of racial or cultural stigma. But the thing is that no one has the conscious thought to try to be "multi-cultural." It's not an "important issue”; it just happens organically, as a genuine expression of the one new man (ala Colossians 3:10-11).
Well anyway, exposure to all of these languages instilled in me the appreciation of the niftiness and practicality of being able to speak more than one language, because I am as yet pretty much ensconced in English.
So how many here have a pet language they want to learn, or know another language, at least in part?
But what other languages...
1) Do you at least partially know?
2) Have you taken classes in?
3) Do you want to learn?
______________
As for me:
I took two years of Japanese during my first two years of high school. I couldn't take the third year class because it cancelled due to lack of interest, so I haven't been using it. I only remember the hiragana and katakana writing systems, the basic grammar rules, some words/phrases and less than a few dozen kanji, including the numerals one through ten.
But a couple weeks ago I was at the Grand Canyon and remembered enough to approach a group of Japanese college students on tour and say, "Big, isn't it?", "How do you say 'Grand Canyon' in Japanese?" (as a joke) and "Nice to meet you!" I've been meaning to pick it back up.
I took a quarter of Spanish in middle school, but forgot pretty much everything.
Currently, I am taking Chinese 101 (Mandarin Chinese) in college, and it's quite fun and challenging.
In Mandarin Chinese there are four tones of voice that are individually used in conjunction with Pinyin (the English spelling of a Chinese character, ala Japanese Romaji), which changes the meaning of the sound completely.
You can teach yourself the pronunciation of all the sounds using simple and handy college-hosted websites like these:
Go to Pinyin chart
I find that years of playing 2D fighting games in which the characters utter a bevy of how-do-you-spell-that noises ("sueh!"; "hua!"; "shia!") actually helps my Chinese pronunciation.
______________
I've been meeting with a group of Christians for the past year now, in which there's a wide range of racial/national backgrounds, and many speak two or more languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Russian, English as a first or second+ language, Korean, Japanese, Polish, and more. The people come from everywhere, from Taiwan and mainland China, Mexico, Europe, India, Uganda, Japan, and too many others to list, but everyone interacts without a hint of racial or cultural stigma. But the thing is that no one has the conscious thought to try to be "multi-cultural." It's not an "important issue”; it just happens organically, as a genuine expression of the one new man (ala Colossians 3:10-11).
Well anyway, exposure to all of these languages instilled in me the appreciation of the niftiness and practicality of being able to speak more than one language, because I am as yet pretty much ensconced in English.
So how many here have a pet language they want to learn, or know another language, at least in part?
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