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submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by ken_cleanairsystems to c/asktheworld@lemm.ee

I wish I could speak Finnish. But, actually, there are tons of languages I wish I could speak. All of them, really, but Finnish is the first one I thought of just now.

I'm in the US and English is my my primary language. I studied Russian but have forgotten a lot of it. I know a few words of German and French, but very few.

Edited to add: Please tell me what your primary language is. It would also be interesting to know what other languages you speak, if any, and where you currently live.

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[-] Lemmylefty@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

American with only one language under my belt.

I used to be somewhat passable with American Sign Language, and keep meaning to get back into it. I wish others knew even a little bit, so when I’m feeling nonverbal I could just sign as much.

I’m teaching myself Norwegian via apps and books, but I have no one to talk to. :(

[-] Godort@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago

All of them. Although the only one that I'm actively trying to learn is Japanese.

[-] angrylittlekitty@lemmy.one 5 points 11 months ago

another one for the trying to learn japanese - my problem is i start and then stop. rinse & repeat so i never get very far 🤣

[-] Godort@lemm.ee 6 points 11 months ago

I also had this problem. Eventually I realized there isn't a time limit and if it takes me 10 years to become fluent, I'll still be fluent at the end.

Using that logic, I stopped trying to cram lessons like I'm studying for finals again and just do like 10 minutes a day. And if I miss a day or two then thats fine.

[-] Naomikho@monyet.cc 3 points 11 months ago

Maurugoto has free Japanese online self study courses for beginners. It has helped me commit to actually learning Japanese and I'm currently somewhere in between N4 and N5.

[-] angrylittlekitty@lemmy.one 1 points 11 months ago

thank you all very much - we'll check out the resources and recommit to doing this!

[-] marron12@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Does music count? I don't have much trouble with languages, but music theory has always been Greek to me.

Arabic would be interesting. Or Italian. Finnish is pretty. It has a nice rhythm.

I'm in the US and speak German and Spanish. I can understand a little Romanian.

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago

Well, I'd like to "speak" the two that I've tried to learn well enough to get near fluency first. Spanish is kinda meh from me, I sound like a five year old at best. My signing (hence the "" around speak) is maybe a tiny fraction better, by vocabulary, but my arthritis has killed my ability to use it.

English is my first language, American version, southern dialect (if you consider it distinct enough to merit that term).

If my brain could pick up languages easier, I would pick up gaelic/erse first. One side of my family is heavily irish, and I love the sound of it.

After that, I'd go for Japanese because I love the sound of it and I'd love to be able to watch my favorite Kurosawa films without subtitles or dubbing.

Back over to Europe for German because the other side of my family runs heavy to German ancestors.

I have a list in my head of this general question tbh. It goes on a while.

But, realistically, without a magic wand, it won't happen. I took years of spanish in high school and college, dated a Mexican girl during part of high school, then a very lovely lady from Columbia later on. So I had access to native speakers over time, but never could really "click" into fluency. Since then I've lost a bunch of the grammar and vocabulary I used to have. The chances of me actually learning any other language now approaches zero since I don't have the advantages I had then.

I've always envied folks that pick up languages relatively easy

[-] blackstampede@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 11 months ago

I'm trying to learn Russian, and I wish I were already fluent lol

[-] ken_cleanairsystems 2 points 11 months ago

Russian is hard! (I'm sure you already know that.) What language(s) do you already know?

[-] blackstampede@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 11 months ago

Just English. I've tried to learn Spanish repeatedly and it didn't stick, so I decided to do something completely different. My girlfriend speaks Russian fluently, so it seemed like a logical language to try. It's not as hard as I was expecting, honestly.

[-] nkiru@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

Spanish and Mandarin. But since we're playing Fairy Tale, I'd pick all of them. They are all so beautiful sounding in their own unique way. And they are extremely fascinating when you think about it.

[-] sparklingsquirrel@feddit.de 3 points 11 months ago

I'm a German native speaker and also speak English. I learned Spanish in school but never used it afterwards and therefore have forgotten a lot. So I'd like to be able to speak Spanish again. Knowing Arabic and Mandarin would also be quite cool.

[-] XTL@sopuli.xyz 2 points 11 months ago

Pitkä ja kivinen tie. 😁

I'm Finnish and besides the school English and Swedish I've been learning a tiny bit of Italian, Spanish, Latin, and enough Russian and Greek to be able to read names and other little things, slowly.

Japanese I can't get any sort of grip on. So maybe something like that. A completely alien language. No! A properly alien language. Klingon. Or Sindarin. Or Lojban. I'm going to go with Lojban. That might not be totally alien, but it might be the language I'd like totally fluency in just to know what it's like.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

Arabic speaker currently learning Japanese (N2). I wish I could speak Japanese because god this language sucks.

[-] FroggyAnya@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

First gen American here, Russian and English are my primary languages and learning German. I wish I'd taken Spanish lessons more seriously so I could actually hold a conversation in Spanish. Also wish I could understand/use ASL.

[-] MadBabs@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Spanish and German

[-] Tester@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

I used to be quite conversationally fluent in Japanese and Portuguese. Now it's difficult for me to remember either. When I hear it, I can understand a lot, but not like before. I would love to be able to speak those again. I speak English, French, and Hungarian now, but I wish my French was better... When you don't use it, you lose it...

[-] karmiclychee@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

My family's language, Gujarati. I'm a third gen immigrant (UK/US) and for Reasons, I didn't get taught the language as a kid. It's not one of those languages you find on Duolingo or at the community college or anything either. It's a real bummer not being able to connect with your elders.

In the meanwhile, I studied Chinese in college and Spanish in high school, both in the US. I know (or knew, at one point) just enough to get myself around while traveling.

[-] circuitfarmer 2 points 11 months ago

I minored in Japanese as an undergraduate. I kept studying it during grad school, where I got both a Masters and PhD in Linguistics.

I still really wish I could read Japanese. Conversationally I'm OK. But literacy as a non-native takes extra commitment.

[-] IsoSpandy@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Machine code. You know, zeros and ones. With total fluency

[-] Flyspeck@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

I would've taken Spanish more seriously in high school if I knew I'd end up living on the west coast as an adult. Besides being better able to communicate with people whose first language is Spanish it would also open up so many movies and novels that aren't translated or subtitled. Arabic would also be cool to learn.

[-] HidingCat@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago

German and Japanese, though of late, Malay as well. The first two because many interesting tech articles are in those two languages (watching anime unsubbed in the latter would be a nice bonus too), and Malay because it'd be helpful for work and volunteering.

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

As an American, I'd begin with Spanish considering how many others speak it.

Then Norwegian. Language of my ancestors and living extended family. Although all my relatives speak English just fine.

this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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