Discussion Any other language nerds here? :)

[LogicalConclusion]

Hey all, just thought this might be an interesting thread to start. I've always loved language and been good at it, which is ironic af because I'm autistic and can't communicate worth a fuck x) Somehow I have a knack for words, though, and find language to be so beautiful. Hearing people speak other languages is like listening to music for me. My native language is English but I have been studying Dutch for a few years and just began with Romanian. It's been so awesome seeing the diversity here and meeting people who speak the languages I want to learn/am learning. Honestly, it keeps me going somewhat and makes my studying feel less pointless. I just wish my brain wasn't such a dumpster fire and I could be happy so I could just lose myself in language.

What languages do you know? What ones do you want to learn, and why? What are your favorite words? Share something interesting about language, I welcome tangents and hope to share some of mine in case anyone cares to read them x)

I've already answered the first question on my end, but I want to learn Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, French, Welsh, Finnish, and Sindarin and Quenya (which were inspired by Welsh and Finnish respectively). I think my favorites are Quenya and Finnish, and I enjoy Romanian quite a lot. For some reason, I find vowel-heavy languages to be very beautiful and seem to favor languages that don't use silent letters.

I think my favorite words right now are the Portuguese "saudade" and the Welsh "hiraeth" which mean the same thing essentially but do not have exact English translations. (Thank you to my new friend who introduced me to the word hiraeth, you know who you are ) If you can think of any, I'd love to hear more words that don't have English translations! Such words seem to tell a lot about the culture and temperament of the people who speak the language. It's so fascinating how a single word can encompass such vast meaning.

Looking forward to your responses!

 

[not_a_robot]

lol yeah its weird how autism ranges from non-verbal to hyper-verbal. I'm the same with language, really my only gift, always in "gifted" classes in school but constantly bullied snd called stupid retard, even still adults, Drs do it to me.
Do stupid people tell you you can't be autistic because autistics are not female and cannot speak? I hear that all the time.
We got two new members named Suadade on Thursday.
There are tons of songs called Suadade.

 

[SinisterKid]

Wye aye man ya buggerma, gan yhem fa thee scran Good luck with finding a translation for that.

I love Americans who say they speak English, always gives me a chuckle does that.

 

[not_a_robot]

@SinisterKid
Lol Welsh or Chav?

 

[Orin]

I listen to Rammstein to learn German, lol. Russian is another favorite language of mine. Love their national anthem!
Spanish and Japanese as well. And i've been listening to a lot of foreign language bands lately; i dunno, there's something about not being able to understand a song that makes it sound cooler.

I think my favorites are Quenya and Finnish

I like the Black Speech. The scene i keep watching on Youtube is the White Council vs the Nazgul at Dol Guldur just to listen to Sauron speak it.

 

[SinisterKid]

neither

 

[LogicalConclusion]

I love Americans who say they speak English, always gives me a chuckle does that.

Why is that amusing?

 

[not_a_robot]

neither

I swear I've heard the name of this Island similar to Welsh and starts with C but I can't place it.
If not that or Scotch Gaelic then I give up.

 

[SinisterKid]

Americans speak American is all I can say, it just amuses me is all, my twisted sense of humour.

You are getting closer, but still not there, sorry.

 

[Soul]

I like learning languages and pick them up quickly, but I don't retain them when I don't need them in real life. Alas.

 

[LogicalConclusion]

Americans speak American is all I can say, it just amuses me is all, my twisted sense of humour.

You are getting closer, but still not there, sorry.

There are 350 languages spoken in America. Sorry I'm not a eurocentric prick who assumes that only English is spoken here. Here's the census info

Census Bureau Reports at Least 350 Languages Spoken in U.S. Homes

These tables are among the most comprehensive data ever released from the Census Bureau on languages spoken less widely in the United States.

www.census.gov

Not sure what you're talking about "getting closer" to, but I don't really care. If you don't like the thread, you know where the door is.

 

[SinisterKid]

Sorry, the 2nd part was for not-a-robot.

Its just my humour ok, nothing to get angry or upset about, its all gravy and I like the thread very much.

 

[Kuolema]

I've always been interested in languages. I love watching foreign movies (especially horror). I've never really bothered to learn one because a) I'm not that smart and b) I barely talk to people in English, so there doesn't seem to be much point. If I were to learn a language though, it'd probably be either Finnish or Arabic. Icelandic too, if only to read the Old Norse sagas in their original language.

 

[not_a_robot]

Wye aye man ya buggerma, gan yhem fa thee scran Good luck with finding a translation for that.

I love Americans who say they speak English, always gives me a chuckle does that.

Pikey!
Cornish?

New dictionary records 4,000 Yorkshire dialect words

This and other ancient words are included in a new dictionary of Yorkshire dialect.

www.bbc.com

 

[littlelady774]

I have a degree in Linguistics! It's not how many languages I know, but how the languages work (grammar, syntax, phonology, etc)

 

[Life sucks]

I have knowledge in some languages but its hard to get better at some skills like listening and speaking because its kind of need interaction and I'm isolated so my writing and reading are better.

Languages that I know or studied (most are little) in the past (but because any language need much time so I didn't continue except for Japanese):
English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Esperanto, Japanese, Arabic, Dutch, Persian, Turkish


I forgot most of what I know however because no practice except for Japanese. It was long time ago when I tried to learn those. Maybe I should try to learn again specially with the availability of learning apps

 

[LogicalConclusion]

Sorry, the 2nd part was for not-a-robot.

Its just my humour ok, nothing to get angry or upset about, its all gravy and I like the thread very much.

Hey, I'm sorry, you're right; my brain has been acting up lately and it took what you said and ran with it and I misunderstood your intent. I'm really sorry and I hope I didn't upset you. I will try to do better in the future to not overreact like that.

I have a degree in Linguistics! It's not how many languages I know, but how the languages work (grammar, syntax, phonology, etc)

That's so awesome! I wish I could get myself to focus enough to do a linguistics course. Have an online resource, but it's just so hard to focus >.> How long did it take to get your degree?

I have knowledge in some languages but its hard to get better at some skills like listening and speaking because its kind of need interaction and I'm isolated so my writing and reading are better.

Languages that I know or studied (most are little) in the past (but because any language need much time so I didn't continue except for Japanese):
English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Esperanto, Japanese, Arabic, Dutch, Persian, Turkish


I forgot most of what I know however because no practice except for Japanese. It was long time ago when I tried to learn those. Maybe I should try to learn again specially with the availability of learning apps

I feel you, I need more interaction as well. Should probably try to Skype with my Dutch buddy more...have you ever looked into a language exchange website/app to meet native speakers of the language you're trying to learn? Also I highly recommend Duolingo, they are really amazing (and quite hilarious at times :P)

 

[262653]

My speech patterns are fairly simple but I enjoy... I have hard time putting words into language but I enjoy getting to know better the speeches of others. When I read an unfamiliar word I experience the urge to look up what it means, possible origins, words in different language with similar structure. I too find language beautiful. There is an old lady in my neighborhood, a silvertongue... I found myself so mesmerized by her eloquent speech I always forget to ask where does she live and if we could hang around together. Talks more than a football commentator and is actually interesting to listen... I always get entranced with a skillful speech... Maybe I admire something that I found missing in myself.

I know about Russian and Ukrainian, in a sense of understanding the said and written stuff. But when I talk on either language, the result is always a mess. Just like with English.
I'd like to learn more about French because its funny to pronounce, or German for the same reason, but I don't see any practical usefulness in these.
But Japanese maybe? Because I like watching anime which is a wonderful room to practice.
English is the most practical, for obvious reasons... If they're not obvious - I write in English right now, its the most info-rich language I'm familiar with, the most popular language to translate movies, books and video games, lots of... scientific terms and neologisms have english background...

My favourite words are usually the one that sound powerful. When I pronounce them, my mood lightens up and I want to jump. Like stargazer. STARGAZER!!!
Isn't it wonderful? Thanks, you are a crazy overflow of fancy words... Or sesquipedalian? One of my favorite russian words is "zveroboy", that's a plant. I think tutsan is how you call it. But zveroboy sound powerful. Like it's a legendary weapon to lead the immortal army, or to slay dragons. I don't usually recall fancy words at will. They come, I enjoy, they go.

Damn, I'd like to express my fascination with words more properly... I can't tell how nature is a greater/lesser factor than nurture. I haven't been doing much reading or talking thorough my life but I slowly come to enjoy it now.

 

[Help_Me]

Just in time. I'll probably have a degree in linguistics in a few days and get my diploma. I'm fond of English since early childhood and i was lucky to study it in Advanced Learning School abroad. My favorite words are the ones containing "jack" in it : lumberjack, jackscrew, jacked up e.t.c I like hearing foreign speech as well and i need more practice to be honest.

 

[262653]

Oh, and I really like english word plays and twists and blendings, I like words like "fuck" and "whore", and their possible combinations.
Fuckery, fucktard, whoreship, whoreness, whoracle, whorehouse, whoreshoe, whoristics, whorelace, whoredom, omniwhore, whoracity, whoretongue...

 

[HitchHiker]

Wye aye man ya buggerma, gan yhem fa thee scran Good luck with finding a translation for that.

I love Americans who say they speak English, always gives me a chuckle does that.

Newcastle! Scran is food (I think!)

 

[ScorpiusDragon]

I used to be fascinated by different languages. English is my native language, and I speak Chinese and French with varying degrees of fluency. Back when I was less depressed, I tried to teach myself Korean and a bit of Russian. Now, I lost all motivation to teach myself anything.

 

[Darkhaven]

Would love to learn German and Italian.
But, honestly, i feel my intellect and cognitive capabilities slowly diminishing.
Depression and anxiety is taking it's tool.
I already have trouble learning things for my college degree, let alone learn new languages.
If i could ever be a normal person i would definately learn other languages.

 

[daikon]

I speak French and English. I used to know a good bit of Russian, but I've forgotten most of it. I tried to learn Spanish and Japanese for a hot second but I can't seem to teach myself a language — I learn (and generally function) better with structure.
I want to learn every language. Fluency in Russian, Spanish, and Japanese are up there for me. I'd love to learn German, Mandarin and Zulu, too. If only I could just take language classes forever and never have to face the real world...

 

[ScorpiusDragon]

If only I could just take language classes forever and never have to face the real world...

That would be the ideal world for me too

 

[Alchemist]

Used to be when I had hopes and dreams, even studied translation, but as with everything else, I don't care anymore.

 

[LogicalConclusion]

I've been having some fun experiences lately lol Not sure if studying language is making me smarter or dumber because now, instead of not knowing any words sometimes due to processing issues, I can often remember a word in Dutch (or sometimes Romanian now) but not the English word so I sit there frustratedly trying to translate back into my own native fucking language Almost had a situation where, if I had been at the service counter of the store when another incident in my brain happened, I probably would've asked for stamps in Dutch. What would make that even funnier if it had happened is if I could do that in Romanian because my city has a huge Portuguese population so like....right language family, still not mutually intelligible, I'd look crazy lmao

 

[omoidarui]

i read/write music. so the language of music if it counts lol

 

[not_a_robot]

Oh, and I really like english word plays and twists and blendings, I like words like "fuck" and "whore", and their possible combinations.
Fuckery, fucktard, whoreship, whoreness, whoracle, whorehouse, whoreshoe, whoristics, whorelace, whoredom, omniwhore, whoracity, whoretongue...

There is some old Russian novelist who wrote a story about a night in a brothel you would like. It's on the Gutenberg project.

 

[262653]

There is some old Russian novelist who wrote a story about a night in a brothel you would like. It's on the Gutenberg project.

Nevsky Prospect?