The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat foreign language would you like to speak? I would like to speak French.
badhair77
(4,191 posts)many members of my community. Its on my list of things to do.
debm55
(23,600 posts)conversation.
lastlib
(22,982 posts)I studied a lot about the Soviet Union in college, and learning their language would've been a great help to me in that. Plus, as a chess player, I've admired their long heritage of producing great masters of the game, dating back more than a century. Would love to be able to study their chess literature.
I had four years of French in high school and college but have forgotten much of it. That's been 45-50 years ago.
debm55
(23,600 posts)think you will take some lessons?
lastlib
(22,982 posts)...who was a Russian native (born in Moscow area, lived in Kyiv until Chernobyl, then came to the U.S.) She taught me some smatterings of it, but it wasn't possible to learn enough to be very useful. I doubt if I ever get to pursue it much beyond that.
debm55
(23,600 posts)MiHale
(9,593 posts)Then I could read the signs when my fantasy trip there take place.
Seriously
Spanish.
debm55
(23,600 posts)Spanish is a nice language to learn and speak.
Floyd R. Turbo
(26,232 posts)debm55
(23,600 posts)Omnipresent
(5,625 posts)It truly is, a beautiful sounding language.
debm55
(23,600 posts)claudette
(3,401 posts)I studied French a long time ago for 4 years in high school and 2 years in college and STILL cant speak it well! Its a beautiful language that my Italian grandparents also spoke well.
debm55
(23,600 posts)claudette
(3,401 posts)It certainly sounds seductive!! I can read it kinda well but it takes immersion to master speaking it.
😊
lastlib
(22,982 posts)("I love you."
debm55
(23,600 posts)Ocelot II
(115,281 posts)because it's sort of proto-Norwegian, the last vestiges of Old Norse.
debm55
(23,600 posts)Ocelot II
(115,281 posts)as Estonian and Hungarian, and its grammar is extremely complicated - but so is Icelandic grammar. Because of its isolation Icelandic didn't get smoothed out and influenced by Old English like the mainland Scandinavian languages. They never even "modernized" their alphabet. I did learn the basics of Icelandic pronunciation because the choir I sing in has performed some Icelandic music.
debm55
(23,600 posts)Ocelot II
(115,281 posts)At least Icelandic has a lot of root words related to Norwegian. For example:
I love you: Ég elska þig (Icelandic); Jeg elsker deg (Norwegian)
I am afraid of dogs: Ég er hræddur við hunda (Icelandic); Jeg er redd for hunder (Norwegian)
Marcus IM
(2,077 posts)American; Lots of gutteral sounds with grunts and non structured word salad posing as non sequitur.
debm55
(23,600 posts)our country, which may be a problem to someone learning it.
Phoenix61
(16,954 posts)debm55
(23,600 posts)Phoenix61
(16,954 posts)knowing the language. I had so many questions but no way to ask them.
LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)Doing my best to speak Spanish!!!
debm55
(23,600 posts)LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)debm55
(23,600 posts)LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)A process of Spanish, English, and charades.
Oh and pictures from Amazon.
We do okay.
sanatanadharma
(3,639 posts)When I say Spanish is easy, at least I can hear it and thus there is a possibility of understanding.
Or not, at 77 years.
LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)Like we recognize Boston, Jersey, CA, Texas accents.
Even Gringos say Mr Lake has a Wisconsin accent. Very nasal.
debm55
(23,600 posts)LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)All I remember is my French teacher pinching his nostrils together and say something like ungh.
Wisconsin is a combination of Norwegian and German. Not as Norwegian as MN sounds.
Different Drummer
(7,532 posts)My paternal grandmother's side of the family was German and a lady with whom I used to work took lessons in German and always seemed to like the language.
FloridaBlues
(3,993 posts)Paladin
(28,204 posts)Behind the Aegis
(53,833 posts)When the pandemic started, I started teaching myself Romanian because it was the only primary Romance language I didn't speak. I could speak Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian; of course, I am having to relearn them all because after 30 years of not speaking, hearing, and/or reading the language, it does atrophy. Currently, I am teaching myself Yiddish, and hope to learn Hebrew (I can read and write, but have no clue as to what I am reading, writing or saying) and Ladino. Also during the pandemic, I took to learning Dutch, German (had some knowledge), Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian.
I would like to learn Swahili, Russian, Arabic (Levant), and Greek.
Elessar Zappa
(13,650 posts)Ive been trying to learn it but Im not making much progress.
Shrek
(3,970 posts)I took a couple of years in high school (early 80s) but forgot most of it. Going on a trip to Frankfurt later this year and would like to able to converse and read signs to whatever limited extent possible.
I'm finding that it's much easier to listen/read than to speak/write. Getting the nouns and verbs in the correct order is a real challenge for me but it's easy enough to translate whenever someone else does it.
Prairie_Seagull
(3,233 posts)elleng
(130,156 posts)I already speak French (kind of.)