Just curious

[DomValente]

Just welcomed Antonello to the forum(in I-talian no less) and started wondering how many other languages are available on this wonderfully diverse forum. Then I wondered what other skills from past,or present lives are out there.
So here goes, I was a restaurateur in the City of London for twenty five years and speak Italian(yes I will gladly answer your questions on food, wine or catering for five thousand)

Anyone else ?

Dom

 

[mailee]

OK, OK, I own up I do speak a little Madarin Chinese! Got to really as SWIMBO is Chinese and I have to know if she is calling me. :wink:

 

[wrightclan]

I speak a little French. I understand a bit more spoken French. And understand even more written French.

Not sure if it counts, but I understand Glaswegian fluently; but wouldn't dare try speaking it for fear of sounding like a complete idiot. :shock:

Brad

 

[Russell]

I studied marine micro biology end up managing restaurants and now sell woodwork tools and machinery. In my spare time I play piano and guitar and a single dad of 2.

 

[mailee]

My god Brad, you can understand Glaswegian! you are my hero. I can't make head nor tail of it! :?

 

[DomValente]

I have relatives in Glasgow and when I first met them asked myfather to tell them to stop speaking their Italian dialect,"they're not he said".
Apparently it was Glaswegian with a strong Italian accent,haven't spoken to them since,well I couldn't really.

 

[wrightclan]

My god Brad, you can understand Glaswegian! you are my hero. I can't make head nor tail of it! :?

Took me six months of living in Glasgow to understand it fluently. Been in or near Glasgow off and on for over 15 years. (SWMBO/LOML is Glaswegian, although her accent's not so strong, having lived in England and the U.S. at times.)

Brad

 

[woodbloke]

Wrightclan wrote:

I understand Glaswegian fluently

My lad is in his second year at Edinburgh Uni. A short time after New Year (hogmane -correct spelling,not sure?) I got an email from him as he was out and about in Princess St on New Years Eve, sampling the delights :lol: , as students do and he was talking about loads of completely pi$&ed Scotsmen singing about somewhere called 'old lands end'. I thought this was quite amusing so I emailed into Ken Bruce on R2 who immediately replied on air that if Gareth wanted to survive the next few years north of the border, he'd better learn the right words to the tune. I 'spect Gareth found a comfortable gutter that night to sleep it off :roll: :roll: :lol: - Rob

 

[Scrit]

I used to communicate reasonably well in Dutch (read, write, speak) because my ex was a "cloggie" and I lived over there in the late 70s/early 80s. Now gettiong very rusty! Don't think that's as impressive as picking up Glaswegian, though!

Not sure if it counts, but I understand Glaswegian fluently; but wouldn't dare try speaking it for fear of sounding like a complete idiot. :shock:

I don't believe you! Surely you should have used the term "numptie" :lol: :wink:

Scrit

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I speak Minnesotan. Brad probably remembers some of this.

You too can speak it. Here's some easy words and phrases to get you started.

Hotdish
"Ya sure, yoo betcha"
In response to "how are you?" "Not so bad" or "Not too bad".

 

[wrightclan]

I speak Minnesotan. Brad probably remembers some of this.

You too can speak it. Here's some easy words and phrases to get you started.

Hotdish
"Ya sure, yoo betcha"
In response to "how are you?" "Not so bad" or "Not too bad".

Hotdish=casserole. :lol:

Brad

 

[wrightclan]

I don't believe you! Surely you should have used the term "numptie" :lol: :wink:

Scrit

That's the word I was looking for. The other Glaswegian words I could think of were a bit more uncouth. :roll: Guess I could have wrote "eejit". :lol: Or even "pyer eejit." :lol: :lol: (pure idiot)

Brad

 

[Scrit]

Hotdish
"Ya sure, yoo betcha"
In response to "how are you?" "Not so bad" or "Not too bad".

So the Coen Brothers were right, after all...... :wink:

Scrit

 

[PowerTool]

Did French at school (grade "c" O level in 1981),have learnt some Dutch,and currently trying to learn a little Swedish (strange language - one of my Swedish colleagues pointed out that the Swedish language has three more letters - those funny ones with dots and things - but 20,000 less words than English)
Odd how the first words you tend to learn in other languages are rude ones,though,isn't it ? :wink:

Andrew

 

[mailee]

Got to agree about the first words bieng rude ones Andrew My first Chinese ones were just that. I don't think I will ever learn to read Chinese though as there are over 3000 characters in their alphabet! Will just stick to speaking it instead and ask what the sign says. :wink:

 

[Colin C]

I am learning Polish ( slowly ) as my wifes family are from poland but I have to start to pull my finger out and do better as we have been together only 15 years :roll:

 

[Sailor]

Evening,

Spent 9 years, off and on, in a small town Japan where the only people who could speak English was the school-kids!

It became a requirement to learn Japanese, or I couldn't get any work done - or any shopping for that matter. Reading/writing it was a different matter, I managed to memorise enough hyroglyphics to find my way round.

Taking my Japanese driving test with a Japanese tester was another matter altogether!

Colin

 

[Scott]

I can order beer in every language known to man ccasion5:

... not that that's much use to anyone of course .... :wink:

 

[antonello]

I can speak a little English, a little French, I studied in the High School years Latin and Greek (both almost completely forgotten) and of course I can speak Sardinian, our local language, wich is a language completely different from the Italian.
In the WWI the Italian Army used the Sardinians as a cheap and practically unbreakable sistem to cipher messages: with two Sardinians at both ends of a telephone line nobody that was not from the Island could understand a single word.....
cheers
antonello