Languages We Speak

[Serenus]

I know Spanish and English, a good deal of French, some Latin, some Mandarin.

I still hope to become one of those people who can read complex things in about eight languages in the future. I don't really need to speak anything other than Spanish and English though...

 

[Alphege]

No, I speak only English.

I made a good attempt at learning German, but I need to speak only English. If I needed to speak German, I could do it.

Latin is interesting, but now I need something more than a Latin grammar book . Soon I'll get one.

 

[Adrian]

I know some english, some german and some french. I know a word or two in russian and in spanish.
Last week I started learning norwegian (but I'm terrible at it).

 

[Clemens]

Native language is English (grew up with a very non-standard dialect).
French, near-fluency, can understand/read Spanish and Italian to varying degrees, and I have a very messy familiarity with Arabic. Read Latin.

 

[Quintilianus]

Native language is English (grew up with a very non-standard dialect).
French, near-fluency, can understand/read Spanish and Italian to varying degrees, and I have a very messy familiarity with Arabic. Read Latin.

Don't worry, Pacifica is compiling a nice arabic grammar in Latin, it'll be just what you need when she's through with it.

 

[Pacifica]

Oh, come on, man. I'd rather recommend a grammar by someone who knows what they're talking about.

I'm a total beginner in Arabic, and not a particularly good one at that. Quintilianus is referring to the fact that I'm writing summaries in Latin of the Arabic grammar I'm learning and sharing them on the "thread where you have to make a post every time you visit". I'm saving most of them in a Word document, hence "compiling".

 

[Quintilianus]

I'm still looking forward to a publication of the end product in the coming years.

 

[Pacifica]

Is seriously doubt I'll ever become truly proficient in Arabic, or in any other language but the three I'm already proficient in. It's probably too late for that.

 

[rothbard]

Is seriously doubt I'll ever become truly proficient in Arabic, or in any other language but the three I'm already proficient in. It's probably too late for that.

Did you use to feel the same way about Latin?

 

[Pacifica]

Latin was hard in the beginning but I didn't really consider things the same way back then. It was only the second foreign language I learned, and I was younger.

 

[Pacifica]

I mean, the question didn't even occur to me then.

 

[Bitmap]

And it wasn't even a foreign language.

 

[Clemens]

Is seriously doubt I'll ever become truly proficient in Arabic, or in any other language but the three I'm already proficient in. It's probably too late for that.

How do you find the sounds? All the finely-distinguished gutturals and emphatics? I need to reopen my Arabic study. Years in Saudi Arabia and I find my understanding of spoken Arabic comes and goes. Sometimes I'll suddenly understand everything being said and other times nothing.

 

[Pacifica]

How do you find the sounds? All the finely-distinguished gutturals and emphatics?

ع، ح، ض، ص، ظ، ط are mysteries to me. I think I kind of get some of them, until I realize that I'm making them sound too similar to some others.

 

[Clemens]

ع، ح، ض، ص، ظ، ط are mysteries to me. I think I kind of get some of them, until I realize that I'm making them sound too similar to some others.

I notice you didn't mention غ. Is that because it's similar to a French r?

 

[Pacifica]

Is that because it's similar to a French r?

Yes. Though I've heard it isn't exactly the same, it's perhaps close enough that I can get away with it...

 

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Arabic is a hard language for a foreigner in any number of ways, which is exceptional: pronunciation, written form, grammar are all generally problematic, and if that weren't enough, the modern language sprouts mutually incomprehensible dialects.

 

[Quintilianus]

I couldn't pronounce Arabic.
All those guttural sounds plus the trilled Rs I couldn't overcome.

 

[Pacifica]

and if that weren't enough, the modern language sprouts mutually incomprehensible dialects.

As far as I'm concerned I think I'll be content with Classical Arabic.

 

[Clemens]

Arabic is a hard language for a foreigner in any number of ways, which is exceptional: pronunciation, written form, grammar are all generally problematic, and if that weren't enough, the modern language sprouts mutually incomprehensible dialects.

The written form I feel is actually the easiest part; there's very little tricky orthography to it (hamza and third-person masculine plural verb endings come to mind). The dialects are a bit of a worry, but they're not all mutually unintelligible. All Middle Eastern dialects can understand each other, in my observation.