Re: Rio de Janeiro (was: Re: Hello)

Jan heeft geschreven... (ha! ;-)

> Hey Thomas, how many languages do you actually speak/write? This was
> already the fourth or fifth in one week :)
LOL! I know bits and pieces of lots, but honestly very few well. Sometimes I
stop and realise that I've actually studied and forgotten more languages
than most people ever learn. But I imagine that's true of many people on
CONLANG. I will, however, shamelessly take advantage of any opportunity to
pull out my 5- or 10-word knowledge of any language, even if it's just to
say "hello", "thank you" and "bye". :)

If you want the full list of languages I've actually studied and acquired
some degree of proficiency in at one point or another in my life, it would
be as follows, in more or less chronological order: French, Latin, Russian,
Esperanto, Danish, Greek (modern), Turkish, Czech, Scottish Gaelic,
Anglo-Saxon, Volapük, Manx Gaelic, Talossan, Persian, Cornish, Catalan,
Spanish, and Portuguese.

I still can read French pretty well, but my active knowledge has
deteriorated trmendously.

Latin and Russian are both more or less entirely gone now, though I really
want to relearn Latin.

Esperanto I can still read, but my speaking ability is very rusty now.

Danish I learned when I was 17 and went to Denmark on a summer exchange
program and lived with a Danish host family for a month. I actually
specifically requested to be placed with a family that didn't speak that
much English, so that I could learn as much Danish as possible! It's
tremendously fun, and one of my all-time favorite languages. I remember the
grammar pretty well, but I've forgotten most of the vocabulary I used to
know.

Greek is likewise almost all gone, as is Turkish.

My Czech is somewhat better, but still really rusty.  I think I could still
handle enough to get around all right in the Czech Republic -- I imagine if
I stayed there for say, six months or so, it would come back -- but not much
more than that now. I can't read it anymore without looking up every third
or fourth word in a dictionary.

Scottish Gaelic is the one I've tried most to keep up, since it's what I got
my degree in at university, and I feel obligated to not lose it! Also I
teach beginner's classes in it from time to time, and my wife and I perform
Gaelic music (see http://www.mermaid-productions.com) and those two things
help keep at least the fundamentals there. I hardly ever get the chance to
speak it anymore, though.

Anglo-Saxon is like Latin: practically totally gone, but I loved it so much
that I really want to relearn it.

I correspond regularly in Volapük with the guy who runs the correspondence
courses and writes the monthly Vp newsletter Sirkülapenäd, but I use a
dictionary for that. I know the grammar, but I have very little vocabulary
in my head.

Manx Gaelic is largely gone, though it's so similar to Scottish Gaelic that
I could pick it up again pretty quickly if I took the time to work on it.

My spoken command of Talossan is rather basic -- once again I know the
grammar but have very little vocab in my head. However, Ben Madison (the
language's creator) and I did manage to pulll off a 90-minute conversation
entirely in Talossan when I visited him last December, and I have been
"officially" proclaimed the world's most fluent Talossan speaker. An
arguably dubious honor... ;-) Actually, I've been working quite a bit with
Talossan lately -- editing the new edition of the grammar (in fits and
starts, when I find the time), converting the dictionary into PDF files in
order to finally make it available online instead of only on paper, and
working with Ben Madison on creating a Talossan language file for the Opera
web browser. All of that has helped refresh my ability with the language
somewhat.

Persian is basically gone. I took two semesters of it at the Boston Language
Institute, never had the opportunity to use it again, and forgot it all.

My Cornish is basic, but I have a friend who is a fluent speaker and a bard
of the Cornish Gorsedh, who makes sure I don't forget it entirely. :)

Catalan I can read with a dictionary, but I don't speak more than a few
words.

Spanish I've never taken a class in, but there are so many people in the US
who speak it now that it's everywhere -- on the street, on the TV, on the
radio, etc. -- that it's impossible not to just absorb some. I understand a
lot more than I can actually say, though.

And Portuguese is the one I'm actually studying now. I've just started,
though, so I haven't gotten very far yet.

And now, my dear Jan, you know much more about me and languages than you or
anyone else ever wanted to! ;-)
(That's what happens when people get me started on languages, though -- I
can't shut up!)

Tot siens,

Thomas




Jan

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