What languages do you speak?

[smappy]

Um idk don't people use bold sometimes?

[GrandPiano]

Yes, but it's usually used for emphasis.

[DesEsseintes]

And it makes me feel like the person is a mod speaking...

Dear Smappy: get rid of the bold.

[shimobaatar]

Also I don't use flags because how would I differentiate Mandarin, Cantonese, and Shanghainese with flags?

I've seen people use for Cantonese and :zho: for Mandarin, but this doesn't take away from your point.

So I guess I should just use the American flag for all three Chinese languages?

Hmm. You could theoretically use the flag of any geographical area with at least one speaker of a given language to represent that language, but it makes more sense, at least from my point of view, to use the flag of an area that the language in question is native to, if you're going to use a flag at all.

I took three years of Basque in high school

Wow, lucky you! What part of the country did you go to school in, if you don't mind answering?

[GrandPiano]

Also I don't use flags because how would I differentiate Mandarin, Cantonese, and Shanghainese with flags? Also my family doesn't identify with either the PRC or the ROC even though they're ethnically Chinese because they fled China in 1949 for Hong Kong, and at that point were monolingual in Shanghainese. In Hong Kong they were able to pick up some Cantonese and Mandarin, and then when they came to the US in the 50's they learned English and became American citizens. So I guess I should just use the American flag for all three Chinese languages?

If I use flags, I always include the name of the language as well:
:zho: Mandarin
:zho: Cantonese (or Cantonese)
:zho: Shanghainese
It makes the flags kind of redundant, but I only use the flags in the first place because anyone else does. If you use flags at all, I would either use the Chinese flag for all three or use the Chinese flag for Mandarin and Shanghainese and the Hong Kong flag for Cantonese (there's also a Taiwan flag :roc: that you can use for Taiwanese Hokkien). If you lived in Germany and had parents who grew up speaking Persian but at various points in their lives learned Arabic and Scottish Gaelic, and then later moved to Germany and gained citizenship, would you use the German flag for Persian, Arabic, and Scottish Gaelic?

[svld]

Mandarin :roc: native
Taiwanese :roc: not as good as Mandarin
English better than Japanese
Japanese basic

[Runomso]

I'm German nativespeaker. My first foreign language is English and though I have learnt it for nine years or something, it is not very good as one may think. I also learnt French in year 7 but I forgot most of it. Now I'm learning Spanish as second foreign language at school. Also I'm interested in Japanse because I like its unfamiliar writing system, sound and grammar. I can already read Hiragana and Katakana and I know 1-10 words, but that's all.

[smappy]

And it makes me feel like the person is a mod speaking...
Dear Smappy: get rid of the bold.

Point taken.

I took three years of Basque in high school

Wow, lucky you! What part of the country did you go to school in, if you don't mind answering?

Nevada. There are lots of Basque people where I used to live. Nevada is like 49th out of 50 for education so I'm glad at least something good came out of it haha.

If I use flags, I always include the name of the language as well:
:zho: Mandarin :zho: Cantonese (or Cantonese) :zho: Shanghainese
It makes the flags kind of redundant, but I only use the flags in the first place because anyone else does. If you use flags at all, I would either use the Chinese flag for all three or use the Chinese flag for Mandarin and Shanghainese and the Hong Kong flag for Cantonese (there's also a Taiwan flag :roc: that you can use for Taiwanese Hokkien). If you lived in Germany and had parents who grew up speaking Persian but at various points in their lives learned Arabic and Scottish Gaelic, and then later moved to Germany and gained citizenship, would you use the German flag for Persian, Arabic, and Scottish Gaelic?

I'm not trying to hate on the idea of flags, just point out how it isn't necessarily the most applicable to my specific situation— also I don't like how the name of the Chinese flag icon is "zho", which refers to the Mandarin word Zhōngguó 'China' and might not be the most applicable to other languages spoken in China. I like your example a lot but I feel like again, a lot of people emigrated from Iran before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and might not necessarily identify with the flag of the current, theocratic Iran.

I'm German nativespeaker. My first foreign language is English and though I have learnt it for nine years or something, it is not very good as one may think. I also learnt French in year 7 but I forgot most of it. Now I'm learning Spanish as second foreign language at school. Also I'm interested in Japanse because I like its unfamiliar writing system, sound and grammar. I can already read Hiragana and Katakana and I know 1-10 words, but that's all.

I"m still impressed by how many languages people from Europe are comfortable with. Also hiragana and katakana take a long time to get used to in my opinion, so congrats for getting this far, and hope learning Japanese and Spanish goes well!

[Runomso]

I'm German nativespeaker. My first foreign language is English and though I have learnt it for nine years or something, it is not very good as one may think. I also learnt French in year 7 but I forgot most of it. Now I'm learning Spanish as second foreign language at school. Also I'm interested in Japanse because I like its unfamiliar writing system, sound and grammar. I can already read Hiragana and Katakana and I know 1-10 words, but that's all.

I"m still impressed by how many languages people from Europe are comfortable with. Also hiragana and katakana take a long time to get used to in my opinion, so congrats for getting this far, and hope learning Japanese and Spanish goes well!

Thank you very much :) I hadn't much trouble learning hiragana, to be honest I learnt reading most of them in a few days. It works, though I still cannot read them fluently. Writing works most of the time.
It's something different with Katakana: I cannot write each of them and I have some problems with those which look very similar.
I'm also familiar with a few kanji (very few).
But what about your languages? What's your native language? (Sorry if you've already posted that )

[GrandPiano]

When you say you have problems with katakana that look very similar, I'm guessing you're referring to ン/ソ and シ/ツ?

[shimobaatar]

what about your languages? What's your native language? (Sorry if you've already posted that)

According to their signature:

Languages: English, Mandarin, Basque, Durv Mendỹ, Shanghainese

It isn't hard to miss it, so there's no need to be sorry.

[Nayvela Nuvela]

English (Allegheny Midland): Native
Spanish (school curriculum): High basic
Russian (Crimean): Basic
Ukrainian (Middle Dnieprian): Basic
Italian (music): Terrible, learning
French (school curriculum, music): Terrible
Tekeū (Pasīnha): Terrible, learning

I really do have to check up on the Slavic languages, though; it's been a while since I used them.

[Lambuzhao]

Я говорю трохи по-українськи.

Mожемо разом говорити по-українськи.

Я також мeшкаю в штаті Пенсільванія -

Чи мене розумієш?

Tambien hablo castellano.

Siempre y cuando le guste, conversemos.

[Nayvela Nuvela]

Я говорю трохи по-українськи.

Mожемо разом говорити по-українськи.

Я також мeшкаю в штаті Пенсільванія -

Чи мене розумієш?

Tambien hablo castellano.

Siempre y cuando le guste, conversemos.

Пенсільванії, єднайтеся!

Я вас розумію. На жаль, я насправді забув більше, ніж я думав, що я мав.

Я дізнався цю мову, щоб допомогти мені під час мого перебування в Україні.

На жаль, я залишився в Криму, де люди не говорять українською мовою.

Як ти навчитися говорити цією мовою?

(Будь ласка, виправте моя мова, якщо є щось не так. Я хотів би, щоб краще моє розуміння українською, якщо це можливо.)

También tengo un gran interés en la idioma castellano, por razones diferentes de mi interés por la idioma ucraniana.

He aprendido esta lengua en el colegio. Por esta razón, no estoy seguro de si he aprendido bien la idioma.

Siempre es mejor tener más idiomas que no, y por lo que me gustaría seguir aprendiendo español, a pesar de que el plan de estudios ha terminado.

(Si eso es demasiado muchas palabras, me disculpo.)

[Ranquil]

Finnish: Native
English: Very good
Swedish: Good at basic grammar but poor vocabulary.
Japanese: Good at basic grammar but poor vocabulary. Kanji is a bitch but I can read, in one form or another, around 150 kanji.
German: "Mein Deutsch ist nicht gut." That's pretty much all I can say. Oh and "Fick mich hart" too.
French: "Mon français n'est pas bon."

[clawgrip]

I wish I could update this with something new, but alas...

native
competent spoken and written
conversational but with many many vocabulary holes which have accumulated over the past 25 years

[Ahzoh]

native
good comprehension, poor conversationally
mostly forgotten

[druneragarsh]

Native
Native
Mostly forgotten
Capable of introducing oneself and knows the alphabet
Can fake decent competence. A2-B1?

[GrandPiano]

(American English) Native
:zho: (Mandarin) I can speak at a basic conversational level and my reading and writing are at about the same level as my speaking, but I have trouble understanding people when they speak at a native speed.
(Spanish) Extremely basic; I'm taking my first Spanish class this year.
(Russian, Greek, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Italian, Old English) I don't know any of these languages, but I'm thoroughly familiar with their writing systems (for the most part; my Hangul and hiragana/katakana have become a bit rusty, and I'm not counting kanji for Japanese).

[jute]

My native language I got from my mother, and from my grandparents every time I visited them.
What I speak with my father and in school/university (Currently living in , previously in )
/ Had it for nine years in school and made the Cambridge AE diploma (C1). Sometimes like it a lot, sometimes not so much :P
Had it for five years at school and at least got to B1 Also had a two-weeks internship in Andalucía in 12th grade, though haven't been able to use it much anymore, which I think is a real pity.
What I have been learning at university for about three years now, with half a year break during my semester abroad. Am hoping to be B1-B2 by the summer, could be much better already but previously hadn't been motivated too learn much (the uninteresting novels we had in class for two semester might have played a role in it :P) Would really want to find native speakers to talk to here, since this seems like one of the best ways to practice using the language.

Had it for a semester, but didn't do too well, though not too bad either. Can understand some of it thanks to my Swedish.
:fao: Had a class on it, but it (sadly) wasn't a proper language course, but even though I don't really know much about it, it's still one of my favorite Nordic languages.
Had three semesters on it, should've been at A2 level by then, yet due to lacking diligence I probably couldn't even properly introduce myself
Had a semester on Old Icelandic, though that was three years ago. Recently regained some interest in it and might start trying to learn it again, so I can at some point understand the Icelandic Sagas better in their original form at least. Is there anyone here who would be interested in learning it with me?

I have some general interest in these, particularly Hawaiian and Bislama. Would be looking for some people interested in learning one of them with me. I did find a good textbook on Hawaiian on Project Gutenberg, but I think I could stay better motivated if I had someone to practice with :P

I was also thinking of picking up some :gle: or on Duolingo, or maybe , since I consider these languages to be very beautiful, too.