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How many languages do you speak?


Madridista <3

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Apart from English and mother tongue(polish)? I speak Italian quite well, meaning I don't have any problem with talking to people or writing letters. But it's not the level when you can feel comfortable using the language. I took classes of Spanish for a year but it wasn't very effective, though I spent some time having fun with friends ;) Now, because my new school doesn't offer Italian, I have to lear French and Latin. I've already studied French for 5 years so it's rather revision. And Latin- what can I say? It's very interesting and I wish I could take Latin and Italian from the beginning of my education

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I totally agree with the above. Latin has got to be my favorite. I only had a year of it but did a lot of learning on my own after the fact. Biggest regret is that my school doesn't offer Latin. 

 

Using the CEFR, C2 English, and I'd say maybe B2-C1 Spanish (I've been speaking it for a decade though it's not my mother tongue), B2 French, B1-2 Latin, B1 Italian, A2 Maori, A1 German, A1 Russian. 

 

I'm a bit obsessed when it comes to languages and linguistics. What can I say, it's fascinating. 

 

Also, look up the Common European Framework for Reference of Languages. It's a really useful tool, one which I very roughly applied above. 

 

Thing is I always start learning a language but get distracted, because, oh look, shiny new language!

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I can speak fluent English, a little bit of Mandarin to a certain extent, and decent Shanghainese as well, though I'm not really a linguistics person. I do know some basic Jap, but that was all learned from school, as in I know how to pass a test, not applying it in real conversations  :P

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hi i know this is irrelevant but can you redo your iop

Well yes it is irrelevant and if you have a question just post a new topic in the correct section instead of making a mess on the forum. That way in the future people are going to be able to find your question and this can avoid people from asking the same questions again and again.

Cheers.

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Finnish and English fluently, Swedish quite well (I should be able to speak it better than English but oh well) and I have studied Russian, German and Spanish but wouldn't say that I'm fluent because my grammar is just, no. I would like to learn new languages but for some reason don't have time right now, maybe somebody can relate. 😂

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Advanced/native fluency: Finnish (native speaker), English (near native, I guess? I studied in English for several years and worked as an English teacher), Italian (advanced fluency, Italian was my major at uni and I also lived in Italy for 4 years)

 

Basic fluency: German (8 years of school classes), Swedish (5 years at school + work experience - consequently I also understand Norwegian and some Danish), Spanish (self-taught)

 

Intermediate: Russian (mainly self-taught)

 

Currently learning: Northern Sami

 

I work as a translator (FI, EN, IT) and tour leader. :)

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I've got a question to You, Mikko. How was it to live in italy for 4 years? I really like the place but have heard from many people that living there is rather difficult. do you agree?

In reference to what DJackson said, and continuing the mentioned topic of Latin, i would say that learning Latin is quite easy after several years of learning Italian. I guess that its a common knowledge but without this kind of empirical evidence, I found this theory hard to believe. 

 

I totally agree with the above. Latin has got to be my favorite. I only had a year of it but did a lot of learning on my own after the fact. Biggest regret is that my school doesn't offer Latin. 

 

Using the CEFR, C2 English, and I'd say maybe B2-C1 Spanish (I've been speaking it for a decade though it's not my mother tongue), B2 French, B1-2 Latin, B1 Italian, A2 Maori, A1 German, A1 Russian. 

 

I'm a bit obsessed when it comes to languages and linguistics. What can I say, it's fascinating. 

 

Also, look up the Common European Framework for Reference of Languages. It's a really useful tool, one which I very roughly applied above. 

 

Thing is I always start learning a language but get distracted, because, oh look, shiny new language!

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I can only speak 3 languages fluently: English, French, and Chinese.

I'd love to learn Italian, Spanish, or some other languages, but my time management is terrible and my school lacks these classes.

I did learn quite a variety of Japanese words from anime though. I can speak a few essential sentences in Japanese now.

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I've got a question to You, Mikko. How was it to live in italy for 4 years? I really like the place but have heard from many people that living there is rather difficult. do you agree?

 

I definitely agree - Italy is a wonderful country to explore as a tourist but it's difficult for foreigners to settle there because it's nearly impossible to find a decent job, the local bureaucracy is a mess and you need to hire an accountant to file your tax returns because the tax system is ridiculously complex, renting a flat and everyday life in general is rather expensive even compared to Western European standards, and of course you have to learn the language to a high level before you can even start dreaming of a job with decent salary. It took me 3 or 4 visits to the municipal magistrate to get the official residency, 2 visits to the local bank to open an Italian bank account, etc. Luckily I spoke fluent Italian when I first arrived there, so I had a fairly good chance to find a job (which I eventually did, as an English teacher) among all the foreigners, most of whom barely knew elementary Italian.

 

If you ever consider moving to Italy, be warned. ;)  On a more cheerful note, I also want to say that I did enjoy my time in Italy (I lived in Tuscany). The countryside and the mountains are stunningly beautiful, the food is excellent, and no obstacle is ever insurmountable if you have good friends and/or know the right people.

Edited by Mikko
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