Ainu. GO
Engrisch
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.engrish.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F%2F2011%2F07%2Fviolators-clamped-down.jpg&hash=238613a5cde860bb3a07354851522eb2887b80bc)
Yam-yam.
German......no doubt about it.
english!
Arabic. Followed closely by cat :P
Deutsch und Englisch. Französisch ist eine furchtbare Sprache, nur für Reptilien geeignet. Griechisch finde ich schön aber ganz schwer. Ich müßte eigentlich Walisisch lernen, da ich so nah wohne, aber es ist wahnsinnig schwer.
Klingon
I should have added: German and English are my favourite modern languages. IMO the most beautiful language I can comprehend is Old English (Anglo-Saxon), as used before around 1100. In the hands of a master like Bishop Ælfric, there has never been anything to touch it. I also love to read good Latin.
OldGit's law: the older the literature, the better the craftsmanship. There is a good reason for that: writers like Ælfric would have to mix their own ink and alterations were very difficult on extremely expensive calfskin or hand-made paper. Even the mechanics of writing were not simple. Therefore when you were composing a sentence you thought long and hard before very carefully writing it down. Nowadays we can write faster than we think and correct arbitrarily often. The result - often slapdash expression.
German sounds really neat when spoken fluently, and really awful when garbled.
I like Russian too.
Pig-Latin is ossbay.
Quote from: OldGit on July 30, 2011, 01:17:16 PM
I should have added: German and English are my favourite modern languages. IMO the most beautiful language I can comprehend is Old English (Anglo-Saxon), as used before around 1100. In the hands of a master like Bishop Ælfric, there has never been anything to touch it. I also love to read good Latin.
OldGit's law: the older the literature, the better the craftsmanship. There is a good reason for that: writers like Ælfric would have to mix their own ink and alterations were very difficult on extremely expensive calfskin or hand-made paper. Even the mechanics of writing were not simple. Therefore when you were composing a sentence you thought long and hard before very carefully writing it down. Nowadays we can write faster than we think and correct arbitrarily often. The result - often slapdash expression.
I'm going to see the Staffordshire Hoard on August Bank Holiday. Old English is an absolutely fantastic language, especially the Mercian dialect, which JRR Tolkien used as the language of Rohan (Rohirric).
The vast majority of Old English people hear today is Winchester Standard West Saxon, which is about as representative to Old English as BBC English represents post modern English.
There is a vowel shift which makes the difference between Saxon English and Angle English.
The West Saxons pronounced their vowels as we all recognise them today. But the Angles didn't, this still exists in atleat one word today, the word "wash" most of us pronounce that "a" as an "o", except in the Black Country where we pronounce it with an "a" yet we pronounce "hammer" with an "o" and a silent "h" "ommer"
"Pass me me ommer".
German, Japanese, {real} English from England, and Swedish<3 <3
But mm, German..
*purr* :)
The only languages I know are Spanish and English, and Spanish takes longer to same the English equivalent (plus I barely know Spanish; I've only taken a first year course so far), so I'm going to have to go with my native language.
Quote from: RagnarThe vast majority of Old English people hear today is Winchester Standard West Saxon, which is about as representative to Old English as BBC English represents post modern English.
Absolutely. I live in Mercian, Anglian territory. But there are very few connected texts of literary interest which are not in the W.S. standard.
QuoteThe West Saxons pronounced their vowels as we all recognise them today.
Oh no! Have you ever heard of the great vowel shift in Middle English?
QuoteThere is a vowel shift which makes the difference between Saxon English and Angle English.
No, just a dialectal difference, which is not the same thing. Are you confusing this with the great vowel shift in M. E.?
C++
I find the nordic languages amusing. Even some dialects in my native country sound completely foreign.
I took a couple Russian courses in university and I loved it, I'd really like to pick it up again sometime. Going to St.Petersburg is on my bucket list. :)
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on August 01, 2011, 10:26:26 PM
I took a couple Russian courses in university and I loved it, I'd really like to pick it up again sometime. Going to St.Petersburg is on my bucket list. :)
I love listening to Russian music, but reading/writing it is tough! :<
I quite like Welsh. It sounds musical, it has some neat unusual sounds, and it is pronounced pretty much as it is spelled (what on earth was it that happened to Gaelic?).
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 05:34:51 PM
I quite like Welsh. It sounds musical, it has some neat unusual sounds, and it is pronounced pretty much as it is spelled (what on earth was it that happened to Gaelic?).
So pronounce this Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) ;D
Quote from: Tank on August 02, 2011, 05:36:53 PM
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 05:34:51 PM
I quite like Welsh. It sounds musical, it has some neat unusual sounds, and it is pronounced pretty much as it is spelled (what on earth was it that happened to Gaelic?).
So pronounce this Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) ;D
I hope I could come close, but not rapidly at all. what does it mean?
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 06:20:00 PM
Quote from: Tank on August 02, 2011, 05:36:53 PM
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 05:34:51 PM
I quite like Welsh. It sounds musical, it has some neat unusual sounds, and it is pronounced pretty much as it is spelled (what on earth was it that happened to Gaelic?).
So pronounce this Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) ;D
I hope I could come close, but not rapidly at all. what does it mean?
It's a station name. I linked the name to its Wiki page which shows how it should be pronounced 8)
EDIT. There is an audio file on the Wiki page that actually demonstrates the pronunciation. Good luck :)
Quote from: Tank on August 02, 2011, 06:39:37 PM
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 06:20:00 PM
Quote from: Tank on August 02, 2011, 05:36:53 PM
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 05:34:51 PM
I quite like Welsh. It sounds musical, it has some neat unusual sounds, and it is pronounced pretty much as it is spelled (what on earth was it that happened to Gaelic?).
So pronounce this Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) ;D
I hope I could come close, but not rapidly at all. what does it mean?
It's a station name. I linked the name to its Wiki page which shows how it should be pronounced 8)
EDIT. There is an audio file on the Wiki page that actually demonstrates the pronunciation. Good luck :)
Thanks.
That sort of thing could make filling out forms really tiresome.
I once worked in a lab on the outskirts of London. A native Welsh speaker in the lab had labelled the distilled water tank "DWR", which means water in Welsh. It puzzled some visitors.
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 07:00:19 PM
Quote from: Tank on August 02, 2011, 06:39:37 PM
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 06:20:00 PM
Quote from: Tank on August 02, 2011, 05:36:53 PM
Quote from: Looncall on August 02, 2011, 05:34:51 PM
I quite like Welsh. It sounds musical, it has some neat unusual sounds, and it is pronounced pretty much as it is spelled (what on earth was it that happened to Gaelic?).
So pronounce this Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll) ;D
I hope I could come close, but not rapidly at all. what does it mean?
It's a station name. I linked the name to its Wiki page which shows how it should be pronounced 8)
EDIT. There is an audio file on the Wiki page that actually demonstrates the pronunciation. Good luck :)
Thanks.
That sort of thing could make filling out forms really tiresome.
I once worked in a lab on the outskirts of London. A native Welsh speaker in the lab had labelled the distilled water tank "DWR", which means water in Welsh. It puzzled some visitors.
Lol.
My favourite language would be french (even though I don't know alot) because it flows so nicely.
I really like the names of french food/beverages. I don't know why.
Mm.. Gateau <3
Quote from: OldGit on August 01, 2011, 10:22:56 AM
Quote from: RagnarThe vast majority of Old English people hear today is Winchester Standard West Saxon, which is about as representative to Old English as BBC English represents post modern English.
Absolutely. I live in Mercian, Anglian territory. But there are very few connected texts of literary interest which are not in the W.S. standard.
QuoteThe West Saxons pronounced their vowels as we all recognise them today.
Oh no! Have you ever heard of the great vowel shift in Middle English?
QuoteThere is a vowel shift which makes the difference between Saxon English and Angle English.
No, just a dialectal difference, which is not the same thing. Are you confusing this with the great vowel shift in M. E.?
Yes, I know about the GVS, which basically meant that the tongue became closer to the roof of the mouth when pronouncing long vowels. So "boots on our feet" would have sounded like "boats on our fate" before the GVS.
But Middle English is complicated, because there isn't a standard version of Middle English. ME evolved as a result of the loss of standardisation in Old English after the Norman Conquest. But the GVS started in the 14th century.
Some dialects were resistant to the GVS. Other dialects had a vowel shift, but not in the same way as each other.
One dialectic difference between Mercian and West Saxon was that Mercians often pronounced "O" where West Saxons pronounced "A", and West Saxon F was pronounced more like a V
QuoteThe West Saxons pronounced their vowels as we all recognise them today.
So if you know of the GVS, you know that no dialect of A/S has kept its vowels into Mod.E. Not the long ones, anyway.
QuoteBut Middle English is complicated, because there isn't a standard version of Middle English.
Of course there isn't, it runs from early C12 damn nearly to Shakespeare, over what were at that time huge, almost isolated areas.
The border between middle and modern english that was as taught in school is that King James Bible (1605) belongs to middle english and Shakespeare (late 1500s) belongs to modern english. This is because the King James Bible is written in retrospective language, trying to be proper and established and legitimate, whereas Shakespeare wrote edgy modern language, making up new words and being linguistically progressive.
I only know my mother tongue well enough, so I can't really comment on a favourite language.
I am tempted to learn Welsh though. It's just over the border (38 miles).
Quote from: Sweetdeath on August 02, 2011, 06:13:34 AM
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on August 01, 2011, 10:26:26 PM
I took a couple Russian courses in university and I loved it, I'd really like to pick it up again sometime. Going to St.Petersburg is on my bucket list. :)
I love listening to Russian music, but reading/writing it is tough! :<
haha, when I was doing my courses, I listened to a lot of Tatu :P
I'm really rusty at reading/writing now, but I used to get so excited when I could decipher things in Russian. I remember watching "Red October" with my husband and being totally obnoxious about it, haha.
Definitely Klingon, oh and your mother has a smooth forehead !!
I am insulted, good sir! I will bear my teeth, and we shall fight.
Welsh sounds really nice... I also like German.
However, when it comes to artistic self-expression, English is the thing.
I kow English isn't an old, rooted language like Latin or Gealic, but sometimes I feel like it is. I feel happiest when I am speaking English. :)
^^ Depends what you want to express. For an elegant sonnet about surrendering to your enemies or eating unspeakably vile cheese, try French. ;D
Sweetdeath, English has been on this island for 1,600 years, give or take, before which its roots go back to southern Scandinavia where it came into being as a much-altered descendant of Primitive Indo-European at some unknown time: most likely in the Bronze Age.
Dutch may be the strangest language I've heard.
^ Donder op! :D
Thanks for the background info, Oldgit!
<3 the new icon btw.
Hit me on the head when I blather on too much! I love this subject so much, but I do realise that not everybody is quite so obsessed with it.
Your new av is also cute. Do you think it's more "you" than the photo?
Tee hee, I love when you babble~ <3 I like to bring up random facts irl all the time.
Yes~! I saw it on one of my many my little pony tumblrs I am following and had to have it. The new mlp show is crack, but holy craaap-- I am obsessed all over again. I think this icon of pony Twilight sparkle goes with my username, thus fitting me better. <3
Most definatly Vulcan, Klingon, and Japanese. Though I speak none of these languages they are amazing and I want to learn.
bortaS blr jablu'DI' reH QaQqu' nay'
Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam !
No one speaks Elvish? (Lord of the rings)
Quel du~
I love the sound of French being spoken, and German as well. I love the many Celtic accents, especially when spoken by women. ;) Unfortunately the only one I speak is English, and it's the bastardized American version at that. Medusa, if you speak Cat you are truly a powerful woman to be feared.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on August 16, 2011, 04:00:11 PM
No one speaks Elvish? (Lord of the rings)
Quel du~
I actually tattooed the ring inscription around the ankles of my wife and step-daughter. ;D
Quote from: DaemonWulf on August 23, 2011, 01:34:49 AM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on August 16, 2011, 04:00:11 PM
No one speaks Elvish? (Lord of the rings)
Quel du~
I actually tattooed the ring inscription around the ankles of my wife and step-daughter. ;D
I hope they wanted it done! ;D
Quote from: Tank on August 23, 2011, 09:15:57 AM
Quote from: DaemonWulf on August 23, 2011, 01:34:49 AM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on August 16, 2011, 04:00:11 PM
No one speaks Elvish? (Lord of the rings)
Quel du~
I actually tattooed the ring inscription around the ankles of my wife and step-daughter. ;D
I hope they wanted it done! ;D
...By the way, is the correct term Elvish or Elven?
Quote from: Tank on August 23, 2011, 09:15:57 AM
Quote from: DaemonWulf on August 23, 2011, 01:34:49 AM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on August 16, 2011, 04:00:11 PM
No one speaks Elvish? (Lord of the rings)
Quel du~
I actually tattooed the ring inscription around the ankles of my wife and step-daughter. ;D
I hope they wanted it done! ;D
Once the chloroform wore of, they were perfectly okay with it. "Perfectly okay" in that it was the least of the things they were worried about.
My wife claims it's "Elven", Asmodean, and as she's the one with the tattoo, I'll take her word for it.
It might be okay both ways. I have the official dictionary, and it says "Elvish."
Btw, that's cute Wulf! Your wife's tattoo.
I've heard, I think they call it, Pigeon English, from Papua New Guinea. It's entertaining.
I find people speaking in tongues (can that be called a proper language?) to be hilarious, especially since they look so oblivious.
Is speaking in tongues the same as the language of the angels? I roll my eyes at both. ::)
Quote from: Sweetdeath on August 24, 2011, 12:59:40 AM
Is speaking in tongues the same as the language of the angels? I roll my eyes at both. ::)
That's what they say their mumbling is. I wonder if anyone even analysed it for some sort of grammatical structure...don't know if such a thing is even possible.
*Edited to lessen the amount of mental images for sick puppies ;)
Pffft, us non-believers couldn't understand it anyway. Though it's gibberish, i'm sure the christians will defend it as holy.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on August 24, 2011, 02:55:42 AM
Pffft, us non-believers couldn't understand it anyway. Though it's gibberish, i'm sure the christians will defend it as holy.
You have many preconceived notions about us Christians. Most of which I've noticed are wrong. Speaking in tongues is not necessarily holy. If you cannot understand the language, then it is not speaking in tongues as the Bible is clear that "speaking in tongues" is that everyone is able to understand the speaker despite not everyone understanding the same language. See Acts 2 (I think it is)
I actually wouldn't mind an explaination. What is "speaking in tongues" exactly? o_o
They run about looking ecstatic and babbling funny noises. It's a form of mass insanity which, if practised in a non-religious context, would get you locked up.
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on August 24, 2011, 02:11:45 AM
I wonder if anyone even analised it for some sort of grammatical structure...don't know if such a thing is even possible.
I'm wondering whether you meant analysed, otherwise analising something brings a wonderful new mental image to my brain.
Although thats to be expected as I am one sick puppy! LOL
^ That makes two sick puppies. ;D
I speak German and Italian, and they are both ok.
I really want to learn japanese, just because japanese girls sound so cute... :D
Quote from: Evilbeagle on August 24, 2011, 09:55:07 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on August 24, 2011, 02:11:45 AM
I wonder if anyone even analised it for some sort of grammatical structure...don't know if such a thing is even possible.
I'm wondering whether you meant analysed, otherwise analising something brings a wonderful new mental image to my brain.
Although thats to be expected as I am one sick puppy! LOL
LOL!
I totally overlooked that one.
Hai ! So desu.
Body language.
I've always wanted to learn Spanish. Maybe one day I will.
I've picked up and forgotten too many languages to list... Russian was my favorite to speak, but if I remember correctly the alphabet was a pain. One of the few languages where it's easier to hold a conversation than it is to write back and forth
Actually the Cyrillic alphabet is surprisingly easy once you master the basics, now Arabic, thats a bitch !