Do any Taobums speak foreign languages?

[innerspace_cadet]

Personally, I studied German for six years both at the high school and undergraduate levels. Right now I am considering picking up a middle eastern language like Farsi or Urdu. I know this doesn't have much to do with Daoism, but I think it's an interesting subject.

[Marblehead]

I was stationed in Germany twice and got pretty good with conversational German. I haven't used it for so long I have forgotten most of what I knew.

[Everything]

Well... My dutch is good, considering learning german aswell.

 

It has been said that the nature of language can never be understood trough one language alone. Professors of language say so. Sometimes you want to say something but can´t translate it into words. Communication is an art of translating, like poetry. Every single word is relative to every single human being. You can never find the perfect translation for what you´re trying to say, but the desire to do so will remain. That is a perfection on itself.

 

Plus, studies show that knowing more then one language means lower chance of you having some degenerative brain disease, but that might be indirect. Not sure how it effects our brains, hehe.

 

For now it really does give me comfort to try and translate from dutch to english or the other way around. Something about it that makes me feel purposeful. As if I´m bringing two diffrent realities together and have them interact. Especially when it comes to humor and alot of the more complex communications, knowing more then one language can be enlightening. Love it.

Edited April 16, 2011 by Everything

[C T]

I grew up in a family that spoke two main languages - English and Cantonese -and in school got to pick up Malaysian and also Mandarin. So now i speak and write English and Malaysian, and can converse in Mandarin and Cantonese quite proficiently. Due to being of a lazy nature, i had not been motivated enough to learn how to write Mandarin, so this is a slack on my part. My partner is Polish, hence i am considering taking up learning that language as well. Many years ago i was working for a Japanese company, and picked up some basic Japanese from this association. Due to lack of practice, and forgetfulness, most of what i had picked up had unfortunately gone back to Japan

 

Also, the Malaysian language share some similarities with the Indonesian language. When i visited Java, i was quite amazed by the fact that i could actually converse with the locals there, albeit with a bit of fumbling involved, naturally.

 

Best of luck in your endeavors!

[exorcist_1699]

Mine are :

 

Spoken : Mandarin, Cantonese, South Fukienese, Japanese, English;

 

Written : Classical Chinese, Modern Chinese, Japanese, English, French ;

[Marblehead]

Two connected comments:

 

Just read something (just the headlines) that a study was conducted on the origination of the spoken language and all have roots in Africa suggesting that the spoken language already existed before the migrations of humans out of Africa began.

 

Saw a program on TV the other night about the Mongolians and it was said that there are over 30 different words to define a beige colored horse. Of course, the horse is the focal point of their culture.

[Moonbar]

Im a New Zealander living in the UK - (many different words are used within the same language within the 2 countries) & I also have a Polish partner, so i can fumble my way through in her language ok

I think i can safely say im fluent in Pub-Polish

[GreytoWhite]

I can read and understand Spanish but I can barely speak it. I can speak and understand a little of Polish, Farsi, and Japanese but not read or write. I used to be able to read some Farsi as well but it has been years since I left my Baha'i studies behind.

[Kris]

Norwegian, English, German, some Spanish and a few words Polish and Hungarian. I might give Arabic a go next.

[henro]

Im a New Zealander living in the UK - (many different words are used within the same language within the 2 countries) & I also have a Polish partner, so i can fumble my way through in her language ok

I think i can safely say im fluent in Pub-Polish

 

 

Argh, Polish is one of the most difficult languages to speak. I lived in Warsaw for a year. . . . not only is the conjugation difficult, everything seems to have some kind of crazy declination.

 

I can speak a little bit of a few languages. English is my first, then 7 years of Spanish in school. Followed by a bit of Polish, Romanian, Japanese, and Mandarin, sprinkled with a bit of Thai. I'm concentrating on Mandarin for now - tired of relying on other people's translations of Chinese text.