Question of The Day. Saturday the 28th of November.

Hello, Happy Saturday.  

This question was asked a while back, but as we have some new members now it might be fun to ask again.

What languages do you speak? How fluently? What language do you talk to your cats in?

I grew up speaking English and I speak Japanese fairly well. I can also say Hello and Thank you in Korean, Chinese, Mongolian, Thai, Spanish and French. I usually speak to the cats in Japanese, unless they've been very bad kitties. For some reason it's just a lot easier to say "Oi, cut it out!" in English.

How about you, any polyglots out there?

In addition to my native English, I have a good command of German, having been married to a German for 35 years and living in the country for most of my adult life.

My Spanish is very, very rusty, but I can get the gist of a conversation or news article. I know some Hungarian, but can't form a proper sentence - it's enough to order something to eat.

I talk to Mogli and all the shelter animals in English. The big joke at work is that we've been turning out bilingual dogs since I started working there. I find the animals react better to English because it's not as harsh as German.

English for the most part. A few weeks of French when I was in grade school. A couple years of German.

(Our son taught me how to cuss in German)

English, with a small amount of Spanish and French. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, and 1 year of French. I remember a lot of vocabulary in both, especially Spanish. I can understand and converse on a basic level. The French, its more limited but I can read a menu in French lol.

I also used to understand a bit if Yiddish,I heard it extensively used as a kid. I barely remember much of it now, although certain phrases and words are so deeply ingrained I'd never forget them.

Just English and a few swear words in German.  I think I am one of the people that doesn't  pick up other languages well.  I took Spanish and French in school.  I struggled and didn't retain any of it.  I was stationed in Germany 5 years and lived on the economy for two years and a few swear words and a few food related terms is all I remember.  A lot of people who lived on the economy got very good with German but not me.

I do understand about German sounding harsh and I do think that is why shelter animals react better to English.  German just isn't a pretty soft sounding language like French.

I really wish I could speak another language. I had a year of french in high school, and only managed to pass it. A few years later my oldest son's father tried to teach me Spanish. It did not go well. I kept trying to say french words and the big problem is I cant roll my tongue. 

I couldn't roll my tongue either.  I remember every one else in class could do it no problem, I never was able to.

Half the world's people have the gene to 'roll' the tongue in a tube, half don't. Blame your parents if you can't!

I can barely speak English much less a foreign language.       I know a few simple words in Spanish, because there is so much around now. I have always envied people who are bilingual!

pretty much English is all i know/speak. i do know some French (not really enough to be able to function in a French-only environment), and a couple phrases in German and Spanish.

i speak English when talking to my cats.

English. I took spanish and italian in HS but I don't speak either. I can read spanish fairly well but that's it

English and since my heritage is that of Polish, a few words in Polish; which I try to remember. 

I took French in High School, but it really escapes me.

I would like to learn the real Polish, but that is one of the hardest languages to learn. 

I am thinking that, to occupy my mind this winter, I may get the Rosetta stone and learn Spanish.....just a thought. There are more Spanish speaking people in my apartment building that English speaking ones, so it could come in handy....but at my age..I do not if I could master it...I would just like to learn enough to understand people...and maybe say a few words back in reply....

I speak English and Cat Talk language to Artie...  meow

Norachan said:

Hello, Happy Saturday.  :hi:

This question was asked a while back, but as we have some new members now it might be fun to ask again.

What languages do you speak? How fluently? What language do you talk to your cats in?

I grew up speaking English and I speak Japanese fairly well. I can also say Hello and Thank you in Korean, Chinese, Mongolian, Thai, Spanish and French. I usually speak to the cats in Japanese, unless they've been very bad kitties. For some reason it's just a lot easier to say "Oi, cut it out!" in English.

How about you, any polyglots out there?

Click to expand...

I love the word OI. Or OY

English. I still remember the odd bit of French and German from my schooldays, bizarrely a TINY bit of Gujarati (Indian friends in primary school), and I can understand bits of Italian - I took Latin from 11-18, so that helps me get the gist of things.

I've got a few words of Gurbani from learning Kundalini meditations too, but only phonetically.

I'd love to be fluent in another language.

Columbine said:

English. I still remember the odd bit of French and German from my schooldays, bizarrely a TINY bit of Gujarati (Indian friends in primary school),

Click to expand...

 I remember some very bad words in Urdu, thanks to the friends I had in school.  

I speak English - my native language. I can also speak ASL (American Sign Language) on a fairly basic level - enough to communicate in an emergency, but definitely, not fluently. My sister is an ASL interpreter (30 years), both as free-lance and for a national video company, and I have learned quite a bit from her. It's difficult to keep up on a language when you don't speak it on a regular basis and I really don't have much opportunity to use ASL, unless I am with her. She is also fluent in Spanish and is working on her certification to interpret sign language in Spanish. 

I, too, wish I had excelled in other languages when I was younger. My brain just isn't what it used to be. *sigh*

English and French fluently.


Finnish about 50% - would like to improve!


And can sort of get by with a little bit of Russian   


As for my kitties, it is primarily English, though will throw in cute gushy pet names from all languages   Morgana is deaf, thus can't hear me so it doesn't matter initially, but wouldn't matter anyway even if she could hear!

I speak English, and, my posts here notwithstanding, fairly proper English, thanks to my Gran.  I have the phrases, "hello," 'goodbye," "please," "thank you," "you're welcome, "yes," and "no" in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Greek and Russian.  I want to add "where is the airport?" in all of them.  English being the international language of flight, if you can get to the airport, someone will understand you perfectly well.  OH...I know a few words/phrases in ISL.  Hekitty knows "stop," "drink," and "eat" in ISL.  Which is about the extent of my "vocabulary" in it anyway.

English, but I can read Spanish a little, having taken years and years of it in school. (We were not taught how to speak Spanish.)

I envy people fluent in another language!

English. Hebrew - very useful. A tiny bit of Italian. Should be able to speak Yiddish. I heard it everyday for the first 23 years of my life but........