How many languages do you speak? (move to, dating, distance)
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Nasally somehow yes, pronunciation-wise... not so sure.
Hmmm... definitely not so sure about that.
I agree.
It's linguistically and phonetically proven that Spanish and Italian have much closer phonologies to each other, and that French and Portuguese do to each other as well.
Interesting question. Since I do legal translation for a living, I find it particularly relevant!
English. Native language. I'm American, but because I've spent so much time abroad and in different parts of the US, a lot of foreigners take me for Canadian due to lack of a strong US accent. Russian. My best foreign language; not surprising since I live in Moscow and use it all the time at both work and home. German. My second best foreign language. I can read it fluently (just finished Kafka's Der Prozess), and speak it quite well, although due to being in Russia I apparently have a Slavic accent in German (a German guy told me this just last week). Czech. Spoke it pretty well when living in Prague several years ago; can still read it fairly fluently. Polish. Can read it quite well, used to speak it better than I do now because I was in Poland several times and had the opportunity to practice. Spanish. Almost a native language because I lived in Argentina for a few years as a child. However, despite my good passive knowledge, I have a hard time holding a conversation in Spanish. I think it would all come back if I spent a concentrated period of time in a Spanish-speaking country. Currently reading Borges' Ficciones while commuting on the Metro. French. Decent reading knowledge (I'm plowing through Baudelaire at the moment), but poor/fair speaking knowledge due to lack of practice.
There are also languages I've studied but wouldn't claim to speak at all, such as:
Lithuanian, which I studied for obscure reasons I won't get into here; and Japanese, which I studied for a year just because I wanted to understand the structure, but have since forgotten almost everything except a few sentences and grammar rules.
Also had my brushes with ancient languages: Latin and Old Church Slavonic.
Interesting question. Since I do legal translation for a living, I find it particularly relevant!
English. Native language. I'm American, but because I've spent so much time abroad and in different parts of the US, a lot of foreigners take me for Canadian due to lack of a strong US accent. Russian. My best foreign language; not surprising since I live in Moscow and use it all the time at both work and home. German. My second best foreign language. I can read it fluently (just finished Kafka's Der Prozess), and speak it quite well, although due to being in Russia I apparently have a Slavic accent in German (a German guy told me this just last week). Czech. Spoke it pretty well when living in Prague several years ago; can still read it fairly fluently. Polish. Can read it quite well, used to speak it better than I do now because I was in Poland several times and had the opportunity to practice. Spanish. Almost a native language because I lived in Argentina for a few years as a child. However, despite my good passive knowledge, I have a hard time holding a conversation in Spanish. I think it would all come back if I spent a concentrated period of time in a Spanish-speaking country. Currently reading Borges' Ficciones while commuting on the Metro. French. Decent reading knowledge (I'm plowing through Baudelaire at the moment), but poor/fair speaking knowledge due to lack of practice.
There are also languages I've studied but wouldn't claim to speak at all, such as:
Lithuanian, which I studied for obscure reasons I won't get into here; and Japanese, which I studied for a year just because I wanted to understand the structure, but have since forgotten almost everything except a few sentences and grammar rules.
Also had my brushes with ancient languages: Latin and Old Church Slavonic.
I've b een told that old church slavonic is similar to Bulgarian, is that true?
I've b een told that old church slavonic is similar to Bulgarian, is that true?
Yes, that's true in the sense that OCS was based on the Bulgarian (or Macedonian) dialect, which was spoken in Salonika, where Cyril and Methodius (the codifiers of OCS) were from. In some sources, OCS is actually called "Old Bulgarian."
Modern Bulgarian has naturally evolved far away from this stage, however.
Interesting question. Since I do legal translation for a living, I find it particularly relevant!
English. Native language. I'm American, but because I've spent so much time abroad and in different parts of the US, a lot of foreigners take me for Canadian due to lack of a strong US accent. Russian. My best foreign language; not surprising since I live in Moscow and use it all the time at both work and home. German. My second best foreign language. I can read it fluently (just finished Kafka's Der Prozess), and speak it quite well, although due to being in Russia I apparently have a Slavic accent in German (a German guy told me this just last week). Czech. Spoke it pretty well when living in Prague several years ago; can still read it fairly fluently. Polish. Can read it quite well, used to speak it better than I do now because I was in Poland several times and had the opportunity to practice. Spanish. Almost a native language because I lived in Argentina for a few years as a child. However, despite my good passive knowledge, I have a hard time holding a conversation in Spanish. I think it would all come back if I spent a concentrated period of time in a Spanish-speaking country. Currently reading Borges' Ficciones while commuting on the Metro. French. Decent reading knowledge (I'm plowing through Baudelaire at the moment), but poor/fair speaking knowledge due to lack of practice.
There are also languages I've studied but wouldn't claim to speak at all, such as:
Lithuanian, which I studied for obscure reasons I won't get into here; and Japanese, which I studied for a year just because I wanted to understand the structure, but have since forgotten almost everything except a few sentences and grammar rules.
Also had my brushes with ancient languages: Latin and Old Church Slavonic.
I am curious, how similar is Russian to languages such as Polish, Czech and the lot?
They all sound pretty similar to me so I am guessing they must be a bit like Spanish, Italian and Portuguese or am I completely wrong?
I am curious, how similar is Russian to languages such as Polish, Czech and the lot?
They all sound pretty similar to me so I am guessing they must be a bit like Spanish, Italian and Portuguese or am I completely wrong?
You're basically right. If you know one Slavic language, it gives you a whopping advantage when you start learning a new one. The distance between Russian and Polish, for instance, is about as great as between Italian and French.
You're basically right. If you know one Slavic language, it gives you a whopping advantage when you start learning a new one. The distance between Russian and Polish, for instance, is about as great as between Italian and French.
Yes, I once started to learn Russian, but I had more problems with the Cyrillic alphabet than I thought I would have. Especially the mental connection between unfamiliar letterforms and pronunciation proved to be a lot harder than I would have originally figgered. So I think it might be easier (for a person that is used to the Latin alphabet) to start with Polish and then move on to Russian?
So I think it might be easier (for a person that is used to the Latin alphabet) to start with Polish and then move on to Russian?
Well that depends on your priorities. Personally I found Cyrillic easy to learn, and it fits the language extremely well. Meanwhile, even though Polish uses the Latin alphabet, the orthography is complicated, full of odd symbols and digraphs (sz, rz, cz, szcz, etc) that can confuse a person coming to it for the first time. Also I think Polish grammar is more complex than Russian, and Polish (with its nasals and sibilants) is harder to pronounce!
On the other hand - spelling is consistent and phonetic, a bit more so than with Russian.
Yes, I once started to learn Russian, but I had more problems with the Cyrillic alphabet than I thought I would have. Especially the mental connection between unfamiliar letterforms and pronunciation proved to be a lot harder than I would have originally figgered. So I think it might be easier (for a person that is used to the Latin alphabet) to start with Polish and then move on to Russian?
That's interesting. I found the Cyrillic alphabet to be relatively easy. Pronunciation and Russian grammar/vocabulary on the other hand, makes me want to cry, which is why I haven't gotten very far on teaching myself Russian.
The whole unvoiced/voiced, stressed/unstressed stuff drives me nuts, and that dreaded ы sound is so hard for me to pronounce properly.
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