The Multi-Linguistic Talents of yACF

[T42]

The slow migration of supermarket trolleys to the local canal was a wonder to behold...

I have heard it said that Belgian canals are full of rowing-machines, but only by low-born curs.

[Mr Larrington]

I used to speak German fairly fluently, well enough to pass as German in Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland (where admittedly they don't speak proper German, anyway), though in Germany itself people generally reckoned I was Dutch. This may be because I once had an Ostfriesische girlfriend, and the accent may have rubbed off.

Schweizerdeutsch is so far removed from pukka German that even Miss von Brandenburg had difficulty understanding the Natives in Laupen (near Bern) when we found ourselves racing Funny Bikes there in 1994.  Conversing in German with a bloke from Schwalbe in Battle Mountain in 2002 had him pegging my German as Hessisch.  Not really a surprise given that Miss von Brandenburg hails from that part of the world.

[FifeingEejit]

Grutze, ciao

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[Auntie Helen]

In the eight years I have lived in Germany my language skill has gone from 2nd year Uni to fluent. Fluent in my case means I understand everything that is said to me in many different situations (work, social) and can understand the nuances in what is said. My spoken German is very good but littered with incorrect endings/genders, which fortunately no-one seems to mind.

My last job here was mostly in English but my current job is all in German. Interestingly, two of my main work contacts are French and we all speak German to each other.

[Ivo]

My definition of being able to speak a language is when you can say something without translating from your native tongue, which is a watershed as far as I am concerned.

If you're raised monolingual, then this is indeed a watershed moment. If you were raised multilingual you'll have troubles translating from one language to another anyway so the point of not translating from (one ore more of) your native tongues is reached very rapidly.
When I learned Lithuanian in a crash course backin the days while studying in Vilnius 3 out of the 5sessions were in English, the other 2 in French. I'd use dictionaries in English, German and Esperanto and my small grammar glossary was in German. So my notes are all over the places constantly swapping between various languages. No way I could then even start with translating from any given language into Lithuanian .

[ravenbait]

I used to be fluent in German, but didn't use it for 20 years so it is now very rusty, although I sometimes think in German still. Just short phrases -- my brain often serves up "Wo bist du?" instead of the English, or "Was ist es?" I have studied/am studying Latin, Russian, French, Welsh, and Scottish Gaelic, but wouldn't describe myself as even competent at any of them. I understand and speak Scots as well as English and Scottish English, although the really broad Doric still flummoxes me when mumbled or spoken very quickly (or both, which seems to happen a lot where I live). I can read ingredients lists in pretty much any Indo-European language, and can understand the gist of most Germanic languages, although often couldn't tell you exactly what was said.

Sam

[Auntie Helen]

Yesterday evening I watched an episode of Sherlock with my stepdaughter. We normally watch in English with German subtitles (she is keen on improving her English) but this episode had no subtitles at all. So we went for German soundtrack so she could understand it.

I have clearly turned a corner in German as I could understand the rapid-fire Cumberbatch monologues in German.

[FifeingEejit]

and can understand the gist of most Germanic languages, although often couldn't tell you exactly what was said.

The 3 branches of the modern Germanics (Well ignore the 2 insular here) seem to congregate on cognates, or at least overlap.
I've already mentioned kvinna and quine.
Once I had it sorted that a g can make a g or wy sound in Danish I seemed to grt a fair whack more.

Brand is another one, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian  and some German dialects prefer it for Fire.
But of course the danes pronounce d's as a stop, and then the Norwegians drop the d for an extra n and then their r is silent and a sounds like the scots ai sound as in Aberdeen.

The biggest problem I have with the Germanics is the vowel sounds and the oddities in consonants, at least the English changed the k in Kirk to a Ch when they softened it, the swedes softened it to a Sh but kept the K.
Anywhere else I'd have had the pronunciation of Kotbullar spot on.

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[hellymedic]

Pouches of cat food can be very instructive.
Salmon in 20 languages: Observe which take the 'salmon' route, which take the 'laks' route, learn the spelling in Cyrillic and repeat for chicken & beef...

[Rod Marton]

Pouches of cat food can be very instructive.
Salmon in 20 languages: Observe which take the 'salmon' route, which take the 'laks' route, learn the spelling in Cyrillic and repeat for chicken & beef...

Лосось

I think the pouches are colour-coded, but being colour-blind, I have to read the label. Because I have a cat who regards it as a mortal offense if you try to feed him anything with tuna in it.