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  1. #26
    Thailand Expat
    Mendip's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...languages studied, pretty much forgotten: Amharic, Swahili, Patois, Farsi...
    ...languages studied, shattered remnants remain: French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic (modern standard)...
    ...language ignored: Thai

    ...language reasonably fluent: American English...
    ...languages I wish I'd learned: Hindi, Urdu (never got over the Raj Quartet)...
    I thought you would know the gaylick?

  2. #27
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
    I thought you would know the gaylick?
    ...not a very tricky tongue to master...

  3. #28
    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    ດຽວເທົ່ານັ້ນ

    Forgot all the others.

  4. #29
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by baldrick View Post
    is strine counted ?
    Um, ahem, er, *cough*... "Bloody oath".

  5. #30
    กงเกวียนกำเกวียน HuangLao's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norton View Post
    ດຽວເທົ່ານັ້ນ

    Forgot all the others.

    Kinda where I am.
    Too many understood and too many forgotten over the lifetime.

    Certainly would revise itself if I were to live it over again.

  6. #31
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    ^
    That’ll be none then ( including English)

  7. #32
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    panama hat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Um, ahem, er, *cough*... "Bloody oath".
    That would be 'kin oath

  8. #33
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    I speak Australian(Strine), gibberish, a bit of swamp language(Issan), bit of thai but i am completely Proficient in Pissed.

  9. #34
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    ^Haha!

    You guys are so funny!

  10. #35
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    You’re not.

  11. #36
    Thailand Expat YourDaddy's Avatar
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    Youre

  12. #37
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    ^...so, Serb, Croat and Broken Canadian then...

  13. #38
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    Serb, Croat
    Serbo Croatian

  14. #39
    Thailand Expat
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    I'm not fluent in any languages apart from English. However, I can communicate in some when forced to.

    Getting back to Germany required proof of residence and some language skills help with proof.

    I'd be bored stupid in the village we live unless I could speak some Laos/Thai. I can communicate in a way that makes people laugh, something that put me off to start with until I realised it was a sign of them understanding me.

    I can understand written and spoken French but can no longer speak it unless forced or very drunk. I lived there as a child and was fluent but had the accent drilled out of me when I returned to '60's England. Elocution lessons were provided to get French accent removed from my system and then, 6 years later, they forced me to take French lessons...what a fooked up childhood that was...I had to stand outside the classroom for speaking English with a French accent and French with an English accent so no-one could understand a word I said.

    I know enough Italian to order a meal and a decent espresso corretto without the wife knowing I'm having an early morning pick-me-up. I don't know enough to understand all the opera librettos and I have to study them before each opera.


    I have a big problem with speaking the wrong language to the wrong people. I have ordered in Thai at a German restaurant much to the horror of the waitress and amusement of my wife.

    BTW my wife has done similar, telling German immigration that she was resident, could not speak German, only English, and she was trying hard to learn German...all spoken in very acceptable German and much to the amusement of the imm officer.

    Despite my lack of language skills, last year we had two French children stay who were nearly fluent in German and learning English and Latin. By the end of the week their English was extremely good and we spoke in French and German and Thai, mixing and matching as words were missing to suit. A fun time for all.

  15. #40
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy View Post
    I'd be bored stupid in the village we live unless I could speak some Laos/Thai. I can communicate in a way that makes people laugh, something that put me off to start with until I realised it was a sign of them understanding me.
    Ain't that the truth
    Quote Originally Posted by Troy View Post
    I'd be bored stupid
    Teakdoor not enough ?
    Quote Originally Posted by Troy View Post
    I have a big problem with speaking the wrong language to the wrong people. I have ordered in Thai at a German restaurant much to the horror of the waitress and amusement of my wife.
    I have spoken Lao to Lituanian colleaques

    They very politely didn't comment

  16. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy View Post
    I can understand written and spoken French but can no longer speak it unless forced or very drunk. I lived there as a child and was fluent but had the accent drilled out of me when I returned to '60's England. Elocution lessons were provided to get French accent removed from my system and then, 6 years later, they forced me to take French lessons...what a fooked up childhood that was...I had to stand outside the classroom for speaking English with a French accent and French with an English accent so no-one could understand a word I said.
    Man, that's crazy! I know there is a bit of a riff beween England and France to begin with. Where I live many people speak both languages, as I live near the Quebec border. To get a good job, you normally need to know French. Do any people speak French in England nowadays?

  17. #42
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MarilynMonroe View Post
    Do any people speak French in England nowadays?
    Yes, there's the French speaking town of Alsace.

    And all the French teachers.

  18. #43
    Thailand Expat Storekeeper's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...so, after the soapy then...
    There might have been soapy places in Taphan Hin, Phichit but heck if I knew where they were. Never went looking for a soapy in Ban Phe, Rayong either. Hanging out and partying with newly minted TESOL certificate TEFLers was the main agenda. Who knew there were so many different types of bourbon?

    And yes I lived in Pattaya the last two years I was there but I was a TEFLer by then and my view was it wasn’t a good thing to be seen hanging out on the seedy side of town. Some of the teachers I worked with spent a lot of time on that side of Sukhumvwit but they were fookwit BS artist for the most part.

  19. #44
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    I'm learning spoken Hmong because many of the hilltribe villagers in my region don't speak Lao very well. I go up the hills on my off-road motorbike and want to chat with the old grannies, maybe find a new wife....

    Hmong has 8 tones (according to my teacher). It's generally written using Roman script. I'm right at the start of learning Hmong, but my online teacher is very good. Some people are good at picking up languages and others definitely are not!
    Groping women when you're old is fine - everyone thinks you're senile

  20. #45
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    ^Wow, that sounds incredibly challenging. I tried learning Mandarin and the four tones were always a problem. If you don't say a word the correct way, people don't understand you or you are saying an entirely different word. Kudos to you and best of luck. I agree about the languages thing. I am not the greatest on picking up languages, but I try. I know more Korean than Mandarin. I am learning Spanish which I love, but the verbs are tricky. French I took all through school (40 mins a day), so I know quite a bit. That is impressive all the languages you know. I wish that I would have studied some languages more in depth and at university in certain countries, but I didn't have time with working full-time.

  21. #46
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh!

  22. #47
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joe 90 View Post
    English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh!
    Have you ever posted without demonstrating your abject stupidity?

    :)

  23. #48
    Thailand Expat
    reinvented's Avatar
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    english and its daughter languages
    enough spanish to read a wine bottle (thansk Dulingo and narcos)
    enough Thai not to bother
    emergency Japanese

    largely forgotten german and estonian both f which were never more than survival

  24. #49
    5 4 Knoll
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    I've a diminishing grasp of reality.
    Like Simon I grew amongst linguists learning French, Latin , Nederlands, Vlaams,English,Irish, Welsh ,Italian HochKraut nearly all forgotton

    I learnt but don't recall much very minimal survival Awabakal, Dutch ,Flemish, Scandihooligan, Mandarin, Yiddish, Czech,, Classical Greek(only useful in far reaching sceances) Old Prussian and Thai , tho Lao a mystery still but a mix of Franglais Mandarin and Thai seems to get by.Luckily like so many other aspects a quick brsush up by a pert teacher brings it back to life.

    While in situ because of 12 years Latin I found Castellano, Gallego Catala and Castellano easy (but not understanding Cubanos nor Colombianos who speak at coke speed)

    I was fluent in English French, Continental Portuguese and almost identical Gallego and MuhlerviertleralmAustrian dialekt but according to my wife and confirmed by cunning linguists here I speak manly Bollox and oh of course Langue de Boeuf

    Fortunately after years in places I was functionally illiterate Myanmar, China, UAE, KSA, Qatar I find if you smile a lot and are nice to people you can get by, they just assume you have Mongolism,what I believe Mongols call simplified Yank's syndrome. I am still struggling learning written Euskara, Thai but Bahasa seems a doddle and when in Indo all comes back , a knowledge of Malay and Dutch helps.

    For those with free time it is never too late, however just as I would not have a circumcision from a butcher, or buy smuggled pork pies from a defrocked rabbi I do not advice learning Thai from your wife unless she is also a linguist, she will find plenty of other chances to correct you , while you may seek a teacher nilly willy.

    As they say in my ancestors brogue Zuberoaka Euskara (Souletine Basque)

    Inki Minki

    Darf het Thanon se levar tu encontre In'shalla'
    Last edited by david44; 16-03-2022 at 12:47 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Latindancer View Post
    I just want the chance to use a bigger porridge bowl.

  25. #50
    5 4 Knoll
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    Quote Originally Posted by reinvented View Post
    emergency Japanese
    555


    安全な言葉は何ですか

    Is what's the safe word

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