|
Post by dreamingfifi on May 25, 2016 8:00:51 GMT
Judging from the little mentions I've seen here and there, this should be a fun topic here.
I am in Montana, in the USA. You wouldn't think that this is a place with a lot of linguistic diversity, but it actually is. We have a bunch of Native American reservations here, and their languages are still spoken on many of them. We also have a few immigrant populations like the Hmong. Because of the Mansfield Center, my city has a lot of diplomatic ties to Japan, and every year we get a ton of Japanese exchange students because it's considered such a safe place (no gangs here - it's too cold, I guess?).
Counting living languages only, I studied French in highschool and Japanese in college. I've been to France (I was part of a club in highschool that was specifically about raising money to go to France), but I've never been to Japan. I almost had a chance to go on a teaching scholarship, but then a big earthquake happened and a nuclear powerplant went into meltdown, and my school cancelled all of the exchange student trips over there - even for the people who were already there. A lot of people were really upset. They let the Japanese students extend their stays for as long as they wanted though, and the Japanese Student Association raised funds to help the students whose families were affected by the disaster.
That year, at the International Culture and Food Festival, the JSA put together a big performance of Souran Bushi to help raise funds. There wasn't a dry eye in the whole place when they were done. It became a tradition, and they've done it every year since. Here is a video from a performance a couple years later... I couldn't find the one from that year. It's not as big - the first year, they had about 30 students crammed onto the stage, so it doesn't have quite the same impact, but it still brings up those memories. At the time I was working as one of the people who makes certain that exchange students are able to find what they need, and I did a lot of training in casual English too, so I was friends with a lot of the Japanese exchange students whose lives were affected by it.
|
|
Cesela
Senior Member
Posts: 480
|
Post by Cesela on May 25, 2016 16:20:14 GMT
Oh my, the earthquake and the nuclear powerplant in Japan was just terrible. I'm glad to hear how understanding your university was! But, still sucks for you that you couldn't trave to Japan regardless :// I liked the dance. Very interesting! Haha. Ehm. I'm from Norway. Hello *waves*. I was born on a mountain on an island belonging to a series of.. other islands bascially. Haha. As a child, I was raised in the 'less' popular written Norwegian language (as we have two + Samii) which means I could pretty much read old Norse since I was six. I've studied English, German and Latin in school (latin in high school, english and (french, german or spanish (though, we only have the choice between french and german)) we learn from the 8th grade). As a scandinavian I can also read and understand Swedish and Danish, as well as Icelandic (due to my Norse upbringing). And that's my languages. I'm currently studying in England thoigh, not looking forward to going home
|
|
|
Post by boogum on May 25, 2016 21:38:18 GMT
Oh yeah, that was really sad. I saw it all happen as breaking news live on TV. Scary stuff.
I'm from New Zealand. Lived all over the country, so I don't really consider anywhere 'home', but that's how I like it. I speak English as my first language, a teeny bit of Te Reo Maori, and basic Japanese. I actually spoke better Te Reo when I was younger, but I've forgotten heaps because I just never have a reason to use it.
I honestly never thought I'd have the patience to stick to learning a new language. I doubt I would have got so far with my Japanese if I wasn't moving there for work.
|
|
Csigabiga
Junior Member
Break ups are painfull :'(
Posts: 66
|
Post by Csigabiga on May 26, 2016 12:35:52 GMT
It's really sounds to be fun topic. I liked the dance too. I'm from Hungary. I speak hungarian with light palóc dialect. In my childhood I lived in a small village. Last year I moved to Budapest. I haven't got talent for languages still I try my best. I studyed English since grade 4th but since then I couldn't learn it well. I started to improve when I got my current job 3 years ago and I was forced to speak with forgeiners. I had to explain what we baking. In high school I studyed Italian beside English but since I didn't use it I forget everything. I'm thinking of study a little German because during my work I meet with a lot of German tourist especially at summer.
|
|
Taliya
Beta Reader
I'm increasing my tittle count. You should too.
Posts: 249
|
Post by Taliya on May 26, 2016 15:11:28 GMT
The dance was fun! I liked it.
As for me, I am Chinese by ethnicity, though I identify myself as Taiwanese-Malaysian (where my parents were born). I was born and raised in Texas in the US, and grew up speaking English with a smattering of Mandarin Chinese at home, along with one or two random phrases of Hokkien, Cantonese, Malaysian, and, Japanese. I took Saturday Mandarin Chinese classes in elementary, Spanish in junior high and high school, and Mandarin Chinese again in undergrad. I'm still taking Mandarin Chinese lessons as of now, and am trying to learn to both read and write simplified (China) and traditional (Taiwan) in addition to speaking and listening. As far as my speaking goes, I speak English with a fairly neutral accent, though I definitely use "y'all" in my everyday speech--that's probably going to be your only indicator I'm from the US South, as its use is not exclusive to Texas.
|
|
|
Post by Mikauzoran on May 27, 2016 1:25:30 GMT
A Friendly Reminder: Sharing personal information online can be dangerous. While I trust that we have nothing to fear from our fellow members, this forum is a public space accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Keep that in mind as you continue this discussion. That being said, this is a fun topic, and I don't see the harm in talking about what countries we come from. I'd recommend against listing cities, though, especially if you're from somewhere small like Lodi, Wisconsin or Clinton, Iowa. ^.~ Just share sensibly.
|
|
|
Post by presumenothing on May 27, 2016 1:42:54 GMT
Ah, everyone leads such interesting lives! I'm almost envious, haha =P I'm Malaysian, currently living in Singapore – been here for almost half my life by now, so I basically consider both places home. Also Chinese by ethnicity, same as Taliya, so I speak both Mandarin Chinese (learnt simplified in school, but I can read traditional as well) and Hokkien (mostly from speaking to relatives). Also learned Malay in school and used to be quite good at it, but I think I've forgotten a fair bit of it by now from disuse. Been self-learning Japanese for a while, though not very effectively until I took a couple of courses at uni last year, because zero self-discipline, heh. In casual situations, I tend to use a 'rojak' (aka random mixture) of English, Chinese, Hokkien, plus occasionally Malay or other dialects, depending on who I'm speaking to. Or, as we tend to call it around here, Singlish...
|
|
rainbowcupcake
Full Member
JA is so absurdly gorgeous it's not even funny anymore. It's ruining my life
Posts: 142
|
Post by rainbowcupcake on May 27, 2016 20:00:26 GMT
Same I'm from a small town in Germany, not much going on here ... it's really boring :/ As for languages, I had some French lessons in school, but that was forever ago, so I don't really remember anything. It's a bit funny, of all the languages I dabbled in, I'm the worst at French, even though we live pretty close to the French border and I've been there a couple of times. I just remember visiting relatives in France 10 or so years ago and sitting at the dinner table while everyone was speaking in, what felt like to me, lightning-fast French and I was terribly confused. I've had a few English lessons in school as well, but mostly I taught myself, and last year I started learning Japanese. I also learned a little bit of Italian and sign language, but aside from German and English I don't really have a lot of opportunities to use other languages, so it's easy to forget stuff. I would love to learn more though, and I'm thinking about getting started on another language once I'm a bit more comfortable with Japanese. Any suggestions?
|
|
yesterday
New Member
"Don't shoot! I'm Canadian!" - X Company S2E9
Posts: 44
|
Post by yesterday on May 28, 2016 8:37:52 GMT
Hmm... I have an early memory of hearing about the Japanese nuclear meltdown in elementary school and thinking "...Huh?" ^^' Seems like I'm younger than a lot of "y'all." XD Anyways, this is such an interesting topic! Personally, I'm Chinese born Canadian. There hasn't been snow for years where I am though. Just a lot of rain. (Athough climate change might change that too.) My mom is from southern China, and my dad is originally from Burma. I speak mostly English and Cantonese (and "Chinglish" ), and I'm currently learning Mandarin. I can read Chinese (preferably Simplified, although I'm also okay with Traditional) well enough to read, say, the latest Chinese raw scans of Detective Conan, but my speaking ability is downright horrendous. Oops. I might've taken French Immersion in school, but... learning Biology and History and such in French on top of English (and Chinese school!) seems pretty intense.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2016 7:07:37 GMT
I live in Arizona, USA. As for languages I know english a little french and japanese and Im going to take Russian/French lesions .
|
|
|
Post by twinborn on Nov 2, 2016 16:52:54 GMT
It's wonderful that we're practically from all over the world.
I'm Egyptian. But came to actually live in Egypt two years ago. My mother tongue is Arabic but I'm fluent in English. It's been a while though since I've carried an all-english conversation so I'm not sure if my tongue won't get twisted while talking.
I guess I can talk and understand French well enough but it's been even longer since I've used that language so...yup.
For a while, I fancied myself able to learn Japanese but I realized I can't do that without consistency in my efforts and sadly consistency is something I sorely lack and need in my life.
|
|
Cesela
Senior Member
Posts: 480
|
Post by Cesela on Nov 2, 2016 17:49:26 GMT
Oh, That's awesome Twinborn! if you only lived in Egypt for two years, where did you live before?
|
|
|
Post by twinborn on Nov 3, 2016 6:13:20 GMT
Basically where any Egyptian goes to live abroad...The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia. Though I'll forever remember my time in the KSA with fond memories as weird as it may seem.
|
|
Cesela
Senior Member
Posts: 480
|
Post by Cesela on Nov 3, 2016 11:46:52 GMT
Oh I see! That's cool
|
|
|
Post by sgamer82 on Nov 19, 2016 18:48:16 GMT
I'm in the United States. Born in California (west coast) until about my mid twenties then moved to Idaho (northeast U.S.)
I'm an English speaker, but have never seriously studied a second.
|
|