Mattan
Active member
- Joined
- March 17, 2013
- Posts
- 623
Speaking
- Native
- Native
- I guess it's something close to fluent, I've been learning it since the age of four.
- Five years of studies. Can get by in most situations and understand most of normal literature (but actually speaking it at a lower level).
- Three years of studies. Can get by in common situations, not at all as flexible as in French.
Understanding, can form coherent sentences if given time (or when spoken, using Swedish as a base)
- Can understand pretty much fully when written, nearly fully when spoken. I have brushed up on Danish pronunciation but it's probably more like Swedish pronounced like Danish if I get dragged into a conversation - even though just remembering the most common Danish words that majorly differ from Swedish goes a long way.
- A bit more difficult than Danish to understand when written, but easier to understand when spoken. Still not difficult by any means. Would have to resort to Swedish in a Norwegian discussion.
Some degree of (mainly) written understanding (probably in no logical order)
- A close relative of Finnish, written Estonian shows the relationship well. When spoken, I usually get annoyed, because it sounds so close to Finnish, yet I don't quite understand what's being said.
- This one annoys me to no end, because I can read a German newspaper and listen to German being spoken understanding most things, but I can't put together a coherent sentence myself, so cannot participate in a discussion. Probably next on my list.
(Afrikaans) - Given that I speak Swedish, Afrikaans is quite easy (even though the relationship is fairly distant). Add on the fact its grammar, for the most part, isn't very complicated, and getting the message from a newspaper is possible. The pronunciation feels counter-intuitive to me, so it's more difficult.
- Basic messages from a text understandable, impossible for me when spoken.
- Mainly the basics. Written Icelandic is possible to understand, but can only pick up bits and pieces of it when spoken. Was really interested in Icelandic when younger and actually learnt a bit, but that feels like long ago.
- Given that I've studied French and Spanish and am interested in Portuguese, therefore voluntarily exposing myself to it, I can grasp the basic idea and a few details of newspaper (how many times have I used that word?) articles and the like. Understanding it spoken is more difficult, because the pronunciation doesn't quite come intuitively to me. Listening to music in Portuguese has helped, though.
(I could also throw Catalan and Italian in here, but ultimately, all I can do is get a basic idea of a text.)
Now you're just somebody that I used to know a little bit of
- At the age of twelve-thirteen, I was excited about going to Greece with my family (we visited three times), and therefore studied the basics of Greek. This means the kind of stuff you'd use in practice (which I got to do!) in situations that normally arise when going on a family holiday. I don't remember all of it anymore.
What's next?
Of course, I want to become better at French and Spanish. Achieving a very good level in French, especially spoken, would be nice, but there are several years to go unless I start studying it full-time.
As for new languages, I'd like to learn German. Also, Portuguese would certainly be fun. Then, there are major languages such as Mandarin, Arabic and Russian that would be useful, but they take a longer time to study, so I'm not starting with them quite yet, as they require serious commitment. I'm also interested in South Africa, so Afrikaans seems intriguing, but I most likely won't have any use of that, so I guess that one goes into the "interesting languages, but there are more widely spoken interesting ones available" locker along with languages like Icelandic.
- Native - Native - I guess it's something close to fluent, I've been learning it since the age of four. - Five years of studies. Can get by in most situations and understand most of normal literature (but actually speaking it at a lower level). - Three years of studies. Can get by in common situations, not at all as flexible as in French.Understanding, can form coherent sentences if given time (or when spoken, using Swedish as a base)
- Can understand pretty much fully when written, nearly fully when spoken. I have brushed up on Danish pronunciation but it's probably more like Swedish pronounced like Danish if I get dragged into a conversation - even though just remembering the most common Danish words that majorly differ from Swedish goes a long way. - A bit more difficult than Danish to understand when written, but easier to understand when spoken. Still not difficult by any means. Would have to resort to Swedish in a Norwegian discussion. Some degree of (mainly) written understanding (probably in no logical order)
- A close relative of Finnish, written Estonian shows the relationship well. When spoken, I usually get annoyed, because it sounds so close to Finnish, yet I don't quite understand what's being said. - This one annoys me to no end, because I can read a German newspaper and listen to German being spoken understanding most things, but I can't put together a coherent sentence myself, so cannot participate in a discussion. Probably next on my list. (Afrikaans) - Given that I speak Swedish, Afrikaans is quite easy (even though the relationship is fairly distant). Add on the fact its grammar, for the most part, isn't very complicated, and getting the message from a newspaper is possible. The pronunciation feels counter-intuitive to me, so it's more difficult. - Basic messages from a text understandable, impossible for me when spoken. - Mainly the basics. Written Icelandic is possible to understand, but can only pick up bits and pieces of it when spoken. Was really interested in Icelandic when younger and actually learnt a bit, but that feels like long ago. - Given that I've studied French and Spanish and am interested in Portuguese, therefore voluntarily exposing myself to it, I can grasp the basic idea and a few details of newspaper (how many times have I used that word?) articles and the like. Understanding it spoken is more difficult, because the pronunciation doesn't quite come intuitively to me. Listening to music in Portuguese has helped, though. (I could also throw Catalan and Italian in here, but ultimately, all I can do is get a basic idea of a text.)
Now you're just somebody that I used to know a little bit of
- At the age of twelve-thirteen, I was excited about going to Greece with my family (we visited three times), and therefore studied the basics of Greek. This means the kind of stuff you'd use in practice (which I got to do!) in situations that normally arise when going on a family holiday. I don't remember all of it anymore. What's next?
Of course, I want to become better at French and Spanish. Achieving a very good level in French, especially spoken, would be nice, but there are several years to go unless I start studying it full-time.
As for new languages, I'd like to learn German. Also, Portuguese would certainly be fun. Then, there are major languages such as Mandarin, Arabic and Russian that would be useful, but they take a longer time to study, so I'm not starting with them quite yet, as they require serious commitment. I'm also interested in South Africa, so Afrikaans seems intriguing, but I most likely won't have any use of that, so I guess that one goes into the "interesting languages, but there are more widely spoken interesting ones available" locker along with languages like Icelandic.
it's easier for me to understand than to speak.
I just know some basic words btw. 
I can read it very fluent.
