Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Are you multilingual?

My mother was a native Ukrainian that served in the Red Army (as a sniper no less), and was a POW that ended up in Dauchau. She was a foreign language student at the university in Kiev when she was drafted. She was fluent in German(which undoubtably saved her life as a POW), French, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, and could get along in all those dialects which exist throughout eastern Europe.

My Dad was a GI that waded ashore onto Omaha Beach in June 1944. He was a red-blooded American boy and found you could have a lot more fun in France if you spoke the same language as the natives.

Somehow my folks met in southern Germany after the War, and Dad brought home a wife and a son(my older brother)in 1946. Ma spoke English very poorly, they spoke French until my brother started trying to talk, and then they resolved to speak only English so he wouldn't have trouble in school. But even I started school with a Russian accent.

I learned German from my Mom, and then took some more in college. I helped my cousin and his family immigrate from Moldova about 15 years ago, picked up a little Russian as they were here and learning English.

What a great story, Cowdoc! This is a great thread...

Penny

My cousin's younger son Yuriy was 4 when they immigrated from Moldova. He learned English very quickly, from watching TV and playing with my 5 year old daughter. The older boy was 12, and had to have a personal tutor to get up to speed in English so that he didn't get behind in school.

I find it interesting that Yuriy thinks in English, his folks still hear the English, think in Russian and then translate back to English to speak. The older brother says he thinks in English, or Russian depending on the situation. Now that the boys are gone from home the folks admit they speak mainly Russian at home, after spending 15 years sticking to English for the boys sake.

I have found myself combining both - often when I am stressed or multi tasking on the mental level - I will start the sentence in English and finish is Serb. Never used to be a problem till I got out of the Navy - everyone else there was the same way. You end up processing both without realizing you are listening to one or the other.

Was driving thru St Louis and there was a Bosnian AM station on - I was listening along without realizing it until the passenger mentioned she didn't understand a word - I then realized I never noticed it WASN'T English.

I still dream in Serb once in a while but my skills are rusty.

Teal, I've done that multiple times, especially when traveling one direction or the other. Gets some funny looks sometimes.....

Personally, the quickest way to become functional in a language has always been with the aid of several glasses of beer and a pretty girl. I bet I could learn to get by in a language in two weeks, if so motivated. JMO, Dutch.

I can bluff my way through English, Scottish, Irish, New Zealander, Australian and amd progressing through American. That's 6 languages.

The slang is the hardest part.

AGW

English and English wit a coonass dialect. Iat Cher.

I always think of that scene in Airplane, where the older lady says, "Stewardess, perhaps I can help, I speak Jive".

Can't really count as multilingual but I've found that memorizing a few stock phrases will get you by in most situations.

I can say "Go back to your own country!" in 7 distinct languages and another 4 regional dialects.

I guess you're not part of the Welcome Wagon?

Sure I am!

"Bienvenidos a los Estados Unidos!"
"Willkomen in die Vereinigten Staaten!"
"Bienvenus � l'Am�rique!"
"Добро пожаловать в Америку"

Now amscray!

Okay, I'm just kidding. But I do know how to order a beer and ask where the bathroom is in a few languages. Gotta learn the important stuff.

I'm with you on that. I know enough Spanish for a Mexican vacation.

Dos cervesas, por favor. Uh, honey...you want anything?

I'm finding the responses to how many and diverse languages that each of you speak even more fascinating than the "line of work" thread that I also found interesting.

I speak Okie english and just enough spanish to another drink something to eat and get my face slap or my butt whupped.
For everything else theres Babblefish.

Pat

No, Swahili is really a cool language...it flows and lots of the words are really cool. I did quite a bit of work with it before we went to RSA, but the guys where we were spoke various Bantu languages in their villages and mostly Fanagalo at work. The Bantu languages like Xhosa have the clicks.

Swahili and Fanagalo are both trade languages, hybrids of words from arabic, Boer dutch, Portuguese, various black dialects, and even some English..pidginny English.

I love kufa for dead, tembo for elephant, jambo--hello, asante--thank you, simba for lion, nyati for buffalo. Probably a function of too much Ruark and Hemingway in my misspent youth.

After several Bitburgers I've been complimented on my command of German, by a German no less. Only problem was that he was on fifth or sixth Bitburger. That was a lot of years ago while on my second tour at Bitburg. It was a place, and people, I dearly enjoyed. I do know some ASL but mostly I finger spell; I'm almost up to idiot level.
batch

I should mention that in addition to the "standard" languages I speak, I can also speak Redneck, Fundamentalist Christian, and Long Island Sophisticate with the best of them...

Penny

Knew a guy from Africa in basic - taught me one phrase in swahili - "um chinga ungaway" Allegedly means "Bite my crank" - don't imagine I'll have much use for it.

Does speaking in tongues count?