Hi all. I know we have a clever multi-national bunch of Bedlamites, so what's a cunning linguist?

I speak several languages to a conversational level. Conversational = simple conversations. These include English, Irish, German. Many to what I call 'food and drink' level = ordering food and drink. These include Spanish, French, Italian, Polish. I don't speak any fluently!

What about you?

cunning linguist

Boy, that's close to...something else, and I was shocked to see your name as OP, Tiggy.

To answer: I can say "Now I want you all to just P** off" in several languages.

I do English pretty good, or so my editors tell me. Gotta go back and restudy my Asian lingos; getting rusty.

You speak German, Greek and Hebrew, too, right Tigs?

Well, I wasn't going to mention Greek and Hebrew in case I sounded pretentious! But yes, I am a Greek and Hebrew scholar...

Well, I wasn't going to mention Greek and Hebrew in case I sounded pretentious! But yes, I am a Greek and Hebrew scholar...

You, pretentious? Ya, when fluffy pink elephants can fit into my size 6 stilettos and my size 4 swimsuit, I'm gonna call you pretentious.

Well, I wasn't going to mention Greek and Hebrew in case I sounded pretentious! But yes, I am a Greek and Hebrew scholar...

Mum born in Greece and Dad born in Israel?

i'm chinese ( alot of movie like to say - those cunning chinese ) whahahhahahah

i speak , english , chinese , thai , japanese ( forget 90 % but understand a little used to stay there for a while )

i also speak soemo f the local dilect , hokkien , teochew , canotonese , a little malay ( mostly for buying stuff and order food )

i am learning northeren thai now for fun and is good with the girls

i speak a little burmese ( just enough to do my work )

well i guess i am close to one whahhahahahahaha

Hi all. I know we have a clever multi-national bunch of Bedlamites, so what's a cunning linguist?

Watch "Tomorrow Never Dies" (Bond, James Bond) for the 'original' quote, saw it in HK, there was significant Gweilo laughter from one corner of the cinema, don't think the Chinese subtitles carred quite the same impact

Meanwhile, I speak English, Australian, Kiwi, American and Italian (as does my w

fe), Thai comes a poor last place 

EDIT, whats with the weird line breaks???

  

Only English fluently. French to a conversational level (limited conversation!), German slightly less, Thai to a "food & drink" level (maybe a little more) and Cantonese to a "directions & numbers" level. Funnily enough, I find I can usually manage to "read" directions on shampoo bottles or dog medicines etc in Italian & Dutch, too - perhaps similarity to French & German??

English fluently of course.

I spent the best part of two years in France and ended up becoming quite good, but that was over twenty years ago and I would need to brush up on it now. A smattering of German, slightly more Thai and Laos.

Interesting the way the brain works sometimes, if I am trying to think of the Thai for something and can't, the French pops into my head instead ..... odd that.

Interesting the way the brain works sometimes, if I am trying to think of the Thai for something and can't, the French pops into my head instead ..... odd that.

Too true, Thaddy. I had Japanese and Mandarin classes back to back. One prof would ask me a Q and I'd answer. She'd say, OK, that's really good, then repeat my answer and leave a blank where I had inserted a word from the other language and say, what was that?. Geez, I understand it, what's your problem?

Guess lingo is stored all together in one special tool box. If you oil and use the tools all the time, they stay sharp. Neglect to oil and use em, well, they rust and go dull.

Hi all. I know we have a clever multi-national bunch of Bedlamites, so what's a cunning linguist?

Watch "Tomorrow Never Dies" (Bond, James Bond) for the 'original' quote, saw it in HK, there was significant Gweilo laughter from one corner of the cinema, don't think the Chinese subtitles carred quite the same impact

Meanwhile, I speak English, Australian, Kiwi, American and Italian (as does my w

fe), Thai comes a poor last place 

EDIT, whats with the weird line breaks???

  

You mean mine is not original??? I have not seen "Tomorrow Never Dies", maybe they stole it from me! We had a bowling team in our local leagues and we couldn't come up with a name. As I glanced around I realised we all had a few languages between us and 'Cunning Linguists' was born. That was about 5 years ago.

You mean mine is not original??? I have not seen "Tomorrow Never Dies", maybe they stole it from me! We had a bowling team in our local leagues and we couldn't come up with a name. As I glanced around I realised we all had a few languages between us and 'Cunning Linguists' was born. That was about 5 years ago.

'Fraid not, Tomorrow Never Dies' 1997

James Bond: [Whilst being in bed with his Scandinavian language tutor] I always enjoyed learning a new tongue.

Moneypenny: You always were a cunning linguist, James.

Moneypenny: [M walks up from behind Moneypenny] Don't ask.

M: Don't tell.

That said, the double-entendre is so obvious it's bound to have been used before

There is nothing new under the sun!

I get by without much difficulty in English and reasonably well in Thai, at least in subjects I am interested in. I understand spoken Standard Lao quite well, too, but this is just an extension of knowing a fair amount of Thai and understanding basic Northern Thai. I've never studied Lao formally apart from a little phrase book I have memorized stuff from the first three times I went to Laos.

I have enough grasp of French and Spanish that I can follow simple conversations, and get the gist of them in writing. Consequently I can also decode written Italian. My spoken French suffers from a strong non-native intonational accent which I never managed to get rid of despite trying. Individual words I pronounce well.

My spoken Spanish is close to native pronunciation, but my active vocabulary is strongly limited, and whenever I try to use Spanish these days, Thai interferes.

Like most Swedes I can converse with Norwegians if we both avoid using too much slang. Written Danish and Norwegian are almost as easy for me to read as English. Spoken Danish is quite difficult for me to understand due to strong pronunciation differences from Swedish.

Dutch and German being Germanic languages, I can read and understand the gist of written texts, too. I understand virtually nothing of spoken Dutch though, and only a limited amount of spoken German.

Yes Meadish, you are indeed a cunnng linguist!!!

I'm not fluent in any language....and my thought processes aren't so good either....but I still usually smile every day.

Interesting the way the brain works sometimes, if I am trying to think of the Thai for something and can't, the French pops into my head instead ..... odd that.

I have taht problem exactly the other way around...I used to be fluent in French manymany years ago and when I speak it now, the Thai word pops in, replacing a French word.

Other languages: English well enough to communicate in this forum, Thai so-so and German native language. Adapted a fair amount of Kölsch when studying in Bonn...

What's Kölsch?

What's Kölsch?

1) the dialect spoken in Cologne area

2) the beer brewed around Cologne area

I aquired both skills, speaking the dialect and drinking the beer....

What's Kölsch?

1) the dialect spoken in Cologne area

2) the beer brewed around Cologne area

I aquired both skills, speaking the dialect and drinking the beer....

Sounds cool, and also that you are an expert in both!

Failed miserably at French in school.

Failed miserably in German at college (some of the words are so dammed long I run out of breath). But I can still order one to ten beers small or large and ask where the toilet is or what time is it even if I don't understand the answer.

Learnt Spanish when I was in Venezuela as my gf didn't speak any English. I got to a point where I could understand it, verbal and written, but struggled to form sentences. Haven't used it for fifteen years so the tools are rusty.

Basic level in Thai but struggle with the tones, it's hard enough remembering words without then trying to recall which tone it should be. Fortunately most of the Thais I worked with were fairly forgiving and could work out what I really meant, they still p1ssed themselves though.

Learnt a little Bahasa here more for personal interest than a serious attempt at it.

My current gf is trying to teach me Tagalog.

Anyway my next challenge is going to be Vietnamese. The site is located in central Viet Nam and a google search reveals the following gem: "English is generally not spoken nor understood in Quang Ngai province".

So basically I'm fluent in one (English), can muddle through in two (Spanish and Thai) and have a head full of unconnected words and phrases in a few others including, shamefully, my native Welsh.

I'm a cunning linguist, and if not a troll, at least a master baiter

i do so in english, french, spanish, dutch / fluently, and conversationally, Thai & Italian.

I can also do food and drink in Quiche, and Kaq-chiquel (two native indian lingo's from Guatemalan Maya People)

kayo, I always knew, even without this evidence, that you were a cunning linguist!

and master baiter, don't forget (as you just reminded me in another thread...

I forgot my other fluency!

Anglo Saxon.

e.g. The f#ckin' f#cker's f#cked it a-f#cking-gain.

French

Flemish(Mostly similar to dutch)

German

English

Thai(10 Words)

Just spoke to a friend of mine from Holland (yeah, so many Dutch people speak loads of languages). So I asked him how many he spoke. He said "Six fluently, several more conversationally, and Chinese to a basic 'greetings' level. He's just started doing business in China and although he uses a translator, he's learned the essentials of greetings, how's the family etc. No wonder his business is booming!

Now that is a cunning linguist!

Funny thing is he's lived in Dublin for 25+ years so he speaks English with a heavy Irish accent - wierd!

BTW I also speak English with a heavy Irish accent, but that's where I'm from. Although interestingly, when I visit Dublin they tell me I have developed a Scouse accent. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hear ya, Suegha. I worked in so many countries with so many accents, mine is now "international". I've always disliked Canadian English, especially the "eh" at every sentence end. I worked really hard to get rid of that and then I focused on pronunciation. After being with Brit friends and living in the UK, I use many Brit words. Just comes natural. But I can do a fair Texan drawl if the need arises.

BTW I also speak English with a heavy Irish accent, but that's where I'm from. Although interestingly, when I visit Dublin they tell me I have developed a Scouse accent. Has anyone else experienced this?

I'm originally from Lancashire but most people from the north west would not be able to tell, if I ever ventured darn sarth, people would say that I am from the north, but wouldn't be able to pin down the area.

Reason has nothing to do with world travelling, it's because when I was younger I suffered from an incredibly bad stammer and I had speech therapy lessons, the most frequent cause of a stammer/stutter is the brain working faster than the mouth and you are taught to 'think it.... pause.... say it' (I still have to do it now) as you don't have an accent inside your head your mouth eventually adopts an almost complete lack of any regional speech differences.

But, living close to Liverpool for a very long time means that I can do a passable scouse..... which sometimes is an entirely different language from English

[Reason has nothing to do with world travelling, it's because when I was younger I suffered from an incredibly bad stammer and I had speech therapy lessons, the most frequent cause of a stammer/stutter is the brain working faster than the mouth and you are taught to 'think it.... pause.... say it' (I still have to do it now) as you don't have an accent inside your head your mouth eventually adopts an almost complete lack of any regional speech differences.

Thanks for that insight, Thaddy. Always wondered as kids who stammer are always so bright in other ways.