Yeah, it's similar in Chinese, to a degree. Most literature and all official communications are done in Mandarin, and while most people conversationally use their regional dialogue, nearly everyone knows Mandarin as well out of necessity. Yes, the writing system is the same, but some figures of speech and such are different, and the pronunciation could not be more different. I speak a little Cantonese, and it's a wholly different language.

Most interesting thread in a long time.
Et aucun troll pour faire dérailler l'affaire! Wunderbar!

Ihr seid alle Idioten. Ihr seid alle auf meiner Liste der minderwertige Menschen eingestellt werden.

And I think it's best to say...LEARN ENGLISH! Seriously, there's no point in learning another language unless you plan on living there. And just because you know how to speak that language, doesn't mean that anyone cares or even wants to hear you speak it!

I know it's just trolling, but I couldn't disagree with KA more. Knowing another language helps you think in another language, and you'd be surprised how much you can discover about people and culture just by knowing the ins and outs of their language.

Also, works that were originally in other languages don't translate well to English. In order to appreciate them fully, you should read them in the original. It's for this reason that all Muslims are required to learn Arabic since the Qu'ran doesn't have the same meaning in English.

It's true! Phrases like, "Kill the Infidel!" and, "Death to those who oppose Sharia!" just don't translate well.

Come on Yellowjacket... That was a lame attack on a religion that, if serious, can only reveal a very narrow mind. Islam is not reducible to that sort of attitude.

Learning languages is essential. English is not my natural language and, had I not forced myself to speak it in the capacities I can now, I would never have had met my wife, let alone marry her!
There are, of course, many more reasons to learn a language. But at the end of the day, I'd like to know how one can make a case for ignorance being more valuable than knowledge.

It's `minderwertigen' not `minderwertige'. And although `einstellen' is a German verb, a better choice might be `aufnehmen' or `eintragen'. And then it's `worden', not `werden'. The latter is indicative of the future tense not the passive. The first sentence is correct, though.

I have a question.
Someone mentioned sign language, which I believe is a language(s) in it's own right (with it's own grammatical structure). What does the written form look like?

Wow, really interesting thread.
Being a non-English speaker myself I understand the need to learn other languages then your own (otherwise I will not be able to play here, lol).

Other then Portuguese and English I am able to comunicate (writing is a little more dificult) on Spanish, Deutsch and a little bit on Italian.

Awesome participation guys! Learning another language not only widens the mind to new possibilities and new cultures, it provides the chance to make new friends AND it has been shown in several studies that a bilingual person actually reduces the probability of adquiring alzheimer's later on in life. My life has been so enriched by my learning of multiple other languages that I can't even fathom what it would be like any longer to be reduced to seeing the world through only one window!

See, I just assumed YJ was pointing out how poorly Arabic translated into Right Wing Rhetoric.

Anyway, yes, learning other languages is great. I had an internet friend who was Estonian, and I learned a lot about his language and culture without learning a single word of Estonian simply by helping him with his phrasing on some things. I've had some form of schooling in Spanish, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. I've been immersed in Malay and Cantonese as well, and have hung out with people who have taught me a little Norwegian, Russian, Korean, Tagalog, and Italian. My former roommate took Hausa, and while I helped him study, I just have no clue what's going on there.

Sadly, most of this is ancient history and I've lost most of my ability to communicate, but I do still retain quite a bit of knowledge about how the languages work.

@spyman Yes sign languages are real languages. And don't have standardized writing systems, although there have been attempts. The first such one is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokoe_notation Another is http://www.signwriting.org/ using pictures. Any they're all very complicated, and other than linguists, most people will not know these. Most signers will usually write in the written language of the country they are in (so English for ASL signers, Japanese for JSL signers). There is also a way to gloss (write down word for word what is signed, but that will be done using the written language of the country as well, so like the ASL sentence that translates as "I have 2 cats." may be glossed as CAT, HAVE TWO while perhaps other things such as indicating pauses, or facial expressions that can indicate an affirmative, or negative, or other such things that can add to or change the meaning of the utterance.

rdivera - tambem eu posso falar um pouco do portoghese. Sempre vedo que e tanto semelhante ao espagnol ed italiano que com o tempo, posso fazer-me entender com os brasileiros. Voce tem uma lingua muito bella que me gostaria conhecer mais!

I did it! I passed the 100-post mark in exactly 1 week's time. Woo-hoo, yeah for me!!!

FirstApple va! FirstApple va! Es su cumpleanos!

Gracias... gracias SacredDigits. Te agradesco mucho amigo! Pero falta 10 dias para mi cumpleaños de verdad. LOL

Ingles no esta la primer idioma de Cachimbo? Estoy celoso. Estoy aprendieno espanol, pero is muy dificil. Yo se que es relativamente facil, pero me parece es dificil. La habilitad hablar en una lengua segunda es muy impresionante. Felicidades!

It is ridiculous that Americans can't speak foreign languages. How are we supposed to communicate with the new owners and landlords?

SuperSteve - por alguien quien está aprendiendo el español todavia, haz hecho muy bien de verdad. Tu eres quien debe recibir felicidades... por el intento y el deseo. Sigue adelante mi amigo y cualquier cosa que puedo hacer para ayudarte, le haria con mucho gusto.

Solo para que puedes aprender de los pequeños errores, he corregido las pocas areas donde se debe en tu post.

"Ingles no es el primer idioma de Cachimbo? Estoy celoso. Estoy aprendiendo español pero es muy dificil. Yo se que se relativamente facil pero a mi, me parece dificil. La habilidad de hablar una segunda lengua es muy impresionante. Felicidades"

Como puedes ver, había solo unos poquitos errores que son muy comunes entre la gente quien está aprendiendo el español asi que sigue adelante con los estudios! Haces MUY bien!

*Yo se que es relativamente...

Re Finnish--When I was there, some Finnish friends told me the legend that when Asian tribes migrated from the steppes, ten tribes settled in Hungary, and three continued on to what is today Estonia, Karelia, and Finland.

I love the sound of Brazilian Portuguese--the nasal vowels of French with some of the crispness of Spanish, and a rhythm and feel all its own.

Jeg kan da godt lære jer de mest nødvendige danske sætninger, hvis nogen skulle være interesseret?

I can teach you the most essential danish sentences, if anyone is interested?

Est-ce que nous pouvons parler en français? Ou bien en wolof?

Parce que moi, j'aime bien le français.... mais il me semble que tout le monde veut parler en espagnol?

@ Per: Jeg er interesseret. (But can you teach the pronunciation?)

@Pepijn: udtalelse er nok lidt svært at lære på skrift... hvor er du selv fra? hvis du taler et andet germanskstammende sprog er det lidt lettere.

Salut, Thucy! Trouves-toi agreable Senegal?

Apart from English, I know some French, German, a couple of Spanish insults, Latin proverbs (forgot everything else since high school), my maternal Czech and of course the universal Slavic mashed-up language of masons, cobblers and such high-net worth individuals.

BTW, anyone who can translate the following no-vowel Czech sentence I made up receives an electronic cookie from me. Use whatever help you can find!

Z Brd plch pln skvrn prchl v trs vrb, chrp, frnk vz vrch Smrk, zhltl čtvrthrst zrn, prv vtrhl skrz strž v čtvrť Krč.

@Thucydides - En vrai, je ne sais pas qu'est-ce que c'est le wolof mais j'aime aussi le français.

@ulytau - You've definitely got me stumped. No Czech knowledge whatsoever.