fluent French, Spanish & irish. A good basic working knowledge of 1 Celtic language ( irish) and 1 Germanic language(Dutch). Got a smattering of words in German, Japanese, Catalan & Breton.

Faraway languages (& Basque) are just too difficult to be bothered. So no Chinese or Urdu. Tonality is a feckin nightmare.

I would love to learn Frisian & Sard as a way to tap into the Old World. Or Norwegian Bokmal to tap into my tiny bit of Viking DNA.

Conlangs are interesting for beginners....Lingua Franca Nova being a favourite.

but mostly, Eagles, all you need is the link below.....I speak a thousand languages, and all of them are English.

Some of the other big World languages are predominantly spoken by poor people (working with a shovel in a field) , and also limited to one or two regions of the planet. So why bother ? All the James Bond villians & Top Fighter Pilots seem to speak English. The shyte Fighter Pilots probably only speak Korean, Egyptian or Nepalese.

For Science, Technology, the Arts, Politics & diplomacy, Education, Religion, the Military, law , Cinema or even drug-dealing....its English all the way.

The foreign stuff is good...like Foreign cinema or Krav Maga or a Buddhist retreat or a Sushi restaurant....but really, its all just cultural tourism. For the serious stuff, Air Traffic Control & brain surgery....its English.

[Link]

The link below fascinates me. Any speakers of any Celtic languages on HOL will be familiar at the disconnect to more mainstream Germanic or Romance languages. And then you discover that Arabic has all the old familiar Grammar Rules. It all seems to date back to the first populations coming into Europe about ten or twenty thousand years ago, moving up through Turkey and bringing inflected prepositions with them.

[Link]

Edited by PalazioVecchio (06 Sep 2022 4.21pm)

Edited by PalazioVecchio (06 Sep 2022 4.25pm)

Edited by PalazioVecchio (06 Sep 2022 4.31pm)

Kayla did Anfield & Old Trafford

I always try to know at least the very basics from a courtesy perspective when I go on holiday (please, thank you, good morning etc) but can't shake off the irritating habit of cheerily saying "squid" to people in Greece at breakfast for at least the first three mornings by getting my "Calamari's" and Kalimera's" mixed up.

Living down here does have some advantages. At least you can see them cry.

In Spain don't get ask for Pollo (chicken) instead of Polla (c**k)

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

Sorry, intiendo

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

I still manage here in this country by speaking English, after a fashion. That'll do nicely thankyou.

Dad and I watched games standing on the muddy slope of the Holmesdale Road end. He cheered and I rattled.

So you can ask for HIV in Spanish?