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Westerners fluent in Asian languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6316 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 1 of 57 22 January 2010 at 11:00am | IP Logged |
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Not surprisingly, with the whole "China boom" there is a noticeable surge in the number of people studying Mandarin. Japanese is also a very popular (East-)Asian language, and I have heard that quite a few Westerners are able to speak these languages fluently. Obviously the ratio of Westerners fluent in such languages is overwhelmingly drowned out by the number of Asians who speak English to a high degree, but I am curious to know: how common is it for a person of non-Asian decent, ie. a Brit or an American or a Russian or a Mexican to learn and eventually speak languages like Vietnamese or Korean to a near-native level? Have you ever met such a person? I'm aware there are numerous videos of people speaking impeccable Mandarin, for instance, but what about lesser-known Asian languages?
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| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 2 of 57 22 January 2010 at 12:25pm | IP Logged |
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I know a Canadian in Thailand who speaks Thai almost like a native.
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| hombre gordo Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5583 days ago 184 posts - 247 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Portuguese, Korean | Message 3 of 57 22 January 2010 at 1:54pm | IP Logged |
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What about this Australian guy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCITee_8ZnU This guy is fluently conversing in Thai on a Thai TV show. Thai is a pretty rare language for westerners to learn. Nowdays Asian languages are getting pretty popular. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Tyr Senior Member Sweden Joined 5782 days ago 316 posts - 384 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 4 of 57 22 January 2010 at 4:26pm | IP Logged |
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A lot of Thai speakers out there due to the big expat community for sure.
Korean is also quite widespread I'd imagine. A lot of people seem to go there to teach English. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| CobaltDragon Groupie United States cobaltdragon.co Joined 5942 days ago 40 posts - 40 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Biblical Hebrew, Vietnamese | Message 5 of 57 22 January 2010 at 4:54pm | IP Logged |
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I am studying Vietnamese...and there are a few people who are fluent or nearly so that I
know of. Most are veterans from the war, but not all. This girl on YT moved to VN and is marrying a guy from there and she's become fluent to an amazing degree. My Vietnamese friends say she is quite good. http://www.youtube.com/user/ThuyYeuTuan I'm nowhere near that yet, but I'm working and getting better according to my tutor and friends. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fat-tony Nonaglot Senior Member United Kingdom jiahubooks.co.uk Joined 6140 days ago 288 posts - 441 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian, Esperanto, Thai, Laotian, Urdu, Swedish, French Studies: Mandarin, Indonesian, Arabic (Written), Armenian, Pali, Burmese | Message 6 of 57 22 January 2010 at 7:45pm | IP Logged |
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Yeah, there are plently of near-natives speakers in Thailand. Once you move beyond the
travellers "scene" I think its almost the norm for a Thai to know a Farang or at least an "Asian" foreigner who speaks excellent Thai. Many foreigners also speak one of related regions languages like Kum Muenag (Northern Thai), Isaan (North-Eastern) or Dtai (Southern)- roughly synonymous to learning Catalan or Galician if you lived in the appropriate part of Spain. I have an Australian friend who has family ties (through marriage) to Chiang Mai and Eastern Java who speaks Thai, Kum Mueang, Isaan, Bahasa Indonesia and Sundanese at an extremely high level (in additional to a smattering of European languages). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Johntm Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5422 days ago 616 posts - 725 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 57 22 January 2010 at 8:33pm | IP Logged |
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I'm American and plan on learning Korean in a year or so...bu for now I know a few spoken words and I haven't learned hangul yet.
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| JasonBourne Groupie United States Joined 5752 days ago 65 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Written), Turkish | Message 8 of 57 22 January 2010 at 11:03pm | IP Logged |
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I know of an American businessman who is fluent in Japanese, Korean, and getting VERY good at Mandarin.
He however has lived in various places in Asia for nearly 35 years. Edited by JasonBourne on 22 January 2010 at 11:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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