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A dead honest language CV...

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
104 messages over 13 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 12 13
Josquin
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4604 days ago

2266 posts - 3992 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish
Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian

 
 Message 97 of 104
07 November 2013 at 6:54pm | IP Logged 
German – Native language

English (C1-C2) – 9 years at school. I can converse fluently about any topic, can read newspapers and novels, can watch movies and series. Apparently, my accent is good enough to be mistaken for a native speaker from time to time. I do have problems understanding some accents though (esp. Irish) and I tend to choose wrong prepositions.

French (B2) – 4,5 years at school. I can read French literature and newspapers without greater problems and can converse. I would be able to survive in France without talking English, although I would need some practice to be able to talk about economy or philosophy again. I have problems understanding fast colloquial speech. Could need some brush-up.

Latin (B1-B2) – 5 years at school including "Latinum" (Official certificate in Latin). I could translate Ovid, Pliny, and Virgil when I was at school. Now, I can still understand easy texts, but I lack a lot of vocabulary and have forgotten some advanced grammar.

Italian (B1-B2) – my first self-taught language. I have sufficient knowledge in order to read Italian literature and newspapers and understand Italian TV. I haven’t spoken it in ages, but I can make myself understood. Writing is still surprisingly easy although I lack some vocabulary and advanced grammar. Could definitely need some brush-up.

Swedish (B1-B2) – my second self-taught language plus 2 semesters at university. I can talk about a range of topics, read literature and newspapers and understand TV and movies. Could need some active practice.

Dutch (passive B1-B2, active A1) – I can understand it because of mutual intelligibility with German and some dabbling in it, but I can hardly speak it. I could activate it very quickly, if needed.

Russian (B1) – I have completed two textbooks, can read excerpts from newspapers and graded readers, can understand clear speech and can write it sufficiently well. I have never used it for speaking.

Spanish (passive B1, active A1) – I can understand it because of mutual intelligibility with my other Romance languages, but I can hardly speak it. I could activate it quickly, if needed.

Icelandic (A2-B1) – I have completed a textbook, can read Old Norse sagas, write about personal topics, and understand clear speech. I have never used it for speaking.

Scottish Gaelic (A2) – I have completed a textbook, can write about personal topics and read easy stories. I have never used it for speaking and can hardly imagine doing so.

Irish (A1) – I have completed a textbook and can understand and build easy sentences. I can't speak it.

Japanese (A0-A1) – I am studying it right now. I can understand and use very basic phrases.

Greek, Ancient Greek, Old English, Faroese, Danish, Welsh, Mandarin (A0) – I have dabbled in these languages, but never got very far. I can understand very basic phrases.

Edited by Josquin on 07 November 2013 at 8:40pm

4 persons have voted this message useful





songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 4969 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 98 of 104
08 November 2013 at 4:49am | IP Logged 
kanewai wrote:

Arabic: ...Also, one time, I got lost in Jordan and I asked this old man
for directions, and he totally understood me.

-----------------------------------------------

Dear Solfrid_Cristin: Honesty is overrated!


And more crucially, did you understand him when he gave you the directions..?

- Thanks for a delightful post!

And I'm enjoying this whole thread too. Thanks for starting it, Solfrid_Cristin!

Edited by songlines on 08 November 2013 at 4:50am

1 person has voted this message useful



Kc2012
Diglot
Groupie
South Africa
Joined 4233 days ago

44 posts - 65 votes 
Speaks: English*, Afrikaans
Studies: Dutch, Mandarin, Russian

 
 Message 99 of 104
08 November 2013 at 4:02pm | IP Logged 
Although interesting, this thread seems more like an excuse for people to brag about their language
abilities :P no negativity meant here, just my observation.
3 persons have voted this message useful



geoffw
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4448 days ago

1134 posts - 1865 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish
Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian

 
 Message 100 of 104
08 November 2013 at 5:16pm | IP Logged 
Kc2012 wrote:
Although interesting, this thread seems more like an excuse for people to
brag about their language
abilities :P no negativity meant here, just my observation.


Reasonable minds may differ. My impression was that it's been more of an opportunity for
those with numerous languages listed to be self-effacing and tell us about all the ways
they aren't as perfect as their profiles might suggest to the uninformed observer.
6 persons have voted this message useful



Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5094 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 101 of 104
08 November 2013 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
geoffw wrote:
Kc2012 wrote:
Although interesting, this thread seems more like an excuse for people
to
brag about their language
abilities :P no negativity meant here, just my observation.


Reasonable minds may differ. My impression was that it's been more of an opportunity for
those with numerous languages listed to be self-effacing and tell us about all the ways
they aren't as perfect as their profiles might suggest to the uninformed observer.


That was more the intention :-)

Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 08 November 2013 at 8:37pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4649 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 102 of 104
08 November 2013 at 8:55pm | IP Logged 
songlines wrote:
kanewai wrote:

Arabic: ...Also, one time, I got lost in Jordan and I asked this old man
for directions, and he totally understood me.

-----------------------------------------------

Dear Solfrid_Cristin: Honesty is overrated!


And more crucially, did you understand him when he gave you the directions..?


I did for the first minute or two. The problem is, he kept on talking. And talking.
People were very friendly in Jordan.

I find this a lot - I can sustain a very simple conversation with a decent
accent, and then people think I can understand far more than I do.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Duke100782
Bilingual Diglot
Senior Member
Philippines
https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4248 days ago

172 posts - 240 votes 
Speaks: English*, Tagalog*
Studies: Spanish, Mandarin

 
 Message 103 of 104
09 November 2013 at 5:31am | IP Logged 
English (Native)

Tagalog (Native)

Mandarin (A2) - I've been studying Mandarin since coming to China a year and a half ago. I'm trying to
incorporate more and more in my daily life and push up the percentage of the Chinese when I speak to my
bilingual English-Chinese colleagues. Of all the six expats in my office (we're 6 Filipinos, 3 Chinese), I'm the
only one considerably progressing in the language for now. I can use some simple sentences and convey
general ideas. I can understand half of what's being during meetings or when hanging out with a bunch of
Chinese speakers. When trying to read the papers I can recognize about half of the characters in a sentence,
but of course recognizing half of the characters doesn't yet translate to getting half of the meaning. I think I've
just reached a threshhold of understanding the language that's allowing my skills and fluency to improve
drastically faster than in the past year and a half.

Spanish (A1) - I can read and understand a majority of what I read and get the general gist when watching
movies in Spanish, but my active skills lag behind. Especially now when I try speak Spanish to my Spanish-
speaking friends Chinese Mandarin words keep trying to pop out "我 llamo Duke". I'll start speaking more
Spanish from now on.

Bisaya/Cebuano (A1) - Can understand a lot of what's being said from my exposure to the language as it's
my mother's first language. My active skills are quite far behind though. I can only issue the simplest of
sentences and expressions.

German (A0) - I got 3 units of German as a freshman in college. At least it doesn't sound alien when I see or
hear it.

Japanese (A0) - I did a number of Pimsleur's lessons. I played a lot of Judo that uses lots of Japanese
terminology.

Greek, Korean (A0) - I listened to a few lessons. I can barely recall anything at all.

Sign language (A0) - I dabbled in it for a while since around 5% of employees in ths office I used to head
were hearing-impaired. I'm not even sure what kind of sign language I was being taught whether it was
Filipino or American sign language, I think they're mostly the same though.

Edited by Duke100782 on 09 November 2013 at 5:34am

1 person has voted this message useful



jdmoncada
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4794 days ago

470 posts - 741 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish
Studies: Russian, Japanese

 
 Message 104 of 104
16 November 2013 at 5:32pm | IP Logged 
I love the warts and all idea of this thread. I've never put my skills to CFR levels, but one one board's languages thread I put things in categories such as "Languages I can sing--and understand the text of what I'm singing--but don't speak" (French, Latin, Italian). That seems like a more real representation of the skills I have.



2 persons have voted this message useful



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