Sure, there are 7,000 languages or so. Sure, I only really speak English super well (and even then I mess it up sometimes). But you gotta have big goals right?
Seriously, languages are my favorite thing-they’re a beautiful lens to examine cultures and a fun excuse to meet interesting people. I’ve dabbled in a lot of languages over the years, some extensively and most not.
Huge fan of Portuguese and Portugal, where I lived for a while.
Parlayed that into speaking (kinda) some other Romance languages
I love to dip my toes into the languages and cultures that interest me all over the world: Ethiopia, Lebanon, Wales, Mexico, etc etc
I can’t think of a language I’m not interested in, so say hello and teach me something if you like! I like helping other people learn English and understand American culture and society. I want to meet brilliant folks from all over. Be seeing you at the conference!
I know exactly what you mean, I just love languages and I’d really love to be able to speak every single language on Earth (ancient, modern, whatever… All of them are so interesting), but I’d probably need a whole lot more time than I have available in a single lifetime
Hallo Rina! Wie geht’s? Vielen Dank für die Begrüßung und es freut mich, dich kennenzulernen.
Ugh my German brain hasn’t been used in so long…I’m racing through in my head “is dich right? Should I use Sie?” Hence my slow progress in conquering the world’s languages. Anyhow I hope everything is well with you in Austria!!
Hi Hank, “dich” and “du” is perfectly fine for me here in this community. “Sie” is the formal, polite way of addressing someone. You would usually use it with strangers, superiors etc.
Ja, das kann ich sehr gut verstehen. Ich habe eine Liste von 15 Sprachen für die nächsten zehn Jahre, und dann sehe ich eine neue Sprache, die noch nicht auf der Liste ist … (Und wenn du antwortest … auch für mich ist “du” okay.
Ich versuche auch zehn Jahre zu planen, obwohl meine Pläne sind immer zu optimistisch. Du hast ein sehr schwieriges Ziel erreicht: eine Sprache gelernt, die jenseits der indoeuropäische Familie liegt. Ungarisch ist eine weitere Sprache, die immer so attraktiv ist …
I only know one Ethiopian word: Amayseki lalayhu! Meaning hello. Ethiopia is simply gorgeous! I fell in love with that place and Ethiopian written language is so beautiful!
@Dhinny haha don’t tempt me!!! It’s always been one on my list…I have a friend who speaks Indonesian and maybe it’s just him but it always sounds to me like the warmest, most jovial language, great for telling jokes in
@Zxavier You’re so right. It was the writing of the Fidel script that first really got my attention (well, that and Ethiopian food). Have you been to Ethiopia?!?
It’s thanks to platforms like this that I truly know that I am not alone Great to meet you, Hank!
My name’s Brian and I’m a linguist / engineer who’s dabbled in languages from pretty much every continent except Antarctica. I’m currently volunteering to help an NGO in Sydney, Australia revive an Aboriginal language that’s been extinct since the late 19th century, had a chance to study Navajo in a vain attempt to somehow link it, Apache and several other New World languages with my own native Chinese (emphasis on attempt), am also working on creating a platform to help connect Madagascans with their long-lost linguistic relatives in Southeast Asia and Polynesia.
I know, right?? There are just too many wonderful languages out there, it’s hard to focus on just one or two at a time! But it’s a great life goal to have. I wonder how many languages we will be able to acquire in our lifetimes.
Since you mentioned México in your list, have you ever been there before?
@BrianLoo1 wow that’s a really incredible body of work! Language revitalization is fascinating to me, but it’s amazing to think about reviving a language without current living native speakers. I hope it is going well-that would be some very exciting good news for global language diversity. And your Madagascar project sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard of before. Are you giving a presentation on it? I have to know more.
It’s such a nice community here that I’m excited to get to know. There are a lot of people like yourself that are truly brilliant linguists or engineers or people that know a dozen languages already but everybody’s so friendly that I don’t feel too inadequate even though I’ve never taken even a single course in linguistics
@EllaryRose I went to Isla Mujeres for a family reunion when I was seven so technically yes, but for a lot of reasons I don’t really consider that “visiting Mexico” pero dios mio quiero viajar más en México. Mi pasatiempo principal en los últimos meses de cuarentena ha sido hablar con gente mexicana en aplicaciones como Tandem y eso, y añadir a la larga lista de lugares para visitar en los próximos años. Guadalajara, Puebla, Monterrey …
Entonces, ya vives en Puebla? O quieres vivir allá? Que buenooooo
Oh I’m just helping out, the real work is being done by the staff at that Australian NGO. Plus they hired native speakers of other surviving Australian languages to help reconstruct the phonology and grammar.
I’m actually giving a presentation on that subject, about how many Southeast Asian and Pacific languages (and Malagasy!) are all part of a giant language family that spread out across the oceans long before the compass was invented!
exactly, I couldn’t stand just for one language at one time although sometime my brain work so hard to switch and differentiate between languages, even sometime I use words from other language for the word that I don’t have in certain language. lol.
Ich lerne gerade Ungarisch, und da hast du recht. Ungarisch ist meiner Ansicht nach eine schöne und unheimlich interessante Sprache. Zuerst fing ich damit an, um bloß eine nicht Indo-Europäische Sprache zu erlernen. Nun aber mache ich weiter, weil ich sie krass faszinierend finde. Sie ist aber ganz schön schwierig!
Hence my slow progress in conquering the world’s languages. Anyhow I hope everything is well with you in Austria!!
thanks Rina!
Wenn du Fragen zu Deutsch hast kannst du dich gerne bei mir melden 
although sometime my brain work so hard to switch and differentiate between languages, even sometime I use words from other language for the word that I don’t have in certain language. lol.