Which languages can you speak?

I know English(duh), and like very minimal useless Spanish.

I think it’s safe to say that everyone on this forum knows some form of english.

I’m quite fluent in Californian.

Forgive my expression of contempt, EJE, but are there any words that are innately ‘Californian’? I watch tons of movies and TV shows set in L.A. (thanks to cultural imperialism, hurray) and the characters almost always speak plain English. :slight_smile:

Now Singlish, that’s a true Pidgin form of English. It’s creole-English with Malay, Chinese dialects, and Tamil words on loan, with sentence abbreviations and the constant interjection ‘lah’ at the end of a sentence (The mark of an expert Singlish speaker is how the ‘lah’ is employed and what stress is placed upon the word).

It’s very sad that the Singaporean government constantly tries to downplay this important piece of cultural heritage with the ‘Speak Good English’ programme. They have obviously underestimated the capability of its citizens to ‘code-switch’. The Malaysian bigwigs aren’t as concerned (because the workplace medium of instruction is Malay), but they have missed out on capitalising Manglish (which is virtually similar to Singlish) as a source of entertainment and social cohesion as much as their Causeway neighbours do.

You can learn more about the ‘Pasar Patois’ by reading this Wiki entry. I tend to hover more around the Mesolect part of the Continuum. :wink:

To hear it in practical terms, watch any episode of Phua Chu Kang, a local sitcom about a clueless contractor who wears yellow boots.

In Australia, the Pidgin English is 'Strine. Anyone who’s attempted ‘Ga-dai mite’ while visiting Down Under has spoken one of the famous words of the 'Strine language. Same with the phrase ‘Throwing a shrimp on the barbie’. To speak 'Strine, simply shorten any words which can be shortened (Ambo, Arvo, Brekkie, etc.) and speak like Steve Irwin with a slight Cockney accent. Some words like ‘bloke’, ‘crikey’, and ‘mate’ are from Britain, for obvious reasons. Others like ‘yakka’, ‘cooee’, and ‘sheila’ are unique to 'Stray-Leah.

Strine Wiki

I was joking :slight_smile: But when I went to New Orleans and even Nebraska, just my accent (I never realized I had one, funny how that works) would have people I was visiting or working with would occasionaly ask me to repeat myself or ask “What does that word mean”

^ That happens to me sometimes! Well, people can pick my family out right away and say “Philly.” We say some things weird I guess. But it sounds so normal to me!

I speak English! And I’m taking French 1 right now, so I can speak a little bit. J’aime etre avec ma famille. (I don’t know if that’s right :smiley:)