The Beauty of Diversity

i speak English Arabic Urdu Farsi Hindi Marathi and Very Little Bangali

WOW maashaAllah, never heard of marathi; what part of the world is it from; and always wanted to learn some farsi... so you got your work cut out!

share your knowledge!

See I loved your topic and was suprised that you know so many complicated languages.
Mashallah Must Say
Marathi is a language used by local people of Mumbai (India)

In Farsi If You Want To Say Q.How Are You ? A. I Am Fine

Q. Chytor Asti
A.  Khoob Astm

jazakAllah khayr (may allah reward you with good - for those who dont know)

so what language do you want me to teach you, lets make it an exchange of languages...

btw i know how to say 'what did you say' in bengali - my spelling is messed up but my pronunciation is on point if i say so myself  ' kitta khoyseh' looool

and urdu other than my foul language, i can say

jaldi jaldi karo  -hurry up
jubb karo - hush up
apka naam kia hai -whats you name
mera naam lulu hai - my name is lulu
yaar - friend

thats all i remember for now.

Btwn-Fear-N-Hope wrote:

jubb karo - hush up

jubb = chup
like 'ch' in the word 'chop'

Well I'm in no position of learning languages.
But I will support you with Farsi if you want...

Kojom bereem - where are you going
Chy Kadi - what's up
Chy gofty - what did he say
Padar - father
Modar - mother
Kaka - uncle

hey legend - ahlan wa sahlan (welcome), thanks for the correction. what languages do you speak?

You can list down Sentences and words and I will give you the
Exact meaning in Farsi if you wish

Thank you

H, Alnahdi

jazakAllah khayr ... much appreciated. noticed that kaka in french would mean poo ... i laughed when i saw it.

i wonder if anyone here speaks a language no one else can speak

the reason is...or what i can figure anyways:

Because we dont know what you are saying

You could very well be saying ,"Hello, how are you"
But to someone else they may think you are talking not so nice about them.

it is common courtesy on a public forum to speak one language unless otherwise requested.
want to greet someone in a special way? send a message.
i speak japanese. doubt many would know here

konichiwa @ freshlikesushi

to assume people are speaking about me because they are speaking a foreign language sounds like i am paranoid and insecure. i automatically assume a person is addressing the issue or welcoming the original poster -showing a connection through a shared ethnic lanaguage and maybe a more empathetic understanding.

i guess a philipino would understand what life in saudi is like for a philipino better than me and sometimes its easier to express that experience in their mother tongue rather than english.

but hey maybe im just a hippie!

h.alnahdi, shukran jazeelan (thank you very much)

after i greet someone in a language they normally ask 'do you speak....'

so how do you say:

1- do you speak farsi?
2- no, a little
3- yes but only a few words
4- pleased to meet you
5- have a nice day

Btwn-Fear-N-Hope wrote:

konichiwa @ freshlikesushi

to assume people are speaking about me because they are speaking a foreign language sounds like i am paranoid and insecure. i automatically assume a person is addressing the issue or welcoming the original poster -showing a connection through a shared ethnic lanaguage and maybe a more empathetic understanding.

i guess a philipino would understand what life in saudi is like for a philipino better than me and sometimes its easier to express that experience in their mother tongue rather than english.

but hey maybe im just a hippie!

i could care less what someone speaks

UNLESS everyone there speaks english

then it pisses me off. happens all the time at work.

If it's till greeting, it's fine. But what usually happens is (my experience) that they start talking and talking in their language then and you go deep behind in the background; which is against the etiquettes of course. While speaking in a group, we must all take care that our conversation is understandable to all listeners. Isn't it?

What I have to do in such situation is to interrupt with some wittiness like "Hey hey, Come back to the planet earth now."

@ freshlikesushi, relax (rirakusu?) share some japanese and other than english and japanese do you speak any other languages, interested in learning any?

a little spanish.

im going to have to learn arabic as much as i care not to.  my position now has too much of it around not to

the legend,  i do agree that an extended dialogue would exclude others, however we can all tolerate a few words here and there.

btw you still havent shared your knowledge of languages. i know you speak urdu, arabic and english.. what am i missing?

freshlikeshushi, i love spanish can only say a few phrases but would love to expand on them.

well you can use this space to ask the meaning of phrases you hear at work that may interest you, or things you may wish to say, i would be happy to share my basic knowledge of the arabic language

Btwn-Fear-N-Hope wrote:

btw you still havent shared your knowledge of languages. i know you speak urdu, arabic and english.. what am i missing?

Oh sorry

Good: Urdu, English, Hindi (speaking only) & Arabic
Good at Pakistani regional languages: Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Pushto
Some: French, Bangali & Turkish

I can speak spanish, english, german and portuguese fluently but doesn't matter since they are useless here LOL. I know basic french and only like 50 arabic words.

juangcr beinvenido!

cool, i dont know any portuguese - third language mentioned today which i have not had any exposure to. i have heard it before, it sounds spanishy right?

hey since you dont get speak your home languages much in saudi, wouldnt you appreciate meeting people here who share those languages?

the legend, lol you living upto your name... your holding hte record right now for the most languages spoken... 12 you dark horse!

shtay da sort correnflaur bevakasha - two portions of cauliflower please (Hebrew)
twll din pob sais - a**holes to the English (Welsh)

That's about it. I'm English, we only have room for one language in our head (it's a proven medical fact).

juangcr wrote:

I can speak spanish, english, german and portuguese fluently but doesn't matter since they are useless here LOL. I know basic french and only like 50 arabic words.

Which are the 50 arabic words that you like?

gashead wrote:

shtay da sort correnflaur bevakasha - two portions of cauliflower please (Hebrew)
twll din pob sais - a**holes to the English (Welsh)

That's about it. I'm English, we only have room for one language in our head (it's a proven medical fact).

i find this fascinating, of all the phrases two portions of cauliflower then again cauliflower and cheese is lovely and homely.

cool, cant even try to pronounce he welsh.

i know hebrew is similar to arabic, they greet with shalom aleikhem same meaning as salaam alaykom, peace be upon you.

aah and from the hebrew bible the only line i know is when jesus says 'elli elli lima shabachtani' dont know about the spelling but jesus was asking god why he had foresaken him.

Btwn-Fear-N-Hope wrote:

gashead wrote:

shtay da sort correnflaur bevakasha - two portions of cauliflower please (Hebrew)
twll din pob sais - a**holes to the English (Welsh)

That's about it. I'm English, we only have room for one language in our head (it's a proven medical fact).

i find this fascinating, of all the phrases two portions of cauliflower then again cauliflower and cheese is lovely and homely.

cool, cant even try to pronounce he welsh.

i know hebrew is similar to arabic, they greet with shalom aleikhem same meaning as salaam alaykom, peace be upon you.

aah and from the hebrew bible the only line i know is when jesus says 'elli elli lima shabachtani' dont know about the spelling but jesus was asking god why he had foresaken him.

Cauliflower was always the best thing on the menu. You had to learn fast.

i speak some russian and very little french.
like what you guys said it's impolite to continuously talk a different language in front of someone who doesn't speak it...tell me about it lol,but if you choose to live/work/study  in a country where they speak a particular language...you should at least try to learn some of it and not impose your language on them.I lived in Russia for a few months and i had no choice but to learn the language to be able to survive and get through my days:D

HEBA M wrote:

i speak some russian and very little french.
like what you guys said it's impolite to continuously talk a different language in front of someone who doesn't speak it...tell me about it lol,but if you choose to live/work/study  in a country where they speak a particular language...you should at least try to learn some of it and not impose your language on them.I lived in Russia for a few months and i had no choice but to learn the language to be able to survive and get through my days:D

I agree when in a new country we shouldn't expect the world to adapt to us, instead we should adapt ourselves to the world. When I go somewhere I usually try to learn phrases before I go, and then see what I can pick up once I'm there.

The French are notorious for forcing you to learn French, even if they speak English they will communicate with you in French. It's annoying at times but a dictionary helps and you do pick French up fast.

Don't people in Russia speak English, few months and Russian learnt, well done girl!

nope...not a word of english there but u might meet people here and there who speak broken english.

Ok, thanks for sharing and posting.

Would you mind sharing the greeting and reply in Russian- lol

Btwn-Fear-N-Hope wrote:

Ok, thanks for sharing and posting.

Would you mind sharing the greeting and reply in Russian- lol

hello(formal)(bear with me lol)= zdrastuvoyay
hello(casual)= preveyet

reply..... kharashow(good)  or   narmalna(ok)

Thank you, I appreciate that because the formal is rather hard to pronounce and remember but preveyet sounds like I could easily pronounce (I hope)

Narmalna sounds like a variation of the word normal-  is your normal your ok. Lol

Making connections between words if helpful when learning a new language- adults tend to do this more than kids.

Btwn-Fear-N-Hope wrote:

Thank you, I appreciate that because the formal is rather hard to pronounce and remember but preveyet sounds like I could easily pronounce (I hope)

yeah preveyet is what ou say when talking with friends,family,etc but when you're in a formal situation like strangers or older people...you say zdrastuvotyay out of courtesy,i know it's hard to pronounce lol...it took me about 2 weeks to get it perfect:D