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What languages RV people speak

V

Vlad

Well Known Member
Watching as Vans goes global and new international members are joining VAF, I think it's a good idea to have this little linguistics database. We already had engine logs in Dutch, avionics manuals in French, Russian markings on gages and Arabic inscription on instrument panels. Do we all understand what's written there?

English is our mothership tongue for Vanheads but other speakers could be of exceptional value. Say, hypothetically, Scott Schmidt is flying around the world (obviously with satellite phone) and need some fuel in Siberia where credit cards are not accepted... Or I got stuck in the Carribean on my way to Brasil and need tire changed...

Nothing can substitute human interpreter even if we have the best electronic translators with the latest artificial intelligence software. Computers do not have senses, at least for now. And they do not know local peculiarities and phonetics, they operate by texbook grammar.

So guys what languages can you communicate? On what level? Street spoken, technical, poetic? Please treat English in Europe, Australia and elsewhere as different languages. Spanish in Latin America and in Spain are not the same either.
I am sure some English-speaking locals have already forgot tongues of their ancestors who came to America centuries ago. Time to remember now.

I am fluent in Russian and Ukrainian both written and spoken and can communicate virtually with all Slavic tribes on primitive subjects.
 
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English/Spanish

Good idea, Vlad!

My wife Susie speaks fluent Spanish (Master's degree).

b,
dr
 
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English/German

Good idea.

I'm fluent in both English and German.

Thilo
 
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Let's see...

8 yrs in the Navy I learned how to talk like a "sailor"
High school yrs in Kalispell Montana picked up a enough Canadian "eh" to get by when I travel north
Other than that I'm barely fluent in proper english, but do ok with redneck spekin :D
 
Fluent in Hebrew (Israel) and English (U.S.).

I also travel quite a bit, and have found that almost anywhere you go you can get by with about 10 words in the local language, plus hand gestures :D
 
Great database start

At the end of day one we have:

1. Hebrew - Roee Kalinsky
2. German - Thilo Kind
3. Spanish - Susie Reeves
4. Russian - Vladyspassky
5. Ukrainian - the same guy

Dialects of English:

-Proper English - Brian, Frank
-Navy English - many
-Canadian English - Brian
-Texacan - Mel Asberry
-American English - Mel

Interesting how many languages RV community speaks being a force of 9 000 members.
 
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It varies.....

In college, I was very fluent in FORTRAN. After I graduated, my language of choice was COBOL. Now that I am on the business side, I deal mostly in LEGALEESE...........:D
 
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In college, I was very fluent in FORTRAN...
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Holy smokes! I'm having a flashback of 10" floppy disks and the VAX 11/780 at MSOE. :D

(I am also now more legaleese than anything...:rolleyes:) Wisconsin's very-own version of English (?) is my first language. Fluent in Spanish until I got to work in a foundry and thought German would be good to know. (+ it works out well with the WI dialect and my German ancestry...) Now learning Italian, slowly, by "experience."
 
My grammer school was a mixture of Idaho and Yorkshire England which makes me a linguistic mutt. Now I work for a company that is steeped in Texas culture, and the plural form of "Y'all" is "All Y'alls"

I lived two years in Argentina and was fluent in their very unique form of Spanish but lamentably, that has been corroded by almost two decades of Mexi-zona Spanglish.

On a curious linguistic note, in my early career I flew throughout Europe and always found the British controllers to be the hardest to understand even though my Mother was British and I had lived and gone to some school in England. Continental Europeans seem to speak English with more of an American Accent. Probably from movies and TV.

Us Yanks are certainly the most linguistically ignorant bunch on the planet. We have PHD's who's language arts consist of barely mastering the Taco Bell Menu, while peasants all over the world are multilingual.
 
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Just enough Spanish to get thrown into, or (hopefully) talk myself out of, jail south of the border. :D

Grew up in California, and married a Valley Girl, so I'm somewhat adept in that special brand of English..."Whoa dude, surf's up"..."Like, Oh My God, ya know!?!" :rolleyes:

Great idea though, honestly!

Cheers,
Bob

Hmmm, Donde esta el aeropuerto?
 
here's the swiss lineup

Mother tongue:
Swiss German, is a spoken language only but very different from german.

German written&spoken since kindergarden

English, written&spoken (1 year exchange student to the U.S.)

French, school level written, pretty fluent spoken, average but conversation level, use it too little so it's fading a bit

Italian, understand what they're talking about, speaking some basics but not quite conversation level.

rgds, bernie
 
A language less spoken in aviation

My mother tongue was Mandarin Chinese. After 30 years in this great country I can no longer write a complete sentence in Chinese. It is like flying IFR approaches, unless you practice often you don't remember how to draw those pictures (characters).

Now my language is English with strong accent and misspelling.

(Pete, I used to "speak" FORTRAN, ASSEMBLY, C, C++, and a little bit of other languages. I even punched holes on cards to communicate! HP2000, PDP11, LSI11 were the leading edge technologies. Those were the good ole days.)
 
*laughs@petehowell* I speak some of the ancient dialects, too. For a while I 'collected' languages: Forth, Smalltalk, LISP. Assembler is still my favorite.

Anyway, I speak Southern ('rat cheer' is where you are standing), a little street Spanish, and Japanese (but I have a heck of a time reading Kanji). Being a native Californian, I have no idea what Bob is talking about. Dude, are you, like, tripping? Harsh, man.;)
 
Some Italian

I'm teaching myself Italian via the Pimsleur Method. I've been through all 90 lessons multiple times and am now branching out to other study methods in an attempt to bridge the gap to the next level. That probably makes me a low intermediate in Italian.
 
Languages in Spain.

Hello. Here in Spain we have the Spanish as official an other three languages also officials in their Autonomical Comunitys ( similar federal states ).
In Catalu?a, Valencia and the Balearic Islands we speake Catalan with local differences. This is my native language. The Spanish is absolutaly natural for me and off course do not need translate anything.
Catalan.
Spanish.
English.
Understand Italian.
Saludos.
Mario.
 
Afrikaans.....

.....a derivative of the Dutch, spoken in South Africa mostly. I grew up in Rhodesia and South Africa, which is/used to be bilingual (English/Afrikaans). The guys from Belgium and I can communicate since there's a close relationship....as well as some from Holland.

Also spoke/speak Zulu from Zim (Zimbabwe)....one of many tribal languages.

Regards,
 
petehowell said:
In college, I was very fluent in FORTRAN. After I graduated, my language of choice was COBOL. Now that I am on the business side, I deal mostly in LEGALEESE...........:D
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My college days were filled with Fortran via punch cards, Pascal, VAX-OpenVMS, C, HP-UX, shell scripts, yada yada yada.

Nowadays its mostly C#, SQL.

I'm fluent in Redneck English, and can throw in some Serbo-Croatian in the mix.
 
Conversational level of Italian, plus know a couple Italian RV builders that I met on a recent trip. As an aside, there are an estimated 15 builders in Italy, with 5 alone in Rome all building RV-9A's (one flying)!!
 
And another exotic language

I speak french, english and german, but my mothertongue is alsatian, that does not mean I can speak with dogs, but that I was born in Alsace the most eastern part of France along the german and swiss border.
Albeit a very small province (at least by US standards), there are pronounced difference between the language from north to south.
Having grown up at the south of the province, I speak an alsatian that is similar to swiss german (like flyvans from post #14), but with my mother I speak a little different alsatian as she grew up about 25 miles (yes that's only 25, no typo) further north near the city of Mulhouse.
 
From The Wild Armenian

Armenian & English,I speak both everyday. There are five boys and two girls and my 88 year old mother in our family. We always speak Western Armenian when we are with our Mom and at family gatherings, which happens a lot. But now our spouses only speak English, so that makes our family gatherings a lot of fun if we want it to be. :)
 
Joe can you expand a bit about "native american english"? Is it tribal only some communities speak?
 
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languages

I am writing this from Italy where I am learning the language while setting up tours on harley motorcycles for Americans. After being here for 3 weeks I can order red wine. I can also speak french to the same degree. I can't order wine in spanish, but I can order beer in that language. I guess I speak 4 languages including english. At least I have the important things covered.

If you count speaking Navy and Lawyer, that would make 6.
 
Назад во время холодной войны я имел обыкновение думать, что это могло бы пригодиться. Теперь это пригождается для милых говорящих российских женщин!
 
Amazing

It great to see all the different languages spoken.
I'm starting to feel pretty stupid.

I should learn a new language.

Great thread Vlad. :D
 
Scott we have almost half of the globe covered :D You don't need to study more :D just carry your satellite phone.

We still have some guys in Asia, Islands close to Down Under and Middle Earth to chime in.
 
Vladyspassky said:
Rick who wrote this nonsense? All words sounds correct and grammar ok but what is the point? Is it a computer translation? Or poetic exercise? Как это сказать по английски без отрыва от контекста? Может быть это загадка? Если объяснишь, я запишу тебя в русскоговорящую группу.
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You're exactly right Vlad, no riddle intended and it is without context. Basically, I had a use for this during the cold war but now I only can talk to pretty Russian women.
 
just for the statistics

since i' m not a builder yet.

Greek (Hellenic), English & very few Italian.


From the land of Icarus
 
Jaypratt said:
no Mandarin,,,, India is the 3rd most populace county and no GA there

Sad
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India is the second most populous country, and there is a little GA there. Mainly microlight/ultralight flying. But you are right, it is very sad.

Here are two more languages from an Indian.

I speak Kannada (my mother tongue and one of the South Indian languages) and Hindi (mainly spoken in North India and understood almost everywhere else).

I however live in the Chicago area :)

I'm not building anything yet, but maybe someday soon ;)
 
languages spoken

Well i grew up speaking english at school we learned Irish Gaelic as a school subject with insufficent emphasis on spoken Irish, some latin and french also.

cyril
 
I speak English and Spanish. I only know how to kiss in French. My Brazilian friends say I am alcohol dependent in speaking Portuguese.
 
Long List!

Computer:
BASIC-Ruined the Winter of 1976
FORTRAN-Ruined the Spring of 1977
COBOL-Great to know in 1999, thanks for the $ Y2K hype!
PASCAL-Ruined the Summer of 1977
Too many others to bore you with and I no longer use!

Local dialects:
GEECHEE-SE Georgia
GULLAH-Southern South Carolina
JIVE-In da Hood
HICK-Not in thu hood
REDNECK-Born that way!
PIGLATIN-Thanks Pappy!

Languages:
RUSSIAN-Достаточно проходить
SPANISH-Bastante hacer compras en Walmart
FRENCH-Assez, Personne ne se soucie
ENGLISH-Ruined Elementary, Junior and High School!

?Felis Navidad! !С новым годом! ?Perd?n a Ignacio Ramos y Jose Compean!

Спасибо, Merci, Gracias and Thanks!

Jean Claude(My stupid assigned 8th Grade French Class name) Knox
 
Do You All Remember the "Dialectizer?"

Here is all you need to speak and understand many fashionable dialects. I showed this to a Math Professor from Seattle a few months ago while he was visiting and he was going home to make up exams using this site to convert them into something a little more interesting for his captives.

You'll love this,

http://rinkworks.com/dialect/
 
Capitalist Pig Propoganda Educational Mind Washing System!

Vladyspassky said:
Where did you study Russian?
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SE Georgia(US) Public Schools for 5 years(early 70s). The education system that is ranked last in the US. The education system that according to the "experts", needed to be fixed.

My mom was sure that the Soviets would one day rule the world. She wanted me to be able to kindly request the Russian soldiers treat her and my sisters as ladies, not hurt them or take any uncivilized liberties with them. Honest to god this was what she thought. I enjoyed learning about the USSR and trying to learn the language so much that I continued it from the 8th grade through the 12th grade. Funny thing is that by my 5th year, I was able to convince my mom that our Soviet friends were as misinformed about Americans as we were about them.

Education with objective information is essential to living in a tolerant world.
 
a semester in Brisbane, Australia... i can get by..

6 months in Italy... i can say "thank you"

5 years in Scotland.... i'll survive, but not with Gaelic.

:cool:
 
Oz

lightning said:
a semester in Brisbane, Australia... i can get by..
:cool:
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Wow, only a semester, I'm impressed! I've been working on my 'strine for years. :D I've about got the accent down but the rhyming slang is a problem.

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA
 
and more

1. Hebrew - Roee Kalinsky
2. German - Thilo Kind, Karl Koehler, Bernie Daenzer, Mario Nolte,Pascal Groell
3. Spanish - Susie Reeves PhD, Antony (aparchment), Karl Koehler, Bob Mills, Patrick Kelley, Bob Brown, Robby "Hard" Knox,
4. Russian - Vlad, RickS, Robby "Hard" Knox,
5. Swiss German - Bernie Daenzer, Pascal Groell
6. French - Antony (aparchment), Bernie Daenzer, Pascal Groell, Tony Johnson(basic),Cyril,Robby "Hard" Knox,Hugh Finnan,
7. Italian - Karl Koehler,Bernie Daenzer, Mike Giebner, Mario Pons,Carl Peters, Tony Johnson,Thanos P.,
8. Spanish of Argentina - Myron Nelson
9. Mandarin Chinese - Ted Chang
10.Japanese - Patrick Kelley
11.Classic Spanish - Mario Pons,
12.Catalan (Balearic Islands of Spain) - Mario Pons
13.Africaans - Pierre Smith,
14.Zulu - Pierre Smith,
15.Serbo-Chroatian - Bob Japundza
16.Portuguese (Brasil)-Rafael Mendes, Bob Brown,
17.Alsatian (eastern France)-Pascal Groell
18.Armenian (Western) - vgbedeian
19.Ukrainian - Vlad
20.Greek (Hellenic) - Thanos P.
21.Kannada (one of South Indian languages) - YK (skyflies)
22.Hindi - YK (skyflies)
23.Irish Gaelic - cyrilmclavin,Hugh Finnan,
24.Latin - cyril
25.Oz - Ian McQueen,John Clark, Ron(rmcgann)

Dialects of English:

-Proper English - Brian, Frank, Myron,
-Navy English - countless
-Canadian English - Brian
-Texacan - Mel Asberry
-American English - Mel, vgbedeian,
-MexiZona Spanglish - Myron
-Yorkshirdaho Texan - Myron
- Cali Special Brand - Bob Mills
-Southern - Patrick Kelley
- Redneck - Bob Japundza,Robby "Hard" Knox (also GEECHEE-SE,GULLAH,JIVE,HICK,PIGLATIN)
- Native American - Joe Boisselle
- East TN - Freddy Marino
- West Texan-Sam Evans (also learning Reglur English)
- Singlish --English as spoken in Singapore - Tom Agin
- South African English is a lekker version Tom Agin can follow
- Strine (Australian English spoken with an ozzie accent) - Ron (rmcgann)


Ancient Machine dialects : Peter Howell, Karl, Ted Chang, Patrick Kelley,Bob Japundza, Robby "Hard" Knox, Daniel Mouly,

Business Languages: Legalese - Pete Howell, Karl, Tony Johnson,

RV jargon (fluent all varieties) - Larry Geiger, Mel (PhD), Larry Pardue, Bill Pendergras, High Commander, Jay Pratt (also speaks Sad and No Mandarin)

Sign languages: Left hand braille - Ron (rmcgann) has Masters in it after six pack, hand signs - Steve Allbee,


Still trying to locate more RV loyalists who live beyond Conti US. According to VAF White Pages there are many, probably they are not reading the forum every day
 
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The Van's Family tongue....

I can communicate in:

Dutch (just like the ancestors of Van's....)
English (an odd mixture of US, British and OZ dialects I guess)
German
French
 
I speak fluent Swedish in addition to English.

Swedish is my native language but I was only 10 when I moved to the US so my Swedish grammer and writing skills are not very good.
 
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