Sunday, May 28, 2017
Hello! Have we known each other?
Let’s get to know each other first. Read my short introduction in my
first post in this link:
Have you read it?
Have we known each other now?
Good.
So, here are some languages I’ve spoken, learned, and am learning.
1. Indonesian (bahasa Indonesia)
This is my first language. It is
spoken by 200 million people, including 43 million native speakers, mostly in
Indonesia. I’m a native speaker myself. I am Indonesian and proud. I love my
own language. It’s beautiful and rich, and the only language I know that has
two forms of the plural first person. But I only know 9 languages, so… yeah
just let me know if any other language has different words for we (kita = I +
you) and we (kami = I + he/she/they).
2. English
This is my second language. I’ve
been learning this since Elementary School because it’s a must, and really get
used to it because it’s an international language. It’s spoken by almost a
billion people all around the world. It’s the mother tongue of 360 million
people and the second language of 500 million people, including me. It’s all
around me. Everything in me is written in English, almost every movie I’ve
watched and my favorite songs are in English, and I can always use it to
communicate with foreigners from any country. So, yeah, it’s kinda easy to get
used to this language.
3. Italian (italiano)
I love everything about Italy.
I’ve been in love with Italy since I was very young, because I love history,
mythology, art, football, cars, motorcycles, Italian food, fashion, culture,
beautiful architectures, beautiful landscapes… I mean… what world’s greatest
things that Italy doesn’t have? It seems like they have everything! So, I’ve
been interested in learning Italian since Junior High. I’ve learned Italian
from books, music, computer program, free internet applications, and took some
Italian courses too. The problem is, this language is not spoken as much as
English, Spanish, or German. It’s spoken by 85 million people (65 million
natives) in Italy and some parts of a few countries that are all far away from
me. But somehow, it turned out to be the fourth most studied language in the
world.
4. Spanish (español)
Spanish is spoken by more people
than English. It is the second most spoken languages in the world after
Chinese. It’s pretty possible to find someone who speaks Spanish around me. Not
so much, but possible. One of the families in my neighborhood speaks Spanish. Spanish
speaking countries are also great countries! Most of them have great cultures
and histories, and also great football players and football teams.
5. Portuguese (português)
Same reason with Italian and
Spanish: because it is spoken in countries with great cultural heritages,
history, football team, and legendary football players. The football player
that has made me fall in love with football, Ronaldo Luiz Nazario da Lima, is
from Brazil. I frequently imagine having conversation with him in Portuguese.
Ronaldo also speaks English, Italian, and Spanish. So, the only language that I
speak that he doesn’t speak is Indonesian.
6. French (français)
Most people would say it is the
most romantic language. Well, I still think Italian is. But I learn French
anyway, just because. It’s also one of the most important languages tho’. It
used to be an international relation language too. In Indonesia, some schools
have French as one of their subjects. Unfortunately, my school isn’t one of
them. I learn French because it’s still similar with Italian, Spanish, and
Portuguese. Just because.
7. Dutch (nederlands)
Same reason with French: just
because. Well, as an Indonesian, of course I have a lot of relatives in The
Netherlands, and yeah, of course I have to visit The Netherlands every time I
go to Europe. Thing is, everyone in there speaks English very well! Not
everyone, but almost everyone, really. The only Dutch people who don’t speak
English are the very old and traditional ones. But, yeah, I’m learning Dutch
just because. And by the way, it is spoken in the heart of Europe: The
Netherlands and Belgium.
8. German (Deutsch)
I have a cousin that is half
Swiss-German. She lives in Switzerland and speaks English and German. She’s one
of my favorite cousins and I love her very much. I just think it would be
really cool if I can speak in her language. And by the way, German is also one
of the most important languages to learn. It’s also one of the foreign
languages that is taught in some school in Indonesia.
9. Greek (Ελλινηκά)
Greece is my second favorite country. My
number one is Italy, remember? Greece is where all the European, even world civilization
started. It has one of the greatest histories. The country itself is rich of
beautiful nature. I’ve been there with my family. Not only the country is so
beautiful, the people are also the nicest people we’ve ever met anywhere!
Really! The Greeks are extremely nice to us. And they really appreciate any
Greek word we know. I can never forget how happy the man in the shop when I
said thank you in Greek. By then, I only knew very few Greek words.
And… that was it! All nine languages that I wish to master before the
other languages. I was planning to learn Japanese too this year. But, looking
at my progress in German and Greek, I think I really gotta postpone until next
year.
I’ll be back with more and more of my obsession with languages! See you
in the next post!
:-*
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