From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I speak English natively and German conversationally. Spanish may count as my third language, but I can hardly have a conversation in Spanish. I only have passing knowledge of a handful of other languages.
I started learning German in September 2002. It was then that I discovered I have a gift for learning languages, and I fell in love. My formal study of German ceased in mid 2006, but I mean to continue. I took French classes from early 2005 to mid 2006 and a Russian class at the local community college in early 2007. I am taking Russian there again as well as Spanish. On the side I've been trying to look at Mandarin Chinese and Arabic.
I like the Germanic languages in particular. I'd like to become a little familiar with Dutch, Frisian, Norwegian, and Icelandic, but my scope is broader than that. I like the distinct sound of each of the major Romance languages, and I like written Russian. I'm also intrigued by languages outside of the Indo-European family, such as Finnish, Arabic, and especially Chinese. I'm fascinated by the many characters that make up the language, which I consider to be inextricably tied to traditional Chinese culture. I like both traditional and simplified characters, though sometimes the traditional forms have too many strokes for me to write.