Wednesday 15 June 2011

Question No 2

What is your mother-tongue?

In which language do you think????

What are all the other languages you know???

If you had the chance, which language would you like to learn??



Did you know: The Spanish use ¿ to show the beginning of a question. Just like in English how you put the ? at the end to show it's a question, in Spanish you need to put the ¿ at the beginning of the question as well as the ? at the end.

Want to know how to put the ¿ mark using the keyboard?
Simple, just press Alt/Ctrl/Shift/? and u get ¿

43 comments:

  1. Mother-tongue, Malayalam.

    I’m not very sure but I think, I think in English :-).
    But when I’m super mad at the kids, pure Malayalam emerges from the mouth;-D

    I also know Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and a smattering of Arabic.

    You know my mom says that I used to speak fluent Bengali when I was very small. Seems like there was a Bengali family staying next door to our house then; their lil boy & I used to jabber away in Bengali. But I don’t remember anything;-(……all I know is ‘Ami tomake bhalobashi' courtesy Amitabh Bachchan.

    Always wanted to learn the Japanese language……remember the Japanese serial ‘Oshin’ on Doordarshan. Yeah from then on…..;-)

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  2. That's a very interesting piece of info regarding Spanish. I just answered your first question a few minutes back. :)

    Mother tongue : Malayalam

    I think in English.

    I can understand quite a few. Arabic , I can read and write ..and yeah understand a bit too.

    Spanish, I want to learn Spanish.

    My last post was on this topic! :D

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  3. My mother tongue is Malayalam.

    I think in Malayalam most of the times. But, if I lose my temper at someone, I shout in English ;)

    Apart from Malayalam and English, I can read, write and speak Hindi. I understand a bit of Tamil too...

    I have always wanted to learn a foreign language like French, German or Spanish() :)

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  4. Mother tongue is Sindhi...
    Mostly I think in English, the after-effects of studying under very strict nuns!! I used to think & speak quite a bit of Hindi & Gujarati till I moved here and now I think I may very soon forget both :(

    ooooh so many languages i wanna learn ...spanish, italian and on and on :)

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  5. Malayalam (as mallu as it can get)
    Strangely in english (wonder y)
    French (i think its the most sexiest language evah ...tried to learn but stopped half way)

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  6. MT (without I) - Malayalam
    Think, shout, scold, worry and explain... in English (without MTI)

    And now that I am spending a lot of time among Lebanese, would love to learn Arabic, to know what was all that shouting about!!

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  7. The Mother Tongue is Malayalam.
    Thinking, reading and most talking in English.
    We speak Tamil at home too.
    I did Afrikaans in school, and French in college. I can understand Setswana a bit (from school peers) - wish I had done THAT in school instead!
    I would REALLY like to learn to speak Spanish fluently - I was bitten by the Latino bug (not a real bug) very early in life and am in love with it!

    One language I have NO interest in learning is...HINDI! And that is because of certain "Indians" who claim you're not "a true Indian" if you don't know Hindi. Mental block! Hmph!

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  8. Mother tongue: Tamil (And I am passionate about the language)

    Languages I know: Tamil and English. And thoda-thoda Telugu. But I can understand Telugu, and Hindi..

    Language I Think?: I have to keep a watch, Nancy. I haven't noticed it this long. But since long, I have written letters in English. Will watch over myself and let you know...(But, I pray in Tamil)

    Learn?? There are sooo many actually, First will be Telugu and Malayalam...Next Japanese. And you remember Oshin? You remember her??My God, every person I talked to about her has forgotten/not known her. Atleast you remembered!! I also want to learn the sign language, so I can convey messages without words :)

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  9. I think in English and when I have to fight then it is only English!!!

    Mother-tongue is tamil and I know Marathi, Hindi and have also learnt German.

    Can understand a smattering of Telgu and Kannada..just a little you see.

    Given a chance, want to learn a lot of languages but it should be sponatenously as in I do not want to attend classes and cram myself with the grammer intricacies...(lazy i am u see)

    I remember "Oshin" very well...:-)

    and that's a very unique piece of info you have given..you really spend a lot of thought before a post...fishing out such rare details..wow!

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  10. 1. Mother-tongue : Oriya

    2. I think in English (During office hours) & Hindi (During non office hrs) ...(Strange but true..and I realized it only now nancy with this question.I tag this as best "Question of the day" )

    3. Telugu and Tamil in bits can understand and speak.

    4. Indian : Konkani ( Coz my love for Goa)
    International : Spanish (Coz my love for penelope cruz, salma hayek and also since I want to visit Spain before I die. I and Renee(wife) have also engraved the word "Te Amo"(Spanish word) in our wedding rings :))


    P.S : Nancy non of my blogs are active.( I am failed blogger after 4 attempts of MULTIPLE blogs. So have thrashed all of them :(...thou mildly active in twitter and FB..will love to join u in Twitter)

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  11. Tan: Actually tht used to happen with me too when I was younger...when I got mad with my mom I used to argue in English. But the reason I use malayalam with the kids is tht I dont want the kids to absorb the English 'shout-language'[for want of a better word] and use it against eachother or elsewhere. Smart aint I;-D!!!

    Limenlemons: I used to wonder abt u....
    but ur name in the mail gave me a clue:-)).
    U, clue...
    Wah wah nancy tum kavi hai

    ;-D

    An Open Book: I knew u were mallu:-). What abt tamil...I mean I thot u were fr chennai???

    SandhyaS: Good to see U after a long time:-).
    It is said tht Arabic is a language spken fr the heart...as in every syllable is stressed from the chest b4 it comes out of the mouth.
    Ummm...what is this I in the MTI???

    Jane's Ire: Setswana is another language???? Is Latino is the same as Latin???...but I thot Latin was extinct or something;-o

    RS: Let me know for sure how u found out...coz even I keep wondering abt it...not totally sure tho ;-P
    Oh I'll never forget Oshin....our whole family used to watch the serial faithfully and we were very disappointed when she grew up:-).

    Uma: Awww thanks what a nice to thing to say...but I'm afraid u give me too much credit. All I know is tht I want to make it as interesting as possible for U:-).
    And I sooo agree with u on the 'it should be sponatenously as in I do not want to attend classes and cram myself with the grammer intricacies..':-).

    Prabodh: Hehe thanks...so I made u think think huh;-D
    The word sounds so romantic, do tell me what it means????
    Ur PS had me laughing away....why so glum, just delete the whole thing and start a new one, simple;-D
    And nope, am not on Twitter, havent opened an account at all;-D.

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  12. Mothertongue is malayalam and I think too in malayalam, but when it comes to arguing and shouting, its always English.

    I can read and write Hindi , but the comprehension and speaking part is weak

    I think I understand tamil well...I have far less doubts on the dialogues of Tamil movies as compared to the bollywood ones.

    I can read Tamil, though at pathetic pace.

    As for learning a new language, to be honest, I dont want to...I did better try to master the ones I already know. Learning languages is a pain!!

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  13. Mother tongue : Tamizh

    The language I think in : I suppose it is Tamizh again given the extreme and frequent use of the language by me and people around me.

    Languages I know : English, Tamizh, Hindi and a bit of French given I learnt this in my 11th and 12th std.

    Languages I like learn : Japanese just cos I think it would be a difficult language to learn, Malayalam simply because I love the language ( It's like a melody and I watch Asianet just to hear the language though i don't understand much) and probably German ( everyone these days learn it and I don't know why)

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  14. The way questions are coming, I think I will have a new resume at the end of 30days!

    What is your mother-tongue?

    My mother Speaks Telugu so is my father. Thus I too speak Telugu. Bagunnara Madam?

    In which language do you think????

    For your question I think in English.
    At home I think in Tamil.Talk,walk and breath in Tamil.Ungalukkum Tamil Teriyumaa?? Santhosam

    What are all the other languages you know???

    Malayalam- Samasarikkam! Vasikkan ariyaalle
    Hindi- Padna & likna Maalum!! Cant speak.

    If you had the chance, which language would you like to learn??

    Kids language!! Its universal you see!

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  15. I think you know this bit about me too... Sigh!

    MT: Tamil it is... or should I say Tamizh!

    I think in english for sure, I even talk so much in english... and you know what people do to you if you speak in english in TN... dont you?

    They say that am "petering"... ha ha! If you know what i mean...

    I cant help it, thats cos i did my college in andhra... n gals from all over india usually come to study there... most of my best frens dono my MT... n i dont know theirs... but its fun that way... its nice to have frens from all diff states/cultures ;) so, i dont mind when ppl make fun of me here... n i am in love with this language <3

    First would be hindi.. I have had a bet with a lot of my northie pals that i will speak to them in hindi someday... dono when that day will dawn, but i can understand lil of it...

    Second place - no priority,,, would love to learn anything... am targetting kannada as i wanu settle in bnglr ;) i cant imagine livin oside india... so banglr will be my home hopefully! ;)

    ps. sry for the essay :D

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  16. My mother tongue is Hindi.and i just love it:):)and I am very touchy about it.

    I think in Hindi only.

    I know English and a little bit of Bengali and some french.

    I am trying to learn Tamil, if I could master it, then I would like to learn German.

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. Hi Nancy.. how you doin??
    :) I know I have been hibernating for extremely long time!!!
    Anyway, my mother tounge is Konkani( the dialect spoken in Mangalore by saraswat brahmins.. not the goan or catholic one)
    I do think a lot in english but when it comes to cheering my favourite football team of aussie rules.. its only in Konkani man.. just pure konkani!! :)
    I can converse , read and write quite well in Kannada and Hindi, can understand well but speak tulu to save myself in case of an emergency..;) as my mum s home town is Bekal.. I can understand and converse with very limited edition of Malayalam to auto drivers and bus conductors and people on my mama's farm..like for example " nyaan nallya kuttiyallo??;)".. and can get it contextually.. :)
    I think as growing up, I have missed the art of picking languagges.. but would love to learn german and spanish and french!! oh god.. have to do something about these secret amnbitions of mine.. thanks nancy.. For making me aware..

    Just for info: My grandpa knew konkani, kannada, tulu,Hindi,malayalam,tamil,little bits and peices opf telugu,marathi and bangla and just the perfect British English, I ve ever heard from anyone his age.. Just thought of him when u asked about languagges!!:)

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  19. MT- Hindi and Garhwali (spoken in Uttaranchal)
    I think in Hindi
    I want to learn Tamil and Bangla, actually i guess i wanna learn all Indian languages....:D..and this i am saying becuz i have bene to many states of India, and everytime i feel, that i shud knw the language...havent been to phoren land yet..but i guess urdu and farsi is what i wud want to learn..simply to understand Ghalib..:)

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  20. Enjoyed reading all the other comments- these questions are interesting :)

    My mother tongue is English.

    I think in English.

    I used to be fluent in Bahasa Melayu- took my PSLE (Singapore Primary school leaving exam) in quite a few subjects in Bahasa- that was when Singapore's national language had not yet switched fully to English. I've spoken Japanese, German, Nepali, enough Hindi to get by (but that was more than 20 years ago), and Twi. I can understand Hokkien (dialect from the fujian province)-- know bits of Mandarin but not enough to communicate-

    The languages I want to conquer are Mandarin and Spanish...I would also like to regain my Hindi usage. (the little I had and more)

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  21. Mother Tongue: Urdu, and I guess I think in English and Hindi.. Other languages I know are Telugu, and a littttle bit of Tamil.. :)

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  22. Mother tongue is Thamizh. I think in Thanglish. I can speak Madras Hindi, and I want to learn proper Hindi :)

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  23. Mother Tongue- Telugu

    Your second question was very interesting. Never thought about it before. Well, I was thinking in English after I read your question. But I believe this really depends on the situation. Wth my family or any native language speaking friends around, I think in Telugu I guess :) Not sure though. Other times, its English.

    Other languages-
    Hindi,Tamil

    Not really interested in learning any new language unless situation demands for it.

    -Sindhu

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  24. Wow. The number of comments is testimony to how popular your series is. Now you know lots about lots of people. Bravo. And we still haven't come to what are you wearing :)

    Mother tongue - Tài​mǐ​'ěr
    Language I think in - Yīng​yǔ
    Other languages known - Yìn​dì​yǔ, Hàn​yǔ
    Language I want to learn - Womenish (language which homo sapiens feminitis understands) !!

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  25. Sigh i typed a looooooooooong comment and it disapeard. SIGH..i dont think i can repeat it all again.. lets see...

    my mother tongue is Kutchi !

    I think in English... thanks to movies and cricket ! my conversations are always in english... the commentory left a huge impact on me !

    I speak fluent Gujarati, Hindi & English.. I understand Marathi and can speak broken marathi too..

    I would love to speak fluent kutchi.. I understand it fully but i have to think and speak it.. strangely after my mom's generation we all kids (cousins) dont speak kutchi... only gujarati.. ! :| somehow i hope we can keep using our mother tongue !

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  26. Mother toungue - Malayalam

    Think in - English or Malayalam (depending on what I am thinkng about)

    Know - The above two plus Hindi, little bit of Tamil

    Would love to learn - Spanish, French

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  27. Mother tongue: Malayalam
    But I think in English and Hindi.
    I learnt German for over two years in university. But am not fluent any more.
    I like the way French is spoken, it sounds quite musical and soothing. But I really don't know whether I would really make an attempt to learn it.

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  28. Mother tongue : Kannada
    Language I think : Kannda / English -- Depends on whats going on around me
    Languages I know : kannada , marathi , english and hindi.
    I would love to learn telgu and tamil so I can watch those movies :-)

    BTW , I am great fan of your blog and missed you sorely when you took a break.
    Welcome back :-)

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  29. Juxtaposition: U know to r&w Arabic, so I guess u did spend some part of ur life in the ME:-).

    Bindiya: I have far less doubts on the dialogues of Tamil movies as compared to the bollywood ones.
    U knw for me its the opposite...I understand and can speak it too but when I watch a tamil movie many of the dialogues go over my head;-(

    Anusha: Loved wht u had to say abt Malayalam:-). And the Japanese language has such interesting alphabets too dont u think.

    Maddy: Broke my head over vasikkan ariyaalle, its vayikkaan ariyilla;-D.
    U mean kids babble.....awww really.
    Loved tht answer.

    Sulo: Watch hindi serials....best way to learn it quickly;-D
    petering....really, havent hrd tht b4 tho I did get the jist of it;-D. Sorry shabdh this blog pe mana hai;-).

    Renu: Did u know Tamizh is one of the the oldest language in the world...and it is said tht all the S.Indian languages originated from Tamizh:-).

    Swathy: I dont know if u'll believe this but was wondering abt u just yesterday morning & I get ur comment in the evening. Good to see U:-)!!!!!
    Ur grandad sounds awesome....knowing 10 languages is something special really:-o.
    And u must DO something abt it...having ur grandad's genes means u'll be able to pick them languages up easily:-)).

    forgotogrowup: Garhwali is new to me...thts why I love blogging:-).
    When u mentioned farsi it reminded me of something....u knw here in the UAE farsi literate people are very much in demand...infact their starting sal itself is above average. But I never bothered to figure out why:-P

    Anjuli: Nothing surprises me abt u anymore....I just have to learn to ask the right questions and be prepared to be enlightened:-)).

    Amusingveracity: Urdu...there is some great literature associated with the language. Atleast for tht I'd love to learn it:-).

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  30. Sriram: LOL....just like how I spk Malglish;-D.

    Sindhu: My lil niece stays in AP and once a yr for around a week, get to hear fluent telugu & we come back home with a few words like kavalli & perugu;-D

    Ramesh: The 'wht r u wearing question' is dutifully noted down & will be used on a day when I have no more questions to ask;-D.
    I've noticed a lot of people sending children for Mandarin classes. U knw when I first came across the term I thot they were sending them to learn a musical instrument;-D.

    Hitchwriter: Awww sorry...I know how mad I get when my comment disappears;-/.
    U knw its so easy for languages to disappear...I really feel tht in another 50-60 yrs most of our grandkids will know only how to spk english & wont strain themselves to pick up another language unless its something hep like french or german;-(

    Bindu: "Think in - English or Malayalam (depending on what I am thinkng about)"
    LOL I'm not sure how u meant it but when I'm super mad all mallu movie angry dialogues will be dancing in my head;-D

    Elizabeth: Yeah French does sound very light & posh doesnt it. Btw U didnt mention Arabic;-D

    Preeti: "I would love to learn telgu and tamil so I can watch those movies :-)"
    Hehe it shd be the other way around...u shd watch those movies to learn the language;-D
    And thank U:-))!!! Glad u delurked but then I get the feeling I have received a comment from u once before:-).

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  31. aww... u r darn sweet, arent you? jus figured that out ;D

    i had to ask my fren the meaning of whatever you wrote, hence the comment :P he hee...! Thanks Chech!

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  32. One of our family friends' had named their daughter Oshin :) I used to love that one and Gul,Gulshan,Gulfam :)

    Mother-tongue Kannada, I can speak Hindi, English and Telugu pretty well too and some Tamil.

    I soooo wanna learn Bengali to read some wonderful literature originals!

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  33. Sulo: Dont mention it, my pleasure entirely:-).

    Swaram: Yeah Bengali is a beautiful language....I love their the way of pronounciation also....like Anuraag as Onuraag;-D
    Oh I remember GGG too...the title song was very catchy & still comes to mind;-D.

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  34. That is exactly how I meant it ;-)

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  35. Mother tongue Hindi, but think in English. I read through the other comments and it hits you that mostly everyone thinks in English. Like seriously wow. I speak a bit of Gujarati, Punjabi & Swahili. And I learnt French cuz it's such a beautiful language, but would love to speak fluent Hindi (the urdu type, not the rough one).

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  36. Yeah exactly wht went thru my mind too....almost everybody thinks in English, and u knw I really feel tht the generation after our kids are not going to bother with anyother language except English which is going to be a total tragedy really:-(

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  37. Hey..
    I might be late here..
    But the latest huh..!!!
    My mother tongue - Oriya...
    Basically I think in English..
    And I can talk in Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Telugu...
    If I get a chance, I wanna learn portuguese, because I am really having tough time handling my clients at Brazil..!!

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  38. Nope not late at all Manisha....its never too late on my blog;-D.
    Wow u know so many languages and I notice a differnce in ur knowledge...generally most of us know languages from a particular zone...like I knw many south Indian languages & many others are proficient in N I languages but u seem to know language from the North, south, east & west....totally cool:-))!!!!

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  39. MT = Tamil
    English followed by Tamil i think, depends on the subject too i guess
    Hindi, a bit of Malayalam
    Chinese or Japanese!

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  40. That was quite an informative post.

    Mother tongue is hindi but think in english. no reasons just work that way.come to think of it, never even wondered bout it.

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  41. As regards the pie it really was looking good, i wish i could have had it.

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  42. I thought I had answered this one! Guess not! :(

    Mother Tongue: Malayalam

    Think in: Have caught myself thinking in English many times..don't really know what I do at other times.

    I know Hindi and Tamizh very well.

    I love Bangla...have always for some reason. I find it very sweet. I learnt several words by watching Bangla movies. Used to surprise some of my Bangla speaking friends by using some of the words and sentences I know.

    Would love to learn some European languages!

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