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{{OldWillipedia}}
You don't have to be good at it. Just say what you know.
==='Merican===
[[Sam Doyon '05 ]] Dey terk ur jabjerbs!
===Bahasa Indonesia===
[[Ronit Bhattacharyya '07]] lived in Jakarta for seven years, still has an okay grasp of the language.
===Bambaiya===
Ay shanay! Apne aap ko badein samajhte hon, kya? Apun boss hain, clear? Hamari shahar, hamari boli.
[[Rahul Shah]]
[[Nikhar Gaikwad]]
[[Ridhima Raina]]
[[Sandy Nandagopal]]
===Bengali===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08sjh Thunny Khaft] learnt from his Bangla friends back in the former Soviet Union
Irtefa Binte-Farid '11 ===CatalánCatalan===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06dr David Rodriguez] learned a bit while abroad in Barcelona and completed a phonetic study of it as his final project for LING 111.
Timothy Cheng, If there's one essential phrase in Cantonese, it's: "ng ho gai gan ngor!" (My Norweigian roomate can testify) Everything else you can survive without.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08slh Son '08] knows some bad words, thanks to Jing.
Mo Zhu '11 knows a little bit from a semester in Hong Kong but woefully inadequate. Loves to use it though!
====[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_%28linguistics%29 Mandarin]====
Jessie Yu '07
Mo Zhu '11 native speaker
====[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghainese Shanghainese]====
Zhichun Ying '08
Lingwei Gu '07
====[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_language Taiwanese]====
Rachel Ko '09
Shea Chen '07
====[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taishan_dialect Toisanese]====
====[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang_Hokkien Penang Hokkien]====
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09tk Teng Jian Khoo] '09 can speak it tolerably, but will not be understood by pretty much everyone on campus.Bar the Taiwanese. The entire fencing team misses Teej. ===Croatian===Noemi Fernandez '09 can fake it pretty well while ordering you a drink at a cafe or bar, your choice. Faust Petkovich
===Danish===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06hdc Heather Casteel] '06 (drunkenly) [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=nkh1 Nat Hewett] '11 -not very well, but can help you read something, maybe, if you're desparate. ===Farsi/Dari=== Samim Abedi '10 - Cannot read or write but can speak fluently. Faisal Khan '11 - Can't speak but can do a really good impression of Samim, which is like the same thing. Man gorosne hastam!! Also incredibly inadequate in my native tongue, Urdu, which I choose not to speak because of constant ridicule by the Williams South Asian community and 7-Eleven owners around the Northeast.
===Dutch===
===English===
'''British Accent'''
:[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08cjl Christina Lee '08] thought that she had the greatest British accent evar but her hopes and dreams were shattered when her entrymates told her in '04 that her British accent actually sucks. ) =
'''Canadian Accent'''
:[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09mlg Mallory Green '09] knows that no one who is "impersonating" a Canadian accent actually sounds Canadian, no joke about a Canadian accent is funny to a Canadian, there isn't only one 'Canadian' accent and finally, you are all jealous of how cute we sound.
'''Chinese Accent'''
:[[Jing Cao]] speak Proper Chinese Flavor English
'''Indian Accent'''
:[[Nirmal Deshpande '07]] occasionally speaks with a British-tinged Indian accent when drunk, specifically responding "You can make me drink, but you cannot make me get you a beer!" to demands that he wait hand and foot upon someone.
:[[Sean Milano]] '09 tries to immitate his neighbour upstairs, but fails miserably. He just isn't cool enough.
:[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08rmr RHAAAD!] '08 Genuine, proper Indian accent!
:[[Aditi Chaturvedi '10]] has an accent that beats any imitation. It's the real thing!
'''Japanese Accent'''
:[[Diana Davis '07]] spent a month speaking English with a Japanese accent, so she can still do it very convincingly.
'''Southern Accent'''
:Evelyn Robinson '05 has an occassional native Southern accent so sudden and endearing you'd swear she is joking, but she aint.
'''Wisconsin Accent'''
:[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09cjv Cat Vielma '09] hates it, and reminds people that Chicago is universes apart from the rest of the grand ol' Midwest
"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manglish Manglish]"
:Teng Jian Khoo '09 speaks this at home. Somemore now got Singaporeans here dee, but again would be unintelligiblecan tok crap with them liao - so shiok! '''Minnesota Accent/Just Hilarious''':Tim Leclair '11 only knows a few words in Minnesotese and you have to find them in his daily speech like a dwarf finds his Mythril. Ask him to say, owing to Manglish's status as virtually another language"North Dakota."
===Esperanto===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08kch Katherine Huang] '08 took a lit course with Professor Martin and scored well on the SAT II and AP exams, but that doesn't mean her accent isn't atrociously American...
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08sjp Samantha Peterson[Joe Hutchinson '06] is majoring in it, so she probably knows a few phrases.] was once accused of speaking French from the 18th century
[[Katie Montgomery Kathryn Lindsey '07]] can, in theory, communicate in speaks decent French.
[[Lindsay Long-Waldor '08]] has not spoken in a while, but she might still have some skills.
[[Tosin Adeyanju '08]] third language I can kinda speak.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06itj Ikem.T.Joseph] after 5 yrs of study can pretty much read and write with good understanding. In terms of speaking, that's a work in progress.
[[Carl Vos '09]] mom is french, and I know a lot, but havn't spoken it in a while. I can get by alright.
Jack Nelson '07 took it for 9 years before getting bored. Now speaks French like a Russian or Norwegian immigrant who speaks no French at all.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09bdk Brian Kim '09] owes much of his sanity to the fact that dead French men write better books than most people.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08sjp Samantha Peterson '08] agrees wholeheartedly with Brian Kim, but finds herself occasionally (and accidentally) speaking 18th and 19th century French because of it.
[[Ben Grant '09]] took French for a while and has a pretty decent accent. Shows a flair for making fun of random French Canadians in bars because they sound so funny.
[[Andrew Goldston '09]] was once teased by French Canadians for having a "European accent". His high school French teachers would be proud of that. They would not be proud of his lack of fluency.
[[Robin Allemand '10]] speaks French fluently thanks to his parents.
[[Thomas Coleman '10]] speaks English and hates the French.
[[Christophe Dorsey '10]] speaks French and hates Tom Coleman.
Chaedria Robinson '07 has a complicated relationship with the French she refuses to speak.
[[Emilie Voight '09]] knows that you'll get mocked if you say "neanmoins" in casual conversation.
[[Meredith Sopher]] '14 finds French excellent for yelling.
[[Son Le]] '14 whistles/hums French melodies all the time because he can't remember any lyrics (well, except Aux Champs Elysées)
===German===
[[Jono Dowse '06]]
Paloma Diaz speaks German too. [[Joe Hutchinson '06]] thinks in and sometimes thinks he's German [[Kimi Gilbert '06]] spent more than a year in Berlin. Hence, she is legitimately badass. Her German skills are unbelievable. And she starred in a Deutsch Scheiße Schei�e Video. Go figure.
[[Kat Jong '07]] Is currently spending the Year in Munich and can thus speak enough to get by, read books she'd already read in English, and play an entire game of [[Magic The Gathering]].
[[Toby Hall]] is a German major, and is living in Deutschland during the summer of 2006
[[Carl Vos '09]] is taking German and will be spending the summer of 2006 in Munich and Berlin.
[[Dae Selcer]] '10 is a German major and spends her entire life reading dusty German thingymabobbers.
===Greek===
[[Brent Yorgey]] '04
[[Aditi Chaturvedi]] '10 knows more Greek than just the alphabet. Knows more grammar and vocabulary than she wants to, as does anyone in CLGR 101.
Math nerds know the Greek alphabet.
So do Classics majors. (And in order. What comes after phi, oh my math and physics friends?) (the "$" comes after "\phi", unless it's on its own line, in which case you'll put "$$")
Shawn Woo '09
[[Walker Matthews '08]] knows entirely too much Greek, and for some inexplicable reason is moderately capable of reading something as complicated as Thucydides without actually being to conjugate verbs (a shortcoming he hopes to correct by the end of the year).
Robert Gearity '11 loves it when you come up to him and speak greek. Seriously, do it.
====Modern====
[[Jono Dowse '06]] thinks Modern Greek is cool and spent some time in online lessons for it his sophomore year. His study has since lapsed. He knows the order of the Greek alphabet well despite being a math major.
Elissa Brown '09
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=07dpg Daniel Gross [Melanie Idler '0714]]
===Hindi===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09nn Sandy Nandagopal]
[[Aditi Chaturvedi '10]]
Harsh Sodhi '10
===IPA===
[[Jason Leith]] rejects the notion that a velar trill is impossible. It is, however, so ugly a sound that not even languages like Dutch and Danish have adopted it. He uses IPA when indicating pronunciation in his music.
[[Zac Whitney '12]] has been learned them IPA symbols.
===Italian===
[[Katie Josephson '07]] is dying in Italian 103
[[Nela Vukmirovic http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08sjp Samantha Peterson '08]] loooooves speaks Italian 103! It comes like with a breeze after all those DIV III classes..sexy French accent.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08sjp Samantha Peterson 06dr David Rodriguez '0806] is in 101 knows all of the great insults and discovered she can speak Italian by throwing generally vulgar phrases. [[Davide Carozza]]: born in vowels here and there while Roma baby! [[Chaedria Robinson '07]] Is morally opposed to speaking FrenchItalian without a glass of Chianti.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06dr David Rodriguez [Rob Buesing '0609] knows all of the great insults and generally vulgar phrases] gli piacerebbe se fosse piu italiano che 103, ma nonostante cerca di parlare italiano a qualsiasi punto con qualunque persona vuoi sentirla.
===Japanese===
[[Ebonie Little '07]] can karaoke most hit Japanese pop songs...albeit in an unflatteringly squeaky voice. She's also in Japan for a year leveling up on language skills.
[[Sam Doyon '05]] took Japanese for 3 1/2 years at Williams, lived in Tokyo for two months before he forgot every word of Japanese.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09bdk Brian Kim '09]'s Japanese is fading fast.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09atr Alex Ratte '09] knows how to talk like a middle-aged woman from Tokyo because that's what his mom is.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08tjd Tom Derbish '08] has stumbled through four years of Japanese at Williams and is going to stumble through years more of it in Japan.
[[Zac Whitney '12]] has taken Japanese for some time, and has been demolished by it.
===Korean===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06if Ilya Feldsherov '06] can count to 8 in Korean, say "attention," "master," and "bow."
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08jkk James Kim '08] obviously sucks at Korean, but do does get by. Do not be fooled by his genuine Korean features. [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09ehc Hannah Cho '09] seconds the posting above. dear james, don't be discouraged jae doesn't let miss cho speak korean either [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09bdk Brian Kim '09] is a disgrace to Koreans everywhere. This is also reflected in his speaking ability. Oh, and he can't spell to save his life. [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08cjl Christina Lee '08] takes pride in speaking, writing, and reading Korean pretty damn well and thanks her mom who sent her to Korean school once a week since she was 4 years old. THANKS MOM! ( = Shawn Woo '09 [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09atr Alex Ratte '09] tries to quote Lee Jung Hyun lyrics except ends up speaking Japanese, saying "as for the fleeing tiger." Jodi Gajadar '08 can say "I love you" and "Of course!" in Korean, and recognize it when spoken by others -- all knowledge she picked up from watching Korean game shows and dramas, and listening to Korean pop. sunmi yang '08 As of now, [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09bjd Brian Delmolino '09] can say the following: "I am American. I cannot speak Korean. Where is the bathroom?" [[Meredith Sopher]] '14 can read and write, and speaks a little. She knows most of Big Bang's "Lies" by heart and will take Korean during the 2011-2012 school year.
===Latin===
A rather cool internet program created by Lee Butterman of Brown University is a text to speech program that will read any latin poetry or verse aloud and give you a decent pronunciation of it. Find it [http://www.poetaexmachina.net/ Here]
[[Walker Matthews '08]] has studied Latin for seven years, which implies (but does not guarantee) that he knows what he's talking about.
===Love, the Language of===
[[Marilyn]] is quite fluent. She lives in [[Dodd House|Dodd]] 201 if you need lessons in this language. [[Hoai Chung Truong Pham]] '09 wows the Elizabethans with his compositions in the vernacular of amour.
===Malay===
Another one on the list of Teng Jian Khoo's lonely languages, although Ronit may be able to get most of it.
===Middle Earth (assorted languages)===
[[Laurie Brink]] was the "official unofficial" translator and pronunciation expert for the NYC area premiere of the Lord of the Rings Symphony, and, as such, can say a variety of things in Quenya, Sindarin, Adûnaic, Rohirric, Khuzdul, and the Black Speech. It also helps that she has, in a certain sense, been speaking Quenya since the day she learned her own name.
===Middle English===
Rumor has it that [[Shane Bobrycki '07]] is fluent in Middle English. Also, he's a total nerd :)
===Mongolian===
If you use the word "hoorah" or "hurray," then you already know some Mongolian because hurray is a Mongol "exclamation of joy, victory, or excitement."
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=10ab Achbold Battogtokh] '10 A-Boo-Yeah!
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=10bt Bolor Turmunkh] '10
===Navajo===
Jeannette Rivera 12' Ya'teheh
===Nepali===
Rob Adelmanlaai nepali bhaasaa bolna aauchaa
===Norwegian===
[[Jack Nelson '07]] speaks relatively fluently, especially when inebriated on some good ol' Mack �l, due to an exchange year there before Williams. Continues to delight in the fact that Norwegian includes the words fart, snart, fred and slut which means things entirely different.
===Oppish===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06sdb Sara Beach '06] propetty swopeet, Opalden.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09emf Emily Flynn '09] is very jealous.
===Pig Latin===
[[Jono Dowse '06]] knows how to pronounce written Polish and has quite a few audio samples of Polish phrases on his iTunes account courtesy of [http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/ Peter Ladefoged].
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09bdk Brian Kim '09] actually thinks Polish orthography makes a lot of sense. Obviously this makes him crazy. Sto lat.
[[Mike Nguyen '10]] na zdrowie!
===Portuguese===
O Marcos Gouvea '05 fala português. E você?
Chaedria Robinson '07: Sim, eu falo um pequeno do Portugues. Douglas Washington '08: Eu tambam falo um poucinho. Ficava em Belem do Para para uma semestre. Foi bem legal e quero voltar no futuro. ===RumanianRomanian===
[[Laurie Brink]] knows just enough to sing the entirety of "Dragostea din Tei" (a.k.a. the Numa Numa song).
[[Toby Hall]] Also knows just enough to sing "Dragostea din Tei"
[[Andana Streng]] Born in Romania but speaking a funky kind of Romanian called "ardeleneste" which I mix with English when I'm really tired. And no, I don't like "Dragostea din tei".
[[Andrei Baiu]] Born in Bucharest, Romania. I still speak it home. I also hate it when I see "Romanian" spelled "Rumanian"..... I have nothing against O-zone. Especially Numai Tu, another great song.
===Russian===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06if Ilya Feldsherov '06] can do a Ukrainian accent, but no one would know the difference.
[[Joe Hutchinson '06]] pretends to have a Russian grandma back in the old country
[[Jack Nelson '07]] lived in Siberia for a semester. He thinks. He has largely blocked it from his memory. Has somehow retained the ability to sneer in Russian, but not much else, which, as a major, may prove problematic.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09bdk Brian Kim '09] used to beg his Russian teacher for borscht in the middle of the night. It was delicious, by the way.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09nyi Nina Ivanova '09] ?????!
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08slh Son '08] knows one phrase: "?? ???? ??????!"
Andrew Triska '10 makes baby Jesus cry with his Russian obscenities.
Sebastion Shterental '08
Rahul Shah '09 learnt enough Russian in 101 to pick up a girl in a party, make naughty talk, and purchase the services of a Russian prostitute. Needless to say, he failed to do any of those.
===Semaphore===
[[Miju Han '10]]
===Spanish===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=/09hek_2 Henry "Ted" Kernan '09] was born in Ecuador, grew up in Ecuador, lives in Ecuador, and speaks Ecuadorian Spanish...that hasn't stopped his Berkshire County friend insisting he's from Mexico. [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view/09mm_2 Monsie Muñoz '09] speaks Mexican Spanish- is slowly adopting a chilanga accent
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=/09adr Alejandro RodrÃguez-Prieto '09] also speaks Mexican Spanish- but can speak an even more special subversion- the Chihuahuan accent
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=/08lmg Luz M. Gómez '08] speaks paisa Mexican Spanish, can speak "proper spanish" when needed and can do a messed up chilanga accent----oh, and a beatiful Xicana accent
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=/07ps Pablita Santos '07] speaks Mexican Spanish and has a beatiful Chicana accent when slightly intoxicated
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=/06dr David RodrÃguez] speaks Dominican Spanish to his fellow Dominicans and a more comprehensible Latin American Spanish to others, but often swears like a Spaniard for no good reason.
[[Jonathan Landsman|Jonathan Landsman '05]] (budding bachatero)
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09bry Bernard Yaros]
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09st SofÃa Torres07jk Joanna Korman] (but apparently she speaks MexicanSpanish like her high school "pasos y puentes" textbook. She speaks and reads, a variation but comprehension of Spanish)real-live-native-speakers is not her gig.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08pmr Paulette RodrÃguez] can speak Spanish without consonants (also known as Puerto Rican--similar to Dominican)
Sarah Steege can speak with or without the sexy Spanish lisp.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09cjv Cat Vielma] can speak speaks spanish with both an American accent even though she was born in Chile. She truly has no "hispanic talents" whatsoever. [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=07sm Sara Morrissey] can speak Mexican spanish and a Chilean slang. She improves her accent in the same sentenceand dirty word vocabulary after she's downed some tequila.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06jkb Julia Brown] speaks Ecuadorian Spanish with an American accent.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08xjh Jerry He] lo habla
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook.view?unix=08tmh Toby Hall] spoke spanish in high school, but he's forgeting it as he learns german.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09jjm Julian Mesri] speaks "castellano" a form of argentine spanish that uses sh for ll and y, and to many sounds more like italian than spanish... and we use vos- yeah that's right, vos.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09emf Emily Flynn] took 6 years, an A.P., & taught it in her hometown to overenthusiastic middleschoolers. Su palabra favorita esta sacapuntas.
Paloma Diaz-Dickson speaks the language of her mother-country, Mexico. And she's also Bolivian...or something like that.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08eaa Evelyn A. Aguilar ]
speaks salvadorean spanish but with a peruvian accent (traveling messes with one's native accent).
Shawn Woo '09
===Tamil===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09nn Sandy Nandagopal]
===Thai===
"Pad Thai" is not pronounced with a hard 'a' like in 'paddy', but more closely resembles the 'a' in 'father' (but shorter).
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=07spt Sarun Peter Tosirisuk] has what some might call "non-volitional fluency" (he also just made that term up). Like a Thai person with Broca's aphasia, Peter can understand speech but cannot produce it, for the language is locked away in some deep part of his brain. Also, he doesn't know any words that wouldn't have been said in his house when he was growing up.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09yl YaWen Lu] is known to plot with the owners of Thai Garden, usually over a hot bowl of wonton soup.
===Turkish===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06eb Ersen Bilgin '06]
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09atr Alex Ratte '09] knows that "Tea sugar and Cream" means "thank you".
===Urdu===
All these students are fluent in written and spoken Urdu, the national language of Pakistan. Urdu is a unique language adapted from Persian and written in Arabic text, though it sounds identical to Hindi, the national language of India, which is written in Sanskrit Devanagari script.
Aatif Abbas
S. Kashif Akhtar
===Vietnamese===
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=10hln Mike Nguyen '10] native, but with a messy accent somewhat.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08slh Son '08] what does "phuc" mean? - It's pronounced different than what you think; but it means "happiness" (kinda make sense ;-))
[[Son Le]] '14 Purely Vietnamese in mind and body, yet he appreciates how his sino-romanized mother language helps him enjoy both romance languages and Eastern Asian languages.
===Yiddish===
[[Toby Hall]] speeks yidish-englishEnglish. "Look at those Goyem kvetching. Now that [[Morty ]] over there, he's a ''real '' Mensch." ===Yooper===[[Katie Montgomery '07]] Oh ya.
===Yoruba===
Tosin Adeyanju