294
edits
Changes
no edit summary
{{OldWillipedia}}
You don't have to be good at it. Just say what you know.
[[Sam Doyon '05 ]] Dey terk ur jerbs!
===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]====
====[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=08sjp Samantha Peterson 09mlg Mallory Green '0809] knows that no one who is "impersonating" a Canadian accent actually sounds Canadian, no joke about a Canadian accent is funny joke that makes fun of the to a Canadian, there isn't only one 'Canadian ' accentand finally, you are all jealous of how cute we sound. Ask her aboot it sometime, eh?
'''Chinese Accent'''
'''Pittsfield Accent (including, but not limited to, Berkshire County)'''
:[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09emf Emily Flynn '09] and [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09kdm Kristen Milano '09] grew up in the P-unit as people (I swear to God) seriously call it. They She had a mad deece time at THS and PHS, respectively, and were was wicked excited to come to Williams. They She could often be heard saying "Do it, you won't!", especially on the miniature golf course, at the b. mall, or at ken's bowl. Yee.
'''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===
[[Joe McDonough '06]] visited the International Esperanto Museum in Vienna, but by that time he had forgotten most of the Esperanto he had learned in a fit of boredom during Winter Study two years previously.
===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.
[[Carl Vos '09]] mom is french, and I know a lot, but havn't spoken it in a while. I can get by alright.
[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.
[[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
[[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===
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.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=07dpg Daniel Gross '07]
[[Melanie Idler '14]]
===Hindi===
[[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
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08sjp Samantha Peterson '08] speaks Italian with a sexy French accent.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=06dr David Rodriguez '06] knows all of the great insults and generally vulgar phrases.
[[Davide Carozza]]: born in Roma baby! [[Chaedria Robinson '07]] Is morally opposed to speaking Italian without a glass of Chianti. [[Rob Buesing '09]] gli piacerebbe se fosse piu italiano che 103, ma nonostante cerca di parlare italiano a qualsiasi punto con qualunque persona vuoi sentirla.
===Japanese===
[[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] took this in high school but now retains little more than the ability 's Japanese is fading fast. [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09atr Alex Ratte '09] knows how to pretend he talk like a middle-aged woman from Tokyo because that's what his mom is speaking . [http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08tjd Tom Derbish '08] has stumbled through four years of Japanese by inserting whatever he wants at Williams and is going to say stumble through years more of it in English between "watashi wa" Japan. [[Zac Whitney '12]] has taken Japanese for some time, and "desuhas 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]
===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===
[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 Øl�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=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).
[[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=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] рулез?????! [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=09mm_2 Monsie Muñoz /09hek_2 Henry "Ted" Kernan '09] was born in Ecuador, grew up in Ecuador, lives in Ecuador, and speaks Mexican Ecuadorian Spanish- is slowly adopting a chilanga accent...that hasn't stopped his Berkshire County friend insisting he's from Mexico.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=09adr Alejandro RodrÃguez-Prieto /09mm_2 Monsie Muñoz '09] also speaks Mexican Spanish- but can speak an even more special subversion- the Chihuahuan is slowly adopting a chilanga accent
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=08lmg Luz M. Gómez /09adr Alejandro RodrÃguez-Prieto '0809] also speaks paisa Mexican Spanish, - but can speak "proper spanish" when needed and can do a messed up chilanga accent---an even more special subversion-oh, and a beatiful Xicana the Chihuahuan accent
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=07ps Pablita Santos /08lmg Luz M. Gómez '0708] speaks paisa Mexican Spanish , can speak "proper spanish" when needed and can do a messed up chilanga accent----oh, and has a beatiful Chicana Xicana accent when slightly intoxicated
[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/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=07jk Joanna Korman] speaks Spanish
like her high school "pasos y puentes" textbook. She speaks and reads, but
comprehension of 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 and a Chilean accent even though she was born in the same sentenceChile. She truly has no "hispanic talents" whatsoever.
[http://wso.williams.edu/facebook/view?unix=07sm Sara Morrissey] can speak Mexican spanish and slang. She improves her accent and dirty word vocabulary after she's downed some tequila.
[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=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. (It's Devanagari script not Sanskrit)
Aatif Abbas
[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===
Tosin Adeyanju