Students with language skills
You don't have to be good at it. Just say what you know.
Contents
American Sign Language
Bengali
Catalán
David Rodriguez learned a little bit while abroad in Barcelona. Think of a mix between French and Italian, but pronounce all of the consonants.
Chinese
Cantonese
Jason Law '06 can get by, but not as well as with Mandarin (though Cantonese was his first language...).
Jing Cao 08's first language
Nela Vukmirovic '08 lived in Hong Kong for 2 years, and all she can say in Cantonese is "mgoi sai"...
Jessica Chung '07 (Wishes she had Cantonese soap operas to watch.)
Mandarin
Jason Law '06 can get by.
Jing Cao 08's second language.
Jason Ren 08's, but only after disgusting losses in Beirut.
Kim Fassler '06
Kristyn Bretz '06, but only when drunk
Estalyn Marquis has some awesome skills
Lars Enwereuzor Kana Ojukwu '07
Elizabeth Macek passable
Shanghainese
Lingwei Gu '07
Richard Zhang '07 You wish you could speak this exclusive dialect
Taiwanese
Rachel Ko '09
Toisanese
Amy Chin '08, but not really (she's an English major).
Jason Law '06 can understand it almost as well as Cantonese.
Danish
Heather Casteel '06 (drunkenly)
English
- British Accent
- Canadian Accent
- Chinese Accent
Jing Cao speak Proper Chinese Flavor English
- East European Accent
Nela Vukmirovic '08 speaks English with East EU accent, though she doesn't notice it. Hmmm, it's not even pure East EU, it's a mixture of several...
- Indian Accent
- Japanese Accent
Diana Davis '07 spent a month speaking English with a Japanese accent, so she can still do it very convincingly.
- Scottish Accent
- Southern Accent
- Wisconsin Accent
Katie Montgomery '07 has heard and can imititate an accent so strong that you will not believe that it actually exists.
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
David Rodriguez used to be much better, but he now inserts random Catalán words in French conversation.
Diana Davis '07 is still pretty good at French.
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...
Samantha Peterson is majoring in it, so she probably knows a few phrases.
Katie Montgomery '07 can, in theory, communicate in French.
Lindsay Long-Waldor '08 has not spoken in a while, but I might still have some skills.
Nela Vukmirovic '08' fourth language in which she has basic skills.
Tosin Adeyanju '08' third language I can kinda speak.
Vlado Nedkov '06 spent last year in Paris. He can say a lot more than 'voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir', althought that phrase comes in handy quite often.
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 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.
Vlado Nedkov '06 used to kick ass in German. Unfortunately, he's a sell out and has moved on to romance languages.
- Swiss German
Jono Dowse '06 has a German-language textbook on Swiss German and really wants to be able to speak it authentically. At this point, he knows the numbers and some basic vocabulary and grammar. (TAs swoon when he counts to ten.)
Greek
Hazen (As in I can write in it and tell you how to pronounce the letters of their alphabet. I didn't write this.)
Brent Yorgey '04 (ancient, that is...)
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 "$$")
- Modern, anyone?
- Joanna Demakis knows some but she dropped out of Greek school after first grade.
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.
Hebrew
Robert Streicker '07
Zachary Ulman '06
Davida Kutscher '03
Elissa Brown '09
Hindi
IPA
is not a language; it is an omnipotent alphabet.
Jono Dowse '06 is to the International Phonetic Alphabet as Al Gore is to the Internet.
David Rodriguez learned the IPA incredibly well as Jono Dowse's (who's Nate Sanders?) student in LING 111
Italian
Lucy Cox-Chapman '06 spent a semester in Italy
Katie Josephson '07 is dying in Italian 103
Nela Vukmirovic '08 loooooves Italian 103 (it's her third language)! It comes like a breeze after all these DIV III classes...
Japanese
Amanda Van Rhyn now knows how to say "my husband got drunk and hit me."
Diana Davis '07 frequently mutters small phrases in Japanese. People think she is mumbling, becuase they don't understand Japanese. In addition to randomly speaking in Japanese, she also randomly speaks English with an excellent Japanese accent.
Leah Weintraub '06 spent a semester in Japan. Ergo, she probably speaks Japanese.
Charlotte White rocks at Japanese, and is easily distracted by pretty things from Japan. She also says "WTF Japan" rather often. As should we all.
Korean
Dawn Robinson '08 is Korean. She can read and write Konglish, and say, "Hello, my name is Dawn" in Korean. :)
Latin
The Devil knows Latin. So does Joe McDonough '06.
Middle Earth (assorted languages)
Laurie Brink sort-of-'05 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.
Oppish
Alden Robinson '06 whopat dopo yopou thopink opof thopat?
Sara Beach '06 propetty swopeet, Opalden.
Pig Latin
Seth Brown taught a course on Pig Latin during Winter Study 1997.
Sara Beach '06 isay uentflay.
Polish
Jonathan Landsman '05 can say "What's up, sweetheart?"
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 Peter Ladefoged.
Portuguese
- Brazil
O Marcos Gouvea '05 fala português. E você?
Rumanian
Laurie Brink sort-of-'05 knows just enough to sing the entirety of "Dragostea din Tei" (a.k.a. the Numa Numa song).
Russian
Emily Button '07 can say "I've seen more women than you've seen sparrows!"
Ilya Khodosh does an excellent drunk old Russian man impression.
Suzanne C. Walsh '05 can say, "Her breasts are as big as pineapples" and can translate for fiends who lose the ability to speak English and can only speak in Russian while drunk. She is also known to mutter things in Georgian. And we're not talking about, "y'all."
Anna Tsykalova '08 says that all good things come from Mother Russia.
Sara Beach '06 (a.k.a. Zlaya Antonovna)
Spanish
Monsie Muñoz '09 (speaks Mexican Spanish- is slowly adopting a chilanga accent)
Alejandro Rodriguez-Prieto '09 (also speaks Mexican Spanish- but can speak an even more special subversion- the Chihuahan accent)
Luz M. Gomez '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)
Pablita Santos '07 (speaks Mexican Spanish and has a beatiful Chicana accent when slightly intoxicated)
David Rodriguez 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. (Joder!)
Jonathan Landsman '05 (budding bachatero)
Sofia Torres (but apparently she speaks Mexican, a variation of Spanish)
Paulette Rodriguez can speak Spanish without consonants (also known as Puerto Rican--similar to Dominican)
Sarah Steege can speak with or without the sexy Spanish lisp.
Cat Vielma can speak spanish with both an American accent and a Chilean accent in the same sentence.
Tamil
Turkish
Dave Senft can count to four in turkish, and also knows six through eight, and ten.
Marisa Lau spent a semester (Spring 2005) in Turkey so she knows numbers and greetings and maybe a bit more
Urdu
Aatif Abbas
S. Waqqas Iftikhar
Uzaib Y. Saya
Ali Moiz
Samreen Kazmi
Murtaza Hussain
Yoruba
Tosin Adeyanju