• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

The Language Thread

I don't know if this counts, but I've been trying to learn British Sign Language for the last few years, since a majority of my coworkers are deaf or have hearing loss and some communicate this way.

I know how to say hello and thank you, but finger spelling my name is tricky.

As for spoken languages, I have considered going back to learning French, since I enjoyed the classes at school.
Sign Language absolutely counts! I've always wanted to learn American Sign Language.
 
My first language is English, but my wife’s language is Arabic, which we sometimes speak at home. I studied Japanese in college, became conversational, then didn’t speak for a year and lost it. That was a very painful yet indicative lesson: use it or lose it.

I wish I had the time and patience to at least learn Spanish now, but I don’t even know where to start.
 
I wish I had the time and patience to at least learn Spanish now, but I don’t even know where to start.
I'd say first start with the alphabet/greetings and goodbyes/numbers. Some people (like me) like learning grammar and conjugation first so they can plug in vocabulary. Some people work better learning phrases.

This PDF provides the framework for Spanish 1, which should provide a good starting point:
 
I believe there's three types: godan, ichidan, and then the irregular verbs.

I've been very passively learning some Japanese over the past decade or so but I recently got a textbook on recommendation from a friend of mine called Try! JLPT N5. I've yet to really crack into it just yet but I really want to learn it properly after all this time.
 
I want to do Hebrew... can't find anywhere to do it :confused_emoji:
this is a long shot because i think @Maniacal Engineer learned at hebrew school(?), but maybe ask him!! he's fluent!
Weeeeeellllll…not “Hebrew” school, but yes. I learned Hebrew at school in K - 12 as part of my “Judaic studies.”

Unfortunately, that does mean that I’m not aware of any Hebrew language programs through Babble or Rosetta Stone, but I’m assuming those would have been the first places you checked out.

Hebrew is not an incredibly useful language to learn, since so few people actually speak it, and most of them are Jews and/or live in Israel.
 
Hebrew is not an incredibly useful language to learn, since so few people actually speak it, and most of them are Jews and/or live in Israel.
It may have a lot of benefit for those interested in the history of early human civilizations; the Near East was a pretty rad place.

Hebrew can also open up a lot of doors; since learning Arabic from my wife, I’ve noticed a lot of grammatical similarities with Hebrew as well as Amharic (Ethiopian). I think (I’m not sure, but making an educated guess) that learning any of those might make the others easier. That opens up the window to connect with a lot of people on Earth - kind of like learning Spanish, Chinese, etc.
 
Weeeeeellllll…not “Hebrew” school, but yes. I learned Hebrew at school in K - 12 as part of my “Judaic studies.”

Unfortunately, that does mean that I’m not aware of any Hebrew language programs through Babble or Rosetta Stone, but I’m assuming those would have been the first places you checked out.

Hebrew is not an incredibly useful language to learn, since so few people actually speak it, and most of them are Jews and/or live in Israel.
I just want to learn it for fun. Thanks for the help! I might look into these (y)
 
It may have a lot of benefit for those interested in the history of early human civilizations; the Near East was a pretty rad place.

Hebrew can also open up a lot of doors; since learning Arabic from my wife, I’ve noticed a lot of grammatical similarities with Hebrew as well as Amharic (Ethiopian). I think (I’m not sure, but making an educated guess) that learning any of those might make the others easier. That opens up the window to connect with a lot of people on Earth - kind of like learning Spanish, Chinese, etc.
Sure. From a historical perspective, it’s not a bad idea to learn Biblical era Hebrew.

From a linguistic perspective, Hebrew is very similar to Arabic, Aramaic, and other regional languages, and even had potential influences in Latin based languages, as well.
Heck, Hebrew, or one of its predecessors, may have influence the native Hawaiian language, since the word “Kahuna,” is nearly identical to the Hebrew word “כהן,” which is the word for our “priestly” caste, AKA, the descendants of Aaron.
The head of that group is called the “כהן גדול,” or, literally, the “Big Kahuna.”
 
From a linguistic perspective, Hebrew is very similar to Arabic, Aramaic, and other regional languages, and even had potential influences in Latin based languages, as well.
Heck, Hebrew, or one of its predecessors, may have influence the native Hawaiian language, since the word “Kahuna,” is nearly identical to the Hebrew word “כהן,” which is the word for our “priestly” caste, AKA, the descendants of Aaron.
The head of that group is called the “כהן גדול,” or, literally, the “Big Kahuna.”
Woah, that’s really interesting! I really like linguistics, so stuff like this always gets me excited.

I know the Romance languages all come from Latin, so there’s countless similarities between them. There’s also a lot of similarities to English (example: “abandonar” and “abandon”). In addition, since English uses a lot of Latin and Greek roots, I can sometimes recognize words in those two languages (example: pink in Greek is ροζ, pronounced “roz”, means “pink” and sounds similar to “rose”, a word sometimes used to describe a shade of pink).

Spanish also has a lot of words that come from Arabic.

Kanji, one of three scripts used in Japanese, comes from Chinese characters, so I can sometimes decipher Chinese words because I recognize the characters from kanji I know.
 
Sure. From a historical perspective, it’s not a bad idea to learn Biblical era Hebrew.

From a linguistic perspective, Hebrew is very similar to Arabic, Aramaic, and other regional languages, and even had potential influences in Latin based languages, as well.
Heck, Hebrew, or one of its predecessors, may have influence the native Hawaiian language, since the word “Kahuna,” is nearly identical to the Hebrew word “כהן,” which is the word for our “priestly” caste, AKA, the descendants of Aaron.
The head of that group is called the “כהן גדול,” or, literally, the “Big Kahuna.”
Say, I've never heard that before!

(also, what if you replace all mentions of Hawaii with Alola? :lapras:)
 
English is my secord language, I speak Spanish too.
 
Last edited:
Recently I've been thinking of yojikugo.
Idiomatic phrases in Japanese that are in 4 characters.
There's one relating to Pokemon!
電光石火 is "lightning speed". It's actually used as the Japanese name for the Quick Attack move.
There's a BUNCH of Japanese references hidden in Pokemon moves that are completely lost in the adaption.

Aerial Ace is called 燕返し, which's the name of a sword technique done by a prominent Japanese swordsman called Sasaki Kojirou (Sasaki Kojirō - Wikipedia).
Fire Blast is called 大文字, which, as explained by Dogasu here: Japanese Episode 059, is based on a festival held in Kyoto every August. He explains things further, so just check the link.

Now, people complain that I use the Japanese names sometimes, and that I refuse to use English names. Well, I think loss in translation is a big reason to do that.

Anyway, not trying to diverge the thread's topic, but why did you come back to a previous avatar that happens to match a little bit with my newest one, sorta-kinda? xD (they are both blonde-haired girls, anime style, facing the camera and with mostly their heads showing up)
 
I'm learning English basically by watching Disney movies and playing games (mostly Pokémon). Japanese is the first language I learned consciously and willingly. I did learn from various sources for Japanese: my cousin's textbook, internet, song lyrics, etc.
In school I did learn basic Arabic and Germany, which is now rusty as it can be. I do want to relearn both, though.
The most recent one I learn is French, by joining courses in the Institute français here.
Other than that, at one point I learned a lot of languages on Duolingo, but didn't go too far. Russian (learned Cyrillic alphabet and some words), Spanish, Italian, even Klingon.

Why? Because learning languages makes my happy. I don't know why, though. It just do.
 
I relate to this so much! I love learning languages.

Same here. I remember visiting one of the Greek islands for the first time and I'd never seen the Greek language written out before. When we got home, I took it upon myself to memorise the Greek alphabet and learn a few phrases in case we went there again.

Nowadays, I always try to learn a few phrases of the language of wherever we go whenever we travel abroad. It can a be bit awkward if I don't get the pronounciation right, but I know some locals appreciate the effort and there's those who want to practice English.

One other language I've been keen on learning since I was a kid is Irish, since it's part of my heritage and I also listen to a lot of Irish folk music. I once tried asking my late grandma if she'd teach me some, but the only phrases she taught me were some rude ones (she always had a mischievous streak).
 
Last edited:
Same here. I remember visiting one of the Greek islands for the first time and I'd never seen the Greek language written out before. When we got home, I took it upon myself to memorise the Greek alphabet and learn a few phrases in case we went there again.

Nowadays, I always try to learn a few phrases of the language of wherever we go whenever we travel abroad. It can a be bit awkward if I don't get the pronounciation right, but I know some locals appreciate the effort.

One other language I've been keen on learning since I was a kid is Irish, since it's part of my heritage and I also listen to a lot of Irish folk music. I once tried asking my late grandma if she'd teach me some, but the only phrases she taught me were some rude ones (she always had a mischievous streak).
I’m trying to learn Greek and Irish, too! If you ever wanna talk about either language, feel free to PM me!
 
Back
Top Bottom