• Lvxferre
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    2 months ago

    It’s complicated. Short version: Portuguese and Italian.

    Long version:

    • Portuguese - native
    • Italian - have been learning it since a kid. It’s by no means native speaker level, but I feel rather confident in the language.
    • Venetian - I can speak some but I can’t write stuff in the language without pulling out a dic. My knowledge of the language is rusting and it pains me.
    • English - written only.
    • German - I can speak and write some. I use it mostly with my cat.
    • Latin - Classical pronunciation and rather decent vocab. Can read Caesar unaided without too much trouble, Cicero is another can of worms.
    • French - studied it a long, looooong time ago. Completely forgotten.
    • Russian, Ukrainian - sometimes I play a bit with both but I don’t speak or write either, I just know Cyrillic. I tend to use Cyrillic a fair bit for my personal notes but it’s always with Italian or Latin, it’s just so people don’t snoop on my notes.
    • Spanish - I never studied the language, my pronunciation is awful, but if I wasn’t able to read it I’d seriously question my own basic literacy for Portuguese and Italian.
      • Lvxferre
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        32 months ago

        Yup! And there’s some backstory for that.

        Back when we adopted Siegfrieda*, I was studying German; and I decided to speak with her in German for my own sake, it’s good for memorisation. But then I realised that she and Kika (our other cat) would pay attention to me separately depending on the language, so it was unexpectedly useful.

        *the name is also obviously related to that, but partially due to the meaning; it’s fitting for a cat that, when adopted, was beaten and starving and pregnant, and now only needs to bother about cardboard boxes and cups of yoghurt. It’s like she got her victory peace (Sieg Frieden).