Ok, Lemmy, let’s play a game!
Post how many languages in which you can count to ten, including your native language. If you like, provide which languages. I’m going to make a guess; after you’ve replied, come back and open the spoiler. If I’m right: upvote; if I’m wrong: downvote!
My guess, and my answer...
My guess is that it’s more than the number of languages you speak, read, and/or write.
Do you feel cheated because I didn’t pick a number? Vote how you want to, or don’t vote! I’m just interested in the count.
I can count to ten in five languages, but I only speak two. I can read a third, and I once was able to converse in a fourth, but have long since lost that skill. I know only some pick-up/borrow words from the 5th, including counting to 10.
- My native language is English
- I lived in Germany for a couple of years; because I never took classes, I can’t write in German, but I spoke fluently by the time I left.
- I studied French in college for three years; I can read French, but I’ve yet to meet a French person who can understand what I’m trying to say, and I have a hard time comprehending it.
- I taught myself Esperanto a couple of decades ago, and used to hang out in Esperanto chat rooms. I haven’t kept up.
- I can count to ten in Japanese because I took Aikido classes for a decade or so, and my instructor counted out loud in Japanese, and the various movements are numbered.
I can almost count to ten in Spanish, because I grew up in mid-California and there was a lot of Spanish thrown around. But French interferes, and I start in Spanish and find myself switching to French in the middle, so I’m not sure I could really do it.
Bonus question: do you ever do your counting in a non-native language, just to make it more interesting?
I remember a few more terms and phrases…
But… ok so this may also sound ridiculous, but basically, when I speak in Japanese, I find my tone just naturally shifts to be lower, bassier.
I am decently good at singing in English, and am a baritone.
But when I just normally speak in English, its usually a bit higher pitched than the middle point of my singing range.
… But when I speak in Japanese, it is either at or lower than the middle point of my English singing range.
I do not do this intentionally and am not sure why… I do this, lol.
Maybe it is again trained into me from associating shouting out numbers and osu in Japanese with very intentional diapraghm/breathing control from Karate?
That’s really interesting, and your theory sounds good. All martial arts have their personalities; Aikido is very structured, but not loud; Wing Chin is very quiet, and more laid back; Jiu Justsu is pretty quiet, too, except for a lot of grunting. Karate is quite martial - it reminds me of being in the Army. I’ve never studied it, but one of my friends did, and I sat in on a couple of classes. There’s an awful lot of shouting.