Languages

[ddartt1 2]

Jacinta, who is a Meru, from Kenya:

Kimeru: mother tongue

Kiswahili/Sheng: fluent

(Kenyan) English: fluent

Kikuyu: fluent

Kichuka: understands, but does not speak

Kiembu: mostly understands, but does not speak

... and probably also some other languages/dialects related to her mother tongue (like Kitharaka) that she can understand but not speak

Me, an American, who happens to study African languages:

(midwestern American) English: mother tongue

French: college major (with linguistics), about 10 years of study, plus 10 months study abroad in France, but not fluent

Spanish: college minor, can sortof understand, but not speak well, getting worse

Kiswahili/Sheng: one year of study, plus 7 months in Kenya; I still suck at it

Kiluyia: have done research on about 10 of the 20 dialects can say things here and there but takes me waaay too long to put together sentences, and I don't understand it very well, but I know a lot about the structure of the language, and I've written some dictionaries

Kimeru: a few words, enough to impress the parents :-)

Bakweri/Mokpe (Cameroon): about 6 months of research, have written about the language, but I cannot speak it

Tigrinya (Eritrea, Ethiopia): about 4 months of research, but I don't remember much

Damar (My Wife from Kenya)

Luo: Mother tongue

Swahili: Fluent

Kiswahili/Sheng: Fluent

English: Fluent

Kikuyu: Understands a couple of words

Spanish: Understands and speaks a little

Me: American

English: Fluent

Spanish: Fluent

Portuguese: Fluent

Swahili: Speaks a little (learning)

Luo: Speaks very few words.

German: Understands and speaks but not fluent

Italian: Understands and speaks a little