How to say "I know a little Latin" in Latin

Question

I would like to translate the following sentence into Latin:

I know a little Latin

Here is my attempt:

Ego parva lingva latina

I don't know if that is right. Can someone suggest a better translation?

Answer 1

I'm partial to using scire ("to know) + loqui ("to speak") in the infinitive, which means more "to know how to speak" rather than "to know to speak." Here's an example from Plautus:

Plautus, Asinaria IV.I.792-793:

Parasitus: Neque ullum verbum faciat perplexabile,
neque ulla lingua sciat loqui nisi Attica.

And she is not to use any shuffling words, nor is she to know how to speak in any tongue but the Attic.

You also see this construction in Aulus Gellius' famous description of Quintus Ennius (Attic Nights 17.17):

Quintus Ennius tria corda habere sese dicebat, quod loqui Graece et Osce et Latine sciret.

Quintus Ennius used to say that he had three minds, because he knew how to speak Greek, Oscan, and Latin.

You don't need the loqui though. You could just use scire + the adverb of the language (which otherwise are properly adjectives). Here are some examples:

Cicero, De Oratore 2.59:

ubi sunt, qui Antonium Graece negant scire?

Where are they, who deny that Antonius knows Greek?

Cicero, Ad Familiares 9.22:

nihil est ergo in verbo, quoniam et ego Graece scio et tamen tibi dico ‘bini,’ idque tu facis quasi ego Graece, non Latine, dixerim.

Then there is nothing in the word, since I know Greek, and I still say to you ‘bini,’ and you behave as though I spoke in Greek instead of in Latin. (Translated by Shackleton Bailey)

For the last remaining part, I would use paulum (neut. acc. adverbial usage of paulus), like Cicero does here:

[epistolae] me paulum recreant

[Your letters] restore me [=my soul] a little bit.

Putting that all together, you get:

Latine paulum [loqui] scio.