Do you speak any other languages?

[Alaric]

Aside from English, that is.

I can't really speak it anymore but I still remember enough Spanish to be able to read it. I want to find the time to learn Russian too.

[Leyland]

I took French from fifth through ninth grades and then Spanish in the tenth grade. So that's from roughly age 11 through 16. I took a semester each of the two at university. The result is now I have no conversation or fluency in either, beyond simple phrases, but can read well enough to get the gist of the material.

I'm sure if I moved to a French or Spanish speaking area, I'd learn fairly quickly. The first French phrase I'd make extensive use of would be "Voulez vous parler plus lentement, s'il vous plait!"

I don't know how to ask someone to speak more slowly in Spanish, but I'd find out for sure.

[Ash]

I grew up just about 2 hours from the Mexican border and am rather ashamed to say that my Spanish is quite lacking. But once the majority of the families I served were Hispanic, I got into some conversation groups and started picking it up. I still need an interpreter for meetings, and home visitis, but I can hold my own in day to day conversations. I can read and write spanish much better than I can speak it.

I used to know Hebrew; we were taught it in our synagogue from about age 8, and I could speak it somewhat when I was in Israel in HS. But now I'd struggle just being able to say what my name is.

Oh, and I am fluent in ASL, American Sign Language.

Leyland, thats one of the first phrases I learned: favor, habla despacio, or otra vez (repeat)

[MLE]

I read and write Spanish pretty well, but speaking and listening are atill problems. 'Despacio, por favor," (slower, please) is a stock phrase of mine. When they are speaking fast, I can't tell if it was three one-syllable words or one three-syllable word.
Unfortunately, my Mexican accent is perfect, which makes Spanish-speakers assume I am more fluent than I am. But raised in Los Angeles, where you hear it all the time, of course it would be.

[EC2]

I speak French - badly - but enough to get by. I've been on self catering vacations to France and navigated the family through the everyday stuff. I can also read French to a certain extent - again enough to get by at a simple level. I took Spanish for 2 years at school and I've forgotten most of it. I am getting to grips with medieval Latin at the moment. (I don't think there's a smiley icon that quite describes my facial expression on that one. The nearest is :confused:!)

[sweetpotatoboy]

My French was almost fully fluent at one point but that was near 20 years ago so it's become very rusty. My Spanish was decent but was never as good as French. I still read both languages pretty much fluently.

I can read Italian and Portuguese to a reasonable degree, though less well than in the past, but have never really been able to speak them.

I can speak basic Hebrew and can understand a bit more. I have all the tools (vocabulary, grammar) to improve it but have never got round to it.

[Tanzanite]

Sadly, no. I've thought about maybe trying to learn French (has anyone tried one of those Rosetta Stone programs?) but I'm not sure my brain is young enough to learn such a big new trick!

[Julianne Douglas]

I have a Ph.D. in French, so I am fluent in the language (reading, speaking and writing). I have a reading knowledge of Latin and Italian, can speak and read simple German and can usually get the gist of written Spanish, given its similarities to French and Italian. As you can see, I love languages! I would learn more if I could. For some reason, I've always wanted to learn Norweigian or the Celtic tongue. Maybe someday....

[LCW]

As a teenager living in Japan I could speak Japanese well enough to get around and have a decent conversation with my Japanese friends. I could read and write 2 of the three alphabets. But now I can't hardly remember any of it. I think I could pick it back up easily though. My Dad and brothers who live there speak fluently and I can understand a lot of what they say when I hear them speak on the phone or something!

I also took a year of Italian in college but not living there and not speaking it regularly, makes it really hard to retain much so many years later. I've been thinking about getting that Rosetta Stone software though and re learning through that.

[MLE]

One of my daughters-in-law is Japanese. However, since she teaches business English, I can't say as I have picked up much Japanese language. But a lot about Japanese culture and mannerisms are coming through!

[Vanessa]

I was taught French from the age of 7 but I can't say it did me any good. I'm not able to speak it, but if I look at the written word, I can get the gist of it usually! I was taught German from about the age of 12, but I really can't remember much of it.

[Leyland]

For some reason, I've always wanted to learn Norweigian or the Celtic tongue. Maybe someday....

I'm with you on learning a Celtic language. The best way to learn would be to relocate to western Ireland for a year or so. Oh, the castles and the music ... and the pints and pubs. ;)

Scotland would work just fine for me, too. How much Scots-Gaelic is still spoken there?

[Ariadne]

I was a French major in college and remember a fair bit, though not nearly as much as I'd like. Also took courses in German, Russian, Old English and Spanish but couldn't likely get by in anything but German now, and that only on a basic level.

It was cool to read Beowulf in the original, though. The prof brought the class to a pond in the campus arboretum for that session, and we took turns reciting from it.

[tsjmom]

A little French.

[princess garnet]

Working knowledge of French and some oral Cantonese Chinese
I've had to use both while on the job at the reference desk.

[Julianne Douglas]

Have you ever heard Gaelic spoken? I did once--the Irish priest in our parish said the Our Father in Gaelic. I was very surprised at how harsh it sounded--lots of throaty r's and h's and hard consonants like German. I had always imagined Gaelic to be soft and mellifluous (how's that for a vocabulary word? ;)), but I was very, very wrong.

Perhaps after a few pints it sounds prettier...

[donroc]

I have forgotten school Latin and much Italian. My German is rusy, but I could get up to speed in several weeks. My Portuguese is better because my wife is from Brazil. For German and Portuguese, it is a matter of synchronizing my hearing to my brain in conversation.

[Ash]

I read and write Spanish pretty well, but speaking and listening are atill problems. 'Despacio, por favor," (slower, please) is a stock phrase of mine. When they are speaking fast, I can't tell if it was three one-syllable words or one three-syllable word.
Unfortunately, my Mexican accent is perfect, which makes Spanish-speakers assume I am more fluent than I am. But raised in Los Angeles, where you hear it all the time, of course it would be.


Hee, I also have a good accent, esp since my dad's deli hired many Hispanics and I was surrounded by it (but for some reason didn't pick up the language itself, go figure) And so people do think I am fluent, until they see my 'deer in the headlights ' look. I often add 'palabra de palabra' word for word, after despacio, and that seems to help

I think its interesting that many people who took a language in HS can read or write it, but can't speak or listen. This is why I really recommend language conversation groups. The one I am in is a mixture of levels and you learn from everyone, in normal conversations. Its been working for me, slowly, very slowly.

I am envious of people who know several language, and seem to learn new ones quickly. I remember how embarrassed I was volunteering on a Kibbutz in Israel, being the only one who didn't know a language besides English and Hebrew. I remember the Dutch volunteers who knew 8. Granted, I suspect its easier to learn multiple languages if you are from Europe since there are more surrounding countries and more chances to hear other languages being spoken. At least thats my theory (or excuse :)

[xiaotien]

spanish and mandarin.

i can read more spanish than mandarin.
i can speak and understand more mandarin
than spanish.

[michellemoran]

Enough French to get by (and ask where the nearest castle is!)
Serbo-Croatian (my mother's first language)
a little Hebrew...

I have to admit, languages are difficult for me. It's like music. Although I play the harp, it takes desperate concentration. Julianne, I wish I had your talent!

But if I could wave a magic wand and speak anything with fluency, I would probably pick Gaelic or Welsh.

[Alaric]

Scotland would work just fine for me, too. How much Scots-Gaelic is still spoken there?

Not much I believe. My grandpa comes from near Greenock (my nanna is from Stirling) and he only has limited Scots Gaelic.

[cw gortner]

I speak and write Spanish fluently; have a little French and a smidgen of Italian. I love languages; if I had to choose a language I'd like to know as fluently as I do Spanish, it would definitely be French. Italian is pretty sexy, too;)

[Spitfire]

Took french 10, 20 and 30 in highschool, cause Canada is supposed to be a bi-lingual country. I also know very rudimentary spanish. Just found a long lost auntie 10 years ago (who was accidentally adopted out at birth to a couple from Costa Rica. She was supposed to be placed in a foster care program, but her mom didn't speak enough english to understand at the time) So now finally being reunited, our families visit back and forth, them with their broken english and ours with our broken spanish and we get along just swell! Would love to be more fluent though!

[Mara]

Not much I believe. My grandpa comes from near Greenock (my nanna is from Stirling) and he only has limited Scots Gaelic.

Those are lowland areas in which Gaelic was never spoken much.

Road signs in the Highlands & Western Isles are in both languages (like in Ireland) but it's spoken very little. I think only several 1,000s still speak Gaelic in Scotland. But in order to get more people back into it they are launching a new Gaelic Sky TV channel. I'll look out for it, as I did 2 years of evening classes in Aberdeen 8 years ago and am curious how much I can still understand. Yes, Julianne, it's a very throaty, rough language, similar to German (much to my surprise) not soft at all. ;) The terminology is a mixture of old Norse, German and many words are derived from Latin.

Talking of Celtic languages, I tried learning Welsh when I lived in South Wales - and I had to give up! My tongue was in twists! :D

As for other languages, my mother tongue's German, I had English at school from the age of 11 (and gained a Translator's certificate at college), Latin for 4 years, French for 2.

I also did Italian at school for a year, and 3 years ago (20 years later) took classes again as we were thinking of relocating. Last year, I found my school French still useful when we went to Normandy in October for a holiday. I love the romantic languages and still find Latin a very useful basis for learning them.

As we're going on our honeymoon in Sweden next May, I've just ordered a language course CD. OMG! What an altogether different language! :eek: Looking forward to it...

[Ash]

>(who was accidentally adopted out at birth to a couple from Costa Rica. She was supposed to be placed in a foster care program, but her mom didn't speak enough english to understand at the time)

Oh my god. Someone needs to write a book about that poor woman's life!

Here, we have some bilingual signs, but if some people had their way they would make such a think illegal. I hate how provincial my state is. (tho I know its not just my state, its just some people but still... Yes expect them to learn English, but have these folks ever tried to learn to read another language? Esp one like English?)

[MLE]

English is the most difficult language to learn because it has words from so many other languages, complete with the spellings that came with that vocabulary system. But since the British Empire ruled the world a century ago, it has become the de facto international language. Several reasons:

The latin alphabet is used by more computer users, as is the QWERTY keyboard. Chinese characters make for a very unwieldy computing experience. Other alphabets, while less unwieldy, lack the aggregate common-users that the latin alphabet has. And of the languages that use the latin alphabet, English is the most common.

The aviation community uses English as a common language. A russian pilot, flying a Russian-made jet, landing at a Russian airport, speaks to the control tower in English. That is because everybody in the sky has got to be able to know what the other pilots are speaking, and the greatest number of pilots, early in the game, spoke English. (Although the terms for parts of planes, like Ailerons and the like, are Frence, as is the disaster call 'mayday', which is a bastardization of the French call for aid.)

Thanks to the British Empire, many countries, like Ethiopia, have made English their official language to keep peace between tribal communities who each have their own tribal language.

[Alaric]

Those are lowland areas in which Gaelic was never spoken much.

Ah, that would explain it then. :)

I'm fairly sure my grandpa's family were from Ireland originally too, as his surname (Murrin) has Irish origins. Nanna's family have a loch named after them though!

[Mara]

Ah, that would explain it then. :)

I'm fairly sure my grandpa's family were from Ireland originally too, as his surname (Murrin) has Irish origins. Nanna's family have a loch named after them though!

Ah that would explain why he had some Gaelic. Lots of Irish immigrants in Glasgow. A loch? How very nice! ;)

[Mara]

English is the most difficult language to learn because it has words from so many other languages, complete with the spellings that came with that vocabulary system.

Thanks for all your details there, MLE. Very interesting.

Funnily enough, I found English to be the easiest language to learn. The grammar is fairly simple, compared to the Romantic and Germanic languages, but I agree that fellow pupils struggled with the pronunciation. I think it must be one of the few languages where a similarly spelt word has different pronunciations (e.g. though, tough, through...).

I'm always intrigued when while learning a new language I find similar word stems. You can see the influences, for example, in the Gaelic, English or even Swedish. Fascinating!

[sweetpotatoboy]

As we're going on our honeymoon in Sweden next May, I've just ordered a language course CD. OMG! What an altogether different language! :eek: Looking forward to it...

I'm told that Swedish is relatively easy for an English speaker to learn as the syntax is very similar, i.e. you can pretty much translate word for word as you go through a sentence, rather than worrying about word order etc. Though the vocabulary is quite different. (I've picked up a bit of Swedish, mainly through pop songs.)

[Mara]

I'm told that Swedish is relatively easy for an English speaker to learn as the syntax is very similar, i.e. you can pretty much translate word for word as you go through a sentence, rather than worrying about word order etc. Though the vocabulary is quite different. (I've picked up a bit of Swedish, mainly through pop songs.)

I was a bit shocked by the pronunciation - quite different to the other languages I've learnt. But you can see some similarities in words to English which makes it a little easier. Using songs to learn a language is a good idea. I was thinking of buying CDs of the Abba ladies which are sung in Swedish. :eek:

[pat]

I can speak French enough to get by with, making myself known at the supermarket to get the right money and such. We also got good at reading the local paper, mainly to find out the results of Le Tour when we were there!

[Telynor]

I've learned a variety of languages, always finding them interesting -- Latin, French, Russian, Hebrew, and some Spanish. Enough to get around, and get meals; I just wish that I could use them more often.

[Spitfire]

>(who was accidentally adopted out at birth to a couple from Costa Rica. She was supposed to be placed in a foster care program, but her mom didn't speak enough english to understand at the time)

Oh my god. Someone needs to write a book about that poor woman's life!

I know this is going a little off the language topic. But my husband's grandmother's story and that of his aunt and mom is pretty amazing. The reason why his grandmother was putting her children in foster care, was because she had moderately advanced MS at the time and knew she couldn't care for them on her own. But she still wanted contact with her children. So her first daughter was accidentally adopted at birth (because of the language barrier) but my husbands mom was placed in foster care. She made sure she understood the second time around what was happening. So it was my mother-in-law's lifetime wish, to find her sister. It wasn't until 1998 that the adoption privacy laws had changed and we were able to locate her. She and her sister were reunited that same year. Unfortunately my mother-in-law was now in advanced stages of MS and bed bound in a nursing home at this time. But she was fully cognisant of who her sister was. Brought tears to all of our eyes. My Mother-in-law passed away 3 years hence, but it is so nice to now have a flesh and blood auntie not to mention all the cousins part of our lives now. The closeness we all feel despite the language barrier, attests to the power of kinship...we are blessed!

[Ash]

Thanks for sharing that!

[Divia]

I failed french in HS, attempted Italian, but was eh. I'm giong to try and learn Italian using the Rosetta Stone program. My father speaks Italian but wont teach me. Lame!

[Telynor]

I'm curious -- has anyone tried the Rosetta Stone programs?

[Divia]

I'm curious -- has anyone tried the Rosetta Stone programs?

I'll let you iknow if they work ;) Thankfully I am getting mine from a friend since htey are wicked expensive. My mom who is an elem teacher says they are good cause they teach us to learn a differen language like we learned English, with pictures.

We'll see if that theory is true or not. Anyway, I hear you have to devote 1/2 an hour a day to the program in order for it to work.

[MLE]

My friend (she of the 12 adopted Ethiopian kids) used them with the latter half of their kids, and she swears by them. I know Matt now speaks pretty good Arabic courtesy of those programs. But all of her kids spoke at least two languages when they got here, except the baby (who is now 13 and doing fine in Spanish). Besides the Arabic, she has them in Spanish, German and English.

[Divia]

If it works then I'm so getting the others int he series

[Telynor]

I'll let you iknow if they work ;) Thankfully I am getting mine from a friend since htey are wicked expensive. My mom who is an elem teacher says they are good cause they teach us to learn a differen language like we learned English, with pictures.

We'll see if that theory is true or not. Anyway, I hear you have to devote 1/2 an hour a day to the program in order for it to work.

Which language are you trying? It's good to know about the time commitment, which makes perfect sense.

[Divia]

I'm trying to learn Italian.

[Volgadon]

I speak Hebrew and Russian. I know Ukrainian at a basic level.

[Volgadon]

I'll brag a little bit. After a year of speaking Russian, I became fluent enough to enjoy Soviet comedies and laugh out loud when reading the 12 Chairs. I still speak with a slight accent, but people assume I'm either from Odessa, from Poland, or from an Emigre family in France.

[Carine]

Well living in Flanders in Belgium, my mothertongue isn't English but Flemish and because Belgium is devided in a Flemish and a French speaking part, I need French for my job.
I also speak a little German, but that's it.

My partner is a Scotsman living in Belgium, so we speak more English at home than Flemish.

[LCW]

This whole thread got me thinking about being bilingual and I've been feeling really bad that I'm not. I have experience with other languages but at this time I can't speak anything fluently but English!

Soo.....I went for it and bought the entire Rosetta Stone software kit for Italian. I don't currently know anyone who speaks Italian (my ex was from Italy) but it's a beautiful language that I've always wanted to learn. I think it'll be a good thing and will help me remember what I learned in college. Plus I like the way Rosetta Stone works and think it can really help me learn the language. I'm excited!

I suppose living in So. Ca, Spanish would be the best choice to learn but honestly I just don't have a desire to learn that language. Is that weird? It's the most logical choice but I really want to learn Italian instead!

[Divia]

1lila1
We can limp along and help each other :) Maybe we could pm each other in Italian when my Rosetta Stone comes. :D

It is a shame that Americans dont learn another language. Our teaching system is all messed up. They teach us in 7th and 8th grade when our brain really is no longer willing to learn it. booo.

[LCW]

Oooh cool!! I didn't know you bought it too! That's great!! Surprisingly I also still have my old college Italian textbook! We can help each other!

I did some looking online though and found another software with a higher level for a lot cheaper. It's by Tell Me More. A weird name but the software gets great reviews. Rosetta Stone had a 6 month money back guarantee so I may buy the other one too and compare then send back the one I don't like! This is so cool! :D

[whitelady3]

I'm portuguese, so that's my native language, but I also speak english, or I wouldn't be here. :) I also understand some french and spanish, specially in written form, but don't ask me to speak or express myself or I would fail miserably.

[Divia]

Oooh cool!! I didn't know you bought it too! That's great!! Surprisingly I also still have my old college Italian textbook! We can help each other!

I did some looking online though and found another software with a higher level for a lot cheaper. It's by Tell Me More. A weird name but the software gets great reviews. Rosetta Stone had a 6 month money back guarantee so I may buy the other one too and compare then send back the one I don't like! This is so cool! :D

I never heard of the other program. Interesting!

[Ash]

I suppose living in So. Ca, Spanish would be the best choice to learn but honestly I just don't have a desire to learn that language. Is that weird? It's the most logical choice but I really want to learn Italian instead!

Learn what you want to; you are enthusiastic and interested in Italian. If you learn it well, you'll find learning Spanish will be a breeze, since the two languages have somethings in common.

[Ash]

It is a shame that Americans dont learn another language. Our teaching system is all messed up. They teach us in 7th and 8th grade when our brain really is no longer willing to learn it. booo.

The school I teach at has a cool Dual Language program where the class is mixed with english speakers and english learners, and the whole class is taught in both languages. They start at kindergarten, and the program now goes up to third grade. Been quite successful from what I hear (I don't know quite how they do everything but at least they are working at teaching kids a second language)

I remember in 2nd grade (early 60s) I had a teacher who taught us some Spanish. I remember learning a lot, but rapidly forgot it in my very lily white environment. Wasn't till HS that I took a Latin class and then started to learn Spanish in fits and starts. I just can't help thinking how really fluent I would be if they'd kept up those lessons!

[Barbara Passaris]

Yes, French, enough to get by....and modern Greek. I grew up with it. I've a knowledge of Hellenistic Greek, too, though I'm definitely not fluent there.

~Barb

[LCW]

I'm portuguese, so that's my native language, but I also speak english, or I wouldn't be here. :)

Cool! My Uncle lived in Brazil for 25 years and speaks fluent Portugese. My Aunt (his wife) is from Brazil. They and all my cousins speak it fluently and at family gatherings there's lots of going back and forth between English and Portugese. I dated a guy from Brazil briefly years ago and he tried to teach it to me but I found it hard to grasp for some reason!

Also my graduate advisor was from the Azore's (sp?) and she's Portugese and speaks it as well!

Just typing this out I realize how connected to the Portugese language I am without actually speaking a word of it, lol!

[LCW]

Learn what you want to; you are enthusiastic and interested in Italian. If you learn it well, you'll find learning Spanish will be a breeze, since the two languages have somethings in common.

That's a great point!

[Alaric]

It is a shame that Americans dont learn another language. Our teaching system is all messed up. They teach us in 7th and 8th grade when our brain really is no longer willing to learn it. booo.

At my high school it was mandatory in Years 8, and 9. Then in Year 10 they make it optional, but they put it in the same category as Ancient History among others so you can only do one of them. I gave up Spanish to do Ancient History but I wanted to do both.

It was the same for my sister, she had to drop Japanese to do Art, I think.

[diamondlil]

In my first year of high school we got to do two choices out of three languages, but it was really hard to continue going on the two languages route for the rest of high school if you wanted to do English, Maths etc etc. In the end I did one year of Japanese and three of French, but I can't remember much out of either of them.

[Divia]

We started in 7th grade and went to 10th and now I think you can go to 11th becuause thats what the dilpoma requires.

My choices French and Spanish. yay.

[Alaric]

Oh, you could keep going at my high school too. You could keep going all the way to Year 12. It's just that it was put into the same category as a lot of stuff I had more interest in and I would have rather had done them than the language.

[Leyland]

I'm fairly certain my high school at the time (late 70's) required two years, or maybe just one. I took French in the 9th (freshman) and Spanish in the 10th (sophomore) years. I'm sure at least two years were offered in each, if not more. The school sponsored French and Spanish clubs that took field trips somewhere - but not to Europe.

I don't remember any other language classes being offered, unless it was German and I wasn't interested. Maybe I'll check out Rosetta for Gaelic to learn in my 'middle age'!

[MLE]

Uzma, one of my Pakistani friends, says that Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and French are just dialects of each other, and English straddles the gap between the Latin-based tongues and the northern European ones like German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian variants.

She is in a position to talk, being fluent in Urdu, Arabic, and English--all of which have completely different roots and use different alphabets, so you couldn't even use one of those translator thingys. She also reads and speaks some Farsi/Dari (Persian), Hindi (which she says is just a dialect of Urdu), Pashto, and Punjabi.

[whitelady3]

Also my graduate advisor was from the Azore's (sp?) and she's Portugese and speaks it as well!

Just typing this out I realize how connected to the Portugese language I am without actually speaking a word of it, lol!
It's Azores.

That's really interesting. I don't know many english speakers outside the ones I know from the internet, but I used to speak a lot while I was working on a museum.

[whitelady3]

Uzma, one of my Pakistani friends, says that Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and French are just dialects of each other, and English straddles the gap between the Latin-based tongues and the northern European ones like German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian variants.
Yes. Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Frech all come from Latin, but it doesn't make it easier to understand as there are several words that sound the same but sometimes mean the opposite. Spanish and Portuguese are somewhat more similar than the others, but I do understand some French also. Italian is a lot more difficult for me to understand.

[princess garnet]

Yes. Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Frech all come from Latin, but it doesn't make it easier to understand as there are several words that sound the same but sometimes mean the opposite. Spanish and Portuguese are somewhat more similar than the others, but I do understand some French also. Italian is a lot more difficult for me to understand.

Romanian is the 5th romance language.

[Veronica]

First language - swedish
Second - norwegian and english