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 (Emily Cotton)]

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 !)

[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 (Emily Cotton)]

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!