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»  » are you bilingual...what other language do you speak fluently?
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| Pages: 1 of 3: [1] 2 3 > |
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are you bilingual...what other language do you speak fluently? |
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| P: 1/17/2009 12:03:50 AM | |
Dancing Fire Ideal Rock Total Posts: 10,227 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 4/3/2004 |
it is always harder to find a "mind clean" stone than a eye clean stone. |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 12:03:50 AM | |
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There are 76 replies to this message. There are 30 replies on this page. |
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| P: 1/17/2009 12:16:41 AM | |
Elmorton Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,750 Last Post: 11/23/2009 Member Since: 7/6/2007 |
I *think* I've had the equivalent of five or six years of Spanish...and I can't speak a lick of it. I'm about American as they come, sadly. Which leads me to my favorite joke - What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? (Bilingual) What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? (Trilingual) What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? (American!) My mom once tried to tell this joke to a guy whose second language was English. When she got to the second line, he thought for a minute, and then said "Polyglot." It was a word she'd learned just weeks before. Sigh.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 12:16:41 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 12:35:44 AM | |
DiamanteBlu Ideal Rock Total Posts: 2,474 Last Post: 11/6/2009 Member Since: 7/12/2005 |
Italian is my native language. I then learned English, then French, then Spanish. I eakspay igpay-atinlay too. Does that count? 
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 12:35:44 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 12:46:36 AM | |
Kaleigh Ideal Rock Total Posts: 25,919 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 11/18/2004 |
Hehe, I was going to say BS and PL. But guessing they don't count, LOL.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 12:46:36 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 12:53:46 AM | |
strmrdr Ideal Rock Total Posts: 23,296 Last Post: 10/9/2009 Member Since: 11/1/2003 |
stormish ........... Karl has joined the diamond trade and is now posting as Karl_K |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 12:53:46 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 12:57:47 AM | |
MrsG Cut Rock Total Posts: 152 Last Post: 9/24/2009 Member Since: 10/5/2008 |
English and Russian for me. Russian is my first language, but I'm more fluent in English now...
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 12:57:47 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 1:09:08 AM | |
kittybean Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,071 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 5/2/2008 |
Ukrainian (native language) and Spanish. I spoke Italian pretty fluently for a while, but I'm out of practice and have forgotten a lot.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 1:09:08 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 1:10:10 AM | |
Brown.Eyed.Girl Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,766 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 6/4/2008 |
I speak English, Korean and Spanish. The Spanish took a LOT longer than Korean
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 1:10:10 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 1:39:13 AM | |
brooklyngirl Ideal Rock Total Posts: 1,071 Last Post: 11/12/2009 Member Since: 10/9/2007 |
Russian is my first language, but I am much more comfortable with English after living in the US for 20 years.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 1:39:13 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 1:46:01 AM | |
Circe Ideal Rock Total Posts: 1,847 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 4/26/2007 |
Russian and English - I can read French, but not so much speak it. Apparently my default setting for accents is Russian (I guess some part of my brain feels that if it's not English, it must be Russian), so whenever I try, I get some kind person going "Ah, Rus?" and then they do their best to put me at ease. Someday, the immersion will work!
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 1:46:01 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 1:59:54 AM | |
arjunajane Ideal Rock Total Posts: 7,787 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 1/18/2008 |
None, I wish I were.  I did a year or so of Indonesian in Uni, but can't speak it properly.I really admire people who can speak multiple languages, and will definately be encouraging my children (when I have them), to learn other languages.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing." Kahlil Gibran |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 1:59:54 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 2:11:03 AM | |
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Brown.Eyed.Girl Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,766 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 6/4/2008 |
Date: 1/17/2009 1:59:54 AM Author: arjunajane None, I wish I were. I did a year or so of Indonesian in Uni, but can't speak it properly.I really admire people who can speak multiple languages, and will definately be encouraging my children (when I have them), to learn other languages. Hehe me too Arjuna! BF speaks Chinese (he's not Chinese however), and we've agreed: any children we have must 1) speak English (duh); 2) speak Korean (else they won't be able to bond and communicate with their grandparents (my parents)); 3) speak Chinese (BF insists, because it's going to be one of the most useful languages to know in the future); and 4) speak Spanish (same reason as BF's, except this one is one that I'm pushing, lol). poor kids! ********************** |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 2:11:03 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 2:18:47 AM | |
WishfulThinking Ideal Rock Total Posts: 1,429 Last Post: 11/23/2009 Member Since: 1/10/2007 |
I speak no languages besides English, my native language. Oh how I wish I could. I took almost 10 years of French at the Middle School, High School, and College levels and cannot speak or read more than a handful of words and phrases in it, even though my comprehension isn't terrible. For an otherwise intelligent individual I find this both appalling and sad. My grandparents speak Portuguese and live in Portugal, so Portuguese was my mom's first language, but I can't communicate very well with my grandparents because even with lessons I just cannot learn the language. I think I have a brain block when it comes to language-learning. I am a huge advocate for teaching children multiple languages at a young age when it's easier for them to understand because I think that being multi-lingual is an extremely useful skill in today's world. Just, please... be kind to your children if they're as terrible at it as I am even after putting in years of dedication and effort. Please. 
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 2:18:47 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 2:24:30 AM | |
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arjunajane Ideal Rock Total Posts: 7,787 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 1/18/2008 |
Date: 1/17/2009 2:11:03 AM Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl Date: 1/17/2009 1:59:54 AM Author: arjunajane None, I wish I were. I did a year or so of Indonesian in Uni, but can't speak it properly.I really admire people who can speak multiple languages, and will definately be encouraging my children (when I have them), to learn other languages. Hehe me too Arjuna! BF speaks Chinese (he's not Chinese however), and we've agreed: any children we have must 1) speak English (duh); 2) speak Korean (else they won't be able to bond and communicate with their grandparents (my parents)); 3) speak Chinese (BF insists, because it's going to be one of the most useful languages to know in the future); and 4) speak Spanish (same reason as BF's, except this one is one that I'm pushing, lol). poor kids! Sounds like a plan! Those kiddies are going to be busy! I think your BF is likely on the ball with Chinese. I find it quite disappointing that languages are not encouraged further in western schooling, yanno? I mean, take children in Asia for example - first they must learn English (apparently one of the harder languages to learn), then they usually speak at least one if not more asian languages, and then often dialects aswell. Similiar in Europe - it seems most have their native language, then english, then at least one other european language, often more.. I know this is generalizing, but its what I have noticed in my time. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing." Kahlil Gibran |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 2:24:30 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 2:32:44 AM | |
B.H.S Cut Rock Total Posts: 114 Last Post: 4/11/2009 Member Since: 1/3/2009 |
French, which is my, as well as my dad's, native language. Then Italian and Farsi (my mother's native languages), a fair amount of Latin (which is beyond useless because I cannot use it any where) and some German. However I used to speak and read German a lot better while I was in school in Switzerland.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So long as I can breathe or I can see, So long lives your love which gives life to me." - William Shakespeare |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 2:32:44 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 2:34:04 AM | |
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Brown.Eyed.Girl Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,766 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 6/4/2008 |
Date: 1/17/2009 2:24:30 AM Author: arjunajane Date: 1/17/2009 2:11:03 AM Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl Date: 1/17/2009 1:59:54 AM Author: arjunajane None, I wish I were. I did a year or so of Indonesian in Uni, but can't speak it properly.I really admire people who can speak multiple languages, and will definately be encouraging my children (when I have them), to learn other languages. Hehe me too Arjuna! BF speaks Chinese (he's not Chinese however), and we've agreed: any children we have must 1) speak English (duh); 2) speak Korean (else they won't be able to bond and communicate with their grandparents (my parents)); 3) speak Chinese (BF insists, because it's going to be one of the most useful languages to know in the future); and 4) speak Spanish (same reason as BF's, except this one is one that I'm pushing, lol). poor kids! Sounds like a plan! Those kiddies are going to be busy! I think your BF is likely on the ball with Chinese. I find it quite disappointing that languages are not encouraged further in western schooling, yanno? I mean, take children in Asia for example - first they must learn English (apparently one of the harder languages to learn), then they usually speak at least one if not more asian languages, and then often dialects aswell. Similiar in Europe - it seems most have their native language, then english, then at least one other european language, often more.. I know this is generalizing, but its what I have noticed in my time. I definitely agree! It seems in Europe, at least, children are really encouraged to learn several languages from a young age. I really wish my parents had made me learn more . I think we encourage things like study abroad at the college level, but not nearly enough to countries off the beaten path language-wise (nothing against English-speaking countries, but it would be good to encourage students to go to a country where they don't know the language very well, or just think would be interesting). My goal is to someday learn Romanian, just because I think it'd be fun (although what I SHOULD learn is Chinese, so that if I do have kids, they and daddy won't be able to talk about mommy in a language she doesn't know! )
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 2:34:04 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 2:38:51 AM | |
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MrsG Cut Rock Total Posts: 152 Last Post: 9/24/2009 Member Since: 10/5/2008 |
Arjunajane, I am taking Bahasa Indonesia classes right now. I'm having really hard time with it. I am hoping that being exposed to the language at all times will eventually help. It was so much easier as a child. I guess my memory is not what it used to be  My daughter is currently learning Russian. She fights me on it and refuses to speak it at home. I can speak to her in Russian all I want, but she still responds to me in English. She also just started Mandarin and Indonesian at school. Kittybean - I speak Ukrainian too. My mom is Ukrainian,so whenever I talk to relatives on her side of the family, I switch.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 2:38:51 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 2:49:45 AM | |
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arjunajane Ideal Rock Total Posts: 7,787 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 1/18/2008 |
Ha ha BEG, that made me laugh. No, we don't want daddy and the kiddies conspiring in Mandarin against you, lol! I will probably let my kids choose a language that interests them, but I do think starting at an early age is a good idea. MrsG, don't worry I am sure you will get there! I know when I was learning, when I did go over there things started to fall into place that didn't make sense in the classroom. I definately think children have a greater propensity for picking up language easier than us adults though. Did you speak it when you were little? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing." Kahlil Gibran |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 2:49:45 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 3:03:01 AM | |
chiquitapet Ideal Rock Total Posts: 2,107 Last Post: 11/23/2009 Member Since: 10/17/2007 |
Czech was my first, French second and English third language. Had to study German too for about 9 years but have forgotten all of it... Haven't really used French now for a while either, so my remaining useful languages are just Czech and English.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 3:03:01 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 3:07:51 AM | |
Steel Ideal Rock Total Posts: 2,982 Last Post: 11/21/2009 Member Since: 7/8/2006 |
Yup, English & Legalese.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 3:07:51 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 4:13:16 AM | |
pennquaker09 Ideal Rock Total Posts: 1,487 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 11/2/2007 |
I'm probably extremely rusty, but I was near fluent in German. And even though it's dead, I took many years of Latin.
Sephora is the mothership! - diamondfan |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 4:13:16 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 5:43:13 AM | |
Phoenix Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,029 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 10/5/2006 |
I am bilingual. I speak English and Vietnamese fluently though my English is much better, since I don't get to speak much Vietnamese these days and my biz Vietnamese is pretty lousy. I grew up in the UK, am married to an English speaker (who incidentally learned Chinese and now speaks it fluently) and use English on a day to day basis. I find when I go to Vietnam (these days only for biz and holiday purposes), I struggle a bit initially but soon get into the swing of things pretty quickly. I used to speak intermediate French, but again because of the lack of practice, it's become rather rusty! .Soon, I am going to have the opportunity to learn Chinese (Mandarin) and become really fluent. But that is the subject of another thread, I don't wish to thread-jack DF's thread! 
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 5:43:13 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 6:56:07 AM | |
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MrsG Cut Rock Total Posts: 152 Last Post: 9/24/2009 Member Since: 10/5/2008 |
Date: 1/17/2009 2:49:45 AM Author: arjunajane MrsG, don't worry I am sure you will get there! I know when I was learning, when I did go over there things started to fall into place that didn't make sense in the classroom. I definately think children have a greater propensity for picking up language easier than us adults though. Did you speak it when you were little? No, my first language is Russian. I started English when I was 11. By the time I moved to the States for college at 17 I was fluent. My mom (English teacher) made it her goal that I spoke English fluently and went above and beyond your typical school curriculum. Ladies, please go easy on your future children when it comes to foreign language leaning She was convinced that leaning was based on memorization, so she made me memorize dialogues, long ones. I had to do 5 a week (checked every Friday) and if I didn't know them by heart, I got one of my privileges taken away  Not fun...I hated it! But that along with summer long ESL programs abroad worked for me and sister. She still lives in Russia and is also fluent in English.We recently moved to Indonesia, so I'm attempting to learn Indonesian now. So far I know 2 words
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 6:56:07 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 10:14:50 AM | |
Asscherhalo_lover Ideal Rock Total Posts: 572 Last Post: 11/20/2009 Member Since: 8/16/2007 |
English and bad English, lol!
mmmm...diamonds..... |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 10:14:50 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 10:15:39 AM | |
neatfreak Ideal Rock Total Posts: 13,473 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 2/17/2007 |
English is obviously my first, but I also speak Italian.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 10:15:39 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 10:23:21 AM | |
blackpolkadot Cut Rock Total Posts: 420 Last Post: 11/23/2009 Member Since: 6/4/2008 |
English, obviously, and American Sign Language
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 10:23:21 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 11:08:11 AM | |
Haven Ideal Rock Total Posts: 6,088 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 2/16/2007 |
This is a great thread. Sadly, I'm only fluent in English (and even that is up for debate). I took Hebrew classes from 3rd grade through 10th grade, and spent my 10th grade summer in an all-Hebrew speaking sleepover camp, and then the next in Israel. However, I am nowhere near fluent now, as I haven't used Hebrew outside of my synagogue for years. I took Spanish classes from 7th grade through my junior or senior year in college, I can't remember which. Again, not fluent. I use Spanish much more today because most of my students speak Spanish at home, but I'm not even close to being fluent. I can understand a news broadcast in both programs, and conversations, but I just can't speak either very well. I can read both languages extremely well, too. If I ever want to earn my PhD I'll have to start brushing up on my Spanish and pick up another language, probably German, so I better start working now. ********************************************************** |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 11:08:11 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 11:24:13 AM | |
princesss Ideal Rock Total Posts: 4,581 Last Post: 11/24/2009 Member Since: 3/18/2007 |
I spoke Spanish fluently. I'm a little rusty, but can carry on a conversation, and it would only take about a month of day to day speaking to be back at 100%. ETA: I forgot to mention that I took a year of Mandarin, and I can still bargain fairly well in Thai. And I plan on taking French lessons sometime soon. I love languages, and I'm really impatient to understand more of them. I hope to live overseas again, so hopefully if I have kids, they'll be exposed to a lot of languages and study them. My sister understood Spanish when she was little, and started studying Mandarin in third grade. By the time she hit middle school, she could read a lot of the captions at the movies.
"It's hardest to love the ordinary things, she said, but you get lots of opportunities to practice." Storypeople |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 11:24:13 AM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 12:01:49 PM | |
Lexie Cut Rock Total Posts: 248 Last Post: 9/12/2009 Member Since: 4/1/2008 |
Spanish was apparently my first language, but I learned English concurrently. So, that would be two languages that I am fluent in I also took French from Kindergarten through 11th grade, and was pretty fluent in it. Unfortunately, I'm a bit out of practice now  Hopefully I'll be able to pick it back up at some point And then I also know some Italian. Would love to learn more! I'm simply amazed by all of you Russian speakers. That is not an easy language to learn/speak. Back when I was in Middle School, I was in a children's chorus, and we went to Russia for one of our summer tours. We had a hell of a time learning some native songs and key phrases (luckily, our assistant choir director was Russian and was a huge help), but it was definitely worth it. We all had a blast over there! 
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 12:01:49 PM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 1:18:45 PM | |
mscushion Ideal Rock Total Posts: 2,166 Last Post: 11/16/2009 Member Since: 11/15/2008 |
German is my native language. I also speak French and Spanish fairly fluently, though I forget some of it when I don't speak it for a long time.
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| Posted: 1/17/2009 1:18:45 PM | |
| P: 1/17/2009 1:32:54 PM | |
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Black Jade Cut Rock Total Posts: 497 Last Post: 9/22/2009 Member Since: 8/21/2008 |
I speak totally fluent English (obviously) and totally fluent French, and read and write both. I speak very very good Mandarin Chinese, and read it very fluently. I translate modern Chinese poetry sometimes and publish it. I can read the New Testament in Greek. Koine Greek is not a spoken language, so I don't 'speak' it. I can function in Spanish--I can't hold a real conversation, but I can ask for and understand directions and I can do my grocery shopping. I can read Spanish very fluently though. I can read the newspaper and I can read novels, which I do for fun sometimes. I messed around with a lot of other languages, but don't know them. I tried to teach myself Russian for about three years. I think it is the world's most beautiful sounding language. It certainly has some of the world's most beautiful literature. I can read some things sometimes but not very well and I can't hold a conversation. I apparently have an authentic sounding accent, but since I can't say anymore than hello, how much does it cost, I love you and where's the bathroom, the accent is not that useful! I don't think its true that only children learn languages well. I didn't speak any of these languages before I was 11. I didn't even speak good English until I was five! I'm from a country where they theoretically speak English, but its a very broken dialect. I went to public school and was speaking this dialect and since this was years ago, before political correctness, they sent me right to speech therapy and made me stay there until I sounded like a middle American, which I still do. I learned some stuff in speech therapy which I think helps me to learn other languages and I know it helps me to teach them (I taught French and I taught Mandarin Chinese at college level for many years). The key things with learning another language are to listen, listen, listen and repeat, repeat, repeat. Find a native speaker and repeat stuff after them, and watch their mouth and lips when they talk and make your mouth move the same way. Even if you think you sound funny! Go places where the native speakers are and keep speaking to them. It's best if you find people that can't speak any English, or you will end up switching to that (especially because most native speakers are anxious to learn English. This is what keeps happening to me with Spanish. Spanish people in this country are so anxious to learn English that they won't speak Spanish with me for more than 2 seconds.) And most of all, don't think you have no gift for languages because your only experience with language study was in a classroom of 30 people that met for an hour a week taught by someone with a strong American accent themselves! Nobody could learn a language under those circumstances, it has nothing to do with your age or your talent. Try again now! Black Jade |
| Posted: 1/17/2009 1:32:54 PM | |
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