Do you speak another language (or wish you did)?

[AGBF]

I am refreshing this thread because I love it and do not want to start a new one and, also, because I cannot find the one in which Matata and I discuss our language studies. I like that one as well as this one because in that one she describes studying a language every time she and her husband travel, which I find amazing.

For a while I used to spend some time every day on a site called Duolingo studying four languages to which i had already been introduced: French, Spanish, Italian, and German. After a while I just stopped studying at all. Recently, out of a feeling of lack of purpose I decided just to study French, my best language. I got up to a fairly high level just by putting in time. (Duolingo requires that one put in time; it doesn't simply measure one's proficiency.)

After a while I got bored and noticed that someone who had taken my interest (one can "follow" others) was at Level 9 of Czech. I read about Czech and decided to study it since Slovak, my mother's family's language, was not available. At first it had me in gales of laughter. I absolutely could not relate to it at all. Its being a Slavic language made it totally unlike the Romance languages with which I was familiar and was not at all like any German I remembered, either. (And I do not have the benefit of having studied Greek or Latin.) I couldn't tell any of the words from each other and just stumbled, making an error every time I answered any question. I actually thought I would never learn it. Then I noticed that "Goodnight" in Czech was like "Goodnight" in Slovak which I had said to my great grandmother as a child. And I started to see variations of "good" everywhere although it changed slightly depending on the gender. I have really been enjoying it.

Language study has been a big part of my day for several weeks now, so i though I'd ask people here to tell me if they are currently studying or using any of their non-native languages. I know, for example, that kipari is living in France. I may be wrong, but I do not believe that French is her native tongue. I'd also just welcome more information on who speaks different languages. This topic fascinates me and I know how many talented linguists (actually polyglots) we have on Pricescope.

Does anyone feel like refreshing his or her information?

Deb/AGBF

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I wish I could speak Latin, French, Spanish and German.

 

[jaysonsmom]

I’m of mixed Asian heritage, and fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese. But due to my dad’s career as a diplomat, and my own international regulatory career, I also understand Cantonese, Taiwanese (Chinese dialects), and can read/understand Afrikaans, Dutch, German, French, Spanish and Japanese. My husband is Korean-American and pretty much speaks English only. He has elementary level comprehension of spoken Korean, and does not read or write Korean. My poor kids who are born and raise here in California only speak English, but have just started taking a bit of Mandarin in high school.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

your all so amazing
i am especially impressed by anyone who can write in a Chinese language

i only speak English
and not all that well !
im always impressed by European people's command of English
it really puts those of us who only know one language to shame
Here in New Zealand I watch the Maori channel on tv because they have good local content and they sceen art house and foreign films, but mostly what i watch is subtitled or in English

at my high school it was either a language or history and i went with history

wish i could have learnt Latin but it wasn't even available at our school

 

[AGBF]

I’m of mixed Asian heritage, and fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese. But due to my dad’s career as a diplomat, and my own international regulatory career, I also understand Cantonese, Taiwanese (Chinese dialects), and can read/understand Afrikaans, Dutch, German, French, Spanish and Japanese. My husband is Korean-American and pretty much speaks English only. He has elementary level comprehension of spoken Korean, and does not read or write Korean. My poor kids who are born and raise here in California only speak English, but have just started taking a bit of Mandarin in high school.

This is incredibly impressive, jaysonsmom. I actually cannot wrap my mind around how it would be to be this much of a polyglot, although several posters in the first part of the thread (the part written in 2017) also left me with my jaw hanging open. Thank you for sharing this.

Deb

 

[GliderPoss]

I speak English (native) and obviously Australian but I'm self-teaching (via Babel) German as I did several years at school and would really like to live there one day. I think safe to say I'm not a natural at languages but I am surprised how much I recall even now many years after school.

 

[OoohShiny]

I think one is either naturally inclined towards languages or totally not - and I am the latter

I was away with a group the other week, one of whom was a Scottish chap who spoke English, German and French pretty much fluently! Most annoying, lol.

I am English and did Latin, German and French at school, but the first two are gone from my memory

Lack of use (and lack of context when learning in a classroom) are the main issues for me!

I'd love to be fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish...

 

[missy]

I used to be fluent in Spanish, Hebrew and speak enough Russian to take a history and do an eye exam. I have never been too fluent in English however and according to my dh when I make up words and phrases he asks if English is my second language.

Currently I cannot speak or read Hebrew to save my life. Haven't used it in 32 years and I have no memory of it but for a few words. Regarding Spanish I could probably get by but I am no longer fluent by any means and as for Russian I forgot everything but a couple of words. Don't use it you lose it at least if you have Missy brain.

I would love to learn French and Italian as I find them to be beautiful languages. Glorious and romantic. However my brain has no such capacity any longer for learning languages so I remain fluent in no language these days.

I used to think how romantic a job it would be to be a translator of all languages and travel the world while working and translating. It would be lovely to be able to converse with everyone everywhere. No communication barriers. A dream.