How many languages do you know? Which would you learn & why?

[blingbunny10]

I'm only fluent in one language, though I studied French and Spanish in high school. I feel like French was touted as THE language to learn in the 80s and early 90s, then it was Spanish. I don't know what the "it" language is now... Mandarin? I see a lot of job descriptions asking for it. Arabic seemed very in demand 5-10 years ago as well. I love language learning, but the ones that intrigue me most now are Mandarin and Italian. I am sadly very, very far from being fluent in any foreign language.

Sorry, I'm rambling! I'd love to hear from others on the topic, especially since we seem to have a number of people living abroad. I feel like we don't implement foreign language education very well in the states. Many international students I met in college were fluent in English, their native language, and often 1 or 2 languages on top of that!

Edit to add: Do you have any learning resources you'd recommend over others? And how do you keep in practice?

 

[monarch64]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I speak English and can read/write French easily but not having experienced total immersion am not great at conversational French. I took 4 years of it in high school and another year in college. It has always benefited me in my career which off and on for many years now has been in the apparel industry (also what my degree is in.)

At this point in life, I would probably like to study Latin and Spanish. Latin because I've become really involved in gardening and Spanish because I think it would be fairly easy for me to pick up and would be useful when traveling and definitely here in the States. My husband speaks 5 languages (I don't know if he'd say he is fluent in all of them) and that kind of blows my mind sometimes. I need to catch up! The waitstaff at Mexican restaurants always loves him.

 

[Matata]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I'm fluent in Italian and German. Know enough French to make myself appear stupid. Can speak enough Russian to make my way around St. Petersburg. Languages are relatively easy for me to learn. I suppose that compensates for the fact that I'm totally incompetent when it comes to math. And math is one language that I wish I could learn because it opens up the whole world of science. And I love science.

 

[blingbunny10]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

monarch64 and Matata - Do you have any learning resources you'd recommend over others? And how do you keep in practice? I feel like I've lost pretty much everything I learned in high school French, except reading comprehension.

I'm using Pimsleur (free from the library!) and Duolingo (a free phone app). Just started the FSI Phonology course to work on pronunciation. The FSI stuff is a long slog, but I'd highly recommend Duolingo for any beginning learners out there!

 

[monarch64]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

monarch64 and Matata - Do you have any learning resources you'd recommend over others? And how do you keep in practice? I feel like I've lost pretty much everything I learned in high school French, except reading comprehension.

I'm using Pimsleur (free from the library!) and Duolingo (a free phone app). Just started the FSI Phonology course to work on pronunciation. The FSI stuff is a long slog, but I'd highly recommend Duolingo for any beginning learners out there!

I wouldn't call it a learning resource, but I listen to/watch videos on Youtube that are in French. I use ASMR videos to relax and fall asleep some nights when I'm wound up but need to sleep. My favorite channel is ParisASMR: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbWm0JYZTmfyrjvQEe2ZdVA

He does a lot of vids in English and French, but plenty of them are French only. Other informal resources are singing songs in French (some I learned in high school I still remember and sing to my daughter!) counting and saying the alphabet in French, etc. Repetition is helpful for me. Once in a while I pull out my copy of Le Petit Prince and read some to myself or to my daughter. I have recently started watching Netflix documentaries and several have a lot of French speaking in them because they're about the couture industry. If you enjoy fashion you can watch House of Dior collection videos on Youtube and the sidebar will usually recommend a bunch of other French stuff. Other than that, you could try to find a Meetup group that consists of conversational French, maybe? Find an online penpal who wants to brush up on English and help you with French?

 

[Matata]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

Blingbunny...I rely on Pimsleur. Hubs and I study the language of whichever country we're visiting with the goal of being able to carry on a decent conversation by the time we get there. It's impossible to retain most of those languages which mades me sad. I grew up in a bilingual Ital-American home and won't ever lose the Italian. Took 4 yrs of German in college and have a few friends from Germany so it's easier to keep fluency.

 

[blingbunny10]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

monarch64 and Matata - Do you have any learning resources you'd recommend over others? And how do you keep in practice? I feel like I've lost pretty much everything I learned in high school French, except reading comprehension.

I'm using Pimsleur (free from the library!) and Duolingo (a free phone app). Just started the FSI Phonology course to work on pronunciation. The FSI stuff is a long slog, but I'd highly recommend Duolingo for any beginning learners out there!

I wouldn't call it a learning resource, but I listen to/watch videos on Youtube that are in French. I use ASMR videos to relax and fall asleep some nights when I'm wound up but need to sleep. My favorite channel is ParisASMR: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbWm0JYZTmfyrjvQEe2ZdVA

He does a lot of vids in English and French, but plenty of them are French only. Other informal resources are singing songs in French (some I learned in high school I still remember and sing to my daughter!) counting and saying the alphabet in French, etc. Repetition is helpful for me. Once in a while I pull out my copy of Le Petit Prince and read some to myself or to my daughter. I have recently started watching Netflix documentaries and several have a lot of French speaking in them because they're about the couture industry. If you enjoy fashion you can watch House of Dior collection videos on Youtube and the sidebar will usually recommend a bunch of other French stuff. Other than that, you could try to find a Meetup group that consists of conversational French, maybe? Find an online penpal who wants to brush up on English and help you with French?

Thanks for this - a lot of great info here! I've heard of ASMR food videos (which are kind of gross, lol), but never thought to look for French ones. The channel you linked to will be fun to listen to, and the whispering is good listening practice.

 

[monarch64]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

monarch64 and Matata - Do you have any learning resources you'd recommend over others? And how do you keep in practice? I feel like I've lost pretty much everything I learned in high school French, except reading comprehension.

I'm using Pimsleur (free from the library!) and Duolingo (a free phone app). Just started the FSI Phonology course to work on pronunciation. The FSI stuff is a long slog, but I'd highly recommend Duolingo for any beginning learners out there!

I wouldn't call it a learning resource, but I listen to/watch videos on Youtube that are in French. I use ASMR videos to relax and fall asleep some nights when I'm wound up but need to sleep. My favorite channel is ParisASMR: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbWm0JYZTmfyrjvQEe2ZdVA

He does a lot of vids in English and French, but plenty of them are French only. Other informal resources are singing songs in French (some I learned in high school I still remember and sing to my daughter!) counting and saying the alphabet in French, etc. Repetition is helpful for me. Once in a while I pull out my copy of Le Petit Prince and read some to myself or to my daughter. I have recently started watching Netflix documentaries and several have a lot of French speaking in them because they're about the couture industry. If you enjoy fashion you can watch House of Dior collection videos on Youtube and the sidebar will usually recommend a bunch of other French stuff. Other than that, you could try to find a Meetup group that consists of conversational French, maybe? Find an online penpal who wants to brush up on English and help you with French?

Thanks for this - a lot of great info here! I've heard of ASMR food videos (which are kind of gross, lol), but never thought to look for French ones. The channel you linked to will be fun to listen to, and the whispering is good listening practice.

Haha! I never watch the ASMR food videos, not a fan at all! I got into it because of the haircut ones. I can fall asleep in the chair at the salon if my hairdresser will just be quiet and not talk to me. I love the sound of the scissors!

 

[blingbunny10]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

Blingbunny...I rely on Pimsleur. Hubs and I study the language of whichever country we're visiting with the goal of being able to carry on a decent conversation by the time we get there. It's impossible to retain most of those languages which mades me sad. I grew up in a bilingual Ital-American home and won't ever lose the Italian. Took 4 yrs of German in college and have a few friends from Germany so it's easier to keep fluency.

If you don't mind me asking: do you and your husband share a common foreign language? My husband is part French and I've been trying to convince him it'd be fun to learn together. And it'd be so handy to be able to say something in another language when I don't want others to understand our conversation. As it is, I try to whisper in English and he invariably whispers LOUDLY, "Whaat hon?" "Shhh... never mind, I'll tell you later!"

 

[packrat]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I did a year of Spanish in high school and that's it. I remember some things, but only really basic words. Donde esta la zapateria, that kinda thing.

I've been (sloooowly, so sloooowly said the sloth) learning sign language, but SEE/Signed Exact English, rather than ASL/American Sign Language. I did look online for forums to help me and SEE was pretty much not welcomed, nor were hearing people, soooo I abandoned that avenue and continue to learn on my own and ask for help from the two interpreters here who use SEE.

I've wanted to learn Sign since I was a kid, but there wasn't anything available in the 80's to a little kid, especially in such a small community. When I started at the preschool there was a hearing impaired student and my lead teacher knew some sign, so I learned a few words from her and from his interpreter. He was only here one year. Then last year, one of my younger cousins started dating a guy and he has a hearing impaired son. They had only recently found his hearing loss, and he'd had aids for about 6 months when I met him, and he was 2 1/2 years old. He became my one on one at preschool last year, and my cousin and I jumped into some classes w/the interpreter that had been here before. We did 12 one hour classes, and I bought the ginormous SEE book, so that has been handy. Now w write down words/phrases we want to know and then I ask when the AEA interpreter comes, and the former interpreter is here most of the time to work w/him, so I ask her a lot. I love it.

 

[Matata]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

If you don't mind me asking: do you and your husband share a common foreign language?

No. He speaks south Texan very fast so most people, including me, barely understand him. LOL. When we travel and he initiates a conversation with a non-English speaker, the person always looks to me to translate without the drawl

 

[blingbunny10]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

If you don't mind me asking: do you and your husband share a common foreign language?

No. He speaks south Texan very fast so most people, including me, barely understand him. LOL. When we travel and he initiates a conversation with a non-English speaker, the person always looks to me to translate without the drawl

Hahaha, I can picture that!

 

[blingbunny10]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I did a year of Spanish in high school and that's it. I remember some things, but only really basic words. Donde esta la zapateria, that kinda thing.

I've been (sloooowly, so sloooowly said the sloth) learning sign language, but SEE/Signed Exact English, rather than ASL/American Sign Language. I did look online for forums to help me and SEE was pretty much not welcomed, nor were hearing people, soooo I abandoned that avenue and continue to learn on my own and ask for help from the two interpreters here who use SEE.

I've wanted to learn Sign since I was a kid, but there wasn't anything available in the 80's to a little kid, especially in such a small community. When I started at the preschool there was a hearing impaired student and my lead teacher knew some sign, so I learned a few words from her and from his interpreter. He was only here one year. Then last year, one of my younger cousins started dating a guy and he has a hearing impaired son. They had only recently found his hearing loss, and he'd had aids for about 6 months when I met him, and he was 2 1/2 years old. He became my one on one at preschool last year, and my cousin and I jumped into some classes w/the interpreter that had been here before. We did 12 one hour classes, and I bought the ginormous SEE book, so that has been handy. Now w write down words/phrases we want to know and then I ask when the AEA interpreter comes, and the former interpreter is here most of the time to work w/him, so I ask her a lot. I love it.

Interesting. I'd never heard of SEE, but wiki tells me there is a SEE/ASL debate. Was there a reason you chose SEE over ASL? Is there a lot of commonality between the two to the point that it'd be relatively easy to pick up the second system? A local high school student started an ASL learning club at her school and I thought it was a very cool thing for her to do, especially given that she had no ASL background/need apart from genuine interest.

 

[MarionC]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I'm learning French because I want to live in France, and I love the language.
Pimsleur is my best friend : ) A half hour every day while driving for the past 9 months.
I have gone from zero French to...adequate for communication.
I also take a private lesson now and then to help connect the dots.
At first nothing made a whole lot of sense and then there was a point at which I "got" something basic which made further learning a building process rather than a struggle.

The best book I've used - and I think it comes in all languages- is The Mcgraw-Hill "Ultimate Review and Practice".
There is a companion phone app that can be used independently. [look up Mcgraw-Hill Language Lab in the app store - it's free].
I have found it organizes in a way that helps me to get a handle on grammar more easily.

 

[telephone89]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I can read Spanish and French ok, and can get by if I'm speaking, but listening to someone else speak is way over my head. Mostly because in real life people talk quickly, slurr and shorten words, and my ear isn't trained enough to follow.

I'd love to learn Italian. I feel like it would be easy enough as it's not far from French and Spanish.

 

[jaysonsmom]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I'm fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese.
I also comprehend Japanese, Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa), German, and Spanish....By comprehend, I can understand what people are saying around me by virtue of having lived in the countries where they are being spoken, and I can read and understand instructions in those languages. The thought of conversing in these 4 languages would terrify me, but I hope to become more fluent in them when I retire and actually have time to study these languages.

 

[packrat]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I did a year of Spanish in high school and that's it. I remember some things, but only really basic words. Donde esta la zapateria, that kinda thing.

I've been (sloooowly, so sloooowly said the sloth) learning sign language, but SEE/Signed Exact English, rather than ASL/American Sign Language. I did look online for forums to help me and SEE was pretty much not welcomed, nor were hearing people, soooo I abandoned that avenue and continue to learn on my own and ask for help from the two interpreters here who use SEE.

I've wanted to learn Sign since I was a kid, but there wasn't anything available in the 80's to a little kid, especially in such a small community. When I started at the preschool there was a hearing impaired student and my lead teacher knew some sign, so I learned a few words from her and from his interpreter. He was only here one year. Then last year, one of my younger cousins started dating a guy and he has a hearing impaired son. They had only recently found his hearing loss, and he'd had aids for about 6 months when I met him, and he was 2 1/2 years old. He became my one on one at preschool last year, and my cousin and I jumped into some classes w/the interpreter that had been here before. We did 12 one hour classes, and I bought the ginormous SEE book, so that has been handy. Now w write down words/phrases we want to know and then I ask when the AEA interpreter comes, and the former interpreter is here most of the time to work w/him, so I ask her a lot. I love it.

Interesting. I'd never heard of SEE, but wiki tells me there is a SEE/ASL debate. Was there a reason you chose SEE over ASL? Is there a lot of commonality between the two to the point that it'd be relatively easy to pick up the second system? A local high school student started an ASL learning club at her school and I thought it was a very cool thing for her to do, especially given that she had no ASL background/need apart from genuine interest.

I'd never heard of it either. I thought Sign was Sign. The way I understand it, what I've been told, is that the hearing community prefers SEE and the deaf community prefers ASL. With SEE, you sign the way you talk, with proper grammar. "I'm going to the store, do you want to come with me?" And with ASL, you just sign the "highlights" I guess you could call them. "I go store, you come?" So, what I was told, was that then of course, you need to learn to write and read, and it's harder then to write w/proper grammar b/c you're not familiar with it. With SEE, there are separate signs for car and drive, for instance, and me/mine/I are all separate. With ASL, car and drive are the same sign, and me/mine/I are all the same sign. The SEE sign for drive is the ASL sign for car/drive. The SEE sign for me, is the ASL sign for me/mine/I.

 

[dk168]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

Cantonese (mother-tongue), English, and French (AS level). Would like to improve on French as I love all things French.

I can just about work out the menus in Italian, Spanish and German (attend a 4-week German course ages ago in Vienna in my late teens), and can say hi, bye, please, thank you and a beer in these languages.

DK

 

[jaysonsmom]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

Cantonese (mother-tongue), English, and French (AS level). Would like to improve on French as I love all things French.

I can just about work out the menus in Italian, Spanish and German (attend a 4-week German course ages ago in Vienna in my late teens), and can say hi, bye, please, thank you and a beer in these languages.

DK

Pretty much all you need in my book!

 

[HollyS]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I have many years of public school and two semesters of college Espanol. I wish I could tell you I was fluent.

I know just enough that I might be able to vacation somewhere, speak only in present tense, and not make a complete fool out of myself.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

Two different dialects of Cantonese and still trying to learn English.

 

[jaysonsmom]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I'm fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese.
I also comprehend Japanese, Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa), German, and Spanish....By comprehend, I can understand what people are saying around me by virtue of having lived in the countries where they are being spoken, and I can read and understand instructions in those languages. The thought of conversing in these 4 languages would terrify me, but I hope to become more fluent in them when I retire and actually have time to study these languages.

If I include other Chinese dialects, I can add Taiwanese (fluent) and Cantonese (comprehend). For those not familiar with Chinese, some of the over 300 dialects are like their own language, and have no similarity to Mandarin at all.

 

[packrat]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

Oh, I'm also learning a wee bit of Korean in Taekwondo class, does that count??

 

[blingbunny10]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I'm fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese.
I also comprehend Japanese, Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa), German, and Spanish....By comprehend, I can understand what people are saying around me by virtue of having lived in the countries where they are being spoken, and I can read and understand instructions in those languages. The thought of conversing in these 4 languages would terrify me, but I hope to become more fluent in them when I retire and actually have time to study these languages.

If I include other Chinese dialects, I can add Taiwanese (fluent) and Cantonese (comprehend). For those not familiar with Chinese, some of the over 300 dialects are like their own language, and have no similarity to Mandarin at all.

300 dialects?! I know Cantonese and Mandarin are very different. Is Taiwanese more like one or the other?

Also, this may be a sensitive question, but I'm very curious and maybe you (jaysonsmom and Dancing Fire) can answer this. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't really feel comfortable asking Chinese friends. Are there different attitudes or connotations re: Cantonese vs Mandarin dialects and their speakers? I think I heard that Mandarin is seen as the official or state/power language and obviously it's the dialect learned most by foreigners. Is there any prejudice again Cantonese or different assumptions made about Cantonese speakers vs Mandarin? I'm thinking of US regional dialects/accents... For example, how there are sometimes attitudes/assumptions re: southern accents vs. northeastern.

Btw, a (Mandarin speaking) Chinese friend once told me that "rich people" speak Taiwanese! I'm not 100% sure she was joking!

 

[mochiko42]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

Two different dialects of Cantonese and still trying to learn English.

I speak Cantonese dialect and some Mandarin. I know there are differences between Cantonese spoken in China and Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong, is that what you mean? Or do you mean Toishanese or some similar dialect? (Curious, as a Cantonese speaker I never realized there were sub-dialects of Cantonese dialect).


I am a bit like a magpie when it comes to languages, I pick up bits and pieces here and there.

Fluent (2)
English
Cantonese Chinese (reading traditional Chinese characters)

Conversant - what I call "intermediate tourist level", meaning, I can get around the country relatively easily, and understand/read 60-70% of newspaper, websites, etc (3)
Japanese (I've taken JLPT N4, slowly working my way up to N3)
Mandarin Chinese (can speak about the level of middle school student, but I can read simplified Chinese characters about 95%)
French

Advanced Beginner - I can guess the gist of a newspaper article, can get around as a tourist, can order off a menu.. but that's about it
(1)
German - studied for 5 years in high school but forgot a lot.

Beginner - I know a few phrases and words such as tourist vocab, I don't really count these as knowing a language.. (6)

Spanish - picked up from my husband who speaks a little Spanish
Korean - traveled there many times and have my menu ordering skills perfected.
Tagalog - have some Filipino relatives and picked up a few phrases from them
Thai - traveled many times there and picked up some pidgin :p
Latin - studied for 5 years in high school but forgot a lot.
Ancient Greek - studied 1 year in high school plus 2 years of Classical Civilization.

 

[ihy138]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I know English, Portuguese, and Spanish fluently. My family is from Portugal (I was born in the US), so I picked it up at home. My grandmother never learned English in the 50+ years she was here, so I had to learn it to communicate with her. I always thought she actually knew English, but pretended not to. Anyway, I do find that I lose a bit of the fluency if I go long periods without speaking. My in-laws are also Portuguese, so sometimes I'll go to their house for a refresher. The most comfortable I've felt with the language was when I was in Portugal for 2+ weeks. Nothing like immersion to increase your confidence.

I took six semesters of Spanish throughout high school and I passed the fluency exam. I'm less confident with it because I use it less often. I'm especially good at reading it for some reason. Because of my Portuguese knowledge, I pick up romance languages really quickly. When I went to Italy in HS I understood mostly everything. I'd like to learn French someday. I just find it so beautiful - but it's a little harder than other romance languages!

ETA: I know a bit of Latin, but not enough to be helpful.

 

[mochiko42]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I'm fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese.
I also comprehend Japanese, Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa), German, and Spanish....By comprehend, I can understand what people are saying around me by virtue of having lived in the countries where they are being spoken, and I can read and understand instructions in those languages. The thought of conversing in these 4 languages would terrify me, but I hope to become more fluent in them when I retire and actually have time to study these languages.

If I include other Chinese dialects, I can add Taiwanese (fluent) and Cantonese (comprehend). For those not familiar with Chinese, some of the over 300 dialects are like their own language, and have no similarity to Mandarin at all.

That's so true. My dad's family speaks Shanghainese and to me it sounds closer to Japanese than to Cantonese (my native language) or even Mandarin!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

Two different dialects of Cantonese and still trying to learn English.

I speak Cantonese dialect and some Mandarin. I know there are differences between Cantonese spoken in China and Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong, is that what you mean? Or do you mean Toishanese or some similar dialect? (Curious, as a Cantonese speaker I never realized there were sub-dialects of Cantonese dialect).

[

Yes, Toishanese like what we speak in our own village back in the old country, as you know it sounds different from the Cantonese spoken in HK.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

[quote="blingbunny10

Btw, a (Mandarin speaking) Chinese friend once told me that "rich people" speak Taiwanese! I'm not 100% sure she was joking![/quote]


No wonder I am poor since I can't speak Taiwanese...

 

[Trekkie]

Re: How many languages do you know? Which would you learn &

I'm fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese.
I also comprehend Japanese, Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa), German, and Spanish....By comprehend, I can understand what people are saying around me by virtue of having lived in the countries where they are being spoken, and I can read and understand instructions in those languages. The thought of conversing in these 4 languages would terrify me, but I hope to become more fluent in them when I retire and actually have time to study these languages.

I still get such a kick out of you speaking Afrikaans! Mooi so! Ek is hoogs beindruk!

I am fluent in English and two dialects of Afrikaans. I am slowly moving towards fluency in isiXhosa because our nanny isn't allowed to speak English to my son. I want him growing up speaking isiXhosa with native proficiency! My new boss is Zulu, so my isiZulu is getting a bit better too. I still sometimes mangle the two, often with disastrous results, lol. Historically, the Xhosa and Zulus don't mix - they're sworn enemies - so the fact that I even want to learn to speak isiZulu is met with some distrust.

I find myself sadly losing my Arabic and my Hebrew, but I know it's easy enough to pick up the Arabic again. Even just a couple of hours around Arabic speakers and it starts coming back.

I was told if I wanted my son to be bilingual, each parent should speak to him in their first language, but that's not really happening. My husband wanted me to be the English parent and him to be the Afrikaans parent (he has a posher accent than I do lol) but he has probably spoken 5 words of Afrikaans to our son.

At this point I'm not in any great hurry to learn a new language but I am working on improving the languages I already speak.