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Do You Speak Any Other Languages?

Started by Flick James, February 04, 2012, 01:54:32 PM

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tracy

I took Spanish but didn't do too well...I think my brain kept shutting down. All the Spanish I know came from watching Sesame Street. :teddyr:
Yes,I'm fine....as long as I don't look too closely.

Ed, Ego and Superego

I speak idiot levels of Dutch, German, and French.  Enough to read signs, ask for things like "beer", read menus, and generally survive in good form.  My sister is a born linguist in much the same way... she can pick up survival levels of any language in a very short time. 

I am completely incapable of typing well in ANY language.
-Ed

Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes

Mofo Rising

I took three years of Russian in high school. Sadly, I don't know Russian at all, but I can at least read Cyrillic.

I also took four semesters of Spanish in college. That lets me speak Spanish at roughly the level you would expect a three-year-old to converse at. I'm an idiot at Spanish, but if I get to wave my arms enough I could probably get my point across.

I think everybody should know multiple languages. Sadly, it seems that the only really good time to learn them is as a child. Kids can pick up language easily, they're designed to. Once you get older, it becomes increasingly more difficult. If you have kids, expose them to other languages as soon as possible.

For instance, I can not roll my R's. It's a valid sound in Spanish that changes the meaning of words, but I'll be damned if I can do it. Try as might, the rolled R eludes me.
Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills. The people it kills, get up and kill.

claws

My mother was German, my father is American. I grew up speaking both languages. I'd say my German is perfect and my English is good.

dean

Used to be reasonably fluent in Indonesian [well passable] but lost touch after stopping studying it in high school.  I'd be able to pick it up again if I was studious enough but, meh.  Wishing I learnt arabic or chinese though [grandfather's Lebanese and I have a number of Chinese friends so being able to talk to someone would be essential in maintaining the knowledge.]
------------The password will be: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

BoyScoutKevin

Quote from: Mofo Rising on February 08, 2012, 04:18:06 AM




I think everybody should know multiple languages. Sadly, it seems that the only really good time to learn them is as a child. Kids can pick up language easily, they're designed to. Once you get older, it becomes increasingly more difficult. If you have kids, expose them to other languages as soon as possible.

For instance, I can not roll my R's. It's a valid sound in Spanish that changes the meaning of words, but I'll be damned if I can do it. Try as might, the rolled R eludes me.

The Finns believe the same thing. To graduate from the equivalent of Finnish high school, a student has to be able to speak four languages, only one of them being Finnish. If that was a requirement to graduate, when I went to high school, I'd still be in high school or would have finally dropped out. I have no fluency in foreign languages.

And I had the same problem, when it came to speaking Spanish. I could never get my mouth around the rolling R. So, the Spanish words for "but" and "dog," always came out sounding the same.

HappyGilmore

I can back up what Mofo said earlier about kids and language. My cousin is turning 12, and she's able to speak both English and Greek fairly fluently. She was born in the States to my aunt, and her dad is from Greece.

She's learned Spanish as well, but only in the past year. She knows more than I do in terms of Spanish.
"The path to Heaven runs through miles of clouded Hell."

Don't get too close, it's dark inside.
It's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide.

Vik

#22
I speak Dutch (as I live in Belgium), English (obviously), French, and German to a certain extent. I could survive and function alright in Germany but I couldn't have a decent conversation with anyone.

I want to learn Swedish and Japanese.