Dunno why, but suddenly interested to know what kind of languages we have represented on the boards.
I am a native speaker of English and a fluent speaker of Spanish.
Would also like to learn French and Portuguese (have a head start as so closely related to Spanish), Swedish (ancestral language on my mom's side) and lately, interestingly and I'm not really sure why, an interest in Arabic.
How 'bout you?
I took Latin & German in high school but not since. I get a refresher on German every time I go to Germany but my trips are always too short to really become fluent.
Native English speaker but that's about it. I took French in high school but that was pretty much replaced when I took Spanish in college. Neither anywhere close to fluent but at least in Spanish I feel like I could perhaps sort of get around to a small degree (get a hotel room, order food, get directions somewhere, etc). Kind of interested in learning German....DH's family is of German descent though his mom only understands it and doesn't speak it. He took that in high school so can sometimes pick up a little in a movie or something. I suppose if I had endless free time I'd also look into some random, uncommon-in-the-US language that DH and I could talk just to each other, like Swahili or Irish, because that would be kind of fun.
Could get by day-to-day with: English, German, French, Spanish, Latin
Could at least find a hotel, order a beer, read simple texts, remove eels from hovercraft: Pennsylvania Dutch/West Central German, Greek, Old English, Japanese
Works-in-progress: Gaelic, Polynesian, Icelandic
Next up: classical Arabic, Hebrew
Native English (American). Intermediate French and Turkish, basic Hebrew and German.
English speaker here. I know some Cherokee and some Spanish and would like to be fluent in both one day. I took one semester of French in college but don't remember much of it. I studied Russian for a little while on my own as a teenager and when I was a kid, my grandfather tried to teach me some German, but I don't remember much of either of those either. I can say "thank you" in Thai and Russian and maybe French if I remember correctly. I wouldn't mind learning Japanese or Thai one day.
Only enough spanish to get myself into trouble. Took French in High School -- had a reality check when we visited Paris for a few days my Senior Year!
I learned when I served my Church Mission in South Australia -- they use many English words differently than we Yankies! For example the first time I was asked to Nurse a lady's baby or when I pushed myself away from the table after a very wonderful dinner explaining "I am stuffed"...Those words are used completely different in the southern hemisphere!
Last edited by Greg44; 9-4-12 at 10:08am.
I've tried to learn some Italian for my trips to Italy with no success at all...even Berlitz and private lessons did no good.
I didn't take any foreign languages in high school, although French is mandatory in Canada now, as we have a large province, Quebec, which is almost entirely French speaking and Canada does have 2 official languages.
Italian completely confused me with its' different endings than an s or es for plurals. Luckily I had an English to Italian dictionary with me as far as ordering meals, etc. but not for conversations...Italians speak their language so quickly I hadn't a clue what they were saying. Later on I was told they were speaking in their own dialect, which only added to my confusion, to say nothing of frustration!
My companion was born in Italy, so I left it up to him to interpret for me, even though he sometimes interpreted conversations in Italian, not English!
American speaker here, took German in high school and college. Original incentive to learning it was that my mom is from Germany and when she and my dad would argue and not want us kids to know what they were talking about, they used German. It was funny seeing my parents' old love letters in German. I've lost most of my vocabulary, but remember a lot of the grammar rules. I have cousins in Germany who've found me on Facebook, and I use google translator a lot when writing to them.
I only know a few words here and there in French and Spanish. I can recognize a number of food/menu items in French, and I can order a beer and ask for the bathroom in Spanish. Priorities.
English, thru college level of Spanish but unused. Have 8 years to learn Korean! Maybe this thread will be the jumpstart I need. Thanks!
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote