How many languages can you speak?

[jazzpicker]

It amazes me to read the posts here. THey are usually well written, using good grammar and the thing that impresses me the most is that many of the posts are from people from other countries.

 

I have to travel in South America and have learned spanish on my own and DAMN it's a huge undertaking. After a few years of studying on the net and using books , I am barely becoming fluent.

I guess what I am trying to say is when you see a post from Portugal or Germany, try to respond in a way that it is easy to understand. I'm glad that I'm not trying to learn about overclocking in Spanish or German.

 

Just wondering how many people out there that were born in North America can speak more than one language and from the people that live in other countries, how did you learn to speak english?

[SeanDude05]

I am fluent in english and spanish. I don't want to seem racist, because I am not, but learning spanish was just a no-brainer when I lived in Colorado. Helped a lot in the day-to-day.

[smolt]

Well Miss Anita can speak 6 different languages. It a shame that North America handicaps the learning of languages In there schools. Here in NL its not a kids chores. 4 languages WILL be learned in school here before you grad. But then schooling here you cant compare to the states. As the schooling here exceeds anything the states can dream of. Like my oldest boy here. he wont to be a chef. now the high school he goes to has 8 full blown kitchens. with each having everything to make everything from candy to 4 **** cooking from scratch. they have 6 full blown restaurants to server there food the kids make. and 12 full blown bars . they have there own cooking TV show recorded at the school daily, they have 5 candy stores and bread stores were people off the street are welcome to come spend there money. This is high school I'm talking here. They wear $250 tux two day a week and work them restraints for free

[michaelzhao]

I speak 2 fluently. Mandarin Chinese and English. Learned English when I was 5 so it was really easy.

[JiveTurkey]

Sometimes I feel like the "arrogant, stupid American" that only speaks English. I know bits and pieces of a couple of languages but would be lost if dropped into another country and expected to communicate. But, in my defense, I've also not had a compelling reason to learn another language. Especially when the rest of the world seems to cater to English-speakers. Behold the power of capitalism.

 

I do wish sometimes that I'd grown up somewhere in Europe, which seems to be much more multi-cultural than the US. But I also know that a lot of that comes simply from European nations' proximity to other languagues and cultures. I really believe, though, that learning other languages depends on getting an early start or as much immersion as possible.

[steelballzz]

well

i read,write and speak English

understand spanish and can talk enough to get by....its similar to Portuguese

i can read French....and talk a bit

and i can say like 10 words in German:rolleyes:

[calvintang]

good in reading english.. but speaks softly

good in speeking manderin chines-can write basics words and my name

ok in bahasa malayu/malay launguge so-so in reading and writing

[ReelFiles]

German was my native language for 15 years. I learned some English in classes, but most was learned after I moved to America alone. No one here spoke German, so I had to learn by taking ESL (English as a second language) classes, in middle school. I guess I had an aptitude towards learning other languages, because I graduated their 3 year program in 6 months, and was reassigned to normal classes. After a while I stopped thinking in German (having to translate in my head), once I started thinking in English, my vocabulary grew immensely and some people think I just have a lisp instead of an accent now (unless I am drunk ). I think my grammar and vocabulary was actually better then, but now I assimilated to the usual NY slang, i.e.; gonna, wanna, shoulda, you get the point. Now I have problems trying to speak German, I don't even remember a lot of words and I Google whatever I don't recall.

I do want to teach my son German, hopefully it’ll come back to me then. The younger you are the easier it is to learn another language, well I am not old, but I am 26, so it’s going to be a bit harder for me than my son.

I think that European schools are just better in so many ways, and learning another language in American schools is usually very hard. I know a lot of people that graduated high school, not speaking a word of the language they had learned since 6th grade, that's just sad. I had no choice but to learn quickly, if I wanted to communicate with people without getting weird looks and made fun off.

 

The important part, if you want to learn a new language, is you have to use it constantly, and train your brain to think in that language.

[Guest SuppA-SnipA]

engrish, some serbian(forgot a lot), and hungarian

[Evil_inc]

I am good with english, but maryand's standardized tests seem th say otherwise.

 

I can understand written french, and can write it to but in broken french.

[petercintn]

Momma spoke cajun french and cajun english, didn't get either right, they couldn't understand her in France but she could understand them. But I never picked up anything but the redneck ramble of southeastern North Carolina, which is not to be confused with the Andy Griffin western NC hillbilly speak, that is much more likable.

[Onsightsmith]

English

But I can get a beer, get in a fight and get laid in spanish, russian and german, not neccasarily in that order