languages
 

Hi, does anyone here speak any other languages, or are you currently learning any other languages? If so what one(s)? How long did it take before you were comfortable speaking in that language? How did you learn?

Etc

Cheers.

I speak Spanish and Turkish pretty fluently. For Spanish, it's largely because I've lived in Spanish-speaking countries and I have worked in Spanish-speaking environments. Since making friends who speak Spanish, using it every day has kept my skills alive and well.

I live in Turkey, and it's a work in progress. I'm never really "forced" to use it, so I'm at more of a conversational/functional level. I can't read or write very well.

I also understand Arabic and Japanese. I studied both of these languages for 3 years each at the university level. For Arabic, my skills are very literature and book based. I can read and write, but I'll be damned if anyone asks me to speak. Beyond that, it's necessary to learn a dialect, separately from "modern standard" arabic (MSA), which takes time. Learning MSA for use in today's world is like learning Latin to use in Italy.

For Japanese, I can read about 200 characters and I taught myself the syllabic alphabets at 14 or 15, so they'll stick with me forever. I can understand most Japanese people talking and I can interject a thing or two, but I'd put me somewhere at a pre-intermediate level if tested. This is largely because I never studied in Japan or wrote essays in the language. I also lost interest in Japanese culture after university so it's fallen into disuse.

I dunno if you were looking for advice or if you were just curious about other people's experiences, but from my rambling you can largely take away "use it or lose it". It's not worth learning a language if you're not going to do stuff in it. That is, make friends, work, watch movies/listen to music, or even study the history of places where it is used.

Anyway, I love learning languages. I'm addicted and I can't stop!

Well, you win.

It's not a contest Exo. Even it was, I'm sure you wouldn't necessarily lose it. :) :)

A bit of both tbh, advice and just interested in other members experiences with languages.

That's really impressive. What is your first language and how old were you when you first started to learn a new language? I am 23 so would probably have been better off starting earlier. I am learning Spanish at the moment, first choice was German but going by what other people told me that seems very difficult, and I have an interest in Spain + have Central American family so made sense to go for Spanish. Possibly more useful too as I wouldn't mind working in Spain. I can read a fair bit and write it and would be able to construct a few sentences. It's bloody hard :(

Did you do anything else to help you learn other than living in countries that speak those languages?

I'm from the US and I speak English as a native language (of course). I took my first Spanish class when I was 13, and I wasn't particularly good at it.

With Spanish, if you're planning to use it in Spain, make sure you learn the Spanish accent. For some, it is really disorienting to arrive in Spain with a pretty decent knowledge of Latin American/Mexican Spanish and not understand a damn thing. The Spanish accent sounds kinda dumb at first to most English speakers, but I assure you it is both eloquent and much sexier. :)

In terms of learning, try to get in sitautions where you can only speak Spanish. Do not rely on English for anything, and find a native-speaking teacher, tutor, or friend that forces you to use it. I really started to learn when I was 17, because I got a scholarship to study it for 1 year at the local university in combination with the high school course. The teacher at the uni was Dominican and threatened to fail us if she even heard one word of English in the classroom. Her strategy worked, because we were all struggling at first but it became more and more natural for the class as the course went on. As is the case with any language-learning environment, if the mother tongue can be used, it will always be relied on. So just try to get immersed. It could be better to go to Spain or Costa Rica for example and learn, but chances are you'll meet english speakers and the whole experience will be different anyway. You have to want to speak Spanish only in those situations. so go prepared to meet resistance. :) both study abroad programs I participated in were full of English speakers and we all just talked English. needless to say, I learned more at home in Maine with my Dominican nazi teacher :)

Another option (which also works wonders) is to fall in love with a spanish speaker. Even if brief, your emotional attachment to the language will be heightened, and learning it will become more imperative. Think about the reasons we have a language. Is not the most important one to express ourselves? Aaaaand...do you not feel an uncanny need to express yourself when you're in love? The two things CLEARLY go together. Again, good luck. And you made the right choice with Spanish. It's WAY more useful than German.

Fairly fluent in Spanish both Castellano Spanish and Latin American Spanish. I also have an understanding of both French and Italian when I concentrate:D

Ugh I can't imagine whispering sweet nothings in German, German sounds terrible over all and it always sounds angry

No kidding! One of my friends briefly dated a German guy three years ago who used to whisper things to her in German while trying to get into her pants :laughing:

I can speak French pretty fluently - I did most of my elementary education in French and then continued it throughout high school. I'm always eager to practice French with people, because the only chance I got to speak it everyday was when I was in school. I never got to take the class in university - it always filled up and there were only 40 spots. And I don't live in Quebec (where the French language police are out in full force right now :rolleyes:), so it's hard to maintain the spoken aspects of the language. Reading and writing is fine for me, though.

In high school we also had a choice to take an extra language course - either Spanish, German, or Latin. I took German for one term but only because there was a guy in the class who I had the biggest fucking crush on :o:. In hindsight I wish I took Latin. It was always more interesting to me anyways.

I know some things in Italian due to all my musical training, and bits and pieces of Serbian because of my boyfriend (it's his native language). I teach him to say things in French and he'll teach me things in Serbian. Currently working on Serbian, would like to be able to string together a coherent sentence someday, haha.

Good thinking actually, yeah I'm learning Spanish um.. Spanish :o: Castellano isn't it?

If you were to learn Castellano, how hard would it be to visit places like Mexico and Belize and be able to speak with them? Are the accents that different?

This will be hard as I'm doing it on my own at home, I am using the Michel Thomas course and the Pimsleur course, Memrise and a few other things. I have been thinking about finding a Spanish pen pal to help (and me help with their English) as that is the only way I'd be able to speak with a native speaker other than to go there, which isn't an option atm. I know there's no substitute for living in a country that speaks it but I'm trying to do my best without that :o:.

Will try my best to find a Spanish girl :D

Thanks misspoptart.

Well, for Mexico it's no problem. They will understand you but laugh frequently at your pompousness. Don't let it get to you. :) For Belize, well, the official language is English. I'm not sure how much Spanish is actually spoken there, or what kind of Spanish it is. :)


You could also try to make friends on Skype.

Good luck again.

Gaeilge, french and english. Used to be pretty fluent in the other two. My sister is completely fluent in gaeilge.

Spanish of course is a much better language in regards to tourism and travel etc but as far as work goes, I'd say German was far more useful.

They tend to understand Castellano speakers ok in most parts of Latin America, the problem often occurs when Latin Americans go to Spain and speakers of Castellano can have problems understanding them initially. You have to remember that the differences between Spanish from Latin America and Spain are far greater than between UK English and American English. Even within Latin America the differences between say Mexican Spanish and Chilean Spanish are substantial.

Fluently bilingual(English/French). My dad is Québécois and we speak almost exclusively in French. My mom is American and doesn't speak a lick of French, so I grew up learning both languages concurrently.

Cheers mate.

That's quite good that you've been fluent in both all your life.

I've noticed on here the bilingual posters are all non-British. And by non-British I really just mean English as at least the Irish and Welsh have their own languages plus speak English too (I think anyway, maybe someone from Ireland, Scotland or Wales can correct me). I find it a bit embarrassing that most English people can't speak a word of any other language yet most of the rest of the world can speak English, that seems quite ignorant tbh, especially when we go on holiday to other countries and don't bother to learn a few words of their language.

In what lines of work?

Worldwide, there are 92 million native German speakers, in seven countries on one continent. Meanwhile, there are almost 390 million native Spanish speakers (+70 million as a second language), spread over 25 countries, 3 continents, and comprising 6% of the world's population. Even if a number of jobs seek German speakers, MANY more seek Spanish speakers. Having "Spanish" on your CV is an asset for almost any line of work.

However, some types of work may require German, and for those it would make sense. In any case, you will probably meet many more Spanish speakers in your lifetime than you would any other language.

I am fluent in English and conversational in Spanish. I took four years of Spanish in high school and still remember the better part of it.

But a lot of people in other countries always want a chance to practise their English with native speakers who visit their country. My boyfriend was always practising his English with foreigners and especially the numerous American and British ex-pats in Belgrade. I think a lot of people around the world, when they find out you are Canadian/American/British/Australian, will want to speak English to you regardless of whether or not you'd like to hone your language skills with them (of course they want you to help them hone their English skills).

Yeah I get if you meet people in a social setting then that makes sense. But what if you go into a shop and the person serving doesn't understand very well? There's a joke that English people just point at stuff and shout in the hope they'll understand. I dunno, I spoke about this before with a friend, and I had the opinion that learning a few words and speaking to them in their language would go down well and he kept saying there's no point, doesn't make a difference, why make the effort if they will speak English anyway.

I do find it ignorant, especially with the amount of English people who get uppity about immigrants not speaking our language when they're in England. I'd imagine once the person you're talking to realises you're shit at their language then they'd naturally just switch the conversation to English anyway, but it seems nice to at least try, as opposed to just "f*ck 'em, they speak our language anyway".

It is true that most of the world's population is multi-lingual. I live just outside of Montreal during the week and New York on weekends. In Canada outside of Quebec, there's a good amount of bilingual people but most are unilingual English speakers. In Quebec, French is the sole official language. But if you live in and around Montreal, public service jobs require you to be fluent in both French and English. Then when I live in New York, we're right back to the unilingual English speakers.

It is true than Anglophones are vastly unilingual. And it's also highly disrespectful to go to another country and expect to be catered to in English.

This mostly applies to the older generations, but it's a logical conclusion to a country that once ruled the world and everybody else had to speak English to get on in the Empire. There was never any need for Brits to learn other languages because everybody else spoke English. I think this metality is now changing with younger people who do make an effort to learn other languages.

I'm referring to Spain here and not Latin America. I've worked in a number of European countries and also in South America and I can tell you the working conditions and pay in Spain has to be one of the worst in Western Europe and therefore most people here in Europe that think about learning Spanish for work probably have the idea of working in Spain. Whereas on the other hand, working conditions in German speaking European countries are probably the best all round in Europe. Therefore if somebody is learning a language for work in Europe I'd recommend German over Spanish every day of the week.

The English are no different to the Spanish and French in this respect. They expect immigrants to speak their language as well.

So has anyone improved their language skills?

Check my profile, had a conversation in Spanish with Black Francis the other day.

Music Banter - Conversation Between Black Francis and Fluffy Kittens

It's going well. Can understand a lot of what I read but sometimes I get frustrated not being able to explain things in Spanish.

I do about an hour a day. Aim for 10 hours a week.

I know some very, very basic Spanish, I can carry on a conversation in ASL, and at this point I can read and write some biblical Hebrew (I can speak some but I stumble over words). I plan to continue studying Hebrew, and eventually learn both Greek and Latin.

This one is the main difference, actually. But you don't have to worry about it. They will understand you anyway. And if you feel more comfortable speaking with the American-Spanish accent, it's OK too (keep in mind that seseo also exists in southern Spain and the Canary Islands). In other words, you don't have to talk like Nick Clegg, if you don't want to. :)

:wave: Yep. But through a hard way: translating song lyrics. It's often a headache.

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Try the "musical way". I mean, listening to songs and all that. It could be helpful. And then you can even go beyond. For instance, this English blogger has improved his skills by translating Spanish pop songs into English (that is, the same thing I do, but, in this case, with the aim of learning Spanish). And now he's a virtuoso!

I never found any problems speaking Castellano in Latin America and most of what I said they understood. There were some expressions that they didn't know and vice-versa. I've always found that Spanish speakers in Latin America speaking Castellano were easily understood while Latin American speakers in Spain faced more problems. Andalusian Spanish is definitely the most difficult to understand, in fact it's where I first learnt Spanish and soon got used to them shortening words.

Been trying this. It's quite hard but it is getting phrases stuck in my head and I find myself singing along. It's quite fun tbh.

Thank you for the blog, definitely going to give this a read :)

Well I've improved my Serbian swears, lol. And I need to start speaking more French as it will benefit me when I'm looking for teaching positions (prospects are bad now thanks to this government. And the unions.)

What are job prospects like if you can speak another language? In a country that speaks it btw not your home country.

I think it depends what kind of career you want. I want to be a teacher, so in Ontario where I live it's beneficial to be fairly fluent in French. It opens more job opportunities because learning basic French (at the very least) is a requirement for students here, so they need people to teach those courses.

I'm not sure what the prospects are like for someone who wants to go to another country to work. I imagine that just turning up in a country to look for work wouldn't do much good, because I'm betting that most local companies would prefer to hire a native speaker. I think your best bet would be to look for career opportunities at multinational corporations or NGO's in your own country to begin with, because they usually look for people who are bilingual or even trilingual and then they can send those employees to offices in other countries.

I know that in Canada, job prospects for ESL immigrants are pretty decent if their English is good. My boyfriend's English is excellent overall and that means his chances of getting a good job are high, and he'd really like to stay here to work. But yeah, I'm not sure about non English speaking countries.

Not as long as I'm alive he wouldn't

Yeah makes sense, thanks Burning Down. Don't most people in Canada speak both English and French then?

Yes, some Andalusians are almost impossible to understand. :laughing:

That kind of problems happen in all languages, though. I mean, on one hand there are several local varieties. But, on the other hand, there is always a standard language, the common norms. So usually there are no difficulties when talking with an educated person. For instance, there are many different traditional dialects in German. But there is also the Standard German (the so-called Hochdeutsch), which is used in mass media, business, science, humanities, etc.

And fortunately, very few people are like Professor Higgins:



There are many factors to consider. In Europe, as Unknown Soldier said, German is a top language. For instance, due to the economic crisis, in Spain we're suffering a brain drain now. :( And many university graduates are going to Germany. A lot of Spanish engineers and other highly skilled workers are learning German at the moment.

However, from a global point of view, other languages are also important. And there is an interesting thing regarding language families. For instance, once you have learned Spanish, then it will be much easier for you to learn another Neo-Latin language (French, Portuguese, Italian, etc.). So finally that sum (let's say, Spanish + French, two major global languages) could be a strong point in your CV.

Most people only speak English, since Quebec is the only province where French is widely spoken (and a lot of them are bitchy about having to speak English - they don't even teach it in school anymore there). When kids are in high school, if you're not at an all French school or in the French immersion program, you have to take a certain number of French classes that count towards your diploma. These are more basic classes - an introduction to the language, basically. French is the other official language here, so you need to learn a bit of it in school.

The French spoken in Canada is a whole lot different than French in France. Especially the accent - I think if I went to France and spoke they would laugh, lol. The slang is also different and Canadian French is heavily infused with English loan words as well.

I speak Finnish as my first language. I've studied English since I went to school, eleven years. I think I got really comfortable with speaking it two or three years ago, like I can say in English whatever I want. But I want to get better in it, it's one reason why I came to this site. I have problems with abstract words, they just don't stay in my head. :D I suppose that native speakers find many little mistakes in my writing.

I've studied Swedish for five years and Spanish for two years. Swedish is quite easy, but I don't have much motivation to learn it and I can't say I would speak it fluently. Spanish is something I really really want to learn, but it is so new language to me that I can hardly speak it at all. Writing is much more easy, but I don't know enough words so I always need dictionary when I'm using Spanish.