Foreign Languages

As most not born in an anglo-saxon country who take part in the internet I speak english as second language. My third used to be latin but I forgot most of it after school. I speak enough spanish to order a meal and ask for things I need or the way to the next train station. Strugling with portugese at the moment.
 
I'm a native Dutch speaker. Other languages picked up: English, French, German, Latin.

What's less common than most I guess is that the second language I learned as a kid was German. It was in the days that on Sunday afternoon you had no Dutch tv yet. We could receive German broadcasts and watched these Karl May Westerns with Old Shatterhand and the like.. My speaking style is therefore somewhat off kilter and I'm constantly battling the urge to throw in a 'Gib her die Knarre!' und 'Hände Hoch!'... :D
 
I am native German speaker and practice English language mostly at work. Back in my school days I had been learning Russian for 8 years and French for 3 years but never really had to use these languages in real life so a lot is lost :( Best thing for learning is really daily use.
 
Thanks all for the wonderful replies, its amazing to see how many people are so multi lingual!

Being Scottish (British) typically English is my only language, not half enough emphasis is place on foreign language in schools over here!
Many years ago i did attempt to learn some Scots Gaelic, but it fell away. I feel immersion is the only way to really learn a launguage and i did have the opportunity to work in Hamburg last year but for other reasons it didnt last long, was there only a week!

My workplace is quite multi lingual as we have German, Swedish and Greek Engineers there, my good friend and work mate is Greek, of course hes taught me some..ehm...choice phrases!!

I feel it difficult to remain motivated and focused while learning so i hope to visit Germany again on vacation this year to put my basic language into a bit of practice, i have not had much chance to speak the small amount ive learnt yet!

Bis dann!

Stu.
 
Dutch is my native tongue, although after 12 years in the UK it's all getting a bit foggy. So of course English, Spanish (year in Venezuela works wonders), French and German. The last three fluent enough to get by, but not to discuss the finer points of the recent economic developments in, say, Latin America and the likely influence this will have on climate change. Or so.

And then the odd bits. I understand some Italian and can make myself understood (although sounding like an idiot) in Italian - because of its similarities to French and Spanish. And because I love opera. So I could probably sing the praises of a beautiful woman, or swear my eternal brotherhood to a dear long-lost friend, or march into battle with laudable aims and words; but ordering a cheese sandwich might be more of a struggle. :D :D

Also spent a month travelling in Russia and although I don't speak Russian, I can read and have a (stupendously) basic vocabulary allowing me to figure out menus etc.

I've been trying to lean (classical) Hebrew for a long time and was doing well for a while. Then the girlfriend came along, and a move to London, and commuting... it's all a bit hazy now.

The main thing I've learnt is that we can understand and be understood more than you would think. It isn't so much about each individual word - whole phrases and sentences make sense even if you miss out some words. That's why I find it very hard if someone asks me to translate a single word into a different language: much easier if it's a sentence. I guess I try to translate the idea behind the sentence, not each individual word. :confused:

Okay, tea break over, back to work :(

Doctor Zero
 
stumar said:
As i put down my "Basic German" text book for the evening i was just wondering how many RFF'ers are Bi/multi Lingual or are there many of you leraning a new language too?

I am , Very slowly, trying to learn some German, for no real imediate purpose other than for my own self fulfilment as it were. Anyone have some good language learning tips they could share?

Stuart.
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Now there's an interesting off-topic!

First of all, congratulations.

As for tips, I have a couple :)

1. The main point of languages is communication. As long as you can make yourself understood, you're doing well - even if it isn't perfect. Native speakers don't expect perfection from foreigners. I.e. when speaking, speak - don't worry about mistakes!

2. When communicating, keep it simple. You make fewer mistakes and don't look stupid :) In any language (even one's own) it's the people who try to sound clever - but get it wrong - that look stupid.

3. Notice the similarities and differences between languages you know, and those you are learning.

E.g.

  • Was ist das? (German)
    Wos is des? (Bavarian)
    Wat it dat? (North Germany)
    Wot is that? (English)

Half of English is German, the other half French/Latin, another half is Celtic.

So, for an English speaker, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese should be easy!

4. Get a girlfriend of the appropriate language.

5. Failing that, read (children's) books in that language and watch satellite TV.

Good luck.

Colin

PS. Give Italian a try. Beautiful language, beautiful country, beautiful girls :)
 
Well, my english, dutch and french are ok plus a few bits of others.

I had a think about my friends and there is no-one who only speaks one or two languages. The most was seven (fluently enough for work) - but she said that Italian and Spanish get mixed up during telephone conversations . . .

I think the fastest ways to learn a language are to live there, or marry a native speaker (limited number of times you can do that of course).
 
Let's see I am a native English speaker, speak French, Spanish, Intermediate Japanese, and for some reason I always seem to rustle up enough Mandarin when I'm in Beijing. Now I am studying Mongolian--it is a mofo, the sounds are hard to reproduce and hard to hear, but it is good fun. I think learning and speaking a number of languages is a good workout for the brain.
 
Well, i was born and raised at the perfect place to be fluent in two very useful languages (hungarian and romanian). No, Bucharest and Budapest are not the same. :D
Then I went to school and we had a great french language teacher so I learned quite some french. Alas i never really practiced so i forgot most of it.
In the meantime I realized rock music is good so I picked up some english.
As "second" (third,in fact, incl romanian) foreign language in highschool I had some german but the teacher was an alcoholic who stopped showung up after some time and then he got kicked out. I had 1 month of intensive training in Austria when I was 13... was nice but too long time ago. But I still can get myself understood in a pub or such.
I also had a brief encounter with latin, always hated the language, hated the teacher, and the whole business was useless. To the people saying "learning Latin opens the door to many latinic languages": latin is only good to say stupid old proverbs which asre as useless as the language itself. :p
Anyway. Due to the romanian, i can understand quite much of italian and spanish (so it's not that useless, after all). I also went to a short spanish course last year, just for fun.
And, since I lived in the Netherlands for the last 6 years, i learned Dutch quite well. It's not a great fun to learn it...but it's doable with daily exercise.
Flamish is easier. :p
 
Trius said:
OK, l'accent de Trois Rivieres ... gotta be special, eh?

So where is home now? I vote a kitchen party chez vous.
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Home now is Winnipeg where everyone has an accent of one sort or another since we are all immigrants or children of immigrants or native north americans. Which reminds me that among the most fascinating languages to be heard around here is Oji-cree. It is a mix of the Ojibway and Cree languages spoken by many of the First Nations People (aboriginal or native Canadians). Apparently, learning it makes rocket science seem like a picnic. There are no nouns!

The accent in Trois-Rivieres is not that thick compared to accents in other areas of Quebec. Folks in Jolliet and further up in the Laurentions have a pretty good twang.

That being said, when we travel in France each spring, the locals hear my wife's very slight Quebecois accent and often tell her how charming it sounds. Then they point to me as if I were Jethro Bodine telling dirty jokes while stoned on NyQuil (he was a hillbilly on TV for all you non-north americans and NyQuil is a very potent cough syrup).
 
colinh said:
4. Get a girlfriend of the appropriate language.
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That was the reason for spanish and now portuguese :)

5. Failing that, read (children's) books in that language and watch satellite TV.
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Or listen to them, I have a CD with popular fairy tales narated in spanisch and intended for children from 4 to 6 years.

Good luck.

Colin

PS. Give Italian a try. Beautiful language, beautiful country, beautiful girls :)
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Os brasilerias sao maz ciumenta.


I like the Rosetta Stone language learning system, I get a basic understandig pretty fast with that, not enough to read prose but good enough for daily tasks as a tourist.
 
I started French in third grade (age 8), Russian in 7th grade (age 12) and German second year of college. Unfortunately the Russian is a "use it or lose it" situation, and I fear I've lost most all of it. But French and German I can do OK in -- my vocabulary can always be improved.

I need to get going with Italian next; I'd love to learn Japanese. While I do have a good ear for languages, I fear Chinese is just too much to deal with for me.
 
steamer said:
Now I am studying Mongolian--it is a mofo, the sounds are hard to reproduce and hard to hear, but it is good fun. I think learning and speaking a number of languages is a good workout for the brain.
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PM me if you need some help. My wife may be able to help you with your Mongolian. After all, she is Mongolian. :)
 
My native language is Estonian, so English is a foreign language for me. Ive been learning it for about 8 or 9 years in school. I have also been learning Russian for some years, but I still dont understand it. And I want to learn Norwegian someday.
 
patrickjames said:
English, French, German, Spanish and some Swedish (but very little any more.) I tried to learn Japanese a few years ago but I no longer had enough time to spend and it was really difficult to learn three new alphabets.
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I bow to you. My girlfriend knows English, French, a lot of Spanish, and some Russian, and also just a little bit of Japanese here and there. Being able to read fast is one key, I believe. I tried Russian a while back, and I knew where my limit lied :eek:

I'm completely bilingual in Spanish and English (in college the b@stards made me take an English proficiency test, and then classified me as native English speaker, so when I applied for my Minor in Spanish Literature, I had to take four Spanish proficiency tests...I hate bureaucracy). I'm a native Spanish speaker, but turns out I could pass as a native English speaker. (?)

Oh, je ne dois pas oublier que j'essaie de parler Français...un peu ;) Even though I fumble through the verbs (I've never taken a class in my life. I *really* should).
 
Pherdinand said:
Flamish is easier. :p
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Wow. When you talk to yourself, what language do you pick? What language do you count in (I still count in Spanish 3 out of 4 times, when doing simple math).

And of course, which language do your curse with, when you are really angry?
 
I'm never REALLY angry. I always have to laugh in really critical situations. People hate me for that. They think i'm not taking them serious.

I talk to myself in hungarian, sometimes in english when it involves other imaginary people like Milla Jovovich, but then I always realize how stupid it sounds :D

Counting in Dutch really sucks.That's the thing i will never get used to it. The order of saying the digits in a four- or more digit number makes no sense at all.
 
Gabriel M.A. said:
Wow. When you talk to yourself, what language do you pick? What language do you count in (I still count in Spanish 3 out of 4 times, when doing simple math).

And of course, which language do your curse with, when you are really angry?
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Oh, I believe Russian is the worlds best language for cursing - but I don't know any so I default to Italian...

:)

colin
 
Gabriel M.A. said:
(in college the b@stards made me take an English proficiency test, and then classified me as native English speaker, so when I applied for my Minor in Spanish Literature, I had to take four Spanish proficiency tests...I hate bureaucracy)
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That I can relate too. I was born and raised in England. When I came to the US for Grad School I was asked for my proficiency in english scores. I explained "I'm English" but the admin officer still had to go and ask his boss if it was ok to admit me without my scores!
Nick
 
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