maybe You should be learning a second language!

[El Poncho]

1. Do you live in an area where more then one language is commonly used? - No
2. Do you know more then one language? - I did French in secondary school, I have forgotten all of it, I feel the way schools teach languages in this country isn't very effective.

 

[Fayathon]

"Play it by ear" is an expression from jazz music, originated during the '20s. It means to improvise and make it up as you go along, with no plan.

Well, I wasn't sure on the actual meaning, but at least I was right about the variant. You learn something every day.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

1. Yes, although Irish isn't that common in some places so it's mostly English.
2. Yes, I'm French (and as such speak French) and I've learnt English a while back.
3. Will soon be learning Irish and I'm currently learning Japanese.

 

[kebab4you]

1.Yes, Swedish,English
2.I do
3.Swedish,English,Spanish and a bit of Japanese

Btw, Chinese is the most common language spoken, not english :3

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

1. Heavily Spanish speaking neighborhood.
2. Just Spanish, but I want to learn more languages, like Italian, German, and Japanese.
3. My Spanish is a little flimsy; I can understand, read, and write it, but I at times have difficulty conversing in Spanish (what one word/thing is in Spanish).

 

[Thaius]

1. Kind of; there's a lot of Spanish going on in California, but English is still the primary language by a long shot.

No, I don't really know any other language; a bit of Spanish, but not enough to be exceedingly functional.

The problem over here is that we have people coming into an English-speaking country and expecting us to adjust to more easily accomodate them. In this situation, one of the two parties needs to change, and it really should be the people entering a new country instead of the entire country they're entering.

While I do believe this, that guy was a jerk for insulting her about it, especially if you're in a bilingual province. That was just a dick move.

 

[KouThan]

1. Well where I live there are lot's of tourists so I am used to giving instructions in english.
2. Yes english is not my first language.
3. I speak english a bit german and some ancient greek (they force us to learn it in high school) and also Greek which is my primary language.

 

[CountArioch]

1. The area I live in has lots of Spanish, Ukrainian, and Chinese immigrants.

2. I can manage a little bit in several language, although I admit not knowing any asian or african languages.

3. I speak Fluent English, Passable Spanish, and can read Swedish and French (but can't speak either to save my life)

 

[Brainpaint]

Hey. I'm new here. Been a lurker for ages but I'm wanting to work in games so it was only a matter of time. Heh.

1. Old neighborhood was almost all English speaking even though there's debate about it being a variant of Scots. New one is a global tourism destination and centuries old melting pot. Every day I'm at college I hear foreign languages. Mostly Chinese and Indian languages but today there was a slightly amusing incident involving an Arab man trying to speak to the new guy in class only to find out he was Kurdish. They discovered that through their shared second language, English.

I think second languages are essential for everyone. Even if you don't want to do a foreign one at least learn sign language. You might never need to use it but it's better than nothing.

2. I keep wanting to learn more but so far I'm focusing on two. Gratuitous French and German is a frequent occurance in my house even though none of us are fluent enough to just speak the languages themselves. We even have a dog and a cat that can say "Hello"... The cat not so much now since she's going deaf but the dog can definitely say it.

3. French (Only language formally studied. Got good grades in school for reading and writing but speaking without betraying the fact that J'ais Ecossaise...Err... I'm probably way worse at it now that I left school six years ago), Japanese (No local classes anywhere I have lived so every word I know is from self study and online exposure (I've a Niconico account and sometimes encounter Japanese players on Xbox Live). Might take on Mandarin after that if I'm confident enough. As well as that I'm trying to make several of my own languages for my comics so I dunno if those count. (They count as much as Klingon...)

Overall I don't think I do too bad with the languages even though my English sounds NOTHING like how I write it.

Ennyb'dy hinks ah speek laik ah taip is gaun' git ragdollt. Lol.

 

[Beryl77]

Well I live in Switzerland and we have here 4 official languages. German, French, Italian and Romansh. So, I've been born and grew up there but my native language is albanian because my parents immigrated there a few years before my birth. Which means I had to learn german, since we live in the german speaking part of the country. Later on in school, it's obligatory to learn french there because it's second most spoken language in the country, right after german. At a later point in school, english also becomes a mandatory language.

So, I had to learn:
1. Albanian
2. German
3. French
4. English
(5.) And I've been taking chinese lessons the last two years but I'm not really good.

 

[Optiluiz]

I live in Brazil, so everyone speaks portuguese. However, I grew up in Canada (though I was born here) so I consider english my native tongue. I speak both fluently, so most people never notice. Even so, it can get tough because I think in english, so I have to translate things in my mind before speaking... Yeah...

 

[tzimize]

1. No.

2. Yes.

3. English.

Meh. One of the most boring posts I've written. To top it off I'll paste one of the worst jokes I've ever read.

READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

My parents recently retired. Mom always wanted to learn to play the piano, so dad bought her a piano for her birthday. A few weeks later, I asked how she was doing with it. "Oh, we returned the piano." said My Dad, "I persuaded her to switch to a clarinet instead."

"How come?" I asked. "Because," he answered, "with a clarinet, she can't sing."

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I speak and write swedish and english fluently so I guess that makes me bilingual.

I also know some spanish, and with a bit of help I can understand a little german.

I have this wierd ability where im able to quickly learn the correct pronounciation of pretty much any language, even if I don't know what the hell it is im saying. Not a very useful ability, except for when I took spanish classes in grade school and my teacher gave me a rather good grade in spanish because he thought that I pretty much sounded like a native of spain or a south american country when I spoke spanish, but I can't say that I actually "knew" much spanish when I was done with the course

I'd like to learn how to speak and write in other languages, but it's pretty hard now that im an adult. The fact is that I learned most of my english through watching movies in english with swedish subtitles when I was pretty young (I started at the humble age of 4), and it is at the age before 10 that our brains are most adept at absorbing language skills, but as you age the more this ability deteriorates.

I might give it a try though when I have the time. Chinese seems interesting (if a bit difficult). This mostly because when I interpret current events it's looking like China might take over the role of most influential super-power from the U.S (China's economy is steadily going up, while western countries including the U.S are going down and this trend has been persistent for quite a few years now). So I figure that being able to speak and read/write i Chinese might just prove to be a good way to be a part of China's growing economy someday.

 

[Uber Evil]

1. Do I live in an area where more then one language is commonly used? No, not really. I live in New England, so I'm in one of the whitest parts of the country (US).
2. Do you know more then one language? I'm learning German, so I guess somewhat.
3. If yes, what other language do you speak? As I said above, a little German.

 

[Thanatos5150]

So, I want to start out by saying, I am bilingual. I am french, all of my family and most of my friends are french, but I have learned English early in life. Even if I have an accent, I can communicate what I want to say without too much trouble. I might phrase something in the wrong way but at least I am getting a point across.

So I live in a bilingual town, french and english. They teach you at an early age in school that learning both languages will prove to be a very valuable skill in life, and I completely agree, I am proud to be bilingual having worked with french and english customers and co-workers.

The other day I was shopping, and overheard this french woman asking something to a cashier about a product she wanted to buy, she was obviously having trouble communicating what she needed in English, yet the cashier would not even try to talk to her in french, he had to get a french speaking employee to help her out. And that's fine, the lady got what she needed and left happy. But what really pisses me off is what i overheard that cashier saying to an other employee afterwards. Insulting the lady for not being able to speak English, calling her an idiot, and saying that everyone should be forced to learn English, and if they are not able to learn perfect English while in school they simply should not be able to graduate.

I think there is a double standard here. Why should we not be able to graduate if we do not learn perfect english, yet if he completely fails his french classes,(witch, you start at around grade 4 till grade 10 here, so you got lots of time to pick it up) its all good, go on and get your diploma buddy. And why would SHE be the idiot? At least she was trying to talk while he did nothing except saying I'm sorry I don't understand you. Maybe you should be learning a second language!

Do not get me wrong, I know english is the most commonly spoken language, but the way he insulted her simply pissed me off.

Our province is proudly bilingual, but I want to clarify, I am not ranting about someone who can only speak one language, if you only know how to speak english, hey that's fine with me. I am mostly ranting about the way the cashier spoke of us frenchies. P.S I have met equally douchy french people who said equally mean things about english speakers and I hold the same opinion of them as our friendly cashier here.

My opinion is, if you live in an area where multiple languages are commonly used, you should at least TRY to learn as much as you can, because you are going to have to deal with them eventually.

So i guess my question to you guys is
1. Do you live in an area where more then one language is commonly used?
2. Do you know more then one language?
3. If yes, what other language do you speak

Dude was rude, and a jerk, but d'y'know what else is rude?

Automatically assuming that just because somebody in your area doesn't speak French that s/he is monolingual.
To answer your questions:

1: Most prominently spoken languages other than English here include: Cape Verdean/Creole, Arabic, Spanish
2: I'm fluent in English and my Spanish is only a little bit shabby. My Japanese is absolutely horrid, though I knew enough to politely turn down samples of alcohol (By lying and saying I was allergic), I also have over 90 contact hours with ASL, so I believe I'm classified as "Mostly competent beginner".
3: See 2:

I've spent a lot of time learning language - and had trouble getting a grasp on Japanese, and was looked on in disdain whenever I needed to speak to somebody and opened with "Ei-go doku des ka?" Like I was just ANOTHER Idiot American who believe English is Superior and refused to learn another language.
It's just as rude, if not more rude, to assume because he doesn't speak the languages you do, he's a monolingual prick.

 

[Politi]

Do you live in France if you do then the whole fail pass thing kinda matches to my o'd high school, we had to pass both spanish classes to graduate but we could fail english.

No, I live in Canada, New-Brunswick to be precise, in a mainly english and french community.

High five, mon ami. Good to see that there's someone else on The Escapist who can't look out a window without seeing at least five trees (Although I consider our trees a good thing).

Where exactly do you hail from? I'm from the Miramichi (Blackville specifically) myself, and we were never really pressed upon to gain a mastery of French, even though it's certainly beneficial in our province. Honestly, I think it would be awesome to really learn french in depth. It's really cool to be watching a movie or tv show and be able to understand unsubtitled french speakers with my small knowledge of the language. As much as I love my home, I sometimes wish I had grown up somewhere that forced me to be bilingual. It would have been a huge bonus.

 

[Chemical Alia]

1. I currently live in Texas, and there's a lot of Spanish spoken, as well as Chinese and Vietnamese.
2. Yes
3. Mandarin Chinese, German (can also understand PA Dutch), and Spanish. But I never have opportunities to use these languages or keep up my skills by talking with other people. So they just slowly go down the drain.

 

[TornadoFive]

Just English speakers round here. I can't speak any other languages but it's always been something I really regretted not getting into when I was younger. I am now terrible with languages and it's one of the few things I'd change about myself if I could. I'd love to learn another language, Japanese preferably, but anything would do.

The way we teach kids foreign languages is something I've discussed at length with friends. Basically, we start teaching them at about the time their brains stop being so open to learning it, which is ridiculous. I really wish we'd been taught more thoroughly as children.

 

[opeth1989]

Do you live in France if you do then the whole fail pass thing kinda matches to my o'd high school, we had to pass both spanish classes to graduate but we could fail english.

No, I live in Canada, New-Brunswick to be precise, in a mainly english and french community.

High five, mon ami. Good to see that there's someone else on The Escapist who can't look out a window without seeing at least five trees (Although I consider our trees a good thing).

Where exactly do you hail from? I'm from the Miramichi (Blackville specifically) myself, and we were never really pressed upon to gain a mastery of French, even though it's certainly beneficial in our province.

Cool, as a matter of fact I was in Miramichi this weekend passing through going to the Stampeders vs wildcats game in Moncton. I am from the Bathurst / Petit Rocher area.