Poll: A Second Language
- Thread starter Corax_1990
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I'm Dutch, and speak English pretty well (Most shit didn't get dubbed here, so I learned it through television and games.) and I have a basic understanding of French and German at best.
Other than that, I can understand Ani-Japanese for obvious reasons, and I can understand a fair bit of Hindi due to my mother's ethnicity.
Other than that, I can understand Ani-Japanese for obvious reasons, and I can understand a fair bit of Hindi due to my mother's ethnicity.
I learned French and German in school (in addition to my native English), but that was now a lloooonnnggg time ago so to say I'm rusty would be an understatement. I can still remember enough to get the general gist of something if it's written down, but as for specific details or being able to translate at the speed of the spoken word, forget it.
Tips? Spend time around people who speak the language you're trying to learn. Learning by rote from textbooks gives you no practical applied knowledge.
Tips? Spend time around people who speak the language you're trying to learn. Learning by rote from textbooks gives you no practical applied knowledge.
Kinda, in the loosest possible way of defining 'speak'. I've got the basic conversation kind of German down, and I'm trying to build on that, but self-directed language acquisition was never my strong point. I know bits and pieces of Gaelic too (that's the Scottish one pronounced gah-lick as opposed to the Irish gay-lick. I want to make an amusing observation about that, but it would be too easy), though that's rustier than my German.
So, first step is get the German polished. Then see if I can't build on what little I know of French, then Spanish (or vice versa). I plan on travelling extensively in the near future, so I want the basics of the most commonly spoken languages down before then.
So, first step is get the German polished. Then see if I can't build on what little I know of French, then Spanish (or vice versa). I plan on travelling extensively in the near future, so I want the basics of the most commonly spoken languages down before then.
Nope. I took several years of spanish in school, because it was easy, but I retained almost none of it.
I do wish I'd opted for another language (french or japanese or russian) and stayed with it.
I do wish I'd opted for another language (french or japanese or russian) and stayed with it.
Besides some Japanese I picked up from anime and one or two words in Danish, French, Finnish, and German, I only know the language I'm typing in right now.
Interested in learning the above five languages, Italian, and Russian, which will probably never happen because, whenever I say I'll do something, I never do it.
Interested in learning the above five languages, Italian, and Russian, which will probably never happen because, whenever I say I'll do something, I never do it.
I love your avatar... well, more like I am in love with the person in your avatar, but nevermind... It definitely catches my eye!Marter said:
OT: I am hopefully going to start learning North Korean or Persian Arabic... as that may have future job prospects as an interpreter...
Dutch (native), English and a bit of German, French and Italian. Those last two are very rusty, as I haven't had much chance to practice them lately.
Yeah, I speak Spanish. I also know French and a bit of Japanese.
I chose the "yes" option as opposed to the "speak more than 2" in regards to my confidence level. Hell, for a while, I was barely confident enough with my Spanish insisting that I needed to take College Spanish before I could be considered fluent.
Was the first language I learned and I did it in Elementary school then into high school. French got learned in middle school then high school. Japanese was in college and I know I'm not ready there.
For the last question, I plan to learn as many languages as humanly possible. Ever since I was a little girl, I had this dream of being multilingual. I'm still working on it. So yeah, bit plans to learn all the languages in the world if I can help it. Or at least most of them.
I chose the "yes" option as opposed to the "speak more than 2" in regards to my confidence level. Hell, for a while, I was barely confident enough with my Spanish insisting that I needed to take College Spanish before I could be considered fluent.
Was the first language I learned and I did it in Elementary school then into high school. French got learned in middle school then high school. Japanese was in college and I know I'm not ready there.
For the last question, I plan to learn as many languages as humanly possible. Ever since I was a little girl, I had this dream of being multilingual. I'm still working on it. So yeah, bit plans to learn all the languages in the world if I can help it. Or at least most of them.
Haha in England the language education system is crap. I think no one bothers cos everyone here expects everyone else to be able to speak English. The only people who really bother are the people who want to make a career out of it, but they're not very common.Bassik said:
It's funny you say "speak." Unless one has a lot of everyday exposure to some language being spoken, it is difficult to maintain one's colloquial abilities in that language. People frequently come down hard on Americans for being monolingual without really realizing that Europeans, by contrast, have far more frequent exposure to each others' languages. It would only really be reasonable to expect colloquial language competence in the US in Spanish and even then, only in certain parts of the country.
That said, it is perfectly feasible to maintain reading competence in another language, but who wants to learn French merely to read Mort a Credit? With the wide availability of translations of everything from the Iliad to Nabokov's The Defense, such language competence isn't really necessary. Of course, the trouble comes in when you realize you're really reading Fagles' or Lattimore's Iliad, rather than Homer's. So there remains a good reason to develop reading competence in another language, but only for scholars and lovers of literature.
That said, it is perfectly feasible to maintain reading competence in another language, but who wants to learn French merely to read Mort a Credit? With the wide availability of translations of everything from the Iliad to Nabokov's The Defense, such language competence isn't really necessary. Of course, the trouble comes in when you realize you're really reading Fagles' or Lattimore's Iliad, rather than Homer's. So there remains a good reason to develop reading competence in another language, but only for scholars and lovers of literature.
And to go a step further, I am familiar with Greek, Latin, German, French, and Sanskrit at a reading level. However, I can only speak colloquial French, and even then it's quite rusty.CentralScrtnzr said: