Poll: Do you know/are you learning a second language?

[Ramare]

If it counts, I speak Russian battle chatter to an extent I can translate, write (Well, if my keyboard could type Cyrillic), and even speak it.

I'm also attempting to learn Spanish.

I speak (Walkie-talkie/police, not car radio) radio, too. I don't speak intercom, though. Seriously, fuck intercoms.

 

[nonl33t m4st3r]

I'm taking German for my History degree.

 

[chadachada123]

Yup, learning Latin, because it's awesome and very formulaic. Unlike English where rules are made up as we go and is mostly a stolen combination of older languages, Latin is pretty dmn refined.

 

[Andrecova]

Fluent in Portuguese and English, I know some pretty basic German, and though I really like the language and would like to keep studying it further, university kind of got in the way of that, though I haven't yet given up on it. I also know a little Japanese, just the bare basics. I can also understand and speak Spanish reasonably well, which is facilitated by being Portuguese, making it easier to learn somewhat.
I'm also learning Haskell at the moment, I know a bit of Basic and I'll start learning C soon enough...

And I always think in English, despite not being my first language.

 

[Gaiseric]

I took two years of French in High School.

I don't remember much of it. I do remember bits and pieces and can sometimes read it well enough to get the gist of it.

I'll probably try to learn another language at some point. I don't know which one mainly because I don't have a huge interest in traveling.

I'm learning japanese through Rosetta Stone, and I'm fluent in spanish and (american) english. I'd love to speak it as an englishman though.

Does Rosetta Stone work well? I've thought about giving that a try.

 

[Zarkov]

Yup, learning Latin, because it's awesome and very formulaic. Unlike English where rules are made up as we go and is mostly a stolen combination of older languages, Latin is pretty dmn refined.

Really? I've always wanted to study a language that was actually consistent, or in honesty wondered if there was one ever out there. In both English in German there are multiple cases where either the rules don't make much sense or there are so many exceptions to the rule that the rule might as well not exist.

 

[SmegInThePants]

languages were popular in my high school, though there were only a few to choose from (spanish, french, japanese). Then again, i live on the coast, port city, lots of people of various backgrounds around, so that probably makes people more curious.

If you lived in the boonies and never met more than a couple people who have a language other than english as their first language, I could see how it wouldn't be a top priority.

 

[Zarkov]

I took two years of French in High School.

I don't remember much of it. I do remember bits and pieces and can sometimes read it well enough to get the gist of it.

I'll probably try to learn another language at some point. I don't know which one mainly because I don't have a huge interest in traveling.

I'm learning japanese through Rosetta Stone, and I'm fluent in spanish and (american) english. I'd love to speak it as an englishman though.

Does Rosetta Stone work well? I've thought about giving that a try.

It works pretty well, but you really have to stick with it almost everyday to really getting anything lasting from it. One of the really cool things about it is that your pronunciation won't be lacking, as it covers that pretty hard because it has you say every word you come across.

All in all, it's pretty good. Just don't be expecting any clear grammar lessons though.

 

[chadachada123]

Yup, learning Latin, because it's awesome and very formulaic. Unlike English where rules are made up as we go and is mostly a stolen combination of older languages, Latin is pretty damn refined.

Really? I've always wanted to study a language that was actually consistent, or in honesty wondered if there was one ever out there. In both English in German there are multiple cases where either the rules don't make much sense or there are so many exceptions to the rule that the rule might as well not exist.

I would say that Latin would be your best bet, then. I was in a similar boat, taking German in high school, and finding it to be just like English in that you have to really speak the language in order to understand die/dice, mouse/mice, deer/deer, etc etc. This doesn't even get into our use of "with" or "for" for a ton of things for which it ends up being totally ambiguous...

If you get the chance, give Latin a shot. It's rules mostly make sense and don't arbitrarily change unlike English's.

 

[GraveeKing]

The queens English works for me. I've never been good at languages - perhaps if I was I'd be more willing to learn. Personally I'm surprised how many people go to the trouble of learning one!

 

[The Random One]

I am speaking a second language... right now.

I'd like to learn another, but procrastinate indefinitively because I can't settle one one. French? Japanese? Russian? Interlingua?

On a related note, I just saw a hilarious annoying footer ad offering me 'fluent English in eight weeks'. I wonder how it would be possible to read anything on the Escapist of all places without fluent English.

 

[OldRat]

Yeah, it's the law in Finland. Swedish and English are compulsory, and most take up at least one other language, usually German, French or Russian. I did a bit of German.

 

[Tossth Esalad]

My native language is Danish, and my second and third languages are English and German, respectively.

 

[Darren716]

Im currently in my fourth year of studying latin. Not that i know much of it because the original latin teacher my shoolhad retired so last yearwe learned nothing from a jackass the school hired because he was italian and they thought that language was close enough. Atleast this year we have a compitent teacher who actually knows a thing or two about the language.

 

[nsqared]

What do you call someone who can speak two languages? Bilingual.
What about three languages? Trilingual.
Okay, what about someone who knows only one language? An American.

uhh no dude. not cool. Americans aren't all posh ignorant white people, despite what you may think. a lot of people are immigrants, and they speak a language that is not English as their first language. and then they learn English.

 

[starslasher]

Speak English as a first language, despite coming from a non-English speaking background. I was born in Pakistan, and i can speak a little bit of urdu/Hindi (they're 80-90% the same anyways, if you can speak Hindi, you can speak Urdu), But having lived there for only 4 years, I haven't been mastered convesring in it. I can speak Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language, obviously) better than i can urdu, since i lived here for 10 roughly 10 years. But you might expect me to be fluent in it, although that's not the case. I can converse in it, but i remain fluent in English only. I just suck at languages .

My mom thought that i might have a case of hyperlexia, which was supposed to be a form of autism, something like what rainman had, except not aaynwhere as severe as him. I'm crap with languages - hell, i didn't say my first world until i was 4 - and just overall communicating was awkward for me, although i had a more analytical mind than most.

Nonetheless, I still try to master those langauges, and even some other ones, if i can, like a pinch of Japanese, Arabic, even a bit of French and Spanish.

 

[Zarkov]

The queens English works for me. I've never been good at languages - perhaps if I was I'd be more willing to learn. Personally I'm surprised how many people go to the trouble of learning one!

I think it mostly stems from the love of culture and people. It's the ability to communicate to a whole new set of people whom you would have never been able to communicate to otherwise. I'm just now getting to the point where I can hold a conversation in German, and it a seriously an awesome experience to communicate with someone in a foreign language. I just can't get enough.

And besides my infatuation for language, in Europe it's really required that you take and learn a second language. Over here in the states? Not so much.

 

[dirtsa]

@Zarkov
Nein, Ich habe so viel vergessen. Ich kann lesen und verstehe Deutsch aber sprechen Deutch...nicht so gut.

 

[Zantos]

I'm pretty good with French in addition to my native English. I couldn't pass for native like my friend can (not only France, he can pull it off in about 5 different countries), but I can hold conversations in French. Surprisingly useful in Spain, we couldn't speak spanish, they couldn't speak english, but somehow we managed to have a common ambling in French. Not enough to be fluent, but we managed pretty well.

 

[Chalacachaca]

I took two years of French in High School.

I don't remember much of it. I do remember bits and pieces and can sometimes read it well enough to get the gist of it.

I'll probably try to learn another language at some point. I don't know which one mainly because I don't have a huge interest in traveling.

I'm learning japanese through Rosetta Stone, and I'm fluent in spanish and (american) english. I'd love to speak it as an englishman though.

Does Rosetta Stone work well? I've thought about giving that a try.

Well so far, I'm about to start Unit 2 and it's great, my mom's doing the english course and she has definetly improved, so give it a try if you can.