Languages Spoken

[Mac Myers]

Question.
I see (well... sorta see.... you know what I mean :dizzy many people here from Countries who's native language is not English. All do VERY well at speaking English... many better than we native English speakers seem to be able to manage. It's interesting to me.... as someone who took 2 years of High School Spanish and can't really say much more than "I have lead in my pencil" or "where is the bar"?
So what I'm wondering is (if you are willing to share) how many of you Caudata loving people are multilingual.... Native English Speakers or not? I'd love to say that I speak 5 languages and have visited all 5 of the countries and had many great adventures... but sadly it didn't work out that way (though I did get chased by a bee in the Caribbean once).
So how about it?

 

[tomkeogh]

I am hoping to master English in a year or so, than I think I will try and learn American.

Anyway all of us Brits have worked out if you just talk English really loud and slow any person can understand

 

[Greatwtehunter]

I can speak french. I haven't really got to use it yet (other than a few sporadic conversations with some Candian tourists) but it looks like I am going to get to put it to use when I go overseas next fall.

 

[tomkeogh]

I sometimes resent being from an English speaking country, I am the kind of person who can only learn something they have too, as much as the subject interests me I have no motivation to learn another Language.

It seems most people from western/central Europe speak some English, and People from Latin countries seem to always be multi-lingual.

 

[Azhael]

Well, i speak castilian, obviously xD
I used to know french decently, but not having used it in 8 years sort of made it vanish...right now i couldn´t possibly have a conversation in french.

I have to say i like foreign languages...sometimes i wish i knew 12 different ones xD. I´m thinking of giving german a go, but we´ll see.

Anyway all of us Brits have worked out if you just talk English really loud and slow any person can understand

We all think it works with our own languages xD
This system has brought a lot of laughter and joy to countless natives all around the world xD

 

[John]

I speak French and Irish (Gaelic) fluently. I can just about get by in German but I'm horrible at understanding most German accents. I can read Spanish pretty well because I took Latin for 6 years in school. I can also read Dutch - it's like German that makes more sense .

 

[firedreams]

I speak French, Sanskrit and Hebrew pretty well, and can kind of get by in German.

 

[lea]

i would to speak another language but i only speak english using our aussie slang...

 

[Yahilles]

I speak polish, but i am learning english since last "class" of kindergarten, so i am rather able to communicate in this language, even tried with native americans (i mean voice, not text - 2nd is much easier of course). I am also learning german language (7 years, 3 times the "basic"), but i'm too lazy to learn it to be able to use it so i treat it just like any other subject at school.

I am hoping to master English in a year or so, than I think I will try and learn American.

For me they're nearly the same, maybe few words and accent are different. Never talked with any british people, but i played Call of Duty and it seems like english accent is much harder to understand for me, though it sounds lovely

 

[callina]

I only speak German, but now I try to re-learn English (I learned it at school 30 years ago) by reading and writing at caudata.

 

[aramcheck]

I (obviously) can speak French (even though when I am visiting family back home, it takes me a couple of days to rewire my brain into French, to the delight of my brothers who then nickname me Van Damme French speaker will understand).

I have been living up noorf (well, Hull then Nottingham) for 10 years, so I now concider myself a proper northerner, well versed in the "duck" and "ta".

I've learnt German in highschool a long time ago, but it is all gone now, I wish I was paying more attention at shcool and kept it alive as I find speaking/comparing languages fascinating...

 

[misslyss]

Great subject, Mac! I found myself wondering the same thing while looking around this website!:happy:

I speak English and Spanish with some French due to mandatory high school and college courses. Although I think the only way I really mastered Spanish was by actually being in a spanish speaking country. California and Mexico are neighbors so we go there for every excuse possible!

 

[Mac Myers]

I am hoping to master English in a year or so, than I think I will try and learn American.

Heh... I speak American semi-competently. I'm trying to learn UK as I have some friends on Facebook from the UK and sometimes I can read entire conversations of theirs and have only a vague (if any) understanding of the topic at hand.

I'm always impressed by the minds and abilities of the people here at Caudata.org. Even the people who tend to apologize for their English speak and write it better than most American High School students.

 

[tomkeogh]

Yes I totally agree Mac If I did not have spell checker I am fairly sure I would have been banned from these forums a very long time ago.Now I just need to figure out punctuation

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I was fluent in Chilean Spanish, but am about ten years out of practice- same for the Mexican dialect. I have a smattering of French, German, Italian and Portuguese but mostly only technical terms as I work on a lot of European manufactured machinery. I also can get by with very basic spoken Gulf Arabic but am severely out of practice with the little bit I picked up. I can survive a Latin Mass being I was brought up as a good little Scots-Irish boy.

Lately I have been teaching myself to read German, Polish and Dutch, but this does not go to well so far. (Darned international caudate sites! )

So to make a long story short, I usually just use translation software.

 

[Azhael]

I forgot to say because i don´t actually "know" the languages, and i definitely can´t use them at all....but i can understand portuguese and italian pretty well, at least to get by (they are both so similar to castilian that enough words are readily recognizable to understand most of it). I guess the same applies to them, i´m sure any portuguese or italian guy can understand me in spanish well enough, even without any practice.
Quite handy these latin languages...xD

 

[tomkeogh]

I just watched a world cup press conference by the Ivory coast team, One player Yaya Toure answered questions in French,Spanish, German, Italian, English and I think Russian without the aid of a translator or a second's thought I got a headache just watching!

 

[blueberlin]

Anyway all of us Brits have worked out if you just talk English really loud and slow any person can understand

This comment is so funny! I used to hate that when I first moved to German. "I'm not DEAF, I just don't speak your language!"

I am fluent in both English and German, althoughthe U-umlaut in German will always give me trouble and create amusement among my readers (right, Tina?). After spending 3 weeks in Galicia several years ago, I was able to carry on basic conversations in Spanish and understand much more, and I hope that when I move back to the USA I will be able to become fluent in Spanish as well. I can speak enough French to get through a weekend in Paris shops and restaurants, and I can say a few things in Polish and count to 30 in Turkish. I also speak Boy-ish pretty well.

-Eva

 

[Blaze]

I spent 9 years doing Japanese.... I know two words and a song!! I am hopeless with languages lol

 

[dragonlady]

I spent 9 years doing Japanese.... I know two words and a song!! I am hopeless with languages lol

Wow, you chose a complicated language to learn, beautiful, but difficult! I took HS Spanish for two years and barely passed...so I guess it's pretty safe to say that languages are not my strong point either. lol

However, there are many members out here who make it look so easy! To those members, I have to say that I really admire you, to truly know more than one language has to be amazing. I, on the other hand, still have difficulties with my first and only language! lol