Question Of The Day, Sunday, May 20, 2018

[micknsnicks2mom]

good morning!

just a 'random', out of my own curiosity Question for today......


Do you speak any foreign languages?


i'll start!

i know some words and phrases, and can put together some simple sentences in French. i took two years of French in middle school. and very few words in Spanish -- one year of Spanish after the French, because the French class was full, which really was not helpful. i really don't count this as 'speaking' a foreign language.


how about you?

 

[Geralizze M.]

Good afternoon!


I can speak Spanish, English and Portuguese fluently. I can only have basic conversations in Hindi and in sign language. Hoping to become fluent in both soon lol

 

[DreamerRose]

I'm with you, micknsnicks2mom , I know French fairly well, but don't really speak it, maybe a few phrases. Even less Spanish.

 

[Mother Dragon]

Good afternoon!


I can speak Spanish, English and Portuguese fluently. I can only have basic conversations in Hindi and in sign language. Hoping to become fluent in both soon lol

Wow! Good for you! Learning a language will not only teaches you to speak it but teaches you about the people who use it as well.

 

[sivyaleah]

A very small amount of conversational Spanish both speaking and reading it.

I can also read some French - although speaking it not so much. At least if we ever go to France we won't go hungry. I can read the menus pretty darn well LOL

 

[Margret]

I had Spanish in high school, but except for a few phrases (and an excellent accent) I don't remember much.

Margret

 

[Katie M]

I spent a good chunk of my childhood in Europe (Germany, Italy, Belgium.) Can I speak German, Italian, or French? No I took Spanish in high school-I only remember a few words.

I have a funny story. DoD schools have a Host Nation program, where they have someone come in to teach the basics of the language and customs, and take the class on trips. The Host Nation teacher in Italy took us to a gelato shop and had each of us order our own. I panicked and ordered banana, since the Italian word is basically the same. I got lucky, because it wound up tasting pretty good

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Good afternoon!


I can speak Spanish, English and Portuguese fluently. I can only have basic conversations in Hindi and in sign language. Hoping to become fluent in both soon lol

ahhh, you're fluent in three languages, and are able to have basic conversations in two others!!! that's really great!!

i think Portuguese is a very pretty language.

 

[Winchester]

Many, many moons ago, our son (who knows German) was at a play in NYC with his then-girlfriend. The people who sat behind him got there late, were quite drunk, and they were speaking German. The woman was making fun of America and Americans; evidently she thought nobody could understand what she was saying. Finally our son stood up, turned around and told her in fluent German that if she didn't like the US, she should just leave, nobody would be sorry to see her go. And to kindly shut up so that people who really wanted to see the play could do so without having to listen to her drunkenly rant and rave about the country and its citizens. He turned back around and sat down. And that was the last they heard from the woman. (His GF was Japanese and could speak and understand five languages. She was amazing.)

I took quite a bit of German and a bit of French. I used to be able to cuss quite fluently in German. In fact, when our son let loose one day, I told him, in German, we didn't need to hear it, no matter what the language and to kindly shut up. He looked at me and said, "When did you....Damn, Mom, I can't say anything!"

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I'm with you, micknsnicks2mom , I know French fairly well, but don't really speak it, maybe a few phrases. Even less Spanish.

you can speak a few phrases in French, and less in Spanish!!! that sounds pretty good!!

i think that if i had someone to converse with in French, i might very well learn more of the language...and enjoy speaking it. although, when i was taking French classes, i wasn't able to master the 'rolling r'.

 

[cassiopea]

French and Finnish! And some Swedish.

I did take Russian some time ago, but I am crazy rusty in it now. I can read things like signs and things but speaking is very limited.

Right now I am dabbling in basic Italian. I have no plans to be fluent (Not realistically capable in two months before my trip to Italy ) just enough to hopefully get by politely.

So far I am doing Ok, knowing French already helps a lot. Thankfully a tad kinder for my psyche - I dabbled a bit in Czech last year before going to said country for a trip. I struggled! I felt really bad for the poor Czechs who I assume were puzzled by the dopey tourist. I was hardly able to pronounce "Thank You" correctly!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

A very small amount of conversational Spanish both speaking and reading it.

I can also read some French - although speaking it not so much. At least if we ever go to France we won't go hungry. I can read the menus pretty darn well LOL

you know some conversational Spanish -- both speaking and reading it, and are also able to read some French!!! awesome!!

that's really good, that you're able to read menus in French pretty well! my fear would be that i'd end up ordering something that i really wouldn't like, or want to even try.

 

[DreamerRose]

although, when i was taking French classes, i wasn't able to master the 'rolling r'.

I got that "r" down pat, thanks to my cats. As a child, I used to imitate the cats hissing with my mouth open and using the back of my throat to make the hissing noise. Turns out that is the French "r."

But not to worry. The French can't say the English "th" to save their lives.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I had Spanish in high school, but except for a few phrases (and an excellent accent) I don't remember much.

Margret

you remember a few phrases in Spanish, from your high school Spanish class(-es)!!! that's great!!

i think you probably remember more Spanish than i do!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I spent a good chunk of my childhood in Europe (Germany, Italy, Belgium.) Can I speak German, Italian, or French? No I took Spanish in high school-I only remember a few words.

I have a funny story. DoD schools have a Host Nation program, where they have someone come in to teach the basics of the language and customs, and take the class on trips. The Host Nation teacher in Italy took us to a gelato shop and had each of us order our own. I panicked and ordered banana, since the Italian word is basically the same. I got lucky, because it wound up tasting pretty good

you remember a few words in Spanish, from your high school classes!!! very nice!!

that's really interesting, the DoD schoold have a Host Nation program! mmmm......gelato!!

 

[neely]

Although I can speak some Spanish I have difficulty formulating complete sentences unless they're brief. One of my goals is to go back to school and take adult classes to become more fluent in the language.

 

[Jayflower]

I know some French; I had 2 years of French when I was in high school, and I studied French online for awhile. I also know a few words/phrases in Japanese that I've picked up from watching NHK World on tv.

 

[kashmir64]

I can read spanish, but I've never been able to wrap my head around the noun before the verb, so I don't speak it well.
My son, on the other hand, knows four languages. Not fluently, but enough to get by.

 

[Kat0121]

I took Spanish and Italian in HS. I do not speak either. I can read Spanish enough to get the idea of what is being said. My issue with the way languages are taught in school (at least the way the school I went to did) is that they do not teach it the way most native speakers actually speak. Is is more formal. Why learn a phrase like, "Tell Billy the book is blue.' ? Billy's not blind. He's standing right there. He can see that the book is blue." I think that if it were taught the way that real people speak, more kids would retain what they learned unless they were like me and took it for the credits.

 

[Lari]

I started French for real (I took a few enrichment classes before) in junior high. They spread out French 1 over two years, which was really beneficial in high school when I got to go straight to French 2. I meant to minor in French in college, but with studying abroad and switching one class over in Nantes to a literature class, I got an accidental major.

I duolinguo every day and go to a French club once a week, but still feel rusty and not very good. I think everything would come back after a month's immersion.

I also took two years of Spanish at the community college about 11ish years ago before I went to Argentina, thinking it would be useful in general in teaching. I also practice in duolinguo, and I'm passsable, but better by a long shot in French.