Who here is multilingual?

[cougar]

I was just reading a post by fwan, and it got me thinking. Who here on TCS speaks more than one language? I myself plan on learning Japanese! How about you?


Later,
Brandon

 

[mamacat]

I sort of speak Spanish. I wouldn't say I'm fluent, but I can get by.

 

[yosemite]

Unfortunately not but our daughter speaks French, Spanish, Italian and some German.

 

[jcat]

My native language is English, but I speak fluent German, too, since I studied German Lit., am married to a German, and have lived here almost half my life. I understand a lot of Spanish (I had seven years of it in high school and college, and my dad spent much of his childhood in Puerto Rico), but it has gotten so rusty that I don't dare speak it anymore. My Spanish-speaking colleagues address me in Spanish, and I answer in German, unless it's something easy. Japanese is supposedly very difficult. A former colleague (English married to a Japanese woman) moved to Tokyo last year, and his emails describing his attempts to really learn Japanese are hysterical. He's doing okay with the spoken language, but finds the written language to be a book with seven seals.

 

[turtlecat]

I speak 7 and can read 10. that used to be more, but I've since forgotten cyrillic.

and I can speak a little japanese

 

[gargoyle]

I studied Russian in college but have forgotten most of it ("use it or lose it").

I've made several forays into learning German but have not gotten terribly far. I have someone I can practice with, if I ever get my act together

--marion

 

[kev]

I can speak pure Yorkshire - being from Yorkshire - does that count against English???
alreet?
K

 

[myrage]

I had 3 years of French, and 2 years of Spanish in high school. I always said I would continue in my languages. I didn't really though. I did learn a little Japanese from a Japanese exchange student. I learned some Chinese from my boss and her family when I worked at a chinese buffet. I learned a tiny little bit of Korean when I worked for a Korean family, but that is complicated. Just saying thankyou seemed like a huge word.

 

[cougar]

Awesome. Turtlecat, thats really impressive! Jcat, written japanese is a little hard for me to. I know the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets, but the the Kanji symbols are what kill. There thousands and thousands of them! Kev, lol.
Oh and I took like 3 years of German in highschool, so Im alright with it. Not even close to fluent though...


-Brandon

Edit: ^^ yep we do some Korean for TaeKwon-Do and it really is a complicated language!

 

[wellingtoncats]

I'm bilingual. I speak fluent french and of course english is my first language!

 

[kiwideus]

Does knowing sign language from 4 different countries count?

NZ, USA, British and South African.

 

[babygirl]

Just English and Spanish.

 

[mamacat]

Originally Posted by kev

I can speak pure Yorkshire - being from Yorkshire - does that count against English???
alreet?
K

Based on my communications with you Kev-o, I can safely say you indeed speak a second language.

 

[ttmom]

German and English here with just enough French to get in trouble.....

 

[rita]

I speak fluent German too

 

[pinkdaisy226]

I can muddle my way through speaking Spanish... but I definitely understand a lot. I've had many experiences with people trying to talk bad about me behind my back in Spanish and being able to just smile at them and saying, thanks, I heard that.

Though these days I regret not having learned more Spanish - my parents were right, it does come in handy!

 

[coolcat]

Hey Brandon Good Thread!

Spanish firts language,, (obviously)

English like second and still learning

French some phasals and words..

and some words in Italyan & Portuguese!

Cheers!

 

[mferr84]

i can speak spanish almost fluentley(i read and talk it wonderfully, but listening is harder for me) and i can speak some portugese(which is very similar to spanish) my husbands family is portugese

 

[jcat]

Originally Posted by Kiwideus

Does knowing sign language from 4 different countries count?

NZ, USA, British and South African.

Definitely! For some reason, I always thought there was some sort of "international" sign language. However, since learning that that wasn't true, I've had the highest respect for anybody who masters various national versions. And for those who learn signing voluntarily. WTG!

 

[mzjazz2u]

I took a couple years of German and although I do still remember a few things, I'm afraid I don't remember that much. I can count forever in German though, if that counts! I read and write Arabic fluently. Can speak it fairly well too! I actually taught myself how to write Arabic from websites and books. Then I took a couple years of Arabic at the University here. Also learned a lot of Arabic after I met and married my husband. I can communicate effectively most of the time!