I noticed a lot of people on here can speak more than one language

[VladKEasternTiger]

Hi everyone, I noticed a lot of my friends and people I read on this particular forum can speak more than 1 language, normally English is their second language so they say but they speak it better than than some english people ive come across in england

Anyway im wondering if you speak another language like spanish, farsi, russian, mandarin etc.. How long did it take you to learn it at least enough to have a conversation?

I just came with idea from this forum of Learning Spanish obviously I cannot immerse myself in the countries as I have no money. But yeah and if they are any Spanish speakers here let me know 

[mikeselectricstuff]

More then one language.. now let's see...
English, A little French, C, Pascal, Assembler (various dialects), VB, VHDL...

[migsantiago]

Hi

As a mexican I speak spanish and I learned english as a second language. I took english classes from childhood until I was 21 years old.

I learned a bit of french but I didn't like it 

[Kiriakos-GR]

Nice subject ..  

Well I am Greek, and second cousin of Leonidas     and first cousin of Jason the admiral of the Argo boat.
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/ARGONAUTS.html  

In our schools we had as choice about the standard lesson of an foreign language,
as English and French .

My vote was for the English one .  ( and now it pays the price )    

Later on we had the choice and for a second language, but you had to stay at the end of the school time,
for another two hours ...  
Ok I chose " The German this time " ,  but in six months time , the school teacher stopped coming,
she was with contract.  
So we left at the dry ...  no more  " studiere Deuch "  

And I speak and few Italian , and I had  helped few times Italians motorcyclists  (tourists ), with technical problems.
Most TV-set  repair manuals was written in German or Italian ( The old good days that Europe was making their own stuff )

The language of the future are the Chinese ( Marketing and trading ).

As about the Greek language , are  the mother of all in the west world ,  I would add and the Latin as second in value, but its a dead one.

About the learning curve , if you study exclusively one language ( all day - all night )  for two years , you are ready to start a conversation.
Starting an technical conversation in foreign language ( its for the club of heroes )    

    

[Simon]

Well I was dragged to Italy when I was 10 where with the upmost difficulty due to my poor aptitude to languages I learnt Italian. Of course I kept up my English and yes it surprises me now back in England that I speak better english and can express myself better than someone that boasts that "he has been to college". I did try French while in Italy but that was disastrous, I now make sure I can say in French "I cannot speak French" 

[marianoapp]

I'm Argentinian so i speak Spanish, and i learned English at school and after that by my self mostly thanks to the internet..

now I'm trying to learn Russian (I'm already able to say "i don't speak Russian" and "where is the bathroom"  )

[DavidDLC]

I'm Mexican, living and working in the USA, so I speak Spanish as a primary language (well, not anymore) at home my daugthers only want to speak English as well as my wife (she is still learning and practicing).

Saludos.

[Kiriakos-GR]

I'm already able to say "i don't speak Russian" and "where is the bathroom"  )

And ..." give me a cigarette "  , the No1 phrases ..

I had learn to ask a cigarette in German , many years back, before I even try to study the language.   

[PetrosA]

I was born here in the US, but I moved to Poland when I was 22 and learned to speak the language there. I'm pretty fluent for everyday stuff and politics and even some technical areas, but I never fully mastered the language. It's a tough one, and we've even noticed that our daughter, who is just learning to speak prefers using the English words rather than the Polish ones. Both of my parents spoke second languages (Greek, German) but I didn't learn to speak either of them. I can read Greek pretty well though

[flolic]

I am Croat. In my country, we are exposed to english language for a whole life. Unlike some other european countries, foreign media (movies, tv shows, documentaries...) are shown in their original language, with subtitles. Of course, majority of that programme is in english so you can learn from that. Especially right accent, unlike some german and italian people I heard speaking english 
Also, foreign language is obligatory in elementary and high schools, and majority of students choose English.
For me, I learned basics in school, expanded it by watching movies and really widened word count, phrases and technical terms by using internet.
But beside all that, I still suck, especially in grammar 

And one more thing. Yes, I can write, read and understand english. But real challenge is to have real world *spoken* conversation in english. I often find myself trying to remember correct word or phrase... To master that, I think only way is to spend some time in english speaking country, forcing yourself to think and speak in english.

[Simon]

Yes I used to have a terrible time trying to explain to Italians how to pronounce words properly, the worse bit being some of my "English teachers" were atrocious

[kc1980]

I was born and raised in the US, but my parents are from Japan.  I consider myself semi-fluent in Japanese.  Just like anything, use it or lose it. 

[VladKEasternTiger]

I'm Mexican, living and working in the USA, so I speak Spanish as a primary language (well, not anymore) at home my daugthers only want to speak English as well as my wife (she is still learning and practicing).

Saludos.

Hasta Luego 

[Kiriakos-GR]

The most funny with languages , are when a work used in yours with funny meaning,
exists in another language , with another meaning.

Example :  In Greek the word  " Vlakas "  =  the stupid one !!

In Bulgaria  the word VLAK = railway Train

Now imagine a Greek person to stand on the Bulgarian railway station, and suddenly the train to show up, and every one to yield   " The VLAK is coming and point a finger to it "   

[Simon]

The most funny with languages , are when a work used in yours with funny meaning,
exists in another language , with another meaning.

Example :  In Greek the word  " Vlakas "  =  the stupid one !!

In Bulgaria  the word VLAK = railway Train

Now imagine a Greek person to stand on the Bulgarian railway station, and suddenly the train to show up, and every one to yield   " The VLAK is coming and point a finger to it "   

I have this with Italian, more so with double meanings though, something that sounds very innocent in English can sound a tad naughty if translated 

[flolic]

In Bulgaria  the word VLAK = railway Train

Haha, here in Croatia the word VLAK has same meaning as in Bulgaria 

[ElektroQuark]

But yeah and if they are any Spanish speakers here let me know 

Hello:

I'm from Spain.
 

If you need help with the language, here I am.

[Kiriakos-GR]

In Bulgaria  the word VLAK = railway Train

Haha, here in Croatia the word VLAK has same meaning as in Bulgaria 

If so , I have few more words for you ..

Vonda = water 
gaspoza = woman
gaspozitce = Miss

And here my memory stops , because I had travel to Bulgaria about 4-5 times, but I was only 12 years old at that times,  and now I am 41 



Now days , I am dreaming to visit Japan , and give my respects at the front doors of the factories as HONDA Motors Hamamatsu  ( becauce it had build my motorcycle Honda AX-1 ) ,  the OLYMPUS optical (Digital camera) , SONY ( because of the amazing SONY black Trinitron CRTs )  ,  at AIWA  KENWOOD ( Audio products )  SANYO & TEN ( Car audio)  SANYO Denki ( ball bearing fans)  Mitsubishi ( Airconditions)  TOYOTA ( cars ) and  then I will feel that I had reward with my thanks , the most worthy hard workers of the planet , for their amazing products. 

[Polossatik]

I speak Flemish (mother tongue - the Dutch spoken in Belgium for the uneducated ), French (GF is French speaking) , English (the UK variant - I speak/write all day english @ work) , basic German and some Spanish.

With any language the simple fact is you need to use it or you lose it. My French only became "ok" when I worked in a 100% French team for a few years.
That is one of the drawbacks of the world today, a lot of people speak (some kind of) English, like when I stayed in Barcelona I used more English then Spanish because my mates there where pretty good English speakers, so they tried to "help" me by speaking English while in fact they should have insisted to speak Spanish (or catalonian ) with me .

[VladKEasternTiger]

But yeah and if they are any Spanish speakers here let me know 

Hello:

I'm from Spain.
 

If you need help with the language, here I am.

Im in the process of Learning Spanish, I guess I have to immerse myself in Spanish culture to get fluent at it but we shall see how far the cds and books take me   

[Simon]

I speak Flemish (mother tongue - the Dutch spoken in Belgium for the uneducated ), French (GF is French speaking) , English (the UK variant - I speak/write all day english @ work)

how dare you call the "Queens English" a "variant" 

For those that have not figured yet English is the native language of Great Britain, if you say English you should be referring to the "Queens English" as spoken in Great Britain. I'd hardly call the twisted contorted rubbish the yanks and other nations have made our language "English" 

[VladKEasternTiger]

I speak Flemish (mother tongue - the Dutch spoken in Belgium for the uneducated ), French (GF is French speaking) , English (the UK variant - I speak/write all day english @ work)

how dare you call the "Queens English" a "variant" 

For those that have not figured yet English is the native language of Great Britain, if you say English you should be referring to the "Queens English" as spoken in Great Britain. I'd hardly call the twisted contorted rubbish the yanks and other nations have made our language "English" 

Anyone know why its called the queens english when a lot of the words come from Indian origin, Aincent Egpyt, etc..? Interesting

[Polossatik]

I speak Flemish (mother tongue - the Dutch spoken in Belgium for the uneducated ), French (GF is French speaking) , English (the UK variant - I speak/write all day english @ work)

how dare you call the "Queens English" a "variant" 

For those that have not figured yet English is the native language of Great Britain, if you say English you should be referring to the "Queens English" as spoken in Great Britain. I'd hardly call the twisted contorted rubbish the yanks and other nations have made our language "English" 

Not trying to start a riot, but if you're referring to "Queens English" then you might not point to the UK but rather to England (and maybe less  ).
I doubt most people from Wales or Scotland would consider them selfs to speak "Queens English" as daily language 

Of course this implies that my "UK variant wording" is also quite wrong ...

[Kiriakos-GR]

This conversation become too serious  

We need an commercial break  

[Simon]

I speak Flemish (mother tongue - the Dutch spoken in Belgium for the uneducated ), French (GF is French speaking) , English (the UK variant - I speak/write all day english @ work)

how dare you call the "Queens English" a "variant" 

For those that have not figured yet English is the native language of Great Britain, if you say English you should be referring to the "Queens English" as spoken in Great Britain. I'd hardly call the twisted contorted rubbish the yanks and other nations have made our language "English" 

Not trying to start a riot, but if you're referring to "Queens English" then you might not point to the UK but rather to England (and maybe less  ).
I doubt most people from Wales or Scotland would consider them selfs to speak "Queens English" as daily language 

Of course this implies that my "UK variant wording" is also quite wrong ...

I think by "Queens English" it is generally intended correct English spelt as it used to be, sadly many way's of american spelling have made their way into British english, I know English has few rules, but to abolish the few it does have and go your own way will lead to chaos, but then america always seems to know best and the rest of the world will probably be using exclusively "text speak" soon.

c u l8er