I thought this would be a cool forum post. I myself speak Dutch (native language), English on C1 level, intermediate Spanish, somewhat intermediate in German, advanced Norwegian, a little bit of French and I am trying to learn how to read and speak Greek. Can understand Swedish, can't speak it. Have studied Russian for a bit. You can say, I am a language freak!
So, what languages do you speak or did you speak? Or are interested in?
My 2nd language is French, but I'm very rusty - haven't had much occasion to use it over the last 20-something years. I can also speak a little Spanish, but when I've had the opportunity to speak the language I often butcher it by slipping in a few French words...
Amy ... WoW .... you have it going on lol .... English for me ... unfortunately although French is now the second language of Canada I was raised at a time before that happened. I did take an evening class for French but since I didn't have any at all and most of the others were just refreshing I didn't gain much from it. The teacher wouldn't speak anything but French in the class which did not help me learn basics. It is always something I wished I had taken in highschool when it was offered but was never encouraged to do so...now at 67 I feel I don't want to spend the time it would take to learn it ... my loss.
My first language is Portuguese, and then, English. I learned spanish when I was a child, but somehow I can´t speek it even if it´s necessary to save my life, so I´m trying to study it a bit - I know some words in Japanese, but just a few and I studied some ancient Greek (from Athens) too. I love learning languages, I miss so much when I´m not studying one.
Dutch for me, I learned English, French and German at school but only the English has stay
Pilipino (which is the Philippines' national language), English, a little Spanish, some French although I'm very rusty now, not having used it (orally or in writing) in about 20 years
So far the languages we have are Dutch, English, French, German, Modern and Ancient Greek,Norwegian, Russian, Swedish and Filipino!
Native English speaker, learned French second although I am far more fluent in Italian. Need to learn German but I haven't gotten there QUITE yet.
My native language is spanish,started learning english since I was 6, so it would be my second language, then I´ve taken lessons of russian, french, tried to learn a little chinese (cantonese) with a friend of mine, Used to work with philipinos and had learned a little tagalo bot now I dont remember anything. Always wanted to learn portuguese so I was trying to learn with that phone app: Doulingo... Ah and I just remember, I know a little sign language, but the version for my country... Thats it for me! I like languages a lot but only fluent in spanish and english!
Veronica, so glad to meet you. it's rare to find someone in digiland who knows my language.
Amy, you might like this since Aruba is part of the Netherlands. My husband is a native Arubian and speaks Papiamento and Dutch. Well, he's very rusty in his Dutch! We did a London/Paris/Amsterdam trip a couple of years ago and once he got to hearing it again, he was able to converse somewhat with some people. I've learned some Papiamento, but with any language, I understand it much better! He hated learning English in school, but has said if he ever thought he'd marry an American, he would have studied harder! lol
I've dabbled in Italian since that's my main heritage, and Spanish. But, I understand it much better than I speak it.
-Lisa
mi lengua materna el catellano , hablo el frances, y voy entendiendo mejor el ingles
My native language is English, but I have the ability to read German and speak it poorly. I also did some study in Latin.
Boring here, I speak English ... however I do speak Sarcasm (thanks to my parents lol), and Acronym (thanks to a husband in the Defence Force!).
I speak English but majored in gibberish after I had children then grand children & now great grandkids
I speak English. I used to be conversational in Spanish but I've lost a lot of it. I still understand it pretty well. I also took French in middle through high school but I forget most of that.
English for me... with a broad London accent. I did take classes in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but there isn't much call for it now days lol !!!
I've always been jealous of multilingual people! I only speak english <sigh>. I used to be fairly fluent in American Sign Language but that was a long time ago. My niece learned Chinese in pre-school and has now moved on to Spanish in kindergarden (I hate it when 5-year-old's know more than I do!)
I speak English and know basic Spanish, but my Spanish grammar is terrible.
For those of you who speaks only English, I really recommend to start learning another one. May be French, Spanish, or whathever you´d like. Learning anoter language is not only cool because you can communicate with more people, or watch movies without dubs or subs. When you start thinking on a second, or third language, you also learn new ways of thinking, and sometimes you also discover new feelings which you never knew you were able to feel, or you learn new "shades" and intensities for your feelings. Sometimes things that don´t make sense in a language do make in another... It´s weird, but it´s soooo fun too. You somehow become a better person experiencing this...
...not to mention the phase when you start dreaming in another language...
I agree, I wish I were better at keeping up with the languages I've learned, but when I spoke Spanish regularly, I found myself thinking in Spanish quite often!
Your last name is very Dutch, Mindy!
Amy, we're not really sure where the name comes from since most of my family that we know of is Irish with a few English and came to America very early on (Like Mayflower early).
It´s hard to keep up unless you find some way that really interests you to use the second/third language. I watch several movies and TV series in Elglish or with subtitles in English istead of Portugese, leve the interface of my softwares in English on purpose, play MMO in English-speak servers... and... well, I´m here on PS everyday!
My native language is french, I also speak a rather fluent english (that's my day job...), and italian.
To quote one of my favourite movies (The Fifth Element): "Woah, lady. I only speak two languages: English and Bad English!"
I can read some Spanish and recognize some spoken words. There are some simple words that I use from time to time just for the fun of it (bienvenidos is a fun one to say) and I cuss at the cat a bit. It pops up enough in the US that it's one of the easier languages for me to recognize.
I can sing the chorus to Il est né, le divin Enfant, thanks to a very short French class I took in junior high.
Thanks to my sister, I know a few words in Japanese. And, I can sign (most) of the American Sign Language alphabet (I'm rusty), but I don't know anything else. lol
Goodness me! I feel quite ashamed of myself for not learning another language beyond high school. Perhaps I'll brush up on my German and French. Well done all of you who speak two or more languages.
Barbara, Duolingo.com is a good free program if you're looking to do some casual language learning. It's all fun and game but more educational that Candy Crush and the like
Mindy, your last name literally means 'Stonehill' in Dutch. It makes perfect sense as a last name.
Wow Amy that is awesome! I unfortunately only speak english. Keep learning those languages that is quite an accomplishment!
I started learning english since I was 6, my pronunciation will never be like a native speaker but I can comunicate very well, I often think in english and sometimes when watching a movie I find my self undestanding like in spanish and realizing is english...
I also really recommend to learn a second language even your sense of humor changes as you can undestand other cultures inside jokes!
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