Are You Bilingual? How Did you Learn?

[pinksugar]

thanks candy. It does. It makes me feel so much better when I hear how many people have learnt! if you guys can do it, I can too!

 

[pinksugar]

Dark N, I forgot to say...

yes, you are understood!

 

[Orangeeyecrayon]

i like to think i am bilingual, i know sign language and english. (though some people dont consider signlanguage a true language)

i learned initially because i went to a school where 1/3 of the population was deaf or hard of hearing. they not only offered free classes, but you also tended to pick it up over time because you saw so many other people using it. after i left that school i was still very intrested in sign language so i took a few classes in it to help improve my sign.

 

[HairEgo]

I speak French, English, Spanish, Polish and conversational Punjabi. I learnt Spanish through those tapes you buy and listen too...French I learned in school, and Punjabi through friends

 

[Annelle]

I was born and raised in the US.

I'm have a very high knowledge of English (both technical and casual), took all the honors English/AP courses through college.

I have a somewhat high knowledge of Korean. I can have a casual conversation completely in Korean, but if you want to start talking in "adult conversation" like business, politics, medicine, economics...I just never grew up with that technical vocabulary so it'll be hard for me to follow. (You don't really grow up talking about famine or abortion with your kids. You might talk about "not enough food to eat" but not stuff like "economic depression" -- simple talk vs "technical" talk) My parents moved to the States about a year before I was born. They spoke with me in Korean and I took Korean school on the weekends as a child to learn how to read and write. However my reading and writing is likely around a junior high school level. I did also study Korean in college through the intermediate level (advanced wasn't available), where my final exam included a 5 type-written essay. But I had a few people proof read it for typos >.>

I basically had the same grasp of the English language as I did Korean, the Korean might have even been slightly stronger. I knew the basics of how to read and write both languages by the 2nd grade. I just don't get the practice as much of the Korean.

I studied Spanish in school from junior high until mid-college. During mid-college I'd say I was semi-fluent. I went to Mexico and was able to handle myself around salespeople, having conversations entirely in Spanish. Now though? It's been almost a decade since I studied and although I can get by speaking with my bf's grandmother (she speaks about 5% English and 95% spanish) a lot of the vocabulary is gone from my memory. If I got back to studying it again i'd probably re-learn it somewhat easily, but it'd probably take a good couple month long refresher course of practicing daily.

I've been casually trying to teach myself Japanese but it's hard to try to learn vocabulary without any sort of structure or place to practice it. I've mostly been trying to recognize the hiragana letters for now. Katakana recognition is next, then I figure I'll try to figure out how to pronounce things and try to learn vocab after that. heh. might be backwards. *shrug*

 

[Ozee]

Annelle im impressed. Self taught asian language is hard well done!

Im impressed with everyone who is self taught actually.

 

[Annelle]

lol...I had made flash cards (remember like elementary school?) and played with those for a while. Then I tried figuring out how to build a program thing for myself -- then found somebody who had made one already. It's pretty fun/cool

https://www.msu.edu/~lakejess/Kana_Page.html?bg=1

It saves the ones you get wrong and puts it back into the mix so you end up being drilled over the ones you don't know as well. at least I found it fun, but I'm weird like that! ha. I think the flash cards helped though cause I had an idea on some of them to help me get started on that online game.

 

[Ozee]

I have flash cards i made for my daughter and son, we speak english Farsi and Greek at home so I have flash cards and signs stuck around on certain things in different languages. (im a leaner in Farsi still myself so it helps)

thats a very cool program. thanks for posting link.

 

[pinksugar]

I should do that too. Names of things on furniture and stuff. I can't imagine being able to speak a word at the moment

 

[Ozee]

put post it notes on shoes and stuff in fridge and light switch with on or off on it etc

It'll help alot Rosie. There is always the hot italian stallion as the tutor option LOL j/k (don't let your other half read that!)

 

[pinksugar]

LOL. You're terrible Oz! No italian stallions! I want a nice sensible italian teacher, preferably an older woman!

 

[dani88]

I'm bilingual and speak French and English. French is all my parents spoke to me at home, since they reasoned that living in the States would allow me to pick English up with no problems, and they were right. All through school I took correspondence courses for either language, to keep up my writing skills in both languages, since I was schooled in both completely French and English depending on where we lived. I am grateful to my parents for the effort and thought they put into my education, it's been a blessing over the years! If you want to learn other languages, have any of you tried Rosetta Stone? They have a neat website and offer a wide range of languages - it's worth a look!

 

[magosienne]

Annelle that is so funny you try to recognise first hiraganas. I'm quite the contrary, i watch and listen to japanese so i have a faily good idea of how to pronunciate things (that and the fact the sounds are close to those in french) and i learn some vocabulary as well, i watch all my movies in their original versions so with the subtitles i guess which word means what. But apart from the katakanas i use in my notes ("being, person" and "no") and a few kanjis here and there, i have trouble associating these with the vocaculary i know.

What i lack most is a sense of organization, i don't study regularly japanese as uni keeps me busy, and i feel i spend more time re-learning stuff i know than learning new things.

 

[Adrienne]

Originally Posted by candygalore /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello,im from south america, venezuela and one thing that work for me was waching tv and surrounding my self with people that spoke english , that is how i learn to speak english. Esol really didn't help me that much with the speaking part but it did help me with the writing. Now one thing to remenber is if you do go overseas you can still practice whetever language they speak before you go, but you will speake it more when ever you hear people talking the language you are trying to learn. Another thing will be, make yourself some flash cards with the basics, like how to say hello, goodnigth, good morning etc... And don't be shy if the words that are coming out of your mouth sound funny at first just keep practicing until you know how to pronounce some of them, thats what alots of teachers will tell you too. I hope this help you a little bit. Very good advice

I had a spanish teacher who learned spanish in college and she said she never quite grasped the language until she lived in Mexico for a while. Only then did it really all make sense. Don't worry Rosie. You'll do great

 

[DasSavva]

Greek and English.

It's funny. Greek was my first language, but then no one kept it up with me when I was little (don't know why) so English became my primary language. I did know bits and pieces of Greek, but that was it. Since I remembered the alphabet and how to read the letters/words, I basically taught myself a good chunk, had help from family, and spent time in Cyprus, where I learned more. I'm not 100% fluent yet, but I like to think I'm getting there.

 

[DermaCaps]

I'm of Colombian descent and learned English in my early years by watching a lot of television with the subtitles on. Also, getting a significant other that speaks the other language REALLY advances the process.

 

[ArcEnCiel]

I am tri-lingual, English, Spanish and French. I learned Spanish in San Jose, Costa Rica and French in Nice, France. I spent 3 months in both countries. English is my mother tongue and I didn't start learning Spanish till I was about 18 and French 25. Your best bet to learning a language is to go to that country and study there as well for at least 3 months. That will drill it into your head. It doesn't hurt to be passionate about it either.

 

[DermaCaps]

I lived quite some time in San Jose, Costa Rica....Costa Rica is gorgeous!!!

 

[jodevizes]

Hi I have a bit of French and some Italian. I think the very best way to begin is to join a language laboratory where you can really learn to speak correctly. Then join a conversation club and finally go to the country for a few months. You will speak like a native.

 

[pinksugar]

holy cow, Arc, you learnt in 3 months?! awesome! that's so little time!!!

I'm screwed. My time to leave is getting closer and closer, and I feel like I know nothing!