Are You Bilingual? How Did you Learn?
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Originally Posted by MissBGlam /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not bilingual but I would love to learn another language! I would love to learn Japanese! Oh TOTALLY Japanese!!Actually Japanese or Chinese would be great in a business and growing global way!
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Aside from English I speak Chinese (cantonese) and Spanish. I'm trilingual 
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Chinese was my 1st language. Since my parents were workaholics I was left in care of my grandparents, so around them I would speak it. Otherwise, English would be the main language of the household. Kind of sad since I don't use it often, my chinese is broken up. Like I'd have to think about how I should go around saying it (translating English to Chinese) in my head. lol
I learned Spanish in school. Took it from 6-12th grade. Then another 2 yrs in college, so that's a total of 8 yrs. Not at all hard to learn (least for me it wasn't) It's kind of funny because where I work there's always a lot of tourists and most often or not, they speak Spanish. Even if they're italian they would understand some of it. My coworkers wouldn't know how to translate and they often get frustrated telling them how much something is, but for me it just comes naturally. Then they get shocked that I know Spanish. I could read and write in spanish too, that's always a plus
I would love to learn Italian and/or French.
/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />Chinese was my 1st language. Since my parents were workaholics I was left in care of my grandparents, so around them I would speak it. Otherwise, English would be the main language of the household. Kind of sad since I don't use it often, my chinese is broken up. Like I'd have to think about how I should go around saying it (translating English to Chinese) in my head. lol
I learned Spanish in school. Took it from 6-12th grade. Then another 2 yrs in college, so that's a total of 8 yrs. Not at all hard to learn (least for me it wasn't) It's kind of funny because where I work there's always a lot of tourists and most often or not, they speak Spanish. Even if they're italian they would understand some of it. My coworkers wouldn't know how to translate and they often get frustrated telling them how much something is, but for me it just comes naturally. Then they get shocked that I know Spanish. I could read and write in spanish too, that's always a plus
I would love to learn Italian and/or French.
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My grandparents on my mothers side are Polish and Ukranian, I can understand bits and pieces of what they say if they are speaking in their natural tongue.
I took french in year 11 and 12 and only remember a few common phrases and how to be polite lol
MY neighbours daughter went and did an internship in Canada a few years back and she did it in Montreal, she didn't know a stitch of french before she went there and when she came back, she was fluent. She said the easiest way to learn a language is to actually live there!
I took french in year 11 and 12 and only remember a few common phrases and how to be polite lol
MY neighbours daughter went and did an internship in Canada a few years back and she did it in Montreal, she didn't know a stitch of french before she went there and when she came back, she was fluent. She said the easiest way to learn a language is to actually live there!
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I speak french and english fluently..lol Im Canadian haha. French is my mother tounge and english because I started at english school in the 4th grade. Id loveeee to learn Spanish, my grandma is Spanish and speaks it here and there and I want to learn. Ive heard some people say if you know french... spanish is easier to learn..who knows, I might give it a go sometime. whats rosetta stone?
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Originally Posted by kbella /img/forum/go_quote.gif My next target is portuguese (just coz i love Brazil
)
I'm proud to hear it from a MUT member!
I'm brazilian, so I naturally speak portuguese. At very young age, I've learned English and i am pretty fluent.
When I grew up, I've learned French and that's it for now.
Looking forward to learn both Spanish and German.
I'm proud to hear it from a MUT member!
I'm brazilian, so I naturally speak portuguese. At very young age, I've learned English and i am pretty fluent.
When I grew up, I've learned French and that's it for now.
Looking forward to learn both Spanish and German.
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im fluent in both english and spanish. Technically my first language is spanish since i came to this country and had to learn english. but since so much time has passed i feel english has turned into my main language as im most comfortable speaking it.
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Well, part of my heritage is French. My great grandparents (adoptive) came from St. Malo, France but when they moved to Canada they were forced (by the church and government) to learn English . . . their surname was anglicized (it was the same with all french families, "LeBlanc" became "White", "Olivier" became "Oliver", "Lejeune" became "Young" etc) and they had to teach their children English.
My parent's generation realized what a rip off this was and kicked up enough fuss that a french school was build in my area. It started out as a 2 room school in the early 80's and then a bigger one was built later on. I spent 1 year in the 2 room school and the rest of my school years in the bigger one. We weren't allowed to speak english at all, except when we were in English class. If we spoke 3 words of english a teacher had the right to give us detention!
So that's pretty much how I learned the language I should have spoken from birth!
Also, my maternal grandmother (biological) was Acadienne and so were a lot of the other families around. Therefore, most of us frenchies in that area speak a mixture of Acadian French (Especially the palatalisation of "k" and "g" sounds)and chiac
My parent's generation realized what a rip off this was and kicked up enough fuss that a french school was build in my area. It started out as a 2 room school in the early 80's and then a bigger one was built later on. I spent 1 year in the 2 room school and the rest of my school years in the bigger one. We weren't allowed to speak english at all, except when we were in English class. If we spoke 3 words of english a teacher had the right to give us detention!
So that's pretty much how I learned the language I should have spoken from birth!
Also, my maternal grandmother (biological) was Acadienne and so were a lot of the other families around. Therefore, most of us frenchies in that area speak a mixture of Acadian French (Especially the palatalisation of "k" and "g" sounds)and chiac
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kee, that's so sad... isn't that called cultural genocide or something? I really think languages and cultural differences is what makes us special. If we all looked and spoke the same, and had the same ceremonies etc, how boring this world would be.
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Yea it's not cool but I guess that's just how things were back then. At least all the complaints by parents got the school up and running. It's not the same though, we grow up learning French because we have to and only really appreciate after we're grown and by that time a lot of us become rusty!
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I speak fluent Russian and English. I understand a little bit of Hebrew, a little bit of Yiddish (Aramaic), a little bit of Polish (was friends with a girl for 13 years) and of course, the Spanish I learned in HS/college.
Russian is my native language and I learned English through MTV, actually.. and just by hearing it spoken around me. The other languages are spoken on and off in my house so I grasped on to them. My mother speaks 4 languages and understands some Arabic. My father speaks 3 but understands a little bit of Ukrainian and Yiddish.
You can tell I'm VERY Jewish!
Russian is my native language and I learned English through MTV, actually.. and just by hearing it spoken around me. The other languages are spoken on and off in my house so I grasped on to them. My mother speaks 4 languages and understands some Arabic. My father speaks 3 but understands a little bit of Ukrainian and Yiddish.
You can tell I'm VERY Jewish!
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Originally Posted by pinksugar /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol, Aude, I watched "Look who's talking" with the Italian language settings on! maybe I'll download some italian music
Books... at the moment it would have to be kid's books, haha... Like maybe spot or something simple
Lol ! my very first book in english was the Hobbit, kid's book too
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Originally Posted by Xuity /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm proud to hear it from a MUT member!
I'm brazilian, so I naturally speak portuguese. At very young age, I've learned English and i am pretty fluent.
When I grew up, I've learned French and that's it for now.
Looking forward to learn both Spanish and German.
Oi Xuity!
I have Brazilian friends that are helping me learn portuguese..well few words, and I absolutely love the phonetics..pretty interesting.
I'm brazilian, so I naturally speak portuguese. At very young age, I've learned English and i am pretty fluent.
When I grew up, I've learned French and that's it for now.
Looking forward to learn both Spanish and German.
Oi Xuity!
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I speak fluent Greek, I learned it as a baby before I learned English. My whole family is Greek and my grandmother raised me most, and she spoke no English. I went into school not knowing a word of English but learned really quickly.
I can understand a little French from having to take it in school, and a little Italian, because we have a few Italians in our family as well, but not fluent at all with either language.
I did meet a French lady when I was in Greece a few years ago and did have a French conversation with her though
My BF is trying really hard to learn Greek as he feels left out whenever hes with my family, I got to say its going really slowly lol. Its easiest when you are at a certain place for some time and have to speak the language everyday.
I can understand a little French from having to take it in school, and a little Italian, because we have a few Italians in our family as well, but not fluent at all with either language.
I did meet a French lady when I was in Greece a few years ago and did have a French conversation with her though
My BF is trying really hard to learn Greek as he feels left out whenever hes with my family, I got to say its going really slowly lol. Its easiest when you are at a certain place for some time and have to speak the language everyday.
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A. Do you speak more than one language? what do you speak?
I speak three languages, Japanese, English and Indonesia as my native language.
B. How did you learn? at home as a baby? at school?
English:
I didn't take any class or any other education for English subject. I'm a self taught. I learned English from TV, direct conversation with the native speakers and I think I remember my grandparents also taught me a little English when I was 7 years old.
Japanese:
Japanese is also the same I didn't take class nor study the language in college. I came to Japan 10 years ago and in less than 3 months I was able to speak Japanese daily conversation. And later I studied more on how to read and write Japanese character. Although I can only read about 500 kanjis but I'm still learning more everyday and using it in my daily activity.
C. If you learnt after childhood, how long did it take you to become fluent or reasonably fluent?
English I'm not really sure. I think I became more fluent after I used it as my daily language years ago before I learned Japanese.
And for my Japanese, I was able to speak Japanese fluently after living in Japan for 6 months.
I was raised by my grandparents and both speak more than 6 languages so I think inherited this ability from my grandparents.
I also took a TOEFL test 5 years ago because I wanted to study abroad and I got accepted in one of San Francisco art school but I had to turn down the offer because I couldn't leave my husband with his diabetes condition
.
I speak three languages, Japanese, English and Indonesia as my native language.
B. How did you learn? at home as a baby? at school?
English:
I didn't take any class or any other education for English subject. I'm a self taught. I learned English from TV, direct conversation with the native speakers and I think I remember my grandparents also taught me a little English when I was 7 years old.
Japanese:
Japanese is also the same I didn't take class nor study the language in college. I came to Japan 10 years ago and in less than 3 months I was able to speak Japanese daily conversation. And later I studied more on how to read and write Japanese character. Although I can only read about 500 kanjis but I'm still learning more everyday and using it in my daily activity.
C. If you learnt after childhood, how long did it take you to become fluent or reasonably fluent?
English I'm not really sure. I think I became more fluent after I used it as my daily language years ago before I learned Japanese.
And for my Japanese, I was able to speak Japanese fluently after living in Japan for 6 months.
I was raised by my grandparents and both speak more than 6 languages so I think inherited this ability from my grandparents.
I also took a TOEFL test 5 years ago because I wanted to study abroad and I got accepted in one of San Francisco art school but I had to turn down the offer because I couldn't leave my husband with his diabetes condition
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I speak Chaldean which is basically modern aramaic, pretty close to arabic. I just learned it growing up, being surrounded by people speaking it (all my family and family friends), i learned a few words in arabic, but only because they are "easy" words or because they sound so similar to the Chaldean words.
I took spanish for 2 years and basically got a B in the class by writing hola, me llamo Amanda as the answers for all my hw assignments lol (teacher just checked to see that we wrote SOMETHING as an answer) although i kinda do wish she was strict so i could have learned something.
I took spanish for 2 years and basically got a B in the class by writing hola, me llamo Amanda as the answers for all my hw assignments lol (teacher just checked to see that we wrote SOMETHING as an answer) although i kinda do wish she was strict so i could have learned something.
