Comments on: The Big Question

By: Marina

Marina — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:48:41 +0000

Greek is my native language. I speak Arabic because my best friend (and i am afraid, also the love of my life) is Lebanese and I truly believe i will never master it. English and German coz it is common in Greece to attend private classes to learn foreign languages. French I studied alone (my worst enemy being Bescherelle -the book of devil- i always find a verd i can conjugate quite well, still, after 10 yrs) and Spanish & Italian for when you have already studied one of the latin languages, the rest are a piece of cake. I also speak Turkish as I have grown up in northern Greece where there is still a significant percentage of turkish-muslim population excluded from the obligatory exchange of populations back in ’22. Arabic and French are my two favourites (apart from the Greek ;) )
And i hate hate hate it when ppl say to me “ooooh you speak X?????? Say something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” PEOPLE!!!!! :pp

By: JayKay

JayKay — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:36:12 +0000

English is my native language, although my mother, possessing a PhD in Spanish, taught me Spanish at the same time as English when I was little. I’m embarrassed to admit, though, that I’ve lost most of my conversational Spanish over the years because its just not a language I use. Whenever I go to Mexico, I do just fine, but I think they make concessions for my gringa-ness. Every now and then I’ll dream in Spanish…although its usually only in three or four tenses! =(

By: jenny

jenny — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:24:15 +0000

English is my native tongue. Have spoken french since I was about 4. Tis a bit rusty right now owing to disuse but is not far off fluent. And a little dutch due to the boyfriend but nowhere near enough… Is quite funny really – I am Scottish but when I try and speak Dutch everyone thinks I am French…
:)

By: Kimmer

Kimmer — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:57:24 +0000

I started studying German in 9th grade. I took it off and on through high school and college, until I realized I only needed one more class in order to get my minor in it.
When I was student teaching, I got an opportunity to be an au pair in Switzerland, and it was only then that my German really became proficient. It’s been 15 years since then, and sadly I now have to “work” to have a conversation in German. I’d love the opportunity to live there again, if only for a while.

By: La Petite Acadienne

La Petite Acadienne — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:49:46 +0000

You folks are intimidating! I am only fluent in English, I’m afraid. My French varies back and forth — right now it’s pretty rusty from disuse, but I’m listening to French tapes and trying to get back into it. I took a year of Spanish, but have forgotten most of it other than the useless textbook phrases about libraries and whatnot. I can curse in Italian, Russian, German and Mandarin, however.

The funny thing is that when I went to France, I had a much easier time getting by than I do when I visit Quebec. The French speak speak more clearly and not as fast, I find.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:52:15 +0000

My native language is German; I learned English (7 years) and French (4 years) in school (and Latin – but that was never meant for speaking of course …). I am not really able to speak French (I never liked it), but I understand a lot when reading or hearing French. A little Italian (I took two or three classes just for fun), enough for travelling and chatting a little. A tiny little bit of modern Hebrew, from learning ancient Hebrew for my theology studies and from staying in Israel for a while.

By: De

De — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:45:27 +0000

I love languages – I’ve often toyed with going back to school for a linguistics degree. I love wordplay and the different musical tones to language. I wish I spoke every language, but here’s what I’m currently limited to:

**American English – native tongue

**British English (or The Queen’s English) – just had to learn a few new definitions myself, but you’d be amazed at the people who speak AE who claim to not understand a word of BE.

**Spanish – both Castillian and Mexican – I live in Texas, so while my school taught me Castillian Spanish, I have heard Mexican Spanish all my life….but because of how I was taught, a friend in Monterrey says I sound like a Spanish stewardess. :P

**Esperanto – Because I love languages I was naturally fascinated with the world’s most successful constructed language. Spoken by over 2 million people world wide (with several hundred thousand as Native Speakers!) it is a fantastic way to communicate with people of vastly different cultures. Additionally, because many of the words have latin roots and the grammar rules are explicitly regular, it is really helpful as a ‘base’ from which to learn other romantic languages. I have several penpals via lernu.net and I love to use Esperanto in my daily life – and yes, I taught myself.

**French – Because of Esperanto I started teaching myself French as well. Because I don’t have anyone to really practice with, I can read it very well and translate it, but I cannot speak it very well at all. Maybe with time I’ll get braver and go find some French speakers to bother.

**German – Another language that I can read very well but cannot speak for nothin’. I started teaching myself to read German when I was in elementary school (hooray for the libary) but lately its falling out of use so my vocabulary is slipping. I should get back into it.

**Latin – Ah, the Catholic upbringing. If nothing else, it introduces you to Latin at a young age. And thanks to Esperanto and my own nerdy self, I know more of it than necessary for my daily life. My engagement ring, has In Aeternum engraved on the outside.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:54:56 +0000

I’m a Russian major, and speak that all but fluently. I’m also working on Persian, with much less success! I speak a sprinkling of Turkish and Spanish, but English is my native language.

By: crewbie

crewbie — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:20:31 +0000

English is my native language, and I’m reasonably fluent in French and German (I botch grammar from time to time, but I can read for lit/German Studies classes and write papers of legitemate length). I can babble a few phrases in Spanish and Chinese thanks to friends who needed quizzing, and I have a summer’s worth of Japanese that amounts to basic conversation, counting, colors, etc. I would really love to learn Spanish and Italian at some point…well, I’d like to learn a lot of them at some point, but there is only so much time.

By: Jelly

Jelly — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:30:30 +0000

English is my mothertongue, French is next because I’ve been taking it since I was six, I speak enough German to travel there, a smidgen of Japanese from high school (though largely forgotten), and somehow I can hammer out a few phrases in Spanish (likely from bad movies and knowing French). I can say a few things in Cantonese (having dated Chinese boys) but my pronunciation is bad enough to make a cat laugh.

I wish I was a fluent polyglot, though.