slo’s THURSDAY 9/26 poll - Foreign/Multiple Languages

[RUDisney]

I dabble in languages, but only speak English fluently.

I learn enough before I travel to be able to say please, thank you, where's the bathroom?, to count and speak food in whatever language that country speaks. Languages in HS were taught to read and write, not to speak. I consider this such a disservice to me and others.

My Dsis, OTOH, speaks 9 languages fluently and dabbles in many others. She is a medical coder which is another language in and of itself.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Only English I'm sorry to say. I had four years of Italian in high school, and I don't remember the vast majority of what I learned except that if you're in Italy and want to order a cappucino con molto latte I am your girl.

 

[amcnj]

I had taken Spanish from 7th through 12th grade, and then German later on. Back then I felt like I was doing pretty well with both of them, written as well as verbally. But they have been unused for decades now. Some phrases and words are still with me, as well as some made up phrases in which I seem to combine words from both of those languages!

I always enjoyed languages and have thought of trying to learn some others that I know some words and phrases in, such as Italian. Some nearby Community schools offer such courses.

 

[White Cat]

English and one other.

 

[tvguy]

5 1/2 years of High School Spanish. My school district offered introduction to foreign languages in 7th grade. I had French for a semester and Spanish for the second semester. In 8th grade you could start taking 9th grade level once you picked a language. That's how I ended up with more than 4 years High School Spanish
That was 50 years ago and slowly but surely I have lost it just because I have never needed it. Studied abroad for a month, and a guy in Germany wanted to know why Americans bother with learning a foreign language as we already speak the "international" language.
My daughter is 3 weeks into a College program in Germany, that is taught in English for the first two years, while you learn German, the last year and a half are taught in German. She is having a tough time practicing what little German she knows because everyone out in the real world there who realizes she speaks English, would rather talk to her in English.

 

[CGB]

I took four years of Spanish in high school and a class in college; I'm not at all fluent. However, I knew this year I would have a student who recently came to the U.S. from South America. She is 13 and struggling to learn English, whether written or spoken. So, last summer, I jumped on Duolingo and started re-upping my Spanish skills. I was surprised how much I remember. So, she and I try to help each other. English is really hard for her to write at the moment, so it helps that I can read Spanish. Both of us are shy regarding our speaking abilities, but it helps to have someone who is understanding of mistakes. Hopefully, we can help each other improve as the year goes on.

 

[E&Cmom]

I have spoke Spanish since I learned to speak but sadly rarely use it anymore. My mom was from Spain so it was the first language I spoke. Growing up in Quebec I took French throughout school. I’d do go to English school. My French was never fluent but I understand it perfectly. I also took Italian in university one semester not sure how much I would remember now.

Not sure if it counts but for the past year I have been trying to learn Japanese’s on Duolingo. We will see next year when I go to Japan if it helped or not. . I also know some Korean from watching k dramas.

 

[fly girl]

I used to be fluent in American Sign Language (ASL).

Sadly, the saying is true. If you don't use it, you lose it. I still would be able to communicate but, but not fluently. I can see myself signing slow down as I type this just imagining a conversation. I would be overwhelmed if using ASL at a regular pace.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I can speak Spanish. I lived in Argentina for study abroad during college for 9 months. Lived with a host family. All my classes were in Spanish but half were at the American school with other Americans. The other half were at the regular university in Buenos Aires where I was one of a couple of Americans. I also had to pass a fluency exam to graduate from my university (Georgetown) with my degree in Foreign Service. Basically you were given an article to read in whatever language you were testing in and then spoke with a native speaker for about 20 minutes about the article. I was fluent then, but as they say "if you don't use it, you lose it" so while I'm still functional I am no longer anywhere near fluent.

 

[georgina]

I voted no, though I took French in high school and can get by in France. I don’t really consider myself to speak French though.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I’m fluent in French. Have family and friends there and have been visiting since I was young.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I took German in HS and hated it. I dropped it in favor of a manual drafting class when I found it was hurting my GPA. Why do we do this? Absolutely nobody is learning a language in HS and actually using it. In So Cal it would be useful for my kids to learn Spanish, and they took it, but they hated it too. Reason being, the classes are defacto segregated into native Spanish speakers and native English speakers. Teachers can't teach the class at a high enough level to keep the Spanish speakers interested while dumbing it down enough to teach anything of value to the English speakers. I know, it works in other countries but it does not work here.

DD did learn a second language to a fairly competent level - ASL. Still wasn't terribly useful - you don't run into a whole lot of deaf people.

 

[Keladry84]

I speak English and German fluently. I also teach high school German, and previously taught university level ESL (English as a second language)

- I had 1 year of German and 1 year of Spanish in highschool
- I was a German major in college, studied abroad during undergrad, and lived in Germany for 2 years after graduating
- I started learning Russian in undergrad and continued taking classes during graduate school as electives
- I took Spanish classes one semester at a time while teaching university level ESL (mostly for fun)

I consider myself bilingual English/German and have C2 fluency in German. My Russian and Spanish are passable but far from fluent (albeit better than my German was when I first went to Germany, so if I ever get a chance to use it daily/in-country would probably become fluent pretty quickly). I'm better with reading/writing in Spanish/Russian than spoken.

Also, I'm not sure I agree with the delineation of "foreign language" vs. "another language". I've never heard of that as a way to distinguish between modes of acquisition despite multiple grad classes in SLA (second language acquisition) and 15+ years of teaching others how to speak another language. More common would be native speaker/heritage speaker to delineate a language you learn from birth, or in research studies L1 = native language, L2 = language you are learning/acquiring.

 

[nono]

Not sure if it counts but for the past year I have been trying to learn Japanese’s on Duolingo. We will see next year when I go to Japan if it helped or not. . I also know some Korean from watching k dramas.

There are a decent number of Japanese shows on Netflix, as well as tons of Japanese YouTube videos. It really helps get the rhythm of the language down, as you know from watching K dramas. Oh, and find an article to explain counting in Japanese.

 

[E&Cmom]

There are a decent number of Japanese shows on Netflix, as well as tons of Japanese YouTube videos. It really helps get the rhythm of the language down, as you know from watching K dramas. Oh, and find an article to explain counting in Japanese.

Thanks! I will try that. It is funny that I am always watching K dramas but forget about the Japanese’s dramas.

 

[wallawallakids]

I only speak English even though I took 4 years of Spanish in HS. My Spanish is so terrible. My husband speaks English and Spanish. I really wanted my kids to speak other languages and I am please that they all can speak at least two. My oldest daughter just absorbs languages, my other three kids struggled more with it but can at least get by with a second language (Of those three, two speak French and one speaks Spanish). Oldest DD speaks 3 fluently and 3 more conversationally, but she is an abnormality. She just happens to love learning other languages and is really good at it. It also helped that she learned Spanish when she was really young.

 

[design_mom]

Monolingual for the most part.

I took 6 years of Latin. I don't remember a lot and you can't really speak it. My BFF in high school/college roommate was from Colombia and her family spoke Spanish at home (although not usually when I was over) and I picked up a few phrases, but not a lot. I have learned SOME Russian but at a child's level... defintiely not fluent.

 

[DrJanosz]

Here in Europe we learn the languages as we have to. I speak German, French, Czech, Polish, can understand Russian, and broken English. English is my least prefer language speaking.

 

[NC Belle]

My parents don't speak other languages, but I learn some Spanish and German from neighbors and other people when I was young. I had Spanish courses throughout high school, but the colleges did not want me to further Spanish so I took a semester in German and aced my only semester of French (had no time for more courses). I have pretty decent Spanish level for reading...conversation and writing needs practice again. I can understand a lot of French written. My German comes and goes, but since being in this part of PA...I am picking up a lot of words from the Amish at Sam's Club when they switch.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I only speak English but took several years of French on high school.

My granddaughter is in second grade in Spanish immersion. Since kindergarten, she has half of her subjects in Spanish and half in English. This is public school in Delaware.