What languages do you speak?

['andersom']

CBC, Spanish is a lovely language to learn Very musical.

Apparently there is Spanish blood in our family on my Mums side as well as French, so I should know more Spanish than I do. The spanish I do know, is more Colombian, as I have Colombian mates. I know more French, but my verbs and tenses are terrible! I wouldn't last 5 mins in France with what I know!

The one thing with language is that you kind of have to practice it all the time, or it leaves you.

Odeon and Hyke, awesome array of languages there

Go for it, CBC.

Loup

Thank you Loup! I love the sound of Spanish and in fact I hear it often, since my city has
a large Hispanic population (mostly Puerto Rican afaik). It would be a helpful language to know. 

Do you have a colleague or friend to practice the language with? Using a language is the best way to learn it. Getting a Spanish-Spanish dictionary may help you too. Will keep your mind in the Spanish mode, also when you look into the meaning of a word.

["couldbecousin"]

CBC, Spanish is a lovely language to learn Very musical.

Apparently there is Spanish blood in our family on my Mums side as well as French, so I should know more Spanish than I do. The spanish I do know, is more Colombian, as I have Colombian mates. I know more French, but my verbs and tenses are terrible! I wouldn't last 5 mins in France with what I know!

The one thing with language is that you kind of have to practice it all the time, or it leaves you.

Odeon and Hyke, awesome array of languages there

Go for it, CBC.

Loup

Thank you Loup! I love the sound of Spanish and in fact I hear it often, since my city has
a large Hispanic population (mostly Puerto Rican afaik). It would be a helpful language to know. 

Do you have a colleague or friend to practice the language with? Using a language is the best way to learn it. Getting a Spanish-Spanish dictionary may help you too. Will keep your mind in the Spanish mode, also when you look into the meaning of a word.

*thinks about it*  I can't think of anyone I know who speaks Spanish, but I will try to track someone down! 

['andersom']

CBC, Spanish is a lovely language to learn Very musical.

Apparently there is Spanish blood in our family on my Mums side as well as French, so I should know more Spanish than I do. The spanish I do know, is more Colombian, as I have Colombian mates. I know more French, but my verbs and tenses are terrible! I wouldn't last 5 mins in France with what I know!

The one thing with language is that you kind of have to practice it all the time, or it leaves you.

Odeon and Hyke, awesome array of languages there

Go for it, CBC.

Loup

Thank you Loup! I love the sound of Spanish and in fact I hear it often, since my city has
a large Hispanic population (mostly Puerto Rican afaik). It would be a helpful language to know. 

Do you have a colleague or friend to practice the language with? Using a language is the best way to learn it. Getting a Spanish-Spanish dictionary may help you too. Will keep your mind in the Spanish mode, also when you look into the meaning of a word.

*thinks about it*  I can't think of anyone I know who speaks Spanish, but I will try to track someone down! 

Find shopkeepers or a hairdresser who speaks Spanish. Every little bit will help. And if you say you would love to practice your Spanish, they will, very likely, be less quick in answering you in English, willing to help you.

[odeon]

Finnish, Swedish, English, German and Spanish. I understand Norwegian and Danish (and speak a little bit of both), and a little bit of Estonian and Hungarian.

And I think I can still read some Middle Egyptian.

How do you stay fluent in so many languages?   

Well, the first three are no problem since I use them every day. German is a bit of a problem since I use it so rarely, but it turns out that I forget languages fairly slowly. Spanish I'm actively studying.

As for the rest, I hear them often enough to retain some skills.

[Scrapheap]

Well, the first three are no problem since I use them every day. German is a bit of a problem since I use it so rarely, but it turns out that I forget languages fairly slowly. Spanish I'm actively studying.

As for the rest, I hear them often enough to retain some skills.

I thought that German and Swedish were pretty close? 

[renaeden]

I can only speak English and sometimes not even that very well.

[odeon]

Well, the first three are no problem since I use them every day. German is a bit of a problem since I use it so rarely, but it turns out that I forget languages fairly slowly. Spanish I'm actively studying.

As for the rest, I hear them often enough to retain some skills.

I thought that German and Swedish were pretty close? 

Not that close, no. They have similarities, though.

[ZEGH8578]

Well, the first three are no problem since I use them every day. German is a bit of a problem since I use it so rarely, but it turns out that I forget languages fairly slowly. Spanish I'm actively studying.

As for the rest, I hear them often enough to retain some skills.

I thought that German and Swedish were pretty close? 

german and swedish are as close as german and english

both are "germanic"
both can be vaguely understood of read carefully

house, haus, hus
water, wasser, vatten
etc, etc, etc

["couldbecousin"]

Just english.

Did japanese for my HSC and I've forgotten every single bit

Except for "Konnichiwa!" 

["couldbecousin"]

English. I know a couple of curse words in Hungarian that I picked up from my grandmother and a couple of useful Italian hand gestures.  

Aren't grandmothers wonderful?   

["couldbecousin"]

CBC, Spanish is a lovely language to learn Very musical.

Apparently there is Spanish blood in our family on my Mums side as well as French, so I should know more Spanish than I do. The spanish I do know, is more Colombian, as I have Colombian mates. I know more French, but my verbs and tenses are terrible! I wouldn't last 5 mins in France with what I know!

The one thing with language is that you kind of have to practice it all the time, or it leaves you.

Odeon and Hyke, awesome array of languages there

Go for it, CBC.

Loup

Thank you Loup! I love the sound of Spanish and in fact I hear it often, since my city has
a large Hispanic population (mostly Puerto Rican afaik). It would be a helpful language to know. 

Do you have a colleague or friend to practice the language with? Using a language is the best way to learn it. Getting a Spanish-Spanish dictionary may help you too. Will keep your mind in the Spanish mode, also when you look into the meaning of a word.

*thinks about it*  I can't think of anyone I know who speaks Spanish, but I will try to track someone down! 

Find shopkeepers or a hairdresser who speaks Spanish. Every little bit will help. And if you say you would love to practice your Spanish, they will, very likely, be less quick in answering you in English, willing to help you.

Shopkeepers, yes, there are neighborhoods in my city that are very Spanish! I could shop there! 

['andersom']

Funny thing is that I need to be in a mindset for a language.

A couple of years ago, I heard people talk in the train, and I had no idea what language it was. It wasn't German, it was no Scandinavian language. But, the rhythm of the words and sounds indicated somewhere to that direction. I did not understand a word.
Then something triggered me recognising it. The dialect my Mother has been raised in. And, I could understand everything they said. And, give me a day, I can speak it fluent again too. (Was fluent enough for people to wonder if it was my mother tongue or not)

If I have been thinking and talking in English for too long, I find it hard to talk Dutch. And, nowadays I use the spell-checker more for Dutch than for English, I hardly write in Dutch, and I make all kinds of English mistakes in my own language.

["couldbecousin"]

Funny thing is that I need to be in a mindset for a language.

A couple of years ago, I heard people talk in the train, and I had no idea what language it was. It wasn't German, it was no Scandinavian language. But, the rhythm of the words and sounds indicated somewhere to that direction. I did not understand a word.
Then something triggered me recognising it. The dialect my Mother has been raised in. And, I could understand everything they said. And, give me a day, I can speak it fluent again too. (Was fluent enough for people to wonder if it was my mother tongue or not)

If I have been thinking and talking in English for too long, I find it hard to talk Dutch. And, nowadays I use the spell-checker more for Dutch than for English, I hardly write in Dutch, and I make all kinds of English mistakes in my own language.

I heard a language being spoken on the bus one day, and it wasn't familiar at all. I asked one of the speakers, and she told me it was Albanian.   



I had a Haitian roommate in college, and at the same time she was struggling with English, she noted that when she called home and spoke Creole,
her relatives told her she was making mistakes there too. My father spoke German as well as English growing up, but forgot it due to lack of use. 

['andersom']

Funny thing is that I need to be in a mindset for a language.

A couple of years ago, I heard people talk in the train, and I had no idea what language it was. It wasn't German, it was no Scandinavian language. But, the rhythm of the words and sounds indicated somewhere to that direction. I did not understand a word.
Then something triggered me recognising it. The dialect my Mother has been raised in. And, I could understand everything they said. And, give me a day, I can speak it fluent again too. (Was fluent enough for people to wonder if it was my mother tongue or not)

If I have been thinking and talking in English for too long, I find it hard to talk Dutch. And, nowadays I use the spell-checker more for Dutch than for English, I hardly write in Dutch, and I make all kinds of English mistakes in my own language.

I heard a language being spoken on the bus one day, and it wasn't familiar at all. I asked one of the speakers, and she told me it was Albanian.   



I had a Haitian roommate in college, and at the same time she was struggling with English, she noted that when she called home and spoke Creole,
her relatives told her she was making mistakes there too. My father spoke German as well as English growing up, but forgot it due to lack of use. 

An emigrated aunt and uncle of mine are starting to talk more and more Dutch, now the kids have left the home. Their daughter regrets not knowing Dutch, she worries about one day her parents not being fluent in English any more.

There have been times that you'd find ads in Dutch magazines for employees in old folks homes overseas, because of people losing other languages than the one of their origin.

["couldbecousin"]

Funny thing is that I need to be in a mindset for a language.

A couple of years ago, I heard people talk in the train, and I had no idea what language it was. It wasn't German, it was no Scandinavian language. But, the rhythm of the words and sounds indicated somewhere to that direction. I did not understand a word.
Then something triggered me recognising it. The dialect my Mother has been raised in. And, I could understand everything they said. And, give me a day, I can speak it fluent again too. (Was fluent enough for people to wonder if it was my mother tongue or not)

If I have been thinking and talking in English for too long, I find it hard to talk Dutch. And, nowadays I use the spell-checker more for Dutch than for English, I hardly write in Dutch, and I make all kinds of English mistakes in my own language.

I heard a language being spoken on the bus one day, and it wasn't familiar at all. I asked one of the speakers, and she told me it was Albanian.   



I had a Haitian roommate in college, and at the same time she was struggling with English, she noted that when she called home and spoke Creole,
her relatives told her she was making mistakes there too. My father spoke German as well as English growing up, but forgot it due to lack of use. 

An emigrated aunt and uncle of mine are starting to talk more and more Dutch, now the kids have left the home. Their daughter regrets not knowing Dutch, she worries about one day her parents not being fluent in English any more.

There have been times that you'd find ads in Dutch magazines for employees in old folks homes overseas, because of people losing other languages than the one of their origin.

I always wonder how multilingual people maintain all their languages. I had a history professor, years ago,
who spoke English, German (the Swabian dialect, according to the book he wrote), French and Arabic.