Foreign Languages

[kaitlynetk]

What was your first language? Have you studied any others? If so, what are the reasons that you've studied them? Are there any languages that you'd like to study? Are there any that you think would be difficult to master?

I first took a French course in high school, which ended up turning into 4 full years of high school level French. I thought the language was pretty and needed to know more! After that, I took 2 years of German in school as well. I started to realize how much I loved languages and had a thirst for knowledge. When I was in the military, I was taught Iraqi Arabic for my job, which was extremely difficult but still fulfilling. I recently also took a basic Russian course in college, and while I'm nowhere near the fluency of the other languages, it's quite interesting to learn. I know a lot of other people don't share my affinity for languages, and I'm pretty sure I look pretty crazy constantly studying new languages, but I really enjoy them!

[TheArticulate]

I'm impressed by the number of languages you tried learning. English is my native language, but my mom is Japanese, which has lead me to studying the Japanese language for the past couple years. She didn't teach me the language growing up, so it wasn't until I entered college and was able to take a Japanese language course that I really started learning it. I found it particularly difficult that I had to essentially learn a new alphabet in addition to grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary. Learning a second language is no easy task, and I have massive respect for those who are bilingual like my mother. Not to mention in today's world, which seems to be shrinking due to communication technology like the internet, I think knowing multiple languages can make someone incredibly valuable in the work force.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to keep up with my Japanese as much after graduating, but I'm trying to at least stay on top of my vocabulary to make sure I don't lost too much of what I've learned.

[Selfmachine]

My native languages are Spanish (from my mom) and English (from my dad). I took some German in college and was at a decent level, but I haven't practiced too much in the past year. I would also love to learn Japanese, Russian and Portuguese (I'm taking an online course of Portuguese right now) 

I also was an English teacher for a year and I can say, even more fulfilling than learning a language, is helping others learn. 

[kaitlynetk]

Languages are just one of those thing that makes sense to me and I love! I only know the very basics of Russian, and I'm admittedly rusty with other aspects of other languages. It definitely doesn't decrease my love for them, though. Russian and Arabic, with different alphabets, definitely had that added difficulty!

I've always wanted to learn Spanish, but for whatever reason I just can't dedicate myself to it. I know Portugese can be a little crazy at times, though, so good luck with that endeavor @Selfmachine! 

 

[TheBlackCondor]

I enjoy learning languages and is something I have picked up again in recent years. Back in school I just scraped a C in French so I wasn't the most accomplished to put it mildly.

A few years ago however I decided to take up studying Japanese. Initially it was by myself but I eventually took up lessons and got to the point where I can read and write the Hiragana and Katakana characters but didn't get far with kanji. Together with that I only really learnt some basic phrases. Nowadays I have a Mexican fiance which meant around nine months ago I stopped with the Japanese and took up Spanish. My fiance speaks fluent English however we are going to be living in Mexico after our wedding this November so it's something I have to learn. I use the Memrise and Duolingo apps everyday and attend private lessons every Tuesday and Thursday. I find it a little easier than the Japanese but still find some of the grammar difficult.

Recommend everyone to try learning a new language though regardless of your situation. I know that we're at an advantage being able to communicate in English, but being able to do so in a foreign language too is something very rewarding.

[Teddybear]

My native tongue is Portuguese and I naturally picked up English by watching cartoons as a kid. Although we began English classes in 5th grade, I never really felt the need to study for a test. I also had French classes from grade 7 to 12, but I honestly don't know any more than "Omelette au fromage" and incredibly basic sentences. I'm starting to study German now, I think it would look nice in my CV. But if I could pick one language I wish I could learn, for no other reason than the fact that I like it, it would be Japanese.

[toomuchbottle]

As of now I can speak 2 languages that I know I am confident enough to use. Those two languages are English and Tagalog. Now I am learning Arabic because I am working in the Middle East. It is best to learn the language for only a few  Arab are given a chance to study and speak English. In my profession of health care provider, we need to learn to talk to them because we need to build rapport to the patient to gain their trust. 

The language is easy and complex at the same time. It is easy because the language has a few word that they use to express their thought. You can actually talked to a person with just a few words and they would get that already. It is also complex because they use little grammar. In the English language, we use adverbs, adjectives conjunctions and the likes so that we can express a complete thought. In the Arabic language, they have little of those, which is a bit frustrating because you feel like your not showing or delivering the message that you want to say. Although I am having a hard time learning the language, I still enjoy learning it because it is an edge to learn a new language.

[Clearance Hanson]

People from China speak Chinese, French from France, Russian from Russia, Japanese from Japan and forth. Yet people from America, United States of America, speak English? Truly laughable and strange; "American" is truly the most foreign language. 

[SarahJ]

I can speak in English or Tagalog. I'd love to learn speaking other languages too. My father used to teach me speak in Spanish but as I grow up, we rarely got a chance to have our lessons.

Last year my child participated in Mr. and Ms. United Nations Pageant in his school where he represented Mexico. Through this experience he learned that people from different country speak diffrent language. After that, my kid showed interest in learning other laguages; I am once again motivated to pursue that urge to learn.

[PAnna]

I think it's such a beautiful thing to learn a new language. It's something that up to now i have unfortunately not had much time to do, however its definitely in my plans. During my high school days i enrolled from Mandarin and Spanish classes which given the opportunity, I would love to try learning again. Back then I had a hefty workload and learning two new languages was certainly a challenge! I'm from Seychelles where our mother tongue is Creole. I am also fluent in English and French.