Reply to: How many foreign languages can you speak?

[PRC1964]

I can do Spanish, French & Portuguese. I used to be able to get by in Arabic and Turkish but that was so long ago I'm not sure I could pick them up again easily.

Fluency in a language is (as I see it) more than just knowing the words. You need to have a link to the cultural experiences of a person who grew up in that county. I have relatives across the world who speak English perfectly but who don't instinctively know what "Don't tell them your name Pike" or "Don't mention the war" mean.

[VectraMan]

Had a dream the other night where I was talking in German... and the guy I was talking to corrected my grammar.

The guy to whom I was talking.

French and German, but not really proficient in either, but I am getting there. I often watch the French news on TV, and I can understand at least half, and could read a French newspaper and understand most of it. I could probably understand a German newspaper too, but it would involve a dictionary and a lot of swearing. It's vocabulary that's usually my undoing.

[stek]

And when you learn it from native speakers in context, you learn all about the context, e.g. the pesky gender thing (which English sensibly dispensed with while the Norman overlords weren't paying attention).

Not to mention that you stand a good chance of learning the real meanings of words, which sometimes the dictionary will coyly not tell you. Imagine knowing only the main meaning of "to bang" or "to screw" in English, for example.

I think the thing you can never really learn unless you've been brought up with it or have studied intensely is the use of language.

For example my Russian is ok but the word for 'for' and similar prepositions is fraught with exceptions, colloquialisms, there's no way I'd every get it and I'm pretty good at it I think!

In Russian 'table' is 'stol'. On the table is 'na stolye'. Prepositional case. However 'under the table' isn't 'pod stolye' but 'pod stolom'. Instrumental case for some reason and you just have to know. And to know it and others like these and use them without thinking or pausing (ie not fluently) is practically impossible.

But it's what makes languages, like Russian especially very expressive (as well as very difficult) hence their great literal past - all in my opinion.

[Old Greg]

I'm very comfortable using AndyW's mother tongue.

Other than that, my Italian is pretty good and my French OK (A levels in both).

[stek]

Namaste.

Doing a word a day of Hindi in our office.

I was taught to say 'Vo bolta hai' in Hindi with a spot-on accent - means 'He is talking' I think.

Was great fun at the tea machine where the Bob's hung out to parp up with this to my Bob (now UK Cit - is he still a Bob?) in earshot of the others. They must have thought I understood their every word.

[MarillionFan]

Namaste.

Doing a word a day of Hindi in our office.

That's Nepalese isn't it?

[mudskipper]

Namaste.

Doing a word a day of Hindi in our office.

[stek]

There's tidy then.

A six pack of Felinfoel.

When I was on a gig in Carmarthen, the locals called this stuff 'Feeling Foul' - I must admit I didn't care for it. Carmarthen or the Beer....

[Wodewick]

I can barely manage English but I have been told I talk a lot of:
B0llocks
BullTulip
Gibberish
and like a real Twunt

So is that 4.5?

[wantacontract]

Mandarin - fluent
English - fluent
french - average
cantonese - average

I reckon if I livd for a year in Japan, I could master japanese, well not master but be able to converse for work and living. (My grand parents and I use to watch japanese TV shows when i was little and we would converse in Japanese.)

Come to think of it, I reckon I missed a trick with languages, was always very good at picking them up, the tone and indentation etc....just had no clue what sort of a job I could get with it.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Sounds about right; at some stage you reach a point where instead of looking up or asking for a word in your own language, you get people to explain it to you or tell you in the language you are learning; that way you'll remember it AND it'll be implanted in your brain in that language, so don't have to think, for example, 'what's the Dutch for a bin?', you just use the word.

This is actually very important; once you've got some basics, don't be embarassed to point at something and ask people what it's called; 95% of people in the world will not laugh at you and will be quite pleased to help. As for the other 5%, they probably don't have any mates anyway.

And when you learn it from native speakers in context, you learn all about the context, e.g. the pesky gender thing (which English sensibly dispensed with while the Norman overlords weren't paying attention).

Not to mention that you stand a good chance of learning the real meanings of words, which sometimes the dictionary will coyly not tell you. Imagine knowing only the main meaning of "to bang" or "to screw" in English, for example.

[NotAllThere]

Had a dream the other night where I was talking in German... and the guy I was talking to corrected my grammar.

[norrahe]

Currently getting my French back to fluency.

Dependent on what country I may end up moving to the end of the year will determine what other language I have to learn.

Used to be fluent in Irish but not any more.

[OwlHoot]

I can do perfect foreign accents - The trouble is I hardly know any of the words.

[suityou01]

In the last few years I think that fluent French and German have been my most useful IT qualifications.

I.e. there's jack tulip in the UK now.


IMHO "speaking a language" means that you can argue with a native speaker, and both know the right thing to say, and understand what the other's argument is. It is a long way above claiming to be able to "swear in 6 languages" because someone taught you a swear word in a bar once.

His humour is obviously lost on you. Lighten up I say.