https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Tue, 21 Apr 2026 05:52:58 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2089235 Fri, 03 Jan 2020 14:12:46 +0000 Anonymous 2089235@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>:) FI ! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2089226 Fri, 03 Jan 2020 14:02:54 +0000 Stagiaire Fash 2089226@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>The only language I’m fluent in, besides my native English, is German, including a Swiss dialect. I learned Portuguese once, but have forgotten most of it. Also had a start on Somali, but most of that is gone too. I’ve been saying for years that I want to learn French and Arabic, but haven’t done anything about it. I don’t learn languages well in the classroom. Best way for me to learn—have a guy fall in love with me and teach me his native language. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2088851 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 16:49:26 +0000 Angie 2088851@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Completely fluent in three, and can speak a bit of French since we lived there for a while.&nbsp;</p> <p>Dutch - Mother Tongue</p> <p>English - First Language (my education was in English)&nbsp;</p> <p>Afrikaans - because I had to learn it at school.&nbsp;</p> <p>I am VERY bad at languages and have no interest in them either. The only reason I am fluent in three is because I learnt them at the right age. That's the secret! &nbsp;</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2088841 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 14:20:43 +0000 Windchime 2088841@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Native English speaker. &nbsp;German was one of my undergraduate majors, and I’ve been to the country a few times. &nbsp;I have enough grasp of the language that I’m confident, if I go back to Germany, the my German will come back.</p> <p>Last summer I started learning French. &nbsp;I’d decided a while ago I wanted to learn another language, both to keep my brain sharp and also I love studying languages. &nbsp;Then I heard a world-class organist who spent much of her career based in Paris say in a lecture that to play French music with real understanding, it helps immensely to speak the language. &nbsp;That was the motivation I needed to go out and buy a very thick textbook and CD’s and start teaching myself French. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2088832 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 13:05:37 +0000 cindysmith 2088832@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I am a native English speaker. I majored in Spanish at university, although my spoken Spanish is very rusty from lack of use. I read Spanish much better than I speak it. I can also catch the gist of a lot of Italian and occasionally some French and Portuguese, because of my 'romance' language educational background (Spanish, Latin, and French classes pepper my entire educational career starting in 1979 when I was in 3rd grade). I would love to use these languages more often, because I learned, at the tender age of 9, that learning a language does a lot of things for me:<br /> * helps me communicate with a wide variety of people's<br /> * exposes me to different cultures<br /> * connects me to people at a heart level (hearing my 3rd grade Spanish teacher talk about fleeing Cuba when Castro took over? Imprinted on my psyche) </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2088812 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 03:19:57 +0000 Jaime 2088812@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Well I am absolutely terrible at languages, particularly accents, but I suppose I could count Hebrew as my second language at this point . </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2088810 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 03:01:53 +0000 BlueJay 2088810@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I speak English and French. Nodding with Torontogirl as I took French all the way through high school and then one year at university to meet the one other language credit for my degree. I understand French better than I speak it.</p> <p>Our DD is in French Immersion, which for the Catholic school board starts in Junior Kindergarten (4 years old). My French is improving with helping her with some homework and reading French library books. (so far so good! I can pass JK!) </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2088806 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 01:43:22 +0000 Laurel 2088806@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I speak English, and continue to study Spanish---I go to an adult language school. &nbsp;This thread brings to mind a book I read called BREAKFAST WITH THE BUDDHA. &nbsp;The main character, a monk, speaks multiple languages---and at one point is rudely challenged by a character who doesn't believe him. &nbsp;When provoked to name the languages he "supposedly" speaks, he pleasantly replies that one of the languages he speaks is "kindness". &nbsp;I try to remember that when considering my fluency.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak/page/2#post-2088804 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 01:29:18 +0000 The Cat 2088804@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I speak five languages--English, German, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian. And I have (to various degrees) knowledge of several others--among these are French, Italian, and Dutch. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088796 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:13:28 +0000 Cee 2088796@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I speak fluent Australian and some English ! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088789 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 23:24:09 +0000 Suz 2088789@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I live in Canada. My mother tongue is English. I studied French all through high school but not via immersion (which makes a huge difference) and thus, my conversational skills in French are abysmal; I was never truly fluent. I do read French a bit, and understand more than I can speak.&nbsp;</p> <p>I took one year of German in high school and then travelled there for about a month in my late teens. I picked it a smattering of the language relatively easily, but it is so long now since I have used it that I am not conversant any more.&nbsp;</p> <p>I've also studied Mandarin Chinese, but again, I can't honestly say I speak the language. For me, it is all about practice in real life, and without opportunities for that, it falls off quite quickly. I would dearly love to live in another country and become fluent in the language. Some day.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088788 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 22:45:26 +0000 Anonymous 2088788@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>English is my first language. &nbsp;Then Spanglish and Franglais, which I've picked up in school and in my work and travels. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088779 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 20:39:11 +0000 deb 2088779@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Synne, the German language situation is a myth.</p> <p><a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-german-vote/" rel="nofollow">https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-german-vote/</a> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088757 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 17:26:04 +0000 Gaylene 2088757@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I live in Canada so speak English and reasonably fluent French (although my conversational skills are getting weaker since I’ve had fewer opportunities to speak French since I’ve retired.) I’ve&nbsp;also picked up a smattering of conversational Danish and Norwegian from spending time with my husband’s relatives in those countries.</p> <p>Oddly, I also seemed to have retained a vestigial understanding of Hungarian and Ukrainian from spending time with grandparents as a child. I think the sounds were imprinted on my brain because, when I travelled to those countries a few years ago, I could understand quite a bit of what was said to me even though I couldn’t respond very well. Fascinating how languages we learn as a child can stay dormant for decades until we are in a situation where the language once again surrounds us.<div><br /></div><div>I also know a few simple greetings, as well as bit of vocabulary, in Cree, Mandarin, and Japanese thanks to my students.&nbsp;<br /></div> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088755 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 17:17:58 +0000 Staysfit 2088755@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>In addition to English, my primary language, I have rudimentary skills with both Hebrew and French. &nbsp;I admire anyone who can write well, especially in English, since I find it painfully difficult.&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>When I went to summer camp as a teen, I learned “naughty” expletives in Spanish. Then when I worked in California I could tell when one of my Spanish speaking patients was rude or angry! &nbsp;However, I needed a translator for everything else! &nbsp;:-) &nbsp;<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /></div> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088751 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 16:48:55 +0000 SarahD8 2088751@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I live in the US and I’m fluent only in English (my mother tongue). I also have conversational Spanish, basic Swedish, and very, very beginning Dutch (the only one of those languages I’ve never studied in a formal classroom setting).</p> <p>Nodding along with the comments above about context of learning languages and how it shapes your vocabulary. At one point I was probably close to fluent in Spanish, but boy all my tropical forest field work vocabulary sure was useless when I volunteered to help out at an event for ESL (English as a second language) families at my daughter’s school a while back. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088744 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 16:03:01 +0000 nuancedream 2088744@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I'm conversational in Spanish and can also speak a little bit of French and Italian. Learning new languages has always been something I picked up easily. One of my goals for 2020 is to commit to language study, including&nbsp; American Sign Language, which I haven't studied since I was in graduate school in 1985.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088742 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 15:57:46 +0000 Bonnie 2088742@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>One of my granddaughters chose to take sign language as her second language for the four years she attended high school which was one the the options for university bound students. I speak only English but had two years of Spanish in high school and have always lived where many Spanish speaking people live but they usually choose to speak English. I can understand a bit but really haven't had much opportunity to practice. I live in the US. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088740 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 15:54:42 +0000 JAileen 2088740@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I grew up in Northern California. &nbsp;Latin was offered in high school, but my mother insisted I take French. &nbsp;In college I switched to Spanish. &nbsp;Maybe because I had suffered through French, but Spanish was a breeze. &nbsp;I <i>almost </i>became fluent. &nbsp;Now I can read menus in both French and Spanish. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I wish I had taken Latin, but I read one of those 30 days to a better vocabulary books. &nbsp;It helped me see the roots of words.</p> <p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088739 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 15:39:35 +0000 L'Abeille 2088739@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh what fun. I have several languages at different levels of proficiency.</p> <p>English is my first language.</p> <p>French, started in school in grade 7, mandatory at that time in my part of Canada. (Now they start it much earlier.) It didn't click for me as a spoken language until a few years later, when on a school sponsored trip to Rome, something went wrong about our accommodations, and the only common language for sorting it out was speaking French with the native Italian students. That unlocked something in my brain! Currently my French is good enough to talk with patients and read medical reports, but not up to doing official handover to CCU in the Acadian dialect.</p> <p>My grandparents spoke German so I learned it in the home, mostly "kitchen Deutsch". Supplemented by two years of high school German. I can talk to a patient in German but afterwards my brain hurts.</p> <p>High school Latin, which is useful in choral singing and for medical terminology. Also has helped me understand bits of Italian and Spanish.</p> <p>While living in South Africa I learned the Zulu family of languages so I could do my work. So, Swazi and Xhosa. My vocabulary is very limited but I can follow the grammar! So watching Black Panther was extra fun</p> <p>I picked up some Nepali on a medical elective but all I can remember is "Is the baby getting enough milk?"</p> <p>My kids use Duolingo to learn new languages. I started it for Scots Gaelic just before Christmas then got distracted. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088738 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 15:32:12 +0000 Carla 2088738@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>English and French. &nbsp;I worked for a bilingual organization on the French &nbsp;side. &nbsp;I had some conversational German as a child, after 2 separate 6 month visits to Oma and Opa, but no further exposure, so have lost it. &nbsp;If music counts, my&nbsp;biggest ‘language’ accomplishment was learning to read music in my 40’s while I was learning to play the piano.</p> <div><br /><div><br /></div></div></p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088737 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 15:13:47 +0000 UmmLila (Lisa) 2088737@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>English, obviously. Arabic is my good foreign language. I can muddle around in French, and I'm learning Spanish at the moment. I studied Chinese for a couple of years in high school, but it didn't stick. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088730 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:37:36 +0000 Helena 2088730@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>This is a great question! Besides English, I speak some French (horrifically) and understand it well enough to get by in a pinch. I did take Spanish in high school as well, but besides a few words, I don't remember much of it.</p> <p>I think one of the challenges is that, without opportunities to practice, it's hard to really learn a new language properly. I took French for 12 years (including immersion), but you can't <i>really </i>learn it properly unless you are truly immersed (not just in school).&nbsp; My SIL, who is a native French-speaker, had the same experience in reverse - even with English pop culture infiltrating her part of Canada (no one speaks English first language there), it wasn't until she moved to Toronto as an adult and was forced that she really learned to speak English (now she's a translator!)</p> <p>That said, I have it on my list for 2020 to get Duolingo going to try to brush up my French this year, and maybe pick up a few words of a third language (Spanish? German? Mandarin?) </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088726 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:25:55 +0000 RobinF 2088726@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Interesting Kathie, I went to public schools in California and Michigan and never saw Latin offered. My kids went to Catholic schools and could take it in high school though.&nbsp;</p> <p>Languages don't seem to be stressed here, I guess for obvious reasons, geography and all that, but it's too bad. We were required to take two years of a language in high school so I learned French but never enough to be fluent.</p> <p>I was also an exchange student in Finland in high school and learned Finnish well enough to get around but most of my Finnish friends wanted to practice their English on me so I didn't learn it as well as I could have and now it's been so long that it has totally left me.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088720 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 12:33:40 +0000 Kathie 2088720@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Synne, thankfully, that’s a myth. There is no statutory “official” language in the United States. Some individual states may have taken votes, and there is debate in some school districts, even today, as to whether to offer certain courses in languages other than English for recent immigrants, but there has never been a vote to make English the official language across the country.</p> <p>As for the original question, I’m based in the US, and took 4 years of Latin and 5 years of French. Sadly, I don’t have much chance to practice the French, so while I can still read a bit, my speaking is very rusty. I have cousins in Denmark, Greece, and Italy, and they all speak multiple languages. Though, the Danish ones will say that they have to, since it’s such a small country.</p> <p>My children have conversational Spanish in elementary school, and can then choose between Latin, Spanish and French for grades 7-12. My casual observation is that many of the better funded school districts offer Latin in the US (not sure if this is the case in other countries.) Among the kids, Latin is perceived to be the harder choice, so there’s a bit of self-sorting. I’ll never forget a tech networking event I attended in Seattle. A ballroom full of people, all very well educated, and one of the panelists asked how many in the audience had taken Latin, and nearly half the hands went up. But, that’s a lot of people who didn’t likely take a spoken foreign language.</p> <p>I’m nodding along with everything Rachy wrote. My husband is fluent in Mandarin, which was quite helpful when we were traveling in the larger cities in China, but less useful in a couple more remote areas. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088717 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 12:10:42 +0000 Anonymous 2088717@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Spanish (though sometimes I forget words), a bit of Portugese, a few martial arts related words in Japanese.<br /> My mom and grandmother are/ were fluent in 4 and 6 respectively though. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088706 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 10:56:32 +0000 Cardiff girl 2088706@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Language &nbsp;tuition in Britain is notoriously poor and getting worse.In the &nbsp;school my daughter goes to they have just closed the German department so French is the only foreign language tuition on offer.Then they wonder why British pupils don’t speak another language!.Here in Wales welsh is compulsory up to the age of 16.If you go to a welsh language school they will only speak welsh to the children for the first 2years of school and of course at that age they pick it up so quickly </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088703 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:54:01 +0000 Synne 2088703@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>It fascinates me that it was voted over whether English or German should be the national language in USA as late as the 1800s. Or is this a myth? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088701 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:40:18 +0000 rachylou 2088701@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I’m not sure what’s up with England, but in the US foreign languages ARE offered and required on the college bound track. The one thing, tho, that always struck me as difficult... the country is ~1500 x 2600 miles: you drive and drive and drive, and it’s the same country, same language. I actually had a little bit of Spanish in grammar school, but it wasn’t until we reached that immigration tipping point where I could hear it all the time that I started to be able to process on the fly in any way. And then everyone does seem to learn English - and learn it better - so you travel the world and everyone wants to practice their English with you. </p> <p>China I found sort of a parallel situation in a funny way. The country is huge. Mandarin is the official language, but it’s amazing how many people do NOT really speak it in China. They also learn it as a foreign language. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/ask-angie-how-many-languages-do-you-speak#post-2088700 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 09:26:53 +0000 Sisi 2088700@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Interesting question! I am Italian therefore my mother tongue is&nbsp;Italian. At school I studied English, Russian, French and German.&nbsp;Not that I speak them all well !&nbsp;At school they also made us study&nbsp;Latin because it is the origin of Italian and I&nbsp;liked it. Of course&nbsp;it is no longer a spoken language but it is still used occasionally to celebrate some&nbsp;Catholic solemn masses. I have a passion for languages. I generally&nbsp;pick up easily the&nbsp;language of a place - be it a language or a local dialect.&nbsp; </p>