Can you speak foreign languages?

Not really, i used to do passable french but didn't practice for years. If anything i'd like to learn Spanish, but i'm really not good at learning languages.

Is it just me or if you learn simple phrases in other languages do you just use them in every day conversation? I actually can't say 'good night' any more, i just say buona notte. And i use 'et toi' whenever somebody says something like 'good day'. Maybe i'm just weird :p
 
Well I speak other languages since I was born elsewhere but since tried to learn some Japanese for the lulz, but it really is as hard as they say. Think I'll pick something easier for my next attempt, most likely French or Italian.
 
Very basic french. My English is excellent, and since I'm a Scots native I can do that too, but other than that, I suck.

I just don't have any real motivation to get started.
 
Nearly fluent in Dutch as I lived there for a few years. Also speak passable Danish and has been trying to learn Swedish.
 
French and Spanish were both good now much poorer. Can read quite well (particularly in French) but I can't think quickly in them. Can have basic chat and get my point across but used to be able to speak much more naturally.
 
There's a lot of people here saying "French is easy" "German is easy" etc.

Now I know from that IQ thread we had the other day that many GD reader are super-geniuses. But learning a foreign language is *Not* easy for 99% of people.

In fact it's damn near impossible to learn it well unless you move to a country where they speak it natively. GCSE level does not make you fluent at all. I got a GCSE B-grade in German, and I can't understand even 2% of what they're saying.
 
Currently learning Japanese! But not fluent, not even really a beginner yet.

I'm learning it properly though, I know actual Hiragana and Katakana. none of the English character nonsense.

Havent even glanced at Kanji.... That's scary

But knowing what the characters are, and knowing what the words mean...Are totally 2 separate battles. And then context and interaction!!! Christ.... :o

There's a reason even the Japanese have courses on their social interactions.... =\
 
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wannabedamned said:
Currently learning Japanese! But not fluent, not even really a beginner yet.

I'm learning it properly though, I know actual Hiragana and Katakana. none of the English character nonsense.

Havent even glanced at Kanji.... That's scary

But knowing what the characters are, and knowing what the words mean...Are totally 2 separate battles. And then context and interaction!!! Christ.... :o

There's a reason even the Japanese have courses on their social interactions.... =\
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I would absolutley love to learn Japanese but my god.. I think it would be easier curing cancer.
 
I did 10 years of German and 9 years of French at high school/college, with As in both for A level. While I keep up the German with fairly regular visits to Austria, my French has noticeably gone downhill - which is a shame, but I'm fairly sure I could get it back to a good level fairly quickly.

I also did Mandarin Chinese at university over 5 years, with a year and a bit living in China, where I'm planning to return at the start of next year. I do have Chinese friends here to practise with, but it's nowhere near as good as being forced to do everything in the language. Explaining to my landlord that a water pipe had burst and I really did need him to come over pretty quickly (and having him understand) was a fairly pivotal moment of "huh, maybe I can speak this" :) That said, I'm a very long way from fluency, still.

Languages have always been my thing really. I'm rubbish at anything sciencey :p
 
peterattheboro said:
This :)


So to those who have taught themselves... how did you go about it?

I've heard the Rosetta Stone pack is the one to go for?
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I've been using Rosetta Stone to study German this year. It really is fantastic, though I've been struggling to find an hour 2 or 3 times a week to sit in front of my computer and work through a module.

I took a punt at Dutch as well so I knew a bit on holiday, it's quite similar to German, but with a splattering of English and some of it's own flair. I got to Amsterdam to discover that... everyone speaks English by default unless they know you. Was a bit of a wasted effort, but a fun language.
 
FoxEye said:
There's a lot of people here saying "French is easy" "German is easy" etc.

Now I know from that IQ thread we had the other day that many GD reader are super-geniuses. But learning a foreign language is *Not* easy for 99% of people.

In fact it's damn near impossible to learn it well unless you move to a country where they speak it natively. GCSE level does not make you fluent at all. I got a GCSE B-grade in German, and I can't understand even 2% of what they're saying.
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I think people mean that French and German are comparatively easy, not that they are actually easy. Big difference. Learning any language is a lot of work, but the western European ones are the easiest by far due to their similarities with English and each other. The more of them you know, the easier the remaining ones are.
 
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Twentyone said:
Norwegian and English.

I wish I could speak Finnish and Russian but I have to find the time to learn them first :)



Haha. You know those two videos are Norwegians mocking the Danish way of speaking right? :p
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Oh I know. It's still brilliant!

I have to agree with one point though. The Danish number system.

Dear lord is it complicated!
 
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