Poll: Do you know/are you learning a second language?

[eimatshya]

I've met plenty of Americans that want to or have learned a second language, although I admit that overall we don't seem to put the same emphasis on learning foreign languages as people in most other countries. Personally, I speak Spanish as a second language and have taken classes in French, Latin, Basque, and Arabic.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Most of Europe knows english as a second language.

Because it is useful to whine about stuff in websites like these!

I also speak swedish and germany a bit.

I find your avatar most quaint after reading that... and chuckling...

OT: Where's the option for plain old 'yes'...

I'm... whatever, I speak English, Yue, Japanese and conversational French and German. And I can read Italian passably, though don't expect me to speak it.

 

[Wierdguy]

Well... Jag är svensk så jag talar svenska, I obviously speak english, jeg taler (en lile bit) dansk (men kan ikke staeve searligt godt), I know a very very small amount of spanish, soshite watashi wa daigaku ni nihongo o benkyooshimasu.

And I plan on learning more in the future =p

 

[Zarkov]

I've been learning German for about 3 years, nearly 4 now. I understand pretty much everything grammar and sentence structure wise, but my vocabulary is still quite tiny, but I love the language and learning and also practicing with German speaking people both face to face and online.
I plan to then learn Dutch.

Oh, und, ich hab Deutsch seit zwei Jahren jetzt gelernt, und ich liebe Deutsch. Tut mir leid, wenn mein Deutsch nicht perfekt ist. (Use Google translate )

From what I understand, that was perfect except for the overuse of commas and the wrong case on "Jahr", but you did use Google, so no grudges shall be held.

Nein, ich hab das ohne Google geschrieben. Ist seit nicht dativ? Lol, aber danke!
(and I believe clauses must be separated by a comma, although I could be wrong lol)

 

[Retal19]

I'm learning German. I have to take at least one language in School, and I could only choose between French and German. I'm planning on going into Engineering, so I thought German would be the best choice. Aber, ich bin nicht so gut, und die uhr ich spende in die klassenzimmer ist todlangweilig. Es ist ein sehr schone sprache, aber ich hasse die stunde. Meine lieblingsfache ist Geschichte, und es habe kleine Deutsche.
My Vocabulary and Grammar is horrid, I know. ._.

 

[Giest4life]

I'm fluent in 3 (English, Urdu, Punjabi), currently learning French. However, I can read Arabic, even though I lack the vocabulary to have any practical use of it. I also have a working knowledge of Spanish, the form spoken in South and Central America. I'm planning on starting Latin and Classical Greek after I get my Major in French. German is also on the list.

Jawohl!

That's really cool that you're learning so many languages. I'm working on one and that's hard enough, so I couldn't comprehend learning that many.

Yeah, I got lucky there. I know Urdu and Punjabi because I was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, which is all but the cultural capital of the sub-continent. I learnt English much as I did my native language because my mother is a Masters in English Literature who used to teach English to students about to matriculate. Arabic I learnt to read from an early age because I was raised in a Muslim household, and everyone in any respectable Muslim community is supposed to know how to read Arabic.

I am lucky that the changes in the grammar, syntax, script, and most importantly, the structure of though for different language because I've pretty much grown up with the differences being the norm.

Which language are you learning, anyway?

 

[Agayek]

I've met plenty of Americans that want to or have learned a second language, although I admit that overall we don't seem to put the same emphasis on learning foreign languages as people in most other countries. Personally, I speak Spanish as a second language and have taken classes in French, Latin, Basque, and Arabic.

There are reasons for that lack of emphasis in the US, and the biggest one is geography. Simply put, the country is so huge that we can travel several thousand miles and still be in a predominantly English-speaking area. Very few other countries can boast the same. In Europe, traveling more than a thousand miles is generally enough to require a completely different language. As such, multilingualism is far more common there than elsewhere, especially in countries that aren't primarily English-speaking.

There's also some level of cultural arrogance and the dominance English has as the international language, but that's only part of it.

 

[BlackStar42]

Ich kann ein kleine bisschen Deutsch sprechen, aber ich bin ein bisschen scheisse. Aber, meine Uni hatte ein Deutscherin nach studieren, so es könnte nutzlich

(That was probably wrong, wasn't it?)

 

[shado_temple]

I speak English, got a minor in Spanish, and would eventually like to learn Chinese or Japanese. I figured either of those might be useful in the tech. business.

 

[Zarkov]

I'm fluent in 3 (English, Urdu, Punjabi), currently learning French. However, I can read Arabic, even though I lack the vocabulary to have any practical use of it. I also have a working knowledge of Spanish, the form spoken in South and Central America. I'm planning on starting Latin and Classical Greek after I get my Major in French. German is also on the list.

Jawohl!

That's really cool that you're learning so many languages. I'm working on one and that's hard enough, so I couldn't comprehend learning that many.

Yeah, I got lucky there. I know Urdu and Punjabi because I was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, which is all but the cultural capital of the sub-continent. I learnt English much as I did my native language because my mother is a Masters in English Literature who used to teach English to students about to matriculate. Arabic I learnt to read from an early age because I was raised in a Muslim household, and everyone in any respectable Muslim community is supposed to know how to read Arabic.

I am lucky because changes in the grammar, syntax, script, and most importantly, the structure of though for different language because I've pretty much grown up with the differences being the norm.

Which language are you learning, anyway?

Wow, man, what a stroke of luck! I'd love to know that many languages.

I'm learning German as of know, but I'd dabbled in other languages such as Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Russian. I don't know much of any of them, but I have attempted to learn them. I just decided to stop trying to learn other languages and just focus on German, because I figure once I have one language down the others should come a little more easily.

 

[JackyG]

Im getting pretty good at Java right now if that counts! unrealscript is tricky, a lot of different regional accents...

 

[Chalacachaca]

I'm learning japanese through Rosetta Stone, and I'm fluent in spanish and (american) english. I'd love to speak it as an englishman though.

 

[Lev The Red]

my family is from the (east) ukraine (they speak mostly russian), but i picked up up very little beyond colloquial things like очен, жопа, & пошли.
however, i got interested in it and now i'm majoring in russian. но, я не говорю хорошо.

 

[Embz]

My second language is English, my first being welsh

 

[Zarkov]

Im getting pretty good at Java right now if that counts! unrealscript is tricky, a lot of different regional accents...

Haha, that's a tricky language. What, with all the objects and what not...
Computer language jokes aside, I do actually script in Python lol.

 

[EpicEps]

My first language is English, I am fluent in Spanish (I'm losing it slowly because of lack of use), and I'm currently learning Japanese.

I enjoy learning all the languages I can, because its great being able to say "Yeah, I'm multilingual" and be able to converse with a whole new set of people.

 

[guitarsniper]

I learned latin in high school, not fluent really because it's not the kind of language one really becomes fluent in, but i can read it pretty well. currently shopping around for a new language to learn.

 

[DemonicPancakes]

English, German, and Classical Greek. I'm also learning Olde English and am planning to take Russian next year in college.

 

[Powereaver]

sure i love languages and im always being offered to get taught a multitude of different languages by my european friends so if the opportunity is there i might take it up.. but atm im learning german

 

[sean360h]

my school is forcing me to learn Irish and I HATE it but I hate every language except English