How multilingual are we? - Page 3

shakermaker · 22-12-2005, 14:54

there ARE 13 languages?!

Margaret Pilkington · 22-12-2005, 15:03

I used to like to sit on the bus in Spain and listen to the conversations......I could understand most of them.....but I just couldn't formulate the sentences quickly enough to converse

Margaret Pilkington · 22-12-2005, 15:04

Yes.....Shaker, there are. I know she has struggled to learn Russian.....she puts that down to her age and her failing memory....she's 78

shakermaker · 22-12-2005, 15:06

I must say i feel rather inferior speaking english french spanish & italian!
i have a way to go yet!

Margaret Pilkington · 22-12-2005, 15:11

Don't allow yourself to feel inferior......you are doing better than most of us.

geoff70 · 22-12-2005, 18:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPUGGIE J

Got myself a learn Irish program on the computer. Irish Gaelic that is.

oh !!! dear spugs seek help ....
i think the reason why we are not keen to learn a foreign language is we have that island mentality we have no real neigbours who we have any difficulty understanding ,well theres maybe the scots and the northern irish ..unlike france who have close borders with holland ,germany even spain ..we just dont feel the need to learn which is a shame really ..
i give you an example some one living near the border between france and germany has a necessity to speak 2 languages were'as we are stuck on a rather large set of islands that all speak english to a certain extent ,so we are not really taxing our brains ,and we are missing out on an oppertunity of making some interesting new friends !!

cashman · 23-12-2005, 00:51

having lived in spain,i can honestly say my grasp of the language is shamefully low,in my defence- i did try to learn and experimented with my spanish customers,but when i spoke to them in my best spanish- they always answered me in english lol so i gave up bothering, the moral i think is that they are keener to learn english,than we are to learn their language, blowed if i know why?but thats the way it seemed to me. what i would say though if you speak to them in spanish (no matter how poorly) they love you to bits,lovely people!!

Georgie Saint · 23-12-2005, 05:41

I can speak quite a lot of Malay, Indonesian, and a lot of French.
Selamat Pagi

Georgie Saint · 23-12-2005, 05:42

Oh, and my son speaks, and writes Japanese, and both my kids are learning Mandarin. Mandarin is the one to know for the future.

Debbie J · 23-12-2005, 08:13

Like others on here I can understand French but I'm not very good at speaking it. My 7 year old wants to learn French, (no idea why) I can teach him words but not many phrases so for Christmas I've bought him a learn basic French dvd. Which I will probably watch with him.

Margaret Pilkington · 24-12-2005, 16:46

That is a good idea Debbie......if you can both learn together then you can practise on one another.

Mik Dickinson · 26-12-2005, 08:41

Well i have survived in Germany for 23 years.Do not know how though

Yolanda25 · 08-06-2007, 21:45

I think people should learn more than one language, im spanish and i speak fluent english, i mean i mite make mistakes but who doesnt!!

WillowTheWhisp · 08-06-2007, 21:58

Even if I can't speak a language fluently it's fun trying to hold a conversation. I do think we should make the effort when we go abroad.

blackbandit · 08-06-2007, 22:23

French,english,smidge of dutch and spanish,and german and portuguese swearwords-swearwords in any language are very important-I'd like to know if I'm being called a camels scrotum,thank you!