Foreign Languages?

[AY38910]

Native Spanish speaker, fluent in English, sucks at German

[shapezncolourz]

id say i only speak one language, but as a scot it can be difficult to tell as english and scots are so similar yet distinct languages, its tricky to tell where one ends and the other begins x{ i would say that i only know one though, as i dont know how to confidently write in doric scots and i cant really switch between them. id love to be more confident in doric, but it seems to just be something verbally passed down, and most people arent very proud of it at best and hate it at worst :( i have a mug with a bunch of doric words on it, which i got because someone gave it to my auntie and she couldnt stop going on about how much she hates the language :(

also not really "foreign" languages as they belong to my nationalities, but id love to speak scottish gaelic or irish or both - i tried learning gaelic, but while i could easily grasp reading and writing, i really struggled with speaking and listening (which i struggle enough with in english, and thats my native language ) i havent practised it in a long time; ive forgotten what little i knew :(

in terms of languages that are actually foreign, i think id like to learn japanese because i like japanese media (mostly music, plus a couple games and shows) and i think itd be neat to know what theyre saying by just listening :] (not the best reason i know, but its a reason! '^^)

and its not a spoken language, but knowing bsl would be cool too!! i definitely think sign languages and home languages should be taught at schools first and foremost, for the sake of accessibility/inclusivity and the preservation of culture (if that makes sense - gaelic, scots, and irish are all dying languages, and i think thats heartbreaking!! x{ )

[_ghost_]

Native English speaker, intermediate level in Spanish; I study it in university but don't get much practice, so writing is my strongest skill. I can read enough to get by, I can follow along if people talk slowly, but I can't speak it very well. With writing I can take my time and think through how I want to word things.

I'd like to learn more languages, though. I just don't have the time right now. I like being able to focus on Spanish, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to apply a lot of the learning strategies I use now in academia to self-study later on. I'd also like to take an ASL class or two if it will ever fit my schedule. Maybe next spring...

[NineFingersLesbian]

Native English speaker, intermediate level in Spanish; I study it in university but don't get much practice, so writing is my strongest skill. I can read enough to get by, I can follow along if people talk slowly, but I can't speak it very well. With writing I can take my time and think through how I want to word things.

I'd like to learn more languages, though. I just don't have the time right now. I like being able to focus on Spanish, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to apply a lot of the learning strategies I use now in academia to self-study later on. I'd also like to take an ASL class or two if it will ever fit my schedule. Maybe next spring...

You should definitely take an ASL class! Not that I'm biased or anything...

[skylerzap]

i come from a majority spanish speaking family, so i kinda *have* to learn spanish, even though my native language is english.

but it isn't as bad as i make it sound! i've been loving learning the language, and it's kinda like a fun puzzle to decipher spanish sentences, hehe. after i finish learning spanish though, i wanna try learning more languages!

[Junebug]

@skylerzap Are you me? My relatives in Argentina are bad at English so if I ever want to talk to them I have to learn Spanish. But I'm in a perpetual state of almost understanding it, so it feels like fate is just telling me to learn the language already. I think I will have trouble with how fast people speak the language, though.

[Allie]

I only know two languages: spanish (my native language xd) and english.

I've been wanting to learn russian for a while too but due to school and just being busy in general I don't have enough time for it :( I know how to read cyrilic tho, and a few random words but that's it 

[skylerzap]

@Junebug we're close in terms of situation, but i have mexican instead of argentinan heritage, hehe.
but i have your same experiences! it feels like i can almost understand it and then they pull out the 4 syllable word i've never heard and speak quickly.

[Junebug]

@skylerzap It's like an itch on my brain, I think this year I'm just going to learn the language so I can stop being in this almost-but-not-quite state.

The other side of my family is Swedish, but Swedes tend to be good at English so I'm not feeling the pressure in the same way. Also, to be honest I have a harder time wrapping my mind around Swedish compared to Spanish, despite Swedish belonging to the same language family as English. Maybe because the phonemes in Swedish are harder for me than the same in Spanish. Can't say what it is.

[boreal_cryptid]

i think in my case, truly "foreign" language is English only, because i don't live in English-speaking country?

cool multilingual people: speak at certain level of each language the know
my multilingual ass: speaks in cursed surzhyk (mix) of languages that nobody understands

Spoiler

my first language is unfortunately forced on me (and my people), and i don't count it for this reason.

[close]

next is Ukrainian. it's is dear to me, and i really wish learn it better. makes me feel... less colonized, you know? plus, in solidarity with Ukrainians. i speak in it daily, and pretty good, but not at an expert level, that's for sure.

English is... more like a tool for me? not too much of emotional attachment here. i'm glad to use it for communication, though. my level is enough to hold a (text) conversation or understand most of the info i need. like... to watch Critical Role sessions with some minimal difficulties.

and the most important - my heritage language (i'm being vague in case i will decide to go "back into the closet" about specifics of my indigenous status). i re-learn it almost from "zero", which pains me. i'm limited in practice due to being far away from my homeland. my level is... low. mostly, i can only understand simple texts. i remember how grandma has been teaching me in my early childhood, but that's all :(

really love Estonian, but will probably not learn it, at least not soon. my 2 braincells are struggling enough already.

[girlblogzone]

english is my native language, i learned italian through tv and reading and eventually speaking more, i used to be really good at french and i think its cuz my teacher made us do a lot of listening practice! i really want to learn arabic but i dont have the time. to me listening to tv, reading, and then practicing with writing and conversation is the best way to learn a language. i think frequent daily practice is also important!!

i think learning a foreign language and becoming good at it really depends on your native language. If you speak a language that has a declension system, it will be easier to learn another language with a declension system, because your brain already thinks in that system, and it will be even easier to learn a language that doesn't have one, because then it's less things to think about. if you don't speak a language with a declension system, it will be easier to learn other languages that also dont have one, and it will be harder to learn a language that has one, because when you form a sentence you're having to make an extra step with thinking about the declension. Some languages have easy declensions like Arabic, where there's only 3, phew!

I'm currently learning Polish which has been really hard because of what i described above lol (send help)

my only problem with language learning is i want to learn a lot of languages at once but i dont have time!!! 

[randomtangent]

i think the only language i even tried to learn was Japanese.
i wanna learn Korean as well, mostly because writing it's a hell of a lot easier than some languages. English is a nightmare of a language istg

most reasons why i'm learning Japanese is simply because of anime and adjacent - though i can't even talk in broken Japanese (without a dictionary) and i can't write it without a reference sheet. but i've memorised around half of hirigana and some katakana, and only very few kanji!

i remembered being able to talk (with another person who also tried learning Japanese) and it was a basic conversation, but we had to take seconds to interperate what the other just said lmao

okay, i don't really know it. i'm not bilingual i know, but some Japanese words i already know their meanings, at least their definitions anyways. 

edit: i'm a native English speaker, and hardly can do any Japanese. i know "hello" in several languages but other than that, practically nothing.