Foreign Languages

Posted 14 March 2006 - 17:30

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 17:33

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 17:59

QUOTE(another crazy pianist @ Mar 13 2006, 02:28 PM)

We've been talking about languages in the past (see below)

http://forums.abrsm....wtopic=9430&hl=
Languages
http://forums.abrsm....wtopic=9385&hl=
Languages 2

My mother tongue is Dutch, French being my second language and English my third. I also studied some German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. I particularly like getting acquainted with the principles of grammar, but vocabulary is a never ending story.

Darn good for a third language!

QUOTE(stevensfo @ Mar 13 2006, 02:45 PM)

Wife is Polish and I can speak just enough to survive and chat with the in-laws, but I'll never be fluent. It's an incredibly hard language! The grammar was invented by a sadist. There are 3 genders, Masc, Fem and Neuter, but the masc. is divided into Inanimate/Animate, so in fact there are 4 to learn, each has its Sing. and plural, 7 cases to learn for each!

Then there are the adjectives which have to agree with the.......
Fortunately, they're all very friendly - oh, and I like vodka!

Steve

Heehee sounds so much fun!

QUOTE(cheeble @ Mar 13 2006, 07:49 PM)

I speek Engleesh.

I learn it from a book.

How dare some people be so intelligent! First language is English, can sort of get by a little bit in German and am currently learning Arabic, which is great fun! Atakallam :arabi qaliil!

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 18:04

QUOTE(Boo Radley @ Mar 14 2006, 05:59 PM)

How dare some people be so intelligent!

Says he who's self teaching Arabic

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 19:26

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 20:16

Argh!!!!!!!!! You are all making me feel stupid now

I only speak french and German (I am taking them at gcse) and a very minimal amount of spanish. I once tried to teach myself Korean and Indonisian but I was learning from a book and had no idea how to say anything

and my mother tongue is english

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 21:36

QUOTE(anacrusis @ Mar 13 2006, 08:20 PM)

QUOTE(july @ Mar 13 2006, 03:41 PM)

I have two mothertongues! It's a little complicated, but I'm fluent in both German and English. I spoke English first and learnt German when I was 4 or 5. My parents are also fluent in both and I'm in mothertongue English and mothertongue German classes at school. Don't know which of the two I'm more confident in. As I'm living in Germany at the moment, I know more slang words and stuff in German than I do in English!

p.s. And I don't have a German accent when I speak English or an English one when I speak German. Have been told that this might have to do with being musical and hearing the nuances! No idea how true this is, but it's a flattering statement!

Sarah-flute is right - linguists tell me that my lack of accent with each is because I'm a true bilingual, having learnt both from the beginning - and certainly before age 6.

How flattering, I'm a true bilingual! Quite cool, though. Anyone else here feel really annoyed when speaking to monolingual people? I tend to become quite impatient with German people who don't understand the English words I keep dropping into sentences. My favourite one is 'obviously'. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent word for it in German...

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 21:41

QUOTE(july @ Mar 14 2006, 04:36 PM)

How flattering, I'm a true bilingual! Quite cool, though. Anyone else here feel really annoyed when speaking to monolingual people? I tend to become quite impatient with German people who don't understand the English words I keep dropping into sentences. My favourite one is 'obviously'. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent word for it in German...

I kind of have that trouble, in that when there's a certain word that does not exist in English, I substitute it with a French word or a Japanese word that I find is more appropriate (and then I get blank looks ).

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 21:53

QUOTE(july @ Mar 14 2006, 10:36 PM)

I tend to become quite impatient with German people who don't understand the English words I keep dropping into sentences. My favourite one is 'obviously'. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent word for it in German...

I would say "klar", but as an adverb, that doesn't fit very well, does it?

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 22:16

QUOTE(july @ Mar 14 2006, 09:36 PM)

How flattering, I'm a true bilingual! Quite cool, though. Anyone else here feel really annoyed when speaking to monolingual people? I tend to become quite impatient with German people who don't understand the English words I keep dropping into sentences. My favourite one is 'obviously'. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent word for it in German...

I don't get annoyed with people for not understanding, but I do get annoyed with people for assuming everyone will speak their language - something us in the English speaking world are well known for. It is embarrassing to be aborad with people who won't even try to learn to say hello in the local tongue.

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 22:26

This evening I had to call the police for an emergency. (After all, there was no problem, fortunately!)
Brussels is officially bilingual, so I spoke Dutch, my mother tongue. But the officer replied "Vous parlez le français?" So I had no choice and continued in French, but I was quite shocked about this ! I think I should lodge a complaint !

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 22:27

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 22:29

QUOTE(sarah-flute @ Mar 14 2006, 11:27 PM)

That's a bit rubbish really, isn't it?

You mean the officer or me ?

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Posted 14 March 2006 - 22:51

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Posted 15 March 2006 - 01:02

QUOTE(july @ Mar 14 2006, 09:36 PM)

QUOTE(anacrusis @ Mar 13 2006, 08:20 PM)

QUOTE(july @ Mar 13 2006, 03:41 PM)

I have two mothertongues! It's a little complicated, but I'm fluent in both German and English. I spoke English first and learnt German when I was 4 or 5. My parents are also fluent in both and I'm in mothertongue English and mothertongue German classes at school. Don't know which of the two I'm more confident in. As I'm living in Germany at the moment, I know more slang words and stuff in German than I do in English!

p.s. And I don't have a German accent when I speak English or an English one when I speak German. Have been told that this might have to do with being musical and hearing the nuances! No idea how true this is, but it's a flattering statement!

Sarah-flute is right - linguists tell me that my lack of accent with each is because I'm a true bilingual, having learnt both from the beginning - and certainly before age 6.

How flattering, I'm a true bilingual! Quite cool, though. Anyone else here feel really annoyed when speaking to monolingual people? I tend to become quite impatient with German people who don't understand the English words I keep dropping into sentences. My favourite one is 'obviously'. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent word for it in German...

"Offentsichtlich, or "selbstverständlich", maybe?
As a very small kid, I didn't realise that others couldn't understand if I was in the "wrong" language, and if I couldn't remember a word in one would produce an equivalent in the other, but with the pronunciation of the first! I now get more irritated with myself if a word or expression hides deep in my subconscious, rather than with the person who is having to wait patiently for some trivial anecdote to be finished.

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