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Original poster

Can you speak another language?

119 replies

peebles32 · 08/08/2023 19:03

I hate going abroad and not been able to speak the languages I feel so ignorant. I can speak Spanish reasonably well as lived there for a while.
However, when I go to other countries I feel so ignorant and always try to learn a little.
I am quite passionate about languages and find it hard to understand why people don't make more of an effort!
I don't like to presume everyone will speak English. However, my DP could not care less and does not see why he should try!

OP posts:
LadyMonicaBaddingham · 08/08/2023 20:26

English, Welsh, French and the essentials (at the very least please, thank you, love, food, drink, toilet) in German, Italian and Spanish. Minimal Arabic and Ukrainian through work

Ginmonkeyagain · 08/08/2023 20:41

Competant French, tourist Spanish, can read a menu, take public transport and be polite in Italian, very basic German (directions, please, thank you, tourist questions).

Very competant at writing and reading Latin and Ancient Greek and basic Old and Middle English (Classics and English degree)

Spudlover · 08/08/2023 20:44

Decent enough tourist French and some basic German and Spanish.

Everywhere I go I make sure I learn the words for hello, goodbye, please, thank you and sorry. I forget them immediately after though!

Thisisnotmyname2022 · 08/08/2023 20:50

BSL fluently, little French.

NaselHazel · 08/08/2023 20:53

French fluently, decent enough German get by.

I have a smattering of (20th century, not ancient) Greek after spending a year there.

Changes17 · 08/08/2023 20:54

Was fluent in Italian after three years living there, and another three in an Italian-speaking work environment. Am going back in three weeks after 25 years away - we’ll see!
A-level French - have got by in France with it fairly recently. Helped DS for gcse…
Very basic German and also did Latin at school.

Watchagotch72 · 08/08/2023 20:54

I don’t speak French as well as I should - have lived there for by 15 years! But a lot of my friends and my workplace are pretty much anglophone, plus I’m partially deaf which has made it very hard to just ‘pick it up’ 🙄

my children are completely bilingual: even French people don’t realise that they aren’t 100% French. I’ll never manage that 🤷‍♀️

JudyJulie · 08/08/2023 20:55

Competent French and German, some Italian, Swedish and Welsh.

Also some random phrases in Romanian.

Coronationstation · 08/08/2023 20:56

I don’t think it’s that we don’t promote languages enough, it’s just that English is more widely spoke elsewhere in the world. I have friends from across the globe who speak English as a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th language, and they grew up watching films in English (or at least with English subtitles) and know all the lyrics to our pop songs. We just don’t that exposure to popular culture in foreign languages in the UK. If we learn a foreign language we need to learn lots of different ones for it to be widely useful whereas foreigners learn English and can use it for any number of circumstances.

XelaM · 08/08/2023 20:57

Fluent German and Russian, but I was born in Russia and grew up in Germany, so it was easy for mw.

Ginmonkeyagain · 08/08/2023 20:58

That is true, in most international groups the shared language will almost certainly be English.

ReignOfError · 08/08/2023 21:00

Latin, and I actually used it as it turned out to be our only common language between me and a couple of other women I met when travelling.

I can get by in Greek, although I struggle with some accents. Tourist French.

Fluent American.

Kabbalah · 08/08/2023 21:02

French : fluent and literate.

GardenGuardian · 08/08/2023 21:04

French, German, Russian, Arabic, Pashto and Indonesian to varying degrees over the years. I love learning new languages and could pick them up really easily when I was younger. There’s not so much room in my brain now though…!

KohlaParasaurus · 08/08/2023 21:06

I can speak and read French and Spanish but can't think quickly enough in either language to hold a proper conversation with a native speaker.

SulisMinerva · 08/08/2023 21:07

Fluent Dutch, competent French, basic German, Spanish and Welsh.

Languages fascinate me - I love spotting links and patterns between them. How consonants changed in indo-European languages over time is really interesting and helps with word recognition. For example, a V often changes to an F and a T to a D or TH (or disappears completely). So in the west Germanic branch you get:
Vater - Vader - Father
Mutter - Moeder - Mother

In Norwegian the middle consonant has disappeared so you have Far and Mor.

Watchagotch72 · 08/08/2023 21:07

Ginmonkeyagain · 08/08/2023 20:58

That is true, in most international groups the shared language will almost certainly be English.

Even if none of them are native speakers!

my children are fluent, completely bilingue in English and French. In France, their fluent English will give them a great advantage. In the UK their fluent French will be a novelty, maybe of some use in certain situations. Such is the dominance of the English language.

Beingboredisgoodforyou · 08/08/2023 21:07

Did French and German up to 16 but very rusty. One term of Russian at university and apart from please and thank you the only phrase I can remember is 'where is my umbrella'? A few basic phrases in Welsh. I'm most fluent in Urdu/Punjabi which I learnt for work many years ago. Can read and spell out basic words if the script is not too fancy.

Mrsbadger77 · 08/08/2023 21:15

French , Spanish , Japanese, bit of Italian, German and Swedish. Absolutely love learning languages. I am trying to learn Dutch now on Duolingo but getting so fed up with it and the stupid sentences over and over again ' I am à girl , they are boys , I am an apple 'etc need to find a new app

SomewhereWithSomeone · 08/08/2023 21:16

English is my second language, I also speak Italian and French.

ReadRum · 08/08/2023 21:20

Six, four of which fluently. Anyone with the time and interest could do this same, I don’t have a talent for it and grew up monolingual.

Augend23 · 08/08/2023 21:21

I speak enough French to get by, I can deal with most situations I've come across as a tourist.

My Spanish is very rusty (I have a GCSE, but I did it in 2 years so it didn't really stick), but enough to manage with a combination of Spanish and sign language and maybe some English if they speak it. It's a struggle though.

Italian, I learnt a little but only over a few months and I have been to Spain twice since which wiped a lot of it out.

Everything else, totally hopeless.

BarbieKew · 08/08/2023 21:22

I’m English, fluent in French and can get by in three others. I always learn how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you and help in whichever country I’m in. I make my children learn those five words too.

Simonjt · 08/08/2023 21:24

Yes, Urdu is my first language, followed by English, BSL and Swedish. I then have a bit of holiday level German. It is a shame that we don’t push languages in the UK or teach them appropriately at primary school.

KatharinaRosalie · 08/08/2023 21:29

Yes I speak several. Most days I need to use 5 different languages (2 for work, plus another 2 socially, plus another with DC). Just added up that I have tried to learn about a dozen languages, but the rest of them are on very basic level, a la read the menu and say thanks. Primary aged DC are trilingual and learning their 4th.