Can you speak more than one language?

66Mustang

Just wondering out of curiosity whether we have any multilingual people here.

I guess for clarity’s sake you should answer 2+ if you have the vocabulary to comfortably hold a conversation in your second language.

Ross_Alumni

Just one language

My second language is nonsense  

I did learn German to A-level standard in school, and quite a lot of that has lingered in my mind, so I reckon I could at least get by if I was there on holiday or something.

MarkM88

Just one language

Unfortunately not. 

I did do French to GCSE but I was never any good at languages and came out with an F. 

66Mustang

Just one language

I wanted to do German but I was no good at French so they wouldn’t let me.  

In my 13 year old mind I thought German would be more useful as I was into engineering and science so was more likely to go to Germany, I thought France was more arts and cooking.  

66Mustang

Just one language

@MarkM88 that’s better than I got, didn’t even make it to GCSE!

Ross_Alumni

Just one language

The part I enjoyed most about learning German was the school trips, we went to the Christmas markets in Koln. The language itself was very interesting too, I find it humourous that people associate German with sounding quite angry in general.

vikingqueen

I can get by in Turkish but it is a very hard language to learn, and the problem is when you speak to them in Turkish they answer back in English. You can't win with them 🙄

66Mustang

Just one language

Yes it sounds like a great country,. I agree it is a silly thought about the language sounding angry. I’m guessing it came from the war, prison officers maybe? I have met several people who use a German accent and impersonate a prison officer when they are mocking rules/regulations. E.g. “you vill not park on ze yellow lines or you vill be shot”.

I quite like how Germans have one word where we have several words.

66Mustang

Just one language

@vikingqueen haha that is funny. I can imagine Turkish being a hard language to learn. Impressive that you could get by over there.

Globster

2 or more languages

I speak Gujarati at home with my parents 
Otherwise I speak english

66Mustang

Just one language

@Globster that’s awesome

Sandy_123

2 or more languages

I did O level Punjabi, which was useful at work as I was 1 always  asked to communicate.  Not that hard really. Also when working with old veterans who were stationed in India they also could count in Punjab etc, they got quite a surprise when I joined in with them. I'm not going to loose it as I use it.

OverlyAnxious

I'm not sure I 'comfortably' speak one language tbh! 

I got a C in French GCSE (got a high written grade pulled down to a C by the poor oral exam, same as my English GCSE, yet no-one had suggested potential ASD at the time!).  I believe I could get by in France by reading signs etc but wouldn't be able to understand a fast paced conversation.  Though admittedly struggle with that in English too, especially with strong accents.

I've also got a bit of German and Italian but not enough for a conversation.

leeCal

Just one language

We did French at school but I left before O levels so who knows if I’d have passed or not, I think I was average at it so probably would’ve passed. 

I like it that a great proportion of the world world speaks English 🤣

janer1967

Just one language

What a coincidence I have just this morning ordered an audio course to learn Spanish as I wanted to do a new course and with the long term plan of moving round Spain thought I would get prepared 

Like many I did gcse French at school but only retained a few bits of it 

Autumn_Feeling

2 or more languages

I studied some French in High School. Then, I took Scottish Gaelic in my last couple of years.

Nowadays, I’m self taught in Korean which is still work in progress.

66Mustang

Just one language

@OverlyAnxious glad I wasn’t the only one. I got A*-B grades for all my English coursework but this was brought down to a C because I didn’t do well in the speaking or drama sections

TheAlien

Just one language

I can swear in several different languages, but I'm not sure that counts, lol.

chiarieds

I wanted to learn Latin, so you had to take it a year earlier than other O levels, & also had to learn Greek(?) tho didn't have to be examined with the latter. Not very helpful with modern languages, but I did pass my Latin exam. I do find it helpful however in understanding the roots/meaning of some words.

I also (just) passed in French, altho I would have preferred to do German, which I've studied on & off over the years having basic conversational skills, & was able to help my son when he did German at school.

Our English teacher, who was Welsh, also gave some of us who were interested in learning some Welsh, lessons in the 6th form, but unfortunately I hardly remember any.

I don't swear (honestly), but can do so fluently in Norwegian, which got me out of a scrape when I was much younger. My friend parked on double yellow lines to quickly go into an Off Licence. Whilst he was inside a Police officer approached....hmmm, so I swore in Norwegian phrasing it as a question. My friend came back, & the Police Officer just waved us on. 

Ross_Alumni

Just one language

chiarieds said:

I don't swear (honestly), but can do so fluently in Norwegian, which got me out of a scrape when I was much younger. My friend parked on double yellow lines to quickly go into an Off Licence. Whilst he was inside a Police officer approached....hmmm, so I swore in Norwegian phrasing it as a question. My friend came back, & the Police Officer just waved us on. 

A very random use of that particular skill  

Ross_Alumni

Just one language

Speaking of language, kind of. I had my first lesson of braille yesterday evening. I'm taking part in a beginner course through Braillists.org. It was really interesting, looking forward to the future sessions.