What languages do you speak ? > need some advices

[twigz]

I speek English, Chinese (Mandarin and other dialects like Taiwanese, Cantonese, etc.), Japanese, conversational French and Korean.

I'm a native English and Chinese speaker (grew up speaking both) so it was pretty easy for me. I picked up Japanese and French in school, and Korean on my own. I have several Korean friends who helped me out along the way so it made the learning process easier -- especially when they only spoke Korean around me!

[CeCChanel]

Originally Posted by PrinceAbdullah

I speak English and Arabic. I spoke Arabic growing up but wasn't taught how to write until HS. It was sooo fun learning how to write in Arabic. Its like an art.

The Arabic Alphabet and sentences are so beautiful.

[IcyPurple]

I'm French and I'm studying English, Russian and Italian at university. I loooove learning languages

[LittleH]

As a baby the first languages I learned were French, Arabic and Portuguese (my parents' mother tongues). I since learned English, Spanish and Italian. I use English, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian in my job.

I'd say you need to figure out if you are learning languages for how useful they can be (in which case I'd recommend Mandarin or Arabic) or simply for your passion for them (if that's the case Italian sounds like a language you really like).

[Jeneen]

My first language is English, I speak intermediate Italian, and can get by minimally in Spanish. I would like to improve my Italian and Spanish, and one day learn French.

[Black_Swarmer]

Danish is my native language and I consider myself fluent in English. I had German in school and still try to keep up with it as it goes away so easily if you don't use it ... I know Swedish and Norwegian since they are close to Danish (though it is sometimes easier to communicate with Swedes in English ). I have had a little Spanish and French lessons but too long ago to remember anything besides a few phrases, sadly enough.

I would love to learn more languages; Italian, French, Spanish, Turkish - maybe some day I will find the time

[Ginrei76]

How wonderful for those of you that speak multiple languages. I'm green with envy. I've really tried to learn Spanish. I took it in middle school, high school, and college. I've had no luck. I guess I just don't have a knack for languages. What makes it even harder for me is that I'm Latina so it is sort of expected that I know the mother tongue. My parents are both fluent but Spanish was never spoken at home.

I remember hearing stories of my grandparents getting beaten in school and other relatives getting in trouble for speaking Spanish. One of my uncles was also fired from his job at pizza place for talking to customers in Spanish. This discrimination happened in the late 1980's. I think my mom didn't want my sister and me to face those kinds of hardships. Nowadays speaking another language is an asset.

[karmenzsofia]

I'm fluent in English and Spanish, and half-a$$ in Italian (kuz I don't use it often enough). I took a French class once, but I kept falling asleep in class kuz the teacher was so boring teacher...had to be kuz I was super interested in learning French. Anyway, I also tried to teach myself Russian when I was a kid, but I was using my mom's books and she just didn't have enough for me to study.

While I would love to learn any of the Asian languages kuz they offer a different way of looking at the world, I would probably go for a language that I already like and would love to learn--regardless of whether it's practical or not. In my case, that means Latin, Greek and/or Russian.

Good luck!

[ash14vwb]

I speak English & Spanish. I took Spanish from 8th grade up to college, where I majored in both English and Spanish.

I am deciding between learning French & German now. Although I use Spanish daily at my job, I wish I had a job where I used it at a higher level. One of my goals is to have a job where I CAN use it daily at a higher level, and help people doing so

[Linica]

I speak English, fluent in italian and croatian (parents tongues), learned a little German when i was In germany for the WC, can understand spanish, having been trying to speak french for the past 4 1/2 years as my partners parents are french.

[Junkenpo]

Originally Posted by PANda_USC

^really? I am not sure if you attended private or public school in the U.S., but at my private school, we were required to learn French starting 1st grade and in junior high(still at the same school), we could choose between French or Spanish

That says it all!

I'm talking about US public schools (and not charter schools). The emphasis is getting everyone fluent in English, and definitely not on learning other languages. I wish it were otherwise. My experience is in Hawaii public schools though (currently the shortest school year in the nation!)... anyone can comment on the other 49?

[Miss Evy Rocks!]

I'm fluent Spanish [my mother tongue], English [started speaking it fluently after the first three months of moving to the US] and basic Frech [mostly because I have no one to practice with.

I love learning new languages

[Vintage Leather]

Are you learning languages because you love them? You need them? Or you will use them in future employment?

I studied English literature in grad school, and so I needed to be fluent in Latin, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and some Greek. I am functionally lingual in them - I can read them fluently, and speak well enough to find a restroom and thank someone.

If you love Italian, learn Italian - it should be much easier to pick up Spanish if you have a couple of additional romance languages under your belt.

Life is far to short if you waste it on something you don't enjoy.

[choooooo]

I speak Uyghur,a language more like Arabic,also Chinese,English...and now i'm learning Japanese...

[PANda_USC]

Oh..I don't know if this counts..but I studied abroad in Greece for a semester and had to learn Modern Greek there..and since I was a Classics minor..I also took two semesters of Latin..Latin is amazing!..dead language though..but you can see latin roots in all of the romance languages, ^_^