How many languages can you get by in?
It would be interesting to know what languages members of SpanishDict know - and how they learnt them.
17 Answers
I can speak fluent English and write fluently in English (this should be no problem because I live in London and am British!!). Recently I and a few others had a chance to go to Beijing and Chongqing in China as part of an immersion course. We took Mandarin exams there and I'm happy to say that I aced it! I also can speak spanish, I'm not fluent but on an intermediate level currently. I also speak a few other languages: Arabic & Urdu.
As for ways of picking up languages its quite simple. Look at magazine articles, newsapers in that language you wish to study and start to read slowly, and focus on pronounciation. Also another method of learning a language I'd recommend is flashcards or taking notes. This stimulates the brain to want to learn more because learning should really be fun and so, don't spend hours on end just reading through books. Your mind will just begin to wander.
Finally, try to talk to other people who know that language you wish to study. You begin to learn things automatically, it really helped me in China!! ![]()
Good luck!!
I learned Spanish originally in high school and can read it pretty well, and speak it less so. I took Italian in college and again can read it passably but have a lot of trouble speaking it. French I have a working knowledged from high school and cross-overs from Spanish and Italian. Korean and Japanese are just enough to teach my martial arts classes. Other languages I just picked up bits and pieces here and there.
I can hold my own in English
, I can communicate understandably in Spanish, I used to be able to have simple conversations in American sign language, though it has been a while, and now I am learning Mandarin, though I wouldn't say that I could speak more than a few words... but give me a month or so, by then I will be able to "get by".
Im German and I have been learning English and French at school for a few years. And now I'm trying to learn Spanish *g
Till now it's much more fun than it had been with the other languages at school.
I am fluent in English. I know enough French to "get by". I am in the process of learning Spanish. I also know a strange combination of Italian, which involves all the musical terms plus the "colorful" not so nice words learned from my Italian mother-in-law and her family. So I can read music and curse in Italian, but choose not to curse!
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I speak and write English fluently (I was an English major for four years and I'm a legal editor now).
When I was in Mexico last year my Spanish was good enough to communicate with everyone I met. Although I have a lot to learn, I'm pretty comfortable in a total immersion situation.
I learned Spanish grammar by taking lessons on the Internet and vocabulary by labeling everything in my house. I also carried around a vocab notebook everywhere I went. Flashcards were extremely helpful to me.
To learn conversation and more advanced grammar, I took two trips to Mexico for the total immersion programs. These trips were incredibly useful. Now, I have a tutor from Guatemala via Skype for weekly conversation.
I born speaking Spanish. I know also English, because we have it everywhere (in movies, advertising, computers, computer games). I know also some Italian, Portuguese and also French, that are similar to Spanish.
I speak a universal language that I have used in the backs of taxis all over the world. In Moscow once, I was "in conversation" with the driver for at least 20 minutes. The same thing has happened in Germany, Italy, and even England. A lot of people just talk "at you" and if they hear some sound of response, like Mmm, or ahah they just keep on talking. The problem comes when they ask you a question and you reply by saying Mmm, or ahah.!
Even when you think that you speak a language quite well, has anyone noticed that when you are paying for something in a shop, instead of just taking the money you are holding out, they always seem to ask you a question that you don't understand?
Swedish and English.
Might get by in Spanish, not really sure.
I like to study English, Spanish, German, Mandarin
and sometimes French, but I haven't gotten to the
point where I can get by in any of these yet
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Still hopeful, though ![]()
English is my native language. Spanish is/will be my second. I can hold a conversation with little problem depending on their accent. Learning the grammar of Spanish has improved my English ![]()
English (for obvious reasons), Spanish, French and Japanese. My favorite phrase in Spanish is "Me defiendo" (on a literal level, "I can defend myself." but (somewhat more loosely, "I get along.")
There was a time when I could handle basic/simple conversations in Vietnamese and (even more basic) conversations in Arabic but for lack of practice that is no longer true.
Chinese is my native language while English is my second. I had some Japanese lessons when I was in uni but now, a couple of years after, I could only read simple texts and have some "survival" conversations. And I'm now learning Spanish! I hope it can become my second language someday, just as English!
I am doing pretty good with Spanish. However I've noticed at times my English is getting worse. I wish it was a matter of the Spanish phrases or words replacing the English ones. Actually, sometimes I can't think of a word in English that I haven't even learned yet in Spanish.
Many moons ago I was conversant in German. I made the mistake of not using it for most of the interceding moons and now I'm reduced to "Guten Tag" and "Ich vergesse". ![]()
I know english, can barely get by in spanish, and also know engrish pretty good ![]()
By phone or written communication, I've always been able to interpret engrish(very very poor english) pretty well at my past jobs.
Unfortunately, I've been around engrish so much due to this, I've actually start to pick up on poor english and accidently use it in daily conversation!
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