So who can speak..or is trying to speak another language

[dirtyoldman]

I'm pretty mono lingual as in my part of the world (UK) we're not really near any other foreign country. (I remember being on holiday in Malta and the tour guide telling us that in the 1960 and 70s the kids there began to be able to speak Italian as they were picking up the children's TV shows from Italy).

I was pretty shit at French and got an E for my GCSE (granted I was in the lower tier with a bunch of guys who didn't give a f*** despite the teacher trying).

Anyway, dispite this, I love going on holiday to Europe and do try to learn how to say please, thank you and can I have the bill please.

Have got a 190 day streak on Duolingo and not doing too badly. Planning on going for a few days to Brussels for the next holiday and hopefully I'll have enough not to look like an ignorant tourist who thinks pointing and shouting louder works.

So anyone else trying to be something Bi..?any tips for anyone or apps, websites?

[Eunös ✈]

As I usually travel to Germany on a yearly basis I have attempted to learn the language but always struggled to be honest.

Even if I could just learn the basics that would be great.

[Moppy]

The proud owner of a current 1408-day Duolingo Spanish streak here.

My understanding of Spanish has come on leaps and bounds and my reading level is relatively proficient... it's still arguably slow progress though, because even while I really get into it and dedicate decent time each day to learning, I'm still miles away from what one would call 'fluent'.

It's been a good few years since I've been to a Spanish-speaking country though, and I imagine there's no substitute for soaking up the language first-hand from locals.

[dirtyoldman]

Apr 10, 2023 9:28:20 GMT -5 Eunös ✈ said:

As I usually travel to Germany on a yearly basis I have attempted to learn the language but always struggled to be honest.

Even if I could just learn the basics that would be great.

I actually did German about a year ago with Duolingo and got 100+ day streak but then life got a bit busy and it fell to the wayside.
Found German words tend to be quite long. For example excuse me in German is entschuldung, which doesn't exactly roll off the tounge. But you can never go wrong with knowing danke and bitte.

[dirtyoldman]

Apr 10, 2023 9:51:04 GMT -5 Moppy said:

The proud owner of a current 1408-day Duolingo Spanish streak here.

My understanding of Spanish has come on leaps and bounds and my reading level is relatively proficient... it's still arguably slow progress though, because even while I really get into it and dedicate decent time each day to learning, I'm still miles away from what one would call 'fluent'.

It's been a good few years since I've been to a Spanish-speaking country though, and I imagine there's no substitute for soaking up the language first-hand from locals.

Congratulations. The Roman Reigns of Duolingo! I actually hope myself to get as high as that with the French one I'm doing. But you're right, the best way to really learn it is to live it. Of course, not quite practical or realistic.

One thing I really have to learn as an English speaker is gender in languages. English got rid of it centuries ago, but Duolingo is really strict about it. I mean would a french person really be that bothered if I said J'ai un maison avec une jardin grand?

Also the adjective going at the end of the noun I didn't realise even after doing 5 years French 30 years ago. (And the adjective also changing depending on gender or plural. We say small all the time but the french it can be petit, petite, petits or petites.)

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

I live in an officially bilingual country, and I can only speak English. I have some rudimentary French knowledge, but only took 2 years of it in junior high. But honestly, it’s not much better then my incredibly limited understanding of Spanish.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

I did French in high school and Japanese in college and remember almost absolutely nothing from either class aside from random vocabulary

Our first year French teacher was so bad the second year teacher basically had to start over

[Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃]

I’m bilingual (English and Spanish), with an understanding of Italian to get me by

[Cyno]

I have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish and Japanese. But the more time goes by, the more I forget things about both.

Latin and Greek also interest me, though Latin more for historical purposes than actually speaking it.

[Hypnosis]

Basic Spanish and Japanese fluency.

[67 more]

I'd consider myself semi-conversational in German (pretty good at vocabulary but struggle with the sentence structure). Took it in high school and bolstered that with lots of Rammstein. Restarted it on Duolingo about a week ago.

I can speak, read and understand a small amount of Japanese but still a LONG LONG WAY to go (pretty much OK with hiragana and katakana now, but kanji will continue to be an exercise in frustration) . There are times I can understand a NJPW promo completely and others where I don't catch a word.

[XIII]

English, Spanish, and Portuguese

[Raskovnik]

I am fluent in Japanese, it is the language I live and work in. I started studying it in 2015, got certified at the highest level the government recognizes in 2019, and I currently work as a translator and interpreter.

I used to be fluent in Spanish as a kid, because I lived in a deeply Mexican neighborhood where most of the neighbors, stores, and restaurants spoke Spanish as their native language and usually didn't speak English, or weren't that confident in it if they did, so everyone who lived there picked up a degree of Spanish. My dad was also married to a Mexican woman and that side of the family spoke Spanish at home most of the time. I can still read and understand it, but I'm not that good at speaking it anymore. I went about 10 years without using it at all, then I was in a situation where I was living as a lodger with a nice lady from Acapulco for a few months. She only spoke Spanish, and it took me about two or three weeks to get back to the point where I could actually converse with her. I wouldn't put down that I am fluent in the language if applying to a job or writing my resume, although I do use my Spanish to test people whenever I'm giving an interview for a job and they put down that they speak it haha. (As a side note, I would recommend people only put that down if they really speak the language, not just because they think it'll give them an edge in the hiring process.)

I'm studying French but I'm not that serious about it. The problem is with French sharing so many cognates between Spanish and/or English, I can brute force most texts and I already know like 70%+ of the words whenever I buy a textbook, or try reading a news article or something else in the language. It's not like Japanese where it's so completely different from English that I felt challenged every day back when I was studying it. I do want to reach a degree of competence at speaking and listening to it, though.

[champchumpchange]

English
French
Arabic
and learning Spanish (day 153 on Duolingo)

[mo]

Recently began studying to learn Spanish. I shall be a no sabo kid no longer

[ayumidah]

Spanish and Japanese are two languages I've always wanted to learn, but time and energy usually is limited so I've never gotten as far as I'd like. Latin, too, to a lesser extent.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Only English and enough Spanish to pick out words in a convo so I am not too lost lol

Picked up Japanese just learning it in my free time when I was in College (Wasn't even taking it as a class just teaching myself as a "breather" from school work). Did it like off and on for about a year

Taught myself Hiragana and Katakana and was able to learn some Kanji and write out some sentences but that was years ago. Would def like to attempt to learn again

[ERON]

I remember enough high school Spanish to be able to get the gist when I hear or read Spanish, but not enough to carry on a full conversation.

I'm currently learning German on Duolingo, since everyone on my mom's side of the family speaks German and I feel left out at family gatherings.

[Dr. T is an alien]

I used to be fluent enough in Spanish that I could halfway keep up when I still had satellite service and watched AAA (they got VERY excited and spoke fast). My Latin was good enough that I didn’t need the subtitles for the lines in Latin when I watched Passion of the Christ in theaters. I seriously doubt I could do either now.

Funny enough, I’m better at French than my wife is and she’s the one who actually took classes in it.

I started using Duolingo to try to learn Japanese, but I trailed off and stopped. I think I’d like to start again, but I’m spending my spare time playing games lately.

[MiLB Fan]

I took Spanish in high school and still remember some verb conjugations as well as basic words and greetings. Everyone in class knew the word for “we dance” thanks to Enrique Iglesias.