Kitchen

[Feline Fine]

On 7/18/2014 Alsee said: I try to speak the same language as my kids- or at least try to understand it. Does that count?

Absolutely, LOL.

Bookmark www.urbandictionary.com for slang and other translations, as it's "created by us, for us".

[Feline Fine]

On 7/18/2014 ennui1 said:

On 7/18/2014 Feline Fine said:

"Me hablo espanol un poco". (I speak a little Spanish). But my computer doesn't do the 'squiggly' over the n, LOL.

That is appalling.

"Yo hablo espanol un po." With the tilde.

Pardon me???

[Feline Fine]

On 7/18/2014 moondust said:

I speak only two languages fluently; German which was my lst language till the age of 5 and then of course English. Kinda easy since I was born in Germany and my dear Mother is German (my Mother speaks/writes in German, French and English...fluently) and we still speak German with one another almost each day. My son was brought up also speaking both English and German.

The lst time coming to the US as a child, I spoke no English and my first friend, was a sweet little girl next door and we played together all summer long before kindergarten. Well, we were "suppose" to be speaking...English, but she was Spanish, was speaking Spanish to me and I was speaking German to her. According to my Mother, one day she asked me a question and I answered in....Spanish!! Opps!! Our Mother's got "together" and put us with other children in the neighborhood that spoke only English and I guess that solved the issue of being able to head off to kindergarten speaking the correct language! I took Spanish in High School (college German) and can still understand and communicate, but writing not so much, therefore not fluent.

And living over half my life in Europe I can get "by" with my French, Italian and Dutch comes pretty easy for Germans!! I always desired to learn Russian, Polish or Chinese...maybe I can still give it a go.

smiles

moondust

Where were you and your mom born in Germany, Moondust? My sweet mom (now deceased), was born in Berlin in 1930.

She, too, didn't speak any English when she came to America at the age of 13, and lived in an orphanage and then a series of fosters homes. She then got an apartment with some girlfriends, before she met my funny dad (also deceased).

I'm glad that you had a BFF when you first arrived here; it sounds like you spoke the 'language of friendship' together. 8-)

[Vivian]

Je parle français. I had studied French in school but forgot it after I was married and had kids. When my husband and I visited Québec a few times, I was frustrated that I had forgotten everything, so I went to night school for a couple of years as a refresher. Then I took a couple of courses at the university where I worked. I also listened to French CDs in my car and subscribed to TV5, the international French cable channel. During that time, my husband and I started our yearly trips to France. I still listen to my French CDs, subscribe to TV5 as well as French cultural magazines, and best of all we still visit France each year. It took a great deal of effort to develop fluency but the results have been worth it. We've made French friends, some of whom speak no English. That never would have happened if I hadn't studied French. And we visit places far removed from the typical tourist spots, where nobody speaks English except a few British tourists. In sum, the rewards have been immeasurable.

[songbird]

3 languages. English, Italian and Spanish. Spanish I took in high school/university. It was easy to pick up because of my Italian background. My husband speaks English and French.

[Campion]

I speak three or four and I always try to learn the language before visiting (this time, I was not in time to learn enough Russian but I could read the signs, which was helpful.)

I learned one in grade school (French) one in college (German) and some Spanish and Portuguese during traveling (as well as Italian.) It is harder to learn grammar if you aren't in a class so my grammar is shoddy for any language I learned on my own.

Pimsleur is very good for any language you want to pick up quickly. My tour guide in Russia said he does that for adding languages. He went to linguistic school in Russia for university and is fluent in French and English but speaks Italian and other languages he learned this way. So even professionals do that!

[Boehm Collector]

Both my brother and I were born in the USA. But our parents had emigrated from Italy. They felt it was important for us to be able to read and speak both languages. So they made sure we spoke both languages at home. Mom and Dad are both gone ... but I still have family in Italy so I keep up with my Italian by keeping in close touch with them; traveling to Italy and speaking the language with all my Italian speaking clients. Because I am fluent in Italian I also understand some Spanish.

[issiestorm]

I grew up in the Netherlands so of course I speak Dutch. We immigrated to the U.S. when I was eight. If we had gone the following year, I would have had English in school (along with French and German). Since we didn't, I just picked up English in everyday life and playing with friends. It's much easier the younger you are. I studied French in school, had French friends, and I speak it fairly well. I'm now at an age where it's harder to learn something, the memory banks aren't what they used to be.

[jlkz]

Studied Latin for 3 years in high school; studied Spanish for a minor in college; took 6 credits in German at night college while I worked earning my tuition for college; and earned a B.A. and M.A. with honors in French. The hardest part was learning to read French classics in French - I couldn't read as quickly as English ones! Finally, I up the dictionary away and went with the flow. Italian was the language spoken at home when Mom and others didn't want the children to understand their conversation; however, I found I could " understand " well enough so they eventually gave it up! In corporate America, I learned the language of accounting and writing executive memos. Now, it's the technology lingo that's like another tongue. Interestingly, I never used my foreign language in any of my careers: management, adjunct professor communications / leadership, or career counseling !!!!

[Moonlady]

I'm fluent in Spanish and German, and conversant in Italian.