How many languages do you know?
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M$14 Answers
I grew up with a grandma living with us whose first language was a German dialect, not High German. I learned only a little of that. I took Latin in high school, which turned out to be a benefit later.
In college, I took German, proper High German, and my grandma couldn't understand a word I said, nor could I understand any of the four dialects she could speak. I then took a third year for grad school entrance requirements, and that's where it got interesting.
First, I took four years of Italian in two years in an an accelerated class. It was easy because of the Latin.
I was required to read texts, if possible, in the original languages. So I learned to read medieval Dutch, Flemish, German, Spanish and I forget what else.
Since then, I've learned Spanish simply because I've heard it spoken so much around me, and it's so similar to Italian. I'm studying French off and on, which I could already read, but would like to be able to speak. And I've heard so much Russian spoken (because my kids go to a ballet school run by Vaganova school alumni) that I'm starting to understand a bit of it as well.
I probably am a bit overboard, but I like languages and learning them is not hard for me.
If I was going to pick another language, depending on where you live, I'd think about Spanish (if in North America), Persian (anywhere), Hindi or Urdu, or Mandarin. Maybe Russian for good measure. Notice I only have one of those well, and a second one really poorly. :-)
My kids are doing or have done German, Italian and Latin so far, and my oldest, 14, wants to do Persian next.
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M$
& extra that i don't know to write but speak are Urdu & Tamil
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M$
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M$
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M$There's really no number to learn. I think whatever interests you. The way I've learned is by immersing myself in it. In Los Angeles, you can find people that speak any language. Visit their stores, find out their radio and TV stations, listen/watch them. I also rent movies with the target language and watch it a few times with the subtitles, then I watch it a couple more times without the subtitles. This has taught me a great deal. The final test is to visit the country for a few months or at least one month and speak it that way.
Cognitively speaking, understanding comes first, then speaking so don't worry about speaking right away. Your first goal is to understand. Remember, kids listen for at least a few years before they attempt to form coherent speech. Most importantly, have fun.
Best to you, Marco
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M$
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
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M$so i say : learn languages more as you can.
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M$Reading fairy-tales I found in Arabic tales like the "Thousand and One Nights" a lot of lyric poetry which sounded a bit stumbling and so I came to the idea how would that poetry sound in the original language? The result of this thoughts was a study of Arabic at the university (as a prerequisite for the study I had to learn Latin - which I forgot immediately after the examination).
Few years ago I planned to travel to Ecuador. Since I am interested to communicate with people (and to know when i'm going to be bamboozled), I learned Spanish - an easy task for an Italian-speaker.
Rather because of my interest in graphics than in the language itself, I started last year to learn a bit Chinese. However, I did not really succeed until now.
When I count correctly, there are five languages I really know (I'm able to speak and understand even few words Turkish, Farsi, Hebrew and French but that has nothing to do with knowing a language). My supervisor at the university however, told once that it would be a lot of work to learn the first fourteen or fifteen languages but the following ones are easy - he spoke 34 languages, not counted the Arabic dialects he spoke.
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M$
From Faye at Mandarin Garden Language & Culture Exchange
Website:http://www.mandaringarden.org
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M$
Bit besides that. In a USA business in the late last century, the people who did the most work and got the least pay spoke some foreign language.
If you can speak both you might get up a level because you could interpret. But it may slow upward movement because they might have trouble finding a replacement who works so cheap.
Middle management who collectively takes home the bulk of the payroll speaks English and will harass you if you spoke pidgin around them. The few at the very top who make the most per person, speak more than one language, because they have to speak directly to servants around the home. French is good if you are going North or to Tahiti, but it is pretty rare in California or Hawaii. Some people still understand English in California.
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M$
