I speak English. Then i have some very BASIC conversation skills in a few others. Ex: hello, bye, where is the bathroom?, what time is it?, thank you, yes, no, please, etc.
I know its not that big a deal to speak 2 languages in some countries but i find it very cool. I have a lot of respect for people that can speak more than 1 language.
I am trying to get further into Spanish tenses. And then im aiming to learn french. Then german. Then japanese if I want to. These are my favorite languages.
Im learning Spanish but am far from fluent.
My reading is ok but my listening skills are trash. They speak too fast.
I have a good memory but im bad at understanding everything fully.
I learned hiragana, katakana and 42 kanji so far and its only been 3 weeks. I think grammar is harder for me.
How did you learn the second language? Do you have TIPS? School? Bye yourself? Friends? Online or by books?
I can speak English fluently, and enough Spanish to convey facts (but I don't have very good flow when speaking).
I'd say that studying consistently is good. You mentioned Japanese... I would have recommended lingodeer, but just recently they became a paid app instead of free. I'd say that school is handy. If you can find a Japanese person who wants to learn English, meeting up with them and speaking for a while in one language while the other corrects and then switching is pretty effective. A pen pal may also work for this.
For improving your listening skills, try watching videos at 1/2 speed and perhaps with Japanese subtitles (Spanish subtitles with Spanish dub was much easier to understand, but Japanese may be trickier for this method.)
If you plan to travel, I recommend learning some body language, and thinking of phrases you want to know (how much does this cost? where is the bathroom?).
Once you get through a lot of vocabulary and grammar, I find that the free (or pay for extra features) website/app Clozemaster is wonderful for learning and practicing phrases.
English is my first, but then Japanese; I wouldn't say that I'm full-fluent, but I'd say I know just enough to comfortably live there and work a job that doesn't require me to be too social. Same for Italian. My German is also pretty okay, but not to the level of my Japanese or Italian.
Ask "ii desu ka?" (request for permission/"may I?") *a lot* if you feel like you don't understand where you stand on doing something as a non-Japanese. Once people know that you're considerate enough to check for permission, even just in case, they'll warm up to you faster and probably even straight up invite you to things they wouldn't have considered before. My host family would always show me cool things to do while I was in Japan after seeing my caution, such as bringing me to the Ninja Trick House in Shinjuku; it's a place where you really need to know what you can and cannot interact with, so after gauging my mindfulness, my clumsy foreigner air kinda disappeared. That being said, if you are confused about something linguistically or socially, don't be afraid to use your gaijin privilege. There are some pretty niche social norms, either in actions or language, that they kinda expect non-Japanese to ignore for a bit. Even if something really bad happens, they tend to immediately forgive you so long as you promise to be mindful of it thereafter.
Other than all that, I would say the most important script for non-Japanese to be familiar with is katakana. When you visit bigger areas, katakana is everywhere, because it's used to spell foreign words or loanwords; McDonalds becomes Makudonarudo, so on so forth. If you're into collecting video game merch or something similar, 90% of all character names are spelled with katakana, even if they're Japanese in origin. Also, a lot of food that is Japanese in origin tends to be written in katakana; ramen, despite haven its own kanji, is almost always written in katakana. Same with takoyaki.
I speak somewhat decent Spanish. I have family that speaks it and some friends that always speak Spanish when they are at home.
I take Chinese in school. I've always thought Chinese is a cool language and I needed something to take and I thought I would be at a disadvantage taking Spanish in school. I could have taken Korean, Arabic, Japanese, French or German. I had some interest in Korean and Japanese but no interest in the other languages. My Chinese sucks so bad and I routinely get A's in the class. I try to talk to a few of my Chinese friends in their language and I feel so embarrassed trying to talk to them.
I speak 3 (or 4) languages fluently (as good or almost as good as natives): - Arabic (my native language). I speak Classical Arabic as-well as Derja (Local variance of Arabic spoken in the Maghreb but other Arabs don't understand it) and I also speak Levantine Arabic fluently.
- French (2nd Native language)
- English (not native language but I can get by quite effortlessly, despite the French-Arabic accent lol).
I don't speak Spanish or Italian but I can understand most of it when I read it (because it's romance languages like French)
I speak 5. Dutch, French, English, Italian and German. Learned the first two because I live in Belgium and I had to. Learned Italian and German abroad. I'm least fluent in German because it's been a while since I last spoke it, but I'm sure that if I would go back to Germany for 1 week, I would be fluent again.
Voted 5+ My Hindi and English are like incredibly fluent. I'm in Spain currently and I have absolutely no problem conversing so I guess advanced level. I did German in school and was in Germany for 3 months. More or less B2 level. I'm currently learning Russian and French from friends but very basic. I know an insane amount of Urdu vocabulary which I often forget and I can understand 4 native Indian languages but can't really speak in it very well.
I speak English and I went to a French emersion school from K-12 and I'm learning Italian on Duolingo. I'm going to learn Spanish next and then I'll see what else I want to learn. I'm fluent in French and English but only understand basic terms in Italian and I know a little bit of Spanish from shows as a kid and I can count to ten in Japanese.
I speak four : Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. My English and my Spanish are much better than my French Lol But I'm trying to improve my language skills, I have to. I'd say you should try to learn by yourself at your own pace. When you go to school, you don't have much time to learn and practice. Watch movies, TV shows, read and listen to music in the language you want to learn.
My second language is English and I learned at school, while I also taught myself.
I speak and write fluently 3 languages, have basic knowledge on 2 more. Those would allow me not to starve, find a place to stay overnight or find my way around.
I then have a very rudimentary and less than basic knowledge on 3 more but not enough to achieve anything. They are more just like a number of sentences or very limited vocabulary.
I am a native danish speaker, which might not come as the biggest surprise. I have german as my second language and English as my third. Those are the languages I would say I speak. And by that, I mean fluent or very close in terms of both the written and spoken language. Beyond that, I know french on a decent conversational level, but only spoken. Swedish and norwegian the same and dutch on a very crude beginners level.
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Anonymous
(18-24)
+1 y
Only two. I understand three languages, but I can't speak well at all. Not even my native language, hah. I'm trying to learn another one though, and studying some words from another language for fun.
English is my first language, I would say I'm kind of fluent in German, I pretty much speak like a two year old, I have most the grammar skills, my vocabulary is a little lacking, and I sometimes struggle with long sentences
Thai is my first language.. I can speak English and German but not that good :( I try to improve it but it doesn't work as I wanted
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Anonymous
(18-24)
+1 y
I'm only fluent in English. I took a few years of Spanish in school so I know enough to have a simple conversation but probably nothing more.
Growing up in America I feel like it's uncommon for people to learn a language other than English (unless their parents are from another country) so I understand why you think foreign languages are cool.
Spanish and English both fluently. My mother is half Spanish and as a little girl I spent most of my time with my grandmother so i had to take ESL when I was in the 2nd grade to catch up with my peers in America.
I can speak English, French, German and Italian which is my mother tongue. I began studying English when I was about 6 at elementary school. We have to learn English and French at middle school. At highschool I began studying German as well.
When I was about 13 I tried to learn Spanish as an optional language but I didn’t really like it. I studied it for only a year so I wouldn’t count it as a language I can speak. We also have to study Latin both in middle school and highschool but we learn just to read and translate it not to speak it. So I guess I can speak only 4 languages
Im trying to learn spanishes also. I think I have most of the tenses except the subjunctive down. I should be focusing on vocab mostly cause that's where I'm lacking.
Oh bummer. No worries 🙂So I don't know if you translated it , but I said what a nice surprise!! I'm fine! How about you?😁Are you Greek though? Or just a foreign speaker?
Oh wow!! What a background! Haha. That all sounds so amazing. I mean, I'm guessing they've been talking to you in Greek, from time to time, right? Hence you know how to speak Greek. Have they also done that with Italian?
Yea with grandparents my mom didn’t Cause my grandfather would work while grandmother took care of the house hold. My great grandmother moved from Italy in year 1900 she was in America she want to speak English. Are you in Greece.
Maybe more than 2 hours , lol but not that far for sure. Oh nice! Where do you live? You mentioned America, right? I mean your girlfriend is also Greek and she lives there? Or is she in Greece?
Oh man. That kinda sucks. But at least you found each other and they accept her. Is it something they would want even from a male partner or just because she's a woman? Sorry if I'm asking to many questions, you can of course tell me if it's making you uncomfortable 🙂
I know!! Well if I think about it though, I don't think my parents here in Greece, would like a foreign partner as well. Let alone a girl! I'm pretty sure they would have a stroke. Haha
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