Languages (other than English) you speak & how you learnt them

[por_please_ya]

I'm sure threads like this have been done before - last real topic on it was in 2014 so thought that was long enough ago to start a new thread.

Curious as to what other languages people speak apart from English (and yes, Auslan counts of course!). How did you learn/why did you learn etc, assuming for some it will be a first or second language learnt at home.

For me, I only know English fluently. However I know some Turkish, only at a beginner's level. I can say common sentences and am familiar with the grammar and pronunciation, and know a s**t load of random vocab. Why Turkish?! Long story short, I've always loved foreign films and learning about the world. I met an Uzbek guy once and became interested in the music from his country. Uzbek is in the Turkic language group and therefore it led me to other parts of Central Asia and of course, Turkey! I have an online friend from Turkey and he introduced me to a whole heap of Turkish music which I listen to regularly. I also did half of a Turkish Duolingo course which was pretty fun.

Presently, I am going to try and learn Italian. My boyfriend's parents are Italian and his dad's English isn't great. It would be nice to converse or at least understand what they are saying when they speak it. They bought me the Total Italian course with Michel Thomas end of last year which was really sweet. I actually started the first CD last night and his technique is amazing and interesting. Voglio sapere l'italiano (I want to know Italian).

Anyway, enough about me Over to you!

 

[raskolnikov]

I speak Russian pretty fluently. I have always had an interest in Russia and did my Masters in Russian Literature, Crime and Punishment in particular, hence my username.

After I finished uni I moved to Moscow teaching English and to learn the language. I lived with a Russian family for the first year I was there.

After that I moved into my own apartment but had lessons three times a week. I was in Moscow for four years.

I don't get a chance to speak it much these days but watch the Russian news on SBS and read in Russian.

 

[por_please_ya]

I speak Russian pretty fluently. I have always had an interest in Russia and did my Masters in Russian Literature, Crime and Punishment in particular, hence my username.

After I finished uni I moved to Moscow teaching English and to learn the language. I lived with a Russian family for the first year I was there.

After that I moved into my own apartment but had lessons three times a week. I was in Moscow for four years.

I don't get a chance to speak it much these days but watch the Russian news on SBS and read in Russian.

That's really cool, raskol. It must have been an amazing experience. One thing I found out was that no matter where in Russia you are from, people don't tend to have accents?! It's such a large country with a wide variety of landscapes and people groups so it was a surprise. Is this true?

Through dabbling in Uzbek I learnt how to read a little Cyrillic. Whilst officially they write Uzbek in Latin letters, people still write in Cyrillic due to the Soviet influence. I can easily tell when a piece of text is written in Russian as opposed to Uzbek, but the more difficult part is transcribing it in my head haha.

 

[the_interloper]

Aussies don't need to learn other languages, everyone else learns English so they can talk to us!

 

[Shell]

I learnt Italian at high school, hated it.

Know about 8 words in Greek, would like to learn properly one day.

 

[Run n Spread]

None. Picked up some words from extended family was still alive and learnt a bit of French and Italian at school but haven't been to either country so didn't practice. Any of the Asian countries have been to not a clue and barely picked up any.

Easier with countries that use the same alphabet Asian dialects tend to use a totally different alphabet and pronunciation.

 

[por_please_ya]

I learnt Italian at high school, hated it.

Know about 8 words in Greek, would like to learn properly one day.

It's a great way to connect with your heritage I'm sure

 

[Perth gal]

Aussies don't need to learn other languages, everyone else learns English so they can talk to us!

Lol it’s a English speaking country.

 

[Hank Scorpion]

Some German: started with the basics at high-school and have been on-and-off self-teaching recently. Have gotten to the stage where I can read quite well as long as the vocabulary isn't too specialised, but am still hopeless at speaking with any fluency or confidence.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

My 13 year old daughter speaks fluent Spanish and she was self taught. I'm currently in the process (not by choice) of learning it too.

 

[Hawk Dork]

I can get by when travelling in Europe.
I have a good ear for languages, but not fluent in any including English some days
and School boy French

 

[Doss]

Learnt French at school; I can still hold a very basic conversation in it.

Currently learning Spanish for fun; a long way to go of course, but I’m finding the concepts fairly easy to grasp on the whole.

 

[the_interloper]

Lol it’s a English speaking country.

I'm being facetious, I've worked with a lot of different nationalities and gone overseas, language has never been an issue cause everyone else learns English. Everyone else seems to know at least one other language, we don't seem to need to bother.

I even sat in Mandarin classes with some Germans I used to work with, they were learning Mandarin translating to English translating to German, still blows my mind.

 

[Shell]

My 13 year old daughter speaks fluent Spanish and she was self taught. I'm currently in the process (not by choice) of learning it too.

Have you see "Fun with Dick and Jane"

Absolute pisser, their young child being able to speak fluent Spanish better than English, due to his nanny/house keeper.

 

[Gigantic]

Dutch - studied and lived over there for a bit. Probably basic conversational proficiency - although I learnt most by reading newspapers, so more proficient at reading than speaking the language.

 

[Procrastinator35]

I can speak fluent plumb-in-mouth....Learnt it while studying English literature & dating a librarian at Uni.

 

[peternorth]

I'm being facetious, I've worked with a lot of different nationalities and gone overseas, language has never been an issue cause everyone else learns English. Everyone else seems to know at least one other language, we don't seem to need to bother.

I even sat in Mandarin classes with some Germans I used to work with, they were learning Mandarin translating to English translating to German, still blows my mind.

Your not normal

 

[peternorth]

mandarin via tertiary edumacation
cantonese via dna
engrish via school and birthplace
french via many many years of school

 

[Procrastinator35]

eng-rish via school and birthplace

I feel certain there should be a hyphen in there....Possibly 2 if you're of Japanese extract.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Presently, I am going to try and learn Italian. My boyfriend's parents are Italian and his dad's English isn't great. It would be nice to converse or at least understand what they are saying when they speak it. They bought me the Total Italian course with Michel Thomas end of last year which was really sweet. I actually started the first CD last night and his technique is amazing and interesting. Voglio sapere l'italiano (I want to know Italian).

If he's lived in Australia long enough to have an adult kid he can probably speak English fine but prefers to talk s**t about people in Italian #cynicism

 

[por_please_ya]

If he's lived in Australia long enough to have an adult kid he can probably speak English fine but prefers to talk s**t about people in Italian #cynicism

LOL! Maybe He came to Australia when he was in his early 30s, and grew up on a farm in Basilicata (one of the poorest regions) and I don't think he knew much English at all when he got here. My boyfriend's mum in contrast, arrived when she was 5 years old so she has an Aussie accent but speaks Italian fluently. He speaks with a thick accent, and you can tell he's not comfortable speaking in English.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

This reminds me of the Family Guy episode where Brian and Stewie get pissed off at Consuela (old housemaid) for pretending to not understand what they're saying.

 

[MWPP]

You know all of this and more already por_please_ya but it's your thread so posting anyway
-I can speak a couple of Indian languages due to my Indian family background . Unfortunately , I never lived in India or attended language school so I can’t read or write them . I am also not as fluent as native speakers (or even some of my friends , whose parents either couldn’t speak English , pretended they couldn't and then enforced a *no English allowed* rule at home or had the privilege of contact with non-English speaking extended family members) . I also speak them with a non-native accent. I speak them to my parents maybe 50% of the time, and elsewhere eg if I'm out or on the phone if I want a more private conversation . I have been known to codeswitch between these languages and English without even realising it. When the topic becomes highbrow or philosophical, I go back to English . I've noticed that my parents do too .
-I learnt French until year 12. It was one of my best and favourite subjects. I still make the most of opportunities to use it at work /whilst travelling and every few months, I practice with friends who also learnt it . Despite my best efforts though, I'm still rusty because I don't know any native speakers and haven't been to France or another French-speaking country in many years . Again, I tend to use it when I want a more private conversation
-I grew up in New Zealand so I still know basic Maori due to songs/signs/ learning it from an early age at school . It's worse than conversational, unlike the aforementioned 3 languages, but I do know greetings/colours/numbers/months/days of the week etc
-I spent 6 months in Qatar (where Arabic was a compulsory subject at school) so I know a fair few Arabic words (helps that many are similar to one of the Indian languages I speak) as well as the Arabic alphabet.
(I also moved around a lot so had brief tastes of Spanish/German/Mandarin /Japanese at different schools, but don't remember more than the greetings and 1-10 in each of those)

 

[Doss]

Knowing one language helps enormously in picking some others. My French base made picking up Spanish numbers very easy, for example; a lot of the bases are very similar (for example dix/diez, vingt/veinte, trente/treinta, quarante/cuarenta, cinqante/cincuenta, soixante/sesenta), but then Spanish also doesn't do the crazy thing that French does with 70, 80 and 90.

 

[por_please_ya]

Knowing one language helps enormously in picking some others. My French base made picking up Spanish numbers very easy, for example; a lot of the bases are very similar (for example dix/diez, vingt/viente, trente/treinta, quarante/cuarenta, cinqante/cincuenta, soixante/sesenta), but then Spanish also doesn't do the crazy thing that French does with 70, 80 and 90.

Similar things with Spanish and Italian. Makes sense as they're Romance languages. I also think Romanian and Italian share some similarities too.

Amigo / amico (friend)
Pescado / pesce (fish, noun)
Sol / sole (sun)