I noticed a lot of people on here can speak more than one language - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: VladKEasternTiger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2010, 01:57:49 pm
content: Hi everyone, I noticed a lot of my friends and people I read on this particular forum can speak more than 1 language, normally English is their second language so they say but they speak it better than than some english people ive come across in englandAnyway im wondering if you speak another language like spanish, farsi, russian, mandarin etc.. How long did it take you to learn it at least enough to have a conversation?I just came with idea from this forum of Learning Spanish obviously I cannot immerse myself in the countries as I have no money. But yeah and if they are any Spanish speakers here let me know

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2010, 02:36:45 pm
content: More then one language.. now let's see...English, A little French, C, Pascal, Assembler (various dialects), VB, VHDL...

author: migsantiago
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2010, 03:06:14 pm
content: HiAs a mexican I speak spanish and I learned english as a second language. I took english classes from childhood until I was 21 years old.I learned a bit of french but I didn't like it

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2010, 03:15:30 pm
content: Nice subject ..Well I am Greek, and second cousin of Leonidasand first cousin of Jason the admiral of the Argo boat.http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/ARGONAUTS.htmlIn our schools we had as choice about the standard lesson of an foreign language,as English and French .My vote was for the English one . ( and now it pays the price )Later on we had the choice and for a second language, but you had to stay at the end of the school time,for another two hours ...Ok I chose " The German this time " , but in six months time , the school teacher stopped coming,she was with contract.So we left at the dry ... no more " studiere Deuch "And I speak and few Italian , and I had helped few times Italians motorcyclists (tourists ), with technical problems.Most TV-set repair manuals was written in German or Italian ( The old good days that Europe was making their own stuff )The language of the future are the Chinese ( Marketing and trading ).As about the Greek language , are the mother of all in the west world , I would add and the Latin as second in value, but its a dead one.About the learning curve , if you study exclusively one language ( all day - all night ) for two years , you are ready to start a conversation.Starting an technical conversation in foreign language ( its for the club of heroes )

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 09, 2010, 05:18:34 pm
content: Well I was dragged to Italy when I was 10 where with the upmost difficulty due to my poor aptitude to languages I learnt Italian. Of course I kept up my English and yes it surprises me now back in England that I speak better english and can express myself better than someone that boasts that "he has been to college". I did try French while in Italy but that was disastrous, I now make sure I can say in French "I cannot speak French"

author: marianoapp
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2010, 06:20:39 pm
content: I'm Argentinian so i speak Spanish, and i learned English at school and after that by my self mostly thanks to the internet..now I'm trying to learn Russian (I'm already able to say "i don't speak Russian" and "where is the bathroom")

author: DavidDLC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2010, 06:51:57 pm
content: I'm Mexican, living and working in the USA, so I speak Spanish as a primary language (well, not anymore) at home my daugthers only want to speak English as well as my wife (she is still learning and practicing).Saludos.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2010, 06:55:41 pm
content: Quote from: marianoapp on May 09, 2010, 06:20:39 pmAnd ..." give me a cigarette " , the No1 phrases ..I had learn to ask a cigarette in German , many years back, before I even try to study the language.

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 03:23:15 am
content: I was born here in the US, but I moved to Poland when I was 22 and learned to speak the language there. I'm pretty fluent for everyday stuff and politics and even some technical areas, but I never fully mastered the language. It's a tough one, and we've even noticed that our daughter, who is just learning to speak prefers using the English words rather than the Polish ones. Both of my parents spoke second languages (Greek, German) but I didn't learn to speak either of them. I can read Greek pretty well though

author: flolic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 06:55:58 am
content: I am Croat. In my country, we are exposed to english language for a whole life. Unlike some other european countries, foreign media (movies, tv shows, documentaries...) are shown in their original language, with subtitles. Of course, majority of that programme is in english so you can learn from that. Especially right accent, unlike some german and italian people I heard speaking englishAlso, foreign language is obligatory in elementary and high schools, and majority of students choose English.For me, I learned basics in school, expanded it by watching movies and really widened word count, phrases and technical terms by using internet.But beside all that, I still suck, especially in grammarAnd one more thing. Yes, I can write, read and understand english. But real challenge is to have real world *spoken* conversation in english. I often find myself trying to remember correct word or phrase... To master that, I think only way is to spend some time in english speaking country, forcing yourself to think and speak in english.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 07:00:06 am
content: Yes I used to have a terrible time trying to explain to Italians how to pronounce words properly, the worse bit being some of my "English teachers" were atrocious

author: kc1980
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 07:08:15 am
content: I was born and raised in the US, but my parents are from Japan. I consider myself semi-fluent in Japanese. Just like anything, use it or lose it.

author: VladKEasternTiger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 07:40:24 am
content: Quote from: DavidDLC on May 09, 2010, 06:51:57 pmHasta Luego

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 03:41:02 pm
content: The most funny with languages , are when a work used in yours with funny meaning,exists in another language , with another meaning.Example : In Greek the word " Vlakas " = the stupid one !!In Bulgaria the word VLAK = railway TrainNow imagine a Greek person to stand on the Bulgarian railway station, and suddenly the train to show up, and every one to yield " The VLAK is coming and point a finger to it "

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 04:39:08 pm
content: Quote from: Kiriakos-GR on May 10, 2010, 03:41:02 pmI have this with Italian, more so with double meanings though, something that sounds very innocent in English can sound a tad naughty if translated

author: flolic
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 04:40:20 pm
content: Quote from: Kiriakos-GR on May 10, 2010, 03:41:02 pmHaha, here in Croatia the word VLAK has same meaning as in Bulgaria

author: ElektroQuark
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 05:09:19 pm
content: Quote from: VladKEasternTiger on May 09, 2010, 01:57:49 pmHello:I'm from Spain.If you need help with the language, here I am.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2010, 10:18:57 pm
content: Quote from: flolic on May 10, 2010, 04:40:20 pmIf so , I have few more words for you ..Vonda = watergaspoza = womangaspozitce = MissAnd here my memory stops , because I had travel to Bulgaria about 4-5 times, but I was only 12 years old at that times, and now I am 41Now days , I am dreaming to visit Japan , and give my respects at the front doors of the factories as HONDA Motors Hamamatsu ( becauce it had build my motorcycle Honda AX-1 ) , the OLYMPUS optical (Digital camera) , SONY ( because of the amazing SONY black Trinitron CRTs ) , at AIWA KENWOOD ( Audio products ) SANYO & TEN ( Car audio) SANYO Denki ( ball bearing fans) Mitsubishi ( Airconditions) TOYOTA ( cars ) and then I will feel that I had reward with my thanks , the most worthy hard workers of the planet , for their amazing products.

author: Polossatik
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2010, 09:25:11 pm
content: I speak Flemish (mother tongue - the Dutch spoken in Belgium for the uneducated), French (GF is French speaking) , English (the UK variant - I speak/write all day english @ work) , basic German and some Spanish.With any language the simple fact is you need to use it or you lose it. My French only became "ok" when I worked in a 100% French team for a few years.That is one of the drawbacks of the world today, a lot of people speak (some kind of) English, like when I stayed in Barcelona I used more English then Spanish because my mates there where pretty good English speakers, so they tried to "help" me by speaking English while in fact they should have insisted to speak Spanish (or catalonian) with me .

author: VladKEasternTiger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2010, 09:35:41 pm
content: Quote from: EdoNork on May 10, 2010, 05:09:19 pmIm in the process of Learning Spanish, I guess I have to immerse myself in Spanish culture to get fluent at it but we shall see how far the cds and books take me

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 12, 2010, 06:54:25 am
content: Quote from: polossatik on May 11, 2010, 09:25:11 pmhow dare you call the "Queens English" a "variant"For those that have not figured yet English is the native language of Great Britain, if you say English you should be referring to the "Queens English" as spoken in Great Britain. I'd hardly call the twisted contorted rubbish the yanks and other nations have made our language "English"

author: VladKEasternTiger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2010, 09:51:11 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on May 12, 2010, 06:54:25 amAnyone know why its called the queens english when a lot of the words come from Indian origin, Aincent Egpyt, etc..? Interesting

author: Polossatik
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2010, 10:04:51 pm
content: Quote from: Simon on May 12, 2010, 06:54:25 amNot trying to start a riot, but if you're referring to "Queens English" then you might not point to the UK but rather to England (and maybe less).I doubt most people from Wales or Scotland would consider them selfs to speak "Queens English" as daily languageOf course this implies that my "UK variant wording" is also quite wrong ...

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 12, 2010, 10:13:30 pm
content: This conversation become too seriousWe need an commercial break

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 13, 2010, 06:58:20 am
content: Quote from: polossatik on May 12, 2010, 10:04:51 pmI think by "Queens English" it is generally intended correct English spelt as it used to be, sadly many way's of american spelling have made their way into British english, I know English has few rules, but to abolish the few it does have and go your own way will lead to chaos, but then america always seems to know best and the rest of the world will probably be using exclusively "text speak" soon.c u l8er

author: Grapsus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2010, 11:07:37 am
content: I was born in Ukraine, so I speak Russian and Ukrainian, but my parents moved to France when I was 9, so I live in France now and speak French. I got interested in English because of computers and electronics, but I wasn't able to have a fluent conversation until I met a few American people here

author: Chad1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2010, 09:05:42 am
content: Hopefully no one here is fluent inprogramminglanguage! If so, then Dave wants me to tell you that you're a dick head!! Hahaha

author: .o:0|O|0:o.
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2010, 09:32:18 am
content: Quote from: Kiriakos-GR on May 10, 2010, 10:18:57 pmToyota? Faulty engines!http://www.merinews.com/article/toyota-recall-latest-recall-models-affected-toyota-recall-list/15825016.shtml.o:0|O|0:o.

author: Hypernova
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 13, 2010, 10:17:06 am
content: My family didn't emigrate out of Taiwan to New Zealand until I finished 4th grade so I can speak and read mandarin just fine. However I have forgotten how to write it and the only words I can write are my name and the numbers. Ironically my mother was an elementary school teacher in mandarin and held tutoring classes in Auckland to this day. She just didn't teach me or my brother.Can still type it though.Also took Japanese in high school only because my mother wanted me to. I wasn't motivated so never got past the basics despite 3 years+tutoring. Ironically these past few years I have been picking up more Japanese than I ever did in school because I'm into anime and I've been steadily learning just by listening the language. On top of that chinese and taiwanese gets a natural advantage by being able to read kanji.Interesting thing about accents, my brother who's only a year older has a noticeable Taiwanese accent yet mine is pretty much kiwi. So it appears that the cut off age for accent appears to be 10.Mom also has pretty atrocious english, and she claims that she was top of her english class during uni (nobody believes her).With the internet maintaining a language is pretty easy, just browse forums in that language from time to time.

author: tuo
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2010, 10:42:10 am
content: I'm from Finland, so my first language is finnish. English I learned in the school, as well as swedish, which is the second language here. In the high school I started german and studied it in the university too. And in the university I took a couple of courses japanese.As a result nowadays I speak fluent finnish and english. I can keep up with a conversation with swedish and german. My japanese has rusted and is only at tourist level.

author: TheWelly888
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2010, 11:47:52 am
content: Quote from: VladKEasternTiger on May 12, 2010, 09:51:11 pmShort answer - Our Queen Elizabeth II speak "Queen's English"! When Charlie Boy takes over, it will be "King's English"Another answer I can give is that the English language is a mongrel language going back a long time just like the English people whose origin can be traced to the Romans, Saxons, Celtics, Vikings etc hence the words can be traced to those people. It is perfectly natural for foreign words to be incorporated into the English lexicon if there isn't already a word. "Bungalow" is an example of an Indian ( Hindi probably ) word taken in. A German once said to a British journalist,"In your language you have the perfect word for it, 'Schadenfreude!' "

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2010, 03:50:50 pm
content: As I was Born in the North East of England I have the Natural Ability to speak Two languages from birth English and Geordie. Why aye man!