Do you speak another language besides English?

[samandtham]

I've been very curious as to whether that often-said, but not sweepingly substantiated, bit about Americans being hopelessly monolingual is true.

 

Among my friends, I'm the only one who speaks a foreign language (three, in fact) with decent to upper-intermediate command. They're always surprised whenever I tell them this, or demonstrate it in an occasion where it's appropriate. (Most recent experience: Friend: "Oh, you went to Quebec? Did you get to speak to them? I heard they're iffy with Anglophones." Me: "I did well. Spoke French with them. Had a good time." Friend: "Wait, you speak French?" Me: "Yeah. I've been learning and speaking for two years now." Friend: "...")

 

When I ask them if they can speak anything else not English, they would say that they used to (i.e. They had to for High School), but have forgotten it since the class ended.

 

Curiously enough, when I go to Craigslist or Meet Up to try and look for a language group where I can practice, there isn't a shortage of like-minded enthusiasts.

 

I understand the difficulty in being able to keep at it, being in America and all. But is this the only reason why a lot of us are monolingual? If geography is the only hinderance, then shouldn't we have some grasp of Spanish through our Mexican neighbors, or French from the Quebecois, owing to their proximity? There are a lot of "Little Italy"s in major cities, but I hardly hear Italian being spoken there; a bit of a contrast when I visit the same city's Chinatown.

 

How is it in your circles?

[Mocha]

Donald trump has given us an idea of how close many Americans are to our Mexican neighbors, and Canada isn't too interested in their down south neighbors either.

 

Where do you live? One of the cities I know that you get a badge of honor for defying the English language is Miami. Beyond that LA and New York, but most of the people who speak other languages identify as a different nationality/ethnicity however you wanna say it besides White or Black. Whether they be from Cuba, Armenian, Scandinavian, Asian, Hatian, etc....

 

Everyone I know who is American and identifies as such without any other association, don't really speak other languages. Truth be told, unless you're working in a global company that has international clients, you don't really need to. And even if you did...they'll just hire someone of that race/ethnicity who knows the language and can translate.

[+ Gar1eth]

I took three years of college German. But I was never fluent. I can write simple sentences better than I can speak it-or rather I could at the time. I also took two one month long Spanish language conversation courses 22 years ago, and a 10 day Spanish immersion course about 8 years ago. But I was nowhere near fluent in that. Some people have the knack for languages. For most of us who can't live in the country of that language it's a slog.

 

From what I've read-aside from the plasticity of a child's brain which is set up for learning language-one reason children learn is they aren't self-conscious about making mistakes. They will say things ungrammatically without any problems. Adults don't want to speak incorrectly. And much like it takes a child three years to really start picking up on language-adults in an immersion experience by living in the country can often need a three year experience to start speaking a foreign language.

 

Gman

[+ Gar1eth]

I wish the ability to speak other languages was genetic. I have German, Dutch, Russian, and Polish ancestors. I wish that gave me a leg up in learning German and Dutch.

 

Gman

[+ Italiano]

Born and raised in Italy, Italian remains my first language and I do count always in Italian

 

Lived in Mexico for 10 years, never studied the language, but it was quite easy to pick it up and I am now totally fluent in Spanish.

Lived in NY for 15 and I am definitely fluent in English. Still, Spanish is a bit better than my English...

I can have a basic conversation in French, which I never studied.

 

Native Italians in general are NOT very easy to pick up other languages (even if a foreign language is taught at school),

but I guess I have a "musical" ear...

[+ Gar1eth]

Born and raised in Italy, Italian remains my first language and I do count always in Italian

 

Lived in Mexico for 10 years, never studied the language, but it was quite easy to pick it up and I am now totally fluent in Spanish.

Lived in NY for 15 and I am definitely fluent in English. Still, Spanish is a bit better than my English...

I can have a basic conversation in French, which I never studied.

 

Native Italians in general are NOT very easy to pick up other languages (even if a foreign language is taught at school),

but I guess I have a "musical" ear...

 

 

That's not fair thougho_O. I've always heard it was fairly easy for Italians to pick up Spanish although I'm sure some are better at it than others. My Latin teacher in high school was originally from Genoa (she pronounced it Genova). My teacher told us her mother had studied Spanish, but it was not of any interest to her (my teacher) because she could understand it due to being Italian.

 

The closest living languages to English (aside from Scots) are the Frisian group. And our mutual intelligibility with it is nil.

 

Gman

[whipped guy]

Born and raised in Italy, Italian remains my first language and I do count always in Italian

Native Italians in general are NOT very easy to pick up other languages (even if a foreign language is taught at school),

but I guess I have a "musical" ear...

Well, when I get mad I always swear in Italian and specifically in the Neapolitan dialect of my ancestors!

 

As for being musical, I have become fluent in operatic Italian! As in: Gran Dio! E avanti a lui tremava tutta Roma! È spenta! Mia vendetta e notte e giorno ruggirà intorno a te! Ti maledico! Che orrore! Sciagurato! È computa la vendetta! Numi pietà.

 

I could go on!

Edited September 5, 2015 by whipped guy

[mike carey]

All the Anglosphere countries are less than enthusiastic at speaking second languages. There are exceptions such as the mandated French proficiency for government jobs in Canada, and the varying use of first nations' languages. Most white South Africans speak both English and Afrikaans. Australians are no different to that. Foreign language proficiency is usually limited to immigrants and their children, with notable exceptions like our previous prime minister. I learnt French for five years in high school but was never fluent, although I could get by in France when I was younger, now not so much. I also studied a couple of languages at uni, but was never fluent in them. I could ask really, really basic questions in Chinese - in writing but not orally in Hong Kong - and read things in Japan. For all that I'm functionally monolingual now. In Australia there is rarely either the need or the opportunity to speak foreign languages.

[Rudynate]

I'm one of those people who learns languages easily. I learned French in high school - completed four years in only three years. I wasn't fluent but I was able to converse easily and French people often complimented my accent. Alas, I never used it much, so I'm very rusty, although I still understand spoken French easily.

 

I have devoted quite a bit of effort to German. I took a couple years of college-level German, several courses at the Goethe Institut, and an intensive course of several weeks in Germany. I also worked one-on-one with a tutor for awhile. During the time with the tutor, I got really good, although not quite fluent. I could sit and converse with him easily on nearly any topic. Again, I rarely use it, so speaking isn't completely comfortable. I listen to the news in German and understand most of it. I watch German movies and understand most of the dialog without looking at the sub-titles.

 

 

I love the way Mandarin sounds when spoken by non-native western speakers, so I am pondering learning Mandarin.

[AdamSmith]

I could go on!

 

PER ME SI VA

 

[LouieD]

English is now, unequivocally, the international language.

 

Although it's nice to speak another language, we who live in Anglosphere countries do not need to speak anything else to be successful.

[+ Charlie]

I studied Spanish, German, French and Italian in school, but never learned to actually speak any of them. Then I became good friends with someone who spoke all those languages fluently, before he learned English. He is a published writer in English, Spanish and French. How I envied him! So for several years I worked on my German, and became fluent enough to study at the University of Vienna. When I lived in eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union, I was surrounded by people who spoke no English, but I was pleased to find that the older ones often spoke enough German for me to converse with them.

 

Like whippedguy, I love to exclaim in 19th century operatic Italian, and I can muddle through enough to get by as a tourist in French and Spanish-speaking countries. But I rarely find anyone in Palm Springs with whom to speak anything but English, except for the occasional foreign tourist or immigrant.

[+ Gar1eth]

Most white South Africans speak both English and Afrikaans.

 

Mike-I freely admit you know more about this than I do. But while I can see people who know Afrikaans knowing English, I'm not sure how well I see 'Anglo' English speakers knowing Afrikaans. I've met several South Africans in my younger years. They were all English speakers. And while the subject never really came up, I don't remember any indications they were fluent in Afrikaans.

 

Gman

[+ purplekow]

I was reared in an Italian speaking household. Italian was the adult language which was used when the adults were speaking of things children should not know. Obviously, all the children of that household understand Italian. None of us speak Italian, as we did not have the opportunity to speak to adults in Italian, beacuse that would clue them into our knowledge of their secret language.

I had French classes in High School and have added a bit to those skills and if spoken slowly, I can understand much and speak very little. Idioms are always problematic.

I lived in Mexico for a year and learned Spanish there. I spoke very little English during that year and my Spanish is quite good. I have to listen very carefully to Spanish speaking television in order to comprehend the speakers and eavesdropping on elevator conversations is not always easy. Is it odd that when I speak Spanish to people who say they do not speak English, they almost always respond to me in English? What that says about my Spanish, I leave to you.

[+ purplekow]

I do have dreams in which I am speaking another language and usually I am quite facile in it. The problem in my dreams is in understanding those who speak it to me. In life, it is just the opposite, I am much better at understanding and tend to be childlike, sometimes infantile in my speech. Fortunately, children and infants have a way of getting the message delivered and I have that same ability.

[seattlebottom]

Spanish is my native language and I can understand Italian when I hear it even though I've never had occasion to study it.

[N13]

Unfortunately my spoken French is excellent and I can say anything I want to in proper French. I understand syntax when speaking which makes the French think that I am fluent and then they start speaking very quickly - which loses me completely. I always understood that understanding a foreign language was easier than speaking it. Not for me.

 

My French works in most European and some Far East countries. What I find most is that they want to practice their English rather than speak in French.

[Rudynate]

Spanish is my native language and I can understand Italian when I hear it even though I've never had occasion to study it.

 

 

I have always wondered if a native Spanish speaker would be able to understand Italian. What about Portuguese?

[+ purplekow]

"Michelle, ma belle, son les mots que tres bien ensemble....tres bien ensemble."

"No tengo trona ni reina. Ne nadie que me comprenda. Pero sigo siendo el rey."

"Volare oh oh. Cantare oh oh oh oh"

 

You are not the only one who can sing in another language WG.

[mike carey]

I was surprised, I had learnt French and not Italian or Spanish, but travelling in South America I found I could read and understand Spanish and Italian newspapers reasonably well. I couldn't speak the languages but could understand the printed word. (More so Italian than Spanish.)

[+ purplekow]

I have always wondered if a native Spanish speaker would be able to understand Italian. What about Portuguese?

When my mother came to visit me while i lived in Mexico, she had very little difficulty with the language She was the child of immigrants and spoke both English and Italian. She had no training in Spanish whatsoever,

[+ purplekow]

When I was a medical student, I did my one of my rotations at a hospital near Chinatown. I learned the following phrases in Chinese, which were helpful socially as well,

Hello.

My name is.....

I am well. You are well.

Lie down and spread your legs.

 

Oh it was an Ob Gyn rotation.

[AdamSmith]

Unfortunately my spoken French is excellent and I can say anything I want to in proper French. I understand syntax when speaking which makes the French think that I am fluent and then they start speaking very quickly - which loses me completely. I always understood that understanding a foreign language was easier than speaking it. Not for me.

 

From many visits to Paris I thought my French was abominable. I can't understand them. Then I visited (a) southern France and (b) Martinique, and discovered I could understand them and converse fine.

 

Useful lesson.

[whipped guy]

I was reared in an Italian speaking household. Italian was the adult language which was used when the adults were speaking of things children should not know. Obviously, all the children of that household understand Italian. None of us speak Italian, as we did not have the opportunity to speak to adults in Italian, beacuse that would clue them into our knowledge of their secret language.

Yes, and the "Italian speak" would go into full mode just prior to Christmas. I figured out that there was no such thing as Santa when I overheard my father talking about how he was buying me an HO train set.

 

Also, it is amazing how the Italian cuss words have been passed on to successive generations. It's quite funny hearing a three year old telling grandma, "Vaffancul'!" Loose translation: FU!

[+ purplekow]

Yes, and the "Italian speak" would go into full mode just prior to Christmas. I figured out that there was no such thing as Santa when I overheard my father talking about how he was buying me an HO train set.

 

Also, it is amazing how the Italian cuss words have been passed on to successive generations. It's quite funny hearing a three year old telling grandma, "Vaffancul'!" Loose translation: FU!

I have come to think of it as something like: "Va coule Up your ass" but yes FU is certainly the intent and all of my nieces, nephew right down to my great grand nephew know how to use it in a sentence. Va Naples was also used in my Sicilian household. Strangely going to Naples was considered worse than going up someone's ass and here, years later, I agree.