Do you speak another language besides English?

[+ deej]

Spanish always came easily to me, partly because my uncle married a daughter of Mexican immigrants. I was surrounded by spanish speakers from a young age.

 

When I was in college I toured Mexico and Guatemala with a band. In central and northern Mexico my Spanish was fluent. I could walk around and chat with locals. People in the band followed me around through marketplaces because I could communicate and they couldn't.

 

When we got into Guatemala I couldn't understand a fucking word. The dialect and accent changed just enough that I couldn't mentally map it. Given time it probably would have snapped in place, but with only a couple of days -- no way.

 

I had a job (communicating with customers in latin america) for a short while after that, and then it fell into disuse.

 

It does tend to snap back in blotchy patches as needed, but it's definitely a former skill these days.

[+ Gar1eth]

Close to the US/Canadian border, the accents, as you've noted are nearly indistinguishable. The farther away you get from the border, the Canadian accent becomes pretty pronounced. Some Canadians sound almost like Scots.

 

A lot of Minnesotans can sound very Canadian as can people in the far northern New England states. . Wisconsinites can be awfully nasal too-someone told me once it was because the cold always gave them stopped up noses.

 

Gman

[OneFinger]

I've tried, unsuccessfully, to learn German, Spanish, and French. However, I'm very fluent in American Sign Language and have been court-appointed interpreter for trials.

[Epigonos]

Deej you make an excellent point. I lived in Guatemala, for two years, and the Spanish there is indeed very different from that in Mexico. The reason is, that in Guatemala, a country roughly the size of Tennessee there are 21 Mayan languages and 2 non Mayan languages spoken. Many of the Mayan languages are unintelligible to each other. All of these indigenous languages have had a huge influence on the pronunciation of Spanish and many indigenous words have entered the Guatemalan Spanish vocabulary. At the conclusion of my Peace Corp tour the State Department sent a Spanish Language expert to examine and grade each returning volunteer’s command of the language. Present also, during the testing, was a local Spanish language expert who entered the testing process only when we used a local word, expression, or grammatical construction unique to Guatemala.

[Odinochka]

A few years ago, I was in Mexico, and a friend I was with who is Mexican-American (familial ties to Sinaloa) made a joke that I spoke "snotty Spanish". I didn't get it, and he explained that my Colombian-accented Spanish was seen as slightly uppity.

[Vato Loco]

"Do you speak another language besides English?"

Canine

[+ Gar1eth]

I think my Conversational Spanish teacher 22 years ago learned his Spanish south of Mexico-maybe in Guatemala. I remember he preferred pronunciations like 'jo' using a soft American 'j' sound for 'yo,' and using the same 'j' sound for the word 'silla' pronouncing it 'sija' rather than 'seeya'.

 

And then when I came back from my intensive Spanish class I was talking about how they told us to pronounce a 'V' as a 'B' when a co-worker from Costa Rica said no they pronounce the 'V' as a 'V'. But I was never quite sure whether she actually pronounced her V the same way I pronounce my English V and that possibly she couldn't hear the difference or whether in Costa Rica the V is pronounced fairly identical to English.

 

Gman

Edited September 6, 2015 by Gar1eth

[sincitymix]

does screaming for jesus and yelling oh god, and babbling in tongues count when being jackhammered?

[mike carey]

How many pronounce the ll in the way that Argentines do as zh?

[+ Gar1eth]

How many pronounce the ll in the way that Argentines do as zh?

 

That's partly what I was talking about.

 

Gman

[Mocha]

Unfortunately my spoken French is excellent and I can say anything I want to in proper French.

 

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.

 

No shit. You're mother fucking right, I speak French damn well too. (Excuse my French, which is actually German).

[Epigonos]

When Spanish double ll (usually pronounced like y in the English word yellow) is pronounced instead like a j and thus calle becomes caje is a porteno accent and is limited primarily to the area around the Rio de la Plata of Argentina and of Uruguay. It is most often associated with Buenos Aires. The accent developed because of a large influx of Italian speakers to the area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is about the only regional accent that I like.

[samandtham]

Wow! So many wonderful responses!

 

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....

 

I live in New York City, but I was born and raised in New Jersey by Asian immigrants. I was bilingual growing up—spoke my parents' mother tongue at home, and English elsewhere. In a way, I didn't consider myself bilingual back then just because I had understood the dynamics of being Asian-American when it came to the languages we were able to speak, which is almost always at least two.

 

French was the first complete "foreign" language I learned, in college as part of a free elective. I enjoyed the idea of being able to speak another language, but back then I didn't know how to continue (and couldn't afford classes at my local Alliance Française). Only when I started working that I was able to afford classes, the occasional tutor, and being able to commute to local francophone groups.

 

Several trips and three-month-long work-related obligations to Québec, Brussels, and Paris provided the necessary training to make me better at it. I am by no means fluent, but I am certainly capable enough to be able to actively switch my modes of speaking. (Another friend said of his frustration with Italian: "When I try to speak Italian with someone, my brain still translates to English. That's why it takes me twice as long to respond to someone's question, because not only did I translate what someone just said to me, but I also have to translate my response—which is in English. I want to get to the point where this doesn't happen anymore.")

 

German was the next language. I met a group of exchange students from Germany back in college, who a year ago "resurfaced" on Facebook, and extended an invitation to visit their country. I want to be at least ready with some decent beginner's-level German when I see them again after years out of college.

 

I'm in the process of learning Italian now (have only had a total of five hour-long sessions with a professional language instructor). My knowledge of French helps some, but largely, it's like starting from scratch. I have no specific reason for wanting to learn it, save for the challenge of being able to speak a fifth language.

 

We also had a discussion on here once with our dear departed sabbatical Belgian about the differences between Quebec French and France/Belgium. He remarked how Quebec programs were dubbed in France. I'm assuming French in Quebec has as its basis the French of 17th Century France left to evolve without the use of mass media to keep in constant contact with the mother tongue as would occur today.

 

Gman

 

My European-French-speaking friends—particularly one lifelong Parisian who admits to turning on subtitles when watching Franco-Canadian films—find Quebecois French to be peculiar, not only because of the accent, but because they (Quebecois) speak an archaic form of French.

 

Where European French, whether Swiss, French, Luxembourgeoise, or Belgian, were able to modernize at around the same cadence, Quebecois French remained largely unchanged from its 17th-century roots.

 

Interestingly enough, if you were to study French in Quebec, they teach you standard (i.e. European) French. You would be taught that going shopping is "faire du shopping," but the second you step out of class, everyone around you says "magasiner."

[+ Gar1eth]

Wow! So many wonderful responses!

 

 

 

I live in New York City, but I was born and raised in New Jersey by Asian immigrants. I was bilingual growing up—spoke my parents' mother tongue at home, and English elsewhere. In a way, I didn't consider myself bilingual back then just because I had understood the dynamics of being Asian-American when it came to the languages we were able to speak, which is almost always at least two.

 

French was the first complete "foreign" language I learned, in college as part of a free elective. I enjoyed the idea of being able to speak another language, but back then I didn't know how to continue (and couldn't afford classes at my local Alliance Française). Only when I started working that I was able to afford classes, the occasional tutor, and being able to commute to local francophone groups.

 

Several trips and three-month-long work-related obligations to Québec, Brussels, and Paris provided the necessary training to make me better at it. I am by no means fluent, but I am certainly capable enough to be able to actively switch my modes of speaking. (Another friend said of his frustration with Italian: "When I try to speak Italian with someone, my brain still translates to English. That's why it takes me twice as long to respond to someone's question, because not only did I translate what someone just said to me, but I also have to translate my response—which is in English. I want to get to the point where this doesn't happen anymore.")

 

German was the next language. I met a group of exchange students from Germany back in college, who a year ago "resurfaced" on Facebook, and extended an invitation to visit their country. I want to be at least ready with some decent beginner's-level German when I see them again after years out of college.

 

I'm in the process of learning Italian now (have only had a total of five hour-long sessions with a professional language instructor). My knowledge of French helps some, but largely, it's like starting from scratch. I have no specific reason for wanting to learn it, save for the challenge of being able to speak a fifth language.

 

 

 

My European-French-speaking friends—particularly one lifelong Parisian who admits to turning on subtitles when watching Franco-Canadian films—find Quebecois French to be peculiar, not only because of the accent, but because they (Quebecois) speak an archaic form of French.

 

Where European French, whether Swiss, French, Luxembourgeoise, or Belgian, were able to modernize at around the same cadence, Quebecois French remained largely unchanged from its 17th-century roots.

 

Interestingly enough, if you were to study French in Quebec, they teach you standard (i.e. European) French. You would be taught that going shopping is "faire du shopping," but the second you step out of class, everyone around you says "magasiner."

 

 

I was either told or read somewhere that one reason English triumphed over French in England after the Norman Conquest was that the Norman nobility used to send their children to Paris for education. Eventually the Parisians made fun of their strange Norman French. So the nobility upset started speaking English instead. It's probably a myth.

 

Gman

[samandtham]

A few years ago, I was in Mexico, and a friend I was with who is Mexican-American (familial ties to Sinaloa) made a joke that I spoke "snotty Spanish". I didn't get it, and he explained that my Colombian-accented Spanish was seen as slightly uppity.

 

A friend living in Switzerland had a similar experience. She had to ask someone on the phone if she can speak High German because she had difficulty understanding Swiss German.

 

Now, I don't think "High German" connotes the level of its prestige nor do I know how Swiss German is perceived by the Germans as a language, but the person on the phone sounded rather frustrated, according to her.

[samandtham]

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.

 

Among friends, I strike up a compromise: We speak the language we are trying to be good at. I speak French to you, you speak English to me.

[Guest]

A friend living in Switzerland had a similar experience. She had to ask someone on the phone if she can speak High German because she had difficulty understanding Swiss German.

 

Now, I don't think "High German" connotes the level of its prestige nor do I know how Swiss German is perceived by the Germans as a language, but the person on the phone sounded rather frustrated, according to her.

 

Swiss German and standard German (hochdeutsch, "high German") are NOT mutually intelligible. Those living in Swiss German areas are taught standard German in elementary school, so they understand and can speak it, but it is completely different from the Swiss German dialects. A German cannot generally understand Swiss Germans (and there are various Swiss German dialects in any case).

 

 

And yes, the guy from Wallis is super cute.

[+ Gar1eth]

A friend living in Switzerland had a similar experience. She had to ask someone on the phone if she can speak High German because she had difficulty understanding Swiss German.

 

Now, I don't think "High German" connotes the level of its prestige nor do I know how Swiss German is perceived by the Germans as a language, but the person on the phone sounded rather frustrated, according to her.

 

Swiss German and standard German (hochdeutsch, "high German") are NOT mutually intelligible. Those living in Swiss German areas are taught standard German in elementary school, so they understand and can speak it, but it is completely different from the Swiss German dialects. A German cannot generally understand Swiss Germans (and there are various Swiss German dialects in any case).

 

 

And yes, the guy from Wallis is super cute.

 

I was going to say that while the average German might not understand Swiss German, I would assume that most educated Swiss who speak German-know standard German (Hochdeutsch). It's what books are ususally printed in. I mean I could envision an older person from a tiny village maybe not knowing Hochdeutsch, but nowadays I think that souls happen less and less. In my 1st year German class in college one of my teachers was Swiss. She was working on her Masters in German.

 

I have a high school friend who is an ex-Mormon. He did his mission in Germany. He came back to the U.S. for awhile. But he married a German woman and lived in Germany for years. About 5 years ago he was transferred to Switzerland for his job. His Hochdeutsch is very good. But we were talking one day about when he 1st moved to Switzerland, and they were buying furniture. He said he had no idea what the salesman was saying. He said he was just nodding along pretending to understand. Luckily his German wife understood the salesman.

 

Gman

[Guest]

[+ Gar1eth]

 

'I love you' was the same in both Hochdeutsch (Standard German) and Schweizerdeutsch (Swiss German.

 

Gman

[+ Italiano]

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

 

Being a native Italian speaker and now speaking fluent Spanish for 10 years of my life spent in Mexico City, and having to deal often now with Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese speaking tourists put together, I can tell you that it's definitely easier for an Italian who never studied Spanish to understand and mumbling something in Spanish than the opposite.

Italian Grammar is far more complicated than Spanish.

Portuguese and Brazilians understand almost all of Spanish, Spanish understand some Portuguese, Italians understand VERY little Portuguese.

French understand only little of the other 3 Romance languages and viceversa.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Italiano

[+ Italiano]

Italians who arrived to US between the end of XIX century until the 1970s 95% of the times came from rural areas of the South and the north eastern part of Italy and had none or very little education. They usually spoke only Italian dialects which sometimes are totally different form formal Italian, for example someone who speaks only Milanese can never have a conversation with someone who speaks only Sicilian.

The ones who arrived last and who are still alive learned to speak a mixture between dialect and broken English which is basically now a language by its own.

My mother-in-law was born in Sicily in the 30s, she arrived here in the early 70s, and when I met her I discovered a new language!

Italian/Americans who are convinced to speak "Italian" have their own vocabulary which somehow has become (especially with Italian words for some eatable stuff..) part of the American lingo.

 

[BSR]

Tagalog (Filipino) is technically the first language I spoke, but I learned English very quickly after starting kindergarten. My mother tells me it only took me a month to learn English & speak like a Canadian (K-Grade 2 in Toronto). Of course, I speak with an American accent (very Bostonian, but not the "famous" Boston accent), but my enunciation is very Canadian (Canadians tend to enunciate better; Americans tend to mumble). Every couple of months, someone will ask me if I'm Canadian even though it's been over 40 years since we left Toronto. Unfortunately, I learned English so well that I forgot how to speak Tagalog, but I understand it well because my mother still speaks to me in Tagalog plus I heard it with my aunts, uncles, and parents' friends my whole childhood. I wish I could still speak it because you get treated like royalty in damn near every hotel and hospital you stay in if you speak Tagalog.

 

I think the Quebec separatist issue was a bit of a delicate situation when we lived in Canada because I remember French class every day for those 3 years of school in Toronto. I studied French in high school & college, but remember little of that. But all those classes at a critical age did stick with me. I'm amazed that sometimes I can understand almost everything some French speakers are saying (but other times almost nothing), whether Gallic or Quebecois French. If I ever won the lottery and had endless free time, I think I'd re-learn French because the writings of Camus were the most beautiful works I've ever read, in any language.

 

I lived in Spain for a year when I was 22, and my Spanish was excellent at the end of that year. Over 25 years later, I ran into some Spanish tourists here in Las Vegas, and we had to speak English (eek!) even though their English was pretty poor (typical amongst Spaniards) because my Spanish had deteriorated that badly. I was horrified but had no idea what to do about it until I discovered a Spanish TV show on Hulu. I got totally hooked on it but was aghast to discover that only half the show's episodes were on Hulu. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise because in my quest to find a way to watch the rest of the show, I discovered tons and tons of Spanish programming (that is, TV shows/movies from Spain, not Univision, Galavision, Azteca, etc.). Almost every single day for over a year now, I watch one episode of a Spanish TV show per day. This is quite a commitment because episodes in Spain run about 70-80 minutes. My Spanish has rebounded tremendously. I can't write Spanish as easily as I once did, nor can I prattle on endlessly like I used to. But on the rare occasion that I run into a Spanish tourist here in Las Vegas, the moment I hear that Castilian accent, the Spanish comes flying out of me. It's also very easy for me to speak Spanish with a tourist who doesn't speak any English. It's like a switch clicks in my head, and again the Spanish comes flying out of me. But if a tourist is from another Spanish-speaking country and speaks English, even a little, forget it, I have to speak to them in English.

 

Aside from Castilian Spanish, the easiest Spanish for me to understand is from Argentina because (I'm so ashamed!) I got hooked on the world's WORST telenovela from Argentina when I first got back from Spain, and as awful as it was, I watched it 5 days a week religiously for over 2 years. I love the sound of Argentine Spanish; it's by far the prettiest and most elegant accent, in my opinion. With Mexicans, it's weird. About a third of them, I can understand every words they're saying. Another third, I can understand most of what they're saying, but the occasional word or phrase I don't catch really bugs me. And the last third, OMG, they might as well be speaking Italian, that's how little I understand. I do remember that the reverse is also true. In Spain, the American kids, some of them were even Spanish majors, couldn't understand anything the teachers were saying at first because even if they had studied Spanish for years, it was all Mexican Spanish.

 

English has really become the international language, mostly thanks to the European Union. Kids in Europe might study French or German or Spanish, it all depends, but almost all study English. And because English is so prevalent in non-English speaking countries, the Chinese are in a fervor to learn English. One of China's recent self-made billionaires made his money by starting the most successful chain of schools for learning English. I spoke with a Brit recently who worked for a German firm with 90% German employees, but because it was an international company (aerotech) with clients all over the globe, only English was spoken in the office and at all work functions. Because English really has become the international language, I don't think American schoolkids should be forced to learn other languages. If they want to, great. But many colleges require foreign language study in their distribution requirements (mine did), done to appease the strident multiculturalists, but a waste of time and energy if the kid's not interested.

[whipped guy]

Italians who arrived to US between the end of XIX century until the 1970s 95% of the times came from rural areas of the South and the north eastern part of Italy and had none or very little education. They usually spoke only Italian dialects which sometimes are totally different form formal Italian, for example someone who speaks only Milanese can never have a conversation with someone who speaks only Sicilian.

The ones who arrived last and who are still alive learned to speak a mixture between dialect and broken English which is basically now a language by its own.

My mother-in-law was born in Sicily in the 30s, she arrived here in the early 70s, and when I met her I discovered a new language!

Italian/Americans who are convinced to speak "Italian" have their own vocabulary which somehow has become (especially with Italian words for some eatable stuff..) part of the American lingo.

 

So true! I was having a discussion regarding that with a cousin just the other day. There are so many Italian words that our parents and grandparemts never used. Only my paternal grandfather was well educated in Italy. I even have one if his textbooks that was printed in Italy and mentions Victor Emmanuel as being the king! He was fluent in Italian and Neapolitan dialect. Plus, he spoke English as if his ancestors came over on the Mayflower. The rest of the family spoke only more or less a Neapolitan dialect and when they did not know a word for something they made one up based on an English word. As an example for some reason they never had a work for "Party". The Italian equivalent of festa was reserved for large scale events and most often religious festivals such as 'a festa di San Gennaro... the feast of Saint Gennaro. When Someone gave a birthday party if was referenced as o party! I can list quite a few the funniest of which is what the bathroom was called. It was o bacouse... the back house. Now I heard this Italian word well into the 1970's long after back houses ceased to exist!

 

Interestingly, regarding food, our ancestors preserved the recipes that were common at the beginning of the Twentieth Century in Italy. Recipes that no longer exist in Italy except perhaps in very rural areas or only in special regions.

 

Now regarding the pronunciation of such foods! Mozzarella, tomato, and basil was never referenced as mozzarella, pomodoro, e basilico. It was muzzarell', pumarol' e basinicol! With the last often becoming vasinicol... because as in Spanish the b and v were often interchanged!

 

So much for Italian dialect 101! Plus as xaf mentions add in the Sicilian dialect and you're in another world!!!! I know because a a few married into the family!

Edited September 6, 2015 by whipped guy

[Rudynate]

I spoke with a Brit recently who worked for a German firm with 90% German employees, but because it was an international company (aerotech) with clients all over the globe, only English was spoken in the office and at all work functions. Because English really has become the international language.

 

Some years ago I worked for a global company. We had German and Austrian subsidiaries. It was just amazing how good the Europeans' English was. The executives could deliver long, detailed presentations in flawless English. They knew business terminology, engineering terminology, scientific terminology, they understood idioms perfectly. I was always in awe of them.