How many here are bi or trilingual?

Radrook said:
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We Latin Americans understand these Spaniards perfectly and they understand us.

That's like my claiming that Americans can't understand the English the Irish, or the Scots and they can't understand Americans.
We also understand one another and communicate just fine. Whatever gave you the idea that we don't is way beyond me.
LOL!​
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Having lived in Spain for 10 years... and still own a home there, I can't tell you how many times a Mexican or Argentinian came to Spain for a visit and no-one could understand what they were saying..
 

My 1st. lesson in Spanish was to learn to count. It wasn't until several months had passed & I learned some slang that I realized why I was asked to count to ten and add "chalinda" after each number.

Unochalinda
Doschalinda
Treschalinda
Cuatrochalindachalinda
Cincochalinda
Seischalinda
Sietechalinda
Ochochalinda
Nuevechalinda
Diezchalinda

Anyone that recognizes slang will like me find Ochochalinda funny.
 
hollydolly said:
Having lived in Spain for 10 years... and still own a home there, I can't tell you how many times a Mexican or Argentinian came to Spain for a visit and no-one could understand what they were saying..
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Sorry but I don't believe it. Out of sight-out of mind!(n)
 

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I have been trying to learn various languages for years, mainly French and German. I enjoy it but good I am not. I suppose if I stuck to one I could improve. But I think it is more interesting to know perhaps a little of several languages. Like when reading a book and the author will put in a few words in French, or whatever. I feel good when I can read it.

I tried out my French in Tahiti some years ago. To buy a chocolate bar. My part went well. I could not understand the shopkeeper's reply. He then replied in English. Just a little embarrassing. I paid for my chocolate bar and crept out the door...

At least in German I can cope with basic, useful stuff. The main, most useful, phrase that I know in German and French is, 'speak slowly please. I don't understand...'

As for Spanish, I find it really difficult. I have known people to say it is easy. Not for me.
 
I am bilingual. I grew up speaking Greek at home. Took Greek lessons in Greek school. Learned English in American school. Now I teach English at the university level. I also took French for three years in high school, and a semester of Russian, and a semester of German. When people speak in Spanish in front of me, I can catch several words that are similar to Greek.
 
My Spanish from high school is rusty, but I still can get the gist of what someone is saying if they speak slowly. In my youth I worked summer jobs in factories with a high Hispanic worker population, and my Spanish served me well then. The workers, of course, taught me “colorful” phrases I’d never get in any classroom! Today, I can better read the language than speak it…
 
Languages studied in my secondary school - Latin for 3 years, German for 4 and French for the whole 5 years.
Not fluent in any of them because in Australia there was little use for German or French. Europe was too far away and too expensive to visit back then. I'd have been better off learning Japanese or Bahasa Indonesia but Asian languages did not arrive in the curriculum for another 20 years.

I got the most benefit from Latin, even though it is not a spoken language.
 
I used to be able to get by in German, and even learnt a little Dutch, but over the years I have forgotten most of it. I can still read a menu and order food etc.. which is useful as sometimes the 'English' menu has rather dubious translations.
 
Capt Lightning said:
I used to be able to get by in German, and even learnt a little Dutch, but over the years I have forgotten most of it. I can still read a menu and order food etc.. which is useful as sometimes the 'English' menu has rather dubious translations.
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Just curious. But what were some of the dubious translations? LOL!
 
palides2021 said:
I am bilingual. I grew up speaking Greek at home. Took Greek lessons in Greek school. Learned English in American school. Now I teach English at the university level. I also took French for three years in high school, and a semester of Russian, and a semester of German. When people speak in Spanish in front of me, I can catch several words that are similar to Greek.
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:)
 
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Even though we speak English in North America, the variations in dialects can make some regions seem like a foreign language. If a movie is made in the UK or Australia, I have to use subtitles.
 
Jules said:
Even though we speak English in North America, the variations in dialects can make some regions seem like a foreign language. If a movie is made in the UK or Australia, I have to use subtitles.
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Well, that is rather quaint. I personally speak with a strong New York New/Jersey English accent and other Americans understand me just fine. They also easily understand actor Sylvester Stalone in his role as Rocky. I also lived in the Southern USA and easily understood all those southerners just fine despite their accents.

I also lived in Chicago for three years, and visited Boston or New England, Texas, and lived in Richmond Virginia, and never had communication incomprehension difficulties. I have also heard fellow Americans speaking in strong Western accents, Michigan accents, as they did constantly in the film Fargo, and no problems understanding them at all.

I have watched films in which the actors speak with very strong Irish, English and Scottish accents, such as in the film Brave Heart, and in very strong Jamaican accents, such as in the film Predator Two, and have understood perfectly. In fact, I studied at a Dental Tech school where some students were from Jamaica and from the Caiman Islands, and understood them perfectly. Also associated with Jamaicans at the JWs congregations, Also, my father used to speak in a very pronounced accent and was understood, as was the Mexican actor Ricardo Montalban and the German American actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, despite his rather unusual pronunciations.

To be honest, the only ones whom I occasionally I can't understand are certain African Americans when they choose to speak extremely fast while employing Ebonics phrases or ghetto-related phrases among themselves. But if they don't, and speak normally, as they obviously would do if they were visiting another country and wanted to be understood, then they are also understood perfectly. So I am curious of what exact region of the USA you are referring to.

BTW
Mexicans and Argentines who visit Spain don't fall under that communication incomprehension category. In fact, no Latinos who visit Spain have that translation necessity when visiting Spain or speaking to any Spaniard who speaks Castilian. That would only apply if they encounter a Spaniard who is a Basque, or a person from Catalonia, or perhaps a Galician who's primary language is not Spanish. In fact, Latin Americans who visit Spain are often thought to be from the Canary Islands because our manner of speaking Spanish is almost identical due to the vast Canary Islander immigration to the Caribbean islands and to Venezuela.


BTW

One very rather peculiar phenomenon that I keep encountering in the USA, is that of African and Anglo American people assuming they know far more about Latino culture than Latinos do, and who then strive to illuminate Latinos about what their own language and culture is really about. Now, that is definitely something which they would never attempt with East Asians, such as a Japanese, or a Middle Easterners, such as Arabs, or any other people since they would usually deem it as ridiculously absurd. Rather baffling!

That annoyingly irrational behavior seems motivated by the USA cultural misconception that any Latino identifying with Spain in any way must be racist, or must be getting uppity, and therefore needs be put in his or her "rightful" place by being culturally illuminated. Well, please note that such is absolutely not the case. It simply is what it is, both culturally and historically, and it involves absolutely nothing else.

BTW I think that the only place in the USA where what you are referring to might apply would be in Louisiana where people have developed a language that mixes French with English. Cajun, I think it's called.

Cajun English is considerably distinct from General American English, with several features of French origin remaining strong, including intonation, vocabulary, and certain accent features. The Cajun accent is frequently described as flat within Cajun Country.
Cajun English is considerably distinct from General American English, with several features of French origin remaining strong, including intonation, vocabulary, and certain accent features. The Cajun accent is frequently described as flat within Cajun Country.

 
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fuzzybuddy said:
I used to be fairly fluent in Latin, but you don't run into many 2,000 year old Romans. I've had both high school Spanish and French. I can say, " The book is in the library". I am so amazed at people who can switch languages. I don't know how they do that. I noticed that Europeans can make do in several languages. And for some reason, Germans seemed to be better at it.
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This dude went to Italy and began speaking Latin and they reacted this way.

 
MaidMarian said:
I speak and understand some French but am not fluent. I studied French for 7 years in school but there are no French speakers where I am living so I’ve lost a lot of what I learned.
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Same happens with mathematics if we don't use it. I cant remember all the algebra I took even though I aced the courses. In fact, it's the same with any other skill, such as playing the guitar. Don't use it? You lose it!
 
In German Ich habe mehr vergessen als ich gelernt habe!

I flunked Latin (twice).

I only spoke French until I was four and we went to live in Hawaii. When we came back after the war, it was as though I'd never spoken a word and only took one semester of French in college.

We lived out West for many years where I learned a smattering of Spanish, most of which I've forgotten.

I can order a meal or find a restroom in three foreign languages. You could say I'm functionally illiterate in any language except English.
 
Georgiagranny said:
In German Ich habe mehr vergessen als ich gelernt habe!

I flunked Latin (twice).

I only spoke French until I was four and we went to live in Hawaii. When we came back after the war, it was as though I'd never spoken a word and only took one semester of French in college.

We lived out West for many years where I learned a smattering of Spanish, most of which I've forgotten.

I can order a meal or find a restroom in three foreign languages. You could say I'm functionally illiterate in any language except English.
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There was this Italian dude named Scalavino, age 28, who was always hanging around and asking us how to say things to Latinas in Spanish. After listening attentively, carefully repeating the phrases until he got them just right, he would then confidently go and declare them to the women, He would always come back arguing about how they had taught him offensive phrases and gotten him in serious trouble. He never seemed to learn that those kids couldn't be trusted.
 
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I had Latin and French in K-12, and Spanish in college. I don’t remember much except basics. Latin was the most useful as I can recognize the root words in Romance languages. I also found Latin easiest to learn and remember.
My son can speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Italian. We get top service in those restaurants. Love it!
 
EmptyCup said:
I had Latin and French in K-12, and Spanish in college. I don’t remember much except basics. Latin was the most useful as I can recognize the root words in Romance languages. I also found Latin easiest to learn and remember.
My son can speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Italian. We get top service in those restaurants. Love it!
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What motivated your son to become proficient in so many languages?
 
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