In celebration of our recently booked vacation to Merida, Mexico, hubby and I are taking conversational Spanish at the local high school! After Mexico four years running, we figured we should learn a little more phrases and conversation.
How many people on the Dope speak more than one language and, if so, which ones are they?
English (native); Spanish, fluent but far from perfect; French, read OK and speak badly. I took a year of German in college that has now completely evaporated.
I took Spanish and French in high school; now remember zero french and a paquito of spanish.
I took 3 years of Spanish in High School, and it is my mother’s first language, but I don’t really speak it. I can usually get the gist of a conversation though.
My husband took 3 years of French, and his father’s first languages is also Spanish, but he’s a bit rusty in both as well.
My youngest son is taking Spanish in High School this year, so my husband and I will be signing up for the spring semester of Spanish classes at the JC so we can all study and practice together.
Both my husband, his sister, and I took ASL classes at the JC last year and became pretty good at it. We really need to continue to use it around the house or we’ll forget it as quickly as we learned it.
I’m taking spanish lessons, in order to avoid losing my high-school level knowledge of this language. English obviously, and french, quite obviously too. I’m supposed to be learning russian but can’t say I’m putting much effort into it.
IME, there’s a large number of people on this board with an advanced knowledge of various languages, as demonstrated by answers given in language-related GQs.
Native English, fluent Afrikaans, high school Spanish, can read fairly decently in Dutch (but I really have to think about it), a little bit of Thai.
Yo no hablo espanol. Yo estudio espanol, pero yo no hablo el. At least, not according to my professor.
Robin
Vaya con huevos.
Lo siento, mi Español es muy poco. Habla ma? despacio, por favor.
This, I can say flawlessly. So no one then believes me!.
(in case anyone hasn’t yet taken 8th grade Spanish {where I learned the phrase}, it means "I’m sorry, my Spanish is poor. Speak more slowly, please.)
I can’t order a beer or find the ladies room, but I can sure tell’em why I can’t. <sigh>
When I was in Spain, I was very proud to have been able to pull “Donde puedo fumar” from the recesses of my brain (“Where can I smoke?”) Unfortunately, I asked so well that she rattled the reply off in Spanish and I had to do some guessword to work out that she meant I could smoke in the corner (esquina?).
I speak bad Spanish and worse French. I read both pretty well, but my speaking skills in any language, including English are a bit crap.
Native English. I studied Spanish for five years (8th-12th grades), and currently live in New Mexico, so I get a bit of everyday practice if I want.
I also can read ancient Greek fairly decently.
Native English, mostly fluent Spanish, enough German to get by.
I have numerous opportunities to practice Spanish because I live in a neighborhood populated mostly by Mexican and Puerto Rican families. I’m grateful for this because I’m sure I’d lose it otherwise.
I’m forgetting the German rapidly, which is regrettable … I just never use it. But I went on a European tour with a music group from my college a few years ago, and found that I got along better in Prague with broken German than I did with English.
La cucaracha no puede caminar porque fuma marijuana en la esquina, ?no?
[QUOTE=Canadiangirl]
In celebration of our recently booked vacation to Merida, Mexico, hubby and I are taking conversational Spanish at the local high school! QUOTE]
I speak passable schoolgirl French.
I’ve been to Merida, though. I went there in college as part of a tour of Yucatan ruins. A beautiful, dirty, busy, interesting city.
I remember:
Have a great time. I kind of wish we’d spent more time in Merida, and less in Chichen Itza.
Spanish (native), English (almost native-like), pathetic French (I used to be fluent) and understand Italian (studied Italian for 1 year).
I am four years removed from the end of my high school Spanish, which basically means I can read the language at probably a third grade level or so and understand it if it’s spoken slowly and deliberately enough. Speaking it myself is a totally different story. I’d really like to brush up my Spanish a bit… or rather a lot.
The cockroach can’t walk because he’s smoking in the corner??
I had no idea that La Cucaracha even had lyrics… much less those… cool.