Languages ! Pad Patter 3.6.17

[bellbird]

Difficult poll, I miss the "multiple" option.

Dutch - native language
English - fluent
German - I can speak and understand (spoken and written) normal conversations. Having friends and family there, as well as it being 5 minutes to the border forced me to learn the language.
French - basic, really basic. I graduated high school with French, but I have forgotten most if it by now.

sorry about that - i'm not great at making alternate answers - i always hope 'other' covers any response i can't imagine -and i would never have guessed English was not your native language!

 

[bellbird]

'm currently trying to brush up on my Swedish and I'm finding I'm mixing up my Swedish and Spanish all the time. EEk!

see above about Duolingo online site - apparently they have Swedish and i imagine Spanish which to me would be more commonly used worldwide

but I can sure conjugate verbs! That's all my teacher had us do. What a waste of time

LOL

funny story is that he must of been listening right before surgery. When he woke up the nurses said he was speaking all in Spanish!!! He has no memory of this but the nurses got a good laugh. And were commenting "didn't he speak all English before he went under?

that is hilarious! and good on your daughter too!

 

[bellbird]

if you have little opportunity to speak a language it gets buried and becomes passive knowledge.

i think you are totally right! i'm always amazed at people that can switch between multiple languages very easily too - such a skill

 

[bellbird]

pretty much the only practice I've had with it is Dora The Explorer.

I am sure this is true for so many people! my DD at one stage (in pre-school) asked why she didnt have an abuela? (?spelling) but i think she still remembers colours from that Map guy anyway)

 

[IntenseMagic]

We speak all English, and a good bit of hillbilly
I took 4 years of Spanish in High School and remember some of it, but not enough to use it.

@dotcomkari, ASL is the one thing that I have always wanted to be able to use fluently. I know some signs because of students I have had in the past, but often say I would love to go and take more classes.

 

[bonnenuit]

Just English here although I took French, Spanish, and Italian. I would like to go back and audit some college language courses and get up to speed in French and Spanish again.

 

[QuiltyMom]

see above about Duolingo online site - apparently they have Swedish and i imagine Spanish which to me would be more commonly used worldwide

That's what I've been using, and I love it! I just wish it had a bit more of explaining verbs, etc., rather than just learning by rote. But I have been able to get some good info on a few other websites.

 

[carrie1977]

We only speak English at home.

I took four years of Spanish between high school and college. I wanted to understand my grandmother when she spoke spanish to people when she didn't want us to know what she was saying. Haha! I can still understand quite a bit.

I also took two semesters of ASL in college. I wish I would have continued. I loved it!

 

[Scrapping with Liz]

We only speak English officially at home but Melody and I are both learning Italian, and we are all (very casually) learning AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language).
At school I had to take Japanese, and I can still count, but that's about it. I always wanted to learn French but never got around to it and now, because Melody wanted to learn Italian, I have taken up Italian with her. We are still very much beginners, but we test each other and it is a lot of fun to do it together!

On a side note. If you are looking to learn a language, I strongly recommend Duolingo. It is amazing!!

So cool that you are learning AUSLAN.

I speak English and ASL at home

But i also speak Spanish, Sioux and a tiny teeny bit of German

I just saw your tag under your name. Are you deaf or do you have any deaf family members?
My 2 sons are deaf. I've been learning ASL over the last 2.5 years. I'm not fluent, but I can carry on a conversation in ASL...slowly.

We use English and ASL at home.

 

[littlekiwi]

Just english here. Learnt a bit of french in high school but remember about 0.02% of it now. For professional and personal reasons id love to learn sign language at one point

 

[scrappyjedi]

This was such a timely thread! This morning Darren texted me a screenshot from Duolingo- he is all excited because the Swahili module is finally available! He actually speaks quite a bit of that, too from many, many trips to east Africa.

 

[Nemla]

We are a "double bilingual "household LoL. Me English and Danish (native language) my hubby English and Maltese ( native language) I can get by with Maltese if I have to. We Speak English at home most of the time because that is the language we can both speak fluently. I can also speak German very very badly,and my hubby speaks Italian very well,and French enough to get by on. Wish I could learn a Slavic language because we have lots of people from the east block settling here,and it fascinates me the way they speak.

 

[dotcomkari]

@Scrapping with Liz i have a rare genetic disorder, I have been slowly loosing my hearing since the day i was born. (my nerves and bones in my ears are shot...and the size of a toddlers)... i am profoundly Deaf in my left ear and severe in my right. I hear nothing but static in my left ear.. and with my hearing aids I hear some in my right. I lip read REALLY well.. and guess a lot.. *L*.. a lot of people don't know I am deaf unless they see my hearing aids because I speak very clearly. My parents mainstreamed me all through school (they wanted me to be normal.. what ever that is..).. and I really did not learn sign language till I was in middle school.. because my parents didn't want me learning it they wanted me to speak.. I went through years and years of speech and I guess there are still a few words I don't say correct.. *L*.. To say the least I struggled big time in school.. and regret never learning sign till later in my years.. and not having the chance to have an interpeter...

 

[Rikki]

I am totally thrilled that @Chippi mentioned Duolingo which I didn't know about. I used to have a paid subscription with Babbel but let it expire because I just didn't do enough with it to justify paying. I just registered with Duolingo and it seems to be pretty good.

If anybody would like to be friends there I am Rikki134354

 

[keepscrappin]

We speak English at home. My husband went to Sweden on his LDS mission, so he knows Swedish, but hasn't kept up with it over the years and is losing it. My son is on a spanish-speaking mission so he'll know it really well by the time he gets home in 2018. And the girls and I have taken spanish at school, but only know enough to get us in trouble. I wish I knew more, but since I don't have opportunities to use the spanish on a regular basis, I've lost most of the little I did know.

 

[Scrapping with Liz]

@Scrapping with Liz i have a rare genetic disorder, I have been slowly loosing my hearing since the day i was born. (my nerves and bones in my ears are shot...and the size of a toddlers)... i am profoundly Deaf in my left ear and severe in my right. I hear nothing but static in my left ear.. and with my hearing aids I hear some in my right. I lip read REALLY well.. and guess a lot.. *L*.. a lot of people don't know I am deaf unless they see my hearing aids because I speak very clearly. My parents mainstreamed me all through school (they wanted me to be normal.. what ever that is..).. and I really did not learn sign language till I was in middle school.. because my parents didn't want me learning it they wanted me to speak.. I went through years and years of speech and I guess there are still a few words I don't say correct.. *L*.. To say the least I struggled big time in school.. and regret never learning sign till later in my years.. and not having the chance to have an interpeter...

My 7 year old son is profound in his right and severe in his left. He did get a CI when he was 6 (CI right ear, HA left ear). He was adopted at 5 with no previous language! He's doing really well with English, but we also use ASL.

My younger son (3) is profoundly deaf. He's been home about 4 months with no previous language. Right now we are focusing on ASL (he has about 150 signs & can sign in sentences now!). He is scheduled to have bilateral CI surgery in a few weeks. We want to give them all options! I like that I can communicate with my 7 year old even when he's not wearing his CI. We aren't fluent in ASL, but are continuing to learn.

 

[bellbird]

. I wanted to understand my grandmother when she spoke spanish to people when she didn't want us to know what she was saying. Haha

LOL good motivation!

 

[amandac]

We only speak English at home (well I AM English sooooo lol) but I did do three years of French at high school and I liked speaking around my brother to bug him. My eldest DD has completed a Minor in Japanese at uni. I would love to refresh my french .... I might have to do that before I go overseas (if I ever do!) ... and maybe some Italian

 

[Serena]

Fluent in English here, my children are on the Autistic Scale (that is now no longer apparently... ?) light purple on the Asperger's scale so we narrowed the languages down to 1.

I spoke (at the time) Mandarin, Korean, ASL and a bit of Spanish. My dad knew 13 languages and never taught me one... so I was determined to teach my children to be fluent in several languages. The Autism slowed that down majorly so English and sign language was all they learned.

Now that they're older, I've been studying again and trying to refresh what was lost due to un-use (dis-use? Mis-use? Use-less? lol) and the children have picked up on it as I replace words and phrases often.

We joked we were moving to Korea after the elections and my son panicked and said he wouldn't go because he didn't speak Korean and after him getting louder and louder I finally said "Stop! Quiet, we aren't moving, it's okay." All in Korean, to which he promptly got quiet and said sorry. Everyone laughed and when he demanded to know what was so funny, my teenager said "What did mom just say?" He said it in English and then my teen went "Did you know she said that in Korean?" He was surprised. I was pleased. ^.^ One day I'll get them fluent, hopefully. And myself again...