SOCCERROO FOX Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Never really felt the need to and living in Australia it's not needed and nor are you exposed to any other foreign tongues on a regular basis. When ever i've travelled i've always gotten by on some basic phrases and words etc. Always wished i could speak another language and recently (last week) bought myself a spanish language book for an impending trip and i'm really enjoying learning Spanish even if it is tough.
lavrentis Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Did a beginners Japanese course and I know basic things. I don't plan on using it but I enjoy learning it. It's a pretty structured but complex language. I know Katakana and hiragana characters and some Kanji(minuscule when you compare to how many characters there are), but I know mostly place names. I could probably hold a basic conversation but if something goes wrong will be when I will struggle.
ACF Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Did Year 12 German, so have a basic knowledge of it. Wasn't brilliant at it, mind.
ScouseFox Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 I've got a French a level and reckon I could hold my own in a conversation with a French person. Watch and read some French stuff from time to time, too. Never been to France tho, but I'm sorted if I ever do
The Year Of The Fox Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 I'd say I could get by on most day to day things if I lived in Spain.. I really love the language, enjoy speaking it on holiday too instead of being a typical ignorant English tourism. I only got a B in GCSE Spanish but an A in French. My best mate for about 4-5 years though was a lad from Madrid and I went out to his house there 3 times. That's when you start picking up the language, when you have no choice!
jonthefox Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 My mrs says i have a very useful tongue. But then again, so do most of your wives
Finnegan Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 I'd say I could get by on most day to day things if I lived in Spain.. I really love the language, enjoy speaking it on holiday too instead of being a typical ignorant English tourism. I only got a B in GCSE Spanish but an A in French. My best mate for about 4-5 years though was a lad from Madrid and I went out to his house there 3 times. That's when you start picking up the language, when you have no choice! Donde esta la biblioteca?
Phube Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 It's the failing of having English as a first language... Which 2nd language are we supposed to learn? French - (yes for 6 years) but I've only been there once. Spanish - Lots of holidays and useful in South America (and some USA). German - (Did it for 1 year) Never been, never used. Greek - Been a few times. Hindi/Gujarati - Very useful for and when at work. Polish - Again useful for work. Chinese - For up and coming business Japanese - To understand native games/anime/manga. Would be useful to learn all these (for me) well. But I'm crap at languages anyway... If you're foreign the choice is easy - English!
cambridgefox Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 I can get by in French,although conversation might be pushing it as the talk properly rather than cockney French! Reading it is easier. Really wish I could be better,my aunt is fluent in Italian ,French,German and Spanish and knows a bit of Japanese.She works in the tourist info in Cambridge and comes in handy.
bovril Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Italian, Bulgarian and passable Serbo-Croat and I can understand written Russian. Kind of connected to the job! I'd like to learn Turkish or Arabic but I doubt I have patience.
Fox92 Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Did French when I was at school. Standard though, everyone did it, I didn't pick it as a subject as I got older! Know the odd word. I was going to do German at uni, side by side with my course, you know meet new people and learn a language. But I backed out.
leicsmac Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 German to a reasonable degree, learned for GCSE and had German housemate at uni so kept using it. Also basic conversational Korean - one of the few countries where you couldn't really get by just speaking English. A bit of Japanese when I wanted to travel there and to understand anime without subs. Agree that the prevalence of English around the world makes most here feel they don't need to learn another language except when you're in a position where you have to. I do think language learning boosts other skillsets, too.
bovril Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 German to a reasonable degree, learned for GCSE and had German housemate at uni so kept using it. Also basic conversational Korean - one of the few countries where you couldn't really get by just speaking English. A bit of Japanese gwen I wanted to travel there and to understand anime without subs. Agree that the prevalence of English around the world makes most here feel they don't need to learn another language except when you're in a position where you have to. I do think language learning boosts other skillsets, too. One of the problems we have in the UK is that we are one of the only nations in the World who don't study their own grammar. If you don't know the building blocks of your mother tongue it'll make it hard to learn any others (IMHO, of course).
Rincewind Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 True but we have a diverse culture and many dialects and accents. I tried Spanish at night school. Even did a GCSE course. In the exam the tutor had an old tape machine and I had to answer to the conversation. I flopped because I could not understand what was being said. Written down I was OK but I could not get the hang of speaking it. Within the group I may be joining UA3 there are groups for languages. There is no pressure on learning. You just meet at a members house and either speak it or not and no one minds if you muck it up or do a mixture. Which is the easiest to learn? There are similarities with Spanish/Italian/Portuguese. I tried to learn a few phases of Bulgarian when Iwent there. I could manage how much?, goodnight and thank you and order a beer which got me by.
bovril Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Italian was relatively straightforward. If in-a doubt-a just-a talk-a like-a this-a. The hardest thing about Bulgarian is the Cyrillic but once you've cracked that there's no stopping you!
bovril Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Good excuse to post this one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JhuOicPFZY
martyn Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Spanish to approaching B2 level based on the Common European Framework for language proficiency.
cambridgefox Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Spanish to approaching B2 level based on the Common European Framework for language proficiency.im lost before we have started!
Fox in the North Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 I do French and Spanish at university. Just got back from my year abroad so I'm decent in both now. Also did level 2 Russian as a free elective course which I just about managed to pass!
MooseBreath Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Started learning a few, particularly spanish and mandarin, but always struggle for motivation once I can put together a few phrases. Unless you're planning on living in the country there's very little practical need to speak anything other than English.
cambridgefox Posted 8 July 2013 Posted 8 July 2013 Started learning a few, particularly spanish and mandarin, but always struggle for motivation once I can put together a few phrases. Unless you're planning on living in the country there's very little practical need to speak anything other than English.im sure if you can play the guitar mandarin is easy to master.
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