Let's talk languages!

[Miniature Sheep]

I've been learning Esperanto for a couple of months now and am having a great time with it; initially my aim was to build up some confidence after hitting a wall with Polish a while back (I am now raring to get back into it) but it turned out to be good fun! Hungarian is also on my to-do list and I'd love to take up Spanish, partly so I can read Jorge Luis Borges's poetry as it was originally intended (the English translations are rockin' but they flow so much better in Spanish)
So, who else on here is studying additional languages? Which ones are you learning? Which are your favourites? Let's get linguistic!

[Bow Tie]

I am attempting to relearn German. I took it in high school and a little bit in college, but I haven't spoken it in like 6 years so I have forgotten a lot of what I had learned. Watching Disney movies in German has helped me not completely forget the language. I was hoping to take classes in the fall and winter, but the classes were on Saturday and since I work retail, there's no way I could take the classes. I learn much better in a classroom setting than on my own so I'm hoping to take classes again soon. I do need to go digging through my workbooks and papers from high school and use those to try and refresh my memory.

Other languages I'd like to learn are Swedish and Japanese, but my main focus is German.

[kaoskat]

I'm currently studying Spanish. Sometimes I think I'm doing ok, other times......Not so much......

[Juliepants]

My husband and I are learning Portuguese We really love it.

Jules x

[Rainbowrific Renia]

I taught myself German and got some help from a friend who is fluent in it. I took 3 years of French in high school and even taught it for a year during my senior year for a group of special needs kids, it was amazing!

I know some Japanese and Spanish, and I'd love to learn Italian! I know a bit of it as well, but I want to be able to hold conversations in it.

So yeah, French and German are the only foreign languages I can safely say I'm good at.

[GazeboMouse]

I speak some Urdu, got a qualification in it a few years ago, but recently did a 10 week beginners evening course as a refresher as I get muddled up with Urdu, and the more commonly spoken Mirpuri Punjabi dialect that lots of the kids I work with speak, that shares words! I like Bollywood films, and Urdu and Hindi are pretty similar...
I have owned dozens of Japanese phrase books since childhood, but never managed to have the time to learn! I collected phrase books as a child, wanted to learn Maori, Japanese, and Swahili, and would nowadays also want to learn Yoruba but no chance! I'd better stick with one language to learn at the moment!

[Sochy]

English is actually the only lenguage I know appart from Spanish. I never study it "seriously". I mean, at school I learn the basics and in highschool here is obligatory, but nothing really "profesional". I start to understand more thanks to games and talking whit people on internet. I still have mistakes, mostly with verbs 

I understand also a bit of portuguese, but not a lot.

If sombody need a hand with spanish somedays you can message me. I will love to help 

[ringwraith10]

I "officially" can read Spanish and French (considering my specialty is Spanish and French literature, I should be able to read it better than I actually can), but I still need translation help a lot. I'm getting there... I totally can't speak those languages, though -- I forget even the most common words when someone tries to get me to speak in another language. :/ I also know a bit of Swedish -- mostly some random phrases that I picked up from my grandmother (who was Swedish). Somehow even though I never studied Swedish I can speak it better than I can speak the languages I have studied...

[Taffeta]

日本語。:D

Technically speaking, I have a MA qualification in Japanese Studies, which included Modern and Classical Japanese. Right now I'm doing my PhD in Pre Modern Japanese, studying the War Tales, so I guess my focus has shifted more towards the Classical language than the modern. I can still understand and speak Modern quite well though - listening and reading are my better skills. Writing and speaking less so.

I can still understand French quite well, I studied that from 11-19. I did 2 years of Spanish and 4 of German in school/college but I can't really speak either now. I can understand enough in auctions etc to get by. Someone reviewed my (in English) fanfic the other day in Spanish and I actually understood all of their review, but sadly I'm not good enough at writing it these days to reply.

I've done a little bit of Mandarin and I currently have 2 Taiwanese flatmates so random language discussions happen often. I want to learn Mandarin and Korean but not until my PhD is done. That said, having more Mandarin would help since reading classical texts also means coming across old Chinese terms in Japanese writing, or kanbun, which is like a Classical Chinese/Japanese hybrid.

 I am also learning to make sense of things like this

Spoiler

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I can read some of it. It definitely starts with "ima wa mukashi.."

[xeevee]

I am terrible at learning languages.  In school I took Japanese and French and did terribly.  At university I took Italian for a semester.  I failed that too.

Since then I have lived in two countries for a little while where I didn't speak the language.  One was China.  I had a tutor come teach me every week.  It went ok.  But not as good as my husband.  But I could get by ordering food and getting directions.  Now I am in Germany.  It's funny, because at home we practice with each other, and I do fine.  As soon as I have to speak to a German person, it's like I can't remember anything at all.

I really want to learn another language, but it's like I'm missing the learn new language function in my brain. 

[ringwraith10]

I am terrible at learning languages.  In school I took Japanese and French and did terribly.  At university I took Italian for a semester.  I failed that too.

Since then I have lived in two countries for a little while where I didn't speak the language.  One was China.  I had a tutor come teach me every week.  It went ok.  But not as good as my husband.  But I could get by ordering food and getting directions.  Now I am in Germany.  It's funny, because at home we practice with each other, and I do fine.  As soon as I have to speak to a German person, it's like I can't remember anything at all.

I really want to learn another language, but it's like I'm missing the learn new language function in my brain. 

Some people legitimately have issues with learning other languages. Try as I might, even with many years of taking Spanish classes behind me, I can't hold a decent conversation in Spanish. This is terrible for my literary career since at some point I am going to have to explain to someone that though my studies are mainly in non-English European literature, I'm not very good with the languages. And I really want to be good at learning languages -- I hate reading translations, so I wish I could easily pick up any language. Translating Don Quixote for my Master's thesis has been a major pain. :/ I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get to writing my dissertation!

[Taffeta]

I really want to be good at learning languages -- I hate reading translations, so I wish I could easily pick up any language. Translating Don Quixote for my Master's thesis has been a major pain. :/ I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get to writing my dissertation!

I'm not sure if it is about being good at learning them or just drumming them into your brain over and over until they start to stick there. I know that;s how I learned kanji. Writing them out over and over every day on the station after work, waiting for my train...

[melodys_angel]

Nothing currently but ill pick up bits of Italian, German or French here or there--since I either have family speaking it or im immersed in it.

Im actually surprised at how much French I can understand.  maybe 10 years of the school system actually did something.

[ringwraith10]

I really want to be good at learning languages -- I hate reading translations, so I wish I could easily pick up any language. Translating Don Quixote for my Master's thesis has been a major pain. :/ I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get to writing my dissertation!

I'm not sure if it is about being good at learning them or just drumming them into your brain over and over until they start to stick there. I know that;s how I learned kanji. Writing them out over and over every day on the station after work, waiting for my train...

That's basically the method I used in my Spanish classes. I should probably try to start that again, though. I definitely feel like I'm starting to lose what I did learn way back then. At least I know the word for "horse" in a whole bunch of languages, though! That's all that matters, right?

[Nefalia]

My native language is Swedish, so anyone who wants to practice that can contact me. I'll gladly help.

I would say my second language is English which I learned from watching the children's channel on TV. It was packed with English and unsubtitled cartoons.

My third language would be Thai but I am way too shy to speak it out loud since it is really sensitive to sound levels when you pronounce every word. For example, Thai has the same word for "horse", "come here" and "dog" but in different intonations.

I also know a bit of French and Japanese but just enough to ask for the most basic things: food, water, finding the toilet and excusing myself.

I have the hardest to learn to read and write. I definitely go by ear and have a faint memory of reading somewhere, once upon a time, that being very common with people who have a musical ear.