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Foreign Languages
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I’ve always been interested in learning a foreign language.
Unfortunately, I suffer an acute condition called Lazyitus however which prevents me from doing so.
Nonetheless, I am always impressed with folk who speak more than one language fluently.
My good people, I’m giving you all the chance to blow your own trumpets and impress the shit out of me by answering the following:
How many languages do you speak?
….and in relation to this:
a) What languages are they?
b) Are you fluent in them (or just enough to get by?)
For clarification purposes, whilst I’ll be admittedly mightily impressed if you can say the word ‘Shit’ in twelve languages, it’s not quite the level of fluency I’m referring to
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I'd love to be fluent in a language other than English.
I can speak French enough to get by.
Spanish to get a meal, ask for help and say sorry.
Portuguese to get food and say sorry
Greek to get food and say sorry.
Japanese to introduce myself and various random rubbish.
Several of my family members are fluent in various languages and I'm very envious of them  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I can just about get by, in a very exact environment, in Japanese. Very limited vocabulary.
Lady Astor has a much wider collection of "getting herself understood" languages.
Winston |
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"I'd love to be fluent in a language other than English.
I can speak French enough to get by.
Spanish to get a meal, ask for help and say sorry.
Portuguese to get food and say sorry
Greek to get food and say sorry.
Japanese to introduce myself and various random rubbish.
Several of my family members are fluent in various languages and I'm very envious of them "
 It is customary for we Brits to learn the word for sorry first of all   |
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"I'd love to be fluent in a language other than English.
I can speak French enough to get by.
Spanish to get a meal, ask for help and say sorry.
Portuguese to get food and say sorry
Greek to get food and say sorry.
Japanese to introduce myself and various random rubbish.
Several of my family members are fluent in various languages and I'm very envious of them
It is customary for we Brits to learn the word for sorry first of all "
Yep and
"Unhand me sir!" |
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English is my first language, although I started life in a Welsh language village and nursery school (my dad didn't speak Welsh so it wasn't properly bilingual). My Welsh is rubbish now 
I speak Spanish pretty fluently. Basic Dutch (can read more than I can speak). Conversational/basic German and I can say extremely limited things in French. I can read and understand Italian but only speak very basic phrases. |
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I (Luke) have learned some French, German and Italian to varying levels of proficiency. It's something I enjoy.
The reason I stopped is because I realised there's no practical point. I have no reason to do it as I'm very rarely going to be in a real-world situation where the effort will be worthwhile.
I only have so many days on this planet and I think I'm better off putting my efforts into something I will use like playing musical instruments. Luke |
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"I (Luke) have learned some French, German and Italian to varying levels of proficiency. It's something I enjoy.
The reason I stopped is because I realised there's no practical point. I have no reason to do it as I'm very rarely going to be in a real-world situation where the effort will be worthwhile.
I only have so many days on this planet and I think I'm better off putting my efforts into something I will use like playing musical instruments. Luke"
You'd be surprised sometimes. I found that Spanish was the only common language I had (at the time) to converse with a woman in a Dutch town hall and I have given directions to many a tourist in both Spanish and German (in Manchester mainly). |
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"Fluent in Java 8.
Used to be fluent in C, Visual Basic, Fortran, Pascal, DCL, ... So many languages.
Huh ? "
Computer programming languages. I wish I'd learned some. I tried HTML and Java, I'm fine with instructions but can't profess to be able to code |
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"Fluent in Java 8.
Used to be fluent in C, Visual Basic, Fortran, Pascal, DCL, ... So many languages. "
I remember good old 8-but Basic programming;
10. Print: ‘Hello’
20. Go To 10
Ahhh the good old days |
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"Fluent in Java 8.
Used to be fluent in C, Visual Basic, Fortran, Pascal, DCL, ... So many languages.
I remember good old 8-but Basic programming;
10. Print: ‘Hello’
20. Go To 10
Ahhh the good old days "
8 BIT (Argh! - the spellchecker is worse today than it was back then, I swear!) |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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We live in Brazil but my Portuguese is just about good enough to get by in shops and restaurants.
Funny enough though the more I drink the better I can speak it. |
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By *lynJMan
over a year ago
Morden |
"Fluent in Java 8.
Used to be fluent in C, Visual Basic, Fortran, Pascal, DCL, ... So many languages.
Huh ?
Computer programming languages. I wish I'd learned some. I tried HTML and Java, I'm fine with instructions but can't profess to be able to code "
Stick with it. There's loads of good tutorials out there.
Java is a popular language still but you could look at something like Python. Not used it myself but lots of job vacancies looking for it. |
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"Fluent in Java 8.
Used to be fluent in C, Visual Basic, Fortran, Pascal, DCL, ... So many languages.
Huh ?
Computer programming languages. I wish I'd learned some. I tried HTML and Java, I'm fine with instructions but can't profess to be able to code
Stick with it. There's loads of good tutorials out there.
Java is a popular language still but you could look at something like Python. Not used it myself but lots of job vacancies looking for it."
One of our teachers started an online Python club during the lockdowns but I was too busy and now he's left. I should look into it really.... |
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I was learning some Portuguese words at the weekend...I can't roll my R's which makes correct pronunciation rather difficult 
I can get by with basic pleasantries, ordering food/drink, asking for directions etc in French. I have a GCSE in German, but haven't spoken it since I left school many years ago. |
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By *viatrixWoman
over a year ago
Redhill |
Fully bilingual in English and Spanish. Spanish is my first language.
Intermediate level in French but my pronunciation is atrocious. My very helpful French teacher made fun of it when I was reading once at Uni and I’ve never got over that mental block. 
I wish there were a chip you could pop in to make you speak any language, like in The Matrix |
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"Fully bilingual in English and Spanish. Spanish is my first language.
Intermediate level in French but my pronunciation is atrocious. My very helpful French teacher made fun of it when I was reading once at Uni and I’ve never got over that mental block.
I wish there were a chip you could pop in to make you speak any language, like in The Matrix "
There is ... Google Translate app |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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English is my first language.
I also have spanish and french.
Holiday level of german and italian.
Sometimes have dipped in to learning small bits of irish and sign language. Just need to find the time.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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My wife is Brazilian so Portuguese is her native however fluent in spanish, japanese and English, pretty cool to watch hert communicate in Japanese through |
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"I’ve always been interested in learning a foreign language.
Unfortunately, I suffer an acute condition called Lazyitus however which prevents me from doing so.
Nonetheless, I am always impressed with folk who speak more than one language fluently.
My good people, I’m giving you all the chance to blow your own trumpets and impress the shit out of me by answering the following:
How many languages do you speak?
….and in relation to this:
a) What languages are they?
b) Are you fluent in them (or just enough to get by?)
For clarification purposes, whilst I’ll be admittedly mightily impressed if you can say the word ‘Shit’ in twelve languages, it’s not quite the level of fluency I’m referring to
"
Try Duolingo.
It's not so hard using that...free version to use too.
I speak Dutch and French as well as English |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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My ex had a life for language fluent to degree standard at to teach French, German and Italian but could also get by with Spanish and Greek.
Me! I struggle with English at times. But I could speak Arabic enough to get by… and my Bosnian is pretty much useless now.
I’d love ti learn though
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By *viatrixWoman
over a year ago
Redhill |
Fully bilingual in Spanish (native speaker) and English… I was educated in an American/International school from ages 3-16, so grew up speaking English too but not deemed native there haha.
I can get by in French, but I am not fluent anymore… I was in my Uni days.
I really really wish I spoke more languages. Being bilingual isn’t impressive anymore. I worked with a guy my age a few months and I saw him going from Portuguese to German to speaking to me in Spanish, then French and obviously perfect English… I was so turned on lol. |
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