Does anyone speak a second language

Does anyone here speak more than 1 language. Just curious since i am taking German classes.

While I certainly am not fluent, I can get by with spanish. Being able to speak multi languages is a great thing. I wish that when I was young I paid attention, and learned when the brain had much more retention.
Keep up with the German classes.

i speak english
my first is bangla

i also did german and french

[edit on 22-12-2006 by bodrul]

Knowing a second language is also a great way to get rid of ignorance too so it is a two for one kind of thing.

i speak spanish. its also good for saying things and people dont know what they mean.

I speak the complicated "teenage" language. It is harder than you think. But I have not given in fully, I am addicted to ATS not myspace.

i can barely speak english.

I like to think I'm fluent in English.....American English anyways

I can get by with the basics in Russian, French, Georgian, Chinese and Japanese.....courtesies, directions, order a beer, tell a woman she's beautiful, etc...





[edit on 23/12/2006 by SportyMB]

I speak a second language: Pig Latin!

Iay eakspay aay econdsay anguagelay: Igpay Atinlay!

See!! But seriously: Hablo espanol.............

My mother and father were both born and raised in Lithuania. When WWII broke out, they joined the multitude of refugees seeking to escape the ravages of warfare. They headed West choosing to enter German occupied territories over the alternative -- a rapidly growing Soviet occupied territory. It's not that my parents were Nazis or anything. They certainly did not love fascism. They simply chose what they considered to be the lesser of two evils. The long bitter history of Russian domination made theirs an easy decision so they moved towards Germany. Besides, both my parents spoke fluent German, Prussian (it wasn't considered a "dead language back then), Latvian, Polish and Russian.

Growing up in a small country surrounded by a variety of languages, it wasn't just "helpful" to know another language, it was really necessary. Their language skills, to some extent, enabled them to survive the nightmare of the Second World War.

After the war ended, my parents, along with tens of thousands of displaced persons, emigrated to the United States. When they finally arrived in the U.S., they had an infant in tow (my older brother)and they faced having to learn yet another language -- English. That's about the time when I came into the picture. I was born in the United States and I was what my mother called a "real" American.

Even though I was a "real" American, my mother felt compelled to make certain that her two sons were able to speak Lithuanian. It was part of the Lithuanian culture to make certain that their "mother tongue" survived no matter what. In Lithuania's past, Russia (and later the Soviet Union) made a concerted effort to eradicate Lithuanian among other languages. This attack on their language was a campaign that lasted over the span of a number of centuries! Nevertheless, Lithuanian survived and my mother was determined to keep the language alive for another generation.

As I grew up, my mother and father spoke Lithuanian in the home as we were growing up. As a matter of fact, my mother (who happened to be a Montessori teacher) instituted a regime where on Mondays, we all spoke German. On Tuesdays, we all spoke only Polish. On Wednesdays we spoke Russian. Thursdays was English Day. The rest of the week we spoke Lithuanian.

As I grew older, both my brother and I were enrolled in a "Lithuanian language school" which was operated by the Lithuanian immigrant community. Classes were held every Saturday morning until around two in the afternoon.
As a young kid growing up in America, I hated this. I didn't fully appreciate back then the wonderful gift that my parents had bestowed upon us -- the gift of speaking in tongues (or so to speak ... please pardon the puns)

Here I am, years later. I speak English, of course, but I also speak, read and write Lithuanian fluently. I can also speak conversational German (I'm a bit rusty from disuse but I can regain fluency after a bit of time and practice). I am able to swear like a sailor in Russian and I can throw insults with the best of them in Polish (I am, however. far from fluent in either Russian or Polish -- I just know how to swear and insult people in those two particular tongues...lol).

Although I gave up my Saturday mornings for eight years, I now fully appreciate that I have, over those years, gained a wonderful ability to communicate with people of different languages and cultures. I believe that this gives me greater insight and understanding of other nationalities, an insight that language helps to facilitate.

I can't say that knowing different languages has made any great difference in my life but it certainly has made traveling to Europe easier and it made fulfilling my High School and University language requirements a breeze. On the other hand, my brother's facility with language (and his keen ear) helped him to learn Vietnamese during his two tours of duty in "Nam" which did, indeed, make an appreciable difference in his life -- that is, his language skill helped to save his skin on a number of occasions.

I believe language is key to understanding others; other nationalities, other cultures. It also helps to provide insight into the nuances of the way people live and in the way they perceive others.

I'm taking online Spanish; because not only is it a beautiful language but it is becoming a necessity here in the southwest to know enough Spanish to communicate with our changing demographic.

Paz y Amor
whaaa

I am fluent in Arabic and I am currently learning Japanese

[edit on 25-12-2006 by ImJaded]