Are you bi-lingual or learning/have learnt another language?

Aiming to go back to Dubai again later in the year so have been learning Arabic in Duolingo (Ignoring people seemingly mostly speak English, Hindi or Urdu there).
Learning the words and phrases has been fine but I have no chance with the letters, especially if I had to write it as my handwriting is awful.

Good on you System. I've heard that learning a new language as an adult is quite a bit more challenging than as a child.

My first word was in French. My dad's side of the family is very French, as in mostly conversed with each in French. A bit of English thrown in there, some hybrid called Franglais. Good stuff.

I was in French immersion in school up to grade 10 when I switched to International Baccalaureate. I can understand French perfectly listening or reading, but speaking it...well the recall is slow. It's coming back to me pretty quickly as my oldest is in French immersion now, so we're doing a bunch of stuff in French at home. Also helps that Mrs. Foos also speaks French.

French immersion is hardcore Foos your parents obviously believed in stretching their children's abilities. I was listening to a Podcast recently where a Canadian did the same thing with his kids and believes in pushing hard.

I'm also impressed System with your efforts.

I normally will back myself for most things, but languages seem just beyond me,my greatest weakness is my working memory.

I did see a demo recently of AI used to translate a speech given at the WEF, it was able to translate the person speaking but not only translate but put it in the voice of someone speaking in that language.
I expect we are two years maximum from being able to have airpods translate in real time for us in both directions... But I have crazy respect for people who master multiple languages.

I was privileged to see a demo of a set of air buds that had a live translator. Meaning, two people speaking entirely different languages and both wearing these devices could have a fluent conversation without any " me no understand.. no comprehno... "

It could have been Google, I can't remember.

But Google's live translate of written text is cool. Take a photo and it overlays the desired language.

We are now living in the future that science fiction nerds have written about for decades.

I learned some Japanese in college (not weeb, friends were taking it for a language requirement) and it is sort of fascinating to think of how it rewired my brain a bit -- or opened up new wires, I guess.

English, and I assume other Western languages, are subject-verb-object (I watched 'rasslin) but Japanese is subject-object-verb (I, 'rasslin watched) so in order to communicate properly, you almost have to think and form your sentences in reverse. It's a good exercise for your brain, in addition to "replace word with other word" (which one would need to do in most other languages)

It's also sort of interesting to see Chinese/Japanese characters, realize they're hieroglyphs and think of how it came about and how they reflect the history and evolution of language

(or maybe here if that pic doesn't link properly) and how the Japanese character for "like" is 'woman' and 'child' smushed together

I did understand some Toisan (redneck Chinese) as a kid but that's long gone

The most commonly taught languages in English schools are French and German, for reason I don't really understand. OK, France is our neighbour, but it's not an especally widely spoken language, nor is Germany. Fortunately my school taught French and Spanish, and while I hated French, I felt an affinity with Spanish and kept studying it all the way to college level. I appreciate that in Spanish the pronunciation of a word is unambigious, and there aren't many strange sounds, just the rolling R's (which I can't do properly).

Spanish served me more than I could have possibly imagined. Not only do I speak to several of my friends in Spanish, but in the online dating world I met a lovely Mexican lady who is now my wife. We converse in both languages, but Spanish is especially useful because it allows me to converse with her family and friends, many of whom don't speak a word of English.

I wouldn't say I'm fluent in Spanish, I still struggle a lot with listening, but writing and reading are close to perfect.

Japanese is a language I'd like to learn, just out of a personal desire, but it isn't a priority enough to invest the many days, weeks, months it would take to even become slightly competent. I am aware about the unusual sentence structure that Michinokudriver pointed out, but not much beyond that.

Today I learned that Dr. Emperor is married! Sorry I've been out to lunch. Belated congratulations on the nuptials! When did that happen?

+1

Whaaaaaacongrats!

Jan 21, 2024 1:50:09 GMT Foos said:

Good on you System . I've heard that learning a new language as an adult is quite a bit more challenging than as a child.

My first word was in French. My dad's side of the family is very French, as in mostly conversed with each in French. A bit of English thrown in there, some hybrid called Franglais. Good stuff.

I was in French immersion in school up to grade 10 when I switched to International Baccalaureate. I can understand French perfectly listening or reading, but speaking it...well the recall is slow. It's coming back to me pretty quickly as my oldest is in French immersion now, so we're doing a bunch of stuff in French at home. Also helps that Mrs. Foos also speaks French.

I have lost my Franglais, but can pick it up pretty quickly if I am around it for a solid week like when I'm back in Ottawa or my family in Hull. I think this is due to me having learned it as a child. I was in French immersion until Grade 10 as well.  My mom is bilingual so we speak it between ourselves. It was a good way to keep Caycee from knowing what we were talking about as she refused to learn a language and now regrets it.

I have been slowly picking up Ukrainian but cannot string together sentences. Basically I'm about preschool in my knowledge as I know my numbers 1-5, my colors, how to say simple phrases like hello, goodbye, good morning, good night. It is much tougher as an adult to learn a new language I find. My recall is poor. But boy, do I delight them when I understand what they are saying.  Writing in Ukrainian is hopeless for me. 

Jan 24, 2024 0:44:46 GMT Foos said:

Today I learned that Dr. Emperor is married! Sorry I've been out to lunch. Belated congratulations on the nuptials! When did that happen?

I remember you going to see her but had no idea you were now married.  Congratulations!  That's so exciting! 

Jan 24, 2024 0:44:46 GMT Foos said:

Today I learned that Dr. Emperor is married! Sorry I've been out to lunch. Belated congratulations on the nuptials! When did that happen?

Just over two months ago. I got married in Mexico! It was a beautiful day, everything went to plan. To keep things on topic, I wrote and delivered my speech in both English and Spanish.

Even though I was born in Toronto, my first language was Greek. I had learned English through Sesame Street and reading books.

When I was six, my parents sent me and my sister to Greek school which happened during the evening. We learned the how to speak Greek in a more polished way. We learned the Greek alphabet, we learned about Greece in a vast way and I always got my ear pulled for being naughty in class.