How many of you speak your native tongue?

[tennispunk]

Well I'm American so I guess English is my native language, and I speak that pretty well, heehee. My mother's first language is Italian and I can speak a very bastardized version of that when I need to communicate with my grandparents and aunts and uncles who speak it much better than English.

I also speak French and Spanish, and right now I'm learning Irish.....haha, which may be pointless but I think the language is fantastic and somewhat important for a student of Irish history.....

Learning Irish is essentially pointless

 

[angel_of_L.A.]

I grew up in Los Angeles speaking Spanish, Portuguese, and English.

My parents insisted that I speak Spanish at home so I learned how to speak English by watching Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Miami Vice and Knight Rider. No joke.

My parents weren't fluent in English (well my dad was) but by the time I got to preschool I was fluent in all three. I'm slowly forgetting my Portuguese because I have no one to practice with--but I can still read it. I took 3 1/2 years of French in high school but I've since forgotten it--though I can still order bread in French. My Spanish, I'm still fluent in, thank God. My mom would kill me if I ever lose it!

 

[Mr. BAW]

Our parents were bilingual, English/Spanish, and it carried over into the conversations with us...one sentence in both languages, what a nightmare...none of we children ever spoke Spanish with our parents but I've picked it up during my adult years.

I can actually do an entire insurance investigation in Spanish; I admit I step on a few words and tenses but the person usually gets the picture...

Like when I think a guy is lying, I tell 'em..."no me chinges"...is that acceptable?

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Like when I think a guy is lying, I tell 'em..."no me chinges"...is that acceptable?

I would say so.

 

[indra]

I'm not even sure what countries my ancestors were from... Various parts of western europe, but which ones...no clue. And I'm a linguistic slug...I only know english.

 

[Tech]

English/Spanish for me. I learned english at school and spanish is what we spoke at home with the family. All these years later everybody except the parents and older adults speak english. I must confess my spanish SUCKS!

 

[Saracene]

I was born in Russia and lived there for the first 15 years of my life, so I'm still fluent in Russian.

 

[Doozer61]

Our parents were bilingual, English/Spanish, and it carried over into the conversations with us...one sentence in both languages, what a nightmare...none of we children ever spoke Spanish with our parents but I've picked it up during my adult years.

Wow, same thing in my family!

I, too, have started speaking spanish because of work. I never spoke it before because I thought it sounded silly coming out of my mouth.

Now, I can do a whole lead education presentation to tenants in spanish. I know I use the right words, maybe not the right conjugations of it, they smile and sometimes help me out. I love it when they have a kid there to help me.

 

[GibsonGirl]

That is very interesting. My neighbor and good friend is from South Africa but I did not know they have their own language as I have never heard her speak it.. even if she is on the phone with her parents. I will have to ask her about it.

Her accent is cute though... the way she pronounces words like 'here' 'yer' or 'cant' 'caant'.

She's probably predominantly English-South African, then. Half of my family is Afrikaans and the other half is English. In fact, even my surname is Afrikaans...yet I can't speak the bloody language, heh.

Does your friend say "Ja" a lot? (Pronounced "yah") It's the South African equivalent of "yeah". I used to say it to my Canadian friends initially, but it's been phased out after a couple of years of being in the country.

Oh, and ask her if she misses biltong...because I do.

 

[u2granny]

My grandparents were from Ireland. My mother speaks some Irish. I speak none. I speak some Spanish and Russian. I can read Russian, but usually have no idea what I'm reading. I know how my ESL students feel. They are great at decoding English, but usually have little comprehension for quite some time.

 

[meegannie]

I'm American, live in England, and speak English (usually an amalgamation of American and British English which makes people from both sides of the Atlantic give me funny looks). I also speak German and can manage with French (I studied it for five years, but haven't used it in seven years, so it's very rusty). I really hate to speak in foreign languages, though, because I'm not at all confident and am too afraid I'll mess up. Then again, I don't even like to speak English because I hate my accent, so I'm considering a career as a mime.

 

[IWasBored]

i'm american, i speak english.

this is the only language i speak fluently. sometimes i speak/read/write/understand gibberish.

i have a basic knowledge of russian from studing it for 6 years, but i still suck in a big way when it comes to speaking it.

i wish i could speak a bunch of languages. i tried taking spanish and finnish, neither of those languages worked out too well...same with latin, but since that's a dead language i don't think it counts...

 

[Rinn]

I was born in Australia so I speak English and bad English, which is pretty incomprehensible sometimes. I learnt Italian from when I was in grade prep (that's before year 1) and I continued it up until the end of this year so that's 12 years of italian and I'm still crap at it. At least I can say for the love of God in it. Per l'amore di Dio! If you were wondering.
My nanna grew up speaking Italian, German, Russian, French and English, but she has lost most of it now.
I wish I could actually hold up a conversation in another language. Bugger!

 

[elevation2u]

i was born in mexico though i live in the us now
i still constantly speak spanish with both friends and family and keep up on spanish literature

 

[ILuvLarryMullen]

I'm at least 4th generation american in every direction, so i was only raised with english. I have about 6 european nationalities in me anyway. I know some spanish from school.

 

[Ava79]

i tried taking spanish and finnish, neither of those languages worked out too well... [/B]

Wow, you have tried Finnish?!? That's very brave of you! Finnish is my native and even I find it difficult...

 

[Popmartijn]

Does your friend say "Ja" a lot? (Pronounced "yah") It's the South African equivalent of "yeah". I used to say it to my Canadian friends initially, but it's been phased out after a couple of years of being in the country.

More power to Dutch-based languages, ja!

 

[annatheduck]

Finnish is my native launguage, but I also speak Swedish fluently cos that's what I speak with my dad, plus I'm in Swedish school. I also (obviously) speak ok English and crap French and German.

 

[GibsonGirl]

More power to Dutch-based languages, ja!

JA!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i'm part german and irish. i'm pretty good with german, but irish...i tried buying software to learn how to speak it but i failed miserably. maybe if i actually took lessons i'd improve, but i want to become fully fluent in german first.