Do you speak a second language?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

shrmn8rpoptart

War Child
Joined
Jun 2, 2003
Messages
516
Location
Seward, NE
I'm writing a paper for my English class on
the topic of language acquisition

If you would like to, then just comment on some of these things: what were your first/second languages, how did you first start learning your second language, how would you comment on the differences between your formal and informal learning of the language, what waseasiest/hardest to learn, when you felt you actually had a grasp of the language, and how you feel about your second language in comparison to your first.

These don't have to be long answers, just comments would be fine.

Thanks guys!
 
Don't have time to properly answer now, but I speak 3 fluently and then another one conversationally, but not well enough to be considered fluent.
 
hmm... I started to learn english since pre-school, because english teaching is obligatory here. My dad used to travel a lot and he taught me some words and phrases.

- I think that the hardest thing to learn is pronunciation. In spanish the vocals have a unique sound, it doesn't change from a word to another, and sometimes I feel that there's not a logic in english pronunciation. Besides, many of the teachers were not native (from the usa or england).
 
Fluent in English and German, quite passable in Serb/Croat and level 6 of Italian - currently.
I've studied German 5 years in secondary school, and English 4 years in in primary school and 5 years in secondary school. (plus a course now that I got back to school) Italian course has been going on...about 2 or 3 years now.

If by "first language" you mean native tongue, it's Slovene for me.

My first second language was English in primary school. Informal learning for me was watching TV/movies and listening to music. (formal learning being school)
Easiest for me to learn in any language is writing and reading, slightly ahead of comprehension/speaking.

Hardest to learn: the articles in German (der die das), I never know which one fits before a noun. In Italian it's differentiating between the plethora of tenses. I would consider having a grasp on the language = being fluent in reading/speaking/comprehending/writing the language.
 
Last edited:
I'm not fluent in any other languages. :( German is my best, I can speak/read/write, but I'm not fluent. Dutch and Yankee Dutch I can read and understand when spoken to, but cannot speak or write myself.

I took Spanish and French in third grade as an afterschool activity (now they teach Spanish as a regular class starting in first grade). I took German all through high school. Dutch/Yankee Dutch is a family thing, so it's easy to pick up, especially knowing German.

I'm glad the school system I went through has started requiring Spanish at an early age. We never had the opportunity to take other language courses. A lot of people assume it's an ethnocentric thing, like I've been too lazy to learn another language, but trust me, no one would turn down the opportunity to learn another language. It's hard to start when your immediate family speaks English to you and your school offers nothing until high school.
 
Let me guess.... AS English Language on OCR?

There are a few easier topics u could mention in this.... post ur email and i'll add you on msn
 
UberBeaver said:
If I were dropped into a Spanish speaking country, I'd be able to survive. The locals would think I had mental deficiencies, but I could get a beer and food and find the bano.

:lol:
 
I speak enough German to be okay if I was by myself in Berlin etc, but I'm by no means fluent. I want to be though :drool: .
 
Some Spanish...I'll speak a lot more after I go to Central America for a few months next year! :yes:
 
I speak whale...
dori_do_nemo.jpg






:lol:


:reject:
 
I speak English because ever since pre-school my teachers were American. So it would be english at school and spanish at home.

I usually get asked if I really am Honduran because I'm white and I have no accent when I speak english and I tell them it's because of the school I went to.
 
when i'm drunk i think i speak russian wonderfully. too bad i forget how to say "pass the vodka."
 
Babydoll said:
hindi, kutchi, gujraati, swahili, urdu, and a bit of marathi... very little actually, and... english :)

Which one is your native language? Want to give me swahili lessons? :) I got stuck trying to learn when my phrase book fell out of my back pocket into a latrine! :lol:
 
my native are both kutchi and gujraati... although i learnt all of these simultaneously as growing up, so i can't claim expertise in one over the other.

:hmm: swahili lessons... i am sure u at least remember 'jambo!'

:D

if not, ill start u with swahili 101 :):)
 
Babydoll said:


:hmm: swahili lessons... i am sure u at least remember 'jambo!'

:D

if not, ill start u with swahili 101 :):)

:yes: jambo, asante/asante sana, kwaheri/kwaherini, karibu, twiga, simba, chui, duma, hapana, ndio, maji, wapi choo - all the important stuff, to me at least!

I should've listened to more of my language prep tapes!
 
BrownEyedBoy said:
I speak English because ever since pre-school my teachers were American. So it would be english at school and spanish at home.

I usually get asked if I really am Honduran because I'm white and I have no accent when I speak english and I tell them it's because of the school I went to.

This is almost the same case for me, except I was born and raised in the US. Spanish was my first language due to my Spanish speaking parents. I don't remember much about the process I went through when I learned English since I was about 4 years old at the time. I started to speak fluently in English after a couple of months of attending pre-school.
 
Back
Top Bottom