How many of you speak your native tongue?

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I am curious. I don't know how to post a damn poll here so I am just going to ask you all to respond. Since I was born and raised in the US, I would say English is my native language. Some may argue that point.

For instance. I am 3rd generation Mexican-Spanish American. However I do not speak Spanish. I can understand very little and don't even ask me to speak it because I trash the language with my attempts to pronounce words properly. It is always nice to hear Spanish spoken with a Southern accent.

 

[Diemen]

I was raised speaking Polish first (first generation to be born in the US), but I've lost practically all of it. I can understand a few phrases and sometimes the general gist of a conversation, but that's about it.

 

[Niamh_Saoirse]

My ma's family is Italian so my grandparents raised me speaking Italian. My Italian is not the best at the moment, but I can write it and speak it pretty well.

My dad's family is Spanish so the language thing wasn't a problem because we speak Spanish in Argentina.

Besides that I speak English and Portuguese and I'd like to learn French as well.

 

[starsgoblue]

I'm a 3rd generation Russian-American....I can say bout 5 words in Russian....litttle bit of Yiddish too.

 

[Popmartijn]

I'm from a whole line of Dutchmen (and -women) and living in the Netherlands, so yeah, I think I speak my native Dutch quite well.

 

[dandy]

english canadian, i obviously speak english... and i have a good grasp of french, although i butcher it with my anglophone accent. oddly, my german prof told me i spoke german with a french accent.

i've always been envious of multi-lingual people. i wish i had have been born in europe or somewhere where it's the norm to learn three or four languages in school.

 

[Ava79]

...and my native language Finnish is rather fluent as well.

Besides Finnish I speak English and Swedish fluently and know some German, French and Spanish. You just gotta learn foreign languages when no one else in the world speaks your language but the people in your country...

 

[ZeroDude]

Learning Irish is essentially pointless

 

[Liesje]

I was born in the US. I don't really speak or write any Dutch, but I can read it (taking lots and lots o' German helps!). Our family uses lots words from an old Dutch dialect, but we don't actually speak Dutch to each other.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I am Japanese and sad to say I hardly speak it. I can understand it but not read or write it.

 

[shy]

My grndfa was Russian, but I can't speak Russian

 

[U2girl]

My ancestors are all from Slovenia, so obviously I speak Slovene.

In primary school, I studied English for 4 years and then a few - 4 or 5 - more years in high school. Also, 4 years of German in high school.
I am currently doing an Italian course. (English helps becuase there are often words with the same origin - from Latin - so I can guess the meaning of words)
I also had a year of Serbo-croatian in primary school, so I can understand, speak and write Croatian fairly good.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I am jealous of all you multi-lingual people.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

you don't speak Klingon?

damn.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

no and I don't think I want to.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I know people who are studying the Elvish language.

At first I thought it meant 'Suspicious Minds' and 'Jailhouse Rock' and stuff until someone told me it was Lord of the Rings

anyway back on track I do speak Chinese, but sadly not Japanese. I'll rectify that someday.

 

[verte76]

My first, and only, language is English. I studied French in school, but I'm a linguistic klutz.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I know a few words and phrases in Italian and Hungarian, but other than that, no.

 

[Sicy]

I understand most Italian but can only speak a little.

 

[dandy]

you don't speak Klingon?

damn.

speaking of klingon, my final exam in my linguistics course at university was an analysis of a passage in klingon.

i sincerely hope no one's native tongue is klingon.

 

[GibsonGirl]

I was born in South Africa and my native language is supposed to be Afrikaans. However, I couldn't speak it to save my life. I only know irrelevant things like "Jy is 'n dumkop" and "Voetsek!" OH, and I know a Zulu phrase from the Vodacom adverts on TV - "Yebo Gogo!" Don't ask me what it means, because I wouldn't be able to tell you. I think it's "yes granny".

So anyway, the point is, I'm not fluent due to not being in the country for eight years.

 

[Laura M]

i've always been envious of multi-lingual people. i wish i had have been born in europe or somewhere where it's the norm to learn three or four languages in school.

I'm from Belfast, all my family are from Ireland and speak English but my Grandparents and Great grandparents were fluent/ almost fluent in Irish. I only know a few phrases.

I am now exactly halfway through my degree in French & Spanish. My Spanish is much better than my French and after I spend next year living there I hope it will be quite fluent.
Dandy, I'm from Europe. I didn't start learning a foreign language until I started secondary school when I was 11. Nowadays they are trying to get younger children to learn languages, my little cousin was being taught French last year and he was 4. Thankfully Spanish was the subject that I really really loved at school and I can't believe that 9 years later I'm still studying languages

 

[Sicy]

I was born in South Africa and my native language is supposed to be Afrikaans. However, I couldn't speak it to save my life. I only know irrelevant things like "Jy is 'n dumkop" and "Voetsek!" OH, and I know a Zulu phrase from the Vodacom adverts on TV - "Yebo Gogo!" Don't ask me what it means, because I wouldn't be able to tell you. I think it's "yes granny".

So anyway, the point is, I'm not fluent due to not being in the country for eight years.

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'.

 

[JessicaAnn]

I only know a couple of words and phrases in Polish.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

'Twas born and raised in the U.S.-English has been pretty much the only language I've been raised to speak (although I did take Spanish when I was in school, and still remember some of that).

My ancestry is German, French, and Irish, and I know, like, five words in German, maybe one or two in French, and Irish...not really one I've gotten to learning all that well, I just know some of the slang and that's about it.

Angela

 

[tiny dancer]

I understand most Italian but can only speak a little.

I guess that includes me, for I am Italian American and I only know very little of the language.

 

[Souly]

I am Japanese and sad to say I hardly speak it. I can understand it but not read or write it.

Same situation, different language.

 

[Queen Bee]

I was born and raised in the US. My parents are both Cuban and I grew up speaking in Spanish until I was four-years-old. I learned how to speak and write in English after one-month of attending preschool.

I still speak fluently in Spanish, but I have yet to master the language. I especially have a difficult time reading in Spanish. A simple paragraph can take me as long as five minutes to read.

 

[Blue Room]

I'm about 98% Dutch. My Grandmother immigrated to the U.S. from Rotterdam when she was a teenager and she taught me some dutch words and phrases when I was kid. Unfortunately I remember very little.

 

[anitram]

English is my third language, but it is the one I speak best. My first two are Croatian and German and I also speak passable French (can read and write it reasonably well).