I'm English and did French and Spanish at school. I also did beginners German but can't say much beyond "my name is.." and "I am 15 years old"(which is helpful when I am a lot more than 15 these days lol!) I have real life friends who are both French and Spanish so that helps me keep them up a little as I sometimes have to help translate for them if they don't quite understand something and I sometimes just hear them speaking. I can read basic things in both languages but would find writing hard. I have my own hang-ups about actually speaking but that's mainly because I think I sound stupid in French lol!
When I was at school and maybe particularly in my school it was considered very uncool to do well at languages, even the real swotty kids didn't boast about it. I did well in my exams but didn't keep it up and I wish I had. I have one real life friend who is Finnish, lived in Sweden and now in the US, she speaks Finnish, Swedish, English and German fluently and at one point was learning Spanish. I was always fascinated how she could switch easily between them! My BFF is married to a Palestinian and they are bringing their kids up to be fluent in both English and Arabic which I think is amazing! To hear English and Arabic words coming out of a two year old is fabulous!
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Date: 2011-02-18 11:48 pm (UTC)When I was at school and maybe particularly in my school it was considered very uncool to do well at languages, even the real swotty kids didn't boast about it. I did well in my exams but didn't keep it up and I wish I had. I have one real life friend who is Finnish, lived in Sweden and now in the US, she speaks Finnish, Swedish, English and German fluently and at one point was learning Spanish. I was always fascinated how she could switch easily between them! My BFF is married to a Palestinian and they are bringing their kids up to be fluent in both English and Arabic which I think is amazing! To hear English and Arabic words coming out of a two year old is fabulous!