Can you speak a foreign language?

[Massimo Giovanni]

I can get by with my spoken Italian and it rapidly improves when I am out there, similarly with my rusty French. However the Italians are more receptive and helpful with trying to help me and get understanding where as the frogs......

 

[kaymac]

Bit of French, Spanish and Italian picked up over the years, handy when on holidays, plus Russian but not really had much opportunity to use that save the one visit there.

 

[GBJ]

the best thing is to listen to local radio and read local papers.

so for German it's spiegel

for French its for me Lemonde

this is interesting by the way. https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeur...-les-touristes-etrangers_5488767_4355770.html

I’ll always try and read papers/leaflets that I find.

I also follow Spanish speaking accounts on Twitter, such as Malaga CF. I find this to be a good way of learning/picking up bits - especially football related bits - because Twitter has a translate option for foreign language posts. So I’ll try and work out what they’re saying, and then check it with the translate feature, to see how close I was, or where I’ve gone wrong.

Spanish love to express their need to poo on the genitals of your mother/your dead family/your milk when they’re angry, I guess it makes sense but not sure where it came from.

Milk? I’ve heard the others before, but milk? The **** you wana **** on someone’s milk for ffs

Mad bastards

More likely that in most instances they don’t need to.
Personally I would have kids learning Spanish and mandarin from nine years old.

Yeah you’re probably right.

I’m no teacher, so don’t know this for sure, but it appears that learning other languages are way, way down the curriculum pecking order. I agree with you though, and as Manor says, the possibilities it can open for youngsters are amazing.

 

[MK Shrimper]

When Shrimperzone surprises you in a nice way.com

 

[Ex-Member1]

Lived in Cyprus for 10 years.....have working knowledge of Greek(ish!). Smattering of French too. Smart arse!

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Haha foreign insults are exquisite.

Maybe @Tangled up in Blue can confirm this one - that’s if I can remember it correctly - I was told that if you ever said this Spanish term to another Spaniard, you need to put your fists up straight away, because it’ll be on instantly.

Yo mierda en tu familia muerta.

It would certainly make you instantly unpopular:A more colloquial variant would be "me cago en la leche de tu puta madre" Literally I **** in your whore mother's milk. Not to be used with strangers.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Just like to make the case for "grammatical competence" which according to Bachman et al underpins "communicative competence" (ie Speaking/Listening).

 

[southendkid]

Duo for me has been brilliant. Like I said, it really gives you a good foundation to build on.

It’s well laid out, simple to use and doesn’t propel you at a rate that you’re not comfortable with. Plus it’s free.

I've found Duolingo has meant I can read a lot of Spanish and get the gist of it, but if you asked me to translate a basic English sentence into Spanish it would be littered with mistakes. I guess learning to read before you can write is probably the case however you learn though.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I’m no teacher, so don’t know this for sure, but it appears that learning other languages are way, way down the curriculum pecking order. I agree with you though, and as Manor says, the possibilities it can open for youngsters are amazing.

This is a shame. You may remember that I managed to coerce Francis Laurent and Jean-Francois Christophe into the school where I was Chair of Governors, where the children there were learning French. It was a good experience for both sides.

Also, when working at Kents Hill, the children there learnt Spanish from year 3 up. I think that got dropped when That Man took over the Headship. Shame, as a lot of them were quite good at it.

For myself, I learnt French and German at school up to O-level standard, and taught myself Spanish. I could converse in all quite well but, unfortunately, with a lack of practice over the years, that ability has faded somewhat.

 

[rigsby]

Just like to make the case for "grammatical competence" which according to Bachman et al underpins "communicative competence" (ie Speaking/Listening).

Totally spoils the language learning experience for the majority of us.

Because I could speak French quite well at school after the first year they put me in the top set. Daft idea as I am dyslexic.

The teacher was obsessed with grammar and spelling so I was soon bottom of the class, lost interest and missed out on the joys of language. Years later I used my own skills to have great fun in places like Brazil and Italy.

Long story but I have stayed with and Italian family and they have stayed with me here in Essex. Before we met they didn't speak English and I spoke no Italian. within days we could laugh and joke in Inglaziano as we call it.

 

[rigsby]

I did a 6 month online Welsh course 8 years ago. Keep meaning to pick it up again but never find the time. I'm always amazed at how much I've retained though, it was a great course.

I thought the idea of learning a language was to speak to more people. Surely you learn Welsh so that you can speak to less.

 

[Napster]

At the end of the day it’s all about being understood and understanding. Different people have different approaches.

 

[rigsby]

At the end of the day it’s all about being understood and understanding. Different people have different approaches.

Even being miss understood can be great fun.

I have had a few road trips in Brazil which have been really good. At school they fear you into thinking you will have to say correctly in the native lingo "Excuse me, could you tell me where the nearest petrol station is." Even if you manage that, a full answer back then causes you even more problems.

In reality if you just stick your head out of the window and say "Gasolina" with a lost look on your face. Everyone knows what you mean. You have also established that they may have to slow down their answer. With some gestures, a smile and a thanks, you never struggle.

 

[GBJ]

It would certainly make you instantly unpopular:A more colloquial variant would be "me cago en la leche de tu puta madre" Literally I **** in your whore mother's milk. Not to be used with strangers.

Haha what is this fascination with ****ting in people’s milk?

I just don’t get it, Why milk ffs?

I've found Duolingo has meant I can read a lot of Spanish and get the gist of it, but if you asked me to translate a basic English sentence into Spanish it would be littered with mistakes. I guess learning to read before you can write is probably the case however you learn though.

Sounds similar to my missus. She can read it Ok, but more often than not, she struggles to string a senetence together, whether it be writing or speaking.

I feel that I’ve picked it up fairly quickly, and although I would make several mistakes if I had to write it down, I’m a lot more confident in a face-to-face conversation.

What I don’t like (and in fairness I’ve only had this happen twice) is when I’m trying to speak/practice my Spanish, and the person on the other end of the conversation decides to speak back to me, as if they were an auctioneer, despite me asking them to go “más lento” - slower.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Haha what is this fascination with ****ting in people’s milk?

I just don’t get it, Why milk ffs?.

Clearly we're talking about maternal milk here.Insulting someone's mother is about the worst thing you can do in a Latin (or probably any other) culture.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Clearly we're talking about maternal milk here.Insulting someone's mother is about the worst thing you can do in a Latin (or probably any other) culture.

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Totally spoils the language learning experience for the majority of us.

Because I could speak French quite well at school after the first year they put me in the top set. Daft idea as I am dyslexic.

The teacher was obsessed with grammar and spelling so I was soon bottom of the class, lost interest and missed out on the joys of language. Years later I used my own skills to have great fun in places like Brazil and Italy.

Long story but I have stayed with and Italian family and they have stayed with me here in Essex. Before we met they didn't speak English and I spoke no Italian. within days we could laugh and joke in Inglaziano as we call it.

I understand what you're saying and you make some good points.

My point,however, is to achieve fluency in a language, grammar has a role to play.Nothing more than that.I'm certainly not obsessed by grammar teaching, anything but.What I have noticed, though, teaching teenagers at the LFB for the last 9 years for their Cambridge FCE/CAE exams is that pupils who have a good grammatical base generally go on to achieve a high grade.This is also generally true even for adults that I examine for the Cambridge oral exams.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

Ha! Python lives.LOL.

 

[RobM]

O level French -I remember a lot of it plus a few words of Norwegian.

 

[MK Shrimper]

I remember with horror conjugating verbs in French. It definitely kills the joy of learning & coversing in a foreign language.