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02-15-2020, 07:10 AM - 1 Like   #1
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Polyglot Pentaxians

One thing I've enjoyed about Pentax Forums is the number of members it has from all over the world. Though most people post in English, I know that English is not the native language of many of our members. When I lived and worked outside the US, I was somewhat surprised that if three or more people from various parts of the world met, English was often the common language they shared.

This led me to wonder just how many Pentaxians have facility in more than one language? I don't necessarily mean fluency, but feel comfortable enough in their non-native language to read the road signs, ask directions, hold simple conversations, get the gist of dialogue in a film or the general idea of a passage of text.

I'm also curious as to how many of you were raised bilingually, or are raising their children bilingually.

02-15-2020, 07:42 AM - 6 Likes   #2
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I can order a beer for me and my horse in Spanish, maybe even tell you what color pencil I have....

but that's it....
02-15-2020, 09:06 AM - 1 Like   #3
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I’m fluent in four languages and raising my kids to be bilingual, at the very least.
02-15-2020, 09:59 AM - 2 Likes   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by robgski Quote
the general idea of a passage of text.
going by that definition, I'd count Italian for myself. At a party lately, a friend of a friend showed around a small quiz app she had made to test her students, who were teached for a considerable amount of time, for basic understanding and grammatical knowledge. In that test I did quite good, even though I'd never had any lessons in Italian. But I did learn Latin for some years at school, and a little French, so with the close relationship between the Romance languages French, Spanish, Italian, I can get the gist of some that is "said" in those, but I would finely distinguish between native speakers conversing normally and written language. Put some dialect on top and I'm completely lost, even in German, my mother tongue, when some Bavarians or Swiss claim to speak the same language as me.

I wouldn't even really consider myself fluent in English. Sure, I could hold a conversation, depending on the topics, and I could probably follow close to all that is being said, but I often find myself looking for the correct word for something (okay, that is something that routinely happens to me in German as well, but in writing I often find myself just quickly looking something up in the dictionary, which I wouldn't be able to do in speaking... I'd probably resort to paraphrasing it in simpler terms). And even in writing, oftentimes I'll resort to using strange words or grammatical constructs that native speakers must find weird.
And while I do watch most of the movies at home with the original English audio, I can better follow the action when I turn on subtitles, because whenever the spoken word begins to drown in surrounding sounds, the rate of how much I understand drops rapidly and trying to concentrate more on what is being said removes more of my enjoyment than simultaneously reading the subtitles (one reason I like Netflix more than Amazon Video, they provide audio tracks and subtitles in movies' / series' original language much more often)
And in music I'd say English is even closer to some languages that I don't understand at all than to German. In German I immediately understand all the lyrics, without even having to actively try it. But I enjoy many English songs without ever really trying to understand what is being said, I just listen to the rhythm and instruments and the sound of the voice rather than what is transmitted with it. I can much better zone out and relax to that. With a song that is regularly played on the radio I'll absorb the chorus after a short while, but most of the verses will be lost on me until I look up the lyrics.
Most of the reading I do is online and most of that is rather colloquial. A few years ago I tried to read paperback novels in English, for example Lolita because everybody was raving about Nabokovs use of the English language, and he really has a poetic way in his choice of words and structuring of sentences. I really enjoyed Catch-22 for its humour. But all in all I find it a bit more strenuous and exhausting to read English novels. That may play a big part in why I'm not reading much analog anymore, along with the never stopping digitization of our lives.

I don't think I'd ever be able to follow anything in a movie when it's in anything else than German or English, with or without subtitles, to take even a little entertainment out of it. A "¿Donde esta la bibliotheca?" (accents missing because I wouldn't be sure where exactly to put what kind) or "Je cherche la bibliothèque, ou est-ceelle?" would be no big deal, but completely understanding what was answered or giving a follow-up question for some details... yeah, that'd take a while


Last edited by ehrwien; 02-15-2020 at 10:35 AM.
02-15-2020, 01:13 PM   #5
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Just Korean as a long studied, but of late, little used second language.
02-15-2020, 01:30 PM   #6
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I am fluent in English and Afrikaans (my mother tongue). Afrikaans evolved from Dutch about a hundred and fifty years ago. This means that I can read Dutch. There is more than enough common ground between the languages for that. I can understand Dutch when spoken but not speak it myself. That said, when I speak Afrikaans to Dutch people we get along like a house on fire, each in his native tongue! Flemish is even more of a treat, as it seems to be closer to Afrikaans than Dutch. I also have a very limited set of German skills, but I would not put it on my CV.
02-15-2020, 03:34 PM - 1 Like   #7
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Being a native English speaker is a blessing and a curse.A blessing because wherever you travel you can “expect” to be able to get by,as you’ll always find someone who can understand you. A curse because what other language can you learn that will help you out the most?It can give you the excuse to appear lazy about learning other languages.

For non native English speakers if you learn English you can communicate with a wide range of other people, that’s why in a group of diverse nationalities they’ll often default to English as a common tongue or the modern “lingua franca”.

Personally wherever I go I make the effort to learn a few basic phrases in the local language, hello,please,thank you,two beers please and,my favourite,whatever the local version of “no problem or no worries” that always raises a smile!

I remember being asked by a taxi driver on my first visit to Cambodia “What is most English people’s second language?” To which I replied “A lot of them struggle with the first!”

02-15-2020, 04:05 PM   #8
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English is my native language - I'm an anglophone. I took French courses through my school years and learned the basics. It wasn't until I took a six-month full-time intensive course as a mature adult that I became reasonably competent in my second language.

Our two children were in 'French immersion' in their elementary and junior high school grades -- French was the primary language in the curriculum. We were fortunate that the school was close to our home, and the teaching staff was very good. As adults, they manage okay in the French language.

During my professional career, I participated in several international collaborations, including European nations, in which English was the working language. I wish I was as fluent in other languages as my associates were in English!

- Craig
02-15-2020, 04:36 PM   #9
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I had 4 years of high school French about 45 years ago. "La plume de ma tante est sur la table." Merde...
02-15-2020, 05:41 PM   #10
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4 years of German in high school, and I'm still comfortable with the basics. Spent some time with one of my jobs in Jaurez, Mexico, and picked up enough Spanish to get around. I was told by one of the ladies in the factory that I talk like cookie monster from Sesame Street, putting the verb in front of the noun...so it was more of a Spanglish 😁.
02-15-2020, 05:53 PM - 1 Like   #11
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Latin and ancient Greek. Of course they aren’t spoken.
02-15-2020, 06:38 PM   #12
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I know my way around French, Norwegian, Russian and Spanish though I'm more comfortable and fluent In German as I was raised in the Barrossa Valley here in South Australia, a place that keeps strong ties to its German heritage.

Last edited by Digitalis; 02-15-2020 at 06:44 PM.
02-15-2020, 08:01 PM - 1 Like   #13
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Completely fluent in both of Canada's official languages. Natively English speaking, and 13 years of French Immersion.
02-16-2020, 02:41 AM - 1 Like   #14
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As I get older, I sometimes struggle with English ! However, I am told that is a bonus - the occasional flashes of silence make my conversation perfectly delightful.
02-16-2020, 03:54 AM - 1 Like   #15
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I was born in the UK and lived there for 35 years. I then moved to Canada and I have lived here for 27+ years so I guess I am now fluent in both English and Canadian eh!
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