Language Poll

[bandgeek]

I need to collect some very loose, unscientific data about how others feel about their language abilities (or lack thereof) for a linguistics course I'm taking this semester. I'd really appreciate it if you'd take the time to fill out this short poll:

ETA: By "speak" a language, I mean to be able to hold a simple conversation with someone in that

Comments

[mactavish]

Try posting on tickybox, too.

[bandgeek]

Great idea. Thanks!

[thisficklemob]

I ended up saying I spoke one language, because honestly, my conversational level in French at this point is really at about "Ou-est la biblioteque?" level. I took French in college, enough to satisfy a requirment, but because they placed me too high to start with, I was missing some crucial stuff, and never really caught on to things like when to use the subjonctif. Also, I'm pretty sure if a situation called for me to speak French, like with an actual French person, I'd choke. (As I did in high school with Montreal cabbies - I was too chicken to even try to speak French with them.) I do watch france, but I don't usually bother to try to read the posts in French, and creating French on my own requires both a dictionary and things like online verb conjugation charts. So saying I "speak" it would stretch things a lot

[gailg]

I did the opposite. English is the only language I'm fluent in, but I've studied Spanish, French, Welsh, and Japanese, to various extents. Even though I can't speak them fluently, I can speak them a little and I do think that learning them has made me understand other cultures better, so I decided to change my selection from "one language" to "three or more."

[bandgeek]

Hee! Thanks for such a complete answer. :)

[wcg]

I only consider myself fluent in English, so that's what I listed. I know enough Spanish and Japanese to get myself in trouble in bars, and I can puzzle out Latin given time and a dictionary.

[juliansinger]

I used to be pretty fluent in Spanish; now I'm only mildly so. If I used it enough to be really competent in it, I'd get much more out of it.

[crispy47]

Re: "Do you feel that your language abilities enable you to or hinder you from connecting with or learning about other cultures

[bandgeek]

Ah, so you mean that you feel hindered more by your lack of ability, or by your current level of ability? That makes sense.

I guess when I was asking the question, I meant for "ability" to mean positive ability, not necessarily a lack thereof.

Thanks!