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

[tsjafo]

I've picked up bits and pieces of the languages of the different countries I've been stationed in. While I was never fluent, even the little bit I learned helped a lot.

[kightp]

As a child, I spoke two additional languages (Japanese and Spanish) with a child's fluency. I can still understand a fair amount of spoken Spanish and a little Japanese, but I long ago lost the ability to speak them myself, and I regret that.

[bandgeek]

I've always been fascinated by people who do not speak, but understand a foreign language. Is it that you understand what the sounds mean, but you can't make them yourself? Or that you can't construct the words and sentences? The grammar?

Thanks!

[kightp]

It's more a matter of confidence, I think. My pronunciation's pretty good (Japanese and Spanish are both fairly easy, pronunciation-wise), and in a pinch I could probably make myself understood in a one-word-at-a-time sort of way - asking directions, for instance, or ordering items from a menu.

But I don't feel confident attempting to form sentences and express complex thoughts. I have a shaky dread of choosing the wrong word and saying something entirely different than I mean to say. Like the time I tried to tell a Spanish-speaking friend I was embarrassed, and came out with "soy embarazado," which means "I'm pregnant."

[bandgeek]

Ah, yeah, I see what you mean. Makes sense.

:)

[ambrosiangel]

[kimera]

Of the languages I speak (well, other than English, obviously), I'm at varying levels... French, I'm literate and can understand maybe half of what's spoken to me. German... I can read, with the help of a dictionary. Japanese, I can read if there isn't too much Kanji. ASL, I can understand if it's signed slowly.

[nannyo]

I was properly bilingual, so much so that without thinking sometimes I would speak in french instead of english. Now, however, due to lack of use, I feel like that skill is slipping away. I get comfort from listening to french radio, because I can still soak in that and feel like I'm part of it.
N.