Education & Work What languages do you speak?

I'm currently in Indonesia, my sister lives here and speaks Indonesian fluently - it's inspired me to learn the language too, particularly as we come here regularly and learning language has always been an interest to me, despite completely wasting the opportunity to learn French in school.

It's made me wonder what languages you all speak, and how did you go about learning the second (or third, fourth) language after your birth language?

What have you learned as an adult, and how fluent are you?

 

Strine, a specific dialect fron Straya.

 

I've been in construction for 10 years so I'm fluent in French and Irish

 

I speak a couple fluently. Learnt in country as an adult....best way known to man is to get thrown into a country and work with locals.

You'd be surprised how fast you learn once you get hungry....

A less hardcore method though will be to join the local indo community in WA. They will have regular meet ups/parties and if you combine that with some classes you'll be on your way....

You.might end up with some lifelong friends too.

I find school is just not enough. Need to to have the social aspect happening as well for the language to sink in.

 

I speak English and IT

 

Only 2 languages.

Indonesian and English as second language - there were English education in school, but I only became fluent after coming here (over the years, with some crappy grammar). Hubby can only communicate with English so now my Indonesian become quite bad. After a while you start thinking in the language you use most.

Some Japanese - used to watch a lot of Japanese dorama and anime ... uh, I can speak some entry level otaku language

 

Italian: at high school and Uni but would pass for poor conversational now but I can understand a lot more than I can now say
French: enough to be polite and can guess a lot from Italian
Spanish: Dora and Diego have taught me quite well and I can guess/understand some from Italian
Bahasa: enough to be polite with about 10 phrases, be firm with market stall holders, and say no to everyone that wants to braid my daughters hair.
Chinese: hello and thankyou
Japanese: enough to be polite and not starve to death with a family of 5
American: fluent in housing terms (baseboards, countertops, caulking, siding, curb appeal...)

 

I'd love to live in country and learn - totally agree this is the best way. Hubby will take some convincing but maybe once the kids have finished school I can twist his arm

@Westminster - Haha Dora! I knew a bit back in the day but have now purposefully blocked it out as I can only hear it in Dora's voice!

 

Hi Jess
I speak Italian, my parents are Italian. I also studied this at high school and lived in Italy for 12 months when I was 19 years. We also speak Italian at home when I lived with parents and still do.

MTR

 

I'm currently living in Indonesia. Am trying to learn the language as it will make things a lot easier!

 

I'll practice mine on you next time we speak

 

English & Math (the universal languages)

Chinese (Mandarin) - basic greetings/introductions & pleasantries

Learning a 2nd language to a reasonable proficiency level is also an aspiration of mine.

 

English.
Bahasa Indonesia.
Bahasa Melayu (Yes there is a difference)
Horrible Basic level conversational mandarin
Cuss words in Hokkien (from living in Singapore)
Understand Hakka (Chinese dialect) as my parents are Hakka

 

Japanese- Some basic stuff
Chinese (Mandarin)- Basic stuff
Korean- Basic stuff
English- I thought my English was pretty good with couple of tertiary degrees completed in Australia and living in Sydney for over 26 years but still receive the "How long have you been in Australia" question when I am in Newcastle and also in the Northern Beaches.

 

Selamat tahun baru!

 

Gibberish I too speak do I.

 

Terimah Kasih!

(I had to google yours!!)

I've mainly learned to say No, thank you, just looking And thank you.

 

I speak German as a native speaker, but I also speak a little bit of Spanish and I'm trying to improve it. It was good enough to get the pub to make us vegetarian food when they didn't have any on the menu when we went to Spain, so I was pretty happy with that.

 

@Jess Peletier just remember:

makan dengan tangan kiri Anda

Or something like that..... otherwise you may get strange looks when eating.

 

@Indifference ngajarin yang tidak benar
Should ping @Leo2413 to see if he knows why