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Got to thinking, and maybe this is just an "american" thing, but I've noticed a lot of the foreign members, or the majority in this case, type better English than many around here lol. Just curious as to why so many know English and we're you raised that way, was it out of necessity, or just fun. I've always been fascinated with language especially being I'm 96% deaf. I'm half german and always wanted to be fluent in German but always stop myself because not like I'd have anyone to talk to that speaks it. I was born and raised in texas so all that was taught in school was spanish. I had 9 years and remember very little as I didn't like the language and the whole "if you are in america, then speak english" issue we run into here. Hell I remember going to Mexico several times including once with my Spanish class, and they all spoke English.

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I'm American,my mothers from Belgium ,so when I was young I spoke French, never really used it so I lost most of it. Started studying Spanish on my own to flirt with all the beautiful Latina women . My wife is Colombian so I speak Spanish very well, pisses my mom off .
 
I was born in Scotland and came to Holland 15 years ago just to see what it was like, I liked it so much that for five years I kept coming back in the summer and after that decided to stay, I started to learn Dutch mainly for fun and to help me in my work, many people in Holland over the age of 60 don't or won't speak English, I started with basic books, listened to people in the pubs and read the subtitles on television, I learned mainly because I wanted to and did it all myself, never did a class or anything like that, my wife is Dutch and speaks no English so at home I speak Dutch the whole time, my mentality generally is "It's nice that most people in Holland can speak English, but they have the right to hear their own language in their own country".

In Holland it is required for them to learn English in school, I would assume that that is so also for other European countries, they learn Oxford English rather than local dialect which is why those who do speak it do it very good indeed.

My first couple of years here were very embarrassing when I struggled to ask for a packet of ciggies, but a child of three could have good long conversation with her mum, lol
 
You said you are near deaf, I lost a large part of
my hearing being ajet engine machanic so I have learned to read lips ,I think it helps when learning a new language because I have to pay very close attention to someone speaking to me , it like audio/visual learning ,how a word sounds and how the lips and mouth move to form the words.
 
I'm from Germany, and as MadBrush wrote, it's mandatory to learn english in school. Additionally i got some relatives in the US an Canada, i visited
occasionally in my early years;) While i'm a litte bit in target shooting an reloading, i need to read some literature (the good ones are from US an UK)
and finally due to my job in IT (what is getting less now).
Sorry for any grammar or orthographic mistakes :)
 
We have 11 official languages in South Africa. Afrikaans and English are the two I do. Afrikaans is the youngest language in the world. It's a mixture of Dutch, a drop of French, a titbit of German and a swirl of English. Afrikaans people can pick up English very quickly but English people struggle with Afrikaans. Being Afrikaans we can start understanding and speak English from before school.
 
Being deaf hurts a little I guess in understanding, at least spoken language. Even though I knew Spanish pretty fluently as a kid, I never could comprehend spoken. Too many rolling r and whatnot. I notice a lot of s sound in german. I don't know much german but I understand spoken better than spanish. I learned to speak by mimicking the vibrations on a balloon on my speech therapists throat. She would show me a word, say it then put a balloon on her throat and I would feel it as she spoke the word and learned to mimic the vibrations to speak properly. If you met me you would never know I'm practically deaf. I don't speak with a deaf accent at all. Without hearing aids all I hear is loud bass. No midtones or high pitches at all. German seems a little more bass filled which I enjoy. I just have a hard time with stuff like the 3 versions of the like die, and when to use them. Being English native, the whole male female neuter forms of "the" in German I cannot comprehend yet. Can't get past secular nature of the words. Don't even get me started on umlaut's lol

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As a Brit in Spain, I speak some Spanish (badly) but at least I try. Many Brits here don't even bother. In the UK foreign languages are not taught early enough and French is the most commonly offered. What amazes me is that in the UK they fall over backwards to give out translations of governmental forms in heaven knows how many languages. Here, if you buy medicine, it is unlikely to even have English instructions included, in the UK it all comes with at least 10 languages.....
 
Personally I lived in California for about two years with no fellow swedes around, that does the trick.

In general I think that in small countries like sweden where foreign tv shows are not dubbed kids learn english early. Internet only accelerated things.
 
Its true, "others" speak and type English better than I do....but then again, I make up my own words in my kingdom lololol!! I speak too much slang, dunno why, just always been the odd ball (no pun intended friend) :D
 
I was born in Austria ( like Arnold) :) and was only four when my parents came here to Croatia but I do speak fluid German. Writing German I find difficult but with a bit of help from the computer it is ok.
English I learned in school, it was a must :)
And of course there is the Croatian as well :)
 
Most in America use slang to often or texting to type things out.
Granted I was born in America but I do speak several languages, but only can read and write in a few of them I speak.
But working for a college I have found most international students do speak English very well, From talking with them most of them start a second language in grammar school.
 
Im not english ;) my primary language is french ... but i try to perfect myself

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It's funny how most of the world makes it a requirement to learn english, yet here its a very loose requirement. I never took a Spanish test EVER yet always passed. I think it would be easier to learn when you are that young. I find it hard to break the habits of how I pronounce letters vs how they are supposed to sound. That and figuring out all the unique rules and instances for proper grammar.

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We learnt French and German at school, but not until the age of 11, by then all the French and German penfriends we wrote to, or exchanged visits with, could already speak pretty good English, as they started learning either at home from a very young age, or when they first started school.

When I went to Holland I was keen to pick up a few phrases, but apart from written signs, I didn't learn anything, as I didn't hear a single word of Dutch the whole time I was there. And when I was in Prague I sat next to a group of people all happily chatting away in English, and was shocked when I realised that they were a mixed group of Czech, French and German.

My hubbs is ok at German (he lived there for a while as a kid when his dad was in the Army) and I can get by in French, though I understand better than I speak. But i do feel embarrassed some times that we don't put the same effort into leaning other common languages, as many countries seem to. We just assume everyone speaks ours. Mind you, I thought Americans and English spoke the same language, but some phrases and words don't always seem to translate well, and lots of Americans have asked me if I was Australian.
 
I think we have 2 languages here, English then "american" lol you wouldn't believe how many times I've heard some redneck shout out speak American dammit! I think language as a whole has lost its touch. It's abused now and used improperly. I mean hell they have slang words in the dictionary. Being from Texas we always said ain't ain't a word. We'll now it is because it's in the dictionary now. It's a lot of work learning a new language, and if there isn't a specific reason to need to learn it, I find it hard to stay motivated. Especially with no support and looks of that's stupid and a waste of time.

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My mother tongue is French, but when I was 11 our family moved to an other part of Canada where English was more prominent and so learned English in a lot more intense way then I was learning in school before. Now I can say I am fluent in both French and English spoken and written :)
 
My mother tongue is French, but when I was 11 our family moved to an other part of Canada where English was more prominent and so learned English in a lot more intense way then I was learning in school before. Now I can say I am fluent in both French and English spoken and written :)
So being fluently bilingual, what do you think in your head, french or English lol. I'm curious about weird stuff like that. I struggle with when trying to memorize dutch words, in my head I think English and attach it to that instead of keeping it a seperate identity.

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My uncle (passed years ago) was mexican, so I hung out with the hispanic part of my family while growing up, grandma would teach me spanish, and my uncle would tell me swear words lol....but sadly enough, I only remember a few words, BUT, I still have the recipe for home made torts!! yum yum!!!
 
Its true, "others" speak and type English better than I do....but then again, I make up my own words in my kingdom lololol!! I speak too much slang, dunno why, just always been the odd ball (no pun intended friend) :D
so do you speak yopper or troll
 
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