Past Gymnastics Message Board Memories

[KristyJ]

Back in the 00s, it wasn't nearly so long since I'd done not particularly high level French and Spanish at school, and before reliable translation software. Sometimes I used to read news articles online and see how much I could make out of them, or the language forums on GW. Lost the habit, unfortunately, and then internet translation did the rest. And it's true what they say about use it or lose it!

I took six years of Spanish and a year of Latin in school, but it's been so long since I've used it conversationally that I'm a little stilted trying to speak it now. I can still read Spanish, and interestingly I can read a lot of Italian since it's adjacent. I've learned snippets of other languages and surprised myself by being able to decipher parts of the Romanian articles lately. I still Google translate anything I'm not confident in, though, to be safe.

 

[JaJa]

I was fluent in French until I started studying Spanish. Then got both languages mixed up and now speak neither.

 

[IratePanda]

I used to be fluent in Mandarin. Now it's serviceable, if rusty. I also understand French and Spanish quite well, but I'm hesitant to use either in conversation. I've dabbled in Khmer (Cambodian) and picked up enough to follow soap operas and old pop songs. I attempted to learn Japanese in grad school, but it kicked my ass.

 

[Big_rock_show]

I spend a lot of time in other countries and once I’m there, the language just kind of rolls out. When I hear Spanish, Portuguese or Norwegian in my own country I’m like a fish out of water

 

[QuietColours]

I spend a lot of time in other countries and once I’m there, the language just kind of rolls out. When I hear Spanish, Portuguese or Norwegian in my own country I’m like a fish out of water

I can only speak Korean in Korean grocery stores these days. (To be clear, it's still very poor Korean then, I was never actually good at it. But it's way more existent in the proper setting.) These days French is the only second language I'll claim, and I'll only use it in a professional setting if it's comprehension only, not production. I don't get anywhere near enough practice to actually speak or write it when it matters.

 

[rlayt]

Most Americans stumble through a mandatory foreign language course in junior/middle and/or high school but without travel or contact with non-Americans it’s not relevant. I grew up without any expectation of meeting or talking with non-English speakers. Now I regret lost opportunities.

 

[Seyonne]

My parents are French speaking and only spoke French around us when they didn’t want us to know what they were saying. It’s only now that they regret not teaching us.

 

[IratePanda]

My parents are French speaking and only spoke French around us when they didn’t want us to know what they were saying. It’s only now that they regret not teaching us.

My dad (RIP) grew up in a house where the adults spoke Yiddish when they didn't want the kids to understand. He turned the tables on them by studying German for 20+ years.

 

[Hatsumomo]

Used to know Japanese, forgot a lot of it in the two decades since my study abroad. My French is still passable, likely due to my learning the language starting in childhood through college. My Italian is rudimentary and I restarted learning Mandarin so that's coming back to me.

 

[RedBirdie]

My French is bad, my Italian worse, my extremely limited German absolutely deplorable.

 

[eanda]

I read books in French, and can follow most face-to-face conversations pretty well, just slow speaking. I still have trouble with news and movies/tv shows. I speak enough that If someone speaks to me in a third language, I actually struggle to speak English and automatically respond in French. Something just switches in my mind and I can't get English out.

 

[QuietColours]

You develop situational languages, and I think one of the big divides that develops is public vs. private. After living in Korea, we stayed with my sister in Austria for a month before coming back to the US. We both had tourist German, but the first language out of our mouths at the store was always Korean. We confused a lot of people. We did a trip to France at the same time, and my husband (low-level French) had the same problem, but I fell naturally back to the kind of French I spoke when I was studying it at university level. Ten years later, French is my default 'foreign language' response in normal circumstances, although rather atrophied. It's fun how brains work.

 

[eanda]

Apparently like many here, I could go on and on about languages and language developement. Another example of situational use for me: I count in Russian, whether I'm in English or French. I only remember a few polite phrases of Russian at this point, but that stuck with me for counting.