damian 0 Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 The guy I work with is German. His gf is Spanish. Both of them speak the other's language fluently. When I am around they speak fluent English. When they are talking between themselves they speak fluent French even though neither of them are French. They are fluent in 4 languages, only 33 years old and they studied economics at university, not languages. It really is quite amazing. Link to post Share on other sites
slow 0 Posted September 12, 2004 Share Posted September 12, 2004 Yes, some Europeans can speak many languages. Most Swiss speak Swiss German, French and sometimes Italian, too. I think European languages(languages use alphabet) are quite similar and not so difficult to be muitilingual if I compare to non-alphabet languages. My friend told me in Cuba, she is not interested in language at all. So, she didn't like me to try to talk to Cuban people with English or Spanish. I don't feel comfortable to be in a Japanese group and always speak Japanese when I travel abroad. I think multilingual is cool and make our life more colorful. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted September 12, 2004 Author Share Posted September 12, 2004 Hi Slow, Certainly it would make it easier, but I don't think it is simple even though the letters (alphabet) are the same. Interestingly the Spanish girl says that German is the hardest. The German guys says that English is the hardest however concedes that perfect German is a challenge even for a German. Most English speakers to 'stupid' to realise that English is too hard for them. Myself included. I can't work this out: since leaving Japan my willingness and ability to speak Japanese has more than tripled. Now that I am not there I feel compelled to maintain what I learnt. In a way it is back to front. Checking out Cyrillic recently. Odd stuff. I was also talking to a Bulgarian girl and guess what?! She was very well aware that Japan had a special licence to produce healthy Bulgarian yoghurt. She thought it was very amusing (as I do). I let her know that I ate if most days for breakfast from Lawsons so she asked me what Lawsons was. I told her. Am I not a cultural bridge? Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted September 12, 2004 Share Posted September 12, 2004 I am always impressed when I hear about people like this. Link to post Share on other sites
SHAG 0 Posted September 12, 2004 Share Posted September 12, 2004 I have a friend who is now in France who can speak 5 languages fluently and about 4 others pretty well. It is amazing. Admittedly, I can't check what he's saying, but I'm pretty sure it's true. It seems almost as if once you can speak more than a few, others just fall into place. I'm sure that's not the case (!). Ha. He's a suave, handsome bastard as well. Link to post Share on other sites
IceEiji 0 Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 I wish I had paid more attention to English when at school. I learnt more when I was adult, and it is diffuclt , I am sure you know. It must be wonderful to be able for many languages. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted September 14, 2004 Share Posted September 14, 2004 I wish I'd paid more attention in Latin classes. Link to post Share on other sites
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