How many languages did you learn in school?

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:59 pm

My boys are taught japanese and Indonesian

I was taught French, German, Italian, Russian, Greek, latin, Manderin chinese.

what languages are taught in your schools now and what were you taught.

Post by **Betty Boop** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:03 pm

Me, English and French.

Now my children are learning English, French and Chav.

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:07 pm

Chav:yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

Oh yes forgot about the "sick" and "sweet" and "cool" that doesn't actually mean "cool"..............but means something totally different. My kids told me off one day for saying "cool" . :-2

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:15 pm

fuzzywuzzy;1151957 wrote: My boys are taught japanese and Indonesian

I was taught French, German, Italian, Russian, Greek, latin, Manderin chinese.

what languages are taught in your schools now and what were you taught.

Show off:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: :wah:

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:23 pm

OI!!! I didnt say I remembered them :yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

Actually it did come in handy when travelling because although I'd forgotten the intricacies at least I could catch on to what people were saying

I just think it's important that kids know things like this . they teach english so we can communicate so therefore why not other languages?

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:28 pm

fuzzywuzzy;1151975 wrote: OI!!! I didnt say I remembered them :yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

Actually it did come in handy when travelling because although I'd forgotten the intricacies at least I could catch on to what people were saying

I just think it's important that kids know things like this . they teach english so we can communicate so therefore why not other languages?

Funny enough - I was taught a bit of English and the beginnings of French at school - forty years ago.

A couple of years back I went to night school for a couple of years to learn German - at the end of it I could remember more French than I could German so I gave up.

C'est la vie!

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:29 pm

Yes, learning languages is very important. In high school I learned Spanish. In college, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Middle Eyptian, some French and Italian, and various other odds and ends of ancient languages. (Mayan, Assyrian, stuff like that)

Now they offer Spanish, French and German at the high school level. I wish they had more choices, you never know what a student will be interested in learning.

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:31 pm

fuzzywuzzy;1151975 wrote: OI!!! I didnt say I remembered them :yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

Actually it did come in handy when travelling because although I'd forgotten the intricacies at least I could catch on to what people were saying

I just think it's important that kids know things like this . they teach english so we can communicate so therefore why not other languages?
I agree and i think we become very insular if we believe we only ever need our own in life. We have very close muslim pals and i have 'forced' myself over the years to learn. It's strange at times as i will know what they are saying but i couldn't repeat it, if that makes sense. I'm Ok with French and know all the important sayings that you learn in school that you are going to sooooo need later in life, such as :

The monkey is on the branch .....le sange est sur la branche

The cat is on the chair

The mouse is under the table

These come in very handy when asking train times on the Metro.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:31 pm

chonsigirl;1151980 wrote: Yes, learning languages is very important. In high school I learned Spanish. In college, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Middle Eyptian, some French and Italian, and various other odds and ends of ancient languages. (Mayan, Assyrian, stuff like that)

Now they offer Spanish, French and German at the high school level. I wish they had more choices, you never know what a student will be interested in learning.

Wow! I'm more than a bit impressed (although I'm not too sure how often the Assyrian will come in handy).

Languages were never a good point unless computers spoke them.

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:35 pm

Totally agree chonsi . For example if you learn french and german you suddenly realise where english came from .

I see language as a living entity it never dies but progresses on and on until it turns into something new. I think English is a very good example of this.

scholle-kid · Post by **scholle-kid** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:55 pm

I learned Spanish from being raised around Spanish speaking people , in school they taught English and at home we speak a kind of hill billy American. And yes their is a big difference between the English language and the slang that can only be described as American. When I started posting on the forums I learned real quick the difference.

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:11 pm

just English thank goodness, would have never used french here.

AussiePam · Post by **AussiePam** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:56 pm

How on earth did you manage, in Australia, Fuzzy, to go to a school not only with that number of languages available, but a school where you were able to take so many?????? I'm impressed with you, and with the school.

We only had two ancient and two modern European languages offered in secondary school, and none in primary school. And with compulsory maths and science subjects and English, that limited the number of languages anyone could take as well. I managed the four, but at the expense of other subjects.

My kids, in the ACT, got a European language in primary school and in secondary school had to do two years of Japanese plus two of a choice of French or German.

As many of you have said, I think it's excellent for kids to learn a language other than their own. Not only does it give them a better appreciation of their own language, but opens up their eyes to other cultures too.

mrsK · Post by **mrsK** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:09 am

I have learnt,a little French,Greek & mainly swearing in Italian;):yh_rotfl

It comes in handy at times;)

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:39 am

mrsK;1152123 wrote: I have learnt,a little French,Greek & mainly swearing in Italian;):yh_rotfl

It comes in handy at times;)

:wah::wah: You are so funny Mrs. K,

I had a few years of Spanish and French. Good for swearing in Italian also:yh_rotfl

mikeinie · Post by **mikeinie** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:18 am

English, French and Swearing

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:33 am

I went to a small secondary school, the language we had to take was Spanish. I took 3 years of it, and still cannot really understand anything that is said to me in Spanish. But I can read it, just fine.

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:07 am

we had french, german, spanish and latin in high school. (I can't remember if there were any more

) They were electives though and I elected not to take any :p but I grew up bilingual so it wasn't really a big deal to me. Now I'd love to know spanish. I do know a lot of words thanks to having spanish speaking friends my whole life so that's cool. :-6

Hope6 · Post by **Hope6** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:51 am

I didn't take any languages in high school, but i took a little Spanish in college.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:48 am

How many languages did you learn in school?

Define learn.

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:16 pm

Spanish & French....fairmay la port el gordo gate!

AussiePam · Post by **AussiePam** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:02 pm

sunny104;1152210 wrote: we had french, german, spanish and latin in high school. (I can't remember if there were any more

) They were electives though and I elected not to take any :p but I grew up bilingual so it wasn't really a big deal to me. Now I'd love to know spanish. I do know a lot of words thanks to having spanish speaking friends my whole life so that's cool. :-6

You grew up bilingual, Sunny. What other language was that?

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:59 pm

There is a theory going around that all Scots are bi-lingual (Scots & English), but that doesn't cover it. My mother tongue is actually Gàidhlig (Gaelic) - that's what we spoke at home. I've lived in the Central Belt long enough to acquire fluency in Scots, and at school I took German, Spanish and Norwegian.

My kids settled for German and French.......

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:32 pm

AussiePam;1152117 wrote: How on earth did you manage, in Australia, Fuzzy, to go to a school not only with that number of languages available, but a school where you were able to take so many?????? I'm impressed with you, and with the school.

We only had two ancient and two modern European languages offered in secondary school, and none in primary school. And with compulsory maths and science subjects and English, that limited the number of languages anyone could take as well. I managed the four, but at the expense of other subjects.

My kids, in the ACT, got a European language in primary school and in secondary school had to do two years of Japanese plus two of a choice of French or German.

As many of you have said, I think it's excellent for kids to learn a language other than their own. Not only does it give them a better appreciation of their own language, but opens up their eyes to other cultures too.

This is my secondary school pammy, and we didn't take languages as such. It was compulsory when I was there. I also went to St John's across the road.

Our Lady of Mercy College - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

AussiePam · Post by **AussiePam** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:30 pm

Thanks Fuzzy. Very interesting. My daughter found that the French she learned at secondary school (and from me occasionally speaking it to her) was not all that helpful when she was faced with actually living and working in France, though I suppose anything is a start. She now speaks the language reasonably fluently, thanks to everyday exposure and a different level of willingness to learn plus, of course, one to one Alliance Francaise classes arranged specially for her by the television channel.

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:05 pm

We had Mr Chambon (spelling?) as our french teacher and apparently he taught us very well . Not just the backward verbs and such but he was a stickler for accent and everyday conversation . To be honest it was quite confusing because our books would say one thing and then he'd go and tell us how it's really said.

I guess it's like learning English ...........who do you know that says "good day " or "How do you do?" as a greeting? I think language teachers should be of the country of origin so they can explain not just the liturary language but the general overall meanings and customs of such. Our Italian teacher was Italian with a heavy accent. Our chinese teacher was chinese and our german teacher german. and it went on, our Russian teacher was from the Ukraine. If you have no perception of these peoples lives and stories then learning their language will mean nothing . Just learning what these teachers mothers pet names for them were meant a lot to us . It meant something . I rembered our russian teacher telling us how her mother used to call her in for dinner . In that language. I remember thinking that's so cute. Then she told us of the way her father shouted to her when they were escaping ....in her own language. Here we had the real person standing there telling us her life and using her own language to descibe it and it enthralled us and i still remember the words. she told us of taking her new born brother for show and tell stuffed in her school bag but using her own language of her mother stopping her in the street and retrieving her brother (he was also the science teacher at our school ) She never did elaberate on all the words her mother used but i'm sure there were a few swear words in there becuase her translation came up rather short. Personally if something doesnt' mean anything to you then you won't learn it well.

There you go Nomad .....that's what I mean by learn.

AussiePam · Post by **AussiePam** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:16 pm

fuzzywuzzy;1152631 wrote:

There you go Nomad .....that's what I mean by learn.

Absolutely excellent. My first French teacher (outside family) was Belgian. My first German teacher (outside family) was from Berlin - and I think I probably still sound a bit like a Berliner though I've only visited the city a couple of times. I had a Russian boyfriend (from Harbin in China) and my teacher was, like yours from the Ukraine. My Italian conversation teacher was also a Russian by birth.. And my Irish accent is pure Donegal. I have loads of memories of my teachers talking about their life - and we also, down the track a bit, had classes in culture, history etc. Did my final Irish dissertation on the beauty of uillean pipes.. grin... and it's almost St Patrick's Day.

I'm meant to be getting lunch and here I am raving on....

:sneaky: But it is Saturday.. and I need down time.