second languages?

I know a little German, from when I was a small child. I have learned a little more German since. That said, I am nowhere close to being able to speak German.

I shouldn't reply to threads for Alyssa like this (sorry, sis!) but she knows about as much German as I do.

I was born in Germany and lived there the first few years of my life and that's where I began school. I learned basic German there as well as a bit of French. I wish I had continued with German classes to refine my skills, but it wasn't offered at my schools. I'm fluent in it, but speak it the way a kindergarten would; I don't have an advanced vocabulary or strong grammatical skills in German. Instead I took French and Spanish for years and am now fluent in both. I also speak Swedish because my stepmom is Swedish and began teaching it to my sisters when they were babies.

Wow, Artemis! That's an impressive list!

My first language is English, my background language is Gaelic (which I spoke like a very small, very stupid child until I was about 16. It was my grandmother's language and after we moved to Australia when I was a toddler, any progress I might have made in the language halted until I decided to "learn" it as a teenager), my school language is/was German (which I first learnt a little of in Austria when I was 8, but then I went to the German school for high school, so I speak German like a particularly stupid teenager, not to mention it's been almost two years since I graduated), my second language is French (which I can hold a reasonably decent conversation in, after an hour or so of getting used to the language again) and my third language is Spanish (which I was never very good at and am now very rusty with). I'm at Bible college now, so I'm learning Hebrew and Koine Greek, but I don't think I'll ever be able to speak them, just read the Bible in them.

I'm not bilingual, because English is my first language and I don't speak any of the others as well as English.

Rachel96 said:

My first language is English, my background language is Gaelic (which I spoke like a very small, very stupid child until I was about 16. It was my grandmother's language and after we moved to Australia when I was a toddler, any progress I might have made in the language halted until I decided to "learn" it as a teenager), my school language is/was German (which I first learnt a little of in Austria when I was 8, but then I went to the German school for high school, so I speak German like a particularly stupid teenager, not to mention it's been almost two years since I graduated), my second language is French (which I can hold a reasonably decent conversation in, after an hour or so of getting used to the language again) and my third language is Spanish (which I was never very good at and am now very rusty with). I'm at Bible college now, so I'm learning Hebrew and Koine Greek, but I don't think I'll ever be able to speak them, just read the Bible in them.

I'm not bilingual, because English is my first language and I don't speak any of the others as well as English.

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German isn't as strong as could be hoped. I live quite one couple of the other major German towns, Hahndorf and Lobethal, and it's the same story there. German was made pretty much illegal during WWI, all the placenames were changed, German-speaking men were rounded up and taken to basically camps, and all the schools were forced to teach just in English. That's not to say German didn't persist for a while, but the last people who could really claim Barossadeutsch (South Australian dialect) as their first language are probably my parents' generation or older. One of my sister's friends' father spoke only German when he started school. In the nursing home in Hahndorf, it's not uncommon to find residents who speak only German in their old age, but you won't hear it much in the town, except on signs and taught in the primary schools. I went on a school trip once - with the Deutsche Schule, which is made mostly of recent expats - and we spoke German the whole time, as instructed, but our teachers "had" to translate for us. Mostly translating what we were saying for the benefit of tour guides and one poor waitress.

Unfortunately, South Australia is the furthest from anywhere, so it would be five or six hours on a 'plane to get to New Caledonia, I think (that's how long it takes to get to Auckland, anyway). We have a lot of languages here, though - there are about forty language options for study for a high school certificate. In schools, the man second languages are German, Italian, and Indonesian in primary school, and German, French, Japanese, and Chinese in high school (but only about 10% actually study a language in Year 12).

fireof god98 said:

can anybody here speak more than one language? i can speak English and i am learning Japaneses

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How are you learning Japanese-a course, online?

And to answer your question-I speak English and some Italian.

English is my first language, and I speak some Spanish as well. Once I become more fluent in the latter, I'll be moving onto German, French, and *maybe* Russian.

Artemis97 said:

I was born in Germany and lived there the first few years of my life and that's where I began school. I learned basic German there as well as a bit of French. I wish I had continued with German classes to refine my skills, but it wasn't offered at my schools. I'm fluent in it, but speak it the way a kindergarten would; I don't have an advanced vocabulary or strong grammatical skills in German. Instead I took French and Spanish for years and am now fluent in both. I also speak Swedish because my stepmom is Swedish and began teaching it to my sisters when they were babies.

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That is an impressive list, Artemis!

How did you find French? I was considering learning French for a bit, but i struggled tremendously with the pronunciation

English is my primary language I took Spanish two years in high school and went on a missions trip to Ecuador and realized I was miserably bad at Spanish... And this past year (Senior HS) I started New Testament Greek. I'm either going to minor or second major (<not grammatically correct but I don't know how else to put it...) in Biblical Languages in College

Depending on my ultimate choice of major, minor, double major, traveling abroad, etc I could end up learning Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, or German. These languages all together will probably take about six years total to learn. I am going to be a freshman at Concordia University Irvine My declared major is Chemistry with a minor in Biblical Languages (two years Greek, one year Hebrew)... but I'm not sure if I'll stick with that. It depends on my interests, strengths, and passions. I hope to continue at CUI to get a Master's Degree in Theology, during which I would do research in my ancient languages and work on learning German

Anyone else out there learning dead/ancient languages? Or the Biblical Languages? Am I alone in my Theology-Geek-dom?

No, not at all! I'm in the first year at Bible College this year doing BA Ministries (Biblical Languages), which would take three years if I were doing it full-time, but as it is will probably take me four or five years. We're meant to learn Greek first and then start Hebrew in the second year, but because the Hebrew lecturer is retiring at the end of the year, I'm doing both at once. It's two years of each (grammar in the first year, exegesis in the second year), so I'll probably have to go to one of the other theological colleges in down for the second year of Hebrew. I'm at Adelaide College of Ministries (http://www.acm.sa.edu.au/) which is small and non-denominational.

So aside from Greek and Hebrew this year, which are... interesting, don't get me wrong, but don't really feel like I'm learning a language because it's all memorising grammar and vocab and reading, and no speaking or formulating my own sentences, I'm also studying by correspondence for a Cert. HE in Gaelic Studies... My background language which I don't speak very well, but love to bits. It's not really an ancient language, and it's certainly not dead, but it is a pretty old language!

I'm not sure what you mean by "will take about six years total to learn". I can see how this might work for the dead/ancient languages, where you've "learnt" them when you can read the Bible and parse any verb you come across, but... I mean, I spent five years "learning" German and I still don't feel properly fluent. The definition of when you have "learnt" a language is much trickier, unless you're going to be learning Fruehneuhochdeutsch in order to read Luther...

Rachel96 said:

No, not at all! I'm in the first year at Bible College this year doing BA Ministries (Biblical Languages), which would take three years if I were doing it full-time, but as it is will probably take me four or five years. We're meant to learn Greek first and then start Hebrew in the second year, but because the Hebrew lecturer is retiring at the end of the year, I'm doing both at once. It's two years of each (grammar in the first year, exegesis in the second year), so I'll probably have to go to one of the other theological colleges in down for the second year of Hebrew. I'm at Adelaide College of Ministries (http://www.acm.sa.edu.au/) which is small and non-denominational.

So aside from Greek and Hebrew this year, which are... interesting, don't get me wrong, but don't really feel like I'm learning a language because it's all memorising grammar and vocab and reading, and no speaking or formulating my own sentences, I'm also studying by correspondence for a Cert. HE in Gaelic Studies... My background language which I don't speak very well, but love to bits. It's not really an ancient language, and it's certainly not dead, but it is a pretty old language!

I'm not sure what you mean by "will take about six years total to learn". I can see how this might work for the dead/ancient languages, where you've "learnt" them when you can read the Bible and parse any verb you come across, but... I mean, I spent five years "learning" German and I still don't feel properly fluent. The definition of when you have "learnt" a language is much trickier, unless you're going to be learning Fruehneuhochdeutsch in order to read Luther...

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What I meant by 6 years was the classes, I'm definitely not a crazy genius linguist or anything. And yeah, I do want to read Luther My college has this really cool section in the library called "Luther Lounge" that has a bunch of old German theology books by Luther, Walther, etc... Plus Grad Schools usually require a Modern language for research.

On a related note, to take classes in all those languages would require a major change, which probably won't happen, but I'll wait and see what God calls me to.

I start classes this Monday!!! So excited

Mandarin is my second language. To be fair though, I am an ethnic Chinese myself, and my Chinese isn't particularly good

However, I would still consider myself bilingual, and I really hope my Chinese-language ability can be used to serve the Lord, maybe by preaching the Gospel to those in China or Taiwan.

My first language is French, and I'm learning English and German. Yet, I always better have liked Latin. I know a bit of Greek (I can read, write and I remember some declensions, but that's all I'm afraid)

Gerald3199> Wow, impressive! Do you know how to write in Mandarin?

Salut thehehe! Your English is brilliant. I wouldn't know you weren't a native speaker. My French is both rusty and never that good.

Greek is pretty similar to German grammatically (very, very case-based) - like German got a little bit more complex. I think Latin is somewhere in between. I only know a few phrases of Latin myself, and haven't ever really looked into the grammar of it.

I think there's a French-speaking forum around here somewhere if you're interesting in hanging out there, although from memory it's mostly French-learners looking to practice...

thehehe said:

Gerald3199> Wow, impressive! Do you know how to write in Mandarin?

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Yeah I'm able to, I need to write 300-400 word essays on a regular basis for homework.

Gerald3199 said:

Yeah I'm able to, I need to write 300-400 word essays on a regular basis for homework.

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Impressive! Mandarin is challenging to learn. At least for me it has been!

I am a native Portuguese speaker. I also speak (from best to worst) English, Spanish and French (my French still has a lot of rough edges to it, actually). I am learning German and (mostly just for fun, because it is completely useless) Esperanto.