Is English your native tongue

[QuattroDelta]

I don't think that's correct. While there surely are latin-derived words in nearly every language, you might be thinking about proto-indo-european which is a reconstructed language using the roots of several languages.

And yes Hungarian and Finnish are not a part of the tree because they're Finno-Ugric. Estonian is also a Finno-Ugric language.

The Latin part is wrong. Galician is missing.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Born in Saudi Arabia, I spoke fluent Urdu/Hindi because I was an Indian but I spoke a little Arabic because my dad would talk to me here and there back then in Arabic.

Funny story, I didn't know a lick of English when I moved to the States and I hated learning it because of all the conflicting rules and exceptions. But now I speak it fluently, only I can hardly speak Urdu anymore.

 

[Sanji Himura]

I speak English as a native tongue, however, I can understand Spanish, Portuguese, and some French. By understanding, I mean that I can read the language and get into minor discussions in those languages.

In 2014, I hope to have learned Japanese and master those languages.

 

[White & Nerdy]

Yes

 

[Rage Racer]

English is not my native language, I've been learning it since the age of 5, then in school, and two years in the university. But school lessons are nothing compared to video games (in terms of learning a language)! Thanks GTA San Andreas and Metal Gear Sold 3 for that, I've played them in English. Later, GTA IV and MGS 4 helped with that, too, these games contain a lot of dialogues and are very good for learning the language.
I always had the highest grades on English both in school and the university, and it was much easier for me than for the most of my classmates. Now I can easily communicate on English-speaking forums. However, sometimes I see some rare words and have to open the Google Translator.

My native language is Russian, I can also read Ukrainian (because it's pretty similar, as well as Belarusian) but not speak it fluently.
I also know Serbian a little (travelled to Montenegro several times), it's more different from Russian, because it's a South Slavic language (unlike Ukrainian, which is East Slavic), but I still could talk to the locals without switching to English.
Tried to learn German, but there was no real need for it so I didn't go deep into this. However, sometimes I still try translating the Rammstein songs.

 

[Slash]

100% American style English. Was forced learn Spanish in school but didn't care for it and flunked it 5 years in a row where only 2 were required. Eventually they pushed me through. Don't care to learn anything else either.

 

[Jimlaad43]

 

[dxm8975]

My native language is Japanese and not English, I began learning it at first hand at the age of 12 in the first grade of junior high school(but in the very first period at school I sucked so awful at it) so technically I started to pick it up in earnest at the age of 14 when I was on the third grade there, and the reason why I started to learn it was not only because it was the most passable tongue for international communication, tradings and acquiring more information about a wide variety of matters but also I was very partial to learning foreign languages as a whole.

Seriously the lessons are nothing more than a motivation for students to make them want to dig themselves more into the realm of study in my opinion(and just end up blanking out totally without after-class revisions), but what contributed me to become hot stuff at it was rather by self-education through playing video games, listening to songs and watching movies with English subtitles(I really liked resident evil series and playing that since I was 5, other than that call of duty, metal gear solid were also among my favourites), reading novels and internet pages ans so on. I reached at current level of the language in about 2 years and what helped me get to the point the most is loitering in this forum - laying my eyes on what other members wrote in the threads(regardless of where they come from and English is their first language or not), deepening vocabularies, word order and how to compose phrases(which was one of the hardest part for me as my native tongue being vastly different from the language) and which is I think why I became better than my classmates in most parts of exams as well.

Other than English and Japanese I speak Russian, Spanish and a bit of French too. (and thus far learning Portuguese and Arabic too)

 

[MoLiEG]

100% American style English. Was forced learn Spanish in school but didn't care for it and flunked it 5 years in a row where only 2 were required. Eventually they pushed me through. Don't care to learn anything else either.

Just curious. Spanish is mandatory @ school in the US????

 

[Doodle]

Two language classes in high school are mandatory here to graduate. I seem to be doing pretty well in my Spanish class thankfully.

 

[Joel]

didn't care for it...Don't care to learn anything else either.

What a surprise. God forbid you expand your horizons.

Just curious. Spanish is mandatory @ school in the US????

Not sure how it works but I'd assume you need some sort of foreign language credit to graduate, and it probably varies by state. For me it was French class in elementary school from grade 4-8, then I was only required to take French in grade 9 but I took it each year of high school.

As for me, native English speaker. I'm always impressed with the English of GTP's international members, and it's often better than people in my daily life who grew up in Canada.

 

[Slash]

Just curious. Spanish is mandatory @ school in the US????

Yup. Used to be French and Spanish and then they cut French.

@Noob616


Am I not allowed to not want to learn another language?

 

[Joel]

@Noob616
Am I not allowed to not want to learn another language?

Do what you like, I was just commenting on how it isn't surprising you wouldn't want to or wouldn't see the value in it, which is a shame.

 

[Slash]

I certainly see how it could be useful but I never really cared enough to actively seek it out.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Just curious. Spanish is mandatory @ school in the US????

No, it varies. Where I live it is French, German or Spanish that you can learn and graduate from HS with, other states or even counties with in states might be different. There is no mandatory law overall that says Spanish is the need to know language of High school grads that will forget it out the door.

Also, English is my first language and the others I'm trying to learn are obviously secondary.

 

[Danny]

It never ceases to amaze me how fluidly (and fluently) non-native English speakers communicate on this forum. I learned German for 8 years and I'm still nowhere near fluent.

The spelling and grammar rules here not only keep everything neat and consistent, they're a great place to refine English skills, and it's great to see some of the development people go through. It's oddly satisfying to take a look in the Introductions forum, see the odd person here with a shaky grasp of English, and then see them a few months down the line with a dramatic improvement.

So well done guys. You're all awesome.

Edit: Yes, English is my first language. I have an accent that's a complete mystery to anyone not living within 40 miles of here, though.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

What a surprise. God forbid you expand your horizons.

Not sure how it works but I'd assume you need some sort of foreign language credit to graduate, and it probably varies by state. For me it was French class in elementary school from grade 4-8, then I was only required to take French in grade 9 but I took it each year of high school.

I dropped it after the required first year of high school, and regret it now, even if it was dirty french versus proper .

As for me, native English speaker. I'm always impressed with the English of GTP's international members, and it's often better than people in my daily life who grew up in Canada.

Absolutely, this. I've had to peer edit enough terrible papers in school from people who were born here, speaking English their whole lives, and those have been far worse than what some posters are capable of here. It's all sorts of impressive to see people pick up the nuances of English when it's their second (or third, or more) language.

Me? Only English. Like I said, I dropped French after grade nine, and slowly forgot most of it. My step mom speaks European French and Italian fluently, and I've been meaning to ask her to teach me, since I feel I'm missing out only knowing a single language.

 

[kikie]

Officially

Dutch = first language

French = second language (second national language of Belgium)

English = third language

German = fourth language

 

[Joel]

I dropped it after the required first year of high school, and regret it now, even if it was dirty french versus proper .

Actually I'll be totally honest, I was going to drop it after grade 9 but there was a girl I really liked who was taking grade 10 French and I knew I'd be in her class since there were only ~25 taking the class. Ended up enjoying the class a lot on its own merits and taking it through high school. Took it first year of university too, but had to stop this year because I just didn't have room for it in my course schedule. Planning to go to France next year, I see that as the nuclear option, I've studied it in school for 9 years and if I don't go and learn how to speak it then it's just wasted time.

 

[Akmuq]

English is my first language. I'm pretty poor at Irish, and dreadful at French, despite studying it for 6 years.

 

[Jet Badger]

It's my second language. I had english in school for 10 years and now for 3 more in the university but was never too keen on learning it. I mostly learned it through reading stuff on the internet. I agree with the others, the grammar-enforced four years on GTP definitely improved my skills even though I still make a lot of mistakes and usually have to think for a while to properly say what I want to say.

I had german classes in school for several years too. All I can say in german though is "Ich liebe meine Katze". And I understand a bit of russian. Swears mostly...

 

[GT5Power]

Nope.

I'm Greek.

And I'm pretty good at German.

 

[Barra333]

Grew up on Australian English, which is a mystery accent to some people who I have met around the world. Having spent a cumulative 1.5 years in North America, I got reasonably good at picking regional accents. A year and a bit in the UK (mostly in Scotland) also got me to understand some of the regional accents floating around. I cannot for the life of me fathom how non-English speakers understand anything said by anyone from Glasgow or the highlands.

I learned Indonesian at high school, and was pretty proficient at it by the time I stopped. 14 years later, and all but the basics are gone.

Am now trying to learn Dutch. After 6 months, I am at a point where I can get the gist of written stuff and the topic of conversations, but am a long way from holding a conversation with anyone. Is sometimes difficult to get motivated to learn because 1) I am yet to meet someone under the age of 80 who cant speak English and 2) If I move again when my contract finishes, then it is unlikely any Dutch skills will be much use anywhere else.

Have also travelled enough to be sort of restaurant menu literate in Spanish and French too (ie I have a pretty good idea of what i am ordering)

 

[ziopaperone]

My mother tongue is Italian (although frequently mixed with, and/or substituted by, my local dialect).

I started to be exposed to English in my kindergarten years, when some lady would come and make us listen to some cassettes and tell us a few things (sorry for the lack of detail, it happened more than 15 years ago).
Then came Disney's Magic English, which I watched during my first two years of primary school.
After that, eleven years of rather uneventful lessons, two Cambridge ESOL cerificates (PET/B1 and CAE/C1), and a week-long 'vacation-language course-a bit of everything' in London.

 

[kikie]

Grew up on Australian English, which is a mystery accent to some people who I have met around the world. Having spent a cumulative 1.5 years in North America, I got reasonably good at picking regional accents. A year and a bit in the UK (mostly in Scotland) also got me to understand some of the regional accents floating around. I cannot for the life of me fathom how non-English speakers understand anything said by anyone from Glasgow or the highlands.

I learned Indonesian at high school, and was pretty proficient at it by the time I stopped. 14 years later, and all but the basics are gone.

Am now trying to learn Dutch. After 6 months, I am at a point where I can get the gist of written stuff and the topic of conversations, but am a long way from holding a conversation with anyone. Is sometimes difficult to get motivated to learn because 1) I am yet to meet someone under the age of 80 who cant speak English and 2) If I move again when my contract finishes, then it is unlikely any Dutch skills will be much use anywhere else.

Have also travelled enough to be sort of restaurant menu literate in Spanish and French too (ie I have a pretty good idea of what i am ordering)

This, I don't understand.

 

[PeterJB]

They taught us how to count to ten in French in school and that's pretty much it. Learned German for a few years, really liked it, and I keep it ticking over with websites like Duolingo. Learned Spanish for one semester as well, found it pretty easy. Other than German I'd really like to learn Japanese.

 

[Barra333]

This, I don't understand.

Sorry, I should have clarified - in the Netherlands.

 

[kikie]

Sorry, I should have clarified - in the Netherlands.

Now I get it. Most of the people you meet speak English well enough so you can't practice Dutch?

 

[Barra333]

More or less, yes. I wouldnt say can't practice, but it is more difficult. There are cashiers at the supermarket we use who don't even give us the price of our shopping in Dutch any more, even though numbers and basic questions expected from cashiers (Do I want a bag/reciept? Do I have a bonus card?) are my strong point.

Don't me wrong, I would much rather have this problem than to show up in a place where no one speaks English.

 

[Carlos]

Now I get it. Most of the people you meet speak English well enough so you can't practice Dutch?

Our schools teach us English untill exam, you can't drop English class and movies etc aren't translated, just subtitles. Plus English these days is quite the standard in the EU I think, except in France.

And most classes on Dutch universities are given in English, one of the reasons I heard a Frenchman saying he disliked the idea to make English official...

More or less, yes. I wouldnt say can't practice, but it is more difficult. There are cashiers at the supermarket we use who don't even give us the price of our shopping in Dutch any more, even though numbers and basic questions expected from cashiers (Do I want a bag/reciept? Do I have a bonus card?) are my strong point.

Don't me wrong, I would much rather have this problem than to show up in a place where no one speaks English.

Is it difficult to learn Dutch? Friends I know have problems with d or dt at the end of a word, or zij/zei. People from Denmark or that region seem to learn it quite easy, it's sounds a bit the same though it's nothing alike