Does anyone here speak a second or third language ?

[toys2cool]

I took 4 years of Spanish in high school (and the minimum required in college) which means I can easily get lost in Mexico, Spain, Miami, or certain parts of L.A. Did not take any other Foreign Language in college - wish I had.

-Chris

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[Random Axe]

Being in the profession I am and with my multi-cultural background in college, I have a unique ability to understand just about any foreigner's broken and heavily accented English. It's not exactly Rosetta Stone material here, but I am an effective communicator with just about anyone.

I've been to Sweden, but picked up nothing. They all spoke English around me and, quite frankly, spoke it better than a lot of Americans I know and literally almost without accent.

[jimsmegos]

I've always felt like a real dolt that I never picked up on the Ukranian dialect of Russian considering that growing up that was all I heard from my grandparents on my moms side of the family. My Grandpa was straight off the boat from Ukraine and my Granny was one generation off the boat. Sadly the only thing I picked up from their exchanges was "Blah, blah, blah, blah, son of a *****, blah, blah, blah" Farm living was grand ya know? Like a Charlie Brown holiday special with profanity.

My Grandpa did however refer to cats as 'monkey's'. I've always assumed he did so because of their tendancy to climb in trees.

[Nostalgiabuff]

i used to be able to speak German but it has been a long long time since I used it and have forgotten most. i suppose it would come back to me if i found myself in Germany for a bit

[jimsmegos]

Being in the profession I am and with my multi-cultural background in college, I have a unique ability to understand just about any foreigner's broken and heavily accented English. It's not exactly Rosetta Stone material here, but I am an effective communicator with just about anyone.

I've been to Sweden, but picked up nothing. They all spoke English around me and, quite frankly, spoke it better than a lot of Americans I know and literally almost without accent.

"Grits ain't nothing but ground up corn."

[Mikey]

I've always felt like a real dolt that I never picked up on the Ukranian dialect of Russian considering that growing up that was all I heard from my grandparents on my moms side of the family. My Grandpa was straight off the boat from Ukraine and my Granny was one generation off the boat. Sadly the only thing I picked up from their exchanges was "Blah, blah, blah, blah, son of a *****, blah, blah, blah" Farm living was grand ya know? Like a Charlie Brown holiday special with profanity.

My Grandpa did however refer to cats as 'monkey's'. I've always assumed he did so because of their tendancy to climb in trees.

Same here ... Both my grandparents (fathers and mothers side) came from Krakow Austria Hungry and they spoke a mixure of Ukrainian and Polish ...

My mom and dad were born in the USA and were able to speak both English, Ukainian and Polish ...........

But, they never taught me Ukainian and Polish

I almost think they didn't want me to be able to speak the "old languages" as they called it.

[jessica]

I speak Tagalog as well. I can understand my mom's language, Visaya but cannot speak it because we only spoke Tagalog at home. I can understand some Swahili...or at least know if I am being talked about. I can get the gist of Spanish. I took a few years of French in college. A lot of good that did me.

[HardyGirl]

Very minimal Spanish. I used to understand a little better, but I'm rusty.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I took 7 years of Spanish and used to be pretty good at it, but now after over 20 years of non-use, I remember very little. My wife lived in France for awhile and could speak fluently 20 years ago, but she too, just hasn't had the need to use it.

[Brazoo]

Ugh - sometimes I think I barely speak English.

Occasionally, I mix things up with a handful of badly pronounced Yiddish words I know - usually when I'm imitating my grandparents to my nieces or my dog.

My grandparents were from Poland - they could speak Polish and could get by with a few other languages. I've always been terrible at picking up languages.

[cjefferys]

I know some very basic Japanese and French. I'm trying to improve my Japanese but my 5 year old son is already more fluent than me. I'm still better at it than my two year old though.

[captact]

Yo hablo y escribo tanto el ingles como el espanol (ya que naci y me crie en Brooklyn), entiendo y leo a perfeccion el Portuguese, pero no lo hablo mucho, pero si estoy aprendiendo un poco el Frances.
Translation:
I speak and write both in English and Spanish (as i was born and raised in Brooklyn), read and understand Portuguese, but dont speak it much, and learning to speak in French.

[mvp24max]

Same here, can read and write in Spanish as well. Picking up another language, Italian, I know the basics.

[Goblin19]

Decent with Spanish. I can communicate what I need to and understand sliwed down conversational speak.

[Gorn Captain]

As my country has been invaded by everyone and his brother all through history, and we're surrounded by "foreign" countries, we pick up a lot of languages here.
I speak Dutch, French, English, and German. My German is very rusty...
I've just started learning some Spanish, trying to get the vocabulary into my little grey cells. As you get older, it gets harder to learn a language.
Whenever I go to England, they ask me if I'm an American...

My best friend is fluent in Japanese as well. When we watch Anime, he translates for me.