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Kind of an off-topic question about foreign languages

Everyone posting here obviously loves travelling or is starting for the first time. I'd like to know if any of you, as a result of your travlling, have picked up an interest in learning a foreign language and how has your progress been?

Posted by
36 posts

I didn't start learning a new language, but a trip to the Continent (my first) in 1998 revived my decades-old interest in German, which I hadn't studied since 1965 but still remembered well enough to communicate with the locals. I ended up taking five more years of German, four of them very intensive, as a graduate student! I haven't finished the degree (I don't really need one) but have been back to Germany twice since that first trip, and am going again this fall, hoping that this time I can really converse with people. By the way,those who insist that "everyone over there speaks English" are wrong! People in the humbler occupations don't, and neither do those who lived in East Germany (they took Russian in school instead.) It is really satisfying and exciting to be able to communite with people in their own language, and they always are very gracious about my goofs. I've even gone to church, participated in the liturgy and sat through a sermon--now, that's a thrill!

Posted by
389 posts

I wish that I could say I'd done as well as Meg, but I never had a foreign language before going to Europe. My first trip in 1988 I was 28. When I returned I took a year and a half of German at the local CC. I have used it, mostly in smaller towns and in Hungary where German and Russian were there other languages. I'm not ready for church, but I continue to work with it and try to read in German just for the exercise. If I had the chance I'd love to spend a few monthes there where I could be immersed and I beleive I'd be the better for it.

Posted by
138 posts

I do the other way around - I take classes before the trip. Foreign languages come pretty easily to me; my native tongue is Russian, I majored in English at the university, and German was my second language. I recently started taking German again, and also Swiss-German (my husband was Swiss, and there are plenty relatives there), which is quite another story altogether. And now I added French to my classes, before my Paris trip. I love languages and want to go prepared.

Posted by
18 posts

For me, it's been the opposite experience: my interest in foreign languages has fueled my desire to travel and use those languages :) I started learning French in junior high and the first time I went to France and could speak it a little with real French people, it was such a thrill. So I've gone back, and in high school I also started learning German. I lived in Germany for a year as a college student and my challenge has been to maintain these speaking skills: this is one of the various reasons I love traveling to Europe so much.

Posted by
2030 posts

My travels to France over the past 6 years has sparked an interest to study French. I have several language CDs that I use, but would love to splurge on an intensive course in the near future and then really test out the results -- but I still have a pretty good time ordering in restaurants and bakeries there now -- it's enought to keep me going!

Posted by
316 posts

I took French 40 years ago and wasn't all that great at it but I was surprised at how much I remembered when I got to Paris. Since then, I've tried to learn a little of the language before traveling to a new country. I spend $30 or $40 on language DVDs and can get enough to get by. My dream is to go to a language school in Florence before I retire!

Posted by
7448 posts

I would say Yes, it re-kindled an interest in languages, but my progress has been limited to learning basic phrases of several languages. I firmly believe that to learn a language takes both Need/Desire and Opportunity. I realize that regardless of how much I want to learn, to become proficient requires the opportunity to immerse yourself in the language, to use it, and use it frequently. In the US, and Iowa especially, we are limited as to ability to use languages. Related to that though, I did find myself in Mexico several times for business and pleasure over the last year, and have more of an opportunity to use Spanish around home...so, Spanish is a language I decided to work on. Helping is that several family members also are seeing the need to speak Spanish, so opportunity is knocking.

Posted by
683 posts

Other languages broaden your experiences. I took 6 yrs of Italian many yrs ago and learned a lot. Speaking Italian in Italy was great. It made things much easier and enriched our contacts with locals. I was able to use German to ease things w German-speakers and to communicate w our Polish hotelier when our mutual failure to understand our respective "others" language reared its head. In Paris, I could get along w the maid for our apartment (who spoke French and Polish) by using my limited but acceptable French.
A Spanish-speaking woman was lost in Italy. I was able to give her directions in Spanish and able to converse w her over coffee. My skills aren't great. I am simply not afraid to make mistakes.
If I'm wrong, so what?
Almost any native speaker will just smile and furnish the right words. It is wonderful to be able to converse on trains and in parks and at cafes--in THEIR language.

Posted by
125 posts

Yes! I just got back from my first trip to Europe and fell in love with Germany. My boyfriend lived there as a kid when his parent was in the military. Since he went to an American school he did not learn that much. I took one semester of it in jr. high but moved to a school that did notoffer it. We are both thinking of taking either a community college class or a Rosetta Stone type class so next year when we go back we will be able to communicate better. Like an earlier poster said- not everyone speaks English.

Posted by
221 posts

I admire the folks here who make the effort to take a class at a community college, or buy CD sets and listen to them while you commute. it does make all the difference in the world. one of my best memories of travelling was a German woman in Berlin, asking me directions in German and I could answer her, and the nice shop man at Neuschwanstein who complimented me on my German. and that is with only 35 years ago high school German, 1 quarter in college and self study through the years. Try it!

Posted by
808 posts

Canadian Flight Attendants must be fluent in both of our official languages, English and French. It is also very advisable and beneficial professionally to speak Spanish. Or German if you want to be awarded German layovers etc. (You get the idea)
Language skills truly are survival skills.

Some ideas...
Borrow instructional Cd's from your Public Library. Listen to them while commuting to work each morning. Listen to their music on Cd, Radio, TV. Even set your tv or radio to come on each day at a specific time so you are forced to hear it. Even if you think you are not listening to it, your brain actually is! It's amazing!

Consider volunteering for an organization in that language. Or skill share with a local college. Offer tutoring exchange services. (It helps if you yourself went to that particular college). Volunteer in a highschool class learning that language. Host a summer student from that country. You will learn from them, too!
All at little or no cost!

Posted by
16 posts

I went to Europe for the only time in 2002, for a friend's wedding in Germany. I sat at a table with all native German speakers and one native French speaker, yet they were so gracious as to speak English all evening in deference to me, the only native English-speaker at the table. That impressed me.

Traveling after the wedding as well, impressed me how many Europeans speak two or more languages. (Especially the Dutch.)

After the trip, I took French 1 & 2 at the local community college and enjoyed that. I recently took German 1A, 1B and 2A as well, but did not enjoy that as much.

Posted by
2779 posts

Cleophus, is there a reason why you didn't enjoy the German classes as much as the French? Or does the French language just get easier to you than the German one?

Posted by
2898 posts

Hi all,
Since we started travelleing again in 2001, I've bought 2 German language cd sets which I listen to at least once a week on my commute and have taken German classes offered at the local high school. We love Germany, Austria and Italy's Dolomite region and it's very helpful (if not just polite), in getting by. As Chere stated, it feels good when someone compliments you on your ability (or at least your attempt) to speak their language. I had this happen twice last year. Once, when we stayed in a Pension in Heiligenblut, the owner sat and talked with us for over an hour at breakfast told me I spoke German very well. I guess so, we carried on a coversation. Our last night, a waitress at a restaurant talked with us for quite a while and she told me she was impressed with my German also. It pays to make an attempt.

Paul

Posted by
223 posts

I speak French, passably. I've tried learning some dutch for my upcoming trip (yes, I know the dutch all speak English, but I'm just trying to be polite). Some of the dutch words, I just can't seem to pronounce. It is like that for me with German as well.

I also have been picking up some Italian for my month in Rome. I seem to be able to pick up on that easier because of its close relationship to French.

Posted by
138 posts

Yes, Roxanne, this makes perfect sense. French, Italian, and Spanish all belong to a group of Romantic languages, so if you know one, another will be easier for you. German and English (and Dutch, too)are Germanic languages, so theoretically speaking they should be similar, and in many ways they are, but there are still huge major differences that make native English speakers stumble on German (like cases, conjugations, and genders). German is definitely more difficult, but it is my first love;) The good thing is that if you learn one foreign language, no matter which one, any next one will be easier just because you already have an experience of learning, some sort of system in place, and you know how to study. I am pressing on with my French now, and loving every minute of it!

Posted by
35 posts

I completed a French minor in college and learned Spanish in Gautemala in 2001 in a one-on-one immersion program for 3 weeks before traveling for 9 more weeks through Central America. I got seriously ill in Italy during a 3-month trip in 2002 and while we didn't speak the others' languages, the Dr spoke Italian and I spoke Spanish and it worked just fine. I can absolutely not imagine being a traveler and not trying to learn languages.

Posted by
1717 posts

When I began traveling in Europe, I thought the Americans (or any English - speaking people) who talk only in English when they talk to people in Europe are rude. I thought a person should say, in the language of the country that he (or she) is in : "Hello, can you speak English". But, I became aware that if I want to talk with a person in Europe who works with the public, and that persons talks in English to very many people, every day, that person would prefer that I talk in English only. When the European person (in Germany, or Norway, or Italy, or Greece) sees me walking toward him, and he guesses that I want to ask a question, he guesses that I speak English (my nose looks English), and he Immediately begins to think in the English language. If I talk to him in his language, he is confused, and he pauses for a few seconds while his brain is reverting to his language. And when he knows that I want to talk in English, his brain must shift to the English language again.

Posted by
1717 posts

(Continued from my message above) : But when I am in Europe, and I approach a European person who is not working with the public, and I want to ask a question, I say, in that person's language, "Hello, can you speak English". And the European person quickly says "Yes". English is the international language, especially for Europeans who attended high school in the 1980s or later. An English - speaking person, traveling in Europe, does not need to say one word of a European language. But I recommend learning to say at least a few phrases in the local language. It is a satisfying experience, and adds to the pleasure of being in Europe. The European language that I think is the most pleasurable to hear is Italian. But, if you want to learn the Italian language, be warned : Italian people in different regions of Italy speak different dialects. And, becoming conversant in Italian requires much study and effort (more than for learning German) because Italians run their words together. If you want me to explain why learning to converse in the Italian language is a frustrating challenge, send a private message to me at this website.

Posted by
138 posts

Ron,
Every person runs his/her words together when they speak their native language. You should hear me speak Russian - you would think that there is only one loooooooooooooong word in the Russian language:)
German is more diffucult a language than Italian because its grammar is more complicated, from linquistic point of view. But you may be one of the few lucky people to whom German comes easy, enjoy it!

Posted by
16 posts

Hi Andreas:
I found that German was harder for me to learn. Also, I felt that two of the three people who taught me German at my community college were not very good teachers.

Posted by
84 posts

I fell in love ~ love! ~ with the Italian language when I went to Italy last summer. So I came home and took a semester of beginning Italian at the local community college last fall. The class was the highlight of my week. I find the sounds so satisfying and delicious. It's just so beautiful (but then, any language based off of Dante MUST be beautiful). I can't wait when I go back this September to see how the experience is with an enhanced understanding of the language.

Posted by
1717 posts

To Natasha, and any person interested in beginning to learn the Italian language : I attended classes for learning "Italian for Travelers" at a community college. The teacher : an Italian woman who is highly qualified, and very experienced in teaching conversational Italian to English - speaking persons, said to us : Italian persons in Italy, talking in Italian, run their words together. German people talking in German do not do that, their words are separated. People talking in English, in the U.S.A. talke with spaces between their words. If when you talk in Italian to Italian people, your words are separated, as they are when you talk in English or German, the Italian people will not understand what you are saying. YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT ITALIAN PEOPLE ARE SAYING (in Italian) IF YOU DID NOT LEARN TO SAY THOSE EXACT SENTANCES THAT YOU ARE HEARING." (continued in my next posting)

Posted by
1717 posts

(continued from my message above). The Italian teacher said : if you know many German words, when you listen to German people talking in the German language, if they say sentances that you did not hear before, and you had not learned to say those sentances, you can undertand what they are saying.
(My topic is hearing the spoken German language, not talking in the German language).

Posted by
1717 posts

Natasha : The Slavic languages, including Russian, are my favorite languages. That is, I would like to talk in Russian or Slovene. But, I did not try to learn the Russian language, at a university, because I think there are no people to talk to in the Russian language, here in Missouri. And I will not be able to travel to Russia (or Ukrainia) in the foseeable future. I appreciated your comments here.