Author Topic: Are you bilingual? (Read 16938 times)

pingryanime · « **Reply #20 on:** January 24, 2011, 02:14:11 PM »

Jap is my first spoken language. I say spoken cuz I don't read/write anywhere near as much as I should be. English is my second first language (grew up with both languages) obviously I can read write English pretty damn well

Also learning german

suhaib · « **Reply #21 on:** January 24, 2011, 02:18:38 PM »

I can speak both Arabic and English fluently.
I'm also working on my Japanese

Soryon · « **Reply #22 on:** January 24, 2011, 04:03:31 PM »

Quote from: JoonasTo on January 24, 2011, 01:10:51 PM

We have a lot of bilingual people here.
16/6 currently.

I kinda forsaw that outcome simply because this is an English forum even tho its populated by people all over the world.
If I took this thread to one of my gaming forums I bet the answers would be quite the opposite.

JoonasTo · « **Reply #23 on:** January 24, 2011, 04:06:48 PM »

Yeah but speaking english well enough to come to an english forum doesn't quite make one bilingual.
Maybe it's that most of us who aren't are just too bad in english to read this thread.

rathoriel · « **Reply #24 on:** January 24, 2011, 04:19:11 PM »

Native english speaker here.
I am not fluent in other languages. I took a semester of spanish in middle school, one year of russian and german in High School, and i know a bit of japanese from watching anime.

pingryanime · « **Reply #25 on:** January 24, 2011, 04:24:05 PM »

If theres any one phrase you should learn when going to Japan, learn either "Ecchi shiyou" or "sekkusu shiyou"

Reape · « **Reply #26 on:** January 24, 2011, 04:48:43 PM »

Quote from: JoonasTo on January 24, 2011, 04:06:48 PM

Yeah but speaking english well enough to come to an english forum doesn't quite make one bilingual.

But then what does? I often think in English. Does that qualify as a bilingual?

flyawave · « **Reply #27 on:** January 24, 2011, 04:58:38 PM »

English and Urdu/Hindi although I'm illiterate in those. I'm learning quite a few languages, but honestly, they're no where near bilingual

Soryon · « **Reply #28 on:** January 24, 2011, 04:59:25 PM »

Quote from: Reape on January 24, 2011, 04:48:43 PM

Quote from: JoonasTo on January 24, 2011, 04:06:48 PM
Yeah but speaking english well enough to come to an english forum doesn't quite make one bilingual.

But then what does? I often think in English. Does that qualify as a bilingual?

I guess it depends. My idea of bilingual is the ability to effectively communicate with a person who is a native speaker. I guess there can be different levels tho, I mean are you communicating like a 4 year old kid or would you be proficient enuf that no one can spot holes.

The 2 languages that I know outside of English I don't speak much better then a child. I have to speak (or dont have to but chose to) Spanish at work alot becuz the people next door only speak Spanish. I am able to converse with them but they won't correct my flaws unless it is a major one. Even then its generally just light conversation so I dont consider myself bilingual at all.

sn00ben · « **Reply #29 on:** January 24, 2011, 05:13:47 PM »

Read, write, speak: Swedish, English, Russian.
Understand more or less other languages close to swedish and russian...
My japanese is terrible. I know as much as a 1st grader (even less lol)

JoonasTo · « **Reply #30 on:** January 24, 2011, 05:18:52 PM »

If thinking in english does then I have been bilingual since 13.
I've also been able to effectively communicate with americans in english since I was 10.

Thinking would also make me quadlingual because I often think in german and swedish too.
And I can effectively communicate with germans as well and I for sure am not trilingual.

I don't think either of those make a pretty good indicator.
I'd pick natives not being able to tell that you're a foreigner as an indicator.

Reape · « **Reply #31 on:** January 24, 2011, 05:28:37 PM »

Quote from: JoonasTo on January 24, 2011, 05:18:52 PM

I'd pick natives not being able to tell that you're a foreigner as an indicator.

But then again, there are way more variables to that than just how fluently you speak their language...

JoonasTo · « **Reply #32 on:** January 24, 2011, 05:36:53 PM »

Tell from your speech?

TwEeD · « **Reply #33 on:** January 24, 2011, 05:58:46 PM »

Dutch and french are my mother languages, English as third
(but at the moment I can say my English is far better than my french)

I can understand quite a bit of German due to my dutch, worked for a short period in Spain but forgot all about Spanish by now and I'm in the process of learning Japanese atm (slow and steadily :p)

Reape · « **Reply #34 on:** January 24, 2011, 06:00:44 PM »

Quote from: JoonasTo on January 24, 2011, 05:36:53 PM

Tell from your speech?

Looks, norms, behaviour. To pull a few from the top of my head.

Weltal · « **Reply #35 on:** January 24, 2011, 06:29:06 PM »

English is my first language, and Tagalog is my native language. I don't speak Tagalog as much as I should, but when I'm around my parents and other family members I speak it.

I'm learning Japanese and Arabic. Thank Odin for "Rosetta Stone."

Pentium100 · « **Reply #36 on:** January 24, 2011, 09:42:49 PM »

Lithuanian is my native language, English is second. I can read, write and understand English quite well, but if I cannot speak it well, I basically have to "write" what I'm going to say in my head the "read" it aloud.

Southrop · « **Reply #37 on:** January 24, 2011, 09:58:41 PM »

English is my first language. Fluent in this.
Mandarin is my mother tongue. Fluent in this too.
Cantonese I have picked up from living in Hong Kong for a long time; not very good though.
Japanese I have learnt at school and as a hobby. I think I'm quite good at Japanese.
French I studied for 3 years (5 years ago) before dropping. Can't remember most of it (ah oui, c'est tres bien)
German I learnt the odd phrase from my father who used to work in Germany, though I never bothered going above those few phrases.
Korean I can count to 10 (and recite lyrics from Gee by SNSD).
Australian I can manage if I try hard. I did live in Australia for a while during my childhood, but I don't think I had enough exposure to Australian.

newy · « **Reply #38 on:** January 24, 2011, 10:07:13 PM »

Quote from: Southrop on January 24, 2011, 09:58:41 PM

Australian I can manage if I try hard. I did live in Australia for a while during my childhood, but I don't think I had enough exposure to Australian.

You have to teach me! Maybe I will finally understand Enzedder

JoonasTo · « **Reply #39 on:** January 24, 2011, 10:18:35 PM »

Quote from: Southrop on January 24, 2011, 09:58:41 PM

English is my first language. Fluent in this.
Mandarin is my mother tongue. Fluent in this too.
Cantonese I have picked up from living in Hong Kong for a long time; not very good though.
Japanese I have learnt at school and as a hobby. I think I'm quite good at Japanese.
French I studied for 3 years (5 years ago) before dropping. Can't remember most of it (ah oui, c'est tres bien)
German I learnt the odd phrase from my father who used to work in Germany, though I never bothered going above those few phrases.
Korean I can count to 10 (and recite lyrics from Gee by SNSD).
Australian I can manage if I try hard. I did live in Australia for a while during my childhood, but I don't think I had enough exposure to Australian.

Love how others do that mother tongue mistake too.
I tend to do it a lot too.