Questions from an airport lounge. That's like a modern version of "tales from the crypt."
1.Do you speak any languages other than English? (English first only because the blog is mostly in English.)
No, I do not.
2. If you answered yes above, would you describe yourself as fluent? Which was your first language?
I am influent in all languages other than English.
3. Did you study a foreign language in school (including college or University)? How much do you remember? Has it been useful to you? Can you speak it, or only read it?
French. Three years in HS, and two in college. I can't speak it, or understand it when spoken, but I can still recognize some words and make out a little written material. When I was in grad school, I had occasion to look at a French math journal, and I could decipher that, but most of the words were cognates.
4. If you were going to learn another language, which one would you want to study?
My HS girl friend studied Spanish. I thought, silly girl, what good is that? The joke's one me.
My parents both studied German because that was the language of science in the 1930s. By that rule, I should have studied Russian.
5. Do you have relatives who speak a language different from your own?
No.
6. Have you been to a country where you don’t know the language? How well did you cope?
The US Army was kind enough to send me to Vietnam. There were a few expressions left over from the French that everyone understood, soldier and native alike. Most Vietnamese who dealt with soldiers had learned some English.
I went to Hong Kong on R&R, but of course, it was an English colony at the time.
1.Do you speak any languages other than English? (English first only because the blog is mostly in English.)
No, I do not.
2. If you answered yes above, would you describe yourself as fluent? Which was your first language?
I am influent in all languages other than English.
3. Did you study a foreign language in school (including college or University)? How much do you remember? Has it been useful to you? Can you speak it, or only read it?
French. Three years in HS, and two in college. I can't speak it, or understand it when spoken, but I can still recognize some words and make out a little written material. When I was in grad school, I had occasion to look at a French math journal, and I could decipher that, but most of the words were cognates.
4. If you were going to learn another language, which one would you want to study?
My HS girl friend studied Spanish. I thought, silly girl, what good is that? The joke's one me.
My parents both studied German because that was the language of science in the 1930s. By that rule, I should have studied Russian.
5. Do you have relatives who speak a language different from your own?
No.
6. Have you been to a country where you don’t know the language? How well did you cope?
The US Army was kind enough to send me to Vietnam. There were a few expressions left over from the French that everyone understood, soldier and native alike. Most Vietnamese who dealt with soldiers had learned some English.
I went to Hong Kong on R&R, but of course, it was an English colony at the time.