Folks, as I'm sure most of you who know me, I am a multilingual guy. I am without meaning to brag, fluent in: 1) Hebrew (my first language) 2) Arabic (4 dialects with native fluency) 3) French (practically my native language due to my education) 4) Russian ( from my parents - I have native fluency) 5) Ukrainian (from my parents as well - almost as well as Russian) 6) Polish (from my parents as well - almost as well as the others) 7) German (I grew up with it as well - my parents always spoke to me in German) 8) Yiddish (another childhood language as well) 9) Greek (I speak it perfectly, because I lived in Greece before moving to Canada) 10) Swahili (native fluency - I learned it from Tanzanian, Kenyan, and Rwandan friends of mine) 11) Lingala (another language spoken mainly in Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville) However - the language which I needed to improve on the most and to master is English. For years since I'm living here, I had been struggling to hold a simple, basic conversation in English, and I felt like it was missing from my life, because this is the main commercial language now and it's the language which has become the key to the world. Well, about a month ago I decided to take the bull by the horns and I enrolled my wife and I in a very intense English immersion course and already I feel that we are much more capable in English than before. No doubt I still make some mistakes, but I feel I am much more comfortable speaking it than ever and I also find I am losing my once-heavy accent! I still have to correct a couple of mistakes, but the course has given me (and my wife!) a very valuable education.
My parents are quite multilingual as well - Hebrew, English, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Romanian, Yiddish, German, and Greek. I can speak some Hungarian and Romanian also, but not fluently.
Geebus. I have enough trouble with English. (Tho, I can get by in Italian if I have to.) And, FWIW, your English, at least in writing, is much better than you seem to think.
Thank you very much. I would say I've made a lot of progress even in speaking. Before, it was difficult for me to speak English for even five minutes. Today, I spoke to a customer of mine for an hour and a half only in English and I had almost no trouble.
Somewhat unrelated, one of the staff at work is taking the Citizenship Test and showed me the study sheets. Despite being US born/raised/educated, I found a number of the questions to be beyond my memory and/or knowledge. Some of it, though, was clearly a case of use the knowledge or lose it.
You're doing fine Jeff. For what it's worth, I have always heard that English is the hardest language to master. Kudos!
I speak English and some Spanish. Its weird the more Spanish I'm immersed in the more I remember but to actually carry a conversation I'd really have to practice lol. They say English is the hardest language to learn
It's certainly one of the most inconsistent languages as far as grammar and pronunciation. I also read somewhere (don't know if it's true) that English is the only language with a thesaurus (due to the great number of synonyms).
Jeff I have always said that you underestimate your English. I only know English and Spanish and my Spanish is less than fluent.
Jeff, your English is just fine. In writing at least, it's better than a lot of people who've spoken it their whole lives. English is a pretty tough language. Exceptions to every rule and all that. Spelling is also pretty much a nightmare since lots of words are not spelled anything like they sound. The only other language I can say I speak with any fluency at all is Russian and in lots of ways it's easier. Rules are pretty rigid and words are generally spelled the way they sound. That's certainly quite a talent you have.
Wowsa! I'm impressed. It's wonderful that the immersion course has been so helpful after just a month. How long is the course? Will you be learning some English dialects? I can help you with "lolcat"
Wow, I can only stubble mg way through Spanish, tried to learn German and French, was forced to learn Arabic for my deployment back in 2008, and dates a Russian foreign college student. Once met a navy seal at a bar one night that blew my mind when he cused me out in five languages other than English, fluidly flowing from one to another.
I've been reading your reviews and posts for years, Jeff, and I think you're too hard on yourself. Your written English is very good. A German friend told me that English is a relatively easy language to learn, because everything is "the." That is, nouns don't have gender. As anyone who's studied German knows, that's a nightmare.
While all the reasons you listed for mastering English are valid, you forgot the most important one: Posting on The Shave Den
