howz yer spanish? (1 Viewer)

[zeetes]

I have taken 4 years of French, and with a bit of practice I can get by. I have two years of Spanish and I hate to use it because I sound like a Montana hick who knows French trying to speak Spanish because I get the two confused. Then, where I’m at it’s such a rough version of Spanish that as my friend form Oaxaca puts it she knows 4 different languages. Oaxacan spanish, Central Valley Spanish, real textbook Spanish and english.

i took 4 years of french too. i learned how to count and that orangina is a french beverage.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

My French comprehension can range from near 100% to 50% or so, depending on who is speaking and the dialect. Louisiana French, for those who are fluent....and there are still thousands who are, is French from the 1600-1800's in France. Languages evolve. Louisiana French evolved independent from France. France used to have VERY distinct dialects of French. As with most countries, regional dialects have decreased in the last few decades in most countries. I have a relative who is married to someone from Germany and they say the German regional dialects from 40 years ago were VERY different from today.

About 30 years ago, I was travelling alone through France and was on a pretty long train ride across the country. An older couple were in the train car with me and we started talking. They did not speak any English, so it forced me to stay in French for about 3 hours. They said my French was pretty good, I understood about 90-95% of what they were saying. It was great. They were from Brittany, which is where my French ancestors were from nearly 400 years ago. The regional dialect survived in France for a long time. The old couple were born around 1910-1920. I am sure the regional dialects are dying off fast in France. (On a side note, I can understand people in most of the USA, but man.....some of our accents are wicked. joke)

I love languages. I am hoping to work on two or three in the next two years. It would be nice to be fluent in four or five languages. (My goal is English, French, German, Spanish and Italian....I have a sprinkling of Japanese and Mandarin, but Mandarin is rough. I learned some Cantonese to mess with old people in Chinatown in SF, that was fun.)

My first 2 years in NY I worked in Chinatown and had a Taiwanese roommate for a bit - they loved teaching the white guy useful phrases (and some that were decidedly unuseful)

 

[El Caliente]

I am the disappointing son of Cuban immigrants. We didn’t speak much Spanish at home growing up (cuz we wuz American now), and I was a horrible student, so I failed Spanish in High School twice.

I didn’t learn to read, write, or speak the language, until I served a mission for my church in Venezuela for two years.

We now speak to our kids in Spanish as well as English, and have had the two oldest go through Spanish immersion while we were in New Orleans (Houston public schools don’t offer Spanish immersion programs). If there is one thing I would recommend it’s to learn a second language. It doesn’t matter the language, just learn one.

 

[nolaspe]

Another thing about Spanish to keep in mind w/ slang is that the same word will most likely mean something completely different in different countries. Kinda like what chips are here vs. in the UK.

This is important b/c an innocuous word in one may be an insult in another lol...

 

[Saint_Ward]

My mom's family is from Puerto Rico. My grandmother moved from there when she was 18. She never taught my mom Spanish, so i don't speak it either. But the 3 times i've gone to Mexico on cruises, while we are at port and I go into town, the people working at all the shops start off speaking to me in Spanish, just assuming i speak it. So i guess my situation is the opposite.

I live your pain.