Languages

[Legbiter]

I've some English and some Danish in addition to speaking Icelandic as a native. Throw in some (very) rusty German as well.

[Oexmelin]

I learned a significant amount of Latin, Spanish, and Chinese, and I dabbled in French.

The issue I have always run into is the availability of being able to use my language skills enough from them not to deteriorate.

I am curious. Is Spanish difficult to practice in the US ? Are there zones of incomfort in trying to speak Spanish to the people in restaurant, constructions, etc. ? Is it well received ? Does it seem silly from the perspective of the English-speaking population ?

[Slargos]

How many people are truly fluent in any language but their own?

My written English is better than that of a large portion of the natives in the anglosphere, but my spoken will probably never reach fluency mainly because I don't use it often enough.

I dabble in German and French, but only enough for very limited conversation.

My Norwegian is improving, but I skip too much between crazy dialects for it to ever be anything but a party-prop.

[Admiral Yi]

I am curious. Is Spanish difficult to practice in the US ? Are there zones of incomfort in trying to speak Spanish to the people in restaurant, constructions, etc. ? Is it well received ? Does it seem silly from the perspective of the English-speaking population ?

The only mine in the minefield I've encountered is when you start babbling in Spanish and it turns out the dude has been in the US for 3 generations and doesn't speak a lick of Spanish.  But even then you just look like a doofus, it's not like anybody gets pissed.  If you're asking if some redneck yells at you for not speaking Amurrican, I've never experienced that and would be surprised if I did.

[Oexmelin]

The only mine in the minefield I've encountered is when you start babbling in Spanish and it turns out the dude has been in the US for 3 generations and doesn't speak a lick of Spanish.  But even then you just look like a doofus, it's not like anybody gets pissed.  If you're asking if some redneck yells at you for not speaking Amurrican, I've never experienced that and would be surprised if I did.

Thank you, I was asking both. I witnessed both an example of a Spanish-speaking teller being offended by someone speaking approximate Spanish (*I speak English, you know*) and redneckism such as you describe - only two times so I was wondering what the Americans experiences were.

[Admiral Yi]

Thank you, I was asking both. I witnessed both an example of a Spanish-speaking teller being offended by someone speaking approximate Spanish (*I speak English, you know*) and redneckism such as you describe - only two times so I was wondering what the Americans experiences were.

No shit.  What were the circumstances on the second?

[Oexmelin]

No shit.  What were the circumstances on the second?

Politically exploding situation - so I ascribed it to «simple» xenophoby: counter-protest against the great walk in favour of legalization of illegal immigrants in Chicago.

[Capetan Mihali]

I live in a neighborhood that's had a huge surge in the Mexican population, but I do feel awkward trying to speak Spanish in stores, restaurants, etc.  It seems patronizing at some level, I guess. 

I never spoke Spanish with the Dominican corner store owner or his family for a year at my old apartment, even though I went in there several times a week.  But the one time I had an out-of-town guest go in there alone and speak rudimentary Spanish with them, they loved it.

[Ed Anger]

I hate foreigners talking to me in their barbarian languages.

Bar bar bar! Bar Bar?

[BuddhaRhubarb]

no fluency in anything but English. But My English is so good It's like I can speak any language. :p

[garbon]

I live in a neighborhood that's had a huge surge in the Mexican population, but I do feel awkward trying to speak Spanish in stores, restaurants, etc.  It seems patronizing at some level, I guess. 

Same here. Well not surge but it does have a huge Mexican population.

[Strix]

I learned a significant amount of Latin, Spanish, and Chinese, and I dabbled in French.

The issue I have always run into is the availability of being able to use my language skills enough from them not to deteriorate.

I am curious. Is Spanish difficult to practice in the US ? Are there zones of incomfort in trying to speak Spanish to the people in restaurant, constructions, etc. ? Is it well received ? Does it seem silly from the perspective of the English-speaking population ?

It depends on the area that you live in. Where I grew up had little or no Spanish speaking people. When I lived in North Carolina, there were a lot of illegal immigrants, so I used my Spanish skills more but would often run into issues over dialect because the immigrants came from a wide variety of countries. Now that I live in Rochester most of the Spanish speaking people are Puerto Rican or Cuban.

It depends on the person (people) you are speaking with if it's well received or not. Puerto Ricans seem to take the most offense, or so it seems to me, when you try to communicate with them in Spanish. They seem to feel you are either patronizing them or that you're disrespecting them by not knowing enough of the language. However, I am not sure that it has anything to do with trying to speak Spanish or not because Puerto Ricans seem to take offense at a lot of stuff for no apparent reason, hehehehehe.

I haven't come across many English speakers that find it silly. The few that did find it silly were hardcore rednecks that get upset when you speak proper English around them let alone another language.

[Gambrinus]

The most well-known tv-personality on languages here has a test when someone claims he speaks "fluent" English. He opens up a kitchen drawer and asks him to name all the utensils...

Fluent: Swedish.
Good at reading, hearing and writing, ok at speaking: English.
Understands okayish: Norwegian, Danish (written) , German, French, Dutch (written).

[DontSayBanana]

Deutsch. Going to be revisiting Espanol as a matter of necessity for the legal profession (at least for NJ and PA). Also working on Nihongo and Francais. Currently only confident in my skills in Deutsch, though.

[Zoupa]

You could say japanese you know