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Your Language(s) & Age?

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
204 messages over 26 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 22 ... 25 26 Next >>
tippi_jj
Bilingual Tetraglot
Newbie
Switzerland
Joined 4792 days ago

1 posts - 1 votes
Speaks: English, Malay, Mandarin*, Cantonese*
Studies: FrenchA1

 
 Message 169 of 204
13 February 2011 at 11:14pm | IP Logged 
i'm 29

mandarin & Cantonese- Native, i speak Mandarin to my mum, and Cantonese to my dad. My
primary education were taught exclusively in Mandarin.

Malay - started at about 7 yrs old. Taught as an extra subject in primary school. Then
in high school, all subject were taught in written form of Malay. But classes are
conducted in English. i was required to do my exam in Malay for all subject too.

English - Started at 7 yrs old, taught as extra subject in primary school. For high
school, almost all class are conducted in English. i'm near native now except with a
very distinct south-east Asian accent.

Hokkien - My husband side of the family speak Hokkien. i pick it up slowly by ears.

French - I've started taking lesson since Oct 2010. i'm currently attending A2 French
class. Residing in a French speaking only city definitely helped me to learn much
faster.   
1 person has voted this message useful



jdmoncada
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4793 days ago

470 posts - 741 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish
Studies: Russian, Japanese

 
 Message 170 of 204
14 February 2011 at 5:25am | IP Logged 
Hi all!

I am 36 years old. Here is my language profile:

English, native speaker

Spanish (low intermediate)
Started at age 14 on and off
Took the first half of intermediate level at university
This happens to be the language of my ancestors since I am ethnically Mexican (and Spanish) on my Dad's side. He never liked speaking Spanish, though, so I had to learn in school, not from my family. I need/want to work on my comfort simply speaking. I think I got a little shyness to speak because my Dad doesn't want to use the language with me. He's got his own issues with Spanish.

Russian (advanced beginner)
Started at age 17
Only did 4 months with this, so it was just a beginner's course, yet somehow it has stayed with me for over half my life.
Last year, I decided I wanted to refresh what I knew, and I found a lesson book in actual Russian. Within an hour I had changed from sounding out the words (thankfully, Russian is phonetic!) to truly reading what was on the page. It was a wonderful achievement.

Finnish (advanced intermediate... on my best days anyway):
Started some basic self-study at 21
Was an exchange student for a university semester when I was 22, and then later when back to Finland when I was 27 and worked for a year as an ESL teacher.
This is my best language that is not English. I loved the country and the culture, and the way the language expresses itself. This has had sticking power with me, which of course was helped by being in the country, but I think it is more than that. It just fits me somehow.

German (Advanced beginner):
You could say i was always dabbling with German because of my background as a musician and it being a prominent music language. I didn't start officially doing it until I was 23. I had spent six weeks over summer in Germany in Austria after I left my university study in Finland. When I went back to the USA, I took a beginner semester of German and got through the concepts very easily. (My six weeks had done wonders!)

Japanese (Beginner):
I started this last month! I was testing a language learning database that we might buy for my library, and I decided to pick a language that I did not already know. So I went with Japanese. That was a wise choice for both the database (their Finnish material bored me and made me not like the database so much) and for me because I realized I was picking up Japanese very easily. It's just speaking, and I'm okay with that. It is only beginner stuff, survival Japanese, if you will, but I just love it. The elegant organization of ideas makes English seem so cumbersome!


I mentioned that I have a background in music. Because of that, I have a high degree of passive understanding for French, Italian and Latin because of their use in art songs. I always know what I'm singing even if I can not hold conversations in those languages.

I also studied Hungarian on my own for a while for a short time before changing to Finnish, but that was when I thought my university placement would take me there and not Finland. I had to stop and change gears. It was strange at first, but once I started to really gain skill with Finnish, I left thoughts of Hungarian behind.

Edited by jdmoncada on 14 February 2011 at 5:27am

1 person has voted this message useful



JaKorChi
Newbie
Australia
Joined 4818 days ago

18 posts - 19 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Korean, Afrikaans, Mandarin

 
 Message 171 of 204
14 February 2011 at 9:53am | IP Logged 
Hello everyone!

Age: 16 (soon to be 17).

English: Native Language.

Japanese: Studied very slowly from 6-16 and continuing.

Korean: Started when I turned 16, so I've studied it for almost a year now. I've learnt quite fast, so it's almost as good as my Japanese.

Mandarin: Not actively studying. I learn a new grammar structure perhaps every month, and pick up a couple of vocabulary by ear every now and then. Very basic skills, but I plan to study in future.

I'm working on becoming fluent in Japanese by the September, and Korean by the end of the year. Let's hope I get there.

Edited by JaKorChi on 14 February 2011 at 9:53am

1 person has voted this message useful



Khublei
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Yugoslavia
homestayperu.net
Joined 5106 days ago

90 posts - 141 votes 
Speaks: English*, Irish*, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Khasi, French, Albanian

 
 Message 172 of 204
14 February 2011 at 1:38pm | IP Logged 
Hello!

I'm 25.

Native - English and Irish.

Spanish - Lived in South America for a year, studied it for a year in college. I can converse perfectly fine, but have no confidence when writing.

Khasi - spent 4 summers in India in a Khasi speaking place. Would love to speak it better, but they all speak great English. I can make small talk in it but it's my Language of 2011!

Albanian - I've been living in Kosovo since May 2010. Yesterday I went to a family's house for 3 hours and was able to chat away fine. Only a few things I didnt understand, but once they spoke slower I understood fine.

German - studied it for 7 years in school. Terrible level but I find when I read it I remember a lot. I'll get back to it some day.

French - 4 years in school. Worse than German but for work purposes I may need to learn it soon.

Russian - Studied it for about a year but have let it go since moving to Kosovo. I can still hold a conversation but not a detailed one.

Serbian - Studied it for a few months here in Kosovo as it was the easier option for me for a while with the Russian studies behind me. But Albanian is more useful so I never got past small talk.

Hindi - I'm currently listening to Pimsleur course and loving it.



Basically I'm a serial language learner who needs to settle on one for a while and get good at it!
1 person has voted this message useful



NC181818
Tetraglot
Newbie
Hong Kong
Joined 4108 days ago

17 posts - 24 votes
Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 173 of 204
09 February 2013 at 11:01am | IP Logged 
I'm 18.

Cantonese: Native

English: Fluent, started learning in school since 3. Not studying it any more.

Mandarin: Fluent, started learning in school since 6. Not studying it any more.

Japanese: I've been learning it for a bit more than 5 months. Still studying it.

(Update: I gave up Spanish because I lost motivation on it, and I want to focus solely on Japanese until I'm fluent in it, then I'll start learning Korean.)

Edited by NC181818 on 16 February 2013 at 1:54pm

1 person has voted this message useful



beano
Diglot
Senior Member
United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4381 days ago

1049 posts - 2152 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian

 
 Message 174 of 204
09 February 2013 at 1:31pm | IP Logged 
I'm 41.

English - native language

German - married to German speaker and hear the language every day. I speak, read and write
without difficulty, but would need to move to Germany for a few years to even approach native-like standards.
My passive comprehension is very high.

Russian - currently working through Michael Thomas and Pimsleur materials. Enjoying it.

Hungarian - very much a beginner.

Serbian - even more of a beginner.
1 person has voted this message useful



Rosen93
Diglot
Newbie
Denmark
Joined 4159 days ago

34 posts - 42 votes
Speaks: Danish*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 175 of 204
09 February 2013 at 3:19pm | IP Logged 
Age: 19 (20 in 3 months)

Danish - native language.

English - continously studying at school since age 10 / Somewhere between basic and advanced fluency depending on the skill.

French - studied at school from age 13 to 16 / Never really managed to pick it up, haven't studied it for almost four years, still beginner.

Spanish - continously studying at school since age 17 / Somewhere between A1 and A2, actively studying.

Mandarin and Lithuanian - have only been studying these two for about a month, so it's fair to say that I'm still at beginner stage.

1 person has voted this message useful



stifa
Triglot
Senior Member
Norway
lang-8.com/448715
Joined 4632 days ago

629 posts - 813 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German
Studies: Japanese, Spanish

 
 Message 176 of 204
09 February 2013 at 4:11pm | IP Logged 
Norwegian - Native language

English (Autumn 1998)
Studied it in school since I was six, and have been playing video games and so forth in
it ever since that, but didn't hit B1 before I was 11-12 and C1 before 16-ish, and I'm
still at C1 but my speaking skills have improved a lot since last september.

German (Autumn 2005)
Studied it in school until I was 18, but didn't really learn it well. I then didn't
pick it up again until last September, I can say that I am at a B1 level in it; I can
comprehend it rather well, but my output abillities are abysmal in comparison.

Japanese (Summer 2012)
I'm already approaching a B1 level in this language after only 7 months, I want to
reach the more comfortable advanced-learner stage (Between B1 and B2) within the end of
2013.

I'm a 92'er.




1 person has voted this message useful



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