Are you bilingual?

1. 71

   rolaabboudposted 9 years ago

   Are you bilingual?
   
   If you are bilingual, then what languages do you speak? And do you think that being bilingual is a good thing or it makes the conversation seems bad because sometimes you can not control yourself switching between the two languages?
   
   

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2. 73

   Aime Fposted 9 years ago

   I speak English and French.  I definitely think it's a positive and I'll be putting my daughter in French immersion school if at all possible. 
   
   I don't have issues slipping between languages but I did have a really hard time trying to pick up Spanish in school.  I ended up writing one of my final exams in university in half Spanish and half French and ended up barely passing.  So had I stuck with the Spanish I could see it being an issue confusing Spanish and French regularly.

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   1. 69

      IslandBitesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      In my case, Spanish and French not so much. But Spanish and Italian (and/or Portuguese)! All three are similar.

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   2. 71

      rolaabboudposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I did the same thing when I was at school, I hated French and in the exam I used to write many words in English, and same as you, I barely pass it.

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3. 74

   jackclee lmposted 9 years ago

   I speak Mandarin and English. I learned Mandarin growing up in Taiwan. It is definitely easier to learn a language when you are young. The brain has not been developed enough to harden the language neurons. Scientists have discovered knowing a second language will help with memory in your old age. The more neuron paths that are associated with an event, the better you will be able to recall them. Learning a second language may defer dementia in your old age. It is also a benefit when you travel oversea...

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   1. 71

      rolaabboudposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, being a bilingual or trilingual in early age is better, in the last two years at school  when I started to learn French for the first time in my whole life it was very difficult to understand. And I hated it.

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4. 69

   IslandBitesposted 9 years ago

   I speak Spanish, English and Italian (a little French and Portuguese too).
   It's definitively a good thing.

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   1. 71

      rolaabboudposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Spanish, English and Italian? This makes you (Trilingual)

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5. 60

   FatFreddysCatposted 9 years ago

   I speak three languages: English, profanity, and sarcasm.
   
   But seriously... I've retained a little bit of the German from my high school classes many years ago, but if you dropped me in Germany right now I doubt it would be enough for me to get by.

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   1. 71

      rolaabboudposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Lol, this is a good one. I never imagined that I would learn German, such a complex language.. the one word looks like a sentence... What I only know in German is (ich liebe dich)

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6. 76

   manatita44posted 9 years ago

   I'm not bilingual, but wish I was. 'Hello.' I understood that. I can read fairly well in Spanish as I did this at school. I can also say a few words, but I cannot hold a decent conversation.
   
   Yes, it can be a problem switching languages, socially yet alone at work in a hospital where it also happens. I knew a Nurse Manager who was reluctant to employ people from certain countries as she said that they were 'clicky' and spoke often in their language.
   
   I do not know the answer, but it can be upsetting when one needs to know about a patient, and the conversation switches from English to something else. Not good for the patient either, who is unable to follow the conversation.

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   1. 71

      rolaabboudposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yes it could be awful as the case you mentioned. Once I was at the hospital and there was two Indian nurses as they started to talk in Hindi, Udru or whatever and I asked them to speak in English so I could understand and they laughed and switched it

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7. 0

   Rahul008rajposted 9 years ago

   I speak Bhojpuri, Hindi, and English. Plus I am also learning Korean. I learned Hindi and Bhojpuri while growing up. I learned English in my school by reading novels and watching movies. Korean is also an interesting language, it makes you learn Hanja (Chinese Characters) to help memorizing the vocabularies.

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