How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Do you speak the language of the country you're in? If so, how well?

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

i'm still trying to learn my own language...:doh:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I spent a good deal of time studying in the beginning and then took a well deserved short break and since have had a hard time getting back into the study groove.

:bounce: (The short break was 4 years ago.) :bounce:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

im glad there's the "read the menu, order a beer and ask where the bathroom is." option. that's it for me. i can't go no further! :loco:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Well I can speak Greek well, with a slight foreign accent but fluently. I learnt a lot of abstract words from the students I was preparing for the Cambridge exams. I fell in love and got married to a Greek man while speaking English and despite my heredity( my dad's Greek) I was raised in a different country, culture, language. So when I came to live in Greece, everything was literally Greek to me. I learnt fast however. I found similarities in vocabulary and syntax between Greek and other languages I could speak. I learnt to read by reading syllable by syllable some cheap western books translated into Greek. After I finished the first one I could read, after I finished the fifth one I could speak intelligiblly. This is what extensive reading does to a language student:)

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

manuela,

i think it so useful for language teachers to go through the process of learning a language. it really helps them understand what their students are going through.

and congrats to you for tackling greek so enthusiastically!

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I can order stuff, understand the money and general stuff like that here in Korea. The funny thing is that the majority of the time when I use Korean, I get a REPLY in English so it has turned me off learning it more.

I'm going back to French 'cas I spent 6 years in school learning it and it's more useful than Korean I think :) I got a Beginner's Book with cassettes yesterday so I am recording them onto my Minidisk at school as I don't have a tape player.

(p.s. don't tell the Koreans what I said)

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I'm in China, but I know more japanese than I do Chinese...

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Did you stay in Japan or study Japanese? Do Japanese use some Chinese characters?

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I'm studying Japanese. Japanese has hirigana, katakana and kanji. Hirigana and katakana are way easier to learn, as there are less of them and they are fairly simple to write. Kanji characters are the Chinese ones.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

All this talk about learning another language has pushed me to start back at French again! I did study Korean for a while and eventhough I speak Korean to shop keepers / bar attendants / waiters etc, they still try to speak English to me so what's the point?

My wife has said that it would be useful to learn Korean only so that you can understand what the students are saying in the class but other than that you really don't need it. Also outside of Korea is it really useful?

A friend of mine tried to study Japanese because he was big into Manga and comics so he's able to understand some stuff so if you try you can do it!

I spent about 6 years learning French in school so it would be a waste if I forgot it all. We plan to live in France for a while in a few years as it's easier to bring our dog there and then to my home country then directly to my home country.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I'm teaching in Italy, just starting my seventh year. I thought I'd only be here for a year so for the first twelve months I learnt enough to reinforce the stereotype that English people can't \ don't \ refuse to learn languages. Then I decided to stay by which time I'd picked up vocab from students always asking the same questions, 'How do you say . . in English?' Therefore vocab great, structure a little better than awful. Sadly, six years on the grammar hasn't improved much but I now have an Italian wife and baby daughter to help when I get in a muddle.
Incidentally, is it a good thing or a bad thing to be able to speak the language of the country you're teaching in? Is anyone tempted to slip out of English to explain something, or is it acceptable to do this anyway? What do you think?

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I guess that a lot of people are afraid of losing their English if they focus too much on another language. I had to study Irish and French on top of English when I was in school and if that wasn't hard enough I tried to learn Korean for a while when I came here until I realised that everybody speaks to me in English anyway, even when I talk to them in Korean!

Also I met this guy before who was in Korea for like 6 or 7 years and his English was shocking! He spoke a lot of Konglish (Korean+English e.g. hand phone) and he was teaching kids all the time so I guess that he actually started to lose his English at some stage. Of course the kids wouldn't have noticed but the adults sure did. Be careful everyboy!!

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Yep, that's easily done. When your daily life is conducted in another language it's all too easy to 'lose' your English. As much as I try, I still get a few strange looks from friends when I go 'home' speaking English translated from Italian.

Seven years of hearing 'we are six' instead of 'there are six of us' and 'my sister she has nine years' etc etc takes its toll.

I guess listening, reading and, if possible, speaking to other mother tongues helps to keep the language doctor away :-)

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Generally I read a lot and try to watch as many t.v. shows as possible on the weekends. I don't want to lose it!!

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I'm in Japan. I can get by but I kind of lost motivation to study because I speak English at home to my kids (jpn wife) and teach English all day at school. Not so many opportunities to speak now but my understanding is not bad.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Funny thing... I'm Polish and I live in Poland so I'm supposed to speak Polish very well..but...;) It often happens that I can't find a polish word but I know the english equivalent;)
And after being two months in Canada this summer my polish was really bad for a while:) It's mainly because my family in Canada used some kind of Polglish;) -I mean they mixed english with polish so often that it stuck in my head... :)

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

i've been here in indonesia for a year now but still can't make a sentence or two in bahasa. well, i can in simple sentences but can't start conversation or argument in bahasa. i am trying to learn. really. as in trying really hard to know the language :becky:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

It's hilarious how many people don't speak English in America. I know "it's the melting pot of the world", but, it's a shame. I am Cuban/Jamaican (Spanish/English). I met a few women who live here for 40 years and don't speak English. Wow!

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I always went to a lot of trouble to learn the rudiments of any language before visiting a country as I find that the most rewarding part of any visit is usually in the conversations that one has with the local people, to understand their culture and the way they think.

For example in Libya I learned from a man about how he was going to take two wives. To a westerner the man would be decried as a sexist pig or whatever. However in the context he was a good and charitable man.

If he divorced his first wife, who he had married out of family duty, she would be cast out into the street, be shamed, and no one would take her in. By keeping her and taking a second wife, he ensured his first wife kept her pride and status, and a roof over her head.

As well as Leptis Magna, that conversation was one of the highlights of my stay.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I spent two years in Japan teaching on JET. I had a ton of free time and languages fascinate me. So, I learned Japanese fairly quickly and well. Now I am teaching at a Japanese school in Mexico City. I am using basic Japanese regularly and speak Spanish. I am planning on doing a Master's degree in Mexico.

Going through the process of learning another language, the frustrations, the mistakes, where your native language gets in the way of learning the foreign language, figuring out good learning strategies, etc., is invaluable to TEFL.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I am always spending my free time reading and listening to Korean. I have spent a year in Korea and can read and write Korean to a good degree. Say I hear someone speaking, I can actually write down what they are saying, but have some limitation of understanding what they are saying.

My speaking and listening however is probably the same as an infant in Korea. I can listen to it but have trouble actually speaking it. I can compose some sentences and questions in Korean, but verbs really seem to get me. There is apparently 24 different ways of speaking the same verb. This includes honorific formats and well as informal formats.

I am pleased with my progress within a year because a year ago I couldn't even read or speak Korean. I plan to be in the country for about 10 years or so and I hope after this period to be able to be able to speak to any native without any hesitation.

Nonetheless, the Korean language fascinates me because it's so natural and simple to learn yet so difficult to master.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I have been living in Barcelona for 14 months now and when I arrived I didn't speak more than "Hello", "Thank you" and "how are you" (in Spanisch of course :) ).

I took private classes twice a week together with a friend and went to an intensive 4-weeks-course in the summer. I can speak about things I know and use the grammar I know, I can understand the weahter forecast and traffic news and I can follow almost every conversation, but still, I do have a lot of problems to express myself at times. I feel I should be fluent after one year having lived here and sometimes feel ashamed that I'm not. But hey, my first language is German and I speak English all day/every day and my flatmate's French.... I get the languages all mixed up sometimes.

Basically I don't have opportunities to practice. I also feel that I'm losing my English listening to "Spanglish" every day and I'm glad to hear that this is obviously even happening to native speakers!!!

Things like "more or less" (más o menos) or "I took the sun" are running gags here. I'm glad I haven't started saying "I'm not agree", "I don't sure" or "I don't know nothing" :doh:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Being spanish and having started my own school right here in my hometown means I speak the language of the country I live in fairly well.

But it is very interesting to read all the things you go through when you move to a different country.

Frauke how about all the thing we do ourselves in Spain? Like "me opero" (I operate myself) or "me corté el pelo" (Icut my hair)... I bet that's rather surprising if you are not a spanish speaker. :p

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I studied Spanish quite extensively before I came here to Mexico...I´m not fluent yet, but I get around easily. Thank goodness it´s not a language like...Mandarin. =)

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Well i try to start learning the new langauge but i seem to move every 8 months or so to another country and therefore never actually master a certain language. I have learned bits of Thai, Korean and Spanish!

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Donney,

actually I don't have so much trouble with the reflexive part of the language as I am German and German is reflexive, too. You just have to accept how it is used.

I have more trouble with the fact that Spanish has two "to be" and for "for" you can use "para" and "por". Sometimes it's unclear to me when to use it.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I didn't know German was reflexive too, but I haven't studied any German :)

It's easy to imagine that the two "to be" are quite hard because even if there's a general rule it doesn't always apply.

"Por" and "para" are as difficult as any other preposition, imho, just like in French "par" and "pour" or in English "for", "by" or "to"

Sometimes I wonder why we like languages. :(

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

My Mandarin is OK, but not as good as it should be. I can read a little, and speak pretty well, and my listening is better than my speaking. I'm a lousy student, though. I'm not particularly social, and in my freetime I usually listen to English radio or read English books.

My girlfriend's Mandarin is much better than mine, even though she's only lived here for 3 years (compared to my 5.5). But she reads novels and <gasp> enjoys talking to people so...

I told myself that I would be a better language student after I finished my MA. That was 4 months ago, no improvement yet.

Take care,
Dave

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I have Mongolian lessons twice a week, I have a great teacher who comes to my apartment - saves me the hassle of going out anywhere in minus ur balls temps!

When you are surrounded by a different language every day there's really no way you can't pick up at least some of the local lingo. I make an effort to speak to Mongolians in their native tongue (completely useless outside the borders), and it generally opens a lot of positive doors and closes a lot of negative ones eg: gettin' ripped off by taxi drivers, dealing with the corrupt police who want $10 out of your wallet for no real reason etc.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I can speak Malay well enough to have a simple conversation. I sometimes have to answer the office phone and take a message in Malay.

Malay or very similar languages and dialects are spoken in Malaysia, Southern Thailand, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. That's over 200 million people I can chat to!

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Hi, my name is dave. I hope Im not breaking in on this thread's original topic, if so- consider this totally off the subject. New to esl HQ! Im being called to do a special class at the last minute "What are your favorite school subjects?" here in Japan for a 5th grade class presentation. I have the usual curriculum content but would like to put on a more interesting class. ANy ideas? I could use a good ice breaker for it, a good interracting activity , and a possible game. WHats usually done is theyre requested to draw their favorite subject and then present it after drilling key phrases, and Ive always shied from doing only that. :doh:I could use a bit of enegy in this one! I'm at dwes3140@yahoo.com, or a reply here on the thread will be fine! Thank you all in advance!

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Hi Dave,

Welcome to eslHQ. I imagine you'd get a lot more answers to your question if you posted this as a new thread. I can move the post to its own thread if you'd like. There are a lot of folks here that could give you some good ideas.

Let me know,
Eric
btw, i wouldn't post your email address in the forums as spammers could easily take it and, well, spam you. that's what the private messages are for.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I live in my own country, so there is not a problem for me :) But if we are talking about languages I can say I learn French, know some basic Ducth and Russian :)

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I live in France and speak French well (studied it for my degree and married to a Frog!) and I think it makes for more comfortable living. I know when I lived in Japan and my Japanese was poor to very poor, I was fairly miserable most of the time. Oh and yes, I do resort to French in class quite a lot but only when it suits me, not when it suits them :lol:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I speak daily Chinese fluently, make calls in Chinese to Chinese people and they can't even tell I am a foreigner on the phone. I shop, do banking stuff, order food and stun Chinese with my accent which most Chinese say is very standard. BUT, I can't read any Chinese characters. When you show me text in Chinese, I go blind. So where do I belong?

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

To Happy Camper - are you actually teaching English yourself? Should it not be "How many people actually speak the language of the country they're in?", as opposed to "...of the country their in?". I do hope that your students do not pick up on your bad grammar.

In answer to the original question, I teach in Thailand and I do speak Thai to a reasonable degree of fluency with good pronunciation and I believe it does help me in understanding the pronunciation mistakes and word order mistakes that my students frequently make. However, I know many teachers here in Thailand who do not speak much Thai, if any at all and they appear to be doing OK.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

In Micronesia my Chuukese was pretty good. It's an easy language, but my Vietnamese leaves something to be desired. The things that must be done in Vietnamese can be done and usually the listeners know what you want anyway (bathroom, restaurants, etc.), but when I've tried more complex conversations with people who are not learning English something is lost. The tones are crucial and even, 'How are you, Ma'am?' - 'Chi co que khong?' sometimes just doesn't fly.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

It’s amazing how fast your English can atrophy. You’d think that daily reading, frequent movie watching and some degree of small talk with fellow native speakers on a consistent basis would keep your fluency in pretty good shape, but it just doesn’t seem to be so.

Any time I’ve gone home for an extended break, I’ve found that it takes at least two months for me to feel like my own communicative ability is back up to 100 percent.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Likewise. Actually don't understand people who are staying in some foreign country for a longer time period and don't ever manage to learn the language. Shouldn't learning at least its basics be considered as a mere sign of politeness? You can't expect everybody to speak English there just for you
At least I would do so, try to speak with native people (especially pupils) in their own language

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Hi
Having workred in several countries I have made the point of learning polite phrases(survival) menus and absolutley ordering the beer. The joke in Poland was I never remembered 8 beers if the crew were out and had to ask for 4 then another 4. Got a laugh.
But my German goes beyond that, perhaps I worried about some folks having no sense of humour.
Scouse:lol:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I wonder how many people can actually speak (and write correctly), the language they're teaching (not 'their').

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

It can't get worse. Priding myself on my rapid reading skills I didn't realize (at one go) that the blessed question's premise was that you were or had to be rather, located somewhere other than your own country. I promptly hit the 'can have a 2 hr debate' option only to bite my nails later! c'est la vie!

Poor English and Thai skills
 

I admit my English is flawed... *meek grin*
I am attempting to learn Thai but it is very difficult because I do not hear the 'tones' [being as I grew up in the US]. Sometimes- no matter how I say certain words, certain people will always correct me [and it sounds just like what I had just said :D ]

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I have been in Seoul almost 6 months , all I can speak out are "Hello, How much is it?, subway, train station this kind of word in Korean" I just found not easy to learn new a language

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

IF you live in Turkey,this is a difficult question.People change local lang.while speakin.also add some words from other lang.esp English.so we cant decide which lang.we re speking?:doh:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

When I'm in a certain country, I always make sure that I learn a phrase or too. Natives really appreciate it if you take a time or two to learn their language.

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

Enough to survive.
Juuuuust enough:becky:

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I have been living in Spain for three years now. Some days I can only order a beer (brain fart much!) other days I can debate with a bank manager over the phone...it depends on the day.

I totally agree though, that if you experience learning a language as well, you can be more sympathetic to the students. It's not just "why don't you understand this!"...it turns into "maybe you are having an off day or I understand that its frustrating when you don't understand".

Sometimes I think my English is getting worse though...I hear so many mistakes teaching all the time, and now that I speak in Spanish daily, I sometimes think to myself. " Is that how you say it???" It is concerning sometimes but for the most part it is ok. I just try to read English books and talk to my friends and family in English. I call my visits home to Canada, a chance to boost my English. Maybe I could deduct my trips from my taxes then. Ha ha!

Cheers,
Diana

Re: How many people actually speak the language of the country their in?
 

I speak fluent German. . . but with an accent. My wife is German, and we met when I was here studying German and refusing to speak English. That means she thinks it's strange when I insist on speaking English, but I don't want to 'lose' my English. When I have a lot of lower-level courses at work, and my whole conversations are "where are you from" and "what do you do" I begin to feel like I'm losing it. . . and I hate it.

But I agree with "Happy Camper" that language teachers should also be language learners. I think that learning the language of where you live is . . . well, I don't think I'd grant residence visas to people who didn't speak the language. But most of my colleagues fall into two categories: in Germany to learn German (and able to speak it pretty well) or Americans(and Austrailians) abroad with all the stereotypes that go with it.