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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  3107 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Dear Hubski, what language do you speak?

Speak two languages: bilingual.

Speak three languages: trilingual.

Speak one language: American.

I am an American. ;-)

They killed the Russian class in my High School when I was in 4th grade. My mother arranged for me to study Russian with the teacher's daughter that summer. I can only say that High School Russian is a hard damn thing for a 4th grader to learn during the summer.

Growing up, Spanish was predominant but not only is it a dialect disavowed by both the Mexican and Castillian school, it's a dialect used by the locals to isolate the white folx. Spanish was actually a lot easier to understand in Los Angeles because it wasn't intended as exclusionary.

I studied German in High School but any language you don't use regularly is a language you lose. I've never been proficient in anything but English. I can understand some spoken German and Spanish but not well enough to bother attempting to converse in it.





elizabeth  ·  3107 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's still hella impressive for an American! Especially considering how good you speak English. I spoke to similarly eloquent people in Russian and I'm always just jealous of the rich vocabulary, expressions and all they can transmit in a sentence. "Understanding" is not the same as being able to come up with the fancy words on the spot.