English as a Second Language

So if there's one thing that MFC really opened my eyes to, it's the fact that so many people all over the world who speak another language natively, but have made the effort to learn English - and have learned it well enough to be able to communicate with native English speakers very, very well.

I find it particularly impressive because where I am in Western Canada, learning additional languages is not given much priority. So I'm fascinated by people who make it a priority.

So tell me - if English is not your first language, how did you learn it? How old were you when you began learning English? Are you still taking classes to improve your English? What's your native language? And, do your parents/brothers/sisters speak English?

Hiya LM !! I'm not replying to your questions .... ... just that the title of your thread stood out to me cos' my b/f is a teacher of English as a Second Language ! Very interesting topic !

I too am ALWAYS impressed with the level of English the non-native speakers use on MFC.

I teach English sometimes in Japan, and Japanese people are notoriously poor at English even after doing it for 6 years at secondary school. There is too much emphasis on passing tests of advanced grammar and little emphasis on being able to speak or even just communicate. They could learn a lot from the European English speakers, who also master several other languages simultaneously!!

Great topic idea!

I'm not quite what you're after, English is my second language, but I've pretty much always been bilingual. Welsh is my first language, it's all I speak at home, and with most of my school friends, but I've been at uni in England for 4 years, so I barely speak it here. I remember when I started pre-school and spoke only Welsh, there were some kids there who spoke only English, and so we had to learn English to be able to speak to each other I've always been fascinated by languages, and even more so during the last few years in an environment where being fully bilingual is so unusual.

Quite funny, discussions we've been having in the Italian thread recently have made me think about how much of a mix the mfc is when it comes to languages and cultures:thumb_yello:

i agree completely, i mean i'm american so i know english, but for those people who i talk to from foreign countries, half the time i forget that english is their second language!

So if there's one thing that MFC really opened my eyes to, it's the fact that so many people all over the world who speak another language natively, but have made the effort to learn English - and have learned it well enough to be able to communicate with native English speakers very, very well.

 

I find it particularly impressive because where I am in Western Canada, learning additional languages is not given much priority. So I'm fascinated by people who make it a priority.

 

So tell me - if English is not your first language, how did you learn it? How old were you when you began learning English? Are you still taking classes to improve your English? What's your native language? And, do your parents/brothers/sisters speak English?

I learned my english through private lessons and school at age of 14, i always loved the language and wanted to learn more and more words as fast as i can. I think the fact that i spent a year in America made my English even a bit better then when i learned it at school.

My native language is Hebrew and i also speak Russian.

Ah that's an interesting thread! Thank you for it!

I started learning English at school at the age of 11.

At the age at 23/24 I went to London to learn English (it was an old dream I always had - as my family never traveled abroad I kept dreaming about going to other countries and meeting people talking other languages). I thought my English was not so bad but I realised when I arrived that I just could not express myself / understand people . It took me a while to have my ear accustomed to the language.

After a year, I came back to Paris, where I found a job where English was demanded (so I still could practice it). 5 years later I had an opportunity to work for an American family for a year, being half the time in Paris, half the time in Detroit. So off I went! And discovered how American could be different from English.

Now I still live in Paris, I keep reading in English to try to keep it, my work is 80% in English (I work with expats who speak very little / no French). It's awful though to see how your vocabulary/grammar can fade away . Practicing English at work is not enough to keep it (you always use the same vocabulary).

My family does not speak it (well my father and my brother very little, and you should hear my mother when she tries to pronounce "Desperate Housewives" , she's not even able to remember Hello and Thank you!).

French education is not really great at teaching languages (as many know ). But more and more French people travel / have to learn English for work, so little by little it's getting better. Now you can find people in Paris who will help you !

Hey! Really interesting thread, thanks for opening it:thumb_yello: It's true in most non-English speaking countries learning languages is a priority, especially English. I think it's necessary because like it or not, English is the international language, just as Latin was in the Middle Ages, so if you want to have connections of any kind outside your country, you must learn it. This said, I'll move to my particular case.

I come from Spain, and when I was a child English wasn't a priority in children education at all. But my parents were really wise and sent me to a bilingual kindergarden,in which I learnt English even before I spoke any Spanish. This was surely a problem at home, for nobody in my family spoke a word of it (I imagine myself at the age of 3 trying to make Mum understand what I was saying and she looking at me with that expression on her face, not knowing what I was talking about:roftl:). Anyway, back in the 70's, when I was a young girl, almost nobody learnt English, so I have to thank my folks very, very much for the effort they made to get me to speak it since such an early age.

Later on, they sent me away to Britain every summer to improve my skills, and those months really were the happiest of my life, not to mention how much they opened my mind to new cultures and experiences, and made me grow in every way. I'm so thankful to my parents for all that.

And after English came Arabic and I hope Persian and Hebrew soon. When you know a second language, your mind is more receptive to more, and I love learning them.

So, there you go, that's my story, hope I haven't bored you lot

This is MY thread...thanks Mana!:wub2:

how much do i love English? i cannot quantify the love i feel for this language.

i know i cannot be as fluent as a native, but i assure you i think in English and when i search for a word, the first one coming to my mind is in English (when i know it!).

i've been loving English since i was...14. Not before then, because i used to learn french from 11 to 14 years old.

when i started going to high school, i was a beginner in english...as i had studied french: my first marks were awful!

but as a teen i loved music, especially music coming from the UK...and i was determined to get to understand what the lyrics of the songs meant.

so i started studying English through the lyrics of the songs!

that was a successful move!

then the path became so easy........

i studied English at the University, together with Spanish.

i could go to Britain several times to improve the language...and so i'm here...enjoying everyday i spend in here, cause i can practise the most beautiful language in the world!

thanks Mika, MFC and all my friends here..............

lol, well after reading these awsome stories of ppl who can speak like 3 or 4 lang. i feel really stupid, i only know english first lang. then studied french for two years, but hardly know it and now latin just for fun:naughty:

Now I still live in Paris' date=' I keep reading in English to try to keep it, my work is 80% in English (I work with expats who speak very little / no French). [b']It's awful though to see how your vocabulary/grammar can fade away[/b] . Practicing English at work is not enough to keep it (you always use the same vocabulary).

I totally agree, i saw that as well after i studied arabic and spanish at school, since i didn't practice those languges too much my knowledge have disaapeared, but english is also very mandatory for my work as i work with mostly public from the UK & America, and i use it a lot on a very reqular basis chatting with friends etc.

I totally agree, i saw that as well after i studied arabic and spanish at school, since i didn't practice those languges too much my knowledge have disaapeared, but english is also very mandatory for my work as i work with mostly public from the UK & America, and i use it a lot on a very reqular basis chatting with friends etc.

You studied Arabic and Spanish?? Hey sis! We can help each other, you know I want to learn Hebrew:naughty: (sorry guys for the off topic comment)

I just wanted to learn english when I was like, 4 years old:roftl:

I just could read and wrote in Dutch, and was already bored:doh:

So I went to the library and hired a video wich was called ''Pret met Engels'' (fun with English), and it was a Disney video.

I also hired some English lesson books.

I started to talk in English at home and on school, just to sound intelligent:naughty:

I also get it on school, visit a lot of english websites, and read a lot of english books.

You studied Arabic and Spanish?? Hey sis! We can help each other, you know I want to learn Hebrew:naughty: (sorry guys for the off topic comment)

:shocked: I was about to write the same thing .

A language exchange studies, sounds good to me.

I used to be the best studant in the arabic language class, i loved studying it, very interesting and i especially liked to write it as it was like art to me.

:shocked: I was about to write the same thing .

A language exchange studies, sounds good to me.

I used to be the best studant in the arabic language class, i loved studying it, very interesting and i especially liked to write it as it was like art to me.

I don't know why, I was kindda sure you would:naughty:

I love Arabic, I agree with you completely, writting it is an art.

I totally agree, i saw that as well after i studied arabic and spanish at school, since i didn't practice those languges too much my knowledge have disaapeared, but english is also very mandatory for my work as i work with mostly public from the UK & America, and i use it a lot on a very reqular basis chatting with friends etc.

Yes that's the thing, when I travel I still can practice it, and I still have a few friends abroad with whom I write/talk in English. And working with international people helps though, even if the vocabulary is always the same.

And I have the same problem as yours: I learnt latin and Spanish at school but I lost most of what I had learnt. When I go to Spain I can manage to understand some main lines but can't speak (only a few words / sentences - still can manage for a beer and tapas though ).

I don't know why, I was kindda sure you would

 

I love Arabic, I agree with you completely, writting it is an art.

Some weird psychic connection

Yes that's the thing' date=' when I travel I still can practice it, and I still have a few friends abroad with whom I write/talk in English. And working with international people helps though, even if the vocabulary is always the same.

 

And I have the same problem as yours: I learnt latin and Spanish at school but I lost most of what I had learnt. When I go to Spain I can manage to understand some main lines but can't speak (only a few words / sentences - still can manage for a beer and tapas though ).[/quote']

 

I don't remember anything really from Spanish, i would love to learn it again someday. I got a really big interest in learning languages, i even started learning French not to long ago but from lack of time i had to drop the studies, hopefully i'll be back to it soon.

 

Even Russian, i grew up hearing it but because in school i spoke hebrew then i lost my russian, and now it is slowly coming back to me, especially when i want to say something to my mum and don't want anyone else to understand.

So if there's one thing that MFC really opened my eyes to, it's the fact that so many people all over the world who speak another language natively, but have made the effort to learn English - and have learned it well enough to be able to communicate with native English speakers very, very well.

 

I find it particularly impressive because where I am in Western Canada, learning additional languages is not given much priority. So I'm fascinated by people who make it a priority.

 

So tell me - if English is not your first language, how did you learn it? How old were you when you began learning English? Are you still taking classes to improve your English? What's your native language? And, do your parents/brothers/sisters speak English?

my native language is Turkish.

in my family it's only me who speaks english.

i learnt english from movies,TV series and reading threads on mfc:roftl:

no i'm not kidding!

i mean we took classes at school of course but they were not enough really:thumbdown:

i've never been in another country and even never had a conversation with a native english speaker too...

but i still dare to post here:roftl:

if you understand half of what i said i would be totally happy:blush-anim-cl:

ps:feel free to correct my mistakes,it helps me a lot:thumb_yello:

Some weird psychic connection

My mental powers, babe:cool:

I don't remember anything really from Spanish, i would love to learn it again someday. I got a really big interest in learning languages, i even started learning French not to long ago but from lack of time i had to drop the studies, hopefully i'll be back to it soon.

Here I am, I can re-teach you if you want:naughty: I'm also very interested in learning languages, I think it's a must if you want to find out about different cultures.

i know i cannot be as fluent as a native, but i assure you i think in English and when i search for a word, the first one coming to my mind is in English (when i know it!).

Same for me Robertina ! Actually when I lived in London I started to lose my French... Since then, I have problems with my French sometimes, the vocabulary sometimes does not want to come, the English word often comes instead of the French one..

my native language is Turkish.

in my family it's only me who speaks english.

i learnt english from movies,TV series and reading threads on mfc:roftl:

no i'm not kidding!

i mean we took classes at school of course but they were not enough really:thumbdown:

 

i've never been in another country and even never had a conversation with a native english speaker too...

 

but i still dare to post here

 

if you understand half of what i said i would be totally happy:blush-anim-cl:

 

ps:feel free to correct my mistakes,it helps me a lot:thumb_yello:

DILEK !!!! Your written English & grammar is nearly perfect !!!

Here I am, I can re-teach you if you want:naughty: I'm also very interested in learning languages, I think it's a must if you want to find out about different cultures.

Exactly, plus it's also fun.

DILEK !!!! Your written English & grammar is nearly perfect !!!

really:blush-anim-cl:

thanks:wub2:

*looks dictionary to the word "nearly"*

.

.

*gets angry:sneaky2:*

Exactly, plus it's also fun.

And you meet lovely people from the four corners of the world, you broaden your mind and get wiser and more understanding. That's one of the things I love of the MFC: we come from all the five contients and share our points of view and traditions and everything. I'm learning a lot in here, and not only about the English language!