One of our readers recently asked if Mr. Handsome and I speak any languages aside from English. While we are not fluent in any other languages, we did study foreign languages in school.
In junior high, I took a semester of Spanish, followed by six-and-a-half years of French. I also took a Spanish class during the summer in early elementary school, but while I have very vivid memories of what the classroom and campus looked like, I didn’t learn much. It was at an old private school that people claimed was haunted, so I suppose that was more interesting to the students than what was being taught.
Mr. Handsome studied Spanish in junior high and high school. Even though we both spent a significant portion of our school years learning languages, we have forgotten quite a bit. My knowledge of French was helpful on our trip to Quebec in 2018, but I certainly would not feel comfortable in a group of sole French speakers. Mr. Handsome feels the same way about Spanish.
During my homeschool years (my junior and senior years of high school), I took one year of German as an elective.
What languages do you speak?
Anonymous
Is there such a thing as a quasi-polyglot? Eight years of French and Spanish in school have morphed into “Franish” decades later. I can still (mostly) read both languages and get the gist of things but speaking them or translating them while hearing them is harder. I think of a French verb when I need a Spanish one and vice versa. I grew up hearing German and Yiddish, lots of those words and phrases around the house that I still use. I had to learn Latin and Greek word roots in my college prep English classes, so I got a small taste of those two languages, in a way. Thanks to a foreign exchange student friend, I can say things in Tagalog that you don’t repeat in polite company. I had a Brazilian boyfriend, and somehow between my Spanish and his Portuguese and semi-English, we were able to make beautiful music together. I hosted a group of Russians in my home, but it’s a good thing we had an interpreter because that’s one language I never learned, despite having a family member who spoke it fluently and taught it at a university.
I think everyone should study other languages. I’m amazed at how well people from all parts of the world can speak English. They seem to know it better than we would ever know their native language. Quite an accomplishment for them. My father had international business connections when I was young and was always bringing home people from all corners of the world – Turkey, Ethiopia, Philippines, Kenya, France, you name it – and they all spoke English very well.
Ellie
It’s wonderful that you have had exposure to so many different languages! And I very much agree, I am always so impressed at how well most of the rest of the world can speak English.
Gabrielle!
I’m gonna learn Italian this year! I’m very excited!
Regina
I’m going to teach myself Spanish because I have a friend in Buenos Aires who comments in Spanish on my blog so I have to use Google Translater which she also uses to read my blog. The funny thing Ellie about our friendship is we met through your Duggar Family Blog and she went to my blog to argue about something she flat out disagreed with me about. The Lord somehow has worked it out that we are friends now for five years now.
Back to the topic, I took Spanish in high school but I only remember a few words now. Definitely not enough to hold a conversation.
Ellie
What a neat story, Regina! Thank you for sharing. I’m thrilled to hear that you met a friend through one of my blogs.
Anonymous
Regina, that story is so sweet! It will be nice for you to know a little of her language too. 🙂
Lisa
Greek. Trying to teach my kids as well, but it’s not easy.
FM
Italian mother tongue here, I also speak fluent French, Spanish, and English 🙂 I studied 5 years of Latin and Ancient Greek at school, but it was ages ago. I am learning German and would say I am beginner bordering intermediate (I can have a conversation with my mother in law and understand the news, etc.) and, having lived in Israel for a time, I can understand and get by the basics of daily life – get on the right bus, buy the right groceries, etc.
My husband is German, so that is his mother tongue. He grew up in the former Eastern bloc and his “practice wife” 😉 was Russian, so he is fluent in Russian. He also speaks Spanish and a smattering of Czech.
We are raising our son here in the USA so he is growing up trilingual- Italian with mom (and family), German with dad (and family), English with the rest of the world.
Ellie
Thank you for sharing, FM. You are giving your son an incredible gift to expose him to multiple languages.
Anonymous
My daughter took French in hs but never used it. Several yrs later, she was shopping at a thrift store in another town 45 miles away and found her old hs French textbook there. She brought it home and put it away. The only French she likes are the French bakeries. I know a few Turkish words, but that’s all.
Anonymous
I had to interpret at a thrift store once when the English-speaking clerk could not get her message through to the Spanish-speaking customer. You never know when you might need your old high school skills.
Anonymous
You are so right 11:33! I took French from the fourth grade through the twelfth grade, but felt like I had not retained much as the years went by. Many years later we were on vacation on the French Riviera, and I was attempting to buy something in a store. The salesperson asked me a few questions about my purchase and then asked me about my kids. I was surprised that I understood her and could respond to her in the French I thought I had forgotten.
Jasmine
Does anybody know of free language learning apps?
Anonymous
Duolingo is a really good one thats free.
Jasmine
Thanks!
Leina
I’m fluent in Finnish (my native language) and in English. I used to be quite fluent in Swedish also, but I haven’t used it in years so it’s getting rusty. Those languages were mandatory in school, but I also took French, Russian, Spanish and Italian. I had ok skills in French and Russian, but I’m starting to forget them too. I studied theology in uni, so I had to take Latin, Hebrew and Greek. As a working mom I don’t really have time to keep up with my language skills, so I can’t even read Hebrew anymore… I try to maintain my English vocabulary, so I read blogs, magazines and occasionally a novel in English. My daughter has inherited my love of languages, she’s ten and already taking English and Swedish.
Netta
I live in Finland but my mother tongue is Swedish (as about 6% of the population). I’m also fluent in English and fairly fluent in Finnish and German. I did at some point take a Spanish class and know a few words, but I definitely would not manage in Spain. I did forget most of the German I learned at school since I barely used it for about 10-12 years but then I decided to revive it and when me and my husband went to Germany three years ago we bought a car from a car dealer that did not speak many words of English. My husband has only very basic knowledge of German so I did the speaking. It was fun! It is quite nice to understand a language that most of the people around you do not.
Ellyn
I took French for a long time in school, but I’m definitely not fluent – far from it.
I’m an ESL teacher and usually work with Spanish speaking populations so I have acquired some Spanish words here and there from my students.
I am always in awe of people who are fluent in more than one language.
Flora
My mother language is Slovenian. In elementary school English was mandatory, in high school English and German. In college for tourism Italian was added. Since my mother comes from Bosnia, I speak also Serbian. So this makes 5 languages but I do not speak all of them fluently. I would say this for English and Serbian, upper intermediate for German and intermediate for Italian.
And I work as tourist guide, so I have to use all of the languages daily. In some languages I do tours and in others just give basic information.
B
I never had to take a language in school. My High School never offer language .
Est
I live in England so speak English. I learnt some French, German and Spanish, one verse in Italian, 4 words in Tibetan, maybe 10 in Chinese and Ukrainian. I certainly forgot a lot of French, but can sometimes understand Spanish speakers if they talk slowly. My favourite Ukrainian word is “slavabogo” although I don’t know if that is spelled correctly. It means “Praise the Lord”.
Johanne
To is very interesting reading you all. I am from quebec, Canada so I speak french. I learned english at school, but i have the chance to work everyday in english so this helps a lot. I took some spanish courses at university, but without practice almost lost everything ☹️
Here in quebec there is a law to protect french. For example we can only send our kids to an english school if we went ourselves… (except for private schools) and we cannot ask employees to work with english softwares or send them communication only in english and Ask them to read it. Once in a while, someone from the gouvernement (i call them the french police) comes where i work and check if our equipements are in french: they cannot see on/off or reset, it needs to be in french. And if you have a sign on the building in both language the words in french need to be bigger than the english ones. Sometimes it is too much. Let me tell you that when the company you work for is from the usa, not easy to understand all of this.
Anonymous
There are different levels for languages. I can say I’m bilingual in French and English, fluent in Italian and Dutch. I can get by in German and Spanish and understand some Portugese. When you live in Europe, you have to learn other languages and there are many opportunities to use them!