Where y'all from? | Page 2 | Miscellaneous / Off-topic | Forum

It's great to read all the stories in this thread! 

I'm from Minnesota, USA.  I wasn't really interested in languages until college, when I took two years of Chinese (and subsequently forgot it all).  My dad has always encouraged me to study languages because he was a linguist in the Air Force in the late 1960s. 

After forgetting Chinese, I met a nice Iranian man and we fell in love.  His family still lives in Iran and they are a big part of my motivation.  Anyway, two months ago this young man and I moved back to the Minnesota (from Malaysia) and got married.  Now I have a language partner 24/7! 

Next on my list is Spanish which, I have to admit, is mainly to increase my employment possibilities. 

A bit boring I'm afraid:

Born in England.

Raised in England.

Everyone around me speaks Klingon English.

Just wait til I finish University, then I'll travel the world. 

I was born in Canada, then moved to the US when I was three. My sister is deaf and my parents' research showed that one of the best deaf schools in North America was in Portland Oregon. So…. off we went. The unfortunate thing (language-wise) was that the deaf school was an oral school. Sign language was forbidden. My sister and I still learned a few signs when we could, just because we were told not to.

After 12 years, my family moved back to Canada where we both finished our schooling. It was a bit difficult for me because, in Canada, French is a mandatory subject. I was expected to be at the same level in French as everyone else. They had already been learning it for 4 years and I was a complete newbie with no knowledge whatsoever. Well, long story short, I was horrible at French. The teacher took pity on me and tutored me after school for the rest of the year. I passed French by a 2 percent margin. At this point I hated french.

It wasn't until I first went to Europe that I found how much I really enjoyed speaking my pidgin French. All of that tutoring seemed to come back to me and I was able to get my ideas across in French. I was amazed. When I got back to Canada, I started studying French again. It was now fun.

My mother was born and raised in Iceland, so I've been hearing Icelandic my entire life. Unfortunately, my father forbade me to learn it. He figured that if he didn't know Icelandic, there was no way that I was going to have a secret language with my mother! Arg. I learned as many words and phrases as I could, but I couldn't speak enough to hold a conversation -- although from listening to my mother speak to her family on the phone all my life, I can understand a surprising amount of spoken Icelandic.

As an adult, I've taken a quite a few Icelandic classes (taught by one of my many cousins), but I still haven't hunkered down to really learn it. I'd love to learn enough to freak my mother out one day, though.

My sister and I both finally went to school to learn sign language about 10 years ago (not together). We now have that secret language that our father tried to keep from us. I now also use sign language on a daily basis since I work with the deaf.

My first attempt at Language "Hacking" was in 2005. My wife and I decided to try and learn Greek, since we'd be in Greece for 3 weeks. She didn't quite have the knack for languages (although at the time, her French was probably better than mine).  I seemed to be able to pick up Greek fairly "easily." Granted, I could barely hold a conversation, but I only studied for a month. The Greek I learned actually came in quite handy at times. I even continued my studies when I got home for awhile.

Two years ago I studied Italian for six months before our trip to Italy, and was able to hold fairly decent conversations when we got there. Within a few days, I really got into the groove and was feeling very comfortable in Italian. I really seemed to develop a love of Italian after this.

Unfortunately, for each of the languages I've learned for travel, I've lost a lot of them due to lack of use. What Benny says is true: you have to keep using your languages!

I've always had a fascination with all languages and just love learning how each language has similarities and differences with other languages. I wish I had the time to learn them all!

Well, We're heading to Italy again (among other places) next November (2012), so I'm going to REALLY study Italian until then… Fluency, here I come!

Biscotti said:

Born in England.

Raised in England.

Everyone around me speaks Klingon English.

 

hahahaah!!! LOL!!!

Mombak said:

My sister is deaf and my parents' research showed that one of the best deaf schools in North America was in Portland Oregon. So…. off we went. The unfortunate thing (language-wise) was that the deaf school was an oral school. Sign language was forbidden. My sister and I still learned a few signs when we could, just because we were told not to.

It's terrible and cruel that sign language was forbidden. How can they do that??????? I absolutely hate such ignorant tyranny. It seems a stupid school, not one of the best at all.

How can a father forbid his deaf daughter of sign language?

I'd like to learn sign language, but I don't know how, but in the future i will learn it for sure. In my opinion all the world must learn it, maybe in the primary school. If it were in my school I would have learned it, but in my school aren't deafs at all.

kuikentje Jar-ptitsa said:

It's terrible and cruel that sign language was forbidden. How can they do that??????? I absolutely hate such ignorant tyranny. It seems a stupid school, not one of the best at all.

Well, you have to realize, that this was in the late 60's. It was a totally different time compared to today. Not to mention that my parents had no idea how to raise a deaf child. There was absolutely no information on what they should do. They knew absolutely no one else with a deaf child. They had to believe that the so-called experts knew best. Here in Vancouver, she attended her first school for only a year before we moved. The sad news is that since then, there have been hundreds of allegations of severe child abuse at this school (mostly from 1982 to 1987). It just makes me sad that there are such horrible people in this world to take advantage of and abuse a child, especially a child that requires special attention. This school was closed in 1993, after about 40 years of service. The school she attended in Portland, Oregon for 12 years, has received nothing but glowing reviews (as far as I know).

As for parents' decision, I thought it made sense (for the most part). They wanted to give my sister as many opportunities as they could. Was it better to include her in the hearing world, or surround her with only deaf people (of which they knew none)? Sure, both would be ideal, but it's much more difficult than most people realize. They chose to give her what they thought had the most potential for her. She learned to speak and read lips. If you ask her today, she'd say that she much prefers the hearing world to the deaf world. Plus, she is thriving in the hearing world. She's happily married to a hearing man, and has three kids. She's done quite well for herself.

Learning to lip read or sign is a very touchy subject among the deaf and the hard of hearing. The deaf see it as child abuse -- taking one of their own and teaching them something unnatural. Within the deaf culture, a lot of deaf see themselves as actually superior to the hearing. Why would you ever want to deny someone their own culture?! As I said, it's a very sensitive subject. I just think that every child should be given as many choices as possible regardless of any specific culture or so-called "disabilities."

I'd like to learn sign language, but I don't know how, but in the future i will learn it for sure. In my opinion all the world must learn it, maybe in the primary school. If it were in my school I would have learned it, but in my school aren't deafs at all.

Sign language (contrary to popular belief) is not just signed English. It truly is it's own language. It has it's own grammar, structure, and culture. To truly learn sign language, you must become involved with the deaf culture, which can be a shock to most hearing people. I've got my own personal opinions on the deaf culture and not all of it is positive… but I will say that the people who are in the deaf culture are a very tight-knit group. They really support each other when they can. Outsiders are rarely truly accepted unless you have someone who can vouch for you. It's a very social society, but they generally keep to themselves whenever they can. If you try to breach the culture, one of the first questions you are asked is "Who are you, and who do you know?"

Also, sign language is very different in different countries. ASL is only used in Canada and the United States (with a few minor differences). It's based on the French Sign Language, but after over 100 years, it's changed drastically. If you want to learn sign language, make sure you learn one for your country (or where you'll use it most). Some websites and books you find that teach sign language in English may not differentiate between ASL and English sign language (or Australian, etc). This can get confusing if you're not careful.

If you'd like specifics on what to learn, or some references, let me know. 

kuikentje Jar-ptitsa said:

I find it not child abuse if the child learn the sign language as well and can sign with the people. I find it child abuse if a deaf child must lip read but not allowed to sign.

If the deaf child has access to the deaf culture, I'd (almost) agree. The term "child abuse" seems a bit harsh to me. There are lots of deaf people who do not have access to the deaf culture, and therefore must learn to communicate in some way with those around them. Hence, they learn to lip read and to speak. There are far more hearing people in the world than deaf people, so those who are able to communicate with the hearing will have it that much easier in life with far more options, in my opinion. Again, both is better, but you usually have to choose one first -- and lip reading is MUCH more difficult than learning sign! Learning to sign is "easy," it's just another language. With lip reading and speaking, you have to make sounds that you've never heard and (most likely) never will. I'm always very impressed when I meet someone who can lip read and speak.

I am from Innsbruck, Austria. My native tongue is German. I've always liked languages, but the way they were taught at school is not very rewarding; then later in life I felt too busy/got lazy/distracted etc.

Now I am back on track: I have been learning Turkish for a little over a year (however, I took a break of about 6 months for personal reasons) because I want to study in Istanbul and all the classes are in Turkish.

At the same time I am working on my French (4 years, but 15 year break) and will be starting Russian this spring. (I like the sound of it, it is a beautiful language).

Once I am fluent in those I will tackle either Korean (I study political science and I am very interested in North Korea) or Hungarian (I have a friend in Budapest).

Another option might be Italian, as I live quite near the border, and I understand quite a bit of it because I took 2 years in school and also learned Latin. However, I think it is a bit boring (not because it isn't beautiful, but because it is a very obvious choice).

Hello, I'm a Malaysian Chinese and of course from Malaysia (South East Asia). There's a huge immigration from China to SEA due to wars.

I just like most Malaysian Chinese learn Chinese, English and Malay since we're in kindergarten. We must learn 3 of them until we graduated from Secondary School (Middle and High School). We can choose not to learn Chinese but will probably kill by parents. I never heard 'language learning', 'take French in Grade 4' , 'learn Latin'…before until I'm 13 or 14 because we're force to learn 3 languages and cannot choose to learn any other. The side-effect is that most of Malaysian Chinese and Indian Chinese don't like Malay. I don't like it too but it's good to know another language and it's our national language. I tried to not hate that language but I still can't force myself to enjoy it.

I also can understand Cantonese very well. I think I learned it from Hong Kong dramas. I don't know when. I can also understand Hakka (my dialect) and a small amount of Hokkien(or Taiwanese). Every Chinese here have their own Chinese dialect so if you want to practice Mandarin, Taiwanese and Cantonese at the same time, Malaysia is a good place.

 About my language learning…

I always want to know more about other countries and when I'm 14, I came across a article about Esperanto. After reading it, I fell in love with it and start learning it for a month. After that I tried Latin, Japanese and Korean but I can't stick with one. I fell bored and lost enthusiasm for every language I learned. Everything changed last December when I started French. I'm still learning it now and would like to reach conversational level at the end of this August. I'll start Irish and Norwegian after September and of course continue to improve my French. If I can reach Intermediate or conversational level in French, Irish and Norwegian , maybe I'll learn Icelandic next year(2013). It's a bit impossible but I'll do my best to reach my goal. My dream is to to take German in Beijing University of Foreign Language. Hope I can persuade my parents to let me study aboard in China! But before all that, FRENCH…!!!

I like this thread. It's interesting. If you need help in Chinese, I'm happy to help. I think I wrote a bit too long so I highlighted the main points