Is Speaking Multiple Languages Overrated?

Scott H. Young ^ | 12/08/2024

[JSM_Liberty]

Si
Oui
Ja

[READINABLUESTATE]

I’ve been learning some Lao from my neighbor lately.

[GOPJ]

If you move to a place where you don’t have a strong grasp of the local language, it’s easiest to create a social network of people who can speak your native language. This makes it much harder to spend a significant amount of time using the language you are trying to learn...

French used to be the 'universal second language'... now it's English. So, do the world a favor and let them practice their American/English with YOU.

[fwdude]

I think you can know just enough of a foreign language to be dangerous.

Unless you're more than just "proficient," don't even hold yourself out as a speaker.

[stanne]

Nein
Mais non
不

[Tijeras_Slim]

I’d suggest some art lessons too.

[V_TWIN]

“Is Speaking Multiple Languages Overrated?”

Only if your Melania Trump.

[ansel12]

I do know it is very different for an American than it would be for a Frenchman or a German and other Europeans, they are rich important nations living on top of each other and that have to interact with each other constantly like Texans and Oklahomans or Californians and Arizonans.

An American lives in a vast land of English and Canada, until recently there was no reason to learn Mexican and even now it is only if you like to learn the language of your gardener or the people you are arresting, and few need to learn that little bit of Frenchy for that vain part of Canada which few Americans see and many don’t even know speaks French.

Unless you are in international business the average American doesn’t need any other languages.

[stanne]

“ Unless you’re more than just “proficient,” don’t even hold yourself out as a speaker.”

Ya. In Paris for instance when Americans speak loudly in English the French love that instead of a simple NonMerci or s’il vous plait

I use my high school French in France and I get along just fine

[Tell It Right]

Years ago I was visiting Canada and, by chance, I was there on Canada Day. On that day I was standing on a "main" street watching a parade in a quaint little town in the Acadian region. Some of the locals were giving free water bottles, saying it was hot. I politely turned it down, but thanked them. They said it was hot, it's 27 degrees (Celsius, call it 80 F). I jokingly turned on my strongest southern accent and said "It ain't hot compared to whare I wuz a few days ago."

The one who was the most inebriated said, "Where are you from? I bet you speak only one language". I couldn't resist. I said, "I'm from Alabama, and I speak only one language, but I can read and write a bunch of languages." "Oh, yeah? Which ones?" I then named off every programming language I could think of off the top of my head that I've either used professionally, or was trained on in college, or that I learned as a hobby, all the way back to when I was 14 learning Commodore 64 BASIC.

[tflabo]

Learning multiple languages can be fun and expands the mind. For me I really have to work at it but love it just the same.
Some languages have many words phrases connection to English with some slight variation. Like the german word for bread is brot. Down is south Texas they speak a ‘Spanglish” mix. Mix both spanish and english in the same sentence. I find that amusing especially when you know at least some of the 2nd language learned.

[sjmjax]

I use to travel quite a bit.

In my experience, what was most helpful was the ability to read common signs and menus.
Trying to develop enough proficiency to speak and understand conversations was counterproductive. Usually only lead to frustration and confusion for both parties.
I found regardless of country “they” spoke better English than I could speak their language.

However, some basic reading skills (which is relatively easy to remember compared to speaking and correct pronunciation) and some common greetings and courtesies was immensely valuable.

[stanne]

Ya. In Paris for instance when Americans speak loudly in English the French love that instead of a simple NonMerci or s’il vous plait

I guess I have to use /S

Sigh

[Ezekiel]

Now, I realize I was being naive. Maintaining a language is hard work. Maintaining multiple languages is a lot of hard work.

Languages are enormously dependent on fluency, but fluency is the first thing that degrades if you aren’t using a language—even after intensive practice.

Brutal.

Work smart, not hard:

Punish -- it's the holy tongue. It's full of holes.

The fluent can get away with anything.

👑

Keep Calm and Lashon.

[Puppage]

You’ve just won the internet!

[AlaskaErik]

I speak English as a second language and I never use my first language. It’s pointless since it’s only spoken in a couple of countries I never go to. I’ve been to about 45 countries all over the world and English is spoken everywhere. It’s the only language one needs to know if living in an English-speaking country, even if you travel all over the world.

[OttawaFreeper]

One of my favourite bits of trivia: Alan Reed who was famous for being the voice of Fred Flintstone was also fluent in no less than 22 languages.

[fwdude]

I went to Germany in 2000 with a large contingent of family for a sort of reunion with people I’d never met. I was in Nuremberg at a small shop and was greeted by a shop employee behind the counter in German. I politely explained, in English, that I’m an American tourist and hoped she spoke English. She laughed and then broke out into the deepest southern accent I’ve ever heard. She was from Georgia and had moved there with her husband ten years earlier. The language juxtaposition was just funny.

[Greg123456]

I think some people’s brains work differently. Some can master it, while others can only say taco and burrito after years of Spanish.