I can understand a little Dutch, and speak even less, but my daughter speaks 3 foreign languages and sign language fluently. She is a senior in high school
I know enough Italian to get around Italy and hold a shallow conversation, or at least I did at one point. I think if I went back a lot of it would come back to me. Theoretically I should know Spanish at a sort of intermediate level, but I haven't used any of it since high school so I think it may be long gone.
That's where I am with German. Studied for four years in high school, but that was over 15 years ago. I truly regret the fact that I wasted all that time on a language I would never use. I wish I had take Spanish instead...
Studied French for many years including in college but with no real chance to use it (except a few books) a lot has been lost. Speak Spanish badly, understand more. With Spanish speaking friends, I try speaking Spanish and they try speaking English. A few phrases in Chinese, a tad Russian. An Iranian friend taught me two phrases in Farsi, which, not knowing the alphabet, I can only transliterate. Mag ba shah - death to the shah NSFW: Bezar tukesan - stick it in me (not a phrase I'm likely to need)
[video=youtube;uOpjYE-iPnY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uOpjYE-iPnY#t=4[/video]
They can all speak English already, anyway. My Swedish cousin speaks it better than i do. I also took Spanish in high school and only retain a few words.
When I was single and I traveled to another country, the first things I learned in the native tongue were "hello" and "you are beautiful". Everything else took care of itself.
I can speak and write Japanese. Similar to Maxi's experience, it's been a waste of time. I put a large amount of time and effort into learning the language. I've passed the highest level of the Japanese proficiency test. It's marginally help me in my career. It's proved useless in many social situation. I would often find myself in awkward conversations with me speaking Japanese and the other party replying in broken English.
Why did you learn it? How did you learn it? Ever been to Japan? If no, you should plan a trip, your skills will be appreciated there and its a fascinating country. I've been considering trying a Rosetta Stone program. Probably never get around to it, but I'm curious if it worked for anyone.
I took Japanese in college and learned a bit. Lost a lot of it since then. My fiancee is fluent in Spanish so I just lean on her in most situation when that's needed. Would like to continue to study Japanese and want to learn Spanish. I figure it will be easier to teach my kid Spanish if both parents know it and speak it at home
I have a few Iranian friends. I'm serious when I say that the only Farsi they ever taught me was "You're gay" in like 8th grade. I think I remember how to say it but I'm not really sure. Sent from my banana using Tapatalk 4
I took four years of Japanese in high school, but I don't feel proficient in the least. It seemed like we spent most of the time learning the writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and kanji). I can understand a few words/phrases here or there, but I wouldn't be able to make conversation with a Japanese speaker.
I took Japanese as my foreign language elective in high school and college. I thought at the time it would be a good language to help in a career (I work in IT). I lived there for several years and put more effort into mastering the language. I had a tutor but the thing that helped the most was bar tending. Speaking Japanese may help you get a job in Japan but typically the bar is set very low for proficiency.