What foreign language(s) did you study and why did you pick them?

[raccoon]

I'll start. I took French in h.s. because in that very small h.s. it was the only language offered.

I took Spanish in college because I'd always wanted to. Even then it seemed to me, with so many countries in the Western Hemisphere speaking Spanish, it would be a handy language to know. Time has proved me right. :-)

Now I'm thinking of studying another, just to exercise the brain cells, but I haven't decided which one.

[sarge43]

1. Spanish

High school and college. I figure if this country ever went bi-lingual best be prepared.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Well, I had reasons for all of them

German: Many of my older relatives still spoke it, and I more or less understood it from listening to them

Spanish: The only other language offered in my high school

French: I just thought it was cool

Russian: I like Russian music and literature (but I was able to take only one year)

Japanese: I've always been fascinated with Asia, and I chose Japanese instead of Chinese for my first Asian language because I thought it would be easier to get financial aid for Japanese.

Chinese: My graduate program required it

Norwegian: I did a little study on my own before we went to Norway when I was a teenager

Latvian: One of my college professors was from Latvia, so I took the opportunity for a tutorial in my third ancestral language.

Yes, I'm a language buff.

[raccoon]

3. Good thinking about the Japanese and financial aid.

I wish now I'd studied something more--well, something language that not many people study.

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. French in H.S -- sucked at it. German IRL -- used to be relatively fluent.

.
French in high school 'cause Frenchwomen sound HOT. Taught by Mrs Opperman,
the only hot teacher at my school. Coincidence? I think not.
.
My buddy Dave and I visited our H.S. the following year at lunchtime and found
Mrs O (yes, yes, yes -- Mrs O) having lunch with some students. She introduced
us to them and told them that the only times we were quiet in class, she knew
we were either throwing things at each other or trying to look up her skirt.
.
Wise woman.
.
German from almost 4 years immersion. Haven't spoken it in over 30 years, but I
bet I could still get by in a bar. That probably holds true in almost any country,
no matter the language.
.
BTW, the only thing I can say in French is "Je mange les legumes."
.
Whispered breathily and softly into someone's ear at the right moment...
that's actually all one needs.
.

.

[MiddleFingerMom]

7. OH!!! I also know how to say and (MUCH more impressive) SPELL...

.
... "n'est ce pas?", which could make me sound
really REALLY pretentious, except for the fact
that I also know how to ask, "Pretentious? Moi?"
.

[HopeHoops]

5. Russian and German - 2 years each in college.

I took French for 2 years in Jr. High and all I really remember is "Je ne parles pas francais." (and I'm not even sure about the spelling). It was the most useful thing I could hang on to. It all sounds like people with marbles in their cheeks babbling about NASCAR.

Spanish is probably the most useful thing to know right now. I never took it.

Latin is valuable on multiple levels. I never took it.

I started college in 1985 after 4 years away from high school. Russian seemed like a good long-term investment in time (and I believe it still is). German was more on the technical and engineering side (and I believe it still is).

[Brickbat]

6. Different languages for different reasons.

Spanish -- because that was the only language my elementary school offered.

French -- in junior high and high school because I was bored with Spanish.

German -- in junior high and high school because of family heritage and I already knew some.

Russian -- in high school and college because it was something different, I wanted to get into the CIA, and I was figuring out where my politics were.

Japanese -- because a relative majored in it and I thought it would be handy to know katakana.

Finnish -- because I need it for a book I'm writing, and it's an awesome language.

I'm fluent in Russian, German and French, and am comfortable reading Spanish but not speaking it.

I also know some Gaelic and Latin, and am adept at intuiting languages related to the ones I already know (Yiddish, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Anglo-Saxon, and so on). I really shoulda been a linguist; I'm very, very good with languages.

[LeftinOH]

8. Spanish; because I did not want be a 'lifelong monolinguist'.

[GoCubsGo]

9. Spanish in high school

I figured I stood a better chance of traveling to Mexico than to Europe. Wish I had started earlier, and wish I had continued it in college. I also wish I had learned German and/or French.

[Crabby Appleton]

10. Russian and Romanian

Took 3 years Russian in HS, 1 year college, my grandparents were from the Ukraine and Russian was similar. Took 20 quarter hours - one year plus - in Romanian in college just because it was unusual.

[Brickbat]

15. Romanian is beautiful.

I wouldn't mind picking up a little of that.

[Common Sense Party]

11. I did Spanish in junior high because French looked too hard.

Then I lived in Argentina for a couple years, loved it, and majored in Spanish. It is very useful, especially in my job.

I really need to buckle down and learn Brazilian Portuguese, since it is so close to Spanish. I can read it, but I can't speak it for beans.

[bikebloke]

12. German and Swedish.

In high school, all the conformists took French. The dummies took Spanish. And the nonconformists took German. In grade school, we had no choice and had to take French.

Later, I studied Swedish because I wanted to move there being a social democrat.

[Rob H.]

13. Spanish in high school and college

My high school only offered French and Spanish and the university I attended offered French, Spanish, Japanese, German and Latin. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably have taken German in college just for something different and because my dad's family emigrated to the U.S. from Germany back in the early 1800s. I'd also already taken took two years of Spanish in high school.

[Iggo]

14. Spanish.

Easy A, six years in a row.

[supernova]

16. French H.S.; German in college

I took French in jr high and high school because that was what was offered. I wish my school system had taught latin. I would have taken that too. I learned a little Spanish at home from my mom. She was advisor for the Spanish club and that was the other language offered in the Missouri schools when she was going there in the 1930s.

Got to college and out of boredom with five years of French, I switched to German, one of my ancestral languages. I eventually married into a 1/2 Austrian family, so the German stood me well and I improved much more conversationally than in French.

Today, I could get by in German easily enough. French I can read pretty well and listen to both French and German media often.

I'd like to pick up another language but can't decide which one. I'd like to take a crack at a different alphabet like Russian or Chinese even.

[kentauros]

17. Latin and Deutsch

I chose those mainly because my nearest older brother had. And I likely would have stayed with Latin had the teacher not left the year after I started...

[geardaddy]

18. Mine

Deutsch in junior high and high school
中文 (Chinese) in college
Cymraeg (Welsh) on my own

[hippywife]

19. Latin.

At the time I wanted to go into medicine. At the time Latin was still considered a not quite requiste pre-requisite. I'm sure it still helps for people heading into medical carriers.

[Arugula Latte]

20. Spanish. It has been useful, too.

[Throd]

21. Spanish, because those damn Spaniards don't speak American!

[rug]

22. Latin because I like gladiator movies.

[mnhtnbb]

23. French and Spanish. Started French in 3rd grade in a private school

so continued it in public middle school and high school. Added Spanish in high school and took
Spanish in college. We were living in California then (living in NJ in grades 3-8)and Spanish
seemed like it would be more useful.

My spoken French and Spanish are passable, but I can read both languages much better than I speak them.

When I've been in Italy, I've had little trouble picking up phrases due to similarity of Italian
as a Romance language.


My youngest son is a German major in college and thinking about doing the long haul for a Ph.D.
and becoming a college German professor. He's going to Berlin for summer study abroad from May-July.

[WinkyDink]

24. Spanish."Iberia".

[grace0418]

25. French, Italian, and a tiny bit of Spanish.

I took French because I love it so (but I'm terrible at it). It's just such a beautiful language and I'm terribly jealous of native French speakers because I'll never sound like that.

I took Spanish for practical reasons. I should take more because it's a good language to know. And I absolutely love traveling in Spain.

I took Italian for practical reasons (I studied a lot art history in college) and because it's lovely. It's the one language I feel like I have a decent shot at becoming fluent if I work hard enough. It's easier than French or Spanish (fewer letters, only so many pronunciations) and fun to speak.

[Book Lover]

26. Italian, Latin, Ancient Greek, French, German, Chinese, Japanese

Italian because that is my father's native language. The others, just because.

[NNadir]

32. Nice set.

[RagAss]

27. French....the women.

[KamaAina]

28. Spanish, French, Hawaiian

el espanol was offered in 7th grade(!) back in dear old Westport, CT, then aftger I finished the unit ahead of time, there was nothing for it but to have me sit in homeroom with Voix et Visages de la France (the only other language they offered).

Then came my Hawai'i obsession. I swore I was not going to be one of those haoles who thinks "Mahalo" means "garbage" because he saw it on a trash can at Burger King! (it means "Thank you", and yes, they do have Burger Kings).

[femmocrat]

29. French, because of art.

I would have taken Italian if it had been available.

When I went to school they offered French, Spanish, German and Latin. Now, just French and Spanish are taught.

[Odin2005]

30. Spanish. Practical reasons.

[NNadir]

31. French in High School. When I was in college, German was considered important for chemists

so I took German as well.

They are both very beautiful languages.

France is one of my favorite countries in the world and, having not been there in some time, I miss it.

I'd rather my children learn Chinese though, although my oldest is taking Spanish - his only choice since our district limits you to it unless you start in 7th grade.

He is learning Japanese from Rosetta Stone, along with his brother.

The little guy is learning some Spanish in elementary school, and I hope he will choose either French or German for Junior High School.

[tango-tee]

33. English and French.

Both were mandatory subjects. Six years of English, five years of French. I would have loved to study Russian, because it is a language with "melody" to me, but it wasn't offered at my school. Once I retire, I want to study Latin.

[jobycom]

34. Latin, French, Spanish, Arabic.

I studied Latin in junior high because it was required and because I was told it helped one understand English better. It might to some degree, but the person who told me that seemed to think English descended from Latin--a mistake a lot of grammarians have made, and part of the reason there are so many unnatural rules in grammar books. It was fun. It later helped me when I tried to become a medieval historian.

French, I studied in high school and again in college. Probably had something to do with the Cajun/Creole in my heritage.

Spanish and Arabic in grad school because I became fascinated in Andulusian history.

And I never learned to speak any of them, and barely managed to pass basic translation tests in the first three. I'm pretty good at language structure but lousy at memorizing vocabulary.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

35. Spanish and Latin.

Spanish in Junior High==living in Texas, it's handy, and my family would sometimes go with mom's drunken Scots cousins on tequila runs to Piedras Negras.

I enjoyed the shopping in the border towns, but I had no interest in booze at ten years old. I still hate the stuff. I remember going in liquor stores in Piedras Negras and smelling the stuff and thinking it was GROSS.

Latin in high school, because Dad and Grandma said "You NEED IT!".

It was very helpful for word origins and had the same structure as Spanish, as it's where Romance languages come from (hint--Romans).

I later went to law school, and Latin is VERY helpful in law. Most of the phrases are Latin.
In medicine, the foreign stuff is about two thirds Greek and a third Latin.

I've had a bit of Italian, and when I was taking singing lessons, got reasonably good at singing in French, Italian and German.

Italian is the easiest language to sing in. French sounds like you're horking up a lugie most of the time, and German sounds like you're incredibly hoarse and horking lugies.

There used to be a non PC Tex Mex version of The Night Before Christmas they printed in the papers, and it started like this:

It was the night before Christmas
And all through the casa
Not a creature was stirring. Caramba, que pasa?
The children were sleeping all snug in their camas (beds)
Some in vestidos (shirts) and some in pajamas.

[raccoon]

40. I'd never heard of that! Just googled it. Thanks. nt

[tjwmason]

36. French, Latin, German, Russian, Italian

French is the universal second language taught in England, I started studying it aged 8.

Latin was compulsary at a school I attended for a while, but I only took it for a couple of years - it's the language I most regret not carrying on.

German because we had to pick a second language from German, Latin, and Spanish.

Russian because it was offered as an option in the last two years of school and meant getting out of half of the essentially useless "General Studies" classes.

Italian at university because I had to study one semester of a foreign language for my International Relations joint honours (pointless really, too short a time).

Latin, French and Italian have been the most useful - mostly because they inter-relate and I tend to go on holiday to France and Italy.

[AsahinaKimi]

37. Japanese, believe it or not.

My father speaks Kansai ben, which is a dialect of the Kansai district of Japan. My mother speaks standard Japanese. She was also an English teacher and taught both my father and I English, as I was growing up. I have heard a smattering of Japanese around the house..and I know some, but I have never learned to read or write Japanese (Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana) although I do use Romaji, which uses English style alpha bet.

Also, my mother felt that since I was born in the United States (As she was) that I should learn and use English first. My Father has promised me that he would teach me Kansai ben, as soon as I have learned to read, write and master the Japanese language.

So I took up Asian Studies which included Japanese, to improve my skills, and hopefully soon I will start school again, this time to learn to read and write using Kana. (Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji).

Kanji is the most the most difficult to learn, (Chinese style characters) and there are many, many of them to use and memorize. But, I love speaking in Japanese..and using it when I can, but sometimes I tend to forget words, and so I am constantly carrying around my dictionaries and grammar books..in case I forget things.

[RainDog]

38. Pig Latin, Latin, French, Dutch

Pig Latin -elementary school because it was so cool. it-it-gay?

Latin in high school. I was told to take this for college prep.

French - I like the language and culture. It's the language of my ancestors.

Dutch - my ex's parents did not speak English so I tried to learn their language, plus we lived in Belgium for his tenure year. French was also useful because the ex-in's spoke Dutch and French.

[Vidar]

39. French, Latin & a little German.

[jkhelgi]

41. English (German, French, Latin), thinking of Hindi or Chinese or ancient Greek or Arabic or Persian

English - during all of my life, because i'm in LOVE with this wonderful and divine language since my childhood, but unfortunately i never have any opportunity to learn otherwise than on my own, that is i hadn't learned English neither in school nor in university (in school i had learned German, in University - French and a bit of Latin, but all these languages I completely forgot now, except a couple of phrases, and also Marseillaise and Gaudeamus which i'm singing when i'm drinking with my university's friends)

[Heidi]

42. My second language was American Sign Language,

because my mom's best friend was hearing impaired. Third: Spanish in high school and college (required). Fourth: Swiss-German (my husband's first language). Fifth: Italian (the official language of our canton).

[dropkickpa]

43. Latin and Russian

Latin as it is a basic language and is hella useful in science. Russian for 4 years in HS because it was interesting. I can't speak Russian, but I can still understand it a little bit and I can still read it and understand a lot of it.

[1gobluedem]

44. Latin and French in high school

French in college. Liberal arts majors had a choice of two years of language or two years of math. I went with language. I can't speak it or understand it well (especially since I lost the hearing in my left ear) but I can read it, kind of.

[LiberalEsto]

45. German

It was one of the 4 languages my parents spoke fluently (Estonian, English, German, Russian) and I'd heard it spoken all my life.

Alas, the damned genders and conjugations got me hopelessly confused, despite the valiant efforts of Frau Koronka. So I didn't learn very much of it, and forgot almost everything over the past 40 years.

On the other hand, I was raised speaking Estonian, even though I was born in the U.S. My parents sent me to Estonian school on Saturdays or Sundays for about 10 years, and I am still fluent.

I learned English in kindergarten.

[old mark]

46. Latin in HS, Spanish in College. Had to, and wanted to. nt