• Question: Do you speak any other languages?

    Asked by laurensonr07 to Becky, Carrie, Kelly, Robin, Usaid on 20 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by moose4.
    • Photo: Becky Selwyn

      Becky Selwyn answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      Yes I spent a year studying in France so I got quite fluent in French. I vaguely remember bits from a Spanish GCSE, but only enough for basic communcation on a holiday!

    • Photo: Robin Stafford Allen

      Robin Stafford Allen answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      @Lauren: I learnt French at school and have had a few chances to use it in France and a few courses since, so I do not feel totally lost in France and can order a coffee or a taxi. However when the French start talking at 1000 mph I cannot follow what is going on! It is very useful and I had the experience of being in China in apart of the country that is not bilingual at all, and every sign and every notice was in Chinese, and I felt very vulnerable and inadequate. regards Robin

    • Photo: Caroline Roberts Haritonov

      Caroline Roberts Haritonov answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      I lived in France for 9 months when I was a kid (my Dad was an engineer with IBM), so I got to speak pretty good French. I studied German as an option when I did my engineering degree and did a summer placement in Germany, so my German got to a passable stage. Then I married a Russian, and did a year of evening classes to learn Russian so that I could speak to and understand his family. I have picked up a few words in other countries I have travelled to, I think it is important to make an effort in other countries to at least be polite and say a few words in the local language if possible. Sometimes its too easy to reliy on everyone else speaking English around the world, but I think people appreciate it when you make an effort to speak their language.

    • Photo: Usaid Rauf

      Usaid Rauf answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      My parents taught me Urdu when I was growing up, not just to speak the language, but read and write in it too. I find the reading and writing harder than speaking, where I think I’m fluent.

      I learnt German at school and I think I can get by a little better than a tourist in Germany. My writing isn’t really good.

      I’m currently studying French with the support of my company and can just about ask for directions. I can read well, but writing’s hard.

      I want to try Arabic next.

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