I speak English, I’m learning my heritage language Norwegian.

      • DKKHGGGj@sopuli.xyz
        0·
        7 months ago

        Is a mandatory subject in school here. They can make me sit in class but not use it type of situation

          • DKKHGGGj@sopuli.xyz
            0·
            7 months ago

            I felt I was treated poorly and don’t want the system to have the benefit of me speaking it.

            • Owl@mander.xyz
              0·
              7 months ago

              Could you expand on that? As a foreigner I don’t understand why refusing to speak a language would prevent “the system” from benefiting of it.

              And could you also explain what you consider poor treatment? In my country we have this image of Finland as a super advanced, super ideologically liberal, happy country

              • DKKHGGGj@sopuli.xyzEnglish
                0·
                7 months ago

                I’ll try, keep in mind that this is my personal view and likely only partially represents society at large.

                Background: Finland has a Swedish speaking minority, roughly 8 % of the population. Teaching the whole population both languages has a stated (no source) aim of uniting the country and securing the minority governmental services in their native language. Additionally Swedish is/was seen as opening deeper nordic cooperation. While there are some cultural differences between the Swedish speaking minority and the Finnish speaking majority these, in my view, seem insignificant and the vast majority speaks fluent Finnish.

                In practice due to small number of hours and the general unwillingness of the majority to learn Swedish these goals are poorly achieved. Lack of motivation stems from both deep rooted political believes ( in practice false ones) and from the fact that Swedish is not needed as well as a backlash against the mandatory teaching of it. In all encounters I have ever had Finnish has been used as it is spoken well by both parties.

                So 15 year old me thought that it was a waste of my precious time and I decided to never speak it.

                After my school years technological developments have made it even more a waste of time. I should note that politically I would support removing the mandatory teaching and language requirements of civil servants if it wasn’t supported by far tight autocratic forces.

                I have heard stories of language based discrimination, though only few. On average (not sure about median) the minority lives longer and is wealthier, though not by a large margin

                All of the above must be seen against the backdrop of me being a part of the majority and well off even within it. So in a position were it is quite easy to be liberal but also not to see problems.

  • Jax@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    7 months ago

    Since Lemmy apparently has a ton of people who are bilingual — how do I as a 31 year old man that knows enough Spanish to say ‘Thank you, where is the bathroom?’ and frequently watches anime in subtitles gain another language? I’m open to all suggestions, except bad ones. Specifically I am interested in learning Mandarin because I hate myself.

    • 「黃家駒 Wong Ka Kui」(old account, migrated to Piefed)@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      7 months ago

      I’m a native Cantonese and Mandarin speaker and I’ll be brutally honest, you need a huge motivation, or else you will struggle to be fluent.

      Not just because you like the aesthetics, or like the idea of being bilingual…

      What are you gonna even use the language for.

      For example, you might wanna learn Japanese for better experience enjoying Anime…

      My parents came to the US as adults.

      My dad has been in the US for… 16 years… still a non citizen and never really learned English

      Meanwhile, mom needs it to do bussiness… investments… and stuff… so she has to learn it… She knows enough to become a citizen…

      The biggest thing is IMMERSION. Even then, dad never learner it…

      My parents barely understand me lol. Since I only know 2nd grade level of Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin share similar vocaublary)… despite being a native speaker.

      A westerner is gonna struggle a lot with the tones…

      I was “luckly” enough to be just at the perfect time of 8 years old so I know enough basics of Chinese before emigraring… so my brain is in between two worlds.

      If I was born in the US, idk if I could manage to learn it.

      IMO Mandarin is gonna be tough since Chinese shows are sooo boring… soo cliche… predictable story is gonna kill the will to learn… (unless you love bad tv drama lol)

      Ask your self: What are you gonna use Mandarin for? (Also: do you also wanna learn the writing too? Since its logographics, much harder.) Just as a trophy? Or actually gonna regularly have a use for it?

      • Jax@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        7 months ago

        Well, to answer your primary question — many of the people on the team I work with speak… it’s either Cantonese or Mandarin, I think they told me Mandarin but I’m not entirely sure. It isn’t something that would necessarily help me on a professional level, but it would help me on a personal level with many of them.

        That’s genuinely my motivation, I don’t really care about ‘seeming’ bilingual — this is mostly to bring me closer to people who have helped me at work.

  • Pamasich@kbin.earth
    0·
    7 months ago

    Swiss German is my native language, and I’m fluent in English. My English pronunciation is garbage though.

    Theoretically I can also speak German, but I’m extremely rusty in it and lack confidence, so practically I turn into a stumbling mess that can’t say anything without running away to either one of the above two mid-sentence subconsciously.

  • P1nkman@lemmy.world
    0·
    7 months ago

    Norwegian, Danish and English.

    You could add Swedish, but only because of being Norwegian, i can understand Swedish. I speak Danish because i live in Denmark.

  • Owl@mander.xyz
    0·
    7 months ago

    Hungarian, French, English at native and C2+

    German at B1-B2

    And I can somewhat understand written Spanish and Italian

      • Owl@mander.xyz
        0·
        7 months ago

        Exactly, it’s very nice when seeing Spanish comments online and seems very impressive to people who don’t speak romance languages

        • loonsun@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          7 months ago

          Yeah, it’s honestly a lot easier to read colloquial romance language writing than it is to listen to it. Here in Québec as an anglo québécois I always still struggle with my listening comprehension regardless of if its within my spoken or reading level, accents and speeds are always a pain. I know this is doubly bad for Spanish which can be spoken insanely fast.

  • smiletolerantly@awful.systems
    0·
    7 months ago
    • German (native)
    • English (pretty well I hope; half my working life and almost all my free time spent on the internet, shows, books,… has been happening in English since, like, 8th grade)
    • Japanese (learning; enough for talking about food, the weather, hobbies,… in somewhat acceptable grammar 😄)
  • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
    0·
    7 months ago

    Just two, don’t wanna say which for privacy reasons.

    I do want learn Dutch though. I think it sounds whimsical, and I’d love to meet a Dutch woman that can beat my ass (i heard they’re headstrong and dont take any shit).

  • ChristerMLB@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    Native Norwegian, fluent in English, can struggle through childrens’ comic books in German and sort of get by in Egyptian Arabic (or at least I could back in the day, but it’s been a while).