..well actually French is not a foreign language in Canada. It is an official language. The other is English.

I got tested ...for 3 hours on my French language fluency (or nearly lack of) for jobs that I've applied for.

Sheesh...it was squeezing memory of things I learned and had not used for last 20 years. I felt abit pathetic..afterwards.

Have any of you learned a 2nd language (and got tested on your fluency/competency)?

French is actually my 3rd language.
Have mentioned already in BWS forums that CHinese is my first language, then English is my 2nd and now my primary language of fluency.

I also took 3 years of Latin in high school.

Look, what I meant was the complete opposite --I'm not fluent in any of those languages at this time except for English.

Oh dear...I know that Hannelore knows German and Princess Lenora probably a little Italian.. I think you know what I mean ....just knowing a couple of words and phrases doesn't qualify hardly anything for carrying a full simple comverstaion for 1-2 hrs. solid.

I took 6 years Spanish, and can just about wish you a good afternoon, and that's it. What a waste of time invested learning vocabulary and sweating out those tests. For what? Nada nada. It doesn't make sense to learn a language if you don't use it regularly.

Funny, when I speak German, some people think I come from Holland. Don’t know how I got a Dutch accent.. Maybe because I love their cheese.

I think, like any language not regularly used...if you don't keep at it, it just fades away. So many people I know that spoke fluently in childhood can no longer do much with it because it wasn't kept up. My hubby, born and raised to age 16 in Germany, can still do a little...he understands a conversation far better than actually speaking it himself. My ex was/is Italian and the same goes for him....he can understand it better than he can in speaking it.

Orchid, I can so relate to this! When I went to University, at the ripe old age of 41, I needed a foreign language to graduate. Since I didn't want to waste time in taking a language class, and since I was graduating that semester, I thought I would try the equivalency exam in French, as I had been fluent in French 25 years earlier! The exam was oral and written, which I didn't know beforehand. So I placed into 2nd semester, 2nd year French (to qualify, I had to place into 3rd year level). I really didn't want to be stuck into a class of 2nd semester, 2nd year French, so bought a French text that they were using at the U and did a quick review (well, about a month's worth) before retaking the exam and passed. I was amazed at how much I actually remembered! I can understand the gist of most French conversations now, but wouldn't be able to get all the verb tenses right, and I've forgotten most of the vocabulary. But learning Latin and Greek waaaay back in high school really helped, I think. I can understand some Spanish and Italian words, but the Greek is long gone, except for the alphabet that I can just barely remember. Isn't it funny how selective the memory can be?!

Wow, yonuh. Maybe you have more natural language learning than some of us.

To graduate with my English lit. degree, one had to have 1 foreign language first year equivalency. So I took French again...for the 3rd flippin' time. In most Canadian primary schools, children are required to take some French. I dropped French as soon as I could after grade 9. At the same time, I started up Latin. I found it fun..because the teacher was fun. His classes were actually quite popular in high school.

Then to my dismay I had to retake French during lst year at Univeristy. then I switched universities...and had to retake it ...again due to the graduation requirement. Actually I do think it's a good idea to learn a 2nd language for anyone specializing in a university degree in English lit. One cannot begin appreciate their own native/primary language until you learn a 2nd language in a focused/structured manner.

But the last few weeks have proven that I can remember nouns, etc. but have problems with verb conjugations, some adverbs, etc. and the gender assigment to inanimate objects --ie. why did the French think a table or chair is feminine?

After the test, I realized my foggy understanding of French reflected worse fogginess in Chinese...because at least in French, I can reading fragments of it. Chinese I can't read anything beyond 15 simple characters.

All I know, that these test results will be on file for next 5 years...should I apply for other federal govn't jobs.

I don't know any Spanish at all but one of my sisters took several courses..and does have opportunity to use bits of it when she visits a close friend in Barcelona.

I didn't know about that characteristic of Spanish. So friggin' annoying when patriarchy is embedded in language structure.

To me, English is a more practical, less flowery language. It doesn't 'sing' nor flow in speech word structure. For certain, you can create poetry with English, but wordplay and puns in English don't seem as numerous in English compared to some other languages.

However a "practical" language makes opportunities to improve it, easier. ie. to neutralize words from "him" to "they" "them" or from "chairman" to "chairperson".

Orchid, do you know if that’s true about English having the largest vocabulary of all languages?

I‘m sometimes bewildered that some excellent words in German don’t have an English translation. The interesting thing about the German language is that they combine words to make a new meaning. That’s why they sometimes have words almost as long as a sentence.

I used to enjoy reading books on word development and the different transformations of the English language over the centuries.

But the answer on size of English vocabulary..is probably somewhere but haven't looked. Yea, my partner has explained to me about the structure of some German words.