Do you know any foreign languages? I'm thinking about learning Chinese, but I'm afraid it will be very difficult. Does anyone have such an experience?
What the worst thing can happen? Just do it.
8)
No such thing as learning Chinese.
Most people mean/choose Mandarin, but there is no single Chinese language.
So in this case you'd need to study which exact language you want to master.
bonny221:
Do you know any foreign languages?
Yes, English 
MAS3:
No such thing as learning Chinese.
Most people mean/choose Mandarin, but there is no single Chinese language.
So in this case you'd need to study which exact language you want to master.
And scary part is that in different languages the same hotel name (written) can refer to different hotels 
I ended up in the wrng hotel because of that 
I was always told that COBOL was a foreign language.
Paul
Ah, yes the first question.
English and German are both my 2nd. languages.
I like to think i speak both equally well, writing in German is a bit more of a challenge than writing in English.
I can make myself understood in French most of the times, but i can't really say i speak French.
Understanding French is manageable if the speaker doesn't take off and speak too fast (like many French seem to do).
MAS3:
Understanding French is manageable if the speaker doesn't take off and speak too fast (like many French seem to do).
The third or fourth phrase when my dad started a conversation with French people was usually "Voulez vous parler lentement, s'il vous plait"
"Voulez vous parler lentement, s'il vous plait"
Similar in English, for me. Probably in all languages, as one mother had them.
:o
sterretje:
The third or fourth phrase when my dad started a conversation with French people was usually "Voulez vous parler lentement, s'il vous plait"
"Pouvez vous", surely?
I can swear fluently in several languages but anything else is more difficult.
I guess I can say that my second language is Bad. 
TheMemberFormerlyKnownAsAWOL:
"Pouvez vous", surely?
Not from memory 
But my holidays in France with my parents are approx. 45 years ago.
The most amazing linguist I ever met was a guy from the Netherlands, in a bar in Paris.
Not only was he fluent in about six European languages, he could mimic people whose native tongue was one of those languages speaking any of the others!
Very fluent in BS, Waffle, Procrastination and a few more.
Can also navigate around Europe without a GPS and order beer so I am happy enough with my language skills.
PILOT, LOGO, BASIC, PASCAL, C and many of its variants, Hypertalk, enough Spanish to get around, some French if I get lost in Canada and find someone who doesn't know English, a bit of Japanese, and ASL
ASL is the only one I had formal class, all other were picked up or self taught.
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