Do you plan (hope) to be fluent before you return to your home land?

JalapenoMel

I hope after living here for 2 years, I will at least be conversationally fluent.

ooolalalolo

Yeah, I'm getting good with bugger, rubbish, etc.

JalapenoMel

ooolalalolo:

Yeah, I'm getting good with bugger, rubbish, etc.

But can you say it in a British accent?

allibally

I'm continuing the learning even after leaving. Being there for a year didn't really allow me to learn what I needed.

NCV2

JalapenoMel:

ooolalalolo:

Yeah, I'm getting good with bugger, rubbish, etc.

But can you say it in a British accent?

I am a failure at the accent.  

I am learning a new school system, with new terms etc though. 

anna7602

I'm okay with the language already, but I hope to finally master the whole centigrade and metric system thing. I *almost* got to the point when I was living in Spain where I could tell what I needed to wear based on the day's weather forecast in centigrades, but I am a still a disaster when people quote me distances in meters or, worse still, show me children's clothes that have sizes like 100 on them.

sucredee

anna7602:

I'm okay with the language already, but I hope to finally master the whole centigrade and metric system thing. I *almost* got to the point when I was living in Spain where I could tell what I needed to wear based on the day's weather forecast in centigrades, but I am a still a disaster when people quote me distances in meters or, worse still, show me children's clothes that have sizes like 100 on them.

To continue to be off topic a little...I grew up in the Netherlands and so I grew up with the metric system. After living in the US for 21 years I am so used to fahrenheit that I often have to switch from F to C on my weather app to get a more accurate idea of what the temp would be in C. I have a general idea of how warm or cold a C temp would be but I can't convert easily in either direction ( other than 32F=0C). As far as clothing sizes though...it makes so much more sense to go by height ( ie european sizes) than the age sizing they use in the US. My DD isn't that tiny but when I bought her 9 month clothes for last winter they were huge on her (carter's does tend to run big) She was finally able to wear them this fall when she was 15 months (so at least she got some wear out of them). By the way....go check out Du Pareil Au M?me for kid's clothing. There are several stores in Paris and their clothing is really cute (I think anyways) and really reasonably priced (still not as cheap as the US but that is hard to do). Shoes however are pretty darn expensive everywhere in Europe, you may want to stock up on some in the US.....

anna7602

sucredee:

By the way....go check out Du Pareil Au M?me for kid's clothing. There are several stores in Paris and their clothing is really cute (I think anyways) and really reasonably priced (still not as cheap as the US but that is hard to do). Shoes however are pretty darn expensive everywhere in Europe, you may want to stock up on some in the US.....

I am laughing because DPAM was the cause of a minor argument with DH during our househunting trip last month. I bought DD an outfit there that I couldn't resist and DH was appalled that I planned to fly back to the US with it, have her wear it here during the holidays, then pack the outfit to take back to France with us in January. Yes, when he put it that way, it made no sense whatsoever, but I was certain it wouldn't be in stores anymore in January and I wanted it, darn it!

I am going to try hard to exercise more cute-children's-clothing self control once we live there, though. Shoes, sadly, are hard to stock up on since DD's feet don't grow consistently and I can't really plan ahead.

MouseInLux

I've been here coming up 6 years and I'm no where near fluent! Yup I even have a local DH

allibally

MouseInLux:

I've been here coming up 6 years and I'm no where near fluent! Yup I even have a local DH

I think when your DH can speak the language it's really easy to have them do most of the general speaking. At least it was for me. I think I would of learned a lot faster if I was in Zurich on my own or with a partner that only spoke English. I never felt the pressure to speak.

FayeD

Not a chance. I could survive on basic things in Italy when we left, but here there is no need/chance to use Arabic. Kind of thankful since it's such a difficult language and even the basic romance languages are a challenge for my brain.

I'm going to continue attempting to learn more Tagalog since that is what DH speaks and we could teach our children.

myblueangel19

Yea, I plan on being fluent and I practice regularly with H. We want to spend at least our first 5 years of marriage (year one is done) in France partially because I want to be fluent in French before moving anywhere else. But we may be here permanently as well, which would mean i def need to be fluent!

wise_rita

allibally:

MouseInLux:

I've been here coming up 6 years and I'm no where near fluent! Yup I even have a local DH

I think when your DH can speak the language it's really easy to have them do most of the general speaking. At least it was for me. I think I would of learned a lot faster if I was in Zurich on my own or with a partner that only spoke English. I never felt the pressure to speak.

THIS!

If I had a nickel for every time someone said "Your SO speaks the language, so you can just speak it at home and learn so quick!" 

Uh, no.  That sentiment makes me irrationally angry.  Having a fluent spouse makes it harder, not easier, to learn. 

elenetxu

I'm already fluent because DH's English is... limited.

 

I can't tell you how many times people have told him the bit about it being easier to learn English since he's got me at home! Problem is, poor teacher lady here gets home from school and simply can't deal with another couple of hours teaching English. 

myblueangel19

wise_rita:

THIS!

If I had a nickel for every time someone said "Your SO speaks the language, so you can just speak it at home and learn so quick!" 

Uh, no.  That sentiment makes me irrationally angry.  Having a fluent spouse makes it harder, not easier, to learn. 

I disagree with that. H is a horrible teacher and half the time I wanted to pull his head off, but I made him speak in French and when we were in public he would occasionally force me to do the talking. In the US, I made him speak in English when we went out in public. It requires determination from both parts because it is super frustrating, but I have learned faster than the other girls here whose partners refuse to speak to them in French and his English is better than it used to be as well. So it isn't 'easier' per se, but it is more effective, IMO

MrsBini10

Well, I'm basically fluent in English given that it's, you know, my native language

I never have really gotten the hang of the metric system.  I know some rough conversions but I need to translate it into the American/imperial/"real" (to me, lol) system to be able to understand temperatures, distances, weights, etc. in a really meaningful and specific way.  For volume, I'm actually comfortable with liters in a lot of situations since soda is sold in liters...but on the other hand I'd get confused buying gas in liters, so I dunno.  I teach both to my students so I really should have it down.  But I digress.

 I know embarrassingly little of my H's language, Amharic.  I spent an entire summer in Ethiopia and learned nothing short of hello, thank you, what is your name, and other really basic phrases like that.  I can say "I love you" and "my husband is Ethiopian."  I can also ask "what happened?" but that's not of much use when I can't understand the answer  

It doesn't help that Amharic is a pretty obscure language.  It's one of like 80 official languages of Ethiopia--it is the main one but it's not even spoken by all Ethiopians!  The resources available to learn it are very limited.  There's no Rosetta Stone for Amharic or anything like that.  If I could get DH to teach me a few words a day and use those words in conversation, I could learn a lot more, I'm sure, but he usually says there is no point in my learning it unless we are going to live in Ethiopia.  Argh.  He speaks it to MiniBini so in a couple years they will have their own secret language from me if I don't get on it!

I learned Spanish in high school, I speak it fairly well and use it regularly at school to communicate with parents of students.  On the first day of school I gave my kids (3/4 of the class is Hispanic, mainly from relatively recent immigrant families) a little speech.  I told them in Spanish that they might be thinking they can get away with whatever they want in class because their parents only speak Spanish and I won't be able to tell them what they are up to--but I speak Spanish too, so don't count on that

Wow, I didn't realize I had a novel to write on this topic.  I'm a better procrastinator than I thought.

LadyMadrid08

Since I studied Spanish for 5 years before moving here I had a leg up on becoming fluent.  I'd hoped to immerse myself and be fluent within a few months of moving here. Ha!  That didn't happen.  Turns out I am more shy than I thought.

   I am pretty much fluent now even though DH and I don't speak in Spanish at home.  I agree that the argument that your SO speaks it so it should be easier is annoying.  We don't speak in Spanish because we got to know each other in English and now it's just too weird to try to speak in Spanish.  But I have his family and friends and now mother's groups that are helping me improve.     

JalapenoMel

wise_rita:

allibally:

MouseInLux:

I've been here coming up 6 years and I'm no where near fluent! Yup I even have a local DH

I think when your DH can speak the language it's really easy to have them do most of the general speaking. At least it was for me. I think I would of learned a lot faster if I was in Zurich on my own or with a partner that only spoke English. I never felt the pressure to speak.

THIS!

If I had a nickel for every time someone said "Your SO speaks the language, so you can just speak it at home and learn so quick!" 

Uh, no.  That sentiment makes me irrationally angry.  Having a fluent spouse makes it harder, not easier, to learn. 

There are so many days that DH and I wish that one of us was fluent so we can get more shitt done or at least make it easier, but the blessing in disguise is that we are forced to learn the language.  However, my DH is a genius with language, and has managed to pick it up rather quickly.  I, on the other hand, would rather bust out my calculus and organic chemistry then study Spanish...my brain just doesn't seem to "get" t.  I am learning though, and I am determined!

 I was told in college by my Spanish teacher that you will always do math in your native tongue, including measurements.  So I think we have a lifetime of converting temps from either Fahrenheit to Celsius or vice versa, LOL.  

elenetxu

JalapenoMel:

 I was told in college by my Spanish teacher that you will always do math in your native tongue, including measurements.  So I think we have a lifetime of converting temps from either Fahrenheit to Celsius or vice versa, LOL.  

 

That doesn't surprise me. I still have to add and count in English. When we bought our bed and payed in cash I was counting the money in English. The store owner gave me holy heck for not counting in Spanish, I got p***ed. If you want me to count the money properly, let me do it in my native language, buddy!

JalapenoMel

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