If any of you reading this post follows me for a while, chances are that you know by now I'm not a native English speaker, I'm actually Romanian, my English is quite basic, but it comes at hand and I'm not ashamed to use it any time I feel like, or the situation asks for it.
I used to hate my English teacher when we started to learn the language in the second grade, part of that for her being kind of a sour person and also because I was a kid that didn't see any purpose in learning this language at that time, and the reasoning would be that I would never leave my country, so why bother... Luckily my mom was a bit older and wiser and explained the young Adrian that even cartoon characters use it, so I should definitely learned it too...
Theoretically I studied English for about ten years in school, having two classes per week but, I would say my learning ended somewhere in the sixth grade. From there on I kind of passed them taken by the wind and really didn't felt like taking it to a proficient level, and that was one big mistake. Luckily I loved watching movies and listening to American rap music so... I kept the soil fertile.
During school though, English wasn't the only foreign language that we had to learn, and for most of us it was French as the second one, and although I love how French sounds I am quite rusted in putting some phrases out and my vocabulary is weaker than my understanding towards blockchain technology. I still love to watch movie scenes with Louis de Funes once in a while, and no matter how fast he talks I can grab the main idea out of two or three sentences.
My only experience with actually talking the language, out of the borders of my native country and the French classes, was when I visited Strasbourg, in 2015. I went with some friends to the beautiful French city, when I was still living in Germany, and at one point we entered a bakery, where I was eager to taste some french croissant so I asked the lady in English for a croissant but, her answer was... pardon moi, and that's when I realized I had to take my French out of the back pocket and use it to get what I had my eyes on.
Hence, a trembled "Un croissant s'il vous plaît" managed to get out of one dusty corner of my brain, and nothing more but a merci on my way out. I guess I should blame having two lousy teachers for my poor performance with French and learning it kind of late in my school years. I do like it though, and I'm 100% sure that I would learn it quite fast if I had to but, I don't.
I never imagined learning German though, and although I had two old neighbors that were native speakers, I always considered it a weird language and a highly difficult one... until I heard my grandma talking Hungarian, which seems to be one of the most difficult to learn languages in the world. However, being 100% that I want to escape Romania and move to Germany I had to learn the damn language, and man... how I started loving it when I actually got to understand it.
I never got to be good at it, because I only lived for one and a half years there but, for me is the only language that simply makes sense... Pretty much like their cars. It might sound a bit weird to hear about a language that it makes sense but, when you start learning it it's like becoming an engineer, and that's when you start loving it. The only downside about learning this sprache/language, in my case, was that I had no teacher other than online lectures and my grammar, for the least that I can master, might not be always the right one.
Still, I can make myself heard and I get your point if a native speaker, on almost any topic but, don't expect me to watch any German movie without subtitles or go on stage and do stand up comedy in German. Now, this is my third foreign language but I have some honorable mentions that I can be proud with, and those are Italian, Spanish and lets say Norwegian.
Italian and Spanish I learned from movies and I can say that the learning process was somehow intuitive. I find these two quite easy to learn, in my case, because there are quite many similar words and expressions with my native language and the pronunciation wouldn't make me any problems. I haven't had any chance by now in talking any of these two with any Italian or native Spanish, and chances are that I might look like a fool but, you should know I can understand usual types of conversations and that's why they're honorable mentions.
With Norwegian it was just a short experience, me trying to learn it in a few months while living in Norway, and besides a few common expression I'm pure ZEN if I were to communicate with a native speaker. The grammar seems quite easy though, especially when comparing it with the German one. What I noticed over the years is that no matter how good you speak any foreign language, if years pass and you hold it on a shelf, it will become rustier over time, but definitely not dead.
I remember when I was working in Germany that one day a Chinese guy approached me in the downtown of the place where I was working, and asked for some directions... in English. Being so absorbed by German I was amazed to see that I couldn't have a proper conversation with the guy and once every two words I felt like talking German with him, and now it's the opposite, it's English that comes first.
Hence my favorite one is the one I'm currently typing, and although I was stubbornly protesting against learning it when being just a child, I'm glad my mom didn't let it pass by me, and now I'm able to use it almost daily. As an ending note this blog helped a bit in improving it and progress doesn't end here. Now, what foreign languages do you know, by the way, and what's your favorite?
Thanks for attention,
Adrian