Tópico: What languages do you know?

[José H.]

Oli asunut kaksi vuotta Suomessa, joten puhun perusteet suomea. Tiedän perusteet Englantia, mutta kun joitakin pahoja yhdessä viheitä.

English:
I lived in Finland for 2 years, so I know the basic of Finnish. I know the basic about English, but I always write and speak with some conjunction mistakes.



P.S. Please, do not make me questions about Nightwish or black metal bands, Finland is not only that and I know notting about this type of music.

Why did you live there?

Well, I first went by a exchange cultural program and fell in love for that place. Then I got the student visa that gave me the right to stay there for longer. This time of my life was one of the most important and fantastic.

[ReVo]

Português, inglês básico (suficiente para assistir séries/filmes com áudio e legendas em inglês) e aprendiz de Esperanto.

Qual o método de estudo que vocês utilizaram para aprender as novas línguas? Convívio com os falantes? Estudo exaustivo da gramática? Leitura de romances? Assistir filmes e seriados?

O maior desestimulante é a falta de um método que eu considere eficaz. Acho super interessante quando vocês começam a debater a estrutura linguística dos idiomas.

[Týr]

Oli asunut kaksi vuotta Suomessa, joten puhun perusteet suomea. Tiedän perusteet Englantia, mutta kun joitakin pahoja yhdessä viheitä.

English:
I lived in Finland for 2 years, so I know the basic of Finnish. I know the basic about English, but I always write and speak with some conjunction mistakes.



P.S. Please, do not make me questions about Nightwish or black metal bands, Finland is not only that and I know notting about this type of music.

Sou fã das bandas finlandesas Turmion Kätilöt e Ruoska, embora não consiga sequer enrolar no acompanhamento da letra das músicas. hehehe

[Eremita]

Updating the list, since two years are quite some time...
Portuguese remains the same. Duh.
I'm quite proficient at English now, but still only in the written variety. Vocabulary, though, is better than some native speakers.
Mon français est rouillé, depuis que je suis paresseux et ne exerce pas la langue.
Latine, quoque. Lingua Romae, quaeso ne ferrugare mecum...
Govorit' na russkom? Spravdi? Ne dumaju...
Pero cosa interesante, mi castellano fue de "absolutamente nada" para pasable en un ratito. Estudio informalmente hace... tres meses? Ti, tres o cuatro, y ya puedo expresarme mejor que en francés o en latín, aún que con algunos errores.

[Wolfischer]

Portuguese and German (native in both)
English and Spanish, enough to be understood and read anything I want.
Some Italian and French, est understood than spoken.
I've studied Russian, Hungarian, Esperanto and Tupi.

[Renato T]

Besides portuguese, I can read and understand english properly. My vocabulary also might be better than some native speakers.
Du français, j'ai en etudié presque deux année, mais il y a quelque temps et je me suis oublié de beaucoup de chose. J'etude seul maintnent.
En español yo puedo leer y oír muy bien, pero no lo hablo ni escribo como deberia.
Und ich studiere Deutsch jetzt.

I do hope to learn Russian, Italian and maybe some eastern languages in the future.

[Christiano]

Portuguese, English, a little Spanish and a little Esperanto.

[Fenrir]

seven years after and my english level is still mediocre
I lost three opportunities to work outside banania because of this fucking bad english
what I am supposed to do? commit suicide?

[Nostromo]

I know english and a little bit Spanish, this second i need to improve urgently.

[Lorentz]

seven years after and my english level is still mediocre
I lost three opportunities to work outside banania because of this fucking bad english
what I am supposed to do? commit suicide?

I studied english on an english school only when I was a child and for many years my level was "intermediate". After I had more contact with the Internet my level rose to "advanced", because I never skipped any content in English. I always tried to read any text.

After some years reading texts, books, articles, and watching documentaries, I could read in english and understand english speech without major difficulties, but I still had a lot to improve on free conversation (speech), writing and actually thinking in english.

I believe I have achieved this last level in conversation/speech and writing mostly because of the podcasts in English I listen to. Listening to podcasts helped me a lot to achieve the "fluent english" status in my curriculum without any need to go to english schools.

The job I have today needs fluent english because we contact other teams from Europe and India, and all formal communication and documentation in my job need to be made in english. So I'm not just lying on my CV like most people do.

Of course my english is not perfect and I fall behind anyone who have studied in english schools for long period or lived on some english speaking country.

So, my tip is: try to watch/listen/read everything you can in english, and with no subtitles.

[Fenrir]

Good tip, thanks.

Almost anything I read nowadays is in English.
It is not because any prejudice against Portuguese by my side, but because for any theme you could think of,
there will be much, much more material in English than in Portuguese.

So it seems, at least for me, that reading alone is not enough.