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My experience being multi-lingual
By Blanca Garcia
My experience is that being fluent in many languages can be the equivalent of having a post-graduate degree. Wherever I go and whatever I do, languages have always opened many professional doors for me. I am a native Spanish speaker and can communicate fluently in English, French, and Greek. I also speak German, and, due to their similarity to French and Spanish, I also understand Italian and Portuguese quite well. I learned English from an early age and studied all other languages as an adult while living in different European countries. I did not learn the languages because I had to, but because I wanted to understand the local culture better and integrate myself. The secret to becoming fluent in a language is to first take a good foundation course for at least six months so that you learn the basic grammar. Then you have to be brave and start talking to people no matter how bad you are at it. If someone replies in English, tell them that you are trying to learn their language and would be grateful for a bit of patience. People usually appreciate when you are making the effort to communicate in the language of the country you are visiting or living at. Another great way to learn languages is as a child. Children have the capacity to learn up to eight languages at the same time as long as the same person always speaks to the child in the same language. For example, if mom speaks to the kid in Italian, she should ALWAYS stick to Italian; if dad speaks to the kid in French, he should ALWAYS stick to French, and so on. That’s until the kid is at least four years old. I tried this with my own daughter. Not eight languages, but three: Spanish, Greek and English. At first, many ignorant people told me that I was confusing her, but I persisted. I did not care if people thought I was being rude because I spoke to my child in a language that nobody in the room could understand. The result is that my daughter is completely trilingual and I am confident that whatever she decides to do in life when she grows up, she will always have a huge advantage over other people her age.
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You have completely done the correct thing as a mother of two little ones who now speak both English and Greek I applaud you. The more they learn from an early age the more this will benefit them in the long run :)
I agree 100%. Speaking different Languages are like Keys to success. I self only speak 3 Languages (German, English and Thai) while my Son, just celebrated his 5th. Birthday, speaks Thai, English, German, some Chinese and Korean. He has a lot Fun in learning Languages and says that he will learn Japanese as well.
I'm impressed. Your English really is perfect; you're one of the few authentic polyglots I've come across. Very few people are truly fluent in anything except their mother tongue. BTW, regarding the points you raise, I have taken a different approach. Having grown up trilingual and with conversational abilities in two other languages, I decided to spare my kids from the tower of babel, and am raising them in English only. Believe me, it makes things much simpler. 
 | | nick Jul 30, 2009 04:39 | |
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