lol you all put me to shame.
Native language is English.
I remember bits of GCSE level French from school and although I keep going back to it I start again from the basics and do it for a few days then get side tracked by something else so don't get all that much further
I've been taken by surprise twice by french tourists and understood what they wanted which really shocked me...words I recognised but would have never been able to recall on my own had the shoe been on the other foot and I was in France
The first time was when I worked in a cinema and this chap wanted to watch a movie but had to get the last bus at such-and-such a time and so he was asking whats was on, whats times the next films started and what times they came out
...I paniced at first but non of my colleagues including a manager understood him so I asked him to reapeat and then understood and started trying to find him a movie....had to reply in English though
Arabic/Urdu/Punjabi - I am 'learning' all of these
*eh-hem*
I know my arabic alphabet and can read and write a few select words but I've not actually learnt how to join letters together yet to write something different.
I know how to say very random things like fruit, cat, cow, stock, train, nose, rabbit etc from a 'learn your alphabet' book
The main arabic I know is from everyday words/use....like Asalamalikum, Walikumasalam, Mashallah, Alhamdillilah etc
Seeing that me and hubby are both Muslim so this is our 'universal language' to speak to other Muslims.
However the difference is hubby was raised Muslim and so knows enough arabic to get by and read Quran even though it's not his native language but I only converted 2.5years ago and I've been too lazy to learn it properly!!
Urdu and Punjabi I find quite easy to mix up because they are very similar and you tend to find Asain's...especially from Pakistan and Indian areas speak both and change depending on their company
I can't read or write them although Urdu is a lot like Arabic....but I do know over 20 words (mind goes blank when I try to list them
) and I can deifnately understand more than I can say
but I really should practice more because the less I listen to it/use it the sloppier I get.
Hubby speaks fluent Urdu and quite a bit of Punjabi but his accent makes it difficult for me to learn
My best friend is also Pakistani and I can quite clearly hear words when she says them but my hubby seems to muffle the ends of words and I could end up saying something completely different
Our children will hopefully be multi lingual.....English, Urdu and Arabic
I just need to leanr more or them and Daddy will be calling me and I'll never know!!!
) Much more easy going than Amsterdam, to be honest.
