How is your English?

[Erik]

I'm just curious how many people here have studied English. I know it was probably a mandatory subject for lots of people, but there must be some here and there that enjoy it as a hobby like I do French

If anybody's looking for help with it or corrections or something, I'll be more than happy to help there too

As for me, I'm a big fat American English native living on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon. If you're in the market for stupid Americanisms, I've got plenty in stock for you

So who all wants to give it a whirl? :3

[Reeve]

One of the good things of being Belgian is that we have 3 national languages : French, English and Dutch. Therefore, we have mandatory classes of the 3 languages, meaning we are, since very young, used to foreign languages in our everyday life.
English classes are also mandatory in France. So, even if we don't speak a perfect english, most of us know enough to get by on

In my case, I've always been interested in foreign languages. I'm Portuguese and so, I do speak it with my dad at home. My mothertongue is French and I've had to learn English really early in my life (I was a videogames addict and wasn't patient enough to wait for the games to come out in french, so I had to learn english while playing )
Of course, I have a few basics in Dutch, although they're really rusty xD

And I'm now in high school. I'm a student in English/Chinese, I want to become a translator, so I think I'm able to speak correctly with other english and american people.


I think someone already posted a poll with a link to be able to test your english level. I'll try and find it back {:3}

[darkou]

My English is alright, actually i've been living in London for like 6 weeks now....

I'm not sure English classes are mandatory in France, basically you choose, when you're like 11, the main language you want to study during the rest of your scholarship (generally it's English or German) and 2 years later choose a second one (italian, spanish, english, german...) ; most people end up studying english as a first or second foreign language but i think it's possible, but not common, to avoid english classes (by studying german and spanish as an example).

[Finrod]

English classes are not mandatory depending on our studies, but for what I'm doing it actually is: we have to succeed a test if we want our diploma, and we've got no choice. Anyway, it's hard to avoid it now considering how useful it is, even just considering the furry fandom for example. Therefore many of us have a good level, though the French people are supposed to have a lack in English, considering Swedish people for example, where everyone speak English as Swedish. But I think it changing, slowly...
And yes, we have also to study another language, but many persons I know just forget it as soon as they've finished, because it's rarely learned after high school...

I would not say I enjoy it as a hobby, even though I like to play with it, but I've enjoyed it as a tool as soon as I've used it in real situations, with English-speaking persons, which came too late I think.

[furrythrasher]

The same as Darky

The video game helps a lot but now most of them are in french even in Quebec and thats great but now the kids dont have this motivation to learn the english so...

I hope I've not hurt your language too much

[Vanilla]

my english is not very well, but i m'training usually...
the reason is to speak with more furries and spend more better time in great convention.

the most difficult for me is to listenning. but i heard recently that i did great progress.

i hope that i will do more progress if i use it yet and yet =^_^=

thank for helping but i will continu to chat with lot of people to train my english.

[Mister]

Erik > I assume you know how good my english is now x)

[Fenax]

Darky darky darky, English is not a national languages of Belgium, German is.

Try to remember it !

Do not mind me I learned english with furry porn stories...

[Reeve]

Darky darky darky, English is not a national languages of Belgium, German is.

Try to remember it !

Do not mind me I learned english with furry porn stories...

My bad, you're right
Although, even if German is, there are no mandatory german classes at school, though there are for english :3

[Rimou]

My english writing and reading are ... good I think. I learned it from school, films and music. Speaking and listenning is more difficult to me, I'm not used to it, need to practice more often if I want to get better on those points.

[Ozone Griffox]

Hello, my name is Ozone. How are you doing?
My tailor is rich.
Oh my god, they killed Kenny. You bastard !
God bless America.
God saves the queen.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Hello world!

That's about all I know in english.

[Deoloup]

Hello, my name is Ozone. How are you doing?
My tailor is rich.
Oh my god, they killed Kenny. You bastard !
God bless America.
God saves the queen.
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Hello world!

That's about all I know in english.

Liar.

[Defurét]

My English is pretty good. It damn well should be.

[Tifou]

How is my english?

Like Raffarin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV3L2y7UwNQ

[Lone_Fox]

I'm just curious how many people here have studied English. I know it was probably a mandatory subject for lots of people, but there must be some here and there that enjoy it as a hobby like I do French :)

English, for most French people, is more of a necessity, a fact or a tool than a hobby (a hindrance for some, maybe). It's too ubiquitous to be considered a "fun" thing to learn, and people looking for something more exotic will turn to Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi, Italian...

Along with English, Spanish and German are the most common languages taught in school, the latter being more popular in the North and East, as well as with some people who consider it more prestigious. In the general (academic) school system, students choose one mandatory first foreign language upon entering the equivalent of junior high school (collège), and an optional second foreign languages two years later (si je me trompe où si ça a changé depuis, dites-le moi). One of these must be English - so, most people who graduated from high school will speak some form of English. In addition, where university admission tests exist, English is most often involved. Most university graduates will speak at least basic English.

And, contrary to popular belief, most French people don't mind speaking English with tourists - many just don't like being addressed in English right away, as it makes them feel like they're expected to speak it. Like anywhere in the world, a few words of the local language (hello, please, excuse me do you speak English ?) will do wonders: as you visibly struggle just trying to say hello, people will naturally turn to English to relieve you from your misery, and they'll feel good for doing it, too!

Nice to meet you, by the way :)