How do you all know English??

[Doobie]

Basically , I'm sitting down wodnering since we have such a mix of culture on these forums , how do all of us speak the same language? How did you know all english?? Even though I was born in New York , my parents didn't know English so my first language was Spanish . I mainly learned to speak english watching cartoons (the flinstones and scooby doo) , and by the time I was 8 , I knew perfect English . So , whats your story of how you learned to speak this language?

[The Other Kevin]

Well, I'm going to cheat, as it's basically all my parents speak.

[Jona]

Yo viví un tiempo en Miami pero no creo que haya importado ya que tenía 3 años cuando llegué a Chile. Estoy en un colegio que enseña inglés, por lo tanto desde chico aprendí inglés por el colegio. Y siempre leía libros en inglés.

[Jing]

i came here (america) in 96 cause my dad was already studying here for his masters. my parents were both english professors in China so I went to school for a week before summer break... went to a week of 3rd grade. and my parents taught me english during the summer break, then i was integerated into school and it went on from there.

[cyanide]

I was trained to speak and read English at an extremely early age at a specialized service because my parents are deaf.

[Doobie]

Yo viví un tiempo en Miami pero no creo que haya importado ya que tenía 3 años cuando llegué a Chile. Estoy en un colegio que enseña inglés, por lo tanto desde chico aprendí inglés por el colegio. Y siempre leía libros en inglés.

Translation for those people who can't understand ....

"I once live in miami when I was 3 I came to Chile . I'm in a school that shows english , and as a kid I learned English in this school . I always read books in English" - Jona the god .

I guess I got it close enough

[The Other Kevin]

Hey, I unerstand most of it! My Spanish teachers would be so proud.

[cklitsie]

I just learned English at school a little, but much more from watching basketball games, movies and from being around here. So thanks guys.

I was trained to speak and read English at an extremely early age at a specialized service because my parents are deaf.

So do you know the sign language deaf people use? I've always had a fascination for that.

[Heiks]

School, music, TV, movies, internet. Almost everything on the world is nowadays in english, it's pretty hard not to be affected by it. Not to mention it's quite easy to learn.

[Pera]

i learned english the basic's watching cartoonnetwork all day
but from the 4th grade i have english at school so i know a lot of words
but one thing pisses me off so bad my fucking teacher calls me a mexican because i have a spanish acsent(sorry i don't know how to speel this word)
i don't even study for the tests because just from watching cartoonnetwork i know english

[BOSS]

Probably watchin' American Television, music, school, etc.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

The hard way. The exam way.

[AI2]

i know from living in the usa all my life

[Jackal]

Well, as is known I was born in the States, but given I moved soon after birth, that didn't play a factor to my knowledge (?) of the English language.

Soon thereafter we moved to Suriname where I attended The Christian Liberty Acadamy. It was an english speaking school & I had to attend bible classes & chapel every Monday. I did my kindergarten at that school where I got the basic knowledge of reading/writing till grade 2. Then we moved to Curacao, since the International School of Curacao was the only english speaking school, it was out of the question. (It was expensive like a bitch.)

So I attended a public school called M.M. Romer Basisschool, I did grades 1 (put back because I had no knowledge of Dutch) till 6. In the 5th grade we started getting English as a subject & I used to score 9's and 10's easily given we speak English at home & I used to have a ginormous collection of Archie Comics.

What I love about me (hehe) is that I scored the highest amount possible in the 6th grade examination in Dutch. That was quite a proud day, out of 200, I got 197 points. I was really proud, it added more joy to the occassion given the teacher always called me an attentionwhore (which I was) and said I'd end up cleaning up garbage cans.

Up yours you old bitch.

Ah, nice topic.

[iG®]

First two words that I've learned from English were "The End" who were going after "Tom and Jerry" cartoon, oh well, after every cartoon. But since "Power Rangers" invasion, I learned a lot more of it, then I started learning it in school, then video games, then internet...

[Chris.]

well i guess living in England helped me to learn English

[cyanide]

So do you know the sign language deaf people use? I've always had a fascination for that.

Yep, I'm fluent in ASL (American Sign Language). Thanks to that, I don't need to take French.

[Jackal]

As with CK, I love to watch people sign to each other, it looks so...beautiful in lack of a better word. It just looks so so artistic.

[cyanide]

It is visual poetry in a way.. my sister has done a few multimedia performances combining sign language as an artistic expression. Deaf people are probably the most animated bunch I've ever seen, where they really emphasize facial expressions and body language.

[LegoTP]

I learnt it early at school... and I had a good level before starting learning it. I'm still young and I know my English isn't perfect, but I try to speak the best English I can.

[J@3]

So do you know the sign language deaf people use? I've always had a fascination for that.

Yep, I'm fluent in ASL (American Sign Language). Thanks to that, I don't need to take French.

American Sign Language... is that like American English, where certain words are randomly spelt incorrectly but if you try to tell an American that's the case they go mental and accuse you of spying for the Japanese?

[-BHZMAFIA-]

I've always wondered the same exact thing (how did most of ya'll learn English) But many props to people from different countries, because right now I'm taking Spanish 2, and its not that easy learning a new language I can understand most stuff when I read it, but as far as speaking it fluently is the hardest part.

[Jackal]

Try 7 languages.

[Emiliano]

I was born in Argentina so my first language was Spanish. When I was 11 years old, my parents and my brother and I moved to the US and I learned English over here. I studied a bit of English in Argentina but not so much. Now I speak fluent English and Spanish.

[Big-D]

well both my parents speak spanish and english, and when i was born they taught me english first then spanish.