Bilingual ?


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I speak metric with one exception. My brain prefers inches to centimetres. I guess it's because a centimetre is so small!

For some crazy reason I studied four languages in high school, but I've long forgotten two of them. I can still follow a conversation in Afrikaans fairly well, but don't have the confidence to speak it, so I'll usually answer in English.
 
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When it comes to baking it is Celcius but when it comes to body temperature it is Farenheit. :LOL:
 
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I talk Fahrenheit and Celcius, Miles and Kilometers, Meters and Yards.

How about you?

I can do all those fairly easily and can think in them, as well as in Kelvin, but will always use Imperial measurements if it's going to annoy people here in England. :whistle: :LOL:

I did 7 years of French and 5 years of Latin and German at school but it takes a while to remember it - if pushed to it. Between my wife and myself we can muddle along bit in Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi and Bengali.

Some of the dialects and accents here in England I find totally impossible to understand. :(

I can still follow a conversation in Afrikaans fairly well, but don't have the confidence to speak it

I can only swear in Afrikaans :ROFLMAO: That's about all I learnt when I was working out there.
 
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Bilingual ?
No.

I talk Fahrenheit and Celcius, Miles and Kilometers, Meters and Yards.

How about you?
Celsius, kilometers, meters...

I speak Portuguese... And I can read and understand written English (today in real time, I was very slow when I started). To understand spoken English depends on several factors and I am usually very bad at it because of the lack of many things required for this. But my goal was never to speak it, just being able to understand and read is enough.

but from what I hear, English is actually one of the toughest languages to learn.
Not sure if I learned it. But it was somewhat easy till here, but I have been learning English because I am "addicted" and I was extremely interested in it during my childhood. There were some tricks I had to figure out myself... There were even some things the books did not tell me about, which I then learned in forums and internet chats like these.

I know it still has some errors here and there but I cannot even write perfectly in my own language let alone a foreign one... Then I feel discouraged to improve it more. Shame on me. :cry:

Today, I lack interest to learn other languages. Fortunately, English have been quite useful and I still love it.

Thank you!

I apologize for any inconveniences I may have caused.
 
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No.


Celsius, kilometers, meters...

I speak Portuguese... And I can read and understand written English (today in real time, I was very slow when I started). To understand spoken English depends on several factors and I am usually very bad at it because of the lack of many things required for this. But my goal was never to speak it, just being able to understand and read is enough.


Not sure if I learned it. But it was somewhat easy till here, but I have been learning English because I am "addicted" and I was extremely interested in it during my childhood. There were some tricks I had to figure out myself... There were even some things the books did not tell me about, which I then learned in forums and internet chats like these.

I know it still has some errors here and there but I cannot even write perfectly in my own language let alone a foreign one... Then I feel discouraged to improve it more. Shame on me. :cry:

Today, I lack interest to learn other languages. Fortunately, English have been quite useful and I still love it.

Thank you!

I apologize for any inconveniences I may have caused.
You English is great. I envy people who know another language.
 
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My maternal grandparents were born in the United States. Grandmother and Grandfather speak English an Hungarian.
 
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I am quite happy with metric or Imperial; weight, volume, or linear. Not sure about American measures, I have the feeling they sometimes use the same words for different measures. I can also handle nautical miles. I did have an advantage, I grew up with 12d equals 1/-, 20m1/- equals £1, 240 pence in a pound, 6/8d equals a third of a pound, 13/4d is two thirds of a pound. When you grow up with a system like that everything else is child's play.

Note the origin, in Medieval times a pound weight of silver was worth one pound. A pennyweight was one two hundred and fortieth of a pound weight, so a penny coin was actually a pennyweight of silver. Shillings were of Teutonic origin, one twentieth of a pound of silver.
There are actually some advantages to a twelve base system, 1,2,3,4,6,8,9,10, are fractions of 12 its only 7 and 11 that don't work.
When I was a boy there were still silver coins in circulation, and one ounce of silver coinage was worth 5/-, so four ounces were worth a pound sterling, with sixteen ounces in a pound that meant about 400% inflation in about a thousand years. A pound of silver at today's prices, about seventy years later, is a bit over £300. Hmmm.

Linguistically I speak bad French, a mixture of Andalusian, Catalan and Castilian, and a smattering of Japanese
 

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