Second Language Learning--English, French, Italian, Spanish, More

Today I was asked how fluent I am in French.  It is my least used language at the moment.  I did study French for five years and was fluent in it in 1969 when I entered the U.S. Army.  I have used French in a limited way since then and could bring it back to fluency with a bit of study.

English is my native (first) language.  I am currently most fluent in Spanish, then comes Italian (I lived in Italy for 3.5 years) and, finally (for now) French.  It is amazing how much learning multiple languages helps in focusing the learning in all of the languages.  The real key is immersion--actually speaking the language in normal day-to-day activities.  One way to identify emerging fluency is when we are aware of dreaming in a second language.  Second language learning (SLL) is the term used for all languages after acquiring the first language. 

For me, most of my second languages have a Latin base.  That's helpful.  I'm very happy to have English as my first language--it's incredibly difficult to learn as a second language.  I enjoy language learning and am now certified as a Teacher of English as a Second Language in Illinois.  I had lots of hours in English in college and what I needed to learn to teach English as a second language is very different from the coursework I took in English while at the university.

How fluent am I in French?  I can probably get around in a taxi in France and I can be lots better with a brief refresher course in the language.  I'm exploring an opportunity to brush up on several languages.  I'll revisit this post with the links once I have them.