Am I monolingual?
Asked by
chelle21689 (
7907
)
April 12th, 2020
from iPhone
I grew up hearing Thai all my life but rarely ever spoke it because I was too shy so now I understand a lot of general conversations and have an idea what people are talking about but it is difficult for me to speak. I was in Thailand and surprisingly picked up a lot of new words and my grammar improved in just a couple weeks.
I also took Spanish in high school and college, I know enough to get around and have conversation but again it takes me a while to think to put words together or I’ll have to look up a word. Unlike Thai, it’s harder for me to listen and understand a native. During the stay-at-home order, I’ve been teaching myself more advanced Spanish like preterite, imperfect, present, direct and indirect objects, etc. So now I know how to put this together but I’m slow.
Long story short, I’m conversational but I am not fluent.
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13 Answers
You’re multilingual as far as I’m concerned.
Even though I’m not fluent?
Not all who speak English are fluent.
Not fluent according to whom?
I don’t think people would consider me fluent (myself included). I can’t pull up words fast enough and my grammar would probably need some correction.
@chelle21689 – to me being bilingual means that you feel comfortable in either language. You can get along with the everyday tasks in each language.
For example, I am fluent in English and I can get by in German, French, and Hebrew, but I don’t see myself as quadlingual.
Yes. Same here but would I still be considered monolingual if I’m conversational?
I used to speak fluent Klingon. Its a loss to me now. I’m limited to a smattering of French and Fluent in English.
You’re multilingual.
My husband is what is often referred to as fully bilingual. He can read, write, and speak like a native in both languages. He actually does make a few mistakes in his second language, English, that are typical for a Spanish speaker, but I hear a lot worse from people who are born here. You could spend all day with him and the mistake wouldn’t come up.
You might say you speak broken Thai, or broken Spanish, or maybe proficient in those languages, or conversational. There are all sorts of ways to describe how fluent someone is. I say I’m bilingual for ease, but I clarify my grammar is poor. I speak at a good pace, I’d even say I have the rhythm of Spanish down pretty well, and my pronunciation is good, but still lots of grammatical mistakes and I lack vocabulary to be able to say I’m fluent in my opinion.
I can speak kitchen Spanish and retail Spanish, but I couldn’t conduct a business meeting in Spanish.
@jleslie thanks, i wish I was fluent in both Spanish and Thai but it’s up to me to keep practicing
How many languages do you dream in? That’s my personal gauge.
I dream in Spanish sometimes. I am perfectly fluent in my dreams.
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