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elizabeth  ·  2868 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Dear Hubski, what language do you speak?

We speak Russian at home (went to Russian Sunday school for like 10 years of my life) and I would say I speak without a noticeable accent. I would be "outed" as a foreigner in Russia if I had to write something because my grammar is abysmal or by using a strange name for a thing.

My #1 language is French (Quebecois and France French - I switch accents unconsciously depending on who I'm speaking to).

Then I would say my english is pretty good considering I grew up in an all French society and I didn't speak a word until about 11 years old. Strangely, I learned it at the Ukrainian camp because all my friends started speaking english and it was either learn it or have no friends. If any of you guys watched my vlog, you can definitely notice I have a strange accent because I don't speak it very much in everyday life, even if I spend lots of time typing and reading on the internets.

Learned 5 years of Italian in High School and we had pretty good teachers. I'm pretty average but it's a fun trick up my sleeve when meeting Italians. It's been a while now, but I'm good enough to watch Italian movies if the Italian subtitles are on.

Learned some basic Polish while on my exchange semester: I can comfortably get around, order food, haggle at the markets and generally go along everyday life. I don't think I could sustain a conversation beyond the "where are you from, what do you do, what is your favorite food" platitudes, but it's a decent start :)

I also understand Ukrainian fairly well: can't speak without muddling it up with Polish and Russian but after 3 years with my boyfriend and visiting his family there, my listening comprehension is good enough that I speak Russian and people reply in Ukrainian. I was pretty surprised, but people actually speak to each other like that there - in different languages but with 100% understanding on both sides!

+ learned like 2 words since my month in Vietnam. And people still don't understand 20% of the time. Tonal languages are haaard...