Who took a language class in high school? Do you still use that language today?

1988RedT2 said:

Four years of Spanish in HS.  Was pretty good at it.  Still retain a little today, like:

dónde está el baño

After earlier saying  "Una cerveza fria por favor".

1988RedT2 said:

Four years of Spanish in HS.  Was pretty good at it.  Still retain a little today, like:

dónde está el baño

I suspect that phrase was one of the first taught to every Spanish student.    It's one of the few I retain as well.

I took German because it was spoken in my household, so it was easy for me. I have lost most of it speaking-wise, but if I watch a movie in German or something like that, it comes back fast.

I insisted that all my kids take Spanish.  Knowing Spanish gives you a leg up in most jobs even at the upper levels versus someone who does not speak it.  In hindsight, I wish I had learned Spanish.  I already knew German but it was an easy A in school.  

My HS required 2 yrs of FoLa. I chose French because I thought chix were supposed to dig French. My Dad encouraged me to take Spanish, because we lived in a sketchy neighborhood outside DC and he said I was unlikely to get robbed by a Frog.

I went to 100% French school from k-12 because my parents thought it would be a help. I did switch to English when I went to university. 
The part of Canada I live in now doesn't afford me as many chances to speak it now as I used to , but I still get to speak it a few times a week.

I will be doing the same with my children, while it is a more challenging I think learning a second language is never a waste. I even took German in university for a bit, all I can say now is "my name is Luc...." count, and order a beer. 

Spanish in junior high, German in high school.

The Spanish is far more useful day to day.  I'm not really fluent and seldom speak it.  I deliberately don't let on how much I understand at work.  People say interesting things when they think you don't understand. 

The German has helped a few times.  I had to translate some technical pages to facilitate a motor repair.  It was  more useful when I was in the Army, worked with some NATO officers, and expected to go to Europe at some point.  

Having taken foreign languages also helped me, I think, in taking programming courses later.  

Got  D freshman year

Walked into first day of Spanish II sophomore year and the teacher has escaped under Fidel Castro's rule.

I understood 2 word's the entire class.

Went straight down to guidance counselors office after the class and got out of it fortunately. 

I do wish now I had put more effort into it, but saw little reason for it back in the day. 

I live in Canada in the summers, so I took 5 years of French.  Learning French and then going to Canada is like learning America English and then going to Eastern Ireland... or Oklahoma.  Pretty useless.  I figured there was enough crossover between Quebecois and French that I could get by, but I was wrong.

Then I lived in L.A. for 7 years and learned a functional L.A. Spanglish... which is completely useless in Mexico or Spain.

So I have lost a lot of the French, and the Spanish I know is pretty much only useful in SoCal.

I took Spanish in high school and hated it. Not because the class was difficult, but because the Spanish that was taught was not equivalent to the Spanish spoken on a daily basis. I remember having a teacher who accused me of using Google Translate for a major assignment. When she asked how I knew certain phrases she hadn't taught, I said, "Um... from my mother, who has spoken Spanish her whole life." Even kids in the class who were bilingual struggled with the way things were taught.

I can understand Spanish better than I can speak it, but that class really didn't help me much. But, I'm trying to get better by speaking more often with friends and my family in Nicaragua. 

Catholic high school , so Latin the first year and Spanish the 2nd year , 

Back then there was no reason to learn Spanish  around my area , so I did not do the work and just got a "C" , 

Now I wish that I had learned  Spanish  as it would be helpful around here every day.

Took French for one year.  Fun, and makes going to Montreal and Paris slightly easier.  But had I known how my life would turn, I would have taken Spanish every year.

Nothing in high school. 10 hours of Spanish in college. Wasn't very good at it, I didn't retain basically any of it. 

I was fluent in Hebrew at 13 years old.  40 years later, I don't remember a single word.

Took Spanish in high school, was pretty good at it.  Not anymore.

Lived in Philadelphia most of my life.  Moved to GA and had to learn English all over again.  Bless your heart isn't a compliment?!?!