How did you come to learn English?

[Homo Insapiens]

For those of us who’s first & primary language isn’t English.

I’m curious as to how people come to know English, which seems to be increasingly common, and people who speak no or very little English seem to be decreasing.

English has come to be the Lingua Franca for the whole world now. How long has it been this way, and how did it come to be so? What is the future of this status?

Myself, I can’t say it was my first language, but it quickly became so in my early years as it’s the primary language of the country I grew up in and I grew up in international schools.

[El_Jibaro]

I moved to the US for reasons that are related to my work. I've learned English through pure immersion.

[Komintasavalta]

The biggest mystery is what method Finnish Swede used to learn English.

[Smitty]

The biggest mystery is what method Finnish Swede used to learn English.

:laugh: Why do you say that?

[Arūnas]

I still use bing and google tranlsators

[Ford]

Primarily through World of Warcraft during my childhood :laugh:

[Blondie]

My all english knowledge is from internet. If you dont live in a cave you must learn at least basic english.

[Damião de Góis]

I turned on the TV when i was 4.

[travv]

I still use bing and google tranlsators

#MeToo

[Incal]

Thanks to these:

https://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/l/996-maniac-mansion-dos-front-cover.jpg

https://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel/i/mg/8/03/586d4412e2662/clean.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8uqWv8XEAMr48j?format=jpg&name=small

[mashail]

Here in the Arabian Gulf where I grew up, they teach us English at school as its secondary language after Arabic.

[Terminator98]

Primarily through World of Warcraft during my childhood :laugh:

Which expansion? I spent shitload of time playing lich king. I also played Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria but nowhere near as WOTLK.

[Ford]

Which expansion? I spent shitload of time playing lich king. I also played Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria but nowhere near as WOTLK.

I played late vanilla, burning crusade and wotlk. I quit when the final wotlk patch was released before Cataclysm.

[Ayetooey]

I played late vanilla, burning crusade and wotlk. I quit when the final wotlk patch was released before Cataclysm.

Nice. I played from tbc till start of shadowlands. Didn’t do original vanilla but played the shit out of wow classic.

[Homo Insapiens]

I forgot to include in my title post:
how many languages do you speak?
How did you learn them?

[Bassel]

I can't estimate the exact influence of formal education on my English know-how, considering that education in Egypt is quite problematic, but I can say that I've been exposed to the English language from as little as my first year in life - although not being a native, it was considerably restricted to individual word exposure. Both of my parents teach the language, but their job revolved around teaching other people's children English and not their own. Video game CDs used to be circulated around during my childhood, so I was able to get my hands on a plenty of games that were in the English language, perhaps the most beneficial of which were the voice-acted ones, as I can still remember quizzing my classmates in pride during 1st grade about a sentence that the protagonist said when you went over the carry limit in Diablo II ("I can't carry anymore") and it felt like reciting the constitution of the United States of America at the time, video games had another big influence on me which I'll elaborate more on it after talking about the catalyst that changed everything for me language-wise: The Internet. I was first introduced to it at age 5, and later found my way to social media platforms (Starting with Youtube) which was the beginning of my exposure to the actively-used version of the English language unlike the archaic version that is taught in schools. Facebook was where I first started to initiate dialogue with natives, and although it barely made sense at the time, it was developing as practice was a part of the process. I then got into online videogames, a result of Wi-Fi entering the house, primarily Minecraft servers where I was forced to pickup the language if I were to buy and sell stuff, then other MMORPG online games where the need for the language was needed much more, and where there was bigger competition. If I were to list the top contributing factors in a descending order from the biggest influence to last, I think it would be: Social media, video games, and formal education.

"How many languages do you speak?"

Next to my mother language (Egyptian Arabic), I can speak English quite well, along with basic German as It's one of the three compulsory languages one must learn in their formal education.

"How did you learn them?"

I guess I answered that for English already, as for Arabic I learned it by adapting to the environment I grew up in as a child just like how most people pickup their first languages, and German was taught to me in school, but paid private lessons are what truly taught me the language properly.

[happycow]

School. Had to take English as a second language early on in my school years. It's the only language I speak now.

[Sarin]

School