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

Everyone at my high school was required to take a language class before graduating.

Being the "clever" teenager I was, I opted to take Latin so I didn't have to learn how to speak a language.

Looking back, I should have taken Spanish instead, if for no other reason than it would have made my trip to Puerto Rico a little more enjoyable.

If you took a language class in school, do you still use that language today?

Every single day ... I chose English

I went through a bilingual program - almost all of my schooling was in French until high school, when it was 50/50. I didn't study math in English until I went to university to study mathematics :) It was very useful when I was living in Ottawa and when I lived in France for a while.

I moved to the US in 2001 and haven't really used the language since, alas. A couple of trips to France that mostly just show how badly it's degraded.

My degree is in Spanish language and literature. I use it all the time, but in more subtle ways than I think most people expect to use a second language. Sure, I can speak it if I need to, but mostly I see it as the key to a whole new world of content, cultural context, and human interaction. I can read books and watch movies and understand song lyrics and laugh at memes that my friends who speak only English can't. And the puns. Don't even get me started on the puns.

Took Spanish in HS and the vocabulary part didn't stick very well but the mechanics did a bit. Honestly I've learned more Spanish just living in Florida than I ever did in class, though.

Honestly for most people unless you start at a really young age I think immersion is really the most effective way to learn a language. And we don't give enough credit to how different written and spoken language is in understanding message. Like, I've been to Germany enough that I can read German pretty well. Well enough to get general meaning off of most signs in a museum, for example. But if someone starts speaking to me they may as well be just doing horse impressions. My ear absolutely doesn't match up to how my brain perceives those words. 

Colin Wood said:

Everyone at my high school was required to take a language class before graduating.

Being the "clever" teenager I was, I opted to take Latin so I didn't have to learn how to speak a language.

Looking back, I should have taken Spanish instead, if for no other reason than it would have made my trip to Puerto Rico a little more enjoyable.

If you took a language class in school, do you still use that language today?

Catholic school and Latin  Freshman year and Spanish second year , 

If I would have known then I would have really tried to learn Spanish , at the time it was just a class I had to take , 

I keep buying "Learn Spanish" language books , put them under my pillow at night but never seem to know more in the morning :) 

its real work when you are older .

Ugh. I took Spanish in high school and didn't pay attention.  Now I work in construction in Arizona and REALLY could use better Spanish; in fact, next week I'm flying to Colombia and will be taking a week-long intensive Spanish-language class to help bring me up past "mentally-deficient 8-year-old" ability. 

In college I took Japanese, which was super helpful when I moved to... Korea. 

So now I have rudimentary Spanish and would need refreshers in both Japanese and Korean to be useful again. Really, though, I wish I'd kept up on Spanish. 

Grew up in Quebec City (English family, background, and education). French was mandatory from around grade 4 to grade 10. Being bilingual made a significant difference finding summer employment. Moved to Ottawa for english post-secondary education, then found employment with the federal civil service where the bilingual card certianly helped.   

Still dapple a bit with local friends who are bilingual, but have definitely lost the fluency...  

I regret not learning Spanish as most of our travel these days are to the Caribbean, or western Europe.

Gordon 

I took French and Latin. 

I use neither

French was a complete waste. Latin has been more useful because so many languages have Latin-origin words. 

I told my kids to take Spanish. 

I took Spanish because that was my only option, but I still use it a lot  daily. I also learned it from my parents, but I was glad to take it to learn the actual rules, etc. 

I would have killed to learn Chinese, but its one of those things where outside of watching Chinese and mostly Hong Kong movies and series, would not get much use. Even my parent's barely used it in day to day life unless they were up in New York, but they never conversed with each other in Chinese. My mom could understand my dad's family, but it was harder to converse due to the differences in how the dialect was spoken. 

I took spanish in as a second language and wish I put more effort into actually learning how to speak it than just how to pass the tests. I can still understand some basic stuff but not as much as I know I learned in the class. 

2 semesters of French mostly forgotten. I wish I kept up so at least I could read Michel Vaillant comics.

My self-taught Japanese is better.

I learned Spanish in high school and spoke it well enough to use it in my first job. Hardly used it for twenty years and all of a sudden I need it again. My Spanish 2 textbook arrived yesterday and with any luck I'll at least be able to tell people where their polling place is this weekend when I'm out campaigning. 

Nicole Suddard said:

My degree is in Spanish language and literature. I use it all the time, but in more subtle ways than I think most people expect to use a second language. Sure, I can speak it if I need to, but mostly I see it as the key to a whole new world of content, cultural context, and human interaction. I can read books and watch movies and understand song lyrics and laugh at memes that my friends who speak only English can't. And the puns. Don't even get me started on the puns.

Yes. This 100%.

One of my favorite F1 teams recently got a driver from Argentina, and I just want to know what he's saying half the time. It's like when hear a group of your friends laughing, but you have no idea what they are laughing about and you feel left out.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

I came across a language app that essentially uses clips from TV shows and movies to help you learn. (Lingopie, I think?)

I tried out as much as you can for free, but it might be worth spending the money on.

Latin and Spanish.

Back when I was on construction sites in my 30s, I used Spanish every day.

Latin-I still use because the strong roots English has based in it. I can still dissect meanings of words because I can fumble through the meaning of the root words. I'd have liked to go further in both these languages, as well as others.

its hard to kick yourself in the butt about not learning Spanish etc in High school when you were 15-18 years old !

So many other things to try and understand !

The "kid" across the street is early 20s and I have been pushing him to learn Spanish since his Mexican Grandmother  is at the house everyday , I doubt he will do it.....

And since we are talking about learning languages , is there a internet radio stream I can play in the background to listen to basic Spanish  , yes I keep trying......

In reply to californiamilleghia :

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you had in mind, but I use every now and again when I want a more "radio-like" experience when I'm in the car. It makes it really easy to listen to radio stations pretty much anywhere in the world: https://radio.garden/visit/ocala-fl/uzVtpAjk

(Also, I don't care much for the radio stations nearby.)

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

dónde está el baño

What's we're seeing here is that the most useful second language is the one that's most common where you live or play.

French.  Learned more by reading the back of bilingual cornflakes boxes.

My high school program required several years of German for anyone who wasn't already bilingual. I mostly used it to reassure a few German customers who apologized for their English that their English was better than my German.

I also took a bit of Latin. It's sometimes useful for figuring out big words. Some of the family Balderdash games have gone off the rails when everyone submitted the correct word definition.

Languages are the bane of my academic existence. Spanish knocked my GPA down most of a point at UCLA.

That said, I really want to be fluent in something besides English, so I keep threatening to move to Mexico when I retire, only to return when I know the language.

One interesting sidenote. When I used to visit Mexico, my language issues were exacerbated by performance anxiety. I actually speak Spanish better than ever now, because for some reason the anxiety went away, allowing my brain to utilize what few resources I have more effectively.

2 years of German in college. I use it all the time. Some of our Excel files have not been fully translated yet. I work for ZF.

I didn't have to take it in high school, wish my guidance counselor had told I should though. Because I didn't I had to take 10 hours in college. 

I absolutely never use it or remember it beyond a few specific phrases.