Might be the Dutch school system? After elementary school you go to “de middelbare school” which is usually translated to high school. The duration of what we call high school is usually 4-6 years (could be longer or shorter ofc), so I guess middle school would be included in that.
Sorry if it’s confusing… I personally find it hard to explain HAHA.
I am a native spanish speaker. I started learned english when i was seven, then i started with some french (which i never mastered nor continue). And now i’ve been going around with japanese and chinese
Japanese is coming after my learning of French!
I love french but I prefer Japanese, its just more interesting to me. I know a bit of akrikans(I am south african) but I live in Australia now and know pretty much none anymore.
Yeah the US system has grade school from years 1-6, middle school or Junior High from 7-8, and high school from 9-12. Depends on the school district though. Some have middle school from 6-9 like Japan.
However, there’s no Year 13 or School Certificate level like the British system.
a lot of schools in the us do K-5 (elementary) 6-8 (middle) and 9-12 (high) as well, i think putting 6th graders in elementary school is fading out
Yeah I’ve always found it interesting since small towns almost never have a middle school so I’m used to K5-8 and then High School.
In English, I would probably just say “secondary school” in that case. In Japan, you might have to say 中学高校 as one long phrase (at least, that’s how the place I work at is referred to).
My first language was Spanish but I consider myself an English native speaker. The first foreign language I studied was French (4 years in American high school), the second was Chinese (1 year concurrently in high school) and Japanese is third for me. I’ve also dabbled in Russian, Korean, and Norwegian but not enough to remember anything or count myself as having actually studied them…
English is my L1, and I’ve studied Spanish, Korean, and now Japanese.
In both Spanish and Korean, I didn’t reach the levels I wanted. With Spanish, this was because I had low motivation. With Korean, I was highly motivated… but I ended up dating and then marrying a Japanese woman, so I switched languages as we started dating. Now, I’m in this for the long haul…
If we count attempts, it’s my third since I’ve tried learning French over the years (my family mainly speaks it) and I’m “studying” it in school right now. But if we count attempts that are actually going well that I want to do in the first place, Japanese is my second.
Native language is English, took German in high school and a bit in college, and I’ve been learning Japanese informally for a bit over a year. Started with Duolingo, and I picked up Wanikani recently because Duo was doing nothing for my retention of complex kanji.
My German has mostly left my head, but I was fairly proficient by the time I stopped taking courses. My pronunciation and grammar were solid, but my vocabulary was too thin. By the time I’m done with Wanikani, it wouldn’t surprise me if my situation in Japanese turns out the exact opposite, lol. Since I think I’ve hit diminishing returns with Duo, I’m looking for other routes to shore up my grammar and keep going from there.
Here’s something funny that’s true for me with both German and Japanese: I started studying them not long after visiting their respective countries of origin, and have not been back to either country since. xD
I don’t know whether to label Japanese as the first foreign language or second one. I speak both English and Spanish natively, so neither of them are foreign to me. It’s certainly the third language I’m acquiring.
I did French and German a bit throughout my years in school but I don’t count subjects in school because you can’t really learn a language just from what they teach in school.
Dutch high school system is up to 6 years long. There is no middle school or junior high.
It’s not the first language I’ve attempted, but I’ve gotten way further with it than Spanish or Norwegian (neither of which I would say I “speak”.)
Polish (native) → English when I was a teen → Japanese now, started when I was about 40.
I don’t count various language courses forced on me during school years (Russian, German), as I was only doing what had to be done to pass the exams, and those were purely a waste of time.
Japanese would be my first foreign language. Being from India I am fluent in 2 languages (English and Hindi), which for most part, most Indians are fluent in nowadays. I can also speak a local language “Garhwali” as it’s my mother tongue. I also had Sanskrit in middle school but I didn’t had any interest in learning it at that time sooo… now I can just read and maybe understand few words here and there.
I have learned three Indian Languages growing up along with English (in school). So in a way my first time learning a foreign language, not counting English as one …
Italian is my native language. When I was 6 yo my grandma taught me a bit of Russian (I can only listen to it now, can’t even talk properly).
Here in Italy we are taught English from elementary school to high school (doing my third year out of five).
In middle school we learn a third foreign language other than English and that can be French or Spanish, and I did French in those 3 years.
So, summarizing, I “know” 4 languages (which 2 I can only understand a bit) and Japanese is my fifth.
That’s why I asked about your FIRST FOREIGN language. Your first language is your native language. Your second language, or first foreign language, is English for many of us here (since if English is your first/native language it’s not a foreign language to you). Second foreign language for most Europeans is another European language (French, German, Spanish). Japanese is usually the third, fourth or more foreign language for Europeans. I though it would be interesting to see what languages the international members of WK knew!
the poll results are interesting ^^ i didn’t expect fully half of the respondents to be on their third (or more) foreign language. though considering how international WK is, it shouldn’t be surprising…
you also managed to draw out a lot of first-time posters!
welcome all you new posters! i hope to see you all around the forums! 
That’s a very good point! I’d not derail a thread just to welcome one person, but ten…
\textcolor{pink}{\huge \textsf{WELCOME! ^-^}}
@MaineJ, @CatUribe, @NrkoChouchou, @alexandraidv, @Aemilii, @milvmak, @MetaMorForz, @mxhoward, @Maraakis, @Maharetina
Even if you may have been a member for a while and aren’t really new hehe
Take the time to check out the FAQ and GUIDE if you haven’t already…
…which you may have been diligent and awesome enough to do!
There’s also a lot of good stuff on the forum to help you…
…that you’ve likewise probably already seen, but it still worth mentiioning!
The Ultimate Guide for WK
The Ultimate Additional Japanese Resource List
The New and Improved List of API and Third-Party Apps
I hope that you continue to enjoy WaniKani that your worship of the Crabigator is eternal!