听力提示：

1. about seven or eight languages 大概七八种语言

2. rare 少见的

3. native language 母语

4. I can speak Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, and a few other languages here and there.

我会讲日语、中文、西班牙语、法语、葡萄牙语、阿拉伯语和其他零零碎碎的一些语言。

5. Because I like it. 因为我喜欢啊。

6. professional skills 职业技能

7. invest 投资，投入

8. Usually everyone starts studying a language when they are 11, 12, 13 years old.

一般人们从十一二岁开始学习外语。

9. Usually we don't have that much choice. And most places in the United States, you can only choose between Spanish and French.

通常来说我们的选择没有那么多，而且美国大部分地区学二外只能从西班牙语和法语之间选。

10. Sometimes you get couple of other languages, but usually it's just Spanish or French.

有时候你可能还有其他语言的选择，但大部分时候只有西班牙语和法语可以选。

11. I think more and more recently you can study Chinese. But it's only some high schools that you have that. But, at universities, you have every language, including Chinese always.

我觉得最近越来越多人可以学中文了，但这只限于部分高中。不过到了大学，你可以学习所有的语言，当然包括中文。

12. Usually most high schools require that you study at least one, two, maybe three years. So everyone has to study a little bit. But a lot of people only study for two years, and they don't really learn that much.

大部分高中都会要求你学习一两年，有可能三年的外语。所以每个人或多或少都要学点，但很多人只学了两年，所以其实学到的不是很多。

13. Hispanic population 西班牙裔的人口

14.

Mexican (Central American) Spanish 拉美地区的西班牙语
European Spanish 西班牙的西班牙语

15. Usually it's you have class every single day for about one hour, 45 minutes to one hour.

通常每天都有一小时，三刻钟到一小时的课程。

16. intensive 紧凑的，加强的

17. test-driven 以考试为目的的

18. lingua franca 通用语