We all know that Clark has a gift for languages, but does anyone remember if Lois is ever mentioned being able to speak a foreign language?

I vaguely remember her trying to speak to someone in another language and failing badly until Clark and his super tongue comes to translate for her, but that might have been from a fanfic.

I don't recall her having any particular language skills (although I would bet she knows a wide variety of swear words). Her time as a foreign exchange student was spent in a country that speaks English (Ireland) and I highly doubt she bothered to learn Gaelic. She may have picked up a word or two if it suits your purposes.

If you need her to be able to speak something, though, I don't think it would be too difficult. She might not be fluent enough to pass for a native, but it's conceivable that she took a foreign language in either high school or college.

I know in Canada is mandatory to take French (our countries official second language) from -I think - 3rd grade all the way up to 9th grade. After that you have the option to continue taking it if you want to.

Doesn't the USA have something similar for Spanish? I always assumed they did, but that could just be because of tv shows lol. It wouldn't be shocking if she spoke some Spanish if that's the case.

Lois did visit the Congo. She may have picked up some French, which is widely spoken there. I think Swahili is also spoken in the Congo, along with a few others.

Thanks, Sue. I was just wondering if anyone recalled it mentioned or shown that she knew a language well enough to try to speak it. I'll probably go the high school / college route.

I wish! I have my daughter in a dual-language immersion program that teaches kids from Kindergarten -grade 6 in both English and Spanish. Reading & Math in English; Social Studies and Science (and next year - reading) in Spanish. But this is NOT the norm here. Most classes in the states are still English only, and foreign languages are not taught until high school. (See, just another reason why Canadians are more well liked around in the world than Americans. )

I know, that's why that plot never made sense to me. Why would Lois try to cover a story in a country where she didn't know the language? It could have been her naiviety in thinking that she could cover any story, any where, because English is spoken (taught and therefore, spoken) everywhere in the world :rolleyes: (I've traveled enough to know that usually ISN'T the case, but that many not-well-traveled Americans do assume that.) Lois was young at the time of the assignment and I could see it as a learning experience for her, teaching her that there were limits to her abilities as a journalist (not that she would ever admit that outloud). Either that or she thought her high school French would be passible. My guess is that she probably hired a translator while in the Congo, or went with a more experienced correspondant -- perhaps Claude.

Oops. Went on another Lois-Like ramble. Sorry.

It's not a major plot point in my story (and it's not about the Congo!), just wanted to get my facts straight. Thanks for the info.

Mrs. Luthor - No, it isn't mandatory to take Spanish here in the US.

I'm a child of '82 and never took a foreign language before 9th grade. My elementary school did teach Latin, but the teacher retired the year before I would have started.

In high school, I had to take Latin as an Honor's Student and choose a modern language - Spanish, Italian, or French (I chose French). In college, I had my choice of languages (and again took French).

However, I can see Lois choosing to take a foreign language in school, being the overachiever she was. She loves a challenge, and maybe she had dreams of working for a paper in Paris before landing an internship/position at the Planet. Just as an example.

Except that she did her year (summer?) abroad in Ireland. If she had studied a foreign language and wanted to become proficient in it, I could see her spending her time abroad in a country that spoke that language. I also could see her starting a foreign language in high school (or maybe a course during the summer), realizing that she wasn't going to ace the course because she didn't have a talent in it, and never taking another class in it to keep her GPA up. More the avoiding what she doesn't do well, so others <<cough>> her father <<cough>> would never see her do poorly at something.

Very true. Except, if the school require X years/credits in language, she would be forced to do it. So maybe she started with one language, like French (to keep the example the same) and was able to swap out regular courses for a study abroad program. I don't know if that's possible, but perhaps.

The languages offered at schools vary from grade level to grade level and from area to area and school to school. My high school offered Spanish, French, Russian, and German. (It only offers Spanish now.) The local community college offers English, French, German, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.

Foreign language study is not mandatory in U.S. schools, but Lois has a college degree, and most colleges require two years of foreign language study in high school and either a course in college or a competency test to get out of the college course. That means that at some point Lois had at least some knowledge of a foreign language. Given the time she was in school, it was probably Spanish, French, or German. I'm sure it's pretty rusty by now if she hasn't intentionally kept up with it.

Really? I never heard of that. My college didn't require it.

HappyGirl makes a good point. I had to either do two semesters of college language, or pass the AP exam in high school to get the credit. (That was going into college in 2000.)

My college required two years also. They also accepted ALS (American Sign Language) as a second language.

Many colleges I applied to required 2-3 years of a foreign language. The high schools I went to offered Spanish, French, or Latin.

My earlier schools were a bit quirky with foreign languages. In 2nd grade, we had a period where they taught us some basic Spanish. The gifted classes offered French after school. (A bit of a bust, they taught the same thing each of the 3 years I took it). A middle school in another state had languages in 8th grade that taught 9 weeks each of Spanish, German, and French. The other 9 weeks was a "cultures" class.

The college I went to required you to take some courses in three of four broad areas. So three of hard sciences, soft sciences, humanities, language. Having barely made it through 2 years of Spanish in high school I didn't do languages. In high school language was college prep required and IIRC the choices were French, Spanish, and Italian. Wished they had German since I did learn some of that when I was 3-5 years old and my dad was stationed in Germany for 3 years.

I can see Sam making Lois take Latin in high school since he wanted her to go into medicine like him.

Yes, and since some odd people all over the world still tend to take Latin, she might be able to converse some basic things in that language. (Btw, I am one of those odd people.) Although modern expressions like purse or toilet or cab are most definitely out. Oh, imagine the fun with Lois trying to get something across in Latin (and mixing up all the suffixes Latin is so famous for)!

What surprises me, though, is that the US don't make at least one foreign language mandatory. Here in Germany, when I went to school, people had to take at least one foreign language, two for the best possible kind of school leaving certificate (Abitur). The first foreign language was taught from 5th grade to 10th (at least), and a second was offered - in my school mandatory - in 7th grade. We could take a third foreign language in 9th grade and a 4th in 11th.

The first foreign language (in my part of Germany) is usually English, followed by French or Latin.

By now, children have to take their first foreign language (at least 90% English) at 1st or 3rd grade (depending on the state). Here, it's the second half of 1st grade by now. Second foreign language starts in 6th grade now, but I'm not sure if it's mandatory in all schools. The third foreign language is offered in 8th grade, and the 4th in 10th or 11th. (Not sure about that.) Plus, in order to graduate, you have to graduate in English, German and Maths now. (Plus some other subject, probably of your choice.)

Personally, I had to take English from 5th grade, could choose between Latin and French in 7th grade (I took Latin), and there was another option to start French in 9th grade (which I did) and Spanish in 11th grade (which I didn't).

I can't find the proving picture right now, but in one episode, early on in season 1 (I think) Lois reads a german newspaper. So she must know enough German to read an article.

I don't remember that! It must have been article on Superman. Didn't she picked up a French paper (maybe it was German) at the news-stand during "Vatman"? (or while she was hiding from Linda King in "The Rival"), but I thought she was only hiding or looking at the photo of Superman. Does anyone remember this?

There's several reasons I think for this. I think primarily (pride aside- for some reason Americans tend to believe that we don't need to learn any other language because everyone else learns English :rolleyes: ) it's because we teach language all wrong in our schools. Now my high school did require language, but only a year- and in a year, you barely learn how to say basic phrases! I took two and half years of French in high school (because most colleges require at least 2 years), and it's been almost four years since the last of my French, but I can't speak or understand it fluently! (And I've always been quick to pick up languages- we just don't get exposed to foreign languages enough for it to stick.) It's a flaw in the system (one of many, unfortunately).

Don't remember. I think I do remember her picking up something in French (again, French student here). So she probably did pick one up- I don't know if that means she can read it or not, though. Time to go a-hunting.

In much of the US if you drive for a day in a straight line you are either still in a English speaking area or you've drowned. Learning other languages is not as important.

I do remember Lois reading or translating the German headline of a newspaper, too. (I think she translated it, though., but I don't remember either the episode or the pic. I think it was posted in an old German LnC forum...

Thanks for the hint. The right episode is Vatman. Lois skims through some Spanish and French newspapers to finally pick up a German paper, which she seems to read until Clark arrives.

The pictures are here

Lois and Clark Archive

Lois with German newspaper

In canon we do know that she doesn't read Chinese - it's in the first or second episode, when she complains about a fortune cookie Clark translates.

I agree with just about everyone's comments. She traveled as an exchange student to Ireland and was flummoxed by any foreign language.

Mrs. Luthor - The languages in the Congo are French, English and dialects of the Bantu language. Bantu is in the same language family as Swahili and so is similar enough that one speaking either will understand. I use that in my Matchmaker set.