How are you with... ?

Maya l'abeille   Sunday, December 26, 2004, 15:06 GMT
Hi everyone and Merry Christmas! :)

I've been trying to find out the meaning of the expression "how are you with...?" and here are the different meanings I think I have understood:

- How are you with green beans? --> Do you like them or not?
- How are you with physics? --> Are you good at it?
- How are you with your classmates? --> How do you behave in their presence?

In short, I think it means 'How do you feel about...?' or 'How do you behave with...?'
Anyway it seems to have a bit of a broad meaning. Can you give me some more examples and/or explanations?

Many thanks in advance. I thought I would order as good an English as possible for Christmas, but... well, there's no fun in getting an ability without learning, so I have to go on asking about some details. (et c'est plus marrant comme ça!)
Easterner   Monday, December 27, 2004, 15:34 GMT
I think "How are you with...?" is a simple way of putting questions like "What's your attitude to...?" or "How do you get on with...?". Actually we have a very similar expression in Hungarian (and some other languages around here), which can be translated literally as "How do you stand with...?". "How are you with...?" seems to be much the same.

>>well, there's no fun in getting an ability without learning<<

True for the most part, though I would welcome the opportunity to get the knowledge of at least one language of my choice gratis, without effort, after having learnt, say, five on my own. :)