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#51
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
On 30/11/2011 4:50 AM, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:12:20 -0500, Dave Smith wrote: snip My neighbours OTOH, came to Canada in 1951 and they sound like they just arrived. Both of them have such strong accents and limited vocabulary that it is difficult to understand them. Americans or British? :-) Italian. |
#52
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
On 30/11/2011 1:53 PM, David Hatunen wrote:
There's a long history of Americans being nasty to immigrants who didn't use English (even now we have attempts by some groups to make English the official language of the USA, although it's a bit unclear what an official language is). I think some Americans are afraid if a group of non-English speakers is carrying on a conversation they're actually saying nasty things about them. I think that it has a lot more to do with the US being a nation of immigrants who made an effort to assimilate..... newcomers adapting the majority language, as opposed to newcomers expecting the majority to accommodate them. Language and other cultural issues can be a major barriers to friendship and understanding. Just as maintaining a language can be a source of nationalist pride, using the majority language is a unifying force. But in the Southwest there's no particular animus, although that's mostly because most the Hispanics do use English when talking to us gringos. Between themselves the Hispanics may use either language or that odd merger called "Spanglish". When I was a kid my best friend was German. They generally spoke German at home, English if addressing me, and usually translating for my benefit. Here we are 50 years later and they now tend to speak English even among themselves. A few years ago we stayed with some friends in Sweden. They all spoke Beautiful English and always spoke in English when we were around. |
#53
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
Erilar writes:
Doug Anderson wrote: Living in the US, unless you have some specific need, learning a language besides English just isn't the most practical way to spend your time. I'm not saying it isn't worth doing for other, non-practical reasons. But given the lack of practical reasons, it is hardly surprising that few Americans learn other languages besides English. There are other reasons for learning another language than plans to travel to a country where it's spoken, and even that doesn't apply too well at the age one OUGHT to start learning another language. Yes, I said that in my post. I said it even in the part you quoted. |
#55
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
David Hatunen wrote:
On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:52:15 +0000, Erilar wrote: Doug Anderson wrote: Living in the US, unless you have some specific need, learning a language besides English just isn't the most practical way to spend your time. I'm not saying it isn't worth doing for other, non-practical reasons. But given the lack of practical reasons, it is hardly surprising that few Americans learn other languages besides English. There are other reasons for learning another language than plans to travel to a country where it's spoken, and even that doesn't apply too well at the age one OUGHT to start learning another language. "Practically", learning any language makes another easier to learn another you may need later, Big "if" operating there. And I'm not sure learning German or Spanish is going to help you much if you develope a need to know, say Finnish (I'm seeing a lot of Indo-Europeancentrism here). No, I'm referring to having learned another language consciously rather than by infant immersion. It makes it easier to do it again, though obviously more so for another language in the same family. it helps one better understand the thinking of people who grew up in another culture, NOT English-speaking, I should think one would have to become pretty fluent in the other language before it would be of more cultural help than simply reading one of "Culture Shock" books. Reading in your native language doesn't help get into the mindset of speakers of a different language in the same way. it's good intellectual exercise, Well, Doug did say, " I'm not saying it isn't worth doing for other, non- practical reasons." In fact, he covered most of what you are saying already. It's supposed to help ward off Alzheimer's, too. 8-) and it's a LOT more fun for many people than math, for instance. I suppose that's true, but the vast majority of people I know don't consider learning a language to be fun. Some of them do consider learning math to be fun, but very few learn math just to have fun. It's fun for them because they're going into a field that uses it, like physics, and by their nature they find things like math to be fun.. I first started learning German with no expectation of ever having a "practical" use for it just because I thought it would be fun. Years later it became part of how I made a living. Well, there's one case. Are you generalizing your experience to most other people? And you seem to have been lucky; what if you had learned Mandarin? Nowadays that would be rather practical, wouldn't it? 8-). Certainly more so than the other languages I've studied, which are all dead! -- Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad |
#56
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
On 29 Nov 2011 16:31:10 GMT, Bert wrote in post :
: In Markku Gríµ·í±¯os wrote: A recently published study Which? Definitely not the same survey but these EC results from 2006 are in the same ball-park: Summary he http://ec.europa.eu/languages/langua...-survey_en.htm Links to the document in the right-hand panel. tells that 64% of all the Britons can speak only English. If they don't travel, or restrict their travel to English-speaking areas, they shouldn't encounter any difficulties. -- Tim C. |
#57
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
On 01/12/11 13:17, Tim C. wrote:
On 29 Nov 2011 16:31:10 GMT, Bert wrote in post : : In Markku Gr��os wrote: A recently published study Which? Definitely not the same survey but these EC results from 2006 are in the same ball-park: Summary he http://ec.europa.eu/languages/langua...-survey_en.htm Links to the document in the right-hand panel. And on reading it the requirement is to be able to hold a conversation in a language not their own where they do not have to ever resort to words in their native language. In which case I'm very surprised that the figures are as high as they are. -- William Black Free men have open minds If you want loyalty, buy a dog... |
#58
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
On Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:57:38 +0000, William Black wrote in post :
: And on reading it the requirement is to be able to hold a conversation in a language not their own where they do not have to ever resort to words in their native language. In which case I'm very surprised that the figures are as high as they are. I've been living and working in Germany and Austria since 1985, I still need to resort to English works. Regularly. (OK, I haven't tried to formally learn the language, I just picked it up as I went along. So I should be better than I am) -- Tim C. |
#59
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
William Black wrote:
On 30/11/11 07:17, David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote: William wrote: On 29/11/11 19:47, David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote: William wrote: On 29/11/11 16:21, Markku Grönroos wrote: A recently published study tells that 64% of all the Britons can speak only English. Well about 10% of the population wasn't born here, so that means that only 26% of the people born in the UK can speak a foreign language. As every child who passes through the British school system receives lessons in at least one foreign language I beg leave to doubt that survey. I know it's a century since you've been to school, but even you should know that learning a language at school doesn't mean you can speak it. I have addressed this point in another post. Poorly. Interestingly nobody else has answered it so I imagine it stands by itself. As your own position seems to be that learning languages in school is useless I'm inclined to think that you're digging yourself into a hole. I never claimed such a thing. I wonder if learning English in school did you any good. -- (*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate www.davidhorne.net (email address on website) "[Do you think the world learned anything from the first world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009) |
#60
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Brits don't speak foreign languages
Tim C. wrote:
On Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:57:38 +0000, William Black wrote in post : : And on reading it the requirement is to be able to hold a conversation in a language not their own where they do not have to ever resort to words in their native language. In which case I'm very surprised that the figures are as high as they are. I've been living and working in Germany and Austria since 1985, I still need to resort to English works. So I see. -- (*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate www.davidhorne.net (email address on website) "[Do you think the world learned anything from the first world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009) |
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