Even Americans trounce us in language skills. I wonder if it's the tedium of learning a language that can never be spoken in the real world that kills the enthusiasm to pull one's finger out w/ living languages? Latin is an utter waste of time to anyone but a scholar of dead languages etc..
We've a child on the way, it will be spoken to in English and German from day one.
Quote from: Houdini on August 03, 2009, 10:17:57 pm Even Americans trounce us in language skills. I wonder if it's the tedium of learning a language that can never be spoken in the real world that kills the enthusiasm to pull one's finger out w/ living languages? Latin is an utter waste of time to anyone but a scholar of dead languages etc..Are these your views or are you mocking the introverted view of the world which supposes any Johnny-Foreigner worth communicating with will have a decent command of English and will altruistically use it to communicate with us without taking the slightest advantage of the fact that we will only understand what we are permitted/enabled to understand? (It's widely under-reported that international business ethics have mostly adopted this model of good practice, luckily for us... )
Even American's trounce us in language skills
Many Americans I have met struggle to even understand an accent, let alone another language. The only exceptions I have come across live in the SW and almost all have learned Spanish as a second language.
Are you saying that language-learning is dull
We've a child on the way..
My point is and always will be it's better to teach your child Swedish or Norwegian than Latin as both live beyond the pages of taxonomy atlases et al and in this day and age has as much relevance in this modern world (to a non-scholar) as teaching Alchemy. Time passed it by.
Quote from: SA Chris on August 04, 2009, 08:27:42 amMany Americans I have met struggle to even understand an accent, let alone another language. The only exceptions I have come across live in the SW and almost all have learned Spanish as a second language. This is my experience & what I based my point on, though not restricted to just those that live in the SW. As far I can tell, the only evidence of genuine non-monoglotism in the UK is Wales (& I'm not going anywhere near that one thanks).
^ Stop fighting wars that don't exist? By abandoning our nuclear arsenal? Cancelling Nicolas Soames' luncheon vouchers? There's a few billion I've saved you.
Most people I know have just about passable French, and a few are very proficient at it. A few are capable in german as well. My own abilties are limited to fluent Afrikaans (which is pretty pointless as most Dutch speak excellent English, but provides them with much amusement), and halting German and French. Plus a dozen or so Zulu words.This far exceeds my experience of meeting dozens of Americans in my time there, of whom about 3 or 4 had passable Spanish.
Cool. When do my pay rise and time off for (free) professional development courses kick in?
Plus a dozen or so Zulu words.