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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5840 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes  Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 33 of 43 11 May 2009 at 1:11pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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In Stockholm Sweden (excluding languages of immigrants - they should learn Swedish!):
1) English for intl business and studies/ 2) German, Russian (equally useful languages of big neighbours who don't always speak great English) 3) Any other major European language. Honourable mention 1: Finnish (but Finns who visit or live in Stockholm are ok to speak Swedish or English. Finland is pretty close though and a brother country.) Honourable mention 2: Polish. Currently an underrated language in Europe, but looking at the map of the Baltic area where Sweden is located it is clear that Poland will become increasingly more important. Currently there are some ferries and plenty freight going both directions. Poles and Swedes historically have good relations. Edited by cordelia0507 on 12 May 2009 at 11:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5840 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 34 of 43 11 May 2009 at 1:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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London, UK: -ENGLISH!
Any local or foreign accent is fine, as long as people can understand you. People who don't speak English almost invariably want to learn, and try to learn, with the only exception being perhaps poorly educated women from ethnic minorities. Most people don't realise what a truly international city London is. People from literally all around the world: EU, North America, Asia and anywhere else live here. Myself, I live in a suburb which happens to be "expat central" for Germans. Practically every waiter or coffe-shop employee in London has a foreign accent, often Eastern European. Workers in the underground are often from the Caribbean and people working in the banking district (City) or West end shops can be from absolutely anywhere - rural England, France, America, Japan... After a while as a Londoner you become vary blase about all this, someone would have to be born on the moon to become interesting... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ennime Tetraglot Senior Member South Africa universityofbrokengl Joined 5906 days ago 397 posts - 507 votes Speaks: English, Dutch*, Esperanto, Afrikaans Studies: Xhosa, French, Korean, Portuguese, Zulu | Message 35 of 43 12 May 2009 at 7:46am | IP Logged | ||||||||
My subjective view would be: Korean English Japanese Mandarin Thai or Tagalog or Vietnamese (considering the influx of migrants from those areas) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| JasonBourne Groupie United States Joined 5754 days ago 65 posts - 111 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Written), Turkish | Message 36 of 43 12 May 2009 at 8:05am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Well Indian immigrants are often the exception when it comes to English skills. Here in Minnesota (as well as the rest of the mid-west) we have huge immigrant populations from Mexico and Africa who don't speak a word of English. Unless you live in an area which deals with a lot of international business (New York, San Francisco) the most useful language to learn is the one that the NON-English speaking immigrants speak 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| John Smith Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6044 days ago 396 posts - 542 votes Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 37 of 43 12 May 2009 at 11:15am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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In Australia
1. English 2. Chinese 3. German/Japanese 4. Italian/Greek/Vietnamese A lot of people learn Spanish but don't get to use it unless they travel to Latin America. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6438 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 38 of 43 12 May 2009 at 11:51am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I am aware of the growing migrant population from these countries. However, most of them learn Korean anyway so it's not necessary to learn their languages, nor will it give you more advantage in terms of employment and communication. In addition, Korea doesn't only get people from Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam. It's pretty much the whole South-East, South and Central Asian region that we get migrants from. So learning a language of a single group will not help you much. Lastly, although I do not want to generalise, most of these people engage in manual work/blue collar jobs that not many Koreans are fond of. You don't need to learn these languages to make yourself much more competitive - which is why Spanish definitely beats any of the languages you have listed. Edited by Jiwon on 12 May 2009 at 12:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5840 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 39 of 43 12 May 2009 at 12:04pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I agree with Jiwon; Immigrants (includes temporary expats) have an obligation to try to learn the language asap. Ideally they should know the basics before moving, if not they need to make it a priority after arriving in the new country.
I have no sympathy (well very little) for people who stay in a country for more than a year without learning how to participate in a basic everyday conversation. I think it's really silly when I walk into public service buildings in the EU and find detailed information in misc. Indian languages, Arabic, Farsi and what not. The other day my local council sent me EU parliament voting info in misc. non European languages. Presumably it's aimed at EU citizens entitled to vote but not able to speak an EU language. I'd like to see the money spent at these excessive translations on improving quality of language teaching in schools or adult language education for immigrants if they need it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6438 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 40 of 43 12 May 2009 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Haha Cordelia.. Then I'm guessing you'll have no/very little sympathy for me... XD
1 person has voted this message useful |
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