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Which country is the worst at languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| dandt Senior Member Australia regarderetlire.wordp Joined 4624 days ago 134 posts - 174 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French | Message 25 of 72 12 April 2012 at 4:20pm | IP Logged | ||
I totally agree with this. In my opinion, this is why there is no emphasis on languages in the schools here in Australia and to a lesser extent, places like the US, although I personally think there is more necessity in some parts . 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 26 of 72 12 April 2012 at 5:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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In general, the stronger the sense of national pride, the less likely a country's citizens are likely to learn other languages or to do it well. And this certainly applies to most Anglo-Saxon countries.
6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5831 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 27 of 72 12 April 2012 at 5:14pm | IP Logged | ||
That might apply to America, but I'm not sure I'd call the UK a really proud nation, or at least certainly no more proud than the Dutch, Swedish and French, all of whom are considered better at languages than the British. In fact, the French seem far more linguistically and culturally jingoistic than the British do. Edited by COF on 12 April 2012 at 5:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6943 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 28 of 72 12 April 2012 at 5:24pm | IP Logged | ||
From the introduction to an elementary reader "Spanish American Life", by John A. Crow, 1941: "American business men, and certainly diplomatic representatives of this country in Latin America, should have a fluent knoweldge of Spanish or Portuguese. Without this indispensable tool not a one of the other good works of inter-American co-operation can properly be performed. It has long been a sore spot with Latin Americans that representatives of the United States know only a smattering of the native language, whereas Europeans who work in that region (and this is especially true of the Germans) consider fluency in Spanish or Portuguese as an absolute prerequisite." Both the US and Germany had a strong sense of national pride at the time, so perhaps some other causes should be considered as to why the US approach was different. Edited by frenkeld on 12 April 2012 at 7:54pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| clang Groupie United States Joined 5339 days ago 54 posts - 82 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Italian | Message 29 of 72 12 April 2012 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't spent any time in South America. Do people there tend to study second and third languages to
proficiency? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4701 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes Speaks: German*, English, Japanese | Message 30 of 72 12 April 2012 at 7:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Reported this, too.
Why is stuff like this even tolerated here? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6943 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 31 of 72 12 April 2012 at 7:37pm | IP Logged | ||
I hope this is not in reference to my comment, because you would be reading into it something that's not there. So, the diplomatic services of Germany and the US back in the 1930's had different language requirements for their diplomats. Both had a sense of national pride. Therefore, national pride may not be relevant, providing a counterpoint to Arekkusu's argument. There was nothing else 'hidden' in my post, but I've changed the wording slightly to reduce any chance of misunderstanding. Edited by frenkeld on 12 April 2012 at 8:09pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 32 of 72 12 April 2012 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I will add some justification to my earlier post, but I won't name names at this point, for obvious reasons.
I used to teach English pronunciation in a university and I'd get small groups of say 6 students from a wide variety of countries. And group after group, it became obvious that students from some countries were not really interested in sounding any different. This was not a question of aptitude, but rather of attitude. It was obvious from this experience that culture and attitude towards the Others were determining factors that prevented some people from improving. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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