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Which country is the worst at languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5831 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 33 of 72 12 April 2012 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | ||
Because it is a topic about the realities and politics of language learning around the world. As much as it may suprise you, the attitudes towards language learning vary greatly around the world. It's nothing to do with race, or ethnicity, but everything to do with culture and exposure to other languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tmp011007 Diglot Senior Member Congo Joined 6069 days ago 199 posts - 346 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese | Message 34 of 72 12 April 2012 at 9:29pm | IP Logged | ||
nope 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Khendon Newbie United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4609 days ago 13 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 35 of 72 13 April 2012 at 12:51am | IP Logged | ||
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The kind of attitude a few people have hinted at for the US is very similar to the prevailing attitude about Brits.
We are seen as ignorant and aloof alot of the time, with very few of us speaking a second language or even having a desire to. In my experience this is not the case. It is just that there is not much need for it. We live on an island, a large portion of the world speaks English either as a first or second language. We are forced to study a second language (normally German, French or Spanish) in high school and many people have bad experiences with that. As a result they believe they are bad at languages or that to study them again would be like going back to school. They believe lead busy lives and simply don't have time for such a time consuming hobby with no practical uses. However, I've never met anyone in the UK that wasn't impressed and slightly envious of someone that does speak a second language or conversely, isn't immensely impressed when they meet a foreign person who speaks excellent English. I myself am always envious of people fluent in a second language, which is why I have decided to do something about it. So far every single British friend or colleague who has glimpsed my Assimil book in my laptop bag, or walked in on me talking to myself in Japanese, has been impressed that I would even try to learn it, regardless of my current level. Regards Khen Edited by Khendon on 13 April 2012 at 12:54am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 36 of 72 13 April 2012 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | ||
Some people even go on to say things like the Dutch and Swedish speak better English than us. They don't of course. A native's knowledge will nearly always outstrip an outsider's. Assuming we compare people who are broadly similar. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4707 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 37 of 72 13 April 2012 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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I usually agree but given the size of some of the English proletariat they may know more in-jokes and colloquial language, but plenty Dutch/Swedes will know the complexities of the grammar of the language and such. These are one-off cases though Edited by tarvos on 13 April 2012 at 3:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| clang Groupie United States Joined 5339 days ago 54 posts - 82 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Italian | Message 38 of 72 13 April 2012 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | ||
Yikes. By definition a neurotypical adult native speaker speaks his or her native language better than a non native speaker. You may not like the way the lowly "proletariat" speaks, but its members speak their own native language just fine. 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5565 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 39 of 72 13 April 2012 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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As a matter of interest, do people generally know the grammar of their own language at
a technical level better than the languages that they have learnt at school or later? For example, I can explain French grammar much better than I can explain English grammar because I have studied French formally as an adult. On the other hand, I haven't really looked at English grammar since I was at school and often have to look up grammatical terms used by non-native speakers here. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 40 of 72 13 April 2012 at 6:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Few people will analyse their native language to any great grammatical extent, they just speak it. Learning a foreign language is an unnatural process which requires short cuts to be taken and the language is seen as a set of rules, not something that simply flows. Can Scandanavian people explain the technicalities of their language to outsiders? I doubt it.
Engaging with natives is the best way to learn, once you have reached a certain level. But taking advice from fellow countrymen who have also grappled with your target language is often more important in the early stages. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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