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How do the Swedish learn English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 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 17 of 61 13 March 2013 at 10:08am | IP Logged | |||||
I think all of them would admit it's useful. Some of them would not prioritise it, but since we subtitle and don't dub even those whose active knowledge isn't fantastic will be able to get by passively somehow. Not knowing English at ALL is quite out of the ordinary. That's something reserved for people with learning impairments, children, and the aged. It does occur every now and then though, but whenever I run into somebody like that it is kinda perplexing. And even people here that do manual labour at the IKEA seem to be able to speak decent English (unless they're foreigners). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Steffen Newbie Germany Joined 4972 days ago 27 posts - 63 votes Studies: German* | Message 18 of 61 13 March 2013 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
Right. And no other language either (perhaps a little French because, you know, Paris is so romantic). At least not if one likes to play the cliched part of the American ignoramus. Edited by Steffen on 13 March 2013 at 2:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5101 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 19 of 61 13 March 2013 at 2:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
That is ironic. I'm not sure if this post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, (like mine was) or something, but hey, if you can't get by in Sweden with just Swedish according to a Swede, it might not be worth my time and effort. For me, it takes a lot of both to learn a foreign language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 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 20 of 61 13 March 2013 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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You can. Using occasional interjections in Swedish borrowed from English does not mean
they are used as in English, it's a culture in its own right. Dutch people do the same thing. It is often used, especially in more educated circles, to indicate that there is a good Swedish (or Dutch) word for a concept, but they can't think of it, and since highly educated people are basically a guarantee for a high English level the standard procedure is to substitute the English term instead, which is presumed known. Edited by tarvos on 13 March 2013 at 2:32pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4359 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 21 of 61 13 March 2013 at 2:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
You mean it's considered ok to know the English word but forget the Duch one? I know the Dutch speak good English, but using those words instead of their own is a sign of higher education? It's the exact opposite in Greek (for Greeks, not foreigners of course!). I didn't know that. This is an interesting thread. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 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 22 of 61 13 March 2013 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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It is, because university courses at that level are often taught in English (or in
Dutch but with English textbooks). Thus most Dutch people will substitute an English word if the Dutch one is not a direct Latinate variant of the word or if the word is not in common parlance "wiskunde" for "mathematics", "loodrecht" for "perpendicular", etc. So if I forget a mathematical or scientific term, say a chemical term, then I am apt to use an English one because it can be presumed to know that anyone good enough to study chemistry at university is also good enough to remember any possible English equivalent. Because if you went to university then you HAVE to speak English no questions asked. I have even known people to Dutchify the popular English word for something which has a good Dutch cognate. For example, the concept of a calculator is translated as "rekenmachine" (lit. arithmeticmachine"). However, many Dutch people are of course familiar with English calculator and might say "calculator" instead - but with Dutch pronunciation. So kal-kü (German ü sound)-la:-tor. This is probably not correct Dutch but it does occur. If you want to be really slangy, though, go for "zakjapanner" - it means "pocketjapanese" literally, referring to how Japanese people make calculators. Edited by tarvos on 13 March 2013 at 3:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jhaberstro Senior Member United States Joined 4394 days ago 112 posts - 154 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Portuguese | Message 23 of 61 13 March 2013 at 4:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I believe a similar situation occurs arises in India. I believe a lot of the instruction in Indian school systems is in English, but outside of the school they'll speak Hindi or the local dialect. So, they end up knowing only how to speak colloquially in Hindi/their local dialect and only formal/technical in English. For example, I had a friend once who didn't know how to say cinnamon in English (but could in Hindi), and conversely couldn't speak well about computer science topics (our area of study) in Hindi (but could in English).
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4623 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 24 of 61 13 March 2013 at 4:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Countries like Sweden and The Netherlands have been at the forefront of mathematics and science for centuries, long before knowledge of English became widespread in these lands. Therefore a rich mathematical and scientific vocabulary must exist in these languages. If words have been borrowed over the years, they are far more likely to have come from German or French, not English.
I don't think it's a sign of being greatly educated if you don't know advanced terms in your native tongue. I think the use of English terms is just a misguided attempt to appear spohisticated. Edited by beano on 13 March 2013 at 4:48pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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