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Are English speakers lazy with languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| vilas Pentaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6961 days ago 531 posts - 722 votes  Speaks: Spanish, Italian*, English, French, Portuguese | Message 25 of 37 09 April 2013 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Almost all the French-speaking canadians speak English but only a minority of the English-speaking Canadians speak French.
In Switzerland almost everybody speak at least a second national language and many swiss speak all the 3 languages (German , French, Italian) I think that is question of culture and civilization. The geographical (and historical) ignorance evinced in these American tourist questions is legendary, and the National Geographic Society confirmed it in 2002 with a study showing that, among Americans aged 18 to 24, almost 30 percent could not identify the Pacific Ocean on a map. More than half could not locate India, and 85 percent could not find Iraq. The young people of America, the richest and most powerful country in the world, ranked next to last in the nine countries surveyed. No surprise if they don't want to learn foreign languages. Look this link http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/events/department-news/883/american s-geographical-ignorance-and-disinclination-to-travel-abroad / 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4534 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 26 of 37 09 April 2013 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | ||
I never really believed these statistics, until I was living Boston and an American friend of mine, who seemed pretty well educated, let out in conversation that he didn't think Germany was in Europe. It was just so weird that I didn't know what to say. On another note: I have been playing around with an Anki deck that lists all the states, state capitals, locations of states, and their respective Coats of Arms. After an hour total of studying I am finding that I am better at Germany geography than some of the German I know, which suggests that many people are bad at geography. Edited by patrickwilken on 09 April 2013 at 5:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6551 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 27 of 37 09 April 2013 at 6:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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To the two previous posters: If you are stupid enough to believe the things you are spouting, how about taking yourselves to a nice political forum? I'm sure you will be well received there.
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| lingoleng Senior Member Germany Joined 5299 days ago 605 posts - 1290 votes | Message 28 of 37 09 April 2013 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | ||
I don't know how stupid I am, but my favourite Olympic moment, ever, was the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Atlanta, 1996. When the team of "Georgia" marched into the stadium, the explosion of patriotic enthusiasm was ear-deafening ... 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Presidio Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4582 days ago 39 posts - 150 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, German Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Gulf) | Message 29 of 37 09 April 2013 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh my God, are we going REALLY going over this topic yet AGAIN?
I am looking at this as a native English speaking American who has spent years in Europe. And I can say that if English speakers are "lazy" it is because the rest of the world - especially Europe - has made it easy for them to be. Whether people like it or not, English speakers can travel to just about any famous site in the world (the Pyramids of Egypt or Mexico, the Louvre, the Great Wall, the Canals of Venice, etc. etc. etc.) and will be greeted by people speaking English. Again, since they are visiting – not staying more than a day or so and likely NEVER to return - THERE IS LITTLE INCENTIVE TO BECOME FLUENT IN ANY OF THE SPECIFIC LANGUAGES OF THOSE COUNTRIES. When an American couple wait their whole lives for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe, it is often a tour package involving multiple countries in just a few days, and rarely to just one nation with one language. Since English is one of the official languages of the EU, most tourist locations and hotels speak English, and these tourists will spend no more than 5-10 days on the Continent, IT IS HARDLY AN INCENTIVE TO SPEND YEARS BECOMING FLUENT IN ANY SPECIFIC LANGUAGE. While Europe has several incredible places (including some of the most beautiful cities in the world), they are spread across multiple nations, many of them with a language different from the nation(s) next to them. In the United States - regardless of where you live in the US - if you wish to visit the Grand Canyon, the Golden Gate Bridge, the White House, the Rocky Mountains, the Hawaiian Islands, the glaciers of Alaska, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Miami Beach, Las Vegas, the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations, etc. you can cross multiple time zones to visit these sites and never have to worry about dealing with a different language. While a large part of Americans will never leave the US (and many of those that do will do it only for a short period) they will find the time to visit these sites on their vacations. HARDLY AN INCENTIVE TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. If you were to drive from Lisbon, Portual to Moscow, you would encounter seven or eight different countries, each with their own different and distinct language. In the U.S you can drive that far and at most you will likely meet another English speaker with a slightly different accent. -- What exactly do non-English speaking people want? An apology because the youth of Europe tend to prefer the language, the music and the movies of English speaking countries? Sorry, but I don't have the qualifications and I don't see the necessity. . Edited by Presidio on 09 April 2013 at 7:16pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6551 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 30 of 37 09 April 2013 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
Shall we talk about Hitler now? My favorite Olympic moment is when he left the stadium crying after Jesse Owens kicked the master race's champions' asses. Edited by leosmith on 09 April 2013 at 7:23pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4534 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 31 of 37 09 April 2013 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | ||
Yeah. I do believe what I said as I was there it happened. The guy's name is Jesse and he runs a shop in Jamaica Plain in Boston. Really nice guy, but clearly didn't understand European geography. This happened in 2009. 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 32 of 37 09 April 2013 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | ||
The seniors? No, their English is very poor usually. Normal immigrants to Spain? Depends, but from what I know my family that moved learned Spanish (and the children speak Catalan in addition). Edited by tarvos on 09 April 2013 at 7:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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