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Spanish in Barcelona | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| aldo Triglot Groupie Thailand Joined 6597 days ago 50 posts - 52 votes  Speaks: English*, French, SpanishB1 Studies: Italian, German, Dutch, Mandarin, Thai, Khmer, Malay | Message 25 of 57 09 November 2006 at 10:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I am agressively stating facts that some do not want to accept.
The desires and delusions don't change the realities. It comes down to if you want to deal with fantasy land or reality. I have no time for fantasy land nor those that confuse it for reality. The facts, again, are like gravity---what you desire doesn't change them nor change gravity. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| braveb Senior Member United States languageprograms.blo Joined 7198 days ago 264 posts - 263 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 26 of 57 09 November 2006 at 11:52pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I don't think people on this forum have delusions about learning languages to magically become successful in a career. Your writing style is...different.
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| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6769 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 27 of 57 10 November 2006 at 4:01am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I'm wondering this too.
Not to mention that many of those "realities" are sweeping generalizations or exaggerations. It is possible both for English to be a popular L2, and for English speakers to enjoy and benefit from learning languages. These facts are not in conflict.
Ditto. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6891 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 28 of 57 10 November 2006 at 5:14am | IP Logged | ||||||||
You still seem to be answering my question as to why you learnt so many languages if this is the way you feel? According to your language profile, you learnt Cherokee, Gaelic and Khmer, among others. Why did you go out of your way to learn these less-commonly studied languages if it's all so pointless? It doesn't make sense to me... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| aldo Triglot Groupie Thailand Joined 6597 days ago 50 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English*, French, SpanishB1 Studies: Italian, German, Dutch, Mandarin, Thai, Khmer, Malay | Message 29 of 57 10 November 2006 at 8:44am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I should be getting paid to conduct class.
I stated realities. How many times do I have to say that and how loudly so that it will sink in? Why did no one contend with my statement of English L2 and why is this board in English? I wonder how many of you have lingusitic degrees? If you did then you would have to agree with what I posted (as it is the truth of the situation). Again all I hear are wishes and desires--"you can still learn other languages" What does that have to do with the reality that English is the Intl Business language? What does that have to do with the fact that English is the World Wide L2? I think specious reasoning can be cured--what about you? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| aldo Triglot Groupie Thailand Joined 6597 days ago 50 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English*, French, SpanishB1 Studies: Italian, German, Dutch, Mandarin, Thai, Khmer, Malay | Message 30 of 57 10 November 2006 at 8:56am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Here Class take your seats.
Because the validity of my statements has been under attack by some emotional few, I have included this from another web page that has to do with World Languages. Here is a list of the top 10 languages in February 1999 according to Ethnologue: 1. Mandarin 885 million speakers 2. Spanish 332 million speakers 3. English 322 million speakers 4. Bengali 189 million speakers 5. Hindi 182 million speakers 6. Portuguese 170 million speakers 6. Russian 170 million speakers 8. Japanese 125 million speakers 9. German 98 million speakers 10. Wu 77 million speakers The figures refer to the number of people who have the language as their first language. If those speakers who have learnt the language as a foreign language were to be included, English might be at the top of the list. RE REAd THE LAST SENTENCE. That was from 1999, it has even become a bigger L2 Edited by aldo on 10 November 2006 at 8:57am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6891 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 31 of 57 10 November 2006 at 9:15am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Aldo, no one was debating the fact that English is the current international language of business. I think we can all agree that that is by far the most common lingua franca for business so there really is no need to take that tone with the rest of us.
Your questions : - Why did no one contend with my statement of English L2 and why is this board in English? The board is in English because the administrator made it an English-speaking board. There are similar forums in French and other languages and I'm sure at least one person here also visits forums in other languages. If the administrator had made French the lingua franca, the posts would be in French. Simple logic. - I wonder how many of you have lingusitic degrees? A fair few do and one older member (Ardashir) is something of an expert in linguistics and language learning. Fanatic and various others also know exactly what they're talking about, linguistic degree or not. - If you did then you would have to agree with what I posted (as it is the truth of the situation). Yes, we agree that English is a very common L2 around the world. French is also a common one as is Spanish and German, although this is more indicative of Europe and North America than anywhere else. However, we do NOT have to defend our choice to broaden our horizons or learn a language because we want to. I happen to be learning Dutch because it's the official language of the country I moved to and English is NOT the official language of every workplace or city here. I doubt people would care whether or not English was a popular L2 around the world if they feel I'm not doing my duty to talk to them in their own language. As far as many Dutch people are concerned, they have the right to be addressed in their own language, especially if a foreigner decides to move here on a long-term basis. Yes, many of them do also speak good English but at the end of the day, English is not their mother tongue. While I know I'm also helping to take this topic off-topic, I'm wondering what English as an international language has to do with the original topic. Wasn't this originally supposed to be about 'Spanish in Barcelona'? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Linguamor Decaglot Senior Member United States Joined 6619 days ago 469 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Dutch | Message 32 of 57 10 November 2006 at 12:41pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes, and it was quite interesting until it got sidetracked into a tedious discussion of doubtful relevance. For what it's worth, I studied both general and applied linguistics at university. Edited by Linguamor on 10 November 2006 at 2:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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