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British monoglots! | ||
Tags: Monolingual | United Kingdom (UK) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| JimC Senior Member United Kingdom tinyurl.com/aberdeen Joined 5551 days ago 199 posts - 317 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 43 30 May 2011 at 12:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Why are the British so poor at learning languages? This programme was on BBC Radio 4. The link to the programme is in the bottom left corner of this page
BBC Languages Jim 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6586 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 2 of 43 30 May 2011 at 12:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Any comparison in multilingualism between an English-speaking and a non-English-speaking country will be very unfair. If we compare people who are proficient in a second language that is not English, I'm sure Britain is doing pretty well. Comparing, say, the amount of people studying French in Britain to the number of people studying English in France is just silly.
(Sorry, I didn't listen to the radio program; I'm at work.) 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6869 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 3 of 43 30 May 2011 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | ||
Most Brits I know say things like "Whats the point, everyone speaks English now anyway". Hence many Brits don't bother This is even the case with the British expat community. Here in Belgium, I have met British people who have been here 20 years, who cannot speak French or Dutch. They seem to think that French is basically English with "s'il vous plait" at the end. Honestly, I've seen Brits say things like "I'd like a large coffee s'il vous plait". We need to be better at languages! 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6586 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 4 of 43 30 May 2011 at 3:20pm | IP Logged | ||
In their defense, it's completely true. I'm a polyglot because I'm interested in languages. Were I not, I wouldn't bother with any language except English. Just like I don't expect someone uninterested in astronomy to invest hundreds of hours studying it, I wouldn't expect someone uninterested in languages to invest the hundreds of hours it takes to learn one. Being well educated means you know what a black hole is and you know that French has two genders, but it doesn't involve being able to explain Maxwell's equations or actually speaking French. With expats it's different, of course. Living in a place and not bothering to learn the language seems a tad disrespectful to me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5235 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 5 of 43 30 May 2011 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | ||
Haha! That just made my day. I don't see why Brits are given a hard time. Americans are quite the monolingual folk as well. In my home state, California, you might run into the occasional Spanish speaker, but most of my friends and family can barely speak English, let alone another language. Ari is right on when he said that there's no real reason, no motivation, if you're not interested in languages. However, I would think that languages are one of those things that everyone should be invested in, at least a little. Its just as important to have a working knowledge of at least one other language as it is mathematics. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6054 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 6 of 43 30 May 2011 at 4:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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Obviously the vast majority of people only learn languages if they have to - we are language enthusiasts here. This makes sense. Learning languages takes hundreds of hours of work and dedication. It is a rote skill that must be mastered through training, not a field of knowledge. It is not exactly like being "proficient" in mathematics, more like being able to calculate instantly through tons of training.
But the real question is which way does the causal chain go? Are monolinguals that way because they have the lingua franca? Or do they have the lingua franca because they refuse to learn others' languages? What about examining local lingua francas to see if those who speak it bother to learn "dialects"? I think the answer is that the fact that people don't like learning languages is the raison d'etre of lingua francas. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5986 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 7 of 43 30 May 2011 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think the British media seems to have a particular hang up on the fact that languages are not compulsory at GCSE and beyond any more, as if the number of young adults with a GCSE in French is the ultimate barometer of a nation's linguistic ability. I find this quite strange.
Out of my monolingual friends, the majority seem to have been put off by bad experiences in the classroom. They tell me that they are no good at learning languages, to which my response is always "but have you ever really tried?" I have more time for the people who tell me they are just not interested! But once you start to talk to people, there are plenty of Brits who have a basic knowledge in one language or another, they're just not in the business of showing off about it. I did a night class a few years ago in intermediate French (pitched around B1/B2 level) and I was surprised and humbled to find myself one of the weaker students in a class of 20. I agree that it is shockingly disrespectful to live in a country and not make attempts to learn the native language there. However, this is not limited to Brits abroad and there are other language bubbles even here in the UK. I guess it falls back on the fact that utility is the strongest motivator. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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