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English among the youth in Eastern Europe | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5351 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 9 of 10 31 July 2010 at 9:50pm | IP Logged |
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Some of the responses above contradict what I had heard about the English situation in Eastern Europe. English is definitely not as prominant as in the Western Europe, however, there are still plenty of younger people who speak fluent English. When I was in Germany, I met a Bulgarian girl who had just moved to Germany from Bulgaria, and she spoke really good English, and terrible German. Another Bulgarian girl who is teaching me a bit of Bulgarian also speaks really good English, but she says that her written papers for the university leave a bit to be desired. Finally, I have a Czech friend who speaks and writes both perfect English and perfect German. That said, maybe I am just lucky (or unlucky) in meeting the 5% of fluent English speakers ;)
As with many places, I suspect that a large part would have to do with where one was raised, as well as a familie's financial situation. Being in the country is usually associated with being a bit more poor as well as less educated, and thus in the remoate areas, there are probably more people who are less fluent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5727 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 10 of 10 05 August 2010 at 6:58pm | IP Logged |
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I don't know about Bulgaria but I can write sth about Poland as it is the country I
have lived in all my life (more less ;)). It is true that languages are taught in schools. One starts his language education in elementary school at the age of 10 I think and continues with it until University.In elementary school you have one compulsory language course, in high school you choose a second language. I'm not sure what it is like in the university because I studied a subject that required me to learn two languages from scratch. So I'm not sure what it's like when your major is economics or law for example. The most popular language is of course English. It's no surprise I think. German and French are also widely taught. Russian has been passe for a number of years but more and more Poles understand the necessity to be able to communicate with a powerful neighbour. Taking all of that into account one would assume that at least young Poles know minimum one language fluently. But unfortunately that is not the case. Even among people under 30 it is very rare to meet someone who knows English fluently. Even harder among older ones. Most understand a lot of English and can communicate to some extent but it is far from perfect. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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