Places where regular ppl are bilingual? (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Places where regular ppl are bilingual?
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

17 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3 Next >>

Nick_dm
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Message 9 of 17

08 May 2009 at 4:10pm | IP Logged

Recht wrote:

I'm also pretty sure homeless people in Amsterdam don't speak perfect English.

I certainly met one person in Amsterdam last year who appeared to be homeless (I can't guarantee that he didn't have a home but he was begging) and his English was very good with only a slight accent.

As mentioned above, Malaysia has a lot of multiligual people. My Chinese-Malaysian friends all speak English alongside at least one Chinese dialect and many speak a number of other Chinese dialects and Malay. Their formal education seems to include a mix of English, Mandarin and Malay. Of course their abilities in some of these are rather variable as they have generally been living in the UK for a while, only English and the languages they use on the phone with their families get regular practice.
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andee
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Message 10 of 17

08 May 2009 at 5:27pm | IP Logged

Re: Malaysia, there are also the Indian population that often speak Tamil (or something?), Malay, and often English

Philippines: Tagalog, English, home language

Peru: Spanish and Quechua

Papua New Guinea: Tok Pisin plus home language

And I don't think anyone mentioned Montreal..

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MegatronFilm
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Message 11 of 17

08 May 2009 at 5:37pm | IP Logged

Vermont- French and English
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Nick_dm
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Message 12 of 17

08 May 2009 at 6:21pm | IP Logged

MegatronFilm wrote:

Vermont- French and English

Really? The 2000 US Census states that 94% of the population speak English at home and the remaining 6% includes languages other than French (not listed separately, unlike Spanish). I see that about 25% of the population are of French/French-Canadian decent, but that doesn't imply they are biligual. I guess they may use French with other relatives even they don't speak it at home.

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=0 4000US50&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_DP2&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U &-redoLog=false

Are there particular areas with a large proportion of French speakers?

Edited by Nick_dm on 08 May 2009 at 6:22pm
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Tyr
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Message 13 of 17

08 May 2009 at 6:57pm | IP Logged

Recht wrote:

Tyr wrote:

In Amsterdam even the homeless speak perfect English.
With Brussels....its not so bilingual. I know a few people from Brussels and they
speak quite awful Dutch. Their English is better.

Quote:

Western Ireland, Irish/English

Only in the dream's of 'Irish'-Americans. Only in very small areas is this the case. A
tiny percentage f the population.
Better is western Wales but even there its not 100%

I'm not an Irish American. Good try though.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Cainteoir í_Gaeilge_-
_Irish_Speakers.svg

Pardon?

Quote:

I'm also pretty sure homeless people in Amsterdam don't speak perfect English.

I can't speak for all them but I used to live there and most of them did.
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Recht
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Message 14 of 17

08 May 2009 at 7:52pm | IP Logged

Tyr wrote:

Recht wrote:

Tyr wrote:

In Amsterdam even the homeless speak
perfect English.
With Brussels....its not so bilingual. I know a few people from Brussels and they
speak quite awful Dutch. Their English is better.

Quote:

Western Ireland, Irish/English

Only in the dream's of 'Irish'-Americans. Only in very small areas is this the case. A
tiny percentage f the population.
Better is western Wales but even there its not 100%

I'm not an Irish American. Good try though.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Cainteoir í_Gaeilge_-
_Irish_Speakers.svg

Pardon?

Quote:

I'm also pretty sure homeless people in Amsterdam don't speak
perfect English.

I can't speak for all them but I used to live there and most of them did.

Those are some impressive homeless people for sure then!
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SamD
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Message 15 of 17

08 May 2009 at 7:54pm | IP Logged

MegatronFilm wrote:

Vermont- French and English

I was a student in Vermont and didn't notice all that much bilingualism. However, I was in the middle of the state and I imagine it might be different closer to the border with Quebec.

By the same token, I'd say that people who live close to the US-Mexican border are at least as likely to be bilingual with English and Spanish.

I would also imagine that there are a number of areas in sub-Saharan Africa where people are likely to be bilingual or even trilingual.
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Marc Frisch
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Message 16 of 17

08 May 2009 at 8:38pm | IP Logged

Almost everybody who grows up in Luxemburg is trilingual in Luxemburgish, French, and German. However, Luxemburgish and German are very close...

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