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Urban legends about languages... | ||
Tags: Stereotypes | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4669 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 73 of 81 23 January 2013 at 10:37am | IP Logged | |||||
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In one respect, it's good that people who move to France are expected by society to learn French. It doesn't happen overnight of course and not many people arrive fluent. But after a few years it is a reasonable expectation that incomers should be able to use the language in their everyday affairs. People who don't make an effort with the language should have problems....and necessity is the mother of invention.
But I read about people who settle in other countries and never learn the language to any usable extent. I think that is wrong, and I also think it's wrong that society permits this to happen. For example, Dutch and Norwegian people should look down their noses at someone who has been in their country for 10 years and still expects everyone to speak English to them. There has to be a carrot-and-stick approach on both sides. Edited by beano on 23 January 2013 at 10:38am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6644 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 74 of 81 23 January 2013 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
That was a lyceum, not a regular school. And the goal was a bit too specific: to prepare us for linguistic university. Of course very few people get prepared like that at school, but many reach a similar level in English due to traveling at a young age or even watching American movies, playing computer games etc. (not such a big thing in my childhood) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5103 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 75 of 81 23 January 2013 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
I've never heard of anyone like that. I know that someone lived in an English-speaking country and there learned the language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4754 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 76 of 81 23 January 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Mark, that is how practically all of my friends and younger family learned English. Some
of them have travelled to England for a week or so a few times, and I know one who was born in the US and has lived there, but other than that, they have spent like no time in English country, and all of them were capable English speakers before they travelled there. Edited by tarvos on 23 January 2013 at 1:53pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5103 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 77 of 81 23 January 2013 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
I know people who know English well, but they had strong English at school or after school. But they didn't reach their level by watching films, travelling or playing computer games. I did not mean that living in a target language country is necessary for learning the language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4669 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 78 of 81 23 January 2013 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
Although it must help when nearly all of your movies are shown in English and English-speaking TV channels are readily available, not to mention the dominance of English in popular music. There is a constant backdrop in English which provides real-life reinforcement to the materials learned in school. Edited by beano on 23 January 2013 at 2:32pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5103 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 79 of 81 23 January 2013 at 2:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
I learned English at school, then the university added some knowledge and finally reading helped me to learn new vocabulary. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6172 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 80 of 81 23 January 2013 at 3:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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That anime fans watch thousands of hours of subtitled Japanese cartoons and pick up none of the Japanese
language. 7 persons have voted this message useful |
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