But the English are mostly very arrogant about not wanting to learn another language, insisting that English is spoken in so many countries that there's no point in us speaking anything else.
Well, apart from the established fact that learning a second language stimulates the brain in various ways, it just seems like a friendly gesture to, say, someone French or German or Spanish that you can talk to them in their own language rather than expecting them to speak your own.
If you got seriously fluent you could work as a translator or interpreter, skills that are always in demand. Plus you could read books in their original language.
I had French lessons at school, but as I never spoke French to anyone I never acquired more than the basics and failed a French exam. If I had had to speak French all the time, I would surely have been fluent by the time I left school.
I know quite a lot of Italian but I'm nowhere near being fluent. Molto embarazzante!
It's pitiful that so many Europeans in particular can speak several languages and think nothing of it. They're often quite bemused that we only speak English and have no wish to speak another language thank you very much.
French or German would certainly be more useful to me than the Latin I did at school - most of which I've totally forgotten anyway. Cela n'a aucun sens!*
*It makes no sense
I would love to be fluent in another language - French, Italian, German, or anything really - I think it's a great skill to have. I wasn't very good at languages at school - an epic fail from me as well - I wish I'd tried a bit harder. These days I try to pick things up from Google translate!
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: Ah yes, Google translate, a very useful invention!
DeleteI wish schools here would begin foreign language in kindergarten. It would be so much easier to pick up. I spent 7 years studying French. Of course, without having anyone to converse with, I’ve lost the major my knowledge, but I can still read enough to get by.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Good that you still have enough French for reading.
DeleteWe were taught French at school...only on living in France did I realise just how far divorced those lessons were from reality. Apart from French the top set did Latin, the next down did German and the rest did Spanish....which would have come in jolly useful now!
ReplyDeleteHelen: I'm sure the colloquial street French that's spoken in France is very different from the standard French that's taught in British schools.
DeleteAnd just try patois!
DeleteHelen: There are still quite a few regional dialects in the Irish Republic. If you're familiar with Donegal Irish, you might be baffled by Galway Irish!
DeleteI had 5 languages when I left school, I am astonished today at this. English, Irish, Latin, French and Italian. Latin I have found extraordinarily useful being the basis of so many languages, i.e. Spanish and Portuguese. Irish I maintain sporadically with those who speak it (a few here). It's the most challenging of all the languages but quite beautiful in all the tenses and melodic words. French I stumble along in with Grandgirl who is fluent.
ReplyDeleteMost are rusty. My Italian neighbour in Toronto was a great one to chat with.
I agree with you, essential to know a few for everyone.
XO
WWW
www: Wow, so you're a bit of a polyglot! You obviously had a very good school, language-wise. And grandgirl speaks fluent French, that's good. Jenny is trying to learn Irish but it's a slow process.
ReplyDeleteNick, learning a language is a wonderful discovery and can be quite emotional. Saïd was a good teacher for ougrandchild who started with German, Arab and Hebrew , then French and now speaks also Italian. Spanish and Japanese and is beginning to study Suaheli . We do not know how he is able to learn so easily but it's the way it is. We have nice Vietnamese friends who teached us some funny words which I use when I buy flowers in my vietnamese flower shop or in our favorite restaurant. Very hilarious moments because my pronounciation is not really what it should be. Today in schools here you have the choice of a quite big number of languages you can learn. A good way to interest children for other countries and their languages.
ReplyDeleteHannah
Hannah: I can't believe how many languages your grandchild can speak. That's amazing. Excellent that your schools offer so many languages. So what are those funny Vietnamese words?
DeleteNick, the same word can have different significations, it depends on the way how you pronounce it. For me it is just impossible to find the right pronounciation and may ask for a "ghost" in the restaurant. I try it only where people know me. I am ridiculous. Yes my grandchild is a language freak he can live 6 months somewhere and comes home with a new language. He speaks of course English too.
DeleteHannah
Hannah: I see what you mean. Asking for a ghost would be a bit strange! I guess if you live in another country for six months that would be quite long enough to learn the language.
DeleteMy nieces and nephews are in a Chinese immersion program at school. When they spent two years living in Singapore, they still enrolled in the Chinese immersion program--with little competition because all the locals were in the English immersion program.
ReplyDeleteOur daughter went to French immersion camp every summer from 5th grade through high school. In French classes at school she was complemented on her pronunciation; all the camp counselors were native French speakers.
I took Spanish from a teacher who didn't actually teach us to speak Spanish--just to conjugate verbs and recite dialogs. What a waste!
Linda
Linda: A shame you had such a useless Spanish teacher. We could do with a few language immersion camps here.
DeleteI dabbled in French, German, Latin and Indonesian at school but I'm firmly an English speaker.
ReplyDeleteI once tried to say thank you or good bye to one of the Cantonee speaking in-laws but called her a boob instead. Everyone found it hilarioous and I was mortified. I never tried Cantonese again
Kylie: Calling her a boob was a bit of a boob!
DeleteI think being fluent in more than one language is a very good thing. It doesn't work that way for American students, except very dedicated ones.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: Yes, I imagine Americans are even more resistant to learning other languages than the Brits.
DeleteNick we know some Brits who speak German with this wonderful charming accent which I love. They came over here after Brexit and seem to feel comfortable in this new situation.
DeleteHannah
Hannah: A lot of Brits have moved to other European countries to escape the very negative aftermath of Brexit.
DeleteMy friend's 5 year old daughter has started kindergarten in a Spanish language immersion program and will be enrolled in it until she reaches high school. I think math and science are taught exclusively in Spanish, and she's already picking it up much faster than an adult would. By the time she's in high school she should be fluent. I think it's a wonderful program!
ReplyDeleteJennifer: So by the time she leaves school, she'll be fluent in Spanish, that's great. Language immersion programmes should be absolutely universal.
DeleteRegretfully, English is my sole language despite having had a smattering of French in high school and a bit more of Spanish but cannot speak in either language and sometimes doubt myself in my native tongue. As you said, Nick, if a language is not practiced or spoken regularly, it isn't remembered.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Indeed, the only way to become fluent in any language is to have to speak it continuously. Learning a language in school from a book just isn't nearly enough to master it.
DeleteIn high school when I was in school it was mandatory to take a year of a foreign language. I took 2 years of Spanish and can speak a few words still. But since I didn't use what I was taught everyday, I've mostly forgotten most of it.
ReplyDeleteMary: This is it, if you aren't using the language every day you can forget it pretty quickly.
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