Can the English rely on foreigners speaking English?
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Can the English rely on foreigners speaking English?
It seems that most young people have reached that conclusion if A-level entries are a guide; only 3% of all A-level will be in modern languages this year.
This is not unconnected to a massive under-recruitment of language teachers for schools (reflecting earlier low levels of language learning).
This looks like a long term systemic failing in education & makes the prospect of a 'Global Britain' even dimmer....
#Languages #politics
h/t FT -
Can the English rely on foreigners speaking English?
It seems that most young people have reached that conclusion if A-level entries are a guide; only 3% of all A-level will be in modern languages this year.
This is not unconnected to a massive under-recruitment of language teachers for schools (reflecting earlier low levels of language learning).
This looks like a long term systemic failing in education & makes the prospect of a 'Global Britain' even dimmer....
#Languages #politics
h/t FTTo give a little context to the widespread among the English that there is no need to learn a foreign language because everyone (really) speaks English (usually as a second language), here's some data on the world's most spoken languages.... which perhaps is what lies behind the arrogance of the mono-lingual English speakers?
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To give a little context to the widespread among the English that there is no need to learn a foreign language because everyone (really) speaks English (usually as a second language), here's some data on the world's most spoken languages.... which perhaps is what lies behind the arrogance of the mono-lingual English speakers?
@ChrisMayLA6 The other side of the problem is, which language shoud you learn?
I'm currently learning German, but after > 2 years I still can't understand anything but the simplest German texts. Should I go anywhere other than Germany, Austria or Switzerland, even that will be worthless. Meanwhile the choice of 2nd language for any non-anglophone is obvious: English.
(And I suspect most Germans will still start speaking English to me anyway, because it's less painful)
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@ChrisMayLA6 The other side of the problem is, which language shoud you learn?
I'm currently learning German, but after > 2 years I still can't understand anything but the simplest German texts. Should I go anywhere other than Germany, Austria or Switzerland, even that will be worthless. Meanwhile the choice of 2nd language for any non-anglophone is obvious: English.
(And I suspect most Germans will still start speaking English to me anyway, because it's less painful)
Unfortunately, many teachers of German as a foreign language are pretty bad.
They tend to focus on perfection (which is hard to achieve in any language), rather than on essential understanding and expressing oneself.
The good thing about German is: With a relative small set of basic words (which are often similar to basic English), you can get pretty far.
Don't give up! Don't try to dive deep into cases and hardly used tenses. Vocabulary is the key.
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Unfortunately, many teachers of German as a foreign language are pretty bad.
They tend to focus on perfection (which is hard to achieve in any language), rather than on essential understanding and expressing oneself.
The good thing about German is: With a relative small set of basic words (which are often similar to basic English), you can get pretty far.
Don't give up! Don't try to dive deep into cases and hardly used tenses. Vocabulary is the key.
Yes, I'm often surprised how the remnants of schoolboy German help me get the gist of what is written - cannot follow spoken German though
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Yes, I'm often surprised how the remnants of schoolboy German help me get the gist of what is written - cannot follow spoken German though
It's practice, in the end.
I guess, you haven't ever been living in a German speaking country.
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@ChrisMayLA6 The other side of the problem is, which language shoud you learn?
I'm currently learning German, but after > 2 years I still can't understand anything but the simplest German texts. Should I go anywhere other than Germany, Austria or Switzerland, even that will be worthless. Meanwhile the choice of 2nd language for any non-anglophone is obvious: English.
(And I suspect most Germans will still start speaking English to me anyway, because it's less painful)
honestly, germans are speaking very fast in the north-west, pretty standard hochdeutsch in the north/east, slowly in the south.
About the south, they speak significantly slower in the south, yes, when they speak german. Don't even try to speak or understand the bavarian dialect, it could damage your brain.
