Should languages be required school courses?

[Eddy Bones]

What do you think about this topic? I don't think that a language should be required for anyone. I have noticed that everyone who is forced into "learning" a language gets nothing good out of it. They don't remember any of what they have learned later in life. If someone has the urge to learn a language, all the better for them. But if not, they should not be forced to waste their time. That time can be better spent learning something more interesting, and usefull, to them.

If we didn't have to take a language I probably still would. One of my strengths in school is languages. I love them; seeing all the differences between them, the sentence structures, the way they translate into other languages.

[Aquarius]

It's not much of a problem at my high school. 2 years of any foreign language is required, and most of the students are willing to do it. We have Spanish 1-5, plus AP. French 1-4, and German 1-4. And then there's also Sign Language through GenNet.

[TombRaiderChik]

well thats a tough question to answer.

i personally wanted to take French all 4 yrs of highschool, but my french teacher of 2 yrs left and now i hate my new teacher. i wish i never took it for a 3rd year. he just cannot teach!! all we do is excercises in the book, we don't actually learn. so im really getting absolutely nothing out of it.

okay but to get to the point, i think it should be an option, not either you will take it or you won't. and i also think other languages should be added other than either French, Spanish or Latin. what about German or Italian or Russian? i know a lot of people more interested in those 3 languages than French or Spanish!

[Lil Lara]

I don't think it should be required, but like in California the UC/CSUs require 3 years of a language, I think. So it does look nice if you are going on to college.

If it must be required, they should have a nice selection to choose from. ;)

At my school we have French, Spanish, German, American Sign Language (which is brand new this year) and Japanese (which is fairly new).

[HikingBoots]

NO!
Let me explain to you WHY I think this is so:

I recently moved to New York from Michigan, where I was planning on taking two years of spanish before I graduated (I am a junior this year). When I got to NY, I found out that, with the way the schedules and classes are set up, I am too late to actually take a language while I'm in high school. If languages were required, people like me wouldn't be allowed to graduate. It's not fair, especially if you have other classes that are taking up the time required for the courses. I was in band and I have PE credits to fill in Michigan - here, I'm in band, and I also have PE credits to fill, so that takes up the time and space I needed to take a language. PLUS, I had already missed the first two years of the course, since all kids in NY start a language while in middle school. In MI they start in high school.

So, I don't think language should be a required course, simply for those reasons. I'd love to have been able to take spanish, or russian, or french. Unfortuately, it didn't work out that way for me.

[Aquarius]

You couldn't start until high school in the Soo? Wow, we could start in 7th grade. That was foreign language exploratory, so it was many different languages that you learned the basics on. We started Spanish 1 in 8th grade. I think we could start French too in 8th grade, but unfortunately for us the French teacher became the Assistant Principle at the last moment so there was no one to take over her position.

And I'm surprised by the band and PE for you. Here in Flushing, marching band, if you do it all 4 years, counts towards your two gym credits needed to graduate.

But if you want something bad enough, you need to learn to make sacrifices. I had to sacrifice orchestra this year in order to take AP Lit. I finally would have been 1st Chair this year too, but somethings a change is necessary. In the end, I think that the choices you make should be based on what will benefit you the most in the future.

Orchestra or college credit in Lit?
Band or 2 years of Spanish?

Just some thoughts. :)

[Umah Bloodomen]

In my school district, they require at least two years of Fine Arts, in which foreign languages are a part of.
I took a semester of Spanish, not that it mattered because of a little *incident* involving myself and a fellow student. :rolleyes: **curses under her breath**

I actually don't think making a foreign language mandatory is all that bad of an idea, simply because we (the US) are a country priding itself on diversity. And what good is being diverse if you can't even communicate with each other? I have heard that it is a lot easier to teach a foreign language to younger individuals than it is to older individuals, and perhaps that's true. As many of you have already stated, there is an interest in indulging in other languages, so what is the problem weaving it into a typical curriculum?

I don't think it would be much different than the current requirements for math, science, government, or english if you ask me. (It's not like those are exactly crammed down anyone's throat).

Personally, I feel a bit inadequate (I suppose that's a good term) when I am faced with a situation where I can't effectively communicate with a foreign individual. I'm sure it's also a bit frustrating for foreign individuals with limited skills in English to communicate with us as well. It's an awkward situation all-around when faced with a language barrier. I have been fortunate enough to learn little bits here and there from some of my foreign friends, (which is fantastic, IMO), but frankly, IMO, it's not enough.

If I had to do it over again, I would've definately preferred having a foreign language course mandatorily implemented into my regular curriculum.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of today's employers are looking for bi/multi-lingual applicants to fill their positions. A lot of academic institutions are preparing their alumni to enter the workforce (to an extent), why not broaden their horizions even that much more by involving them in a language?

EDIT: Spelling adjustment.

[robofishzombie]

Originally posted by Umah Bloodomen
Another thing to consider is that a lot of today's employers are looking for bi/multi-lingual applicants to fill their positions.
I've heard that many, many, many times in my high school :rolleyes:

Although, I don't mind taking a foreign language at all.
The only thing I do mind is hearing that employer speech every other week ;)

[Umah Bloodomen]

Don't take this the wrong way, robofish, but, as speaking from a management perspective, there is a reason why people are emphasizing the *employer spiel* (and other repetative issues, which I'm sure you've heard as well) and frankly, those that choose to disregard it/them, are those that don't move too far ahead.

In a tough economy, it's extremely important to focus on being cross-trained and multi-tasked in order to advance and refrain from receiving ye olde pink slip.

I feel potential employees are going to want to fit as many requirements as they can in order to make their living, not go against what is desired. (Well, unless they're content with not doing anything constructive with themselves). **shrugs**

And trust me, I've seen a lot of both types of employees in my day.

[robofishzombie]

I understand that and I know it is important.

It's just that of the two possible types, one will understand this from the first time through and make this a long time goal.

While the other won't hear a word of it, ever, simply because of their belief that it's fine to work with fast food for the rest of their life.

[The Amazing Rando]

Well, with the way schools are now, I would have to say no. It's not that they're unimportant, but I just feel that the schools now aren't set up right to handle what the have to teach well enough to add required courses. Really, IMO, the US is basically turning into a bunch of wasted minds.

Just going by my school/schools in the area, many of the math classes aren't well taught, and limited budget=not good enough books for math and/or english departments. Say what you will about the old cliche', but math is used on a daily basis by many people in some form or another (tho they may not realize it). As for English, well, I think you can look at some people online and get the idea (tho yes, some of that may be due to intentionally typing in that manner). Let's just say that I think more people need to get a handle on English before worrying about another language.

Also, I think that classes working with computers should get more importance placed on them. With all the need placed on computers, it seems like we're running lower on qualifyied people to use those computers. Again, in my area, there were no courses offered in this area. i was highly dissapointed with this choice, as typing and learning the basics could really help some people. You know, maybe if more people were informed about comps, they would realize not to just open attachments willy-nilly (had to work that in :p).

I say place the stress on the basics of stuff we have fallen behind on again. Once that happens, we can branch out some more.

[Xcom]

If your native tongue is English, there is no point for you to learn other languages. ( maybe only programming languages).
Everybody speaks English, so you can communicate everywhere.
(although German and French people often pretend that they don't speak it).

[Umah Bloodomen]

Originally posted by robofishzombie
I understand that and I know it is important.

It's just that of the two possible types, one will understand this from the first time through and make this a long time goal.

While the other won't hear a word of it, ever, simply because of their belief that it's fine to work with fast food for the rest of their life.

I'm sure you will agree that it's a shame too. :(

Just to touch on an issue Rando raised, I do wholeheartedly agree that our public school systems need to do a lot of improving before implementing a foreign language into their curriculum on a mandatory basis. I know in Michigan, (Detroit) especially, our schools are in crisis. They have a hard enough time with the courses they already offer.

Xcom ~ I agree with your sentiments as well. However as a native English speaking individual, doesn't that come across as the *English way or no way*, meaning we're not supposed to make any concessions but require everyone else to. I don't think I like that. (I know that's not what you were implying, just what impression I get now that I'm pondering over the issue-at-hand).

EDIT: And you can never go wrong with learning programming languages. :D

EDIT 2: Additional clarification.

[DaveJ]

Yes.
Knowledge is power.
Especially since English (508 million) is only the 2nd most commonly used language on the planet - Mandarin (One billion +) is the first.
Be warned.

[THE True Lara]

Which is why speaking both is useful, xiexie ;)

From personal experience I'd say being forced to learn a languauge at school is a terrible idea. I always wanted to learn other languages when I was little, and so when I was at primary school I joined an after-school french club, which was pretty darn useless as pretty much all they taught you was how to say "can I have an orangina", (I learnt more from Mum). But armed with that knowledge I went and tried French, German, Italian and Spanish at secondary school. But was so dismayed at the teaching system I had to resort to taking only French because it was the only language I'd had a head start in. In short, I spent something like 5 years 'learning' French and had naff all to show for it. Their method of teaching languages in schools is dreadful, and pointless. If they can't teach it properly, or even inspire children to learn it, it shouldn't be taught.
Half the problem extends out to all subjects as the so-called education systems in schools today spend all the precious teching time they have trying to impose a system of working and leaning upon the student when the emphasis should be on developing a system that works individually for each student, because we all work differently, and until that's recognised grades will continue to drop.

However when I finished school, I decided I still was determined not to let their blunders affect my original desire to learn foreign languages, and I actively saught out and tried different systems of language learning until I found one which worked for me. As a testiment to that I now speak on a basic conversational level in 9 languages (not including written dead languages, or Klingon ;) ).

What I'm saying is that the importance of being able to communicate with other people -especially in their own language- cannot be underestimated. But school learning clearly does not work. If they were to drop the commpulsary language courses they should put special emphasis on outside learning and provide adaquite and easily accessable sources to persue that.

That's my tuppence said. :)

[DaveJ]

Originally posted by THE True Lara
I actively saught out and tried different systems of language learning until I found one which worked for me.

Any you can recommend?

[Driber]

Originally posted by Gandalf the Gray
I don't think that a language should be required for anyone

If that would be true, you wouldn't be able to make this thread right now :p
but seriously, I think in every country children should learn English aside from their own native language, as early as possible.

Originally posted by Gandalf the Gray
I have noticed that everyone who is forced into "learning" a language gets nothing good out of it.

At elementry I was "forced" to learn English as well. I didn't liked it so much from the beginning either, but during middle school I developed a taste to learn the language. By the time I got to highschool I loved going to English classes and right now my life would look a whole lot different if I wasn't "forced" from the beginning to learn another language.

[colonel lynx]

i learn 4 foreign languages at school and even when i hate it from time to time, i will never underestimate the importance of it, should it be forced? i think so, it's the only way we can give people a larger future possibility and, just as important, it gives an introduction to another culture, way of thinking, live
that can only be positive, not only does it give a critical mind against ur own government and culture, you also have the chance to get to know other ideals, better ways of living togheter, it could be a very small step to one community of people who have the best of all cultures, that sounds to idealistic, it also is, but it does broader the culture you live in and it helps u understand other people from other cultures and it cures u from being a pretensiuous nationalist who thinks that they are the greatest the best and only true culture, religion in the world, and only because u get to see that some things are being better aranged in other countries, u can learn, improve and u will get more general intelligence socially as purely on iq because of the learning and using of a system as complicated as grammar

[daniel]

Hi,

here in Germany every student is forced to learn a foreign language- at least English.

I attend the 11th class (after 13 classes, that means 13 years of school you´re finished and can go to university to study) of a so called "Gymnaisum". It is the highest form of school in Germany (besides university, but that´s not really a "school") and also the most difficult one.

I´m bad at maths and physics (in physics I´m REALLY bad) and very good in languages.

You have to attend 4 years of "elementary school" where you learn how to write, to read, and the basics of maths (multiplicating, dividing, plus and minus). Then it depends on the next school form that you choose how many languages you will have to learn, but no matter which school you attend- in your 5th school year you will get your 1st foreign language.

For me this language was English. I´m learning English for the 7th year now and consider studying it after school, or to study in America. It´s a big dream of mine to speak English almost as fluently as German one day, I love English. It´s really fun for me to talk to English speaking people or to write in international forums like this one to improve my English and to get used to communicate in a foreign language.
Being many Americans and British people here I can also learn how to express myself properly or how to sentence my opinion although I don´t know some words.

So for me, it´s really fun and I really like it.

But there are also two other languages that I have to learn at school.

One of them is Latin which is absolutely terrible :mad: . I learn it now for the 5th year and I hate it. It´s boring, damn difficult and DEAD. That´s the most unpleasent fact for me. If I learn a language I´m always looking forward to use it, whether I like this language in general or not. But where the hell can I speak Latin? In English I don´t have to think a lot about the sentences I´m writing which comes in most parts from the active usage of this language. I´m pretty sure that there are always some mistakes in my posts but I think as long as the people can understand me it isn´t that bad.

I´m also learning Italian for the 3rd year now and I have the subject "history" this year completely in Italian. You have to concentrate very much to understand what the teacher is saying and it´s very exhausting. I also have to write all tests and exames in history in Italian. But I think this is quite a good method to learn the language in a "natural" way, though it´s rather difficult.

But alltogether I have to much hours of languages at week for my taste. I have 36 hours of school a week, and 20 of them consist ONLY of languages- that´s more than a half.

I have

-4 hours of Latin

-4 hours of English

-4 hours of German

-6 (!) hours of Italian

-2 hours of history in Italian

So if anyone moves to Germany he or she will have to learn foreign languages in any case- and I think that´s a good thing.

One personal advice to all the non-German speaking people out there:

Don´t learn German if you don´t have to. It is such a difficult language...you won´t believe your eyes if you would read the grammar explanations. There are tons of irregular verbs, the "rules" how to build the different tenses and things like that are absolutely unlogical and you won´t be able to speak German in any way without spending some years in Germany.

I´m really glad that I´m German and German is my native language. If I had to learn German I think I would rather die than trying to learn this language ;).

[LARAMANIAC]

Yes, I think all children should be taught at least one alternative language to their native tongue, whatever that may be. Personally I think it is rather sanctimonious of English speakers to expect other nations of the world to speak English. Its time the English only speakers got off their lazy arses and learned another language imo. The world is a very diverse network, filled with wonderful languages and cultures, come on people - seek enlightenment, and more importantly......embrace it!! ;)

[colonel lynx]

Originally posted by Daniel
Don´t learn German if you don´t have to. It is such a difficult language...you won´t believe your eyes if you would read the grammar explanations. There are tons of irregular verbs, the "rules" how to build the different tenses and things like that are absolutely unlogical and you won´t be able to speak German in any way without spending some years in Germany.



well, i have to and for the grammar, it's hard, but u should see the dutch grammar, there are 10 pages of irregularities when two words are put together, if u should put an s between it, or not

about the verbs, german is prob the hardest language there is

the rest of german for me is not too hard, there it is similar to dutch, my native tongue

[The Amazing Rando]

Originally posted by LARAMANIAC
Yes, I think all children should be taught at least one alternative language to their native tongue, whatever that may be. Personally I think it is rather sanctimonious of English speakers to expect other nations of the world to speak English. Its time the English only speakers got off their lazy arses and learned another language imo. The world is a very diverse network, filled with wonderful languages and cultures, come on people - seek enlightenment, and more importantly......embrace it!! ;)

While I agree many English speakers can be considered "lazy" in that respect, I still think that we need to get English only speaking people speaking English before we can worry about other languages.

I think the school sysems in the US are desperately in need of change,and quickly. We are even behind in geography-including our own. :rolleyes:

[colonel lynx]

money on war ---> money for education!

that's my idea

[Jorge22]

As I live in a Union of countries which undoubtedly will become a country someday and as there are many languages here unlike in America (still, I think it would be useful to learn Spanish in America), I believe the learning of languages should be required. Not that most people will ever become fluent or have a good accent or anything - that will depend on many factors, from their natural tendency for languages to the teachers they get, to even being smart enough (yes, it's a political incorrect fact that we're not all equal) or be willing to learn anything at all, amongst many possibilities. If one learns languages one gets easier access to very many things. I also believe that even though English should be central - and to a lesser extent, French and German - students should have access to learning many more languages, from Russian to Greek, from Dutch to Spanish, from Finnish to Japanese (all of them as a choice, naturally). That's what I think. Being language and cultures iliterate isn't good for anyone... And the world does not revolve around what happens in English speaking countries. Do you want to improve the literacy levels in the States? Show your kids the world outside the US, not just the migrant communities as if they were learning anything special from that...

Well, again, that's a part of what I think. And, btw, I'm a language teacher! ;)

[Aquarius]

Originally posted by Xcom
If your native tongue is English, there is no point for you to learn other languages. ( maybe only programming languages).
Everybody speaks English, so you can communicate everywhere.
(although German and French people often pretend that they don't speak it).

Xcom:I just have to say that sounds really close-minded to me. Not everyone speaks English. There are about oh, 1 billion Chinese and 1 billion Indians that would beg to differ.
----

How is there any downside to learning another language? You just might learn more about your own language. I know that by taking 4 years of Spanish (one being AP) I've learned more about English. I know what the subjunctive tense is, how to use, and when to use it in both Spanish and English now. And you never know what other doors of opportunity learning another language can open to you. Maybe I'll get the chance to go to Spain someday and I won't have to worry about being inadequate (sp?) in fluency and something trying to ripe me off. Plus it's always fun to see the look of surprise on someone's face when they've been swearing at you in another language and you turn around and say something to them in that language. :p

Jorge: I agree that the US needs to learn Spanish, no matter how much or how little. Spanish has been one of the official languages of the US probably since before any of us were ever born. Even now, the Hispanic population is the largest minority in the US now. It isn't right that someone shouldn't be able to understand their neighbor and have a pleasant conversation with them. I've heard some people say it really irritates them at work when someone comes to the register (if they work in a supermarket) and doesn't speak the least bit of English. That's just showing how intolerant we're becoming towards people who don't speak our language because it should be the only language. :rolleyes:

[The Amazing Rando]

That's just showing how intolerant we're becoming towards people who don't speak our language because it should be the only language. :rolleyes:

What are you, a communist? :p *Just a joke, that comment really reminded me of a scene in the last Episode of RedvsBlue for Season 1. Feel free to ask if you want more explanation of the reference.*


Originally posted by Aquarius
Even now, the Hispanic population is the largest minority in the US now. It isn't right that someone shouldn't be able to understand their neighbor and have a pleasant conversation with them.

You said it yourself tho, they are the largest minority. While complete close mindedness is bad, I am reminded of a quote that a few of you may recognize;) : "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." While I'm not calling it a need that they must learn English necessarily, I think you see what I'm trying to get at.

[Aquarius]

They may be a minority, but there's still a lot of them here! lol I'm reminded of a democratic concept though (Uh-oh, here comes the AP Gov't stuff! ;)). Majority rule by minority consent. Meaning they're necessary to our political and social needs. How can we help them if we can't understand them?

It sounded Communist? lol Good, it makes people who think like that look much worse. :p I'm proud to be bilingual! :D

This just reminded me of my friend Bekah. :p (randonmess lol) Does anyone know if quadrilinguistic is a real word? lol She speaks 4 languages, and we were trying to come up with what the word for that is. lol

[Xcom]

Originally posted by Aquarius
Xcom:I just have to say that sounds really close-minded to me.

I don't know about you, but my mind is always close to me.

[Cold_Killer]

Well... They shouldnt be obligated, but here in U.S, theres alot of ppl that speak spanish, some dont know how to speak english AT ALL. Soo if you knew some spanish, atleast you could communicate.

Anyways, i enjoy a lenguage class (German Class, lol). But spanish class is boring, lol.

[Exitium]

Latin: International language of science, period. From animal names to medical conditions, it's the only language that no one really speaks (par se). Therefore, it is perfect for classification.

English/Anglias: Many countries prefer English as a second language, because of its flexibility. Easy to learn, difficult to master. Japanese students learn it, immigrants to the United States try to learn, it's just that cool. Thank you Europe.

Chinese: Roughly one out of six people speak it. I suggest we learn it before our Chinese overlords fix that. Just kidding. . .

Japanese: I used to know it, most Anime fan think they know it, and its written on the back of their model manuals. Like its Chinese counterpart/Grand-pappy, it consists of fifty thousand different characters. Yes, characters. Pretty looking (though not as pretty as Chinese scripts), but still neat looking on the neon lighted streets of Tokyo.

German/Deustche/Whatever: My BMW's German, but rarely does it display German text anywhere.

French: Excellent for picking up dates, I suppose. . .

Italian: I have no opinion or data about this one.

Russian: Would've been good to learn in Eastern Europe before the Soviet Union's collapse. Other than that, I see no point for a person uniterested in Russia to learn it.

Spanish: The United States southerners can find this invaluable at times. Indiana will also be using this language a lot more.

Binary: I swear, if I don't see a two, I think I might go insane. . .

[DaveJ]

Originally posted by Xcom
I don't know about you, but my mind is always close to me.

Close - sounds like 'dose'.
Close - sounds like 'nose'.

Gotta love the English language!

[daniel]

I totally agree with Aquarius. Learning other languages you have also the possibility of getting to know the culture of a land and the way they live there.

Once, on a school exchange, there were some Americans at our school. They were really nice, everyone liked them and things like that. But on their arrival I thought I´m going to lose my mind.

When we drove through our city (little one) they were surprised that there was no military on the streets and they asked me if H i t l e r was still alive :eek: .

I don´t want to offend Americans, but the first impression about them was like "Do they really know anything that´s not inside their own land?"

This story isn´t a joke, it´s true. Of course I know that this is an extreme example and that only a few % of the Americans might be so. I´ve also been two times to Florida so far (Naples) and the people were always absolutely friendly (even though this was at the time where our councelor, Gerhard Schröder, had said to Bush that Germany wouldn´t support the war in Iraq and the German-American relationship wasn´t at its best), and I really enjoyed my holidays in America.

I just want to say that you can get a totally different picture and impression of a land and a nation if you learn a language. I for myself think because of my experiences so far that Americans are a really friendly nation and I´m always glad if I meet some native speaker.

I know people that don´t speak English who have the typcial prejudices about America and England, as every nation has about another. I think that´s a pity.

PS: No, Germans don´t always drink beer and we don´t always wear "Lederhosen" in Bavaria :D (although at the moment you can see many people with them because in munich there´s the Oktoberfest :p).

[colonel lynx]

Originally posted by Xcom
If your native tongue is English, there is no point for you to learn other languages. ( maybe only programming languages).
Everybody speaks English, so you can communicate everywhere.
(although German and French people often pretend that they don't speak it).

xcom: almost the entire south american continent speaks spanish, a giant part of africa speaks french and as aquarius said, there are a billion chinese and a billion indians who rather have a language easier to learn for them

i know that there are maybe a thousand different languages in china, but i do believe they all now manderin (anyways, there are a few generaly accepted dialects)

but if we were to decide on a democratic base, india and china are one third of the world, think they would all choose english

xcom, how would u feel if dutch is not respected as a language or dissapearce for the english language that EVERYBODY speaks

everybody in the western world? not even that

[colonel lynx]

Originally posted by Jorge22
btw, I'm a language teacher! ;)

cool, what languages?

[Eddy Bones]

Originally posted by Exitium
Japanese: Like its Chinese counterpart/Grand-pappy, it consists of fifty thousand different characters.

Though it may be good to point out that they only use around 2000 of those charcters these days, if even that many. Most of those 50,000 originals are no longer remembered by anyone.

[Dad]

Learning a language in school is one thing but living in another country amongst another language is a whole different ball of wax. There are so many dialects (slangs) that make it more difficult.
Example: I am American and I speak Redneck.

:D

[Jorge22]

Originally posted by colonel lynx
cool, what languages?

Hi. Nothing special... I taught English in the past (I even taught it in a frontistirio, which is a Greek private school, in Athens, when I was preparing the students for the FCE and Proficiency exams). These days, though, I'm part of what you could call a teaching group (they divide teachers into groups and then they'll always teach this or that discipline), named eighth B (that tells you nothing per se), meaning I teach French as a foreign language and Portuguese as the mother tongue. I also learned a bit of other languages (German, Greek, Dutch) but couldn't really teach them to anyone. The same goes for Spanish... Due to its proximity with Portuguese (even though it's harder for the Spanish to understand Portuguese, anyway, they're usually not very gifted for other languages) I can understand Spanish well and speak a little - but I'm not capable of teaching it.

[Xcom]

Originally posted by colonel lynx
xcom: almost the entire south american continent speaks spanish, a giant part of africa speaks french and as aquarius said, there are a billion chinese and a billion indians who rather have a language easier to learn for them.

You are kidding me.. :eek: :eek:

xcom, how would u feel if dutch is not respected as a language or dissapearce for the english language that EVERYBODY speaks

Welcome to the last week, my friend. It's already happening.

[Arctic_Wolf]

Originally posted by DaveJ
Yes.
Knowledge is power.
Especially since English (508 million) is only the 2nd most commonly used language on the planet - Mandarin (One billion +) is the first.
Be warned.

Ehem, 508 is just adding the populations of the UK, USA, Canada and Australia together. Which does not give an accurate representation of the amount of english speakers in the world.

As you quite rightly said about a billion plus people speak Mandarin Chinese. But how many of those Mandarin Chinese speakers, can also speak english?

I think language should be optional, in Britain it is not and you can only get French or German until 6th Form(16-18) and you don't get a choice between the two. You either do French or German, the only option is wheather to do both. At 6th Form I believe you then get the additional choices of Spanish and Italian.

If it must be mandatory I believe it should be Russian(The UK is increasingly investing with Russia) and German(Germany has the best european economy) as they would be the most useful. And then having the others as later options.

[Senor v2]

If it must be mandatory I believe it should be Russian(The UK is increasingly investing with Russia) and German(Germany has the best european economy)

Germany had the best economy! The Evil euro crippled it.

[DaveJ]

Originally posted by Arctic_Wolf
Ehem, 508 is just adding the populations of the UK, USA, Canada and Australia together. Which does not give an accurate representation of the amount of english speakers in the world.



Nooo....508 million was the last estimated average taken for ALL English speakers throughout the world.
The exact number to the last person is a little harder to gauge, but the figure I quoted wasn't just the collective populations of certain countries.

[Arctic_Wolf]

Well, no offence, but it looks it. :D

[DaveJ]

None taken.
But as has already been pointed out, there are a lot of people in the USA, Australia and Canada who don't speak a word of English.


Some parts of Manchester, too.

[THE True Lara]

Originally posted by DaveJ
Any you can recommend?
Absolutley, if you want to learn and remember a language, as well as get to grips with active construction and comprehension go for anything by Dr. Paul Pimsleur. He's a memory expert, who also being fluent in (I think) French, realised the importance of how we recall and store data in our brains. So he researched exactly how and when we should be taught and reminded of things to ensure optimal memory retension. There's a short course, and a long course available in 41 different languages, and I think the series is branching out into quicker, 'instant' conversation type course too. Though don't quote me on that.
The idea is that you learn a foreign language the way you leart English -by listening. Using a book at the same time is positively discouraged, but I've always though using a book should only be for learning how to read and write a language, not speak it anyway. All I can say is the Pimsleur system is beautifully constructed and really works. And I don't just mean for me, my brother is notoriously bad with languages, and even he's improved vastly with the tapes!
The only draw back is that they're hideously expensive -though you do get what you pay for, and I've cheekily managed to find the ones I've wanted through badgering the local library (I think they don't like me so much anymore now ;) ).

I think that's all the endoresment finished :D

Was there an language you had in mind for learning? :)

[Senor v2]

Some parts of Manchester, too.


LOL its funny because its true!!!!!!

[DaveJ]

Originally posted by THE True Lara

Was there an language you had in mind for learning? :)

Thanks for the info!
I want to study French, and Cantonese and/or Mandarin.

I studied German at school, and can get by in a 'dumb but polite' way with it.
:D

[Driber]

Originally posted by Xcom
Welcome to the last week, my friend. It's already happening.

indeed, and that's not vet cool :rolleyes:

[colonel lynx]

i guess belgium isn't holland then

[Xcom]

Originally posted by DriberBallZ
indeed, and that's not vet cool :rolleyes:

Indeed.

[THE True Lara]

Originally posted by DaveJ
Thanks for the info!
I want to study French, and Cantonese and/or Mandarin.
You'll find Cantonese and Mandarin very easy on a gramatical level, as you can (blissfully) forget all of that past, present, infinitve, male female tense rubbish :D The hard part is the pronuciation. For every sound/word, there are 3 others that are exactly the same except for the pitch at which their pronouced -each meaning something totally different! ;)
To complicate matters further many words in both dialects are essentially the same, but are pronouced radically different. Thankfully the written language is the same in both dialects ...not that it makes the task of learning the 4000 characters (that have no phonetic conection to the word) you'll need simply for reading a newspaper over their any easier.
If it's any help in deciding, Cantonese is used only in Hong Kong and the Guangdung province in south China. Mandarin (aka 'The Common Language') is used everywhere else in China. N.b. The chaps running your local Takeaway will be of the Cantonese variety.

I have to say of all the lanuages I've learnt I love Chinese in both it's forms by far the most. It's a really enjoyable language. And I wish you all the best with it! :)

[TrueRaider]

I LOVE learning languages, I'm doing a Degree in German, with Spanish. I also know odds and ends in French and Russian. It's been nothing but 100% useful for me, I can talk with over 200 million more people plus it gives me huge opportunities to travel and get a taste of different cultures. Especially being in a european country, I think it's invaluable.

[DaveJ]

Thanks for the tips TTL!
TrueRaider - what are you doing in Devon - have you defected?

[TrueRaider]

hehe, I know, I'm a traitor to Yorkshire folk but I've ran away for a new life ;).

I'm studying at the Uni 'ere for 4 years. These southerners don't understand, they think having gravy with everything is abnormal?! :eek: