| Страниц в теме: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you think people in your country consider learning languages an important thing? Автор темы: ProZ.com Staff
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| Ah sud like ter goa aht, bur Ah've nowt ter weear | Jun 2, 2015 |
Eleonora Chyc wrote:
I might be wrong, as I don't know statistics, but I don't think that Brits are very fond of learning languages knowing that English is considered as an international language as well as a language of computing.Well, Chinese is also important and so are French,German,Spanish and Portugese.
But how many languages and/or dialects are spoken in the UK?
I know of Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, and Yorkshire, at the very least; I'm guessing there are probably more of which I am unaware.
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Adam Kiolle wrote:
Christine's comment about learning languages in order to read the literature and understand other cultures is a powerful argument for languages and reveals something about the purely economics-based reasoning that I see in this thread: a lack of consideration for the fact that things that may not necessarily have economic value, such as intercultural curiosity, exchange and understanding, might have a value of their own.
So what if it's not decisive for an exporter to speak her buyer's language? Is that all that there is to life on this vast, culturally rich planet?
There's also more to life than culture, like being able to eat. My knowledge of languages has opened a lot of doors for me, but I wouldn't say that my A-level French has ever helped me beyond "Ou est le gare?", and A-level is a much higher level than the vast majority of people could realistically aspire to.
You don't need to speak the lingo to explore a culture anyway. If I'd had to read the foreign books I've read in English translation, would my life be that much poorer? No. A language is only words.
| | | | J.E.Sunseri 
США
Local time: 20:40
Член ProZ.com c 2009
русский => английский
| "Bilingual" in the USA | Jun 2, 2015 |
...means only one thing: English and Spanish. And, really, in the USA, Spanish hardly qualifies as a foreign language. This is why I, who used to teach Russian, now translate it. One door closes, another door opens.
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Chris S wrote:
You don't need to speak the lingo to explore a culture anyway. If I'd had to read the foreign books I've read in English translation, would my life be that much poorer? No. A language is only words.
Have you ever actually tried to buy an English translation of any foreign literature that isn't on the list of that language's (let's say, for generous argument) 100 best-known works? Learning French has given me access to far more non-English- or -French-language literature than being born an English-speaker ever could.
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Christine Andersen
Дания
Local time: 05:40
Член ProZ.com c 2003
датский => английский
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| Like food is only calories... | Jun 2, 2015 |
I wrote (and deleted) a passionate tirade to Chris S. about how language teaching has gone down the drain in the last 50 years. I think he has his tongue firmly in his cheek...
In the 60s we were reading Racine and Moliére for A Level, and real books by Saint Exupéry, not just Le Petit Prince, which is not a patch on Terre des Hommes, for instance. Duhamel, Gide, Camus, Marcel Pagnol...
I did German on a crash course, but I was reading Bertolt Brecht, Wo... See more I wrote (and deleted) a passionate tirade to Chris S. about how language teaching has gone down the drain in the last 50 years. I think he has his tongue firmly in his cheek...
In the 60s we were reading Racine and Moliére for A Level, and real books by Saint Exupéry, not just Le Petit Prince, which is not a patch on Terre des Hommes, for instance. Duhamel, Gide, Camus, Marcel Pagnol...
I did German on a crash course, but I was reading Bertolt Brecht, Wolfgang Borchert and Der Spiegel by the end of the summer term. My grammar has never been better than shaky, but I scraped a pass.
OK, I was very privileged, but I had to work HARD to keep up when I moved from a private school to the local grammar for my second sixth form year. Several in the same class got top grades at A level, and I never swung higher than a C, so there were plenty of others really learning languages.
We didn't have FaceBook and other distractions, but the most advanced aids we had were the magnetophone in the language lab and the French students who came to practise oral French with us when not polishing their own English!
It was another world, but I do sometimes feel modern young people are given stones for bread when it comes to language teaching. They are missing such a lot of fun, and they even get to travel!
Culture is enhanced by being able to read about it in the local language - the English or Globish or Google versions are sometimes pitiful! ▲ Collapse
| | | | 564354352 (X)
Дания
Local time: 05:40
датский => английский
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| British accents | Jun 3, 2015 |
Anthony Baldwin wrote:
But how many languages and/or dialects are spoken in the UK?
I know of Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, and Yorkshire, at the very least; I'm guessing there are probably more of which I am unaware.
Not languages as such, but very enlightening even so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyT2jmVPAk
| | | | 564354352 (X)
Дания
Local time: 05:40
датский => английский
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| People in general, maybe not, government, yes | Jun 3, 2015 |
In Denmark, children start learning English at a very early stage (not sure if all schools teach English from year 1 yet, but some definitely do). Next to Danish and Maths, I don't think anything is given such high priority. So yes, learning English in particular, and German after that, is considered important.
As others have said, Danes don't expect non-Danes to speak Danish, except, of course, once they move here. Then we want them to master Danish within a very short timeframe an... See more In Denmark, children start learning English at a very early stage (not sure if all schools teach English from year 1 yet, but some definitely do). Next to Danish and Maths, I don't think anything is given such high priority. So yes, learning English in particular, and German after that, is considered important.
As others have said, Danes don't expect non-Danes to speak Danish, except, of course, once they move here. Then we want them to master Danish within a very short timeframe and tend to get quite offended if they don't.
With everybody learning English in primary and secondary school, most Danes actually DO speak English at some level, and a lot of Danes are completely capable of communicating in English, not necessarily at a professional level, but most definitely at a social level.
The trouble arises when people think that their English is 'good enough' for other purposes, e.g. websites, business communication, political speeches (don't get me started on those!), technical descriptions, academic papers etc. etc. etc.
But yes, in Denmark, we are acutely aware that only very few people outside our country speak Danish and that if we want to communicate with the outside world, English, at the very least, is a must, and German is a close second. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
Индия
Local time: 10:10
Член ProZ.com c 2006
английский => хинди
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ЛОКАЛИЗАТОР САЙТА | Yes, especially in the case of English and Hindi | Jun 3, 2015 |
Indians are incorrigible language learners. May be they can't avoid it, too, there being so many languages around them.
Most Indians aspire to learn English themselves, or at least teach it to their children, to improve job prospects.
Most Indians also take great pains to learn Hindi, if they don't know it already, as it is ubiquitous in India, and life can be very dull if you don't know Hindi - can you (particularly if you are an Indian) even think of life without Boll... See more Indians are incorrigible language learners. May be they can't avoid it, too, there being so many languages around them.
Most Indians aspire to learn English themselves, or at least teach it to their children, to improve job prospects.
Most Indians also take great pains to learn Hindi, if they don't know it already, as it is ubiquitous in India, and life can be very dull if you don't know Hindi - can you (particularly if you are an Indian) even think of life without Bollywood cinemas, Bollywood songs, and Hindi TV sops?. Also without Hindi, you can't get very far in many parts of the country, as English is limited to the few educated people living in the cities, whereas Hindi is universally spoken even by the illiterate sabjiwallas (vegetable vendors) or rikshaw-pullersin the streets.
In the cities, people taken keen interest in learning foreign languages like French, German, Japanese and of course Chinese.
French and German have well-established language learning centres in India, in their Alliance Frances, and Max Mueller Bhavans. In many elite schools, these languages can also be opted for study as optional languages.
Chinese Confucius centres are opening up in many large cities and more are likely to open in the future. The population of expatriate Indians living in Shanghai and other important Chinese cities in increasing day by day as trade between the two countries booms, and with it the interest in learning Chinese is also receiving a big boost.
As for Indian languages, most Indians don't have to make any effort to learn a handful of Indian languages as it is all around them and most Indians are multilingual, speaking at least their mother tongue, Hindi, and at least one more Indian language. For the educated, English too can be added to this list. ▲ Collapse
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Zhihua Liu
Китай
Local time: 12:40
английский => китайский
+ ...
Yes, from national to family level, people pay much attention to the education of foreign languages.
10 years ago, people learned Foreign languages simply because they wanted to get a good score to enter a good university; now, people learn because they know foreign languages are useful tools.
Besides, English has always been the No. 1 important foreign language and many kindergartens now open bilingual classes...
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Christine Andersen wrote:
I wrote (and deleted) a passionate tirade to Chris S. about how language teaching has gone down the drain in the last 50 years. I think he has his tongue firmly in his cheek...
In the 60s we were reading Racine and Moliére for A Level, and real books by Saint Exupéry, not just Le Petit Prince, which is not a patch on Terre des Hommes, for instance. Duhamel, Gide, Camus, Marcel Pagnol...
I guess my point is that while a linguist will generally consider language acquisition a priority, other people may not, and with good reason. Most people aren't interested in reading Racine in any language. They could therefore more usefully learn how to fix a leaking pipe than qu'est-ce que c'est, c'est un pomme de terre. In practical and economic terms, learning a foreign language is less necessary than ever.
And we still managed to have an empire
I actually got more out of reading a fair bit of German literature at university in translation, at least I knew what they were saying that way!!
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