Languages

[Coca Fola]

How many do you speak and why?

I speak:

English
Spanish (did it at school)
French (same)
Bosnian
Croatian
Serbian
Slovenian (I can understand 95% of it, very similar to the above)

[walcot red]

English as default setting
French I know enough to get by but not fluent
Greek I know a few phrases
learning German (listen to a lot of german music and want to know what i'm singing along to)
and British Sign Language (have deaf family member and would be nice to speak to her, and it'll be useful in my job)

[Baggins]

Before you get a comedic or sarcastic reply, can I be the first to say that's very, very impressive.  Is there a family thing going on, or are you just very interested in and talented at languages?

If we are talking fluent, just English.  If we are talking basic travel, ordering a table, asking directions etc, you can add German to that.  Shameful really.  I blame our schooling system...

[Coca Fola]

Ta, it's a family thing, I love languages, whenever I go somewhere I always make the effort to learn some phrases in that language. Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian are all very similar but have enough differences to be classed as separate languages. It's like the gulf between English and American English but a bit larger. I'm planning to learn Russian in a couple of years too.

It's a shame that this country is quite far behind other European countries with regards to learning languages in school. Most countries make children learn 2 languages from a very young age until they are 18. In this country you don't learn a foreign language until secondary school and even then it's only 1 most of the time. My cousin in Bosnia started learning English in school when he was 7 and he's pretty much fluent now.

[walcot red]

Its a shame, because we expect everyone to know english, so most people can't be bothered. I always try and learn a few phrases in the native language. Because we expect people to speak english in the uk, so why cant us brits speak spainish in spain?

[walcot red]

forgot to add the more languages you can speak the more women you can pull 

[Nomoreheroes]

-English
-French
-German
-Russian
-Bullshit
-The language of lurve

[Baggins]

Ta, it's a family thing, I love languages, whenever I go somewhere I always make the effort to learn some phrases in that language. Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian are all very similar but have enough differences to be classed as separate languages. It's like the gulf between English and American English but a bit larger. I'm planning to learn Russian in a couple of years too.

It's a shame that this country is quite far behind other European countries with regards to learning languages in school. Most countries make children learn 2 languages from a very young age until they are 18. In this country you don't learn a foreign language until secondary school and even then it's only 1 most of the time. My cousin in Bosnia started learning English in school when he was 7 and he's pretty much fluent now.

I completely agree - linguistically, we (Brits) are very ignorant and arrogant.  I'm pleased that it is looking likely that my kids will be schooled bilingually.  Its a shame that its English and Welsh, but I'm hoping it has the desired effect on them.  I genuinely hate being a linguistic imbecile.

[walcot red]

I completely agree - linguistically, we (Brits) are very ignorant and arrogant.  I'm pleased that it is looking likely that my kids will be schooled bilingually.  Its a shame that its English and Welsh, but I'm hoping it has the desired effect on them.  I genuinely hate being a linguistic imbecile.

Its never to late to learn, there are plenty of tutorials on youtube.

[bigbobjoylove]

Having been baiting 419 scammers for a few years, I've become semi-fluent in the Nigerian languages of Pidgin English and Igbo.

[Coca Fola]

http://file011.bebo.com/13/large/2007/09/21/22/4203889533a5613998047l.jpg

[reeves4england]

I speak English reasonably well. Can muddle through most conversations in French too - want to learn it properly though. Was gutted I had to choose between French and Geography for A Level as I loved (and would have aced) both. Geography won that particular battle. Used to know a bit of German and Italian but most of that has slipped away now - just the odd phrase left.

I agree we're poor at languages. I suppose the difficulty is which language do you teach british kids from a young age? French? Spanish? You could argue that Cantonese/Mandarin would be more beneficial in 10-20 years time. Personally, I'd support a campaign to teach kids French from the age of about 4, and have them pick up another language from Year 7 and carry it on to GCSE.

[Coca Fola]

I'd support a campaign to teach kids French from the age of about 4, and have them pick up another language from Year 7 and carry it on to GCSE.

I agree.

[Baggins]

I agree we're poor at languages. I suppose the difficulty is which language do you teach british kids from a young age? French? Spanish? You could argue that Cantonese/Mandarin would be more beneficial in 10-20 years time. Personally, I'd support a campaign to teach kids French from the age of about 4, and have them pick up another language from Year 7 and carry it on to GCSE.]


Agree that Cantonese/Mandarin might well be the most beneficial in the future.  However, in terms of the early age, I'd have all kids in this country learning Spanish.

[Coca Fola]

Any of the following in my opinion,

French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian.

Tell kids to pick 2 out of that 5.