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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe BlackAdder Send a noteboard - 24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM
My answers may be a bit strange since I have hopped around a bit.
Might as well add a mini-survey for European members (though Americans and others are welcome to answer as well if they like):

Not European here, mostly American and Asian

1) Which languages did you learn in school, and for how long?

Well, I lived in India for a while so I learned Hindi, Marathi, and Telugu (the latter two are regional languages which I picked up naturally and not via schooling). I also learned some English at the time, but not really until I moved to the US. Most people these days learn English so they can generally understand it, but it's usually not very polished.

After that, I picked up English fairly quickly, then I learned German and Latin. Continued learning Latin in college. I'm OK with German but it's definitely my weakest language.

I've learned bits and pieces of other languages like Japanese, French, Spanish, Arabic, etc., but it's not all that useful to be completely honest.

2) Which languages would you say you speak with some degree of fluency?

English, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu... German after a bit of practice/use.

3) Do you think languages get too much attention in the school system you went to, too little, or just about enough?

Hmm, I think it was OK. People that were interested in it were able to take what they wanted, usually. People that weren't didn't take one. Maybe they wish they did, maybe they don't. I don't know.

4) What do you think of the remarkable dominance of English that appears in the data?

English is used pretty commonly. Pretty remarkable how many people either know it or will recognize certain phrases even if they don't. It's not surprising to me that English speakers have a lower rate of learning secondary languages simply due to lack of a need for many of them.
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/Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 24/09/2010 01:37:42 PM 1334 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 01:49:32 PM 745 Views
Answering the survey myself... - 24/09/2010 02:04:39 PM 759 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:10:57 PM 744 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:20:45 PM 881 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:24:01 PM 767 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:14:52 PM 793 Views
We have a similar situation in Belgium. - 24/09/2010 02:32:25 PM 668 Views
It is all double dutch to me - 24/09/2010 02:41:41 PM 744 Views
Hah! - 24/09/2010 06:58:49 PM 829 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 03:32:09 PM 688 Views
That is rather sad to say the least. - 24/09/2010 04:15:32 PM 913 Views
Indeed - 24/09/2010 06:23:52 PM 734 Views
That's just Paris being a city of nasty people. - 24/09/2010 06:32:40 PM 878 Views
I never noticed that - 24/09/2010 07:05:18 PM 772 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM 808 Views
I didn't mean just in Sweden, or Scandinavia. - 24/09/2010 04:19:32 PM 801 Views
Well... - 24/09/2010 10:50:09 PM 699 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM 773 Views
Interesting. - 24/09/2010 06:04:30 PM 716 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 06:42:02 PM 869 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:05:44 PM 780 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:21:24 PM 892 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 08:18:30 PM 754 Views
Re: Interesting. - 25/09/2010 08:02:30 PM 824 Views
American who just got a C+ on a French quiz reporting in. - 24/09/2010 06:09:31 PM 825 Views
What was it on? - 24/09/2010 06:22:35 PM 740 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 06:16:22 PM 685 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 24/09/2010 09:38:05 PM 871 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 05:49:05 AM 860 Views
Real quick - 25/09/2010 12:03:51 PM 832 Views
Self-study can be worth as much as formal classroom study, I suppose - 25/09/2010 03:43:14 PM 824 Views
Certainly it can. - 26/09/2010 12:35:56 PM 822 Views
You know, gen eds typically include a language. *NM* - 26/09/2010 07:28:57 PM 325 Views
Yes, but other things as well. - 26/09/2010 08:08:20 PM 759 Views
Interesting - 27/09/2010 03:14:00 AM 919 Views
Re: Interesting - 27/09/2010 11:04:37 AM 832 Views
You don't have to prove it's economically valid? - 27/09/2010 08:31:46 PM 855 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 04:54:40 PM 965 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 07:38:29 PM 887 Views
The amount of German is more surprising. - 25/09/2010 07:55:29 PM 644 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 26/09/2010 12:07:19 AM 905 Views
They should have asked about second languages rather than foreign languages. - 26/09/2010 11:34:27 AM 756 Views
Aye, they should have. - 26/09/2010 12:26:51 PM 864 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 27/09/2010 03:18:30 PM 799 Views

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