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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 1313 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 01:49:32 PM 727 Views
Answering the survey myself... - 24/09/2010 02:04:39 PM 739 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:10:57 PM 724 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:20:45 PM 862 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:24:01 PM 752 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:14:52 PM 779 Views
We have a similar situation in Belgium. - 24/09/2010 02:32:25 PM 650 Views
It is all double dutch to me - 24/09/2010 02:41:41 PM 728 Views
Hah! - 24/09/2010 06:58:49 PM 810 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 03:32:09 PM 672 Views
That is rather sad to say the least. - 24/09/2010 04:15:32 PM 897 Views
Indeed - 24/09/2010 06:23:52 PM 716 Views
That's just Paris being a city of nasty people. - 24/09/2010 06:32:40 PM 859 Views
I never noticed that - 24/09/2010 07:05:18 PM 754 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM 785 Views
I didn't mean just in Sweden, or Scandinavia. - 24/09/2010 04:19:32 PM 782 Views
Well... - 24/09/2010 10:50:09 PM 682 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM 753 Views
Interesting. - 24/09/2010 06:04:30 PM 699 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 06:42:02 PM 853 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:05:44 PM 761 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:21:24 PM 875 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 08:18:30 PM 737 Views
Re: Interesting. - 25/09/2010 08:02:30 PM 804 Views
American who just got a C+ on a French quiz reporting in. - 24/09/2010 06:09:31 PM 809 Views
What was it on? - 24/09/2010 06:22:35 PM 718 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 06:16:22 PM 666 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 24/09/2010 09:38:05 PM 852 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 05:49:05 AM 839 Views
Real quick - 25/09/2010 12:03:51 PM 812 Views
Self-study can be worth as much as formal classroom study, I suppose - 25/09/2010 03:43:14 PM 806 Views
Certainly it can. - 26/09/2010 12:35:56 PM 806 Views
You know, gen eds typically include a language. *NM* - 26/09/2010 07:28:57 PM 320 Views
Yes, but other things as well. - 26/09/2010 08:08:20 PM 743 Views
Interesting - 27/09/2010 03:14:00 AM 903 Views
Re: Interesting - 27/09/2010 11:04:37 AM 812 Views
You don't have to prove it's economically valid? - 27/09/2010 08:31:46 PM 834 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 04:54:40 PM 947 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 07:38:29 PM 869 Views
The amount of German is more surprising. - 25/09/2010 07:55:29 PM 626 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 26/09/2010 12:07:19 AM 884 Views
They should have asked about second languages rather than foreign languages. - 26/09/2010 11:34:27 AM 739 Views
Aye, they should have. - 26/09/2010 12:26:51 PM 843 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 27/09/2010 03:18:30 PM 785 Views

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