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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 1552 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 01:49:32 PM 937 Views
Answering the survey myself... - 24/09/2010 02:04:39 PM 960 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:10:57 PM 945 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:20:45 PM 1092 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:24:01 PM 952 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:14:52 PM 995 Views
We have a similar situation in Belgium. - 24/09/2010 02:32:25 PM 861 Views
It is all double dutch to me - 24/09/2010 02:41:41 PM 925 Views
Hah! - 24/09/2010 06:58:49 PM 1028 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 03:32:09 PM 892 Views
That is rather sad to say the least. - 24/09/2010 04:15:32 PM 1127 Views
Indeed - 24/09/2010 06:23:52 PM 930 Views
That's just Paris being a city of nasty people. - 24/09/2010 06:32:40 PM 1071 Views
I never noticed that - 24/09/2010 07:05:18 PM 974 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM 1012 Views
I didn't mean just in Sweden, or Scandinavia. - 24/09/2010 04:19:32 PM 1001 Views
Well... - 24/09/2010 10:50:09 PM 910 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM 997 Views
Interesting. - 24/09/2010 06:04:30 PM 925 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 06:42:02 PM 1070 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:05:44 PM 968 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:21:24 PM 1090 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 08:18:30 PM 957 Views
Re: Interesting. - 25/09/2010 08:02:30 PM 1020 Views
American who just got a C+ on a French quiz reporting in. - 24/09/2010 06:09:31 PM 1031 Views
What was it on? - 24/09/2010 06:22:35 PM 936 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 06:16:22 PM 893 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 24/09/2010 09:38:05 PM 1075 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 05:49:05 AM 1080 Views
Real quick - 25/09/2010 12:03:51 PM 1033 Views
Self-study can be worth as much as formal classroom study, I suppose - 25/09/2010 03:43:14 PM 1034 Views
Certainly it can. - 26/09/2010 12:35:56 PM 1030 Views
You know, gen eds typically include a language. *NM* - 26/09/2010 07:28:57 PM 422 Views
Yes, but other things as well. - 26/09/2010 08:08:20 PM 952 Views
Interesting - 27/09/2010 03:14:00 AM 1161 Views
Re: Interesting - 27/09/2010 11:04:37 AM 1049 Views
You don't have to prove it's economically valid? - 27/09/2010 08:31:46 PM 1058 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 04:54:40 PM 1158 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 07:38:29 PM 1083 Views
The amount of German is more surprising. - 25/09/2010 07:55:29 PM 847 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 26/09/2010 12:07:19 AM 1114 Views
They should have asked about second languages rather than foreign languages. - 26/09/2010 11:34:27 AM 960 Views
Aye, they should have. - 26/09/2010 12:26:51 PM 1052 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 27/09/2010 03:18:30 PM 1012 Views

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