1) Which languages did you learn in school, and for how long?
Dutch (all the time), French (starting in fifth year of primary school, so eight years total, most of that time 150-200 minutes a week), English (starting in second year of secondary school, so five years total, but never more than 100 minutes a week), German (starting in fourth year of secondary school, three years total, but only 50 minutes a week). Plus Latin (starting in first year of secondary school) and Ancient Greek (starting in second year of secondary school), until the end of secondary school. The way our system works, that's the maximum of languages one can have; it is possible in a relatively small number of schools to take Spanish, but that can't be combined with Greek, so five non-native languages is the maximum either way. People in vocational study tracks only have one or two foreign languages, though, French and sometimes English.
2) Which languages would you say you speak with some degree of fluency?
Dutch, English, French and Spanish, and German and Arabic to a lesser degree.
3) Do you think languages get too much attention in the school system you went to, too little, or just about enough?
About enough, in the university-preparing study tracks anyway. Many students in our vocational tracks get very little English, which might become a problem. Putting English in the place of French would be not only politically but also practically difficult, though.
4) What do you think of the remarkable dominance of English that appears in the data?
In a way it's sad, but on the other hand, it's definitely practical to have a single language as lingua franca. Not as much fun, but more practical.
/Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere)
24/09/2010 01:37:42 PM
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Answering the survey myself...
24/09/2010 02:04:39 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe
24/09/2010 02:10:57 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe
24/09/2010 03:32:09 PM
- 666 Views
That is rather sad to say the least.
24/09/2010 04:15:32 PM
- 890 Views
Indeed
24/09/2010 06:23:52 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe
24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe
24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM
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Interesting.
24/09/2010 06:04:30 PM
- 693 Views
Re: Interesting.
24/09/2010 06:42:02 PM
- 841 Views
Re: Interesting.
24/09/2010 07:05:44 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere)
24/09/2010 09:38:05 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere)
25/09/2010 05:49:05 AM
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Self-study can be worth as much as formal classroom study, I suppose
25/09/2010 03:43:14 PM
- 798 Views
Certainly it can.
26/09/2010 12:35:56 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere)
25/09/2010 04:54:40 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere)
25/09/2010 07:38:29 PM
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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere)
26/09/2010 12:07:19 AM
- 876 Views
They should have asked about second languages rather than foreign languages.
26/09/2010 11:34:27 AM
- 730 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere)
27/09/2010 03:18:30 PM
- 772 Views