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Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe jh Send a noteboard - 24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM
Might as well add a mini-survey for European members (though Americans and others are welcome to answer as well if they like):

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


Swedish 12 years, English 9 years, French 6 years, and a small touch of Norwegian and Danish. (At uni, I did some japanese too... one semester)

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


Swedish, English, French. French is a language which I need to immerse myself in for a couple of days before reacquiring my fluency, but it is there.

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


It has a larger role today than it had back then. So for today's students it is about right.

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


Not really all that odd. Before WW2, german was the first foreign language taught here, but hey, it was deemed more appropriate to change to English. And then with most foreign movies and tv series coming from england or the us, it is fairly natural that it has kept it's dominance.

What is more interesting is that we here experience a marginalisation of languages such as german and french as they lose their relevance in the world today. there has been a shift towards eastern languages since they are perceived as cooler, and more useful. Also, spanish has taken a larger role, mainly because it is deemed a more simple language to learn.

Edit: Forgot about the 'how long' part.
"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world" - Calvin.
This message last edited by jh on 24/09/2010 at 04:06:28 PM
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/Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) Legolas - 24/09/2010 01:37:42 PM 1210 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Floffe - 24/09/2010 01:49:32 PM 643 Views
Answering the survey myself... Legolas - 24/09/2010 02:04:39 PM 645 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Camilla - 24/09/2010 02:10:57 PM 631 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Legolas - 24/09/2010 02:20:45 PM 767 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Camilla - 24/09/2010 02:24:01 PM 654 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Lordling - 24/09/2010 02:14:52 PM 687 Views
We have a similar situation in Belgium. Legolas - 24/09/2010 02:32:25 PM 549 Views
It is all double dutch to me snoopcester - 24/09/2010 02:41:41 PM 633 Views
Hah! Camilla - 24/09/2010 06:58:49 PM 715 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Mark - 24/09/2010 03:32:09 PM 583 Views
That is rather sad to say the least. Legolas - 24/09/2010 04:15:32 PM 819 Views
Indeed Mark - 24/09/2010 06:23:52 PM 621 Views
That's just Paris being a city of nasty people. Legolas - 24/09/2010 06:32:40 PM 771 Views
I never noticed that Camilla - 24/09/2010 07:05:18 PM 656 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe jh - 24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM 702 Views
I didn't mean just in Sweden, or Scandinavia. Legolas - 24/09/2010 04:19:32 PM 675 Views
Well... jh - 24/09/2010 10:50:09 PM 594 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe BlackAdder - 24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM 657 Views
Interesting. Legolas - 24/09/2010 06:04:30 PM 612 Views
Re: Interesting. BlackAdder - 24/09/2010 06:42:02 PM 758 Views
Re: Interesting. Legolas - 24/09/2010 07:05:44 PM 668 Views
Re: Interesting. BlackAdder - 24/09/2010 07:21:24 PM 794 Views
Re: Interesting. Legolas - 24/09/2010 08:18:30 PM 645 Views
Re: Interesting. everynametaken - 25/09/2010 08:02:30 PM 708 Views
American who just got a C+ on a French quiz reporting in. Ghavrel - 24/09/2010 06:09:31 PM 715 Views
What was it on? Legolas - 24/09/2010 06:22:35 PM 616 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Macharius - 24/09/2010 06:16:22 PM 570 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) The_Muted_Grimaud - 24/09/2010 09:38:05 PM 758 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) beckstcw - 25/09/2010 05:49:05 AM 738 Views
Real quick ironclad - 25/09/2010 12:03:51 PM 711 Views
Self-study can be worth as much as formal classroom study, I suppose Larry - 25/09/2010 03:43:14 PM 715 Views
Certainly it can. Legolas - 26/09/2010 12:35:56 PM 720 Views
You know, gen eds typically include a language. *NM* Ghavrel - 26/09/2010 07:28:57 PM 276 Views
Yes, but other things as well. Legolas - 26/09/2010 08:08:20 PM 656 Views
Interesting Larry - 27/09/2010 03:14:00 AM 817 Views
Re: Interesting Legolas - 27/09/2010 11:04:37 AM 721 Views
You don't have to prove it's economically valid? Ghavrel - 27/09/2010 08:31:46 PM 734 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) (beat.) - 25/09/2010 04:54:40 PM 858 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) everynametaken - 25/09/2010 07:38:29 PM 783 Views
The amount of German is more surprising. Joel - 25/09/2010 07:55:29 PM 533 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) Morgawse - 26/09/2010 12:07:19 AM 801 Views
They should have asked about second languages rather than foreign languages. Tim - 26/09/2010 11:34:27 AM 636 Views
Aye, they should have. Legolas - 26/09/2010 12:26:51 PM 756 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) Stephen - 27/09/2010 03:18:30 PM 692 Views
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