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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 1249 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 01:49:32 PM 677 Views
Answering the survey myself... - 24/09/2010 02:04:39 PM 680 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:10:57 PM 665 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:20:45 PM 806 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:24:01 PM 684 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:14:52 PM 725 Views
We have a similar situation in Belgium. - 24/09/2010 02:32:25 PM 587 Views
It is all double dutch to me - 24/09/2010 02:41:41 PM 670 Views
Hah! - 24/09/2010 06:58:49 PM 747 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 03:32:09 PM 615 Views
That is rather sad to say the least. - 24/09/2010 04:15:32 PM 842 Views
Indeed - 24/09/2010 06:23:52 PM 653 Views
That's just Paris being a city of nasty people. - 24/09/2010 06:32:40 PM 803 Views
I never noticed that - 24/09/2010 07:05:18 PM 689 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM 729 Views
I didn't mean just in Sweden, or Scandinavia. - 24/09/2010 04:19:32 PM 716 Views
Well... - 24/09/2010 10:50:09 PM 624 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM 691 Views
Interesting. - 24/09/2010 06:04:30 PM 645 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 06:42:02 PM 791 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:05:44 PM 698 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:21:24 PM 821 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 08:18:30 PM 678 Views
Re: Interesting. - 25/09/2010 08:02:30 PM 744 Views
American who just got a C+ on a French quiz reporting in. - 24/09/2010 06:09:31 PM 748 Views
What was it on? - 24/09/2010 06:22:35 PM 659 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 06:16:22 PM 601 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 24/09/2010 09:38:05 PM 793 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 05:49:05 AM 773 Views
Real quick - 25/09/2010 12:03:51 PM 747 Views
Self-study can be worth as much as formal classroom study, I suppose - 25/09/2010 03:43:14 PM 741 Views
Certainly it can. - 26/09/2010 12:35:56 PM 743 Views
You know, gen eds typically include a language. *NM* - 26/09/2010 07:28:57 PM 296 Views
Yes, but other things as well. - 26/09/2010 08:08:20 PM 687 Views
Interesting - 27/09/2010 03:14:00 AM 848 Views
Re: Interesting - 27/09/2010 11:04:37 AM 750 Views
You don't have to prove it's economically valid? - 27/09/2010 08:31:46 PM 766 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 04:54:40 PM 889 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 07:38:29 PM 808 Views
The amount of German is more surprising. - 25/09/2010 07:55:29 PM 562 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 26/09/2010 12:07:19 AM 829 Views
They should have asked about second languages rather than foreign languages. - 26/09/2010 11:34:27 AM 669 Views
Aye, they should have. - 26/09/2010 12:26:51 PM 789 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 27/09/2010 03:18:30 PM 729 Views

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