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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 1305 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 01:49:32 PM 719 Views
Answering the survey myself... - 24/09/2010 02:04:39 PM 724 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:10:57 PM 712 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:20:45 PM 854 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:24:01 PM 741 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 02:14:52 PM 770 Views
We have a similar situation in Belgium. - 24/09/2010 02:32:25 PM 641 Views
It is all double dutch to me - 24/09/2010 02:41:41 PM 720 Views
Hah! - 24/09/2010 06:58:49 PM 800 Views
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 705 Views
That's just Paris being a city of nasty people. - 24/09/2010 06:32:40 PM 850 Views
I never noticed that - 24/09/2010 07:05:18 PM 744 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM 777 Views
I didn't mean just in Sweden, or Scandinavia. - 24/09/2010 04:19:32 PM 774 Views
Well... - 24/09/2010 10:50:09 PM 673 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM 744 Views
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 749 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 07:21:24 PM 862 Views
Re: Interesting. - 24/09/2010 08:18:30 PM 725 Views
Re: Interesting. - 25/09/2010 08:02:30 PM 797 Views
American who just got a C+ on a French quiz reporting in. - 24/09/2010 06:09:31 PM 800 Views
What was it on? - 24/09/2010 06:22:35 PM 710 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe - 24/09/2010 06:16:22 PM 655 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 24/09/2010 09:38:05 PM 842 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 05:49:05 AM 826 Views
Real quick - 25/09/2010 12:03:51 PM 804 Views
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 797 Views
You know, gen eds typically include a language. *NM* - 26/09/2010 07:28:57 PM 315 Views
Yes, but other things as well. - 26/09/2010 08:08:20 PM 735 Views
Interesting - 27/09/2010 03:14:00 AM 891 Views
Re: Interesting - 27/09/2010 11:04:37 AM 804 Views
You don't have to prove it's economically valid? - 27/09/2010 08:31:46 PM 819 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 04:54:40 PM 936 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 25/09/2010 07:38:29 PM 860 Views
The amount of German is more surprising. - 25/09/2010 07:55:29 PM 614 Views
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
Aye, they should have. - 26/09/2010 12:26:51 PM 837 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) - 27/09/2010 03:18:30 PM 772 Views

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