Active Users:375 Time:09/04/2025 03:39:24 AM
Back to Messageboard Post New Thread Search Help Stats Rules
Self-study can be worth as much as formal classroom study, I suppose Larry Send a noteboard - 25/09/2010 03:43:14 PM

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


High School - Two Years of Spanish (9th, 10th grades)

First round of college - Four semesters of Latin, three semesters of German (high intermediate for Latin, low intermediate for German)

Second round of college - tested out of first three semesters of Spanish, then two semesters (high intermediate, advanced) of Spanish classes.

Self-study: Portuguese, Italian, French, Serbian, plus exposure to some Haitian as well.

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


Speak? English and Spanish. Write? Same two. Read? Those two, plus Portuguese, Italian, French, and German.

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


My high school graduating class was only 58 and it was in a very tiny rural town (despite me living in a Nashville exurb 15 minutes' drive east), so if any Spanish were really learned, it was a very pleasant surprise. So too little emphasis back in the early 1990s, obviously.

Now for UT's history program, if I had completed my Ph.D. I would have been expected to have at least reading fluency in German and either French or Latin, considering my specialization was German cultural/religious history.

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


Imperialism FTW? :P
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

Je suis méchant.
Reply to message
/Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) Legolas - 24/09/2010 01:37:42 PM 1306 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Floffe - 24/09/2010 01:49:32 PM 722 Views
Answering the survey myself... Legolas - 24/09/2010 02:04:39 PM 726 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Camilla - 24/09/2010 02:10:57 PM 716 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Legolas - 24/09/2010 02:20:45 PM 855 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Camilla - 24/09/2010 02:24:01 PM 742 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Lordling - 24/09/2010 02:14:52 PM 773 Views
We have a similar situation in Belgium. Legolas - 24/09/2010 02:32:25 PM 642 Views
It is all double dutch to me snoopcester - 24/09/2010 02:41:41 PM 721 Views
Hah! Camilla - 24/09/2010 06:58:49 PM 802 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Mark - 24/09/2010 03:32:09 PM 667 Views
That is rather sad to say the least. Legolas - 24/09/2010 04:15:32 PM 890 Views
Indeed Mark - 24/09/2010 06:23:52 PM 706 Views
That's just Paris being a city of nasty people. Legolas - 24/09/2010 06:32:40 PM 853 Views
I never noticed that Camilla - 24/09/2010 07:05:18 PM 746 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe jh - 24/09/2010 04:00:04 PM 779 Views
I didn't mean just in Sweden, or Scandinavia. Legolas - 24/09/2010 04:19:32 PM 774 Views
Well... jh - 24/09/2010 10:50:09 PM 674 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe BlackAdder - 24/09/2010 05:47:09 PM 745 Views
Interesting. Legolas - 24/09/2010 06:04:30 PM 695 Views
Re: Interesting. BlackAdder - 24/09/2010 06:42:02 PM 843 Views
Re: Interesting. Legolas - 24/09/2010 07:05:44 PM 750 Views
Re: Interesting. BlackAdder - 24/09/2010 07:21:24 PM 865 Views
Re: Interesting. Legolas - 24/09/2010 08:18:30 PM 727 Views
Re: Interesting. everynametaken - 25/09/2010 08:02:30 PM 799 Views
American who just got a C+ on a French quiz reporting in. Ghavrel - 24/09/2010 06:09:31 PM 802 Views
What was it on? Legolas - 24/09/2010 06:22:35 PM 711 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe Macharius - 24/09/2010 06:16:22 PM 657 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) The_Muted_Grimaud - 24/09/2010 09:38:05 PM 843 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) beckstcw - 25/09/2010 05:49:05 AM 828 Views
Real quick ironclad - 25/09/2010 12:03:51 PM 805 Views
Self-study can be worth as much as formal classroom study, I suppose Larry - 25/09/2010 03:43:14 PM 801 Views
Certainly it can. Legolas - 26/09/2010 12:35:56 PM 800 Views
You know, gen eds typically include a language. *NM* Ghavrel - 26/09/2010 07:28:57 PM 315 Views
Yes, but other things as well. Legolas - 26/09/2010 08:08:20 PM 736 Views
Interesting Larry - 27/09/2010 03:14:00 AM 894 Views
Re: Interesting Legolas - 27/09/2010 11:04:37 AM 806 Views
You don't have to prove it's economically valid? Ghavrel - 27/09/2010 08:31:46 PM 823 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) (beat.) - 25/09/2010 04:54:40 PM 938 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) everynametaken - 25/09/2010 07:38:29 PM 862 Views
The amount of German is more surprising. Joel - 25/09/2010 07:55:29 PM 616 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) Morgawse - 26/09/2010 12:07:19 AM 877 Views
They should have asked about second languages rather than foreign languages. Tim - 26/09/2010 11:34:27 AM 731 Views
Aye, they should have. Legolas - 26/09/2010 12:26:51 PM 838 Views
Re: /Survey: Foreign language knowledge in Europe (and elsewhere) Stephen - 27/09/2010 03:18:30 PM 774 Views
Back to Messageboard Post New Thread Search Help Stats Rules

Reply to Message

Block Quote Paragraph Quote
Formatting
Smiley Codes