Why are the Irish, Americans, Australians and British so poor at foreign languages

Chemical Burn

Why are the Irish, Americans, Australians and British so poor at foreign languages in general? Is it because we already speak the Lingua Franca of the World, English? Or is it our inept teaching system? How many languages (apart from English) do you speak? By number of languages you speak, I mean be able to survive in the country without resorting to speaking English, to get important points across, not talk about philosophy and stuff :P

I speak English, LC HL standard of Irish, fluent German, somewhat good Dutch, LC HL French and very rudimentary Mandarin Chinese.

I obviously won't count Mandarin or Irish, (my ineptitude at Irish, even after learning it for 13 years will be a topic for another R&R thread another day :P )

Grayson

3

Chemical Burn wrote: »

not talk about philosophy and stuff :P

Since most philosophical terms have latin and greek roots, the words are very similar in european languages. I'd probably be better at discussing philosophy rather than say football.
Of course I know dick all about football.

Iwasfrozen

Chemical Burn wrote: »

Why are the Irish, Americans, Australians and British so poor at foreign languages in general? Is it because we already speak the Lingua Franca of the World, English? Or is it our inept teaching system? How many languages (apart from English) do you speak? By number of languages you speak, I mean be able to survive in the country without resorting to speaking English, to get important points across, not talk about philosophy and stuff :P

I speak English, LC HL standard of Irish, fluent German, somewhat good Dutch, LC HL French and very rudimentary Mandarin Chinese.

I obviously won't count Mandarin or Irish, (my ineptitude at Irish, even after learning it for 13 years will be a topic for another R&R thread another day :P )

We don't need it, we speak the de facto language of international communication. I would also argue a lot of it is down to American cultural dominance.

Tearwave

Can see no obvious link between all those countries in the thread title anyway,

The Scientician

4

I'd say it's partially necessity and partially inadequacy.

It's not as necessary for an Irish person fluent in English to learn other languages to work abroad, travel etc.

Language provision in countries where they realise their own language is marginally useful internationally seems to be much better than ours. I suspect language teachers in Ireland teach for the LC for the most part with little regard for actual language skill in German, French, Italian, Spanish, etc.

Having said that, while huge swathes of kids across Europe and elsewhere study English in school it's anybody's guess how many people in each non-Anglo country can speak English. My experiences on the continent have varied from perfect, specific accent English as a second language to comically bad or uncomfortable english to zilch.

awec

Probably an unpopular opinion: the emphasis put on learning Irish in Ireland will remove any interest in learning any foreign languages for the majority of people.

Not saying there's anything wrong with promoting Irish (there certainly isn't) but it's going to be at the expense of something else in the majority of cases.

ray2012

4

From the poll, 23.53% of people who voted speak 7 languages fluently other than English? Ye wish! :P

Chemical Burn

4

awec wrote: »

Probably an unpopular opinion: the emphasis put on learning Irish in Ireland will remove any interest in learning any foreign languages for the majority of people.

Not saying there's anything wrong with promoting Irish (there certainly isn't) but it's going to be at the expense of something else in the majority of cases.

Hear, hear.

The emphasis on rote learning essays and crap in general for foreign languages is also a downer. People have to learn about novels and other nonsense in French and German class etc. Now, people may say it is necessary to fully appreciate the language, but I say it's bollocks. You will learn about culture, but not the language, in fact, I'd say it's the opposite, it will actually hinder your progress in learning the language. People may also that people abroad have to learn English literature, but they already have the means to practice and learn English outside of school such as internet and radio and television, we only have school time to learn French and German effectively etc, which is why all resources should be focused on learning the language to make learning effective. But that's too complicate for the folks running the country. If a suggestion has one word of more than on syllable in it, then the public sector and government collapse with the stress. Their little brains can't handle it.

ManMade

Why is there no zero option?

All the named countries speak the English. People will argue different but you don't need any other language to get by. Most irish people emigrate to English speaking countries. If they move to a non-English speaking country they learn the language I guess. I doubt many Irish people need/know a second language fluently.

Shurr if ya know English you be grand.

ahnowbrowncow

And I thought I was the only one on boards.ie who is fluent in 8 languages

Hammar

Thinly-veiled i can speak multiple languages so aren't i great thread.

Chemical Burn

4

Can the people who voted 7 please list the languages with an explanation of where / why you speak them :rolleyes:

ray2012

4

I think many we (Irish people) are weak at foreign languages, as we are never encouraged to study them past leaving cert level, until lately. The government are now putting great emphasis on the importance of knowing a modern language like French or German ; unlike say 10 years ago. Up until recent, if you knew English, you were sorted. Irish people usually didn't leave Ireland (other than to go on holidays), so another language wasn't necessary. People just held the mindset of ''Why bother?''

Kinski

Chemical Burn wrote: »

Is it because we already speak the Lingua Franca of the World, English?

Please say that in English.

msg11

All them other languages are for squares. I would also question some peoples ability to speak English going on some of the posts I read on Facebook, YouTube etc..

Lucena

5

Hammar wrote: »

Thinly-veiled i can speak multiple languages so aren't i great thread.

Can't say anything on boards anymore.

Question about problems with my clutch? Thinly veiled I have a car thread!

Mention something I saw while walking down the road = Thinly veiled I'm not blind and in a wheelchair thread.

Red Kev

5

English - mother tongue
German - fluent
French - good
Portugese - Understandable
Creole from Guinea Bissau - was OK-good, forgotten most of it now.
Irish - tried to learn it again a couple of years ago, it's very basic but i can get by with it in the depths of Connemara. Bad state of affairs having learnt it for 13 years.


OP: English has become the de facto lingua franca of the world, if anyone needs to learn a second language they will inevitably learn English 90% of the time in my experience.

It's a mix of British Empire influence, American influence and circumstance but that's the way it is.

There is no real pressure here to learn another language, and languages are still very badly taught in Irish schools.

3ndahalfof6

There is more of us than there is of them ooooooooo wait fookin Chinese.

aherringterm

I speak irish and english myself. Use to do german but that was just for few years for the junior cert then chose to do woodwork myself. Wish i had of still do it because i coulda got a job for the summer in germany then on the holidays

Canard

4

I speak Irish to LC HL standard, French to ~1st year of college standard. My Spanish is probably around LC HL by now, but I only took it up in college so I wouldn't be able to judge. I can have full conversations in it though. I try to learn German but I don't actually study it, so despite knowing a lot about the grammar and some words, I've never had a conversation so I can't honestly tell you if I could get by or not.

So 3, I guess. Hoping to add more and more. Russian and Portuguese seem fun.

Hammar

I'm thinking of learning French and German. It would probably be a good idea from a business POV to learn the lanaguages of our new overlords.

Lucena

5

Patchy~ wrote: »

I speak Irish to LC HL standard, French to ~1st year of college standard. My Spanish is probably around LC HL by now, but I only took it up in college so I wouldn't be able to judge. I can have full conversations in it though. I try to learn German but I don't actually study it, so despite knowing a lot about the grammar and some words, I've never had a conversation so I can't honestly tell you if I could get by or not.

So 3, I guess. Hoping to add more and more. Russian and Portuguese seem fun.

Language learning tip. Listen to music in the language (Rammstein, Die Toten Hosen, Eisregen) and read stuff that you're interested in (not literature, unless that's you thing). If you're into cars, read about the new BMW auf Deutsch.

Dass mache ich für Deutsch.

Drakares

2

Yeah this poll shows a load of non-sense. Would make you think about the legitimacy of other threads containing polls.

7ofBrian

2

English is my first language but i can get by with conversational Spanish. I spent a few months in Barcelona going to school prior to the leaving cert and had to do all my subjects in Spanish so it was Learn Spanish or Learn Nothing. Great way to do it
That was nearly 12 years ago now though :-/

pconn062

2

Zwei, Englisch und Deutsch.

mosstin

msg11 wrote: »

All them other languages are for squares. I would also question some peoples ability to speak English going on some of the posts I read on Facebook, YouTube etc..

Dwork

I can speak louder and gesture wildly, making myself understood in 23 foreign languages. Possibly more. Others might call it arrogance. I call it a gift.

aherringterm

pconn062 wrote: »

Zwei, Englisch und Deutsch.

Which language is zwei is that the what they are speakin in switzerland, just havin a guess

mosstin

Dwork wrote: »

I can speak louder and gesture wildly, making myself understood in 23 foreign languages. Possibly more. Others might call it arrogance. I call it a gift.

And the less they understand you, the LOUDER YOU SHOULD SHOUT.

Lord TSC

Drakares wrote: »

Yeah this poll shows a load of non-sense. Would make you think about the legitimacy of other threads containing polls.

Tbh, it proves a point about people who hold up census data as absolute fact. Quite easy to say you can do something when there's no test to actually prove it...

Canard

4

Lucena wrote: »

Language learning tip. Listen to music in the language (Rammstein, Die Toten Hosen, Eisregen) and read stuff that you're interested in (not literature, unless that's you thing). If you're into cars, read about the new BMW auf Deutsch.

Dass mache ich für Deutsch.

I do! Foreign music is so much better than English music sometimes. Nena and Silbermond are my favourite German ones. We have to do literature in college, which is really annoying, but with German I find it difficult to read things sometimes with how the words jump around and that. Suppose the only thing to do is practice! Übung macht den Meister.

Dwork

mosstin wrote: »

And the less they understand you, the LOUDER YOU SHOULD SHOUT.

This advice is just wrong, condescending, misleading and facetious. It's SLOWER, not louder.

Seaneh

2

Hablo Espanol e Ingles.

Dwork

aherringterm wrote: »

Which language is zwei is that the what they are speakin in switzerland, just havin a guess

I'm gonna take a guess and go for this ^ is Dutch? Possibly double.

Steve O

Chemical Burn wrote: »

Can the people who voted 7 please list the languages with an explanation of where / why you speak them :rolleyes:

No.

msg11

mosstin wrote: »

I'll hold my hand up and say I am honestly crap at spelling and grammar but I do try to make something that is somewhat eligible to other people. The world would be a better place if people made somewhat of an effort at it.

One thing I can never understand is people using a full keyboard and using text speak, just cannot get my head around it.

Three Seasons

3

Lucena wrote: »

Language learning tip. Listen to music in the language (Rammstein, Die Toten Hosen, Eisregen) and read stuff that you're interested in (not literature, unless that's you thing). If you're into cars, read about the new BMW auf Deutsch.

Dass mache ich für Deutsch.

In Schule konnte Ich Deutsch fast fliessend sprechen, aber jetz ist meine deutschsprachkentnisse night so gut.

Konnten Sie mir Deutsch lernen Seite empfehlen, um meine Deutsch zu verbessern.

Jimoslimos

日本語

kupus

ray2012 wrote: »

From the poll, 23.53% of people who voted speak 7 languages fluently other than English? Ye wish! :P

Chemical Burn wrote: »

Can the people who voted 7 please list the languages with an explanation of where / why you speak them :rolleyes:

Ok languages I speak

English.... Mother tongue

Irish...... Learned in school

New Zealandish ...learned from looking at xena hercules and documentrys about the LOTR and hobbits. Have a lot of differences with english especially with numbers like six.

Australianish.... learned from home and away and neighbours, singing along to Kylie and men at work, also inxs. A varied language with different sayings like throwing shrimps on bbqs

Canadianish.... Helped by a Canadian club and seven this language seems difficult at first but once you get used to it you're off to a flyier, A dialect known as newfie well, thats a whole different ball game, its like a jumbled up mishmash of a donegal,mayo,galway,kerry and cork accent put together and spoke by somebody who would not sound or look out of place in any of those areas a 100 years ago.

Americanish ....learned this from walking around south dublin.

and finally French, learned in school

honorary mentions for scotlandish, and south africanish. and as for welsh, f88k that. I dont know where sentences srart never mind finish.

mikemac1

2

Girl from Tipp leaves home and starts college in UCD in September and comes back at Christmas talking like a Yank

gobnaitolunacy

Why do most Chinese are so poor at languages other than Chinese?

Stupid thread is stupid. Linguistic p*ssing contest.

BidillyBo

I think its because people learning English have great motivation for it because they can go pretty much anywhere in the world with but learning french there's only so many countries that its useful in

Legs.Eleven

2

It's not just English speaking countries. I teach English in Spain and the level of English, nevermind other languages, is generally atrocious and they learn it right through school. Same goes for Italy and France. It seems those that are best at it speak a minority language not spoken outside their own, so I'm guessing necessity drives them to learn it.

I could live in Madrid without any Spanish and I know plenty of people that do (I'm not one of them) but the same couldn't be said for Spanish person living in London without English and that says it all. Plus most emigration from Ireland is to other English speaking countries, so it's simply not needed.

bob50

Option of Zero would be my answer to the poll.

English is the worlds main language

When England was in its colonial days it brought english to a fair part of the world hence its the most popular spoken word

And even in countries where they have their own native language i.e France Spain Italy they will speak english as a second

So thats why english is only really needed anywhere you travel

mikemac1

2

You can still speak English when Ulster Bank and others send your job to India

Lando Griffin

Can't vote in poll as I know no other language than English and you have no option for Zero.
I can point and mime very well though.

An Coilean

2

What are you on about OP? Everyone in Ireland speaks a foreign language, its called English.

skinny90

The British would appear to be a decent bunch for being good at foreign languages.

recyclebin

3

Most European countries learn English as their second language. We learn Irish as our second language. It would be interesting to see how good most Europeans can speak a third language and compare it with our knowledge of a third language.

For my junior cert I did English, Irish, French and German. I would have preferred to have done just English and German. If I had of replaced all the time I spent on Irish and French with learning German I'd say I would have been pretty fluent in German by the end of leaving certificate.

mixery

4

Learning is one part, speaking is the other. I find Irish people to be terrible at pronounciation.

Hopefully after Uni I will be able to speak 4 languages easily, maybe a fifth one for the craic.

mikemac1

2

mixery wrote: »

Hopefully after Uni I will be able to speak 4 languages easily, maybe a fifth one for the craic.

Uni?
Well you talk like a Brit already. :P

You go to college