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

  • 24-03-2013 10:32PM
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 545 ✭✭✭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 )

    How many languages do you speak apart from English (see thread for Description) 192 votes

    1
    0%
    2
    41%
    SeanehDempseydougalSarkyMadsLDiddy Kongenda1IrishstabberTristramzegaDoubskwiva-gMusic4lifejuanjociano1keith16KenHycarlmango11[Deleted User]grenache 79 votes
    3
    32%
    GraysonVictorBKtjeWompa1dlofnepMatthewVIIYuriGrudairerecyclebinShenshenmegadodge[Deleted User]retalivityanna.funnervous_twitchRemmyIM0Paz-CCFCIvyTheTerriblebnt 62 votes
    4
    16%
    joolsveerNichololasmathieSnickers Manhappy cookieThe ScienticianM5carlop[Deleted User]unknowngirl!!AmiraniCanardVanishingActsgagiteeboGymseyTroxckHolysockShalashaskaDale Parishaaabbbb 31 votes
    5
    7%
    tolosencspuriousJuliusCaesarrainbowtroutCrann na Beathaplay4fun1Herb Powellstarlingsmichael.dublindd972OnTheCouchLucenaEvanCornwallisRed Kev 14 votes
    6
    2%
    Oat23andrew xSicklySweetChao 4 votes
    7
    1%
    pickarooneyJust Like Heaven 2 votes


«134

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,952 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    3
    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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,250 ✭✭✭✭Iwasfrozen


    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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 63 ✭✭Tearwave


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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,724 ✭✭✭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.


  • Administrators Posts: 55,229 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭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.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 893 ✭✭✭ray2012


    4
    From the poll, 23.53% of people who voted speak 7 languages fluently other than English? Ye wish! :P


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 545 ✭✭✭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.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 474 ✭✭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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,591 ✭✭✭ahnowbrowncow


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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 995 ✭✭✭Hammar


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


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 545 ✭✭✭Chemical Burn


    4
    Can the people who voted 7 please list the languages with an explanation of where / why you speak them :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 893 ✭✭✭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?''


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭Kinski


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

    Please say that in English.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,572 ✭✭✭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..


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,304 ✭✭✭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.

    :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,793 ✭✭✭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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,184 ✭✭✭3ndahalfof6


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


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 37 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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭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. :o

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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 995 ✭✭✭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.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,304 ✭✭✭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. :o

    So 3, I guess. Hoping to add more and more. :D 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.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 904 ✭✭✭Drakares


    2
    Yeah this poll shows a load of non-sense. Would make you think about the legitimacy of other threads containing polls.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,261 ✭✭✭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 :-/


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,370 ✭✭✭pconn062


    2
    Zwei, Englisch und Deutsch.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,372 ✭✭✭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..

    ;)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 797 ✭✭✭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.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 37 aherringterm


    pconn062 wrote: »
    Zwei, Englisch und Deutsch.

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


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,372 ✭✭✭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.


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 42,962 Mod ✭✭✭✭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...


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭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. :p


This discussion has been closed.
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