― El (Ken L), Friday, 23 September 2005 18:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 23 September 2005 18:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Thea (Thea), Friday, 23 September 2005 18:54 (eighteen years ago) link
ee-i-ee-i-oh, dammit
― Thea (Thea), Friday, 23 September 2005 18:55 (eighteen years ago) link
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/09/23/international/i171947D03.DTL
Half of Europe's Citizens Know 2 Languages - Friday, September 23, 2005
(09-23) 17:19 PDT BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) --
Half of European citizens speak a second language, according to a European Union survey released Friday.
The poll, conducted in June across Europe, found that tiny Luxembourg had the highest percentage of bilingual citizens, with 99 percent of those questioned saying they could master a conversation in a second language.
Hungary had the lowest number with 29 percent of its citizens able to speak another language. Britain was second last with 30 percent.
The survey also found that almost eight out of 10 students — ages 15-24 — can have a normal conversation in at least one foreign language.
In the United States, by contrast, 9 percent of Americans speak both their native language and another language fluently, according to a U.S. Senate resolution designating 2005 the "Year of Foreign Language Study."
In the European survey, English was identified by 34 percent of respondents as their second language, followed by German which was a second language for 12 percent, then French which was spoken as a second language by 11 percent, according to the survey....
― lyra (lyra), Saturday, 24 September 2005 00:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tuomas (Tuomas), Saturday, 24 September 2005 09:55 (eighteen years ago) link
Apparently the myth that Belgians can speak a lot of languages is not true. Ah well.
― nathalie, a bum like you (stevie nixed), Saturday, 24 September 2005 10:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Saturday, 24 September 2005 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Saturday, 24 September 2005 20:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Saturday, 24 September 2005 20:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Saturday, 24 September 2005 20:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Saturday, 24 September 2005 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― lyra (lyra), Saturday, 24 September 2005 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― lyra (lyra), Saturday, 24 September 2005 22:40 (eighteen years ago) link
However, the subgroups and their possible similarities Finno-Ugric, Romance, Germanic obv complicates stuff (see parenthesised post).
― OleM (OleM), Saturday, 24 September 2005 22:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jena (JenaP), Sunday, 25 September 2005 03:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jena (JenaP), Sunday, 25 September 2005 03:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Sunday, 25 September 2005 04:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Sunday, 25 September 2005 04:36 (eighteen years ago) link
OleM, on average, what percentage of Norwegians speak German? I can;t help but notice a striking similarity, at least in the last sentence there. And tell us more about katakana!
― Jena (JenaP), Sunday, 25 September 2005 04:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Roz (Roz), Sunday, 25 September 2005 07:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Sunday, 25 September 2005 07:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Sunday, 25 September 2005 14:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Sunday, 25 September 2005 14:07 (eighteen years ago) link
We shan't kiss your balls, m'lady.
I speak Dutch fluently. My passive command of German is good, but I get tongue-tied when I try to speak it because it's too similar to Dutch. I can make very very small talk in Spanish but wouldn't say I can speak it.
― Maria :D (Maria D.), Monday, 26 September 2005 00:56 (eighteen years ago) link
?
(that's supposed to be book, one of very few that I know)
― lyra (lyra), Monday, 26 September 2005 01:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― lyra (lyra), Monday, 26 September 2005 01:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― OleM (OleM), Monday, 26 September 2005 07:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 3 October 2005 13:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 3 October 2005 13:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 3 October 2005 13:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― firstworldman (firstworldman), Friday, 4 November 2005 19:58 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm such a liar.
― Nathalie, the Queen of Frock 'n' Fall (stevie nixed), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― firstworldman (firstworldman), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:03 (eighteen years ago) link
I want to start a new language study but I'm torn between the following: Hindi, Farsi, Portuguese and Welsh.
― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Monday, 24 April 2006 14:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 24 April 2006 14:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Eva van Rein (Gaia1981), Monday, 24 April 2006 14:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― sgs (sgs), Monday, 24 April 2006 14:50 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm learning French (8 years plus) and Spanish (nearly 3 years), I study them at university, but I am not remotely fluent and perhaps never will be. Even after seven months in Spain, my speech is littered with mistakes and I often have to ask people to repeat what they've asked me. I have met people who have spent less time than me in Spain/France and have studied the languages for a similar length of time or less who claim to be "fluent". It's possible that I am just rubbish and slow at languages, but I suspect a lot of these people are actually at the same level as me and passing themselves off as fluent. Similarly, since being in Spain a lot of Spanish people have told me that they or their friend can speak English, and when tested on it can't really at all.
― Cathy (Cathy), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― In The Court Of The Redd King Harvest (Ken L), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― In The Court Of The Redd King Harvest (Ken L), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:25 (eighteen years ago) link
Knowing how to sum up language experience on my CV is really tricky, especially since I don't have any way to grade it that would make sense to UK people (GCSE's etc). Or really to US people for that matter--my skillz are all too patchy but I still feel like they count for something.
― sgs (sgs), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― ken c (ken c), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― gbx (skowly), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mädchen (Madchen), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mädchen (Madchen), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Good Dog (Good Dog), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:59 (eighteen years ago) link
me too : (
I have realised that I have two traits that hold me back with learning spoken language, 1) I am really conscious of mistakes and want to constantly stop and correct myself rather than just carrying on and 2) I'm not really a very sociable, talkative person, so although I'm in Spain, I still spend almost the whole time that I'm not at work on my own, and don't really chat to my flatmates or colleagues.
I am usually embarrassed to tell French and Spanish people I study their language at university, because from my spoken language level it really doesn't sound like it. But at university the vast majority of my classes are in writing/comprehension/grammar, or literature and culture which is taught in English.
I've found that you can get some good free language learning podcasts, and I have them on my ipod which is good for just keeping the language in your head while you're walking around.
gbx: I don't know about Pimsleur, but for me anything that is just a recording of someone saying phrases and getting you to repeat is useless, you can't learn a language like that, it just goes out of your head the minute you've finished. Michel Thomas has a really good method (one that works well for me anyway) but the CDs are expensive. He does French, German, Spanish and Italian I think.
― Cathy (Cathy), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:37 (eighteen years ago) link