Learn another language...

[LimaDelta]

Europa1 said:

Motorrad said:

What I do find amusing however is the double standard of the stereotypical British person abroad (holiday or economic migrant like me) who doesn't learn a fking word of the language and just speaks louder and slower while expecting foreigners to be fluent in English when in the UK.

Reminds me of the great Edmund Blackadder: "Can we have a conversation, or are we just going to spend the time asking the way to the beach in very loud voices?"

It is widely accepted that the language of radio (marine and aviation), international commerce, science, etc is English. I am in Italy and all my professional day-to-day business is conducted in English.

There have to be some perks of winning a world war.

[Motorrad]

LimaDelta said:

There have to be some perks of winning a world war.

The perks are that we're so fking brilliant we're capable of learning another language.

[ninja-lewis]

Looking beyond the headlines her interest appears to be in the benefits of multilingualism rather than migration/integration. Looks like she's jumping on the integration issue to suggest that Polish or Urdu could be offered as alternatives alongside the usual French/German/Spanish options to encourage people people to learn another (any) language.

[citizensm1th]

ninja-lewis said:

Looking beyond the headlines her interest appears to be in the benefits of multilingualism rather than migration/integration. Looks like she's jumping on the integration issue to suggest that Polish or Urdu could be offered as alternatives alongside the usual French/German/Spanish options to encourage people people to learn another (any) language.

In the post brexit world manderin or septic would be more useful with russian a close third

[jamoor]

BOR said:

There's no point learning anything another language.

The Foreign won't be allowed in any more(because stealing our jobs), the ones that are here will be sent back, and as the value of the pound drops, you won't be able to afford to go abroad.

Quote of the week surely?

[LimaDelta]

Motorrad said:

LimaDelta said:

There have to be some perks of winning a world war.

The perks are that we're so fking brilliant we're capable of learning another language.

But which language? The irony being I could be fluent in Russian, Tagalog and Farsi, but If I speak English in a French restaurant I'd be labelled an ignorant Brit.

For most foreigners the choice of a second language is automatic and 90% of the time it is English, because its global importance is indisputable. This same issue means many native English speakers will either not learn another language, or will have learned the wrong one for the country they are visiting.

[Vizsla]

A joke I heard whilst living in France :

Q: What do you call a person who speaks many languages?
A: A polyglot

Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages?
A: Bilingual

Q: What do you call a person who speaks only one language?
A: An Englishman!

[Gnits]

Definitely a case of which language.
I think the person writing that article needs to travel across Europe and then tell us all which language to speak. English is understood in many more places than Polish or Spanish.

That said I am absolutely for learning other languages, it is just that it's a really tough choice and some are not easy despite being popular (Mandarin, I am looking at you here) some are popular but spoken in the wrong place will cause problems (Russian) some are popular but where they are spoken English is also really common e.g. Spanish.

Esperanto it is then!!!

[jamoor]

Gnits said:

Definitely a case of which language.
I think the person writing that article needs to travel across Europe and then tell us all which language to speak. English is understood in many more places than Polish or Spanish.

That said I am absolutely for learning other languages, it is just that it's a really tough choice and some are not easy despite being popular (Mandarin, I am looking at you here) some are popular but spoken in the wrong place will cause problems (Russian) some are popular but where they are spoken English is also really common e.g. Spanish.

Esperanto it is then!!!

Which country is bilingual in Spanish and English then? Don't say Gibraltar.


The only language you don't need to bother knowing if you know English is Dutch and Nordic languages.

[LimaDelta]

jamoor said:

The only language you don't need to bother knowing if you know English is Dutch and Nordic languages.

[citation needed]


I've travelled to around 85 countries and dependencies, obviously not all have their own languages, but lets say 20+ different languages. Are you suggesting I should have learned 20 languages, or as was in fact the case, anyone involved in international travel/business tends to have a very good grasp of the only truly global language which is English, meaning I have managed perfectly fine the last 17 years or so with only the one (bar a handful of words here and there).

[4Q]

jamoor said:

Which country is bilingual in Spanish and English then?

Much of the southern states of America. My daughter lives in Tampa and most of her in-laws, and the communities they live and work in, only ever speak Spanish

[jamoor]

LimaDelta said:

jamoor said:

The only language you don't need to bother knowing if you know English is Dutch and Nordic languages.

[citation needed]


I've travelled to around 85 countries and dependencies, obviously not all have their own languages, but lets say 20+ different languages. Are you suggesting I should have learned 20 languages, or as was in fact the case, anyone involved in international travel/business tends to have a very good grasp of the only truly global language which is English, meaning I have managed perfectly fine the last 17 years or so with only the one (bar a handful of words here and there).

You will get stuck though in day to day life if you don't know the local language. I've travelled to over 70 countries for leisure, not business and it can be impossible to find english speakers alot of the time.

The only countries that are exceptions are the Netherlands and Nordic countries, where pretty much everyone speaks english, even older folk.

[jamoor]

4Q said:

Much of the southern states of America. My daughter lives in Tampa and most of her in-laws, and the communities they live and work in, only ever speak Spanish

True, however they are a tiny minority of spanish/english bilinguals.

[Moonhawk]

Foliage said:

Spanish is a good example as its just about as popular world wide as English. Mandarin and Hindi/Urdu obviously top the chart.

Although the number of people who have English as their first language is smaller than that for Mandarin and Spanish - the number of people who speak English as a second language far eclipses both (there are almost 3 times as many people who speak English as a second language than any other language). This means that at well over 900 million speakers, the English language is almost on par with Mandarin in terms of total number of speakers.

What makes English important though is it's spread. English is the default language of business, science and the internet. I reckon you could go pretty much anywhere in the world and could quickly find somebody who can speak at least some English.

This makes English a lot more accessible around the world than say Mandarin which is more concentrated into specific areas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by...

[jamoor]

Moonhawk said:

What makes English important though is it's spread. English is the default language of business, science and the internet. I reckon you could go pretty much anywhere in the world and could quickly find somebody who can speak at least some English.

This statement is simply not true, even though we like to believe it is.

[LimaDelta]

jamoor said:

Moonhawk said:

What makes English important though is it's spread. English is the default language of business, science and the internet. I reckon you could go pretty much anywhere in the world and could quickly find somebody who can speak at least some English.

This statement is simply not true, even though we like to believe it is.

It is both true and false. Pick any metropolitan city across the globe and there will be plenty of English speakers, and one could argue that these are the places which matter. But as you rightly allude, 99% of the planet is not a city full of educated and well-travelled people. Teleport into a Siberian village, Chinese industrial complex or Sunderland council estate and you may struggle to find an English speaker.

[jamoor]

LimaDelta said:

It is both true and false. Pick any metropolitan city across the globe and there will be plenty of English speakers, and one could argue that these are the places which matter. But as you rightly allude, 99% of the planet is not a city full of educated and well-travelled people. Teleport into a Siberian village, Chinese industrial complex or Sunderland council estate and you may struggle to find an English speaker.

Matter for what though? Trade or just generally?

It's a bit like saying the only places worth visiting in the UK are Edinburgh, Manchester and London which simply isn't true.

[LimaDelta]

jamoor said:

LimaDelta said:

It is both true and false. Pick any metropolitan city across the globe and there will be plenty of English speakers, and one could argue that these are the places which matter. But as you rightly allude, 99% of the planet is not a city full of educated and well-travelled people. Teleport into a Siberian village, Chinese industrial complex or Sunderland council estate and you may struggle to find an English speaker.

Matter for what though? Trade or just generally?

It's a bit like saying the only places worth visiting in the UK are Edinburgh, Manchester and London which simply isn't true.

Quite, but how many foreign tourists visit Norwich, or Morpeth, or Swindon, or Kelso? The vast majority will only visit London and Edinburgh

It's not for me to say what matters, but for most people these will be the most likely destination. Even seasoned travellers may think they are off the beaten trail, but rarely are in my experience.

[xRIEx]

jamoor said:

Moonhawk said:

What makes English important though is it's spread. English is the default language of business, science and the internet. I reckon you could go pretty much anywhere in the world and could quickly find somebody who can speak at least some English.

This statement is simply not true, even though we like to believe it is.

In terms of the internet, it very much is true: almost all (if not all) major programming languages are based on English keywords (even if they're not the actual words).

But please, put forward your counterpoint to Moonhawk's assertion

[jamoor]

xRIEx said:

In terms of the internet, it very much is true: almost all (if not all) major programming languages are based on English keywords (even if they're not the actual words).

But please, put forward your counterpoint to Moonhawk's assertion

Well, I'd love to know the percentage of the worlds population that are programmers?

China use a completely different version of the internet to the rest of the world.

The counterpoint is that you can't go to virtually anywhere in the world and find an english speaker quickly.