I feel so "unworldly"

[dragonheart]

I am noticing how many of my LJ and Twitter friends are bilingual - French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, etc and I am feeling decidedly unworldly.  English is not their native language, yet they grasp it fully; if they hadn't told me that English was not their mother tongue or if they hadn't posted/commented/tweeted in another language, I would never have guessed - and I have noticed some speak 3 or more languages!

I grew up in a time when in the American educational system English was king and if we got a semester of foreign language it was mostly considered a waste of time - why in the world would students need to learn another language? The universal language is English, why would we the English speaking peoples need to learn anything else?

What a totally stupid and outdated idea - here I am 40 years old and I only know a handful of foreign words - most I am sure I don't even pronounce correctly - and you know what? That attitude (at least where I live) hasn't changed much in the past 20 years - my son was required to take a year of foreign language his sophomore year in high school: the choices: Spanish or French - he chose Spanish - which 2 years later, he has forgotten most of what little he had learned.

Granted, most of us don't NEED to know how to speak a second language, but wouldn't it be nice to at least know that you COULD?

Besides, I know I am missing out on some good fanfic - kew121  recommended a story in her most recent rec posting - and it was in Spanish - guess I will never know what happened .

But I am tempted to go out and buy a Rosetta Stone and learn a second language - just for myself.

Comments

[toomuchfandom.livejournal.com]

In my country, English is a mandatory language you need to learn. They start with it when you're a child, and then when you graduate, you still have to have it.

I was a sucker for English early on and basically taught myself, I was always ahead of the class.

There are more people speaking English in the world than Dutch. No one likes to learn how to speak Dutch because of the pronunciations.

German and French were side languages we could chose (apart from the other stuff, like maths, science, biology...) and I had both languages in school for two years. I decided to drop them both as I really couldn't get the hang of the grammar which made half my grades.

I can speak German well enough to make myself understandable, but French? Mon Dieu! That's a language that I have forgotten.

Don't feel bad for only speaking one language. You're already speaking the most important language in the world!

[proseac]

*hugs*

I agree with toomuchfandom - you already speak the most important language. But I would never discourage you from learning another one.

I was very fortunate that my parents had foresight and enrolled me in French Immersion when I entered school at age 5. I took half my courses in French and half in English, all the way through to the end of high school, and graduated with a bilingual HS certificate. Along the way I participated in two bilingual exchanges to Quebec, living with a family for 2 weeks and completely immersed in their language and culture. It was fun, and I learned a lot about my country, not just about the language.

Of course, in Canada French is one of our two official languages, so it's good to have it, but one can function quite well without. However, it does open doors in terms of employment, especially if you live in certain cities, like Ottawa.

I will say, being surrounded by the language is far more effective than simply studying out of a book or software tool. With those tools, you inevitably end up learning by translating, which is never good because you always have to stop and think of the word you want. It slows you down and makes it much more difficult IMHO.

So...if you are really serious about wanting to learn another language, get your butt over to whatever country you want, and just muddle along until it sinks in. That's the best way. Just my 2 cents (more like 50 cents - sorry!)

[swithers.livejournal.com]

I think it varies a lot in the UK. When I was at secondary school you had to learn a second language from year 7 (aged 11) and we had to take is right the way through to GCSE level, I actually took GCSEs in French and German, although I haven't spoken either of them in about 6 years now. Reading was always my strong point though, so I could probably still muddle through and translate something.

It's strange in a way, they're encouraging foreign language learning in primary schools but a lot of schools have stopped making it compulsory to take it beyond year 9 (age 14)

I certainly regret not keeping up with my languages, I did a qualification in British Sign Language too, I think having extra languages certainly helps with employment, I'm going to have to try and pick them back up again I think

[alidiabin]

I always googgle translate the Spanish fic. It's good.

And I feel your pain.

Both the UK and NZ's education system is solely English lanaguage. If I had stayed in England a year longer I would have learnt French for a year. When I moved to NZ we had German class twice a week, Ich bin Alice. When I moved to high school I took Te Reo Maori (NZ's second language) as a language option for two years, I always wish I'd continued with German. Kia Ora, te Alice taku ingoa.

I think I might take a lanaguage course in university. French or German perhaps. It will help with employment fingers crossed. French might be easier seeing as I watch so much French film.

My school is full of people who speak ESOL and so you can walk down the corridor and hear, Arabic, Samoan, Tongan, Mandarin, Tagalog, Hindi, and Cantonese as well as broken English.

[rigil-kent.livejournal.com]

[Corben Dallas] Hey lady, I only speak two languages: English and Bad English! [/Corben Dallas]

I feel your pain. In high school, I took Spanish ... yet remember nothing about it. In college, I took a semester of German (since I was stationed in Germany for two years back in the Army days), but that was a mistake as I and one other guy were the only people in the class who didn't have at least three years previous German experience. I started to take a semester of Latin a while later, but ended up having to withdraw due to money & work-related issues.

Alas...

[whiteink]

I took 3 years of Spanish in high school, and 4 semesters in college. I don't remember nearly enough to read Spanish fics ... and I wish I could. I post the NCIS newsletter on Sundays, and I have weeks where I have to run Spanish titles/posts through Google translator half the time to know what I'm posting ... and it annoys me. I should remember this stuff. I feel like I need to brush up on my Spanish just so I can read fanfics.

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean and I feel the same.

We did study French at school in the first year (for me 13) of upper school and could chose to take it (or Spanish or German) for an 'O' level. But I never really got on well with it, so I didn't bother. I really wish now I'd persevered, or tried Spanish. It was crazy I feel, with hindsight, that it wasn't compulsory (as English and Maths were) to study it further.

I know several writers whose native language isn't English and yet they write superb stories.

Like you, I know a handful of foreign words.

I'd love to learn a new language properly.

[zaedah.livejournal.com]

I speak enough Cherokee to get by and let me tell you, it's NEVER come in handy!

Sadly I took four years of French and while I can count to roughly a million, I can't recall a single useful word : (