What may make it difficult for Americans to learn a second or third language is that they are not exposed to other languages when they are young. In Europe there is a Bologna agreement where the EU made a policy that advises learning three languages at least: your own country’s, a neighbouring country’s and a third one. Many choose English as the third language. Children start in primary school with their first English lessons.
Up till the 1970s in many countries, e.g. Belgium and the Netherlands, we were taught 4 languages standard: German, French, English and Dutch. And did exams in all 4. At least it gave you a broad base in linguistics and made it easier to learn new languages. If you attended a Gymnasium or Grammar Schook, you also learnt Latin and Greek. Therefore in Europe, being able to speak several languages is a sign of being civilised or having had a good education. Only the Brits are an exception. In the EU it is inconceivable to go the uni speaking just one language.
That means a totally different attitude to learning languages.
For those with a Germanic language, English is easier to learn. Many words are similar. French has a large overlap in vocabulary. Roman languages like Spanish and Italian have fewer similarities and hence it is more difficult for them to learn English.
Absolutely. As the old joke goes, there are bilinguals, trilinguals, multilinguals, and...Brits or Americans 😂
What's interesting is the different levels of English throughout Europe. Some countries have a high overall level of English whereas others (Spain and Italy come to mind) the overall levels are quite low, and of course there are various factors to account for or explain this.
My failings, which I wrote about in part 1, were that I squandered the opportunities I had at a young age when living in Spain and Germany. But that's also a fault of the American school system and not making it mandatory to learn a foreign language, even when living in the country! That's crazy to me.
Love these confessions, Daniel! It's so refreshing to hear someone being brutally honest about their misgivings abroad. You've definitely gotten creative in a different ways that you've tried to learn! I was really hoping my son would be my translator too, it's not happened in thailand, but maybe he'll pick up Spanish easier. 😅😅
I honestly have no qualms or shame anymore for my linguistic failings - I can live with it!
I really do live vicariously through my daughter. I'm just thrilled she's speaking 3 languages already so well and that'll be great for her in the future. As long as she's doing okay, I'm okay (I say this now, but I just minutes ago got an email from the school about parent-teacher progress meetings, so let's see if my lack of German comes back to bite me in the ass 😂)
When I was learning German, I spent a lot of time studying flash cards and listening to German audio lessons. But what really worked was just having conversations in the language. And beer. After a couple of drinks, the inhibitions fall. You’re less nervous about making mistakes. And you just start talking.
Love this Daniel, made me laugh 😆 You definitely don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do ! To even just ‘get by’ with the language you’ve learnt is incredible! Don’t beat yourself up 😆 I think I told you, I had private Spanish lessons with my sister for a year and can’t recall anything, it was me not the teacher !!
The women you’ve met on your travels wanting to marry you 😁 you asking for private lessons cos you fancied the teacher ! Is gold ! 😆
I do feel terrible for you if you don’t have anywhere to call home ? And feel misplaced, that’s very unsettling. But they do say , home is where your loved ones are , so that is your daughter ❤️ (did any of that make sense?) I was out till late last night dancing my arse off 😆
It all makes perfect sense, happy to hear you were out having a grand time dancing.
Not having anywhere to call home isn't as sad as it sounds, believe me. It's how I was raised, it's what I'm used to and I may never have a physical home (as in a house or flat), but yes, it is where my daughter is, that'll do nicely for now 😊
What may make it difficult for Americans to learn a second or third language is that they are not exposed to other languages when they are young. In Europe there is a Bologna agreement where the EU made a policy that advises learning three languages at least: your own country’s, a neighbouring country’s and a third one. Many choose English as the third language. Children start in primary school with their first English lessons.
Up till the 1970s in many countries, e.g. Belgium and the Netherlands, we were taught 4 languages standard: German, French, English and Dutch. And did exams in all 4. At least it gave you a broad base in linguistics and made it easier to learn new languages. If you attended a Gymnasium or Grammar Schook, you also learnt Latin and Greek. Therefore in Europe, being able to speak several languages is a sign of being civilised or having had a good education. Only the Brits are an exception. In the EU it is inconceivable to go the uni speaking just one language.
That means a totally different attitude to learning languages.
For those with a Germanic language, English is easier to learn. Many words are similar. French has a large overlap in vocabulary. Roman languages like Spanish and Italian have fewer similarities and hence it is more difficult for them to learn English.
Absolutely. As the old joke goes, there are bilinguals, trilinguals, multilinguals, and...Brits or Americans 😂
What's interesting is the different levels of English throughout Europe. Some countries have a high overall level of English whereas others (Spain and Italy come to mind) the overall levels are quite low, and of course there are various factors to account for or explain this.
My failings, which I wrote about in part 1, were that I squandered the opportunities I had at a young age when living in Spain and Germany. But that's also a fault of the American school system and not making it mandatory to learn a foreign language, even when living in the country! That's crazy to me.
Love these confessions, Daniel! It's so refreshing to hear someone being brutally honest about their misgivings abroad. You've definitely gotten creative in a different ways that you've tried to learn! I was really hoping my son would be my translator too, it's not happened in thailand, but maybe he'll pick up Spanish easier. 😅😅
I honestly have no qualms or shame anymore for my linguistic failings - I can live with it!
I really do live vicariously through my daughter. I'm just thrilled she's speaking 3 languages already so well and that'll be great for her in the future. As long as she's doing okay, I'm okay (I say this now, but I just minutes ago got an email from the school about parent-teacher progress meetings, so let's see if my lack of German comes back to bite me in the ass 😂)
Yeah that is honestly amazing at 7! What a clever cookie you've got there! You should be a very proud papa indeed.
Frank and facinating!
When I was learning German, I spent a lot of time studying flash cards and listening to German audio lessons. But what really worked was just having conversations in the language. And beer. After a couple of drinks, the inhibitions fall. You’re less nervous about making mistakes. And you just start talking.
Hence...Drinkglish!
Love this Daniel, made me laugh 😆 You definitely don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do ! To even just ‘get by’ with the language you’ve learnt is incredible! Don’t beat yourself up 😆 I think I told you, I had private Spanish lessons with my sister for a year and can’t recall anything, it was me not the teacher !!
The women you’ve met on your travels wanting to marry you 😁 you asking for private lessons cos you fancied the teacher ! Is gold ! 😆
I do feel terrible for you if you don’t have anywhere to call home ? And feel misplaced, that’s very unsettling. But they do say , home is where your loved ones are , so that is your daughter ❤️ (did any of that make sense?) I was out till late last night dancing my arse off 😆
It all makes perfect sense, happy to hear you were out having a grand time dancing.
Not having anywhere to call home isn't as sad as it sounds, believe me. It's how I was raised, it's what I'm used to and I may never have a physical home (as in a house or flat), but yes, it is where my daughter is, that'll do nicely for now 😊
I am clearly The Survivor 😂😂😂
And that's all you need to...survive 😉
Cartoons that I was already familiar with helped me to easily learn Romanian.
I would watch with Romanian dub and English subs.
Drinkglish sounds interesting 😅