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Café Pedro 4: I came too early
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| CrueTrue |
Posted on 14-09-2012 13:20
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From personal experiences, I had major trouble communicating with people in Paris and in Barcelona. Both places, people insisted on speaking their own language rather than English.
In Paris, it was like people could speak English, but that they just didn't want to. In Barcelona, they were downright hopeless and not capable of speaking English.
... which, obviously, it not their problem, but mine. I did learn a bit of Spanish at high school, but that wasn't really to much use, I realized  Never had any French lessons, but as said, after they had rolled their eyes at me for speaking English, they did usually switch over from French. |
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| Logghje |
Posted on 14-09-2012 14:48
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Domestique
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In Belgium (Flanders) it's like this:
Age 0: Dutch (obviously)
Age 10: French (as our 2nd official national language)
Age 12: English
Age 12: Latin (optional)
Age 13: Old Greek (optional)
Age 15: German (as our 3rd official national language)
And in University, you can choose several other languages if you want to study 'Linguistics and Literature' Just like me with my Italian  |
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| Miguel98 |
Posted on 14-09-2012 15:02
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World Champion
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In Portugal it's like this:
Age 0: Portuguese
Age 5: English
Age 12: French
Age 15: German/Spanish
And, who goes to the Linguistic course, they can choose other languages, just like in any other country. |
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| Pellizotti2 |
Posted on 14-09-2012 15:11
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Here in Sweden, we start learning English at nine, then you choose between French, Spanish and German when you turn twelve.
After that it depends on what sort of area you're studying. For example, I only study English (and Swedish, obviously) by now, since my area is technology. Other students has the possibility to choose between going further in their earlier choice or choosing a new one. I think Italian is one of the new choices at this age.
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| Deadpool |
Posted on 14-09-2012 15:16
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In the US, and not including children of immigrants who speak a different language at home (of which there are very, very, many).
0: English
12-20: Options definitely including Spanish and French, and depending on where you go to school possibly also including Italian, German, Latin, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, and occasionally something else. My high school had Spanish, French, and Latin, and my college has Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, Latin, and Greek. I do go to a tiny college though, most full universities will have a bigger foreign language department, although you don't see that in high school.
Edited by Deadpool on 14-09-2012 15:17
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 23:02
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 14-09-2012 15:22
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Where I am in Canada, it is mandatory to learn French when you're 10, until 14 where it then becomes optional, and then there is Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin and a few others when you are 15, which are all optional.
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| felix_29 |
Posted on 14-09-2012 15:26
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3054
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I had English lessons since i was 10 (for 9 years), Latin since i was 12 (5 years) and French since i was 14 (two years only).
I could choose between Latin and French and later between French and science (a bit of chemistry, physics, math and a lot of ecology). Latin was a good choice, French wasn´t...
But they now have a new system, with 12 instead of 13 years of school. English lessons start after half a year of school, when kids are 6 or 7 years old.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 14-09-2012 15:34
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I've been studying English since the 2nd grade.
Here, in the 5th grade kids also start studying a second foreign language. For me that was German. Then, when I went to high school I was forced to switch to French as a second foreign language. Now, that I've finished high school, I've studied English for 11 years, German and French for 4 each.
So, I can say that I've studied 3 foreign languages, but the only one I can speak is English (and not as good as I'd want to).
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| cactus-jack |
Posted on 14-09-2012 15:42
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Classics Specialist
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Immortal wrote:
Aquarius wrote:
I didn't know you studied French in Norway ?
I don't quite understand the point of learning French nowadays, except for countries where it's the first or the official language, of course. All business is done in English. Chinese, Japanese, German or Spanish could make sense, but that's all, basically. French ? It's been ages for we were the first or second most powerful or influential nation in the world.
English is obligatory as a second language from first grade. Students get to choose their third language from 8th grade. The three most common are german, spanish and french.
And on a related note: the system is crap. 8th grade is right after students are past their peak language learning years. Out of the 24 persons in my german class who all had german for five years, I don't think a single one of them (including me) can hold anything remotely reminiscent of a conversation in german.
It's not in every school that you can chose which language you wish to learn. In my school our only two options were either more english or russian. It all depends on the teachers working there.
There's a fine line between "psychotherapist" and "psycho the rapist"
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| Aquarius |
Posted on 14-09-2012 17:46
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5220
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Besides the French being reluctant to speak anything else than French language, that still doesn't say what the purpose of learning French is.
But as every one seems to have had French lessons, I shouldn't bother writing in English any more, should I ?
And, btw, I had English lessons from junior high (at 11) till I left the university (at 22). That was mandatory.
I also had German lessons from the second half of junior high (at 13 then), which I chose over Spanish. It was mandatory the first three years, then I decided to keep the option during my last two high school years (but I skipped one hour per week - we had three - because of cycling duties). It became mandatory the year after I got my final high school exams.
I also chose extra-English lessons instead of Latin when I was 13.
Edited by Aquarius on 14-09-2012 17:50
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| Logghje |
Posted on 14-09-2012 17:51
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Domestique
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I wouldn't bother, my French is quite perfect Nahh not really, but I can read and understand everything My French isn't bad either, I should be able to do a conversation in French  |
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| lokytrew |
Posted on 14-09-2012 18:05
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Domestique
Posts: 573
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Here in the Netherlands we learn English, German and French. At my school there also is Latin, Old Greek and Spanish. These are optional.
Domenico Pozzovivo |
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| cactus-jack |
Posted on 14-09-2012 18:18
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Classics Specialist
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Joined: 31-07-2009
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I don't mean to start WW III here, but to be honest I can't see the point in learning French, not even German. When I say this I mean it in a strictly practical term. There is only one major(!) language in the world at the moment; English. If you want to be a sought after employee in the future, what you should learn is Mandarin (that's fancy-talk for Chinese, right?)
What I really can't see the point of in any case is to learn Old Greek or Latin. Even is you want to learn it for fun, what would you do with it? The best way to preserve your knowledge of a language is to use it regularly. Unless Italy decides to reconquer Europe and go back to Ancient Latin.
I would like to learn to speak Dutch, though. It would be absolutely useless, but it sounds awesome. It might be the coolest-sounding language I know of. Plus, since I'm Norwegian I've heard it's somewhat easy to learn.
There's a fine line between "psychotherapist" and "psycho the rapist"
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| Logghje |
Posted on 14-09-2012 18:28
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Domestique
Posts: 527
Joined: 27-04-2009
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cactus-jack wrote:I would like to learn to speak Dutch, though. It would be absolutely useless, but it sounds awesome. It might be the coolest-sounding language I know of. Plus, since I'm Norwegian I've heard it's somewhat easy to learn.
Lol, that's exactly the same thing I thought about Swedish Quite useless, but sounding awesome  |
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| cactus-jack |
Posted on 14-09-2012 18:33
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3936
Joined: 31-07-2009
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Swedish sounds awesome? The only person who ever liked the sound of Swedish was Beethoven.
By the way, why is it that so many people in Germany (and apperantly Belgium, too) seem to learn Swedish? Is there any special reason? I once met a couple of girls while traveling in Germany who spoke almost perfect Swedish. I wish they'd told me before I said that they had killer hooters in Norwegian... it didn't end well.
Spoiler You get it? The Beethoven thing? You knowl because he was deaf, and... well, you know. God dammit, I ruined the joke! Laugh, I tell you! Laugh!
Edited by cactus-jack on 14-09-2012 18:37
There's a fine line between "psychotherapist" and "psycho the rapist"
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 14-09-2012 20:20
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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Well, I heard Swedish is incredibly easy to learn, so maybe that's why a lot learn. You're right about the German/French language. Chinese and English are the future (maybe Spanish, too) |
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 14-09-2012 20:26
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8389
Joined: 08-09-2009
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Miguel98 wrote:
In Portugal it's like this:
Age 0: Portuguese
Age 5: English
Age 12: French
Age 15: German/Spanish
And, who goes to the Linguistic course, they can choose other languages, just like in any other country.
I'd say Spanish/French at age 12, I have a friend who began learning Spanish with that age.
Ian Butler wrote:
Well, I heard Swedish is incredibly easy to learn, so maybe that's why a lot learn. You're right about the German/French language. Chinese and English are the future (maybe Spanish, too)
When I went to Sweden two years ago, I didn't find their language very easy, seemed a bit complicated, though not as hard as Magyar. |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 14-09-2012 20:28
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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Well, all I know is that my sister took Swedish for one year and she speaks it as well as I speak French and I've been learning that for many years |
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| kumazan |
Posted on 14-09-2012 20:36
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Team Leader
Posts: 6662
Joined: 02-07-2009
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Ian Butler wrote:
Well, all I know is that my sister took Swedish for one year and she speaks it as well as I speak French and I've been learning that for many years
I guess native Germanic language speakers would have it easier to learn Swedish than French. Likewise, I spent 5 years studying German (and spent 15 days there with a German family), yet my German is worse than my Italian, which I "learnt" by watching Italian races in RAI streams.
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| jseadog1 |
Posted on 14-09-2012 20:48
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Grand Tour Champion
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Where I am in the United States, its English until 7th grade, where you then get a mandatory Spanish for 1 year.
From 8th-12th grade, you can continue with Spanish, or take Russian.
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