| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Do you think people in your country consider learning languages an important thing? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you think people in your country consider learning languages an important thing?".
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| | | | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:16
German to English
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Sadly languages are not given high prioritity here in the UK, which is a double-edged sword as, while I feel it a real shame that the level of foreign languages spoken here is frankly pitiful, it does put you in a stronger position if you do have language skills!
| | | | Diana Coada (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:16
Portuguese to English
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| Native or adopted? | Jun 2, 2015 |
In my native home country yes, it was always considered to be vital if you wanted to have a better future for yourself. In my adopted home country however, sadly, people think along the lines of ''everyone can English, so why bother?''
| | | | | No - and maybe rightly so | Jun 2, 2015 |
With English being such a lingua franca, I totally understand why.
While it may be an advantage for an exporter to speak the importer's lingo, an importer is always going to be more concerned with product quality than language skills.
So while the rest of the world is busy learning English, perhaps native English speakers would be better off putting their energy into learning other skills to get ahead.
Just saying.
[casually steps into flame-re... See more With English being such a lingua franca, I totally understand why.
While it may be an advantage for an exporter to speak the importer's lingo, an importer is always going to be more concerned with product quality than language skills.
So while the rest of the world is busy learning English, perhaps native English speakers would be better off putting their energy into learning other skills to get ahead.
Just saying.
[casually steps into flame-retardant suit] ▲ Collapse
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Ventnai
Spain
Local time: 01:16
German to English
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| Coincide with Diana - native or adopted | Jun 2, 2015 |
Diana Coada, PGDip DPSI NRPSI wrote:
In my native home country yes, it was always considered to be vital if you wanted to have a better future for yourself. In my adopted home country however, sadly, people think along the lines of ''everyone can English, so why bother?''
In the UK, my native country, languages comes way down the list of priorities for most people but they are considered important in Spain although people sometimes struggle to learn. The standard is not very high in schools but people who make an effort to learn outside school usually reach a good standard.
| | | | Suzan Hamer
Netherlands
Local time: 01:16
English
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| In the Netherlands | Jun 2, 2015 |
it seems to me that most people speak at least 2 languages (Dutch and English, mainly), if not 3 or more (German, French, etc.). From my observation, the attitude among the Dutch seems to be that they don't expect visitors, tourists and the rest of the world to speak Dutch, so the Dutch will speak their language(s), and the languages of the surrounding and nearby countries. Also, languages (again, mainly English and German, but also others) are taught in Dutch schools.
| | | | Marta Brambilla
Switzerland
Local time: 01:16
Member (2007)
German to Italian
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| A strange case | Jun 2, 2015 |
Being born and having grown up in Switzerland I definetly am a strange case.
In my country we have 4 national languages, 3 of which are so called "official" so in Switzerland is quite common to speak 2 or more languages.
What I really find sad is that most of the people of our neighbouring (and not only) countries do not know we have 4 different national languages.
But anyway, here learning languages plays an important role.
Cheers
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In the United States the situation is probably worse than in the UK. The National Defense Education Act of 1958 tried to turn that around, but it didn't have a big effect. Now there's talk of learning Chinese for business reasons, but I think it's mostly talk.
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DianeGM
Local time: 02:16
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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In Greece where I live, knowing a foreign language is important. The mass crisis-related exodus has definitely reinforced the need to speak a foreign language. To be fair I think it always was important here, but especially now with the current economic climate in Greece that is probably most parent's top priority for their kids. Kids start learning at private institutes after school from age 6 or so they usually start with English as first foreign language and then a year or so later take on a ... See more In Greece where I live, knowing a foreign language is important. The mass crisis-related exodus has definitely reinforced the need to speak a foreign language. To be fair I think it always was important here, but especially now with the current economic climate in Greece that is probably most parent's top priority for their kids. Kids start learning at private institutes after school from age 6 or so they usually start with English as first foreign language and then a year or so later take on a second foreign language (German is currently in vogue). In the state school system the kids are taught English from the second class and a second foreign language (either German or French) in the fifth and sixth classes - but I would say 90% of the kids are already far ahead of the school level, which is pretty basic, because they take classes after school.
I think generally in Europe, multi-lingual families are quite the norm, so it is also becoming more possible for people to have language skills through non-traditional route. For instance, my kids are exposed to 5 European languages within the extended family, so I hope if they want at some point to learn a 'foreign' language that they will go for something like Arabic or Japanese or similar, but non-European languages are still not popular here in Greece
Foreign languages were not that much of a priority in Scotland where I was born and grew up. At least when I was growing up, but that might be different now but I don't think so, there is still no real pressure for English speakers to learn foreign languages. ▲ Collapse
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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| most certainly | Jun 2, 2015 |
It's always a good idea to learn something new and useful, not to mention that most people from frontier and sightseeing places, who quite decently speak several foreign languages.
Furthermore, according to the recent second EC agreement with Ukraine, the youth and local people are to learn English even harder, it's compulsory (in a way) and with a certain purpose.
| | | | Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 08:16
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
The Japanese try. I admire their efforts but only a few become really proficient.
That's OK with me because I can leverage that situation to my advantage. 
However, I sometimes bump into some Japanese moron 20-something-year-old who think's his English is better than mine just because he went to Oregon for a 6-month intensive. This is when sparks fly and I have to very politely bring out my flame-retardant suit ... See more The Japanese try. I admire their efforts but only a few become really proficient.
That's OK with me because I can leverage that situation to my advantage.
However, I sometimes bump into some Japanese moron 20-something-year-old who think's his English is better than mine just because he went to Oregon for a 6-month intensive. This is when sparks fly and I have to very politely bring out my flame-retardant suit (thanks, Chris). Grrrrrr
We translators also should take comfort in the fact that our words stand out above the average native speaker (of our target language) since we have the necessary writing skills and they can't speak proper like. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | English is maj bedst | Jun 2, 2015 |
... was a catchline in a Danish TV series some years ago, when the office junior was put in charge of looking after the German customer's representative.
In the south of Jutland people are traditionally good at German, and everyone pays lip-service to the importance of learning languages, but we linguists sometimes wonder.
The standard of English I get to proofread is not always as high as it used to be - or let us say it varies a lot more, because the best is still ex... See more ... was a catchline in a Danish TV series some years ago, when the office junior was put in charge of looking after the German customer's representative.
In the south of Jutland people are traditionally good at German, and everyone pays lip-service to the importance of learning languages, but we linguists sometimes wonder.
The standard of English I get to proofread is not always as high as it used to be - or let us say it varies a lot more, because the best is still excellent.
In parallel with the Dutch, Danes don't expect anyone else to speak Danish, but some of them are getting slack about learning other languages.
For better or worse, you can't assume that 'everyone can English'. Incorrect attempts at Globish are not easy to understand, with or without the help og machine translation. There will inevitably be misunderstandings and lost details.
When I went to school, we learnt languages so that we could read the literature and understand other cultures, enjoy the poetry and widen our horizons. They were culture, like sport and music, and important in their own right.
Danish politicians have just abolished state authorization and the protected title for translators, with effect from 2016. They are also cutting back on humanities in the universities - across the board. As I understand it, Copenhagen University is being forced to take 30% fewer language students compared with 2013, and I'm furious!
The weather and the election seem to have got to me, sorry!
At least present company appreciates the importance of learning languages - and others are working on it. Let's hope the tide turns soon. ▲ Collapse
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Adam Kiolle
Netherlands
Local time: 01:16
Member (2014)
German to English
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| "5.9%: no, definitely not" | Jun 2, 2015 |
Hmm, looks like 5.9% of the respondents come from English speaking countries...
Christine's comment about learning languages in order to read the literature and understand other cultures is a powerful argument for languages and reveals something about the purely economics-based reasoning that I see in this thread: a lack of consideration for the fact that things that may not necessarily have economic value, such as intercultural curiosity, exchange and understanding, might have a va... See more Hmm, looks like 5.9% of the respondents come from English speaking countries...
Christine's comment about learning languages in order to read the literature and understand other cultures is a powerful argument for languages and reveals something about the purely economics-based reasoning that I see in this thread: a lack of consideration for the fact that things that may not necessarily have economic value, such as intercultural curiosity, exchange and understanding, might have a value of their own.
So what if it's not decisive for an exporter to speak her buyer's language? Is that all that there is to life on this vast, culturally rich planet? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anthony Baldwin
United States
Local time: 19:16
Portuguese to English
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| USA USA USA!!! | Jun 2, 2015 |
The prevailing attitude here, as has been noted, is "English M0F0! DO YOU SPEAK IT?!" ~Samuel Jackson in "Pulp Fiction".
It's sad, really, and very arrogant, and I do not find it at all justified.
People who only speak English are missing out on so much great literature, music, culture, etc.
It's all part of our arrogant, racist, privileged culture...anything not white American is inferior
(and if you've ever had white "American Cheese", you'll understand just how incredibly erroneous that notion is).
[Edited at 2015-06-02 15:36 GMT]
| | | | Eleonora Chyc
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:16
Russian to Ukrainian
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| No,not really. | Jun 2, 2015 |
I might be wrong, as I don't know statistics, but I don't think that Brits are very fond of learning languages knowing that English is considered as an international language as well as a language of computing.Well, Chinese is also important and so are French,German,Spanish and Portugese.
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