Off Topic Politics Thread

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St Badger said:
I spent several years in Spain and it is embarrassing just how many make no attempt to learn the language.
Many, with children, would send their kids to school, who then learned Spanish and became their parents’ translators, similar to the example you give. I always felt sorry for the kids. New country, new school, no friends and a language they didn’t understand.
I tried my best to learn the language, and can make myself understood, but I really wasn’t very good at “hearing” the responses, unless they spoke very slowly and clearly, without abbreviations and localisms. I can read and understand Spanish better than when it is spoken.
I currently work with several Polish, some Romanians, Portuguese and so on and their English is very good.
As the old joke goes.
If you speak 3 languages you are trilingual.
If you speak 2 languages you are bilingual.
If you speak 1 language you are English.
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My youngest stepdaughter spent a few years in Spain, first as an au pair near Madrid, then teaching English in Barcelona. While she became fluent in both Spanish and Catalan, she was struck how many people of all ages wanted to learn English. I suppose the fact that English is about the most widely-spoken language worldwide is both a benefit and a curse to us English. A benefit, because we can usually order a beer or a taxi or whatever pretty much anywhere, and a curse for exactly the same reason, in that most of us just don’t bother to learn the local lingo. The problem lies in our schools, in that there are pitifully scant resources dedicated to foreign languages, even in secondary schools, let alone primary schools where learning multiple languages has been shown to be easiest.
 
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ChilcoSaint said:
My youngest stepdaughter spent a few years in Spain, first as an au pair near Madrid, then teaching English in Barcelona. While she became fluent in both Spanish and Catalan, she was struck how many people of all ages wanted to learn English. I suppose the fact that English is about the most widely-spoken language worldwide is both a benefit and a curse to us English. A benefit, because we can usually order a beer or a taxi or whatever pretty much anywhere, and a curse for exactly the same reason, in that most of us just don’t bother to learn the local lingo. The problem lies in our schools, in that there are pitifully scant resources dedicated to foreign languages, even in secondary schools, let alone primary schools where learning multiple languages has been shown to be easiest.
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The answer is investment but there is also the availability of people teach the language. Not sure many Spanish teachers would want to turn up at our state academies only to be greeting with huge indifference. At Portsmouth Grammar it would be different, and I dare say at Crofton or Brookfield in Sarisbury Green. And it is no good just an hour lesson a week. It needs to be daily.

PS: Is Channel 4 showing La Liga now? It would be perfect then to have the commentary in Spanish. Delentaro is the striker, portero the keeper. People would soon learn. "Gol", "Falta"
 
The other thing is to watch foreign language TV. I'm constantly updating my Italian, and even I'm finally realising that I'm not terrible at anymore, and I started about 3-4 years ago just on Duolingo. I watch Inspector Montalbano, by the way. I've added German these days purely because I was retrospectively disappointed that I gave up German at school. My old, best foreign language used to be French, which I'm pretty damn hopeless at now, but I expect I could get myself back to decent survival mode with a bit of practice.

Oh, and I've downloaded from YT, all the old BBC foreign language tutor series on Italian and German. It leads to quite a variation of voices.
 
I'm currently watching Gomorrah - an Italian language series that is a darker version of the Sopranos without the humour.

The funny thing is it is in Italian, and I have the subtitles on, but I find myself drifting occasionally and looking at my phone and still understanding about 50% of it. Can't speak it, but I can really understand a lot - and not just-o the-o words-o that-o sound-o English-o, lol....o
 
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ChilcoSaint said:
My youngest stepdaughter spent a few years in Spain, first as an au pair near Madrid, then teaching English in Barcelona. While she became fluent in both Spanish and Catalan, she was struck how many people of all ages wanted to learn English. I suppose the fact that English is about the most widely-spoken language worldwide is both a benefit and a curse to us English. A benefit, because we can usually order a beer or a taxi or whatever pretty much anywhere, and a curse for exactly the same reason, in that most of us just don’t bother to learn the local lingo. The problem lies in our schools, in that there are pitifully scant resources dedicated to foreign languages, even in secondary schools, let alone primary schools where learning multiple languages has been shown to be easiest.
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Just to prove how easy it can be for young children to learn languages - until the end of last year I had a lovely Polish family living next door to me, a couple, their daughter and their grand-daughter who was about 8 when she and her Mum moved here. A couple of years later the grand-daughter was fluent in Polish, English and Welsh, in fact, her Welsh was much more "correct" than mine, as she often pointed out to me :D Why we don't teach Spanish, French and Italian to Primary aged children baffles me...
 
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Saint Helen said:
Just to prove how easy it can be for young children to learn languages - until the end of last year I had a lovely Polish family living next door to me, a couple, their daughter and their grand-daughter who was about 8 when she and her Mum moved here. A couple of years later the grand-daughter was fluent in Polish, English and Welsh, in fact, her Welsh was much more "correct" than mine, as she often pointed out to me :D Why we don't teach Spanish, French and Italian to Primary aged children baffles me...
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Perhaps a cynical view from a grumpy old fart. There's only cultural profit particularly in these days of austerity, problem to I would think in finding qualified teachers. Bloody shame.
 
Saint Helen said:
Just to prove how easy it can be for young children to learn languages - until the end of last year I had a lovely Polish family living next door to me, a couple, their daughter and their grand-daughter who was about 8 when she and her Mum moved here. A couple of years later the grand-daughter was fluent in Polish, English and Welsh, in fact, her Welsh was much more "correct" than mine, as she often pointed out to me :D Why we don't teach Spanish, French and Italian to Primary aged children baffles me...
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Friend's got young children in his family who were born in China. They're now here in Canada, and in French immersion schooling. You'd think that it would be difficult to pick up two languages at once (English at home, French at school, while speaking Mandarin with their grandparents), but the young brain is remarkable.

Plus, those kids will have every government department lining up for their services, given our demography.
 
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Schad said:
Friend's got young children in his family who were born in China. They're now here in Canada, and in French immersion schooling. You'd think that it would be difficult to pick up two languages at once (English at home, French at school, while speaking Mandarin with their grandparents), but the young brain is remarkable.
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Canada has got a lot of things spot on. The language immersion -it works the other way in Quebec!!! Also the attitude of drivers there. Well aware and well educated.
 
You've never watched someone cut across four lanes of traffic to make a pass on the paved shoulder in Ottawa, heh. We have our fair share of nuisance drivers.

Immersion is definitely a good idea; have to admit that I was always terrible at languages (weakest subject in grand school was French, weakest in university was German), but it's an invaluable skill to have. Particularly as it has been demonstrated that knowing two languages makes it easier to learn others later, which greatly broadens your possible horizons.
 
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Saints_Alive said:
He has always been a thick Bristolian ****.

So that is him and Colin in favour of Brexit, makes sense (not Brexit!)....
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Parental guidance required.
The profanities in this post have been deemed to be in context and appropriate.
Your post has been reported by the thick Bristolian ****s society who say they "we nothing in common with Holloway he's far thicker than any thick **** in the thick ****s society, the ****!!"
 
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