The only time I learnt a foreign language was first year of high school. I did German, if recall (it was over 20 years ago). Some languages were offered year 8 to 12, but I choose to stick to other subjects.
Second Languages in Other Schools
- Thread starter Alidar Jarok
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Rii
Rear Admiral
I learnt German in primary school (no alternatives offered) and French in high school (Chinese was also offered). I don't know how typical that experience is. I think there's something of a push underway atm for a greater emphasis on Asia in Australian schooling. I know my youngest brother is learning Japanese.
In Honduras, English is taught somewhat but few of the public school teachers have more than a passing ability to speak it.
Parents with the funds to afford it send their children to private English speaking schools where the entire education package is generally better.
This whole thread reminds me of an old saying:
People who speak three languages are Multi-Lingual
People who speak two languages are Bi-Lingual
People who only speak one language are Americans
Parents with the funds to afford it send their children to private English speaking schools where the entire education package is generally better.
This whole thread reminds me of an old saying:
People who speak three languages are Multi-Lingual
People who speak two languages are Bi-Lingual
People who only speak one language are Americans
In Serbia you carry over into high school whichever 2 languages you had to learn in elementary, which are always English, and usually either French, Russian or German. I started English in the 3rd grade, and French in the 5th. My English prof was kind of a fucking genius, actually, faking a broken Serbian accent, and speaking like a Brit for most of the time. Explains why my English ended up being so much better.
It's almost exactly the same in Austria, except that everybody learn English first (my "third" language was Spanish, but I suck at that because I cheated all the time in school
) My language teachers were actually really good, my Spanish teacher was even a native speaker, a very nice old lady from Mexico; of course we were too stupid to take advantage of that opportunity.
When I was at school, you had to do French from age 11 until 14. You were then free to choose to do French or German (or both) as a GCSE subject.
There were also a lot of kids who took additional GCSEs in their parents native languages - Hindi, Greek, Arabic etc. In these cases they just sat the exams, and didn't have any classes. It was an easy extra GCSE for them.
Possibly the biggest mistake I made in choosing my GCSE subjects was choosing German over French. The only reason I wasn't top of my class in French was the kid who spoke it natively. I found the teacher hard to get along with and his style of teaching you lists of words instead of how to have conversations wasn't helping me learn the language.
Unfortunately, German was taught the same way so I ended up asking not to sit the exam. I lost out on a GCSE because of this, though I wouldn't have passed. The silver lining on this cloud was, however, that Maths wasn't taught very well in my school either. Losing German gave me two hours a week to do other things, so I bought a Maths GCSE study guide and worked through that. That got me a B which I was in no way expecting.
There were also a lot of kids who took additional GCSEs in their parents native languages - Hindi, Greek, Arabic etc. In these cases they just sat the exams, and didn't have any classes. It was an easy extra GCSE for them.
Possibly the biggest mistake I made in choosing my GCSE subjects was choosing German over French. The only reason I wasn't top of my class in French was the kid who spoke it natively. I found the teacher hard to get along with and his style of teaching you lists of words instead of how to have conversations wasn't helping me learn the language.
Unfortunately, German was taught the same way so I ended up asking not to sit the exam. I lost out on a GCSE because of this, though I wouldn't have passed. The silver lining on this cloud was, however, that Maths wasn't taught very well in my school either. Losing German gave me two hours a week to do other things, so I bought a Maths GCSE study guide and worked through that. That got me a B which I was in no way expecting.
la langue d'amour...French is the language that should be murmured in everyone's ears at night, the world would be a better place
What nonsense. German is quite clearly the language of love!
Schneller! Schneller! Höher hinauf! Links ein wenig! Gleich dort! Weiter so! Ja! Ja! Sag meinen Namen! Sag meinen Namen! Oh Gott! Oh Gott! Ja! Ja!
See ?
amen brother!la langue d'amour...French is the language that should be murmured in everyone's ears at night, the world would be a better place
What nonsense. German is quite clearly the language of love!
Schneller! Schneller! Höher hinauf! Links ein wenig! Gleich dort! Weiter so! Ja! Ja! Sag meinen Namen! Sag meinen Namen! Oh Gott! Oh Gott! Ja! Ja!
See ?
Yep, stupid. I thought my English teachers were annoying, now I know that's the proof they were really good
What nonsense. German is quite clearly the language of love!
Schneller! Schneller! Höher hinauf! Links ein wenig! Gleich dort! Weiter so! Ja! Ja! Sag meinen Namen! Sag meinen Namen! Oh Gott! Oh Gott! Ja! Ja!
See ?
To a Francophone ear there is worse : Dutch and Flemish...brrrr
Not that surprising. Dutch was probably invented by a guy with a close to lethal level of blood alcohol trying to speak German and English at the same time.
I thought I wanted to go to medical school, so I took German and Latin. At the time (this is a US school), we were given the choice of German, Latin, Spanish, and French. Now my kids have the option of Mandarin Chinese as well.
I took German for so long (6 years) that I became physically unable to speak Spanish. My accent could cause riots.
I took German for so long (6 years) that I became physically unable to speak Spanish. My accent could cause riots.
Here in Italy, they teach English in primary school (age 6-10) and in middle school (age 11-13). In the latest reorganization of the school system, they added another EU language in middle school (French, Spanish or German).
There are several kinds of high schools (age 14-19), depending on the main focus: Classical Lyceum, Scientific Lyceum, Linguistic Lyceum, Commercial Institute, Technical Institute, various Professional Schools, etc.
At Classical Lyceums they teach Latin and ancient Greek (usually focused on written translations, rarely conversational) and one foreign language (usually English, but sometimes French).
At Scientific Lyceums they teach Latin (again, mostly written) and another foreign language, sometimes two (usually English, French, German or Spanish). I had only English because they taught me programming languages instead.
At Linguistic Lyceums they teach three foreign languages with full conversational skills (many languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arab, Chinese, etc.)
At the Commercial Institutes they teach English and sometimes another language.
At the Technical Institutes and Professional Schools they usually teach only English.
Unfortunately, despite the great variations, teachers are usually quite poor (or simply uninterested), so we usually learn very little and forget almost immediately. The good thing is the that thanks to computer skills and especially the Internet many people are getting to use their English a little more.
There are several kinds of high schools (age 14-19), depending on the main focus: Classical Lyceum, Scientific Lyceum, Linguistic Lyceum, Commercial Institute, Technical Institute, various Professional Schools, etc.
At Classical Lyceums they teach Latin and ancient Greek (usually focused on written translations, rarely conversational) and one foreign language (usually English, but sometimes French).
At Scientific Lyceums they teach Latin (again, mostly written) and another foreign language, sometimes two (usually English, French, German or Spanish). I had only English because they taught me programming languages instead.
At Linguistic Lyceums they teach three foreign languages with full conversational skills (many languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arab, Chinese, etc.)
At the Commercial Institutes they teach English and sometimes another language.
At the Technical Institutes and Professional Schools they usually teach only English.
Unfortunately, despite the great variations, teachers are usually quite poor (or simply uninterested), so we usually learn very little and forget almost immediately. The good thing is the that thanks to computer skills and especially the Internet many people are getting to use their English a little more.
Apparently, only if you are into S&M.What nonsense. German is quite clearly the language of love!
Schneller! Schneller! Höher hinauf! Links ein wenig! Gleich dort! Weiter so! Ja! Ja! Sag meinen Namen! Sag meinen Namen! Oh Gott! Oh Gott! Ja! Ja!
See ?
i was ironic... and i'm fully aware of what he wrote.
They teach a lot of foreign languages in high school here. English is afaik compulsory, but you're allowed to take classes in other languages as well. I also took German classes, but I despised learning the grammar.
It's also been 13 years so it got a bit rusty.
Ich kann mich verstehbar machen, aber es wurdet nicht schön klinken, oder etwas.
I also took German classes, but I despised learning the grammar.
Weird. I always thought German grammar was very similar to Dutch grammar.
It's mostly the genders that got me confused, as well as the ringle-S...
When i was in school, let's see...
When i was 10 English got introduced as a mandatory second language at primary school...
When i was 12 and went to secondary/high school i also got German and French, back then we could still drop languages as long as we had one compulsory foreign language, so i dropped French and German in the next 2 years, so i ended up with Dutch and English, together with math, science, chemistry and art history...
Then in tertiary education/vocational/trade school i got some more German...
That ended 14 years ago...
To a Francophone ear there is worse : Dutch and Flemish...brrrr
I work with a lot of francophones at work and they've never complained. :P
Anyway, I'm not 100% how it works now, but at my primary school French was given in the last 2 years, but I've heard that a lot of primary schools are trying to give French as of the first year (so for a total of 6 years). Even preschools are experimenting with teaching French to 3 years olds! (or Chinese, even).
In high school, we had mandatory French and English for the whole 6 years. Latin and Greek were optional - I had 6 years of Latin as well. Then there was also the option to take German, Spanish or Italian for 3 years.
Oh, and 12 years of mandatory Dutch courses also help (real Dutch, not Holland-Dutch
)Us Flemings take pride in our linguistic abilities!
US here, and I did four years of Spanish in high school and found it easy and interesting. I wish I had kept up with it. In college I took a year or two of Latin just because it seemed interesting but man, that was difficult. I definitely have not retained what I learned there.
One of these days, I'll learn Bengali properly so I can speak it and not just understand it, but that will obviously never be offered in a school here.
One of these days, I'll learn Bengali properly so I can speak it and not just understand it, but that will obviously never be offered in a school here.
To a Francophone ear there is worse : Dutch and Flemish...brrrr
I work with a lot of francophones at work and they've never complained. :P
Despite the rumours, francophones are polite
I confirm. A lot of them speak a perfect French...they just never speak it willingly
Almost the same as at my school those many years ago. It was not mandatory to take a foreign language once you came to pick your options though. (English, Maths, One Science, Physical Education and either History or Geography were mandatory. If you did go with other languages, it was French only.) We only did German because our class finished off the coursework early.
For the first three years I took French, I came second in our year but I don't remember that much now as I haven't used it for years
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