4 ms·

But in most cases you don't have a pick of which extra language to learn. People learn English because they want to speak with Americans (and earlier the Briti

by rvense 10y ago

But in most cases you don't have a pick of which extra language to learn. People learn English because they want to speak with Americans (and earlier the British). Everything else is irrelevant.

wolfgke 10y ago
I rather think most people learn a particular set of language because they have to pick it in school. For me it was English, Latin (hated it) and French (as third language I also could have chosen Russian (would also have interested me) or ancient Greek).
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  >> People learn English because they want to speak with Americans (and earlier the British). > I rather think most people learn a particular set of language because they have to pick it in school. You are using "learn" in a completely different sense than rvense is. Far and away the majority of people who have to take language classes in school don't learn anything. People who study a language because they want to communicate with people who speak that language, do learn.
  - wolfgke 10y ago
    > You are using "learn" in a completely different sense than rvense is. Far and away the majority of people who have to take language classes in school don't learn anything. I know few people who really try to learn a new language after school (which is IMHO a pity, since there exist free options in the internet), so for the typical person it is "one either learned the language in school and got to an at least medium level (on which one can, if one wants to (say, because one wants to communicate with others), build later on in life) or one will never learn the language".
- rvense 10y ago
  You don't think the fact that English was more useful to you had anything do with your liking it more? There is also the way these things are taught. The most common third language to learn here is German, and instead of, you know, focusing on fluency and learning to actually use the language, or watching good German films or reading interesting German literature, what you get is rote memorization of inflections.
  - wolfgke 10y ago
    I think teaching the grammar first makes sense in German since this is the difficult and ugly part. In my opinion if this does not become a second nature you will be uncomfortable to communicate in German since otherwise you will always think uncofortable seconds how to build the correct case etc. . In other words: You will have difficulties becoming fluent if you aren't confident in the grammar.
rtpg 10y ago
At least in Japan, learning English lets you speak to all foreigners. The expectation is that everyone who can't speak the native language at least can speak English. This leads to most English being spoken in the country having no native participant. Having too idiomatic English will probably lead to harder communication.

by rvense 10y ago

But in most cases you don't have a pick of which extra language to learn. People learn English because they want to speak with Americans (and earlier the British). Everything else is irrelevant.

wolfgke 10y ago

I rather think most people learn a particular set of language because they have to pick it in school. For me it was English, Latin (hated it) and French (as third language I also could have chosen Russian (would also have interested me) or ancient Greek).

thaumasiotes 10y ago
>> People learn English because they want to speak with Americans (and earlier the British). > I rather think most people learn a particular set of language because they have to pick it in school. You are using "learn" in a completely different sense than rvense is. Far and away the majority of people who have to take language classes in school don't learn anything. People who study a language because they want to communicate with people who speak that language, do learn.
- wolfgke 10y ago
  > You are using "learn" in a completely different sense than rvense is. Far and away the majority of people who have to take language classes in school don't learn anything. I know few people who really try to learn a new language after school (which is IMHO a pity, since there exist free options in the internet), so for the typical person it is "one either learned the language in school and got to an at least medium level (on which one can, if one wants to (say, because one wants to communicate with others), build later on in life) or one will never learn the language".
rvense 10y ago
You don't think the fact that English was more useful to you had anything do with your liking it more? There is also the way these things are taught. The most common third language to learn here is German, and instead of, you know, focusing on fluency and learning to actually use the language, or watching good German films or reading interesting German literature, what you get is rote memorization of inflections.
- wolfgke 10y ago
  I think teaching the grammar first makes sense in German since this is the difficult and ugly part. In my opinion if this does not become a second nature you will be uncomfortable to communicate in German since otherwise you will always think uncofortable seconds how to build the correct case etc. . In other words: You will have difficulties becoming fluent if you aren't confident in the grammar.

rtpg 10y ago

At least in Japan, learning English lets you speak to all foreigners. The expectation is that everyone who can't speak the native language at least can speak English. This leads to most English being spoken in the country having no native participant. Having too idiomatic English will probably lead to harder communication.