English Language

[USCGRET1990]

It's amazing how many folks in other countries can speak (and write) in English. (Including on the Sailnet) Whenever something happens in another country, the news people can always find someone that speaks English to tell about it. Now if we could just everybody in America to speak it..

[Giulietta]

In Europe, at school we have to learn, other than our mother language, we have to learn 2 out of 3 foreign languages, the choices are English German and French.

For Portuguese and Spanish and italians, its easy for us to comunicate...so if you learn your language, plus 2 other languages at school plus Spanish and Italian, one can easily speak 6 or 7 languages!!

I speak a lot of spanish in the US also, and people find it weird a white guy speaking spanish with no accent!!! eheheheh

[USCGRET1990]

I was stationed in San Juan, PR for two years and know what you mean. Many of my comrads could flip flop back and forth from Spanish to English with ease. Heck, you didn't know where they were from! I would always ask them, in jest, "What language to you think in?!"

[Giulietta]

After a while you don't think in any language anymore, it just flows, and right now, I speak english without need for thinking, however....

my problems are. I don't understand hidden second meanings, some close slang, and some terms, like in sailing and such. One of tghe reasons I write here is to improve my English, and writting and comunicating with people here at sailnet has helped me a lot increase the written qualities of my english written reports.

[USCGRET1990]

Well there's your problem..with all the slangs and wierd terms, that isn't the English language...That's American!! We've butchered the actual English language to where the Brits can't hardly understand us ;-)

[Valiente]

I took several years of French instruction as a boy, but it didn't "click" until I spent a month in France when I was 20. I was in Lyon and had to spend all day talking in French. After about two weeks, I woke up thinking "Mon Dieu, j'ai reve en francais!" (My God, I've been dreaming in French!").

This taught me two things: You won't learn much if you don't use the other languages, and what you have learned may be lurking in your memory. My French is again eroded from disuse, but I can follow films well enough to know that subtitles are frequently inaccurate or partial.

I figure with English, French and Spanish, I should be able to sail to 90% of the nice places in the world. Spanish isn't hard...I took three years of Latin, and I already live in a Portuguese neighbourhood.

[Zanshin]

I've been fortunate enough to live in countries where different languages are spoken and agree that the only way to learn to speak a foreign tongue with any level of fluency is to live in a place where that language is spoken and to not "cheat" by living in an enclave.

English isn't my native tongue, it was my 3rd language. I think once you have learned one foreign language and realized the distinction between syntax and semantics as well as the basic building blocks of language then additional languages are much easier to learn.

[tdw]

While your old Wombat can be a touch scathing in his criticism of Amerenglish, reality is we have to thank the buggers for making English the international language. As many of you would be aware, theoreticaly the international language should have been French as that language has long been the language of diplomacy. So thanks be for once, to the Yankee Imperialists.

Much more emphasis should be placed on languages in school. As Gui says, in European schools, students automatically come out with at least three languages. Meanwhile down here in Ozville Javanese is still not a compulsory language in schools, in fact many do not even offer it as an option.

It's asking too much to expect anyone to learn more than rudimentory Kiwi, but as our nearest neighbour it seems re asonable that Australians should learn the official Indonesian language.

Now if we could just teach the USAians to spell.........

[USCGRET1990]

I'm too old, tired, and mentally challenged to learn much of anything at this point...
When and if the time comes, guess I better just sail to English speaking islands, like Genada, etc.

[ianhlnd]

When you want to talk food, speak French, when you want to talk about machinery, speak German, when you want to talk about love, speak Italian, when you want to speak about business, speak English,

But when you want to speak to men, speak Spanish!!!
I think it was Napolean who said that.