Lorna at Vicenza

Yeah ... and you don't have to be bilingual to know that.

commonwealth

Budawang

When I was on a work assignment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia I had the bright idea to hire a car and driver for the weekend and head off into the countryside. A couple of hours later, in the middle of nowhere, the ancient Land Rover broke down. The driver tried everything and couldn't get it going again and I ended up abandoning him and walking to the nearest village which looked like it was straight out of the middle ages. I have never been in a situation where I have been so completely unable to communicate with anyone. The locals couldn't even understand my desperate hand signals. I was totally freaked out.

As English speakers we take for granted that there will always be someone who can half understand us which breeds complacency.

chris955

The problem is as English speakers what language do you learn that is going to be useful?
Almost everywhere you go there will be someone who can speak English to some extent.

commonwealth

French and Spanish are are widely used around the world.

elice_in_oz

How about learning about other cultures of which a language is an integral part? How about just opening your mind to other ways of thinking of which language is a tool and a component? How about wanting to read in the original language that thoughts were written rather than having a pisspoor subjective translation thrust upon you?
How about acknowledging that in spite of what you think, you are a minority and that one day, you might be forced to learn Spanish or Chinese, or even Hindi, to get ahead in life and that day, it will take me and/or my children half the time to learn one or all of the above than it will take you because your monolithic brain hasn't got the capacity and agility required to learn and function in a different language?

Kelli28

It's a bit like a car crash .. You can't help having a look hoping to see something really disturbing.

Paul2O

Chinese (Mandarin) has the largest number of speakers in the world, followed by Spanish and English. So, it is useful to learn Mandarin and/or Spanish.

chris955

chris955

Spanish possibly, i wouldnt imagine French would be much use outside of France. As i said with English being the most widely spoken languauge it would be very hard to narrow it down to the best second choice. This has nothing to do with broadening your horizons or the number of people who speak Mandarin it is to do with what second language would be most useful. Nothing to do with learning about another culture

Lorna at Vicenza

If English is one of the most used languages, then it's a crying shame that so many teachers are so crap! Especially in Italy.

chris955

Yes it is a shame but no doubt the same applies to any teacher reaching any particulatar language in any country. The point is that you can go to practically any country and English is spoken, we are soon going to Singapore and i doubt Spanish would do me much good there.

Lorna at Vicenza

My OH is Italian but speaks some English. Since he's been living with the kids and myself his English has only got better and better. He travels the whole world for work but there are still times when the company that has asked for him to be sent out, gets a translator in as well.

chris955

I think it is far easier to learn a language from a natural speaker of that language just during day to day life rather than in the impersonal schoolroom setting.

Lorna at Vicenza

Most definitely. When I met my OH he had enough English to say things like "please turn light off - close door - you like this?"

Since having the kids and listening to me repeat the same damn things over and over again with prepositions, he now automatically says:
Please turn THE light off - close THE door - DO you like this? etc.