One Additional Language

[Alex Franke]

Along the line of "random thoughts" I thought I'd throw in a couple of officially recognized languages that would be of very little use outside of certain circles.

tlhIngan Hol (ISO 639-3 code "tlh") with about a dozen fluent speakers worldwide is mainly useful only in matters relating to warfare and space travel. ...and of course, Sindarin (ISO 639-3 code "sjn"), which was common mainly in the Third Age.

buy' ngop!

[docrowan]

Ah, we have another Star Trek and Lord of the Rings fan here.

[os1kne]

To digress a bit, it's a shame that we (in the USA) don't do more teaching of foreign languages to children in school.

I once had a good friend that was educated in Norway through high school. He was a fairly average guy, not particularly brilliant by any means - but he was fluent in 4 languages and could get by in a couple more. He said it was fairly common of children in Europe to learn 4+ languages.

[jziegler]

To digress a bit, it's a shame that we (in the USA) don't do more teaching of foreign languages to children in school.

I once had a good friend that was educated in Norway through high school. He was a fairly average guy, not particularly brilliant by any means - but he was fluent in 4 languages and could get by in a couple more. He said it was fairly common of children in Europe to learn 4+ languages.

It's changing, although slowly. NJ has a law that a foreign language has to be taught in public schools starting in kindergarten. I don't know if it's required all the way through high school, but it is up to then.

As for Europe, the culture is so different with regards to language there. You have so many languages spoken is such a small area that you practically need to know more than one. Look at countries like Belgium (3 languages spoken officially, a little smaller than Maryland) and Switzerland (4 official languages). It's a survival thing if you travel outside of your own country.

Immersion schools are becoming common in the US. One of my wife's cousins went to an immersion high school. Almost everything was taught in Spanish. Changes are coming.

Jim

[docrowan]

Plus one on what Jim said. In my case, I had a personal interest in learning French, was president of the French club in high school, and lived in South Louisiana for 5 years, I simply could not learn to be fluent or keep in practice due to lack of opportunity. Contrast that with a citizen of Germany, Italy, England, or Spain, where a relatively short drive across the border (or Channel) allows them to be immersed in French language and culture. Throw in the fact that at least three other countries (Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium) have a high percentage of French speakers and that most Europeans enjoy much more vacation time than we do in America and it is easy to understand their multilingualism.

I do, however, agree that it is very important for children to study at least one foreign language. I have a 5 year old who is learning Spanish words every day. That's the reason I started this thread, I am planning on taking courses myself partially to help her.

[LCHIEN]

To digress a bit, it's a shame that we (in the USA) don't do more teaching of foreign languages to children in school.

I once had a good friend that was educated in Norway through high school. He was a fairly average guy, not particularly brilliant by any means - but he was fluent in 4 languages and could get by in a couple more. He said it was fairly common of children in Europe to learn 4+ languages.

Norwegians have to learn other languages. NOrwegian speaking people are only 4-something millions. To speak only Norwegian (actually if you speak Norwegian I believe you can more or less communicate in Swedish, too) means you can only talk to .1% of the population. Some other European languages are similar orders of magnitude. They don't go far and they're in another country speaking another language. the US at least partially has the excuse of proximity, and as one person said, lack of opportunity and the need to speak other languages.

[jziegler]

I do, however, agree that it is very important for children to study at least one foreign language. I have a 5 year old who is learning Spanish words every day. That's the reason I started this thread, I am planning on taking courses myself partially to help her.

You might not even need the courses. Pimsleur tapes/CDs do work for the spoken language, even if they are too business oriented for me. I have heard great things about the Rosetta Stone software as well (and they have an online subscription based version now as well). Both are more pricey than their competitors, but are much better thought out (I've tried cheap tapes and software, and they suck). Also, the BBC has a number of free online language resources that aren't bad for the basics. A college level course would teach you a lot, would give you the formal instruction on grammar that these other sources would not, but they make a good starting point.

Jim