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I've only been here 20 years. I do see a change in France. But in all frankness, this is both more of an an urban-rural thing and age-related, as well. Also, most Americans only travel to tourist places, where English is important. In rural Jutland, English skills vary a lot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rozenn
Over here some 20 yo people still don't even have a basic grasp of English. Middle school English courses are of no use if you have no interest in learning the language.
yes I think it is largely limited to the tourism/hospitality industry.
I was hospitalized for a month recently and none of the doctors, who are supposed to be very well educated, spoke decent English. Only two of the more than 20 nurses, all of whom are young in their 20s, were able to communicate in english.
yes I think it is largely limited to the tourism/hospitality industry.
I was hospitalized for a month recently and none of the doctors, who are supposed to be very well educated, spoke decent English. Only two of the more than 20 nurses, all of whom are young in their 20s, were able to communicate in english.
Over here some 20 yo people still don't even have a basic grasp of English. Middle school English courses are of no use if you have no interest in learning the language.
That is ... true. France, Italy, and Spain are the triple alliance of bad English in Europe.
When we first went to Italy in about 1980, I tried to speak to my husband's relatives in French. It was their second language (at least where he was from) and most people my age had to do French in high school in Australia.
These days the younger Italian relatives, forty or younger, all have studied some English. Their kids start in kindergarten and have a lesson each day. So it has become the second language rather than French.
I am interested to know if there are any monolingual speakers of Dutch/Nordic languages between the ages of 15 to 40. Would be interesting to find out...
Language importance is shifting all the time, not long ago it was French for humanities and German for technology. Who knows about the future with the combined strenght of Mandarin, Spanish and Pidgin?
Now they are selling small gimmings to place behind your ear that allow you to understand any language, maybe learning literal languages is the past.
When we first went to Italy in about 1980, I tried to speak to my husband's relatives in French. It was their second language (at least where he was from) and most people my age had to do French in high school in Australia.
These days the younger Italian relatives, forty or younger, all have studied some English. Their kids start in kindergarten and have a lesson each day. So it has become the second language rather than French.
I was in Turin only last December, tried to ask questions twice to young people because I thought they would speak better English and both times they didn't seem to understand what I said and was even nervous
I believe in the restaurants it is usually ok, but a random Italian speaking decent English is still not that common.
Yes, everyone studied English but that doesn't translate into communicable skills. It is like everyone takes French lessons in Canada but few would be able to communicate in French outside Quebec.
I am interested to know if there are any monolingual speakers of Dutch/Nordic languages between the ages of 15 to 40. Would be interesting to find out...
You would be hard-pressed to find many if you exclude people with developmental disabilities.
You would be hard-pressed to find many if you exclude people with developmental disabilities.
So does that mean that these societies become bilingual societies in the sense of speaking the local language among yourselves and English (which is the international lingua franca these days) is used exclusively to communicate with foreigners. I guess people learn early on that is the only reason to learn English and why everyone learns it.
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