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But it's not like they speak English in everyday life situations either...
Exactly, they only speak English when they have to, like when dealing with tourists etc.
I have visited the Netherlands, nobody spoke English, they all spoke Dutch among themselves.
Of course they learn English as a second language, but that's it...
Location: Segovia, central Spain, 1230 m asl, Csb Mediterranean with strong continental influence, 40º43 N
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Neuling
Exactly, they only speak English when they have to, like when dealing with tourists etc.
I have visited the Netherlands, nobody spoke English, they all spoke Dutch among themselves.
Of course they learn English as a second language, but that's it...
They also learn German as a third language, even though some of them speak some French or Spanish. Despite this, they all spoke their own language among themselves in everyday life.
The world would be so much better if I could go abroad without having to learn those weird languages.
You can go abroad and get by with English, but don't expect to become a member of society if you don't speak the local language. Gee, you are from Britain it seems, you can move anywhere within Europe without any paperwork, visa and so on, it's up to you only...
Because English is a conundrum of different languages, 70 to 80 percent of all the words come from Latin, Greek, etc. So, it's sort of Vulgata very easy to learn.
As to English replacing languages in Europe, I don't see that in the future. Not even in the US, a place in which Spanish is bound to be bilingual in the long run.
That's funny,how people invent excuses,by definition every language borrows words from other languages.
For example there's more arabs words in french language than the Gaulois language
It's happening now,you don't need to wait for the future,English is taking over Spain and Portugal,English is the 1st foreign language in all Central and South America.
Spanish language is not a match for english,if you just take india as an example to compare with South America,English is dominant all over the planet,no doubt about that.
That's funny,how people invent excuses,by definition every language borrows words from other languages.
For example there's more arabs words in french language than the Gaulois language
It's happening now,you don't need to wait for the future,English is taking over Spain and Portugal,English is the 1st foreign language in all Central and South America.
Spanish language is not a match for english,if you just take india as an example to compare with South America,English is dominant all over the planet,no doubt about that.
I don't know what your problem is. You sound like you invented English and waned it to gain market share desperately, like some linguistic genocide wet dream
English is not taking over anywhere, it is just being added as a second language where people used to speak only their mother tongues. Here in Portugal most younger people speak English, but many also speak Spanish and French even. Still, they speak Portuguese all the time by default unless they have to deal with foreigners.
I don't know what your problem is. You sound like you invented English and waned it to gain market share desperately, like some linguistic genocide wet dream
English is not taking over anywhere, it is just being added as a second language where people used to speak only their mother tongues. Here in Portugal most younger people speak English, but many also speak Spanish and French even. Still, they speak Portuguese all the time by default unless they have to deal with foreigners.
Anyone who thinks differently has a problem ? How about your problem not admitting that even a second language,english is taking over Portugal and Spain like never before !!
As 2 or 3 or 4th language english is taking over your life,and you don't even know. i don't want it to gain market share,cause english already done that a long time ago,you must be very young.
Anyone who thinks differently has a problem ? How about your problem not admitting that even a second language,english is taking over Portugal and Spain like never before !!
As 2 or 3 or 4th language english is taking over your life,and you don't even know. i don't want it to gain market share,cause english already done that a long time ago,you must be very young.
You don't seem to be a native speaker. Maybe you don't know what taking over means. Taking over basically means replacing. English is not taking over anywhere in Europe, it is not replacing any languages here, just being added as a second language, as said before. Here for instance some loan words have been adopted, but not only from English, also from Brazilian Portuguese, even from African Portuguese. More and more young Portuguese, even children, begin to study Mandarin these days as there is the belief that China will be the future.
Actually, thanks to all the literature out there and people knowing how to read and write, languages are more robust now than ever before. In the past, like 200+ years ago, it was much easier for one language to gain ground at the expense of others.
About two thirds of my life are over, according to the life expectancy in Europe. So I guess I am not very young anymore, unfortunately...
You don't seem to be a native speaker. Maybe you don't know what taking over means. Taking over basically means replacing. English is not taking over anywhere in Europe, it is not replacing any languages here, just being added as a second language, as said before. Here for instance some loan words have been adopted, but not only from English, also from Brazilian Portuguese, even from African Portuguese. More and more young Portuguese, even children, begin to study Mandarin these days as there is the belief that China will be the future.
Actually, thanks to all the literature out there and people knowing how to read and write, languages are more robust now than ever before. In the past, like 200+ years ago, it was much easier for one language to gain ground at the expense of others.
About two thirds of my life are over, according to the life expectancy in Europe. So I guess I am not very young anymore, unfortunately...
No,i'm not a native speaker but i mean what i said,what a funny idea to learn mandarin,while the english is widely spoken in China.
Worst,China has 52 officially recognized languages,so you need to learn more than mandarin to get buy in china. Languages of China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
well if china doesn't make it as the next superpower,what happened to your mandarin project ?
Maybe you're not young anymore but you must naive,to talk about learning mandarin for no good reasons.
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