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I've heard it pegged at about one third to 35% of Canadians who can speak more than one language (in general) but I'm not sure of the sources. .
This sounds very believable. If you take the 17% who are English-French bilingual, plus the immigrants who speak their original language plus one of Canada's official languages, it's highly plausible that you could get to 35%.
Ontario has a French course in its curriculum from grades 4-8 and one credit/course from high school as mandatory I think (or at least if things haven't changed).
I took a fair amount more French than was required (in formal education), but unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten/lost a lot of my French skills going past when I reached my 20s in age due to lack of use.
Language is mostly about social use, and interaction. The old saying "Use it or lose it" is key. I think that some people might have an image or misconception in their head that learning second languages, the way the majority of the world is all about really technical, analytic, formal teaching and instruction (because this is the setting many of us encounter learning a second language). However, it seems the majority of the world's bilinguals or multilinguals are probably that way because they use it socially (or pragmatically), not just learn stuff in school because "they have to by requirement" and do a memory dump after they get a few credentials.
Children of illiterate parents in villages often become multilingual just by picking it up as they go from their aunties, uncles, grannies etc. without any formal education (we lose the ability to pick up lots of things as we age -- how many of us remember say, learning words as we speak at the age of 3, 4, 5 ... etc., such as pointing to a picture of a "tiger" in a kiddie book and saying "that's a tiger" etc. ?). If many kids get in their second languages at this stage, it's not unreasonable to see how much of the world can become multilingual.
I think because there are many English-speakers who aren't pressured or feel no social need to continue using any language they took in school (I will admit to being like this myself), and plus many of us often had the mindset of using it only as a credential.
The thread about bilingualism got me thinking, what nations are the majority of the population - let's say 70% and above - only able to speak one language? I don't count knowing a few phrases from high school French 'knowing' a second language, obviously being able to converse at a basic level.
I think the main ones would be:
UK
New Zealand
Australia
Canada
US
Ireland
China (there are the dialects, but the majority only know Mandarin)
Japan
S.Korea
Most of SE Asia except Malaysia
Bangladesh
Most of the Middle East
I believe most of Sub-Saharan Africa is at least bi-lingual but I could be wrong
Russia
Eastern Europe
Italy
France, mainly older generations
Spain
Most of Latin America
Actually the more I write, the more I question the assertion that most people in the world are multilingual. It seems monolingualism is indeed still dominant. Sure more and more people are learning English but at such a basic level I wouldn't really say they are able to speak it. This also applies to India.
I'm monolingual, but I think it's silly for English speaking nations to be 'singled out' as if everyone else is fluent in two or more languages.
As I mentioned in the other thread about bilingualism, a (narrow) majority of French people actually do speak at least one foreign language according to the Eurobarometer survey. I also don't understand why you would include "Eastern Europe" as a whole into the monolingual category. Many CEE countries have multilingual populations. Let's take a look at the Eurobarometer statistics (p. 10) again:
Countries where a majority of the population speaks at least one foreign language:
Slovakia 97%
Latvia 95%
Lithuania 92%
Malta 92%
Slovenia 91%
Estonia 89%
Cyprus 78%
Croatia 71%
Czech Republic 61%
Bulgaria 59%
Poland 57%
Greece 57%
Countries where a majority of the population speaks at least one foreign language:
Slovakia 97%
I wonder what would explain this extremely high number. Are they counting Slovaks' understanding of Czech (which is very close to Slovak) as "speaking a foreign language"?
South America. The only place it's easy to find someone speaking anything other than their national language is Panama or Venezuela. (In Pareaguay, everyone is bilingual, but only Spanish and Guarani.)
The French are notoriously resistant to knowing a second language. In Youth Hotels around the world, English is the de-facto world language, and only the French are unable (or unwilling) to take part in the conversations.
I'm assuming these stats (at least for developed nations in regions such as Europe, North America etc.) tend to be from self-reported sources (eg. on the census) or is there some criteria such as a standardized test to pass (I doubt it. I think it couldn't work/be practical across so many different languages/nations) to officially call yourself fluent? I think people tend to call themselves fluent once they are comfortable enough to converse in another tongue, which is what the meaning implies.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CowanStern
South America. The only place it's easy to find someone speaking anything other than their national language is Panama or Venezuela. (In Pareaguay, everyone is bilingual, but only Spanish and Guarani.)
The French are notoriously resistant to knowing a second language. In Youth Hotels around the world, English is the de-facto world language, and only the French are unable (or unwilling) to take part in the conversations.
Disagree, almost any foreign backpacker who I've met at youth hostels here knows some English and is open to talk. That includes the French.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,606 posts, read 55,779,416 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by LindavG
As I mentioned in the other thread about bilingualism, a (narrow) majority of French people actually do speak at least one foreign language according to the Eurobarometer survey. I also don't understand why you would include "Eastern Europe" as a whole into the monolingual category. Many CEE countries have multilingual populations. Let's take a look at the Eurobarometer statistics (p. 10) again:
Countries where a majority of the population speaks at least one foreign language:
Slovakia 97%
Latvia 95%
Lithuania 92%
Malta 92%
Slovenia 91%
Estonia 89%
Cyprus 78%
Croatia 71%
Czech Republic 61%
Bulgaria 59%
Poland 57%
Greece 57%
Thanks for the stats. Of course I'm uninformed so it was just a hunch. It tends to be the larger the country the more monolingual it tends to be. European nations are about the size of American states, many the size of small states.
South America. The only place it's easy to find someone speaking anything other than their national language is Panama or Venezuela. (In Pareaguay, everyone is bilingual, but only Spanish and Guarani.)
Not true, you missed my post on pg. 1. The majority in Guatemala and Bolivia are bilingual (what's this "only Spanish and Guarani"? That's bilingual. )
I wonder what would explain this extremely high number. Are they counting Slovaks' understanding of Czech (which is very close to Slovak) as "speaking a foreign language"?
Yes, Czech is counted as a seperate language but I don't think this alone explains the high number. According to p. 14 of the survey, the most widely spoken languages of Slovakia are: English & German 32%, Russian 29% and Czech 25%.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stumbler.
I'm assuming these stats (at least for developed nations in regions such as Europe, North America etc.) tend to be from self-reported sources (eg. on the census) or is there some criteria such as a standardized test to pass (I doubt it. I think it couldn't work/be practical across so many different languages/nations) to officially call yourself fluent? I think people tend to call themselves fluent once they are comfortable enough to converse in another tongue, which is what the meaning implies.
Yes, the statistics of the Eurobarometer are of course self-reported but it is generally considered to be a highly reliable survey so I see no need to question its findings. The data sounds plausible to me and corresponds with my personal experience (having lived and travelled in several European countries). The question that was asked is whether people speak a language well enough to be able to have a conversation, so it's more than just being comfortable about it.
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