'Am I wrong to be disgusted that my 5yo is learning Lithuanian?'

[scentednappyhag]

This is a status on my Facebook newsfeed this morning.
She goes on to say there's nothing wrong with learning French or Spanish, but she's 'notimpressed.com'.

AIBU to delete this person on the grounds that their inner arsehole is hanging out?

Maybe there are Lithuanian children at the school; & the other children are being taught a few phrases to help communicate while the Lithuanian children learn English.

The foreign immigrants i know who come here to work speak to their DC in their first language before school age (so that the children learn their parents' language fluently).
The children then pick up English very quickly at nursery & school.
Immigrant parents often speak English to their DC once they are happy that the child can speak their first language fluently.
Often, the immigrants are here temporarily for work contracts; or aren't sure if they will stay & apply for U.K. citizenship.
It makes sense for their children to speak their parent's language fluently before English - in case the parents move back to the home country.

So 5 year old children of immigrants will still be learning English - this provides an opportunity for teachers to introduce the young British children to foreign languages & cultures in a broad sense, & learning a variety of foreign phrases is a way to make children enthusiastic about languages.

It's fun for children to learn several phrases in languages they are likely to hear around them & try them on real people that they meet in everyday life.
Learning a language that is on the national curriculum eg French as a school subject may then seem more interesting.

IME i found French very difficult & pointless because i've never visited France & the French people i meet speak good English.

But i've picked up some phrases in Tagalog, Arabic, Italian & Polish thanks to colleagues & friends who i hear speaking those languages regularly.

Also Spanish (Ibizan-style) after spending a lot of time in Ibiza.

I think spanish, chinese (Mandarin) and Russian would be useful languages to learn.

I don't see the problem with lithuanian. Sounds like there must be several lithuanian children in the area (unless one has decided to hold classes ) so understanding what they are saying would appear to be useful.

I still know lots of swear words / phrases in Punjabi (went to Uni in Bradford). It made sense to know.

Your friend sounds like a silly cow.

They are 5. They more than likely have a load of lithuanian kids so they teach the kids a few words, talk about Lithuania etc. It is a nice thing to do.

as an aside, lithuanian is a linguistically unique language iirc. It is not related in any way to any other slavic or baltic languages, its roots are closest to the ancient indian language sanskrit. It doesn't sound like what you would imagine an eastern european language to sound like.

I like lithuania - I have never seen so many beautiful women in my entire life. I felt like a dumpy english troll!

DS's school has a large number of Polish children.

So in year 1 all the children learnt some Polish. It helps the children to feel included, its fun to learn too.

"Ephiny, all our local primary schools teach French or Spanish, even the schools where most children have a language other than English as their first language. Is this not happening in primary schools nationally?"

Possibly, my experience might well be a bit out of date! I know of older primary school children being taught French (and taught badly in some cases, but that's a separate issue!) but not Reception/5 year olds, it's possible though.

I guess the main question is how much time is being spent on it, and what is it replacing (i.e. another language, or something else?)

It's at school she's learning it, but I'm not sure whether it's just the odd lesson or other wise.
I couldn't not comment as I'm a nosy so and so
I just think it can only be a positive thing that they are learning a language, even if it is a somewhat unusual choice apparently. I would have loved to have the opportunity to dip my toes in a range of languages as a child.

I can only see that learning the language (andy language infact) would be enriching

Labis Retis

I know a bit of lithuanian

She sounds delightful

Some people are just a bit thick. I'd unfriend - unless reding her updates is a bit of a guitly pleasure (like watching stupid people on reality TV shows).

What an arse your friend sounds. DS's primary school has a relatively high proportion of pupils from Eastern Europe. I'd be astonished if there was no attempt at teaching a few basic phrases in Polish, Lithuanian and so on. Formal MFL teaching is in French, as that's where the staff expertise lies. Picking up a handful of greetings isn't the same as learning the structure of a language. It's a bit of fun for the kids, and might inspire them to learn more later on.

Some people just want a springboard for a collective moan, however. That kind of comment around here would be the cue for all manner of whingeing about forriners getting all the (privately rented) houses. I wouldn't bother pulling her up on it. It will drain your soul.

I wouldn't want my children learning Lithuanian if it was instead of learning French or Spanish or some other widely spoken language. It's just not as useful.

Having said that I think it would be nice for them to learn very basic things like hello, please and thank you, if they had some pupils from Lithuania.

I don't know what your point is with this though, are you calling your friend a racist? Or are you just upset that she doesn't like the school teaching lithuanian?

learning languages is not just beneficial to a child so they can communicate in that language, it helps them in other ways, in their understanding of language and development of language skills etc.

I think a lot of you dont seem to realise what the intanglible benefits to learning languages can be.

Getorf - yes, Lithuanians can be good looking but lots of men (British & foreign) find British women attractive & lots of British women are very pretty anyway.

In reality most people of all nations are attractive but no-one thinks they are (unless they are unusually confident).
You may think you are 'dumpy' but others may see you as having nice curves (especially men!).

I think it's being taller than the average British women that makes some Baltic, Russian & Scandinavian women stand out, so you notice them more in a crowd.
One of my friends is Swedish, very tall, white blonde hair & pretty - but hates being taller because she's shy & doesn't think she is pretty!!

I don't understand people who want their children to learn modern languages but not a less used one!

Once you learn a couple of languages, and learn to ENJOY learning another language, it is IMO easier to then learn others, or at the very least you are less likely to be intimidated by the idea of French or Spanish or Mandarin if you have already accomplished okay conversation level in lithuanian and have enjoyed leaning it

Its like learning musical instruments, once you learn one or two its easier to learn more, If you've never played any it seems like a huge task and easy to tell yourself that you're "not musical"

I'ld be very happy about this, anyway who knows which country will be "useful" business wise next eh?

I am a bit at all the mandarin, spanish suggestions.

Really you have no idea what the 'best' language to have in 15 years time will be. It depends on a huge number of things as well as what kind of career your child goes into (a career which might not even exist right now...)

Kendodd- I'm not calling anyone racist. And as for what is my point in posting... It seemed like an interesting issue considering FB friend and I obviously had such different views.

I know a woman at playgroup from the Philippines (with English husband) she speaks in English with her 2yo DS. She has said she plans to teach him Filipino when he is about 5 or 6 and she can explain it to him.

I feel so envious of her sometimes, that she could just give her child the gift of a second language without ever having to even think about it if she would only just talk to him in it. What a shame, it'll be much harder later on.

I disagree. Lithuanian is a perfectly adequate language to start with.

The grammar is so unusual and different to other European languages it is a real bonus to have to start getting to grip with that.

French and German will be easy peasy lemon squeezy after Lithuanian, I am sure!

just wanted to add that I do not care WHICH language DS learns, so long as he learns one and doesn't develop a mental block and think he "can't do languages" like me

If he learns ANY when young, then WHICHEVER happens to be of use to him when he is older, he will feel capable of tackling it, so bring on the Lithuanian, Welsh, Ancient greek.. whatever!

Was your friend discusted? Or just mild appauled?

I'm sure he isn't actually learning Lithuanian at 5yo. More like the odd word. Your friend is a racist bigot.

scented - i don't think you should delete your FB friend unless you really don't like her as a person.
My FB friends include a wide variety of relatives (close & distant); real life friends, acquaintances & colleagues; plus quite a few friends & relatives of my real life friends & relatives.
They all have various views on certain issues; some very different to me; but as long as they are not too offensive & are interested or tolerant of differing views then i don't defriend them.
Life is boring when you only talk (in RL or online) to people the same as you with the same views & interests.

TeWi, of course we can't know which language will be the most 'important' (however that is measured) in ten years time, but we can have a good idea of what languages will be spoken in many different countries in ten years.

Unless the Lithuanians are intending to build an enormous empire based on extensive colonisation of various parts of the globe in the next ten years, and force all inhabitants to move from their current languages to all speaking Lithuanian, I feel it is highly doubtful that Lithuanian will be as useful for international travel and work as Spanish is in ten years time. Although I suppose it is plausible that various parts of South America and so on could be wiped out by some global warming based catastrophe and Lithuania remains one of the few remaining habitable places on earth. But based on that potential scenario, it is actually more useful to learn a Scandinavian language or the Canadian version of French.

Also some of my RL & FB friends & relatives (of ALL races / religions / nationalities) can say things that could be considered racist / sexist / homophobic / prejudiced in other ways - but i prefer to challenge & discuss views rather than stop being friends straight away.
Often people are just ignorant, unwordly or not so educated. When you discuss things then sometimes they change their minds when they actually stop & think (even if they don't like to admit that they are wrong)...
With some people who don't want to change their views but whom i do like in other respects - i just have to 'agree to disagree' & ask them not to discuss the issues we disagree on.
But if i'm not bothered about the person anyway then i will back off from the friendship in RL or unfriend them on FB.

But you don't know what your specific children will want to do.

It doesn't matter if 80% of the world speak in Mandarin if they desperately want to work in the 5% that speak Lithuanian.

It's just a waste of time to worry about this things, particularly when as many people have posted just the act of learning a language when young means that learning another language when older will be much much easier for them. So when they do know what language is relevant to them they can go for it with a solid base in languages.

It's even more of a waste of time when they probably only learnt hello and how are you?