A question about native English speakers and foreign languages

[DelphineMarineaux]

Hello!
I'm not a native English speaker so please bear with the mistakes and errors I might make.

I would like to ask native English speakers (particularly those that have only grown up speaking English) if you are proficient or fluent in any other language than English? As in, can you proficiently read, write, understand and communicate in another language aside from English? If so, may I ask where you learned whatever foreign language you know from?

I don't live in an English speaking country so I'm also curious to know how much education kids in English speaking countries get in foreign languages at school? And are the kids learning foreign languages on a high level? As in when they graduate from school, are they able to proficiently read, write, understand and communicate in a / several foreign language(s)?

Aaand a little bonus question: If you don't know any foreign languages, but had the opportunity to learn any foreign language in the world, which would you choose and why?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

I learned Spanish as an adult. Went to classes, used apps, read books, listened to TV shows and music and went to conversation groups. Was able to speak confidently when I travelled.

Education in other languages is pretty abysmal here. They learn it in school from age 11 onwards but it’s often rite-learning and a lot of writing. Rarely speaking. They do not leave school proficient in any one of writing, reading, listening or speaking.

We are English. We assume that every foreigner can understand English if it is spoken loudly and slowly.

@markmichelle

Hardly any Primary schools in UK start foreign languages. Usually French or Spanish or German offered after 11 yrs of age. Very few children I know take exams in languages. I spent time working in Iran and learned enough Farsi to get by in shops or with workers. Most engineers I met had studied engineering in English Medium Colleges. I never learned to read it though. Similarly when I worked in Egypt learned some Arabic. Would like to learn Farsi properly, it has a much softer sound.

A language is national curriculum from Year 3, so all should be receiving it.

The quality, and actual usefulness, however…

DH is a native English speaker. He's not fluent in any other language, but decent enough (for day to day stuff) in about 3-4 other languages. Generally, his speaking & comprehension is better than his grammar & writing, he's more of a learning-by-doing person (whereas I prefer structured classes). He learnt French at school, Spanish through traveling, a Scandinavian language by living there for a few years, and he has also learnt my native language by talking with me/self-study/some evening classes.

He has good aptitude for learning languages (better than I do), but also puts in a lot of effort - some daily practice, daily writing exercises, etc. I think a lot of people who say they're bad at learning languages simply underestimate the time & effort required to learn another language to a high standard.

DD can speak, read and write french, Russian and Spanish, (she's also learning Italian on the side) DH can speak, read and write Italian and french. They both have that sort of logical brain.

DS and I can get by in Italian and French but only speaking and reading.

All learnt at school or uni and holidays.

We didn't learn any other languages. Apparently there was a French teacher previously but when she left there was a shortage so she wasn't replaced. A pity, as I think I may have had an aptitude if I'd had the chance.

DH and I went on holiday in France and his O level came in handy though he was very rusty. We went to night school to improve 'French Conversation' and it was fun for a few years. Then someone had the bright idea of making these courses more vocational with exams attached if you wanted - not so enjoyable and more expensive. Eventually it dropped off and very little is on offer now.

French is a beautiful language and that would still be my choice.

I grew up in a different English speaking country, but now live in the UK. At high school, we had an exposure to several foreign languages for 3yrs- French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin and Esperanto. After that time, it was optional to learn one. Depending how the classes were planned though, often if you did a language, you couldn't also do a certain science or maths subject for example because of a class clash. My DH grew up in the UK, and found the same. He wanted to study a computing course at uni, which meant that with the subjects he chose, he had to drop french.

I, myself did French from age 8 until 17 and even now 20 yrs on) have a reasonable grasp and can hold a conversation.

I have always made an effort when I travel to either do duolingo for a month or 2 prior to travel and/or buy a dictionary in that language. Through this, I'm am now almost as proficient in my French as I am in Italian and Spanish. I'm far from fluent, but able to get by.

I also have a smattering of Russian, Arabic, Thai, Mandarin, Czech and German. Mainly greetings, thankyou, goodbye etc.

I'd love to be fluent in any of the above, but this would be much easier if I was living in that country too.

My French teacher at school told me I had no talent for languages. I left school and became fluent in Greek and and have a good working level of Spanish. I can get by in French too!

Husband isn't English and is fluent in 5 languages including Russian, Dutch, Bulgarian, English and German (can write in all of them too) I am English and can hold a very poor conversation in french, dutch and Bulgarian. Most of which I learned as an adult. Uk schools give a very poor level of foreign language teaching.

I'm a native English speaker fluent in two other languages (once I get a couple of hours practice in to remember them) and I can get by in several others and have basic conversations/read instructions/fill in forms etc. I learned the ones I'm fluent in at school but didn't get fluent from that. I was stopped from doing a 3rd language at school for more than a year 'because it would be confusing' and couldn't take both languages on to A Level because I liked science, so the school system held me back a bit.

What others have said about the state of language teaching in the UK is right, but there's also a lot of apathy or a feeling that languages other than English are somehow hard or useless. My DC have some good teachers but they only got to start learning at 12. I was lucky - that wasn't how I was brought up and even as a child I was in plenty of situations where I needed a language other than English (and quickly!).

I am Irish so am native English speaker but also know irish. I wouldn’t say very fluent in irish but can get by. I did French in school and hated it so can understand some French but couldn’t have a conversation. Just before Covid I decided to learn german. I did it for one year in college & loved it so thought I’d try it again. I’m still learning now. I adore it. I’m not great at it but I’m getting there.

I’m Ireland, the Irish language is compulsory for primary and secondary. Students choose a European language (typically French/German or Spanish) for five years in secondary school and take exams in it. I’m unsure if either Irish or the European language would be classed as ‘proficient’ in it by a native speaker tbh.

I should add that when I was at school in the 1980s, the local schools teamed up to provide classes for every language they had a teacher for. It was a brilliant idea (by UK standards) and led to courses in Mandarin, Russian, Punjabi, Italian, Urdu and Gujarati etc which would never have happened otherwise. Only a few of us who took them were not native speakers though, which made it seem extra hard for the beginners.

English native speaker. I speak good French and Spanish - both are rusty at the moment as I haven't had the chance to speak either for ages, although I read regularly in Spanish. But if I spent any time in a French or Spanish-speaking country, I'd be back to a decent level of fluency quite quickly. I studied French to A level and spent a couple of weeks at a language school in Paris after uni; Spanish I learnt at evening classes and through language schools in Argentina, Spain and Costa Rica as an adult.

I also learned German for 18 months through evening classes, but I haven't kept it up and have forgotten the vast majority of my vocabulary now.

I find Romance languages really easy to learn as I am a Classicist and know Latin; I can read Portuguese and Italian reasonably well and have basic conversational Italian without ever having studied it.

Language teaching in most English schools is pretty poor and doing a GCSE in a language doesn't mean you'd actually be able to function in that language. I didn't become proficient in French until I studied it for A level; that was a combination of good teaching and my own motivation (reading French books and magazines, watching French films etc). There were plenty of people in my A level class whose ability to communicate was pretty limited, even though they ended up with grade C or B.

My French teacher told me I had no aptitude in languages, which is why I studied it for A level and chose French as part of the option on my degree course. As a result I’m pretty fluent. Also have a second foreign language, which I am relatively proficient in but no longer fluent.

I got a GCSE grade E in French in 1992

But I moved to Switzerland, and can now speak German to the B1/B2 level.

So there is hope for everyone.

Grew up in north of Scotland - did French and German at school and uni. Fully fluent in French, German is good and have also good Spanish now through my work. Can read in Portuguese and Italian. Gaelic learner.

I speak fluent German. Started learning at school, continued at university but my German was still dreadful to the extent when I arrived to do my year abroad, I couldn't communicate at all. Fluency came after two years living in Germany. I now live here permanently and am completing a masters at a German university completely in German.
Comparing the UK's foreign language teaching at high school compared to here in Germany, it's dreadful back home

@TeenMinusTests

I think in the UK there isn't an 'obvious' second language to learn, and so much of the world learns English that there is a bit of a 'why bother' approach.

Plus the teaching of languages at primary is so woeful.

I did French at school, I can 'get by' in terms of holiday French, but no more than that. My DD is pretty good at Spanish though.

I agree with this, which one do we choose? I was once on a school ski trip as a teacher and asked the ski instructor to teach the pupils (primary) some basic words such as numbers etc. His attitude was, 'Why bother? Everyone else speaks English'. I was quite surprised as I thought Europeans thought we British were just lazy. There is an advantage to other people as they are exposed to English from an early age, through music, films etc. My Swedish friends watch the BBC all day, they especially like House in the Country I love languages by the way and I'm taking classes in Spanish atm but it's a lot harder to learn now I'm older.

ESL teacher here!

Speak/ write/ read 2 other European languages fluently/ work standard.

I'm not a language person at all but learned from necessity. I love English tbh, it's lovely and flexible. Drives students mad though that there's so many ways to say the same thing.

School language classes were utterly dull to me.. The PP that said there should be a second language picked to start at Y3 was right. My DS11's little mates are now able to understand me talking to them in English, even if they can't say much. They just answer in German, but that's still really impressive to me. I could never have done that with a French mum when I was that age.

I'm English. I can speak 2 other languages to a native-like level, 1 other one fluently (enough that I could work in that country) and a little bit of other languages. However I have postgraduate degrees in languages and work in the field, so I'm not 'typical'.

In England, languages are compulsory in schools from ages 7-14. Teaching in primary schools is often sparse, and there's no guarantee that students will continue with the same language at secondary school.

If students choose to continue languages after that, to GCSE and A-level, they will get up to an intermediate level (A-level is considered approximately B1/B2 on the CEFR, if you're familiar with that). It's enough to be able to communicate in the language, but probably not enough to attend university or get a 'professional' job. Less than 8,000 students take A-level Spanish each year - and that's the most popular language!

As above, ordinary school language provision is woefully underfunded, and so generally taught by non experts. GCSE language is pretty basic, and whilst encouraged, is not compulsory in many places.

That said, I can follow a technical discussion in Italian (I have rusty, basic French, Spanish and German) - but it is my area of expertise. Ive discovered its much more productive to let the Italian engineers discuss in their native tongue, and then me to summarise in English what I've understood, and let them fill in the gaps. I cant do that in French, and haven't tried in other European languages.

IME it’s quite rare in the UK for people to be proficient in a foreign language. Most children don’t even learn one to 16 anymore (it used to be required) and even then aged 16, doing a GCSE isn’t anywhere near being proficient.

I speak French but that’s because I did it at uni. Also speak Welsh as I was brought up in a bilingual welsh/English family. Is quite common for Welsh speakers in Wales to also be proficient in English- they will make up a big chunk of fully bilingual people in the Uk.

@markmichelle

Hardly any Primary schools in UK start foreign languages. Usually French or Spanish or German offered after 11 yrs of age. Very few children I know take exams in languages. I spent time working in Iran and learned enough Farsi to get by in shops or with workers. Most engineers I met had studied engineering in English Medium Colleges. I never learned to read it though. Similarly when I worked in Egypt learned some Arabic. Would like to learn Farsi properly, it has a much softer sound.

All primary schools in Scotland start additional language learning in 2 languages aside from English. I say additional, because one of the languages that is sometimes on offer (not widely) is Gaelic, which is not considered "foreign". I also believe Scots may count as one of the additional languages. That said, I am not going to pretend this means Scots are fluent in general. It does, however, mean that that this, along with a minimum of 2 years compulsory language learning in secondary, there is at least a starting point. Most children are encouraged to take at least one language at Standard Grade. I learned French and German at school many years ago, and am reasonably proficient in both - can hold a conversation, and understand most spoken communication (if the speaker speaks slowly!), and can read reasonably well. I have visited both countries on and off for over 40 years. I also like to watch foreign language movies (with the subtitles on). I can understand Spanish, Italian and Dutch well enough to get by on holiday, although I don't speak any of these languages (apart from a few words here and there)

I did french and Germans to a level but found them a waste of time as far as speaking was concerned obviously could speak some but nowhere near fluent. I did live in France as well to become more fluent but every job I went to in London that involved languages, a native speaker would get the job which makes sensei suppose. Not sure how it would be now brexit has happened though.