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.

My interest in languages started when I was 8 and a teacher taught us numbers up to 10 in German. No-one in my family spoke any languages other than English and I loved the different sounds.

Ended up studying French and German to a level, then taking Russian and German at university. I've forgotten most of my Russian, and always shock myself with how much French I can actually speak under pressure! German I still love. I don't count myself as very proficient now, but was searching YouTube for a video about a new hobby the other day, and the obscure piece of equipment I bought only had videos in German. Astoundingly, I was able to follow almost the whole video. I was lucky enough to do a three month exchange to Germany, in my late teens, the age I was, and level of immersion really helped.

The biggest difference between learning languages for a native English speaker, and learning English, was the level of unconscious learning. Song words, exclaimations in films, swearing were the first things people learned, whereas to hear any of those in a foreign language, we always had to go and look for it.

It was also really hard to get an immersive language experience, everyone was always keen to practice their English.

My husband has been using duo for Spanish solidly for the last three years, and he's improved enormously. The kids just aren't interested, which is a shame, but we just keep showing them(when we could go on foreign holidays) how much it helps and how can be fun to speak a different language.

I am a native English speaker and also speak a Scandi language to advanced intermediate (high B2) level. I learned for practical reasons.

I used to speak French reasonably well because I did 5 years at school and two years of evening classes but I have forgotten it all due to lack of use.

I find learning languages relatively straightforward provided I’ve got a handle on the grammar.

I live in France and can get by in French (I'm partially deaf which has really hampered my efforts to get more fluent). I did French at school (1980s) but TBH languages were considered a bit of a joke.

In France, despite the push to preserve the French language, there is also a huge desire to learn English. My kids are in school here: my oldest is currently learning:

French - as a native
English - he's a native speaker but has to do English as it's obligatoire
German - has been doing this since primary
Latin
Greek

Languages are taken really seriously here and because of the Baccalauréat (which means that students are still doing 8-10 subjects at age 17) lots of languages are started in Primary and continued right the way through to Bac level. That's a good 10 years, that's time to get pretty good at a language. There's currently a huge push as well to teach subjects in English in lycées (high school) here in France.

As a native English speaker, it takes a determination to learn another language as English is spoken everywhere, pretty much, and people here at least always want to practice. When different European nationals get together they end up speaking English - even if there aren't any native English speakers among them. We were on a train last week and there were 3 young men across the aisle from us: French, German, Belgian. They all spoke perfect English to each other.

I speak German reasonably well but not as well as I used to through lack of recent practise. I did A level but I had to do a lot of work outside of school to get myself to a decent level, what we learnt at school wasn't enough to be properly proficient. I only developed any confidence when I spent a chunk of time in Germany on work experience. There was a massive difference between how well my German friends could speak English and how well we could speak German, but they said that they watched huge amount of subtitled MTV etc and picked up loads from there.

Also speak some very basic Italian and Russian. I've been studying Korean for ages and put in a lot of hours but I feel like I'm getting nowhere.

Completely proficient in spanish
School french
Smidgerín of Irish

I can speak French and German (more practised at German as I go there regularly but can get by in French), currently learning Italian and would love to learn Russian. I can speak some Welsh also, and Latin. Learned French, German and Latin at school. Welsh from my friend's family.

I learnt French and Spanish at school and did both for GCSE, A level and degree. I also learnt Catalan at uni and spoke to a good level but I’ve forgotten most of it now through lack of practice. I think languages are really undervalued in the UK. When I was looking for jobs after my degree, there were lots which wanted language skills but few which paid appropriately. To be fluent/competent in a language in the UK, you usually need a native speaker to practise with or a degree-level education. Another problem is that school pupils sometimes don’t choose them because they think they’re hard (they are) and/or they don’t want a lower grade. I agree that many people underestimate the work needed to learn a language, especially if you are not immersed in it.

Part of the problem is that in the UK people who don't have bilingual homes often don't start learning any other languages until the age where their natural ability to pick up languages is already starting to tail off! It needs to be taught mostly in primary school, not started at secondary, including having other subjects delivered in that language by fluent speakers, to have a great deal of hope of sticking universally, I think.

Also, tv is always in english. A lot of shows in scandinavia and germany and the netherlands were shown in english with subtitles.

In the 90s they were dubbed in spain. Not sure now though

I studied four years of German at school but can’t really speak it except basics to get by on a holiday. I did a few years of Spanish as an adult and again am at basic get by on holiday level.
I’m currently trying to learn Gaelic but finding it extremely difficult.

I am fluent in French and German and learned them at school and university.

I can speak competent German ( not fluent but perhaps a few months living there would get me a bit better )

DSIL & DBIL have bilingual children but mainly because each parent spoke to them in their own language. Elder child is better because she was on her own for a few years & then spoke to younger child in the language of the country they are living in.

Ds learned French and Mandarin at school ( not at all fluent in either ) - he is teaching himself Norwegian - just because ......

If anyone wants to know how to ask where the swimming pool is in La Rochelle, or tell a French speaker that they are tired, I’m their woman.

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? Welsh. I know a few words but there are so many words I just cannot pronounce.

In Ireland, I grew up speaking English at home. However, age 4 I started in Irish language Gaelscoil and continued there through primary school and secondary school. DF is English and could not help me much, DM has good school Irish. English is my native language, but I'm a fluent Irish speaker....but...

Compared to native Irish speakers, I'm told I would not have the richness of expression of some. Also, I'd be noticeably lacking in swear words, curses, etc. We were not taught those in school. I also really struggle to speak to people from Donegal in Irish, who speak a very different dialect.

However, having done maths, business and chemistry through Irish I'd have a lot of (now useless!!) technical terms and concepts, that many native speakers won't have.

Of course Irish is not a foreign language in Ireland, but it might as well be for 70% of the population.

@Sn0tnose - This is why DS is teaching himself Norwegian - I asked him Why ? it's not dreadfully useful - & he said that & there is the point - just learning it because I can .

I suspect he is leaning scandinavian / Danish / Norwegian so he can watch crime dramas and learn from the subtitles

Spanish German or French would be more useful - Also Mandarin but he struggled a bit with that ( GCSE )

@Sn0tnose - sorry - learning not leaning - see I can't speak my own language & I did a degree in English - ha ha ( more to do with rubbish typing )

I did French at school but didn't take it at GCSE and can't remember any of it. I've just started learning Spanish on Duo Lingo. I'd love to be multilingual - I'd like to learn Spanish, Chinese and maybe German.

I'm Irish so a native English speaker, of sorts. We have a lot of words and sayings translated directly from Irish to English which means we use more words and expressions than the average English speaker😁. And a lot of us have the gift of the gab as well, as in its hard to stop us talking! My level of Irish is quite good. Myself and my daughter who was in a Gaelscoil for 6 years could have a conversation as Gaelige. I actually learned more Irish in three weeks at a residential summer school than I did in 14 years of school. It was total immersion in the language. I remember we were there when Wimbledon was on and it took me a few minutes to realise what they were saying on the telly as I was thinking in Irish! I learned French for 6 years in secondary school and 1 year in college but I would be better at reading it rather than speaking it. I'm also moderately deaf in both ears now in the mid tones, which are the ones used in speech so it's much harder for me to understand French. I also know a smidgen of Spanish picked up from holidays there over the years.

I'm native English, I grew up with some French learnt at school. I moved to China for work for several years and learnt Mandarin... although it's a struggle to keep it up now I am back in the UK.

I got B in both French and German Gcse in 1991 but never studied them again.
Went to live in Portugal for a year in my early 20s and then moved to Spain, where I've been for 20 years and am married to Spaniard. I now speak Spanish fluently and work as a translator, although I've never formally studied it.
The big thing was living in the country.

@BasiliskStare I have a sneaking suspicion that your DS may have a far greater affinity for languages than I do; my knowledge largely comes from our very patient 9 year old nephew, who rolls his eyes far better than I can roll my Rs! 🙂

The decision by the Labour govt to remove compulsory language GCSE in the early 2000s has had terrible consequences for language teaching in the UK. Reduced MFL GCSE = fewer A level students = fewer MFL graduates = tiny pool of MFL teachers. It was supposed to be replaced by teaching in primary schools, but those teachers were not adequately prepared to do that. So our already poor language education got infinitely worse. It will take a long time to recover.

I'm not proficient in any other languages.

DS 14 has learnt Mandarin from year 7. He says that he has "no fucking idea what's going on", and he's "one of the better students". So, I think it's safe to say that he's not being taught to a high level.

I think I'd like to learn to speak Spanish, because it's quite widely spoken.

I am Welsh and Welsh is my first language. Also fluent in English, studied French to A level and did an O level in Italian at night school.

I'm English so there is only room for one language in my head. I have managed to survive with this disability despite working aboard in random countries nearly every week for the last 15 years BC (before covid).

I learn the important stuff: menu items, beer, hello, goodbye, thanks and a few swear words in every country I visit for more than a week.

For everything else pointing and thumbs up/down generally works.

My work voice is very slow, clear and of limited vocabulary, unless I work with Brits in which case it proper banter mode.