Csaba's Broon Shoes Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 How come most foreign people/sportsman are fluent in several languages ie, run of the mill football coach Laszlo Csaba speaks English , German , Hungarian and Romanian While most people in the UK can only communicate in English Is our educational system so bad ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Findlay Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 How come most foreign people/sportsman are fluent in several languages ie, run of the mill football coach Laszlo Csaba speaks English , German , Hungarian and Romanian While most people in the UK can only communicate in English Is our educational system so bad ? You will find that most Hungarians can speak German. It is like a second language to them. Alot of Hungarians will speak Romanian too. Especially, those Hungarians from the east of the country as there is to this day a dispute as to where East Hungary ends and West Romania starts. English will be the one language he actually knuckled under to learn. You are correct in saying that foreign sportstars particularly continental Europeans leave British and American sportstars well behind when it comes to speaking languages and being articulate in those languages too. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Comedian Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Foreign countries get alot of their TV shows from America and they hear the english language from a early age, this I would think is a huge influence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helzibob Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 A lot of European countries start teaching foreign languages at the start of primary school so aged 4 or 5. If we did that then we would be better at languages I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Harris Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 I think it has less to do with the state of our education system and more to do with the status of English as the de facto international language in sport. (and many other fields for that matter) It is also to do with our sportsman apparantly being a bit less willing to work and live abroad. In a footballing context certainly, British players don't tend to move abroad and therefore have no motivation to learn other languages. The players that we think of as having great language skill are the most well travelled and have lived abroad for a considerable length of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamboj Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Personally I think its pretty embarrassing that so few Scottish people speak another language, although the "most foreigners speak English anyway" excuse is worse still! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Grimes Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 A lot of European countries start teaching foreign languages at the start of primary school so aged 4 or 5. If we did that then we would be better at languages I'm sure. that's a major factor. some primaries in scotland do so as well now, but its not compulsory. i'd change that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christhejambo Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Typically, European countries in particular have a greater focus on the importance of foreign languages in schools- whether that be starting learing from a younger age, making classes compulsory etc. It is considered less important in the UK given that English is such as widespread language, and people attach less importance to learning other languages as a result. As someone who speaks two languages in addition to my mother tongue, and having lived in France and Northern Africa for a while- teaching English as a foreign language to students in addition to studying at University in France- i have to say that the experience of learning other languages and cultures can be both rewarding and enlightening. IMO we should be doing more to encourage the study of foreign languages, not only to increase awareness of cultural trends and traditions, but also to eliminate the racial, religious and cultural stereotypes which are the cause of many global problems today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.