On Thursday 09 Jan 2003 3:37 pm, Chuck Burns wrote: > On Thu, 2003-01-09 at 08:03, Vahur Lokk wrote: > > Thats easy to explain - compared to other languages english has no > > grammar whatsoever, thus being easy to learn for foreigners (who have > > already grammar experience with their mother tongue) :) > > Actually.. English is one of the HARDEST languages to learn, since we > have so many words that have 4 or 5 different meanings, different ways > of saying the same thing, etc. The fact of the matter is, many people > in non-english countries are required to learn english in school, from > an early age. > > Now, on the other hand, many people in the USA ALSO take a few years of > a foreign language, but not until they are 16-20ish, and the older you > get, the harder it is to learn a new language. Now.. even so, the fact > that we don't USE foreign languages very often here is, in itself, > contributory to us not speaking many languages. Go down to Texas, close > to the Mexican border, you will find MANY spanish-speaking US citizens. > Multi-language is born of necessity. >
Born not just of necessity, though undoubtedly that would be so, but also of opportunity. The truth is that here in Britain we never hear other languages. Of course you can try satellite TV, but you need a reasonable grasp for that to be any good. I can understand a fair bit of French and German if it is said slowly, but at normal talking speed I have no chance. FWIW, I especially enjoy the times when I have needed to converse with someone with whom I have not a word in common. It's amazing what you can achieve if the will is there - but that's irrelevant to what I originally said. (One day I'll tell Sir Robin about the most amazing day of my life, in Turkey). Anne
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