I think that that has little to do with how people acquire other
languages, but quite a lot
to do with concepts of inclusiveness and tribalism.
I doubt whether those Slovakians are consciously setting out to be rude,
but:
1. They probably feel that it is easier to convey certain concepts to
their compatriots in their mother tongue.
2. I felt, on my visit to the USA last Summer, that people seemed less
friendly than when I was there for 3 years in the early 90s. Put this
down to a cultural shift if you will, put it down to the effect of
everyone's favourite
half-Hebridean if you will, put it down to some sort of rise in racism;
I honestly don't know.
Of course if one wants to be tribal and rude (which are often confused)
a person like myself
educated in England could get "all b*tchy" about your "perfectly good
english." :)
Which does rather prove the point, that all of what you have mentioned
about Slovakian volleyball players comes down to perceptions and
manners: not how languages are learnt.
On 4.11.19 17:54, Bob Sneidar via use-livecode wrote:
I'll just throw this in the mix. I find in America that where once people spoke
the language common to their immediate society (the people around them) now
people seem to not care. We have 3 slovakian volleyball players at the beach
who in spite of speaking perfectly good english, revert to slovakian often, for
which I chide them regularly. It's like walking over to a corner in a party and
whispering to each other while everyone looks on. I find it rude.
Bob S
On Nov 3, 2019, at 17:33 , Alex Tweedly via use-livecode
<use-livecode@lists.runrev.com> wrote:
On 03/11/2019 22:04, Richmond via use-livecode wrote:
I'm not sure if in some countries kids learn languages more easily than in
others.
But, I do think:
1. In English-speaking countries there is an unconscious feeling that learning
a foreign language is not 100%
serious as "all the world learns English."
No, it's surely simpler than that.
For an English speaker, a rational analysis shows that the Return on Investment
for learning *any* other language is much lower than the RoI for anyone else
thinking of learning English.
Learning another language is (for most of us) difficult - it takes a lot of
time, energy and effort; so it's a legitimate question whether or not it is
worth that investment ?
Although Mandarin and Hindi are spoken by more people than English, the great
majority of those people are very unlikely to be encountered by any English
speaker.
Spanish has some claim - but outside of South America its numbers are much
smaller - and the percentage of those outside South America who don't also
speak English is (I suspect - can't find reliable numbers to back it up)
probably low.
There are many good reasons to learn another language, ranging from the well-proven
neurological benefits of multiple languages to the simple common courtesy of doing so -
but in straightforward "increase in ability to communicate" I'm unconvinced
that an English speaker gains enough to justify the effort.
Better to put the time / money into supporting EFL / ESL for others :-)
Alex, only partially tongue in cheek.
P.S. hmmm does that argument also apply to Livecode ??
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