Languages (OT)

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 6872

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, morine10 at a... wrote:
> In a message dated 12/13/00 9:46:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
> harry_potter00 at y... writes:
> 
> 
> > When traveling in other countries it was stated that English 
speakers 
> > rarely know how to converse with the natives of that country. I 
must 
> > add that while I can speak French a little bit i is not the 
best.  I 
> > also found, on a good piece of advice that even if you don't know 
> > much trying to say anything in another language will get you a 
lot 
> > farther than staring dumbly and waiting for someone else to talk 
in 
> > your tounge.  Most of the time they do know some English and will 
be 
> > glad to use it if only you use your limited knowledge of their's.
> 
> Absolutely!  I've always found people have a smile when I try their 
language 
> out - although they are probably just smiling because the are 
thinking 
> "ignorant American."  After you sputter like a fool, they usually 
let you off 
> the hook and talk to you in near-perfect English.  
> If you look at it geographically, it is almost a necessity for 
Europeans to 
> learn a common language because of the close proximity countries 
have to one 
> another.  The US is isolated, most states only border on other 
states and the 
> common language dates back to our start.  Culturally, it was never 
a 
> necessity for us to learn another language.    
> 
> > When it comes to learning other languages early in the schooling 
> > process I did have Spanish until the fourth grade when the state 
> > abolished it.  It can be said though that I never learned much 
from 
> > these classes.  All I can remember from these early classes is 
> > skpping in a circle and flapping our arms like chickens, so 
perhaps 
> > it is a good thing they were outed. (Or perhaps not, since, 
flashing 
> > forward to High School and my latin class I can clearly recall 
> > dancing in conga lines to new vocabulary words, in fact that was 
last 
> > only two weeks ago.)
> 
> Unfortunately in the US, someone, at some point in the development 
of our 
> schools' curriculum, decided that languages should be taught in the 
latter 
> grades.  I didn't receive a language until High School - age 15.  I 
know Oui  
> and that's about it.  Spanish in college produced similar results, 
si?  If 
> you look at the research, I believe that it's sometime after the 
age of 11 or 
> 12, (around puberty) that humans loose the ability to learn 
language easy - 
> it's a brain thing.  Something about the pathways becoming so set 
for 
> English, we loose the others that would have helped learn other 
languages.  
> We don't use them, we loose them.  If you look at the research, 
children that 
> are taught (properly) at a very young age do not struggle at all.  
They 
> develop perfect accents and are able to switch between languages 
without even 
> thinking about it.  
> 
> 
> > There we played Mythology Charades and Ink Pinks-
> > 
> > A Happy Wizard?
> > 
> > Merry Harry, of course!!!!
> > 
> > Ink Pinks!  Thanks!  So weird that you mention them.   Just the 
other day I 
> > was trying to remember what they were.  I have a very vague 
memory of them 
> > from grade school.  I think we may have called them Hink Pinks.)  
Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> -Mo
> ****************************


Interesting. I didn't start Latin until 9th grade and had a little 
German and ancient Greek and modern Greek in college. I can speak 
some modern Greek but the language I do best in is French. They had 
an experiment in my school that started teaching us French in second 
grade. I was stunned to find out that I could read French newspapers 
on the net, and when I was in Hanoi...but clearly that's the language 
that "stuck" the best..

S