Bad Language Skills

[kawanabe]

It must be wonderful to be able to converse fluently in another language.

To those ABers that can - How did you achieve it?
I have tried,maybe not hard enough,but lack the confidence and the"Mindset"to carry it further than"Basic understanding".

Should the UK Government now be thinking of putting more money into training/education in Language Skills,now that the UK has to make its own way in the World re Trade Deals.

[237SJ]

I speak French but I don't like speaking it in the presence of British people because they tend to come over all pedantic and pick fault. The French don't do that because they are just grateful that I have made the effort to speak to them in their own language

[Jackdaw33]

The best way to learn is via an 'immersion' course. In Wales, for example, they run residential courses for non-Welsh speakers in which the use of English is forbidden. This was inspired by a similar system used in Israel to teach immigrants Hebrew.

[mikey4444]

I tried for 2 years to learn Italian but failed miserably !

[Jackdaw33]

237SJ. That reminds me of the French father hosting an English exchange pupil. Later he wrote to the school saying, "Don't you dare send me another boy who tells me when I have to use the subjunctive!"

[Jackdaw33]

Mikey, it's a easya. You justa putta da a on ze end of every worda.

[Tashi]

Your Answer... I thought you were Welsh Mikey4444, do you speak it?

[OldBather]

I was lucky.My Grandmother on one side was French,and the other Grandmother was German.They both tended to speak their own language to me,so I ended up tri~lingual.

[Dazzleflash]

All children have to learn a language and take it at GCSE. What a waste of time! The time they take to 'learn' a language they may never use would be better served teaching them how to cope with life, budgeting, saving, personal skills etc. English is the world language in business, why bother learning French or German? Makes no sense.

[gness]

Mickey has often joked about his "language" skills, Tashi...if that helps.....x

[Tashi]

Not really, but thank you.

[237SJ]

From what I have seen from my work colleagues, Scottish people seem to have a penchant for learning and speaking foreign languages - it seems to come quite easily for them

[Jackdaw33]

Mikey isn't Welsh, he is an asylum seeker there. He doesn't speak Welsh, in common with 80% of the population there. I can speak better Welsh than Mikey, and I've never set foot in the place.

[gness]

You're welcome....just mull it over, Tashi and the penny will drop..... ~I'm sure........;-)

[tonyav]

I remember mikey saying that he was born and raised in London.

[237SJ]

^ I thought I read somewhere that he had gone to school in Wales from a young age

[tonyav]

Well I hope that he returns and puts us straight.

[gness]

Mikey was joking some time ago about speaking a foreign language as well as he spoke Welsh.....bit of a funny on a thread and we all understood the joke....bar one member.....and this is where we get the asking Mikey about his ability to speak languages.......just a bit of a tease I'm sure.....well I think so.......☺

[237SJ]

Anyway, how many people speak Welsh?

[Tilly2]

I know more Welsh words than Mikey just from logging into the Dyfi Osprey Web cam.