Germans and the English language

[Le Chat]

My husband has just returned from a business trip to Germany. The company that he saw over there, was a very large organisation, with perhaps 50 staff.
From the lowest grade of worker to the highest director, they all spoke perfect English. Where did they learn it? At school! Most of these people were in their thirties and didn't speak English regularly, so were not 'in practise'. So either their schools are fantastic or English is extremely easy to learn and even easier to remember! What do you all think?

[naomi24]

Their schools are good.

[pug100]

Got to agree with you, their schools and education system are light years ahead of the UK's.
You've also got to take into account a lot of German tv stations put out American TV progs with subtitles rather than dubbed, so they get used to hearing English at home and pick it up that way.
The recent advent of the internet has also made English a worldwide standard language.
English is not really an easy language to understand or learn as it has many idiosycracities and nuances which are unique and not omparable in any other language

[shaneystar2]

Lots of elderly German people also speak reasonable English. My father in law certainly could and he was born in 1914.
It's also a big hobby of the Germans when they retire to do evening classes and English is very popular !

[Lonnie]

Also, it musn't be forgotten, that English is the international Buisness language, so it benefits them to be able to speak it.

[naomi24]

True, Lonnie, but I still think their education system, particularly in the early years, knocks spots off ours. I doubt there's many Germans leaving school unable to read and write their own language well - and I suspect some read and write English better than some of our school leavers.

[Whickerman]

If you think that's impressive, go somewhere like Prague where stall-owners will speak to you in perfect English, French, German or Italian.

[Le Chat]

Thanks for your replies so far!
I was particularly impressed when on holiday in Fuerteventura. At breakfast, a German man (about 70yrs) assumed I was German (God knows why, I look more Spanish !) and asked me something that I obviously didn't understand. My reply was "I'm sorry, I'm English - no Deutch spraken!" He then replied "Oh.... Well, I learnt a little English at school.....Do you know where the bread is, I have been looking for ages and just can't find it!" I pointed him on his way and he said. "Thank you so much, I am old and a little incompetent!"
Not bad for learning a little English at school 60 yrs since!

[jake-the-peg]

There is a big incentive for kids to learn English that doesn't equate to our kids learning other languages.

So much of the worlds major youth media is English based, Music, Comics fuilm etc.

I was discussing this with a french friend only yesterday. There if you sopeak English you can get the latest reseases first and there's a certain presitge in that that doesn't equate over here.

Also if you come from a country with a less common language say Finland or Estonia and you want to travel abroad even for a holiday you're pretty much going to have to learn a foreign language and English is the obvious choice because it's so widely spoken.

The simple fact is learning languages is hard and there's simply not enough of an incentive for many of us to make the investment.

[JockSporran]

I think it's a bit of a shame that Germans have had to adopt English. It's all part of the domination of Anglo-American cultural imperialism. To me, one of the charms of going abroad is having to learn some of the language. It makes me feel I really am in another country. But national differences are disappearing, to the loss of each country's identity and culture. I have been in shopping malls across Europe, and you could just as easily be in the UK. Oberhausen or Amsterdam have the same shops as Sheffield or Cardiff, e.g. Marks & Spencer's, Next, etc.

[beso]

English is a fantastic language for expression because we have adopted words from many other languages so have more than any other. Speakers of many other languages will find variants of some of their own words in English.

Of course havng roots in so many languages has led to a nightmare in the spelling. Other languages are far more phonetic meaning that if you can say a word you can usually spell it. The pronounciation of phonetic languages also follows the way it is written.

However English does have a very simple gramatical structure. Compare English with the Latin languages such as Spanish or Italian. They have 42 different words for each verb depending on the tense and case. Fortunately most of them follow a regular pattern but it is still quite a challenge to learn.

The absence of gender for most nouns also helps make English easier.

[jno]

beso is right. English is a very streamlined language. Its grammar isn't particularly complex, though its spelling is a nightmare. But it's actually quite easy to make yourself understood: if you speak bad English, other people will generally know what you're trying to say. If you speak bad French, French people won't know what you're talking about (or they will know but pretend not to.) If you write bad English - well, people do it on AB all the time but it's still not hard to work out what they mean.

Remember the language actually came to us from German invaders in the first place, though it's moved on a bit since. But it's still fairly Germanic in structure, though a lot of its vocabulary is Norman French that arrived with William the Conqueror, and a lot more has come from pretty well everywhere in the days of the British Empire. It's a very flexible, adaptable tongue.

[brionon]

What is more they speak beautiful German. No one can accuse our youth of speaking good English.
I've met Swedish teenagers who speak more clearly than do our sloppy lot.

[Lonnie]

Your right of course naomi, at present, i'd take a safe bet our educational system is the worst in Europe, and wider.