Quote:
Originally Posted by dogsbody70
I don't know but I feel we in England do not study languages from an early age-- Because English is now used world wide-- we tend to be lazy.
I think that is bad. Young children pick up languages easily and naturally so our education system fails in that way.
Others may disagree of course. I have noticed that many scandinavian people are taught English form an early age and are excellent speakers.
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How young do you mean by 'young'?
We were taught Spanish in years 5 and 6 (ages 9-10), and French from years 7 to 9 (ages 11-13). To me that seems pretty young, and a somewhat valid attempt by the government to install the basics of foriegn languages into children.
I do agree though that it isn't enough. . . there is a mentality of 'is everyone else speaks English then why should we learn their language?' This is especially evident in the teenage age group, I can say honestly we picked up Spanish a lot easier than French because we were more willing to learn. So maybe you're right, that learning at a younger age is better.