Why the English do not make any effort to learn another language, to notice the worst it is the Americans?

Answer 1

Have you noticed that not only do we not learn any other languages, we get really mad when foreigners don't speak English. It's a vicious cycle.

Answer 2

Sorry, but saying that they teach other languages at schools is not answering the question. The question was why the English don't make any effort to learn other languages. Are you making an effort to know Chemistry just 'cos you have the lessons at school? You might not like all the subjects at school. Another thing is the quality of teaching. If the teacher is rubbish, it won't help you much. I'd learned English in my country for about 10 years before I moved to UK but I wouldn't be so good at it if I hadn't made the effort. That English is a global language is not the point. You see people are interested in Japanese which wouldn't be much used outside Japan. And then you have English people going off to live in Spain and they don't bother with Spanish at all. So the answer is laziness or perhaps ignorance?

Answer 3

Because English is the most widely spoken language in the world and is the universal tongue of business and transportation. While learning a language other than English could prove useful and interesting, there is limited practical justification use for English speakers to do so. There are those who think that it is arrogant of English speakers not to make the effort to learn other languages, but that is more to with Westerner's discomfort with their own cultural dominance than an attempt to address a serious problem to do with international communication. They think that we are being lazy, presumptuous and imperialist by letting our language dominate the world scene, but if we take a dispassionate attitude towards this issue, we would see that English is the most sensible choice as an international language. It has more words and more nuances than any other and is already well established across the globe.

Answer 4

The language teaching in England isnt great, there just isnt the same emphasis on it. Its not that we are trying to be annoying, but so many people speak English that if you havent got time to learn another language and you dont intend to travel that much its not something you are going to make a big effort to do. Sorry if its annoying though, I can see why it would be a big irritation. I'm trying to learn French at the moment though :-)

Answer 5

I am American and had three years of French language in high school. I've never used it and therefore forgotten almost everything. The USA is so big, and people speak English everywhere you go. You could drive for days in the same direction and never leave the country. In other parts of the world, you could be in another country in an hour, and so you have the opportunity and inclination to learn other languages and retain them.

Answer 6

In Britain we don't get taught foriegn languages till we are around 8 or 9 years old and after that we don't get much chance to use it either the internet is in english when you go abroad nearly every one speaks english to you anyway and if you do have the guts to speak the lingo then they usually just jaugh at you... the only time i ever used a foriegn language was when we went to france on a school trip and i ended up translating for the whole class... but i haven't had a need to use it since and consequently i have forgot alot of it :(

Answer 7

This is rather a generalisation, but there is truth in it. As English is spoken in so many places to some degree it has made English speaking nations rather lazy as there is less need for them to learn another language in order to travel. I think schools should be looking rectify the problem by making languages more of a priority where possible.

Answer 8

I think it's good enough if they know there are different languages out there.
English is supposed to be the best known language, but try talking in English to people in Belgrade for example and see what happens. They still have such fond memories of American bombs that memories of English are erased.
Some higher education programmes in certain disciplines ask students to master other languages too. So PhD Americans are likely to be able to speak more languages.

Answer 9

Well I don't know where you're from, but you obviously don't speak English very well. I took 8 years of Spanish classes and can probably speak, write and understand better Spanish than you can English. Most schools in the US have a foreign language requirement... so I don't really know what you are talking about. If you want to live in America, then you should speak English. If I wanted to live in Italy I would learn Italian so people wouldn't have to cater to my "American needs."

Answer 10

Learning at least one laguage in British schools, from age of 11 to 16 years, is compulsory. Every should take a language exam as well. The school I went to taught French, German and Spanish. Italian, Chinese and Urdi are taught in other schools in my area. There is one school in Britain that has pupils and teachers who speak 35 different languages.

In Welsh schools the first language is Welsh (ie half the lessons are taught in Welsh), the kids are taught English AND another european language.

Private schools teach the pupils a European language from the age of 4 or 5 years.

Answer 11

Because English is used as a common language in most areas