Is French chosen because of the geographical proximity to the UK ? - Page 2

Caz.I · #11 (**permalink**) 24th September 2009, 09:42 PM

Hi Sue (and congrats on your new granny-to-be status),

I am not really surprised that French is the most common second language, only because I think in a lot of schools they dont get the option to study Spanish until much later on, if at all. I know that was the case with my nephews who only had the option of French until 14 when they could take German but not Spanish until 16 or 17!, (though that's in Scotland which has a different education system). As foreign languages are no longer compulsory (bizarrely!) probably a lot of people think they wont bother as it will be too diffiicult, and even if they go on holiday to Spain they dont consider it necessary to speak the language (like a lot of expats here lol).

Schools previously considered Latin and Greek as the most important languages from an academic perspective, then French and German were introduced perhaps because at that time they seemed to have more commercial links to the UK than Spain.

Since the stats you mentioned are for the EU, I imagine there is more pressure from the authorities to focus on European languages for business purposes rather than look outside those boundaries from a global perspective (so they dont consider the number of Spanish speakers in the world). However, since Spain now more than ever has a lot of business connections to the UK (and not just tourism, which is huge enough) it would be make sense to treat Spanish as of equal importance. As for Russian, I suppose a lot of Scandinavian and Eastern European countries feel its more important to them because of its proximity.

When I was at school, from first year in secondary school you could learn French, from second year if you were in one of the top two classes you could learn Latin or German. I think French was compulsory and at 14 you could also study German. I am amazed at how little the UK seems to have progressed when it comes to teaching foreign languages, in fact they seem to be going backwards compared to the rest of Europe, not just in terms of which languages, but at the age they start learning - age 11 or 12 compared to age 3 here!

Its no wonder few ex-pat Brits want to speak Spanish when the authorities make it so difficult to learn languages at school. IMO they should introduce languages in primary school and they should have more choice of languages, especially in secondary school. If they learned earlier they would probably be more confident about learning and also less reluctant later on.

Caz.I

xabiachica · #12 (**permalink**) 25th September 2009, 06:46 AM

when I was at school there was no choice - French was mandatory from the age of 7

I couldn't understand why then, & can't understand now, why you would bother to learn it - though I did & a lot came back to me when I was last in France, and when I was teaching english to a French lady

as someone else said - it's not as if it's of much use in many places outside France!

I also did Latin for a short while - a year I think - and I believe that having learned a Latin-based language as a kid helped me learn spanish - & I learned more about grammar in the French & Latin lessons than I did in English!

my girls have had the chance to learn French in primary school here - but we decided to keep them in English - & now the elder one is learning German - I'm not sure how much use that will be in later life, either - she'd rather learn Chinese!

and let's face it - it would probably be more useful

Tallulah · #13 (**permalink**) 25th September 2009, 08:36 AM

In my old school, French and Latin were compulsory. Then, another language was chosen at GCSE - Spanish, German or Russian. I think now they are also teaching Chinese. But as has already been pointed out, they start it far too late in the UK.

Like your eldest daughter with her extra language options, XC, my twins have just started secondary and another language at the moment has been made compulsory - French. That's now Castellano, Gallego, English & French. But that's only for this year, I think, as French in Year 2 becomes optional. So far, they're really enjoying it though!

Stevan · #14 (**permalink**) 25th September 2009, 09:20 AM

In Scotland it is compulsory to continue a second language to the end of secondary education.

Whcih language will depend on the primary school. eldest lad did german youngest girl did french.

the levels vary. The teacher told us at a parents evening that most kids were not intrested and all she taught was enough for them to pass exams parrot fashion.

Most brits still use the traditional methoode of comunication abroad, Shout loadly but slowley whilst pointing.

xabiachica · #15 (**permalink**) 25th September 2009, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallulah

In my old school, French and Latin were compulsory. Then, another language was chosen at GCSE - Spanish, German or Russian. I think now they are also teaching Chinese. But as has already been pointed out, they start it far too late in the UK.

Like your eldest daughter with her extra language options, XC, my twins have just started secondary and another language at the moment has been made compulsory - French. That's now Castellano, Gallego, English & French. But that's only for this year, I think, as French in Year 2 becomes optional. So far, they're really enjoying it though!

English is compulsory at my dd's school for everyone except the english kids! She thought she was going to have to do it this year though - but she's delighted that she doesn't

A-N-other language is compulsory too - they have a choice of German or French - we do hear rumours that they will be getting a chance to do chinese (mandarin?) perhaps from next year, so I knwo she'd drop german for that

if you go the 'letters' route you can do Greek at Bachi & Latin from yr 3

I find it really scary how they pick up the languages so easily

Pesky Wesky · #16 (**permalink**) 25th September 2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hombre

I know Spanish is spoken in approx 28 countries but apart from France ..Quebec and a few parts of Africa, where else is French spoken.?

Doesn't exactly answer your question but gives an idea of number of speakers of each language. As you can see French isn't among the top nine ...

The nine languages with the estimated largest numbers of native speakers in the world, according to SIL Ethnologue, 2005.

Of course, if we're just thinking about force of numbers we should all be learning Manderin and Hindu. I think I'd rather stick to French and Spanish!!