LL-L "Language survival" 2005.09.11 (03) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 11.SEP.2005 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Gary Taylor <gary_taylor_98 at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L Language Survival

Hi Heather, Críostóir and all

Heather, you gave a couple of examples about how it's
difficult for English speakers to learn other
languages, due to the 'simplicity' of English.
Although I do to some extent agree with you, you've
also got to remember that there are points in English
which are incredibly complex for foreign learners, and
where native English speakers have an advantage when
learning other languages, such as the tense system.
The German tense system for example (at least spoken
German) is in comparison 'easy' and if anything is
gradually being simplified.

The point you made about difficulties for English
speakers as regards conjugations is valid, however I
live in Germany now and am fairly fluent in German,
however I still make mistakes of conjugation, this
(mostly) does not detract from comprehension. Yes,
it's not correct German, but they still understand
what I mean. Also the Germans I speak to in English
often make mistakes with tenses, but I can still
usually understand.

I have a theory that Southern England English speakers
(who speak with an accent other than RP) have a harder
job with obtaining other pronunciations than a lot of
other English accents. 'Pure' long vowels are
particularly difficult, as they are practically absent
from Southern English, but again it does not detract
too much from comprehension.

I think there are a number of more important reasons
why English speakers are so poor at learning other
languages, which are not due to the 'simplicity' of
English. One of which is the relative remoteness of
the speakers (island mentality - which applies to both
Brits and Americans). It's only in the last century
that travel opportunities have improved enough to
allow the average English speaker to encounter other
languages. My grandmother never set foot outside
Britain - the most 'abroad' she travelled was to Wales
and the Isle of Wight (she never even made it to
Scotland). This remoteness is still present in today's
attitudes.

Another is due to the dominance of English in the
world. If an English speaker attempts to speak the
native language in another country, they are more
often than not answered in English, which is
infuriating, and so they think - why bother? It still
irritates me when someone in a shop hears that I'm
English and answers me in very broken English, I
continue to speak in German and they usually realise
that my German is far better than their English, but
if my German was poorer I'm sure I'd just switch back
to English.

There are probably numerous other reasons, such as
many British people do not consider themselves to be
European in the same way as many people on the
continental mainland, and probably feel closer to
Americans and other English speaking countries than to
their closest neighbours, even though having recently
come back from a trip to America, I realised just how
European I am...

Anyway, that's just a few thoughts on the matter

Gary

http://hometown.aol.com/taylor16471/myhomepage/index.html

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