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ThomasjServo
15244 Posts
On April 14 2015 03:47 farvacola wrote: Being mulitingual is the exception here in the US. Was it the same for you where anyone who took German couldn't speak a damn word of it by the end? French was slightly better, and Spanish was probably the most fluent? | ||
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Yoav
United States1874 Posts
Germany is freakishly good. And don't tell me "everywhere but US is good." This is both because I've been to plenty of countries and know that the number and fluency of English speakers in Germany is really high, but also because 80% of the time a German says "every country but the US" or "every modern country", it's only true about Germany or maybe a few countries that border it. It's a kinda fascinating (and endearing) cultural quirk from the fact that you guys have a pretty good system, of which you are proud, but are so desperately afraid of nationalism that it's taboo to say, "Germany is great," even though Germany is pretty great. | ||
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Najda
United States3765 Posts
On April 14 2015 03:47 farvacola wrote: Being mulitingual is the exception here in the US. I would be interested to see how USA compares to another English speaking country, aka England. I'd wager other countries put more emphasis on learning a second language (English) because it's much more important for international affairs than it is for an English speaking person to learn any other language. There's no obvious choice to learn as a second language, since English is already the most universal language. | ||
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ThomasjServo
15244 Posts
On April 14 2015 04:33 Yoav wrote: Yeah, I mean our language education is pretty bad, but it does reflect our border situation pretty accurately. We have a fair few Spanish speakers and some French speakers. Germany is freakishly good. And don't tell me "everywhere but US is good." This is both because I've been to plenty of countries and know that the number and fluency of English speakers in Germany is really high, but also because 80% of the time a German says "every country but the US" or "every modern country", it's only true about Germany or maybe a few countries that border it. It's a kinda fascinating (and endearing) cultural quirk from the fact that you guys have a pretty good system, of which you are proud, but are so desperately afraid of nationalism that it's taboo to say, "Germany is great," even though Germany is pretty great. I would say it is 70%-80% the high school you go to, and what the tax base around it assuming you went to a public school. My high school put a lot of emphasis on language and could afford to hire competent teachers for those subjects. By the time I left I could speak damn good Spanish and a fair bit of French (The latter because I made fun of a French friend for 4 years). The other bit is motivation and necessity. Like you mentioned we border two countries one speaks Spanish, the other speaks English and Newfie French (Sorry Quebec people, your accent sound really strange to me) There isn't the need to learn languages as readily because everyone else is learning English around the world, and if I drive for 6 hours, generally I am still in the US, rather than another country. Sounds a bit entitled the way it came out, but it is not a completely unfair appraisal of the situation imo. On April 14 2015 04:41 Najda wrote: I would be interested to see how USA compares to another English speaking country, aka England. I'd wager other countries put more emphasis on learning a second language (English) because it's much more important for international affairs than it is for an English speaking person to learn any other language. There's no obvious choice to learn as a second language, since English is already the most universal language. In my personal experience, I've known fewer English people who speak a second language than Americans. That being said, I've known far more Americans. | ||
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Acrofales
Spain18307 Posts
On April 14 2015 04:33 Yoav wrote: Yeah, I mean our language education is pretty bad, but it does reflect our border situation pretty accurately. We have a fair few Spanish speakers and some French speakers. Germany is freakishly good. And don't tell me "everywhere but US is good." This is both because I've been to plenty of countries and know that the number and fluency of English speakers in Germany is really high, but also because 80% of the time a German says "every country but the US" or "every modern country", it's only true about Germany or maybe a few countries that border it. It's a kinda fascinating (and endearing) cultural quirk from the fact that you guys have a pretty good system, of which you are proud, but are so desperately afraid of nationalism that it's taboo to say, "Germany is great," even though Germany is pretty great. Compared to the surrounding nations, Germany is actually sub-par. Netherlands, Belgium, all of Scandinavia, Switzerland and by now probably Poland, Czech Republic and Austria all have better foreign language education than Germany. Germany's problem is that it is just so damn dominant and still expects neighbours to speak German when visiting. Hell, it is fairly common to go into a shop in Berlin and the attendant won't speak English. Try that in Amsterdam, Brussel, Warsaw or Prague. The latter two only people aged 50+ won't speak English, the former two you'll be hard-pressed to even encounter 70+ aged people who don't speak enough English to help you out on the street. Sure, Berlin is not the fairest comparison, and Hamburg or Munich are probably better for speaking English, but holding Germany up as the bastion of multilingual education just strikes me as weird. It's better than France, Spain, Italy or *shudder* the UK (only reason the UK escapes notice is because they speak English in the first place), but there are plenty of European countries that beat it. | ||
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farvacola
United States18863 Posts
On April 14 2015 04:03 ThomasjServo wrote: Was it the same for you where anyone who took German couldn't speak a damn word of it by the end? French was slightly better, and Spanish was probably the most fluent? Yep, there were a few dedicated French learners but most of the kids who actually wanted to focus on learning a new language took Spanish. It's worth noting that Spanish programs are also usually the most common and well-funded in comparison to other language learning programs at US high schools. | ||
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Simberto
Germany11875 Posts
On April 14 2015 04:57 Acrofales wrote: Compared to the surrounding nations, Germany is actually sub-par. Netherlands, Belgium, all of Scandinavia, Switzerland and by now probably Poland, Czech Republic and Austria all have better foreign language education than Germany. Germany's problem is that it is just so damn dominant and still expects neighbours to speak German when visiting. Hell, it is fairly common to go into a shop in Berlin and the attendant won't speak English. Try that in Amsterdam, Brussel, Warsaw or Prague. The latter two only people aged 50+ won't speak English, the former two you'll be hard-pressed to even encounter 70+ aged people who don't speak enough English to help you out on the street. Sure, Berlin is not the fairest comparison, and Hamburg or Munich are probably better for speaking English, but holding Germany up as the bastion of multilingual education just strikes me as weird. It's better than France, Spain, Italy or *shudder* the UK (only reason the UK escapes notice is because they speak English in the first place), but there are plenty of European countries that beat it. That does not exactly fit my observation. From my experience, pretty much everyone who is younger than ~40 will be able to communicate in English here. Of the olders, some, especially in eastern Germany, might have learned russian instead (And probably forgotten it in the meantime because they never use it). Granted, i have never been in Berlin, but in all cities i have resided in this has so far been true. However, i do not think that this makes Germany exceptional. From what i understand, we are currently about average in most education concerns in Europe. Before PISA, the German education system used to be incredibly overhyped. Than we noticed major problems and found out that we are actually not as good as everyone thought we are. Now the process of fixing those is in the works, and generally speaking we are just very average now. (Now, my information about this stuff is not from a language perspective, as an aspiring maths teacher i care more about that area) And it quite obviously is both a lot more useful and a lot easier to learn English as a second language when compared to already knowing English and learning anything else. English is a language that is rather easy to learn (though people who only speak English tend to assert that that is not true), and one that you come into contact a lot during your everyday life, so unlike a language that you learn in school and than never use, at all, it tends to stay fresh in your memory. | ||
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Karis Vas Ryaar
United States4396 Posts
heres a comic strip that talks about what I mean http://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit/2015/03/24 | ||
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Najda
United States3765 Posts
On April 14 2015 07:13 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote: anyone have links to articles about modern quantum physics possibly pointing away from the big bang. heres a comic strip that talks about what I mean http://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit/2015/03/24 I'm not sure what it's referring to, but I remember hearing that recently, mathematical models have been leaning towards the universe starting as a super dense cluster rather than a single point before the super rapid expansion, but I can't remember where I saw this. | ||
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Acrofales
Spain18307 Posts
On April 14 2015 07:13 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote: anyone have links to articles about modern quantum physics possibly pointing away from the big bang. heres a comic strip that talks about what I mean http://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit/2015/03/24 I think you're talking about this: Ahmed Farag Alia & Saurya Das. Cosmology from quantum potential. Phys. Let. B. 741, 276–279. (2015) Here's a blog post (one of many) about the article and how it was misrepresented in the media (surprise surprise): https://briankoberlein.com/2015/02/10/beginning/ | ||
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Karis Vas Ryaar
United States4396 Posts
On April 14 2015 08:08 Acrofales wrote: I think you're talking about this: Ahmed Farag Alia & Saurya Das. Cosmology from quantum potential. Phys. Let. B. 741, 276–279. (2015) Here's a blog post (one of many) about the article and how it was misrepresented in the media (surprise surprise): https://briankoberlein.com/2015/02/10/beginning/ that looks like it. thanks a lot | ||
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fruity.
England1711 Posts
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Qkf3BbO.jpg) Why does Echo LE have statues of anal beads everywhere?
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Cascade
Australia5405 Posts
The short answer is that we don't know. There is pretty good evidence that the universe expands from a very hot and dense state 15 billion years ago or so, but exactly how the hot and dense state initiated isn't clear. Scientists are extrapolating their theories and making guesses, but those guesses are always bringing the theories well outside the region that they are tested in. | ||
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GreenHorizons
United States24023 Posts
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Najda
United States3765 Posts
On April 15 2015 05:58 GreenHorizons wrote: Anyone ever figure out exactly how to get which sites you want in the new tab for chrome? No I never found an answer. | ||
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GreenHorizons
United States24023 Posts
I find this unbelievable... Someone must know? | ||
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ComaDose
Canada10357 Posts
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Warfie
Norway2846 Posts
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oneofthem
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
this will be subject to lacanian psychoanalysis by zizek in his forthcoming opus, the nsa-google fetish | ||
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Acrofales
Spain18307 Posts
? For the record, I can and I did: + Show Spoiler + Do you REALLY want to know?+ Show Spoiler + Truly?+ Show Spoiler + Okay. I got July 16 | ||
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