Learning from scratch - any recommendations? [with OT additions]

[Bob Sneidar]

I'll just throw this in the mix. I find in America that where once people spoke the language common to their immediate society (the people around them) now people seem to not care. We have 3 slovakian volleyball players at the beach who in spite of speaking perfectly good english, revert to slovakian often, for which I chide them regularly. It's like walking over to a corner in a party and whispering to each other while everyone looks on. I find it rude. 

Bob S


> On Nov 3, 2019, at 17:33 , Alex Tweedly via use-livecode <use-livecode at lists.runrev.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On 03/11/2019 22:04, Richmond via use-livecode wrote:
>> I'm not sure if in some countries kids learn languages more easily than in others.
>> 
>> But, I do think:
>> 
>> 1. In English-speaking countries there is an unconscious feeling that learning a foreign language is not 100%
>> serious as "all the world learns English."
>> 
> No, it's surely simpler than that.
> 
> For an English speaker, a rational analysis shows that the Return on Investment for learning *any* other language is much lower than the RoI for anyone else thinking of learning English.
> 
> Learning another language is (for most of us) difficult - it takes a lot of time, energy and effort; so it's a legitimate question whether or not it is worth that investment ?
> 
> Although Mandarin and Hindi are spoken by more people than English, the great majority of those people are  very unlikely to be encountered by any English speaker.
> 
> Spanish has some claim - but outside of South America its numbers are much smaller - and the percentage of those outside South America who don't also speak English is (I suspect - can't find reliable numbers to back it up) probably low.
> 
> There are many good reasons to learn another language, ranging from the well-proven neurological benefits of multiple languages to the simple common courtesy of doing so - but in straightforward "increase in ability to communicate" I'm unconvinced that an English speaker gains enough to justify the effort.
> 
> Better to put the time / money into supporting EFL / ESL for others :-)
> 
> Alex, only partially tongue in cheek.
> 
> P.S. hmmm  does that argument also apply to Livecode ??
> 
> 
> 
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