Being monolingual is nothing to be proud of - Page 4

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Being monolingual is nothing to be proud of (Page 4 of 4)

Posted: 5/16/2021 4:04:21 AM EDT

[#1]

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According to the interwebs, there are more bilingual people in the world than monolingual. Should America consider being able to speak only one language as a detriment rather than the norm?

Don't care. Very few places I've been to who don't speak English. I guess if I was born anywhere else, I would learn English too.

/thread

that's cool and all,

but travel more.

World travel is awesome when you know the language vs just saying it louder and slower in English..

Lots of French islands out there in the world.

English
Spanish
French
Drunken Scottish ( kinda )

My kids
English / Spanish / French

Edit:
I've tried German, but in all my travels I've not come across a single German that didn't speak English.

Posted: 5/16/2021 4:08:28 AM EDT

[#2]

Teachers in the US can't even learn kids English, math, science, readin' and writin', they can play some sports ball though. Two languages seems like a nonstarter to me.

Posted: 5/16/2021 4:15:04 AM EDT

[#3]

English is a core part of our heritage and having another widespread language would dilute that. Bilingualism is for conquered people

Posted: 5/16/2021 4:17:20 AM EDT

[#4]

Speaking one language is a privilege for the most dominant culture in the world. The limeys conquered a huge chunk of the world and as a result their tongue became the standard international trading language.

We continued to carry their torch until now.

Now we're in our death of Rome period where multiculturalism has killed our country by robbing it of a proud history and heritage. It's our turn to be divided up and devoured

Posted: 5/16/2021 4:58:40 AM EDT

[#5]

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According to the interwebs, there are more bilingual people in the world than monolingual. Should America consider being able to speak only one language as a detriment rather than the norm?

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English is the language of pioneers, craftsman, and advancement.
You’re free to learn whatever language you desire, but english is the only useful language, and certainly the only language to leave its imprint on the most outer reaches of our galaxy.

Posted: 5/16/2021 6:33:30 AM EDT

[#6]

Posted: 5/16/2021 7:04:55 AM EDT

[#7]

There are so many bilingual people because everyone needs to speak English.

That being said I wish I actually learned some french in school.

Posted: 5/16/2021 7:11:24 AM EDT

[#8]

While only speaking English is nothing to boast about, it's hardly anything to be ashamed of .

Posted: 5/16/2021 7:14:26 AM EDT

[#9]

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My Spanish is good enough to get the cable fixed

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I know enough Spanish to get into a knife fight.

I can ask for beer in 3 foreign languages, though. A man has to have his priorities after all.

Posted: 5/16/2021 7:21:49 AM EDT

[#10]

I worked in landscape construction for a few years. I got a +$2 an hour upgrade because I could speak Spanish to the H1B imports.

From collecting & studying various German arms for years, I can speak a tiny bit of German and can read it well, including Sutterlin script.

I collected a lot of Finnish stuff, but that is the most impossible language to read or speak without being completely immersed in it.

Posted: 5/16/2021 8:03:17 AM EDT

[#11]

Monolingual...

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Ain't nobody use that word in a sentence.

I speak English and southern english.
Southern English is native to TN and KY.

I think I've overcome the southern English but no; all I've got to do is hear my voice on voice mail or speak to someone who is limited in southern English proficiency.

"I'll have a Coors Light"
Sorry sir what did you say?
"Coors Light"
I dont think we have that.
I point to it on menu

Waitress visibly blushes.
I know, I talk southern.

Posted: 5/16/2021 8:14:33 AM EDT

[#12]

You give internationalista's an Inch, and they'll try to take a Meter...

BIGGER_HAMMER

Posted: 5/16/2021 8:29:01 AM EDT

[#13]

The top five L1 languages are Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi, and Portuguese. Of those, only Spanish and Portuguese are considered relatively easy to learn.

The top five L2 languages are English, Hindi, Mandarin, French, and Urdu. Of those, only French is considered relatively easy to learn.

The top five languages (L1 + L2) are English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, and Arabic. Of those, only Spanish is considered relatively easy to learn.

Given all that, it's easy to see why French, Spanish, and Portuguese are popular (and useful) L2 languages for English speakers.

Posted: 5/16/2021 8:45:53 AM EDT

[#14]

I should never have to press "1" for English.

Posted: 5/16/2021 8:47:10 AM EDT

[#15]

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Who put a man on the moon first ?

English.

Imperial system of measurement.

Everybody else is a commie and can piss off.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/79948/sam-1943766.jpg

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Posted: 5/16/2021 8:48:05 AM EDT

[#16]

Who is proud about speaking one language? No one?

Posted: 5/16/2021 8:59:17 AM EDT

[#17]

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English is a core part of our heritage and having another widespread language would dilute that. Bilingualism is for conquered people

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I am proud of the achievements of the British, and then American empires in making English the dominant language of the world.

Posted: 5/16/2021 9:04:35 AM EDT

[#18]

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These classifications make sense. I am guessing most bilingual are either survival or intermediate at best.

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Few people are balanced bilinguals meaning they are native speakers of two languages. Most are less fluent in their second language. The levels are Survival, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, and Native speaker.

These classifications make sense. I am guessing most bilingual are either survival or intermediate at best.

Yep, you are correct. When we assess a person’s level of performance we have a basic conversation with them and rate it according to how normal it is. A person with survival skills will give short answers lacking grammatical rules. Ex: tell me about your family. “Wife, one boy. One girl.”

Someone with Superior skills will respond with details: “I’ve got a wife and a 9 year old son and daughter who is 6. Wife teaches 5th grade and loves to cook. The kids are involved in sports and really keep us busy.”

Posted: 5/16/2021 9:16:57 AM EDT

[#19]

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Not true. Much harder to do, yes... but still not true.

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You generally have to learn a second language as a kid to really become fluent in it.

Not true. Much harder to do, yes... but still not true.

First poster is right. My field is bilingualism, developmental psycholinguistics. The brain is designed to learn languages without effort in the first six years of life. Trying to learn additional languages as an adult takes dedicated effort and a lot of time and resources. It’s not nearly as easy and one never attains native user competence, but you can come close.

Posted: 5/16/2021 9:40:38 AM EDT

[#20]

I can say "Stop or I'll shoot" in arabic, albanian, and serbian. The government was quite insistent I learn those phrases.

I also have a little spanish. Not enough to be conversational, but I can get the jist when people at work cannot speak english and do my best to help. Generally all I have to do is give directions, but when I worked at a hospital several times I was able to get medical emergencies pushed through quickly instead of waiting for an interpreter to begin triage.

Posted: 5/16/2021 9:43:48 AM EDT

[#21]

In Texas, we can ALL order off the menu at a Mexican restaurant.

Posted: 5/16/2021 9:45:48 AM EDT

[#22]

I choose to speak one language well rather than 5 poorly.

Posted: 5/16/2021 9:55:00 AM EDT

[#23]

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Yes

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Posted: 5/16/2021 10:08:59 AM EDT

[#24]

What do you call a person that speaks three languages?- Trilingual

What do you call a person that speaks two languages?- Bilingual

What do you call a person that speaks one language?- American

Honestly it is all so tiring. Americans don't speak more than one, because we don't have to. We don't live in a country the size of a bathtub and English is basically the world language.

The vast majority of Chinese don't speak another other than Chinese (they are counting two types of Chinese as bilingual, BTW) and the vast majority of Russians only speak Russian. But it is only the evil US that is the problem.