Metropol

Now the reason i ask this is because i met a young German girl today. She had been staying with a local family and her English was superb.
The weather round this neck of the woods has been awul so she hadn't visited the beach. Today, the day she was leaving the sun decided to make a welcome appearance. She was disappointed as she didn't have the time to enjoy the day at the beach. Her word's to me were " the sun don't like me" she then corrected herself by saying " Sorry, the sun dosen't like me".
I was gobsmacked as most of our own teenagers cannot speak proper English and don't even get me started on manners.
I am by no means perfect, but i see and hear appalling use of the English language by the English and the Americans have destroyed it.

What is giong on in our schools??

miss hellfire wrote:What is giong on in our schools??

I love your grasp of irony there

I've never really thought of the quality of English that we speak as a problem, after all it's our language and we routinely trash it and we're surviving. I feel what this sort of episode highlights is the foul state of modern language teaching in our schools - I'd like to find a guy in the street who's able to speak German or French as well as these people can speak English.

Not only do they make us look bad, we are consistent assholes abroad by not bothering to learn the language, attempt to speak it, and of course turn as pink as possible by day two of our holidays! I really hate english tourists, but that's a different rant entirely!

Sput wrote:

miss hellfire wrote:What is giong on in our schools??

I love your grasp of irony there

You're soooo kind. Did you get the "Irony" in the poll title too..

In short. Yes.

How many English people have a second language? Compared to other european countries it's pathetically low.

I was gobsmacked as most of our own teenagers cannot speak proper English and don't even get me started on manners.
I am by no means perfect, but i see and hear appalling use of the English language by the English and the Americans have destroyed it.

Well you aren't generally taught your first language, you just pick it up, and are then taught the correct way to speak it later, but by then any poor use of language is pretty much ingrained. Poor written language on the other hand is something I can't stand (particularly poor use of grammar, very little annoys me more than the sign at the car hire place down the road from me that warns you not to break in because they have "security camera's").

In contrast, second languages are taught from scratch, so the correct way is the only way you'll ever know. This isn't just a British thing, it rings true for native speakers of pretty much every language.

And incidentally, most 'Americanisms' are actually old British ways of spelling (along with most 'American' pronounciation), predating what is now seen as 'English' spelling and speaking.

I'm not English, but shouldn't the title read, "Are our European neighbo(u)rs taught better English than we are?"