Spain: 47% of adults don´t speak a foreign language
 

Sad, but that´s the way it is. Almost half of the adult population can´t speak any other language but Spanish. We are behind Portugal and Bulgaria. Who´s to blame for this situation?

I'd be surprised if 53% of Americans or British spoke a foreign language.

The overwhelming majority of Spain's (and Portugal's and Bulgaria's) adult population received most of their education while the country was under the sway of an isolationist dictator.

And few of you - at any rate by British or German standards - ever leave the country.

So why would they speak a foreign language? And why should they?

Contrary to the endless self-interested propaganda of language teachers (and the boasts of those of us who have a bit of a gift for languages), speaking foreign languages isn't a fundamental human need. Nice competence to have - but so is horse whispering or knitting.

If I were Spanish, I'd pay a great deal more attention to my compatriots' literacy, numeracy and scepticism. The difference between an ordinary gullible fool and a multilingual gullible fool is that the linguist believes even more crap than the monoglot.

You may be right to some extent, but Franco died 34 years ago...and by adults we undertand people over 18.

People in Spain travel a lot abroad, but true, we don´t "expatriate" as much as other countries. In any case, I feel that there´s a strong need for speaking other languages, even just for the sake of better comprehension of other cultures.

(a joke, badly translated: Swiss guy lost in a Spanish town. Asks a couple: Can you tell me how to get to the highway?, in English, the couple don´t anwer. SVP, pourriez-vous me dire comment trouver la autoroute? No answer. He tries again in German. No answer. He finally tries in Portuguese. No answer either. So he leaves, frankly irritated. The lady in the couple tells her husband "maybe we should learn to speak another language". Her husband replies "What the heck for? This guy spoke four and it helped him nothing!!"

So if they speak Catalan, Gallego, or Basque besides Castilian, those would not count because they are domestic languages?

Correct, I think the poll is based on "non spoken in Spain" languages.

Mikelg writes: "Sad, but that´s the way it is. Almost half of the adult population can´t speak any other language but Spanish. We are behind Portugal and Bulgaria. Who´s to blame for this situation?"

I can's speak for Bulgaria; but Spain was isolated from the rest of Europe in the years following World War II. The U.S. 'Marshall Plan' was helping to rebuild Infrastructure in Countries like France and Benelux and even Germany; but Spain was left to fend for itself. Being snubbed like that probably pushed Spain further into Isolationism. Who's to blame?? Politics!

flanneruk answers: "The overwhelming majority of Spain's (and Portugal's and Bulgaria's) adult population received most of their education while the country was under the sway of an isolationist dictator."

Education in other languages was, for the most part, not available for Spaniards, in Spain during the Franco years.

Uno, Grande, y Libre: the slogan Spanish Pesetas had on the 'tails side' of coins and paper money. It referred to the Nation itself (no Autonomous Communities) and to a need for a universal language.

Universality of el idioma castellano was Franco's Policy during the years he reigned as el Caudillo. Schools were not allowed to teach Galego or Euskera or Catalan. There was little interest in Foreign language studies.

Perhaps a large number of Spaniards who do already speak a foreign language are already living outside Spain?

65% of Britons say they speak no foreign language so I wouldn't worry too much about the Spaniards. Like English it is a world language so many people around the world speak a form of it, which discourages learning another language I think. Give the different histories of the two countries I would say the Spanish percentage is pretty good - I expect most young adults speak at least a little English in Spain, even if the older ones only spekk one language.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=108141

Oh and in the US 20% of the population speak a language other than English as their first language, so it is difficult to get figures for how many have learned a second language, other than English.
Spanish is the most popular second language to learn in the US, as well as being the most common first language among those for whom English is a second language.

Mike, having gusts from all over Spain I feel I can suggest that the teaching in the schools is to blame for the poor language skills. However most of my gusts know a good deal of English and their English grammar is very good, but when it comes down to the spoken word it is where the system lets it’s pupils down.
However I am surprised by the findings of the report that the foreign language skills of the British are rated so high. The Dutch are perfect, my wife is Dutch and speaks several languages.

many of my friends [here in the UK] are busy learning different languages - within our office alone we cover french, italian and greek.

but I suspect we are unrepresentative. when I was a primary school governor [children aged 5-11], and we tried to introduce french into the curriculum, great acrimony was heaped upon our heads my parents who thought that it would interfer with their chidlren learning english. our explanations that, as well as having the benefits of learnnig about another culture, it would actually help the children with their native tongue, fell on deaf ears.

from my own perspective, I learnt more about english grammar from learning german than I ever did from my english lessons. and i am sure that I get more out of foreign travel when I have some idea of the language, if it's only how to ask for a beer.

I think the problem here is these Spaniards over 18 have studied English for more than 10 years, most of them, and can still not speak.

Probably for the same reason Spain has one of the highest failure rates in schools.


I would dare say adults over 50 probably do not speak many languages, but I would be surprised for those between 18-40 not speaking.. even poorly.

Also, under Franco, most students studied French.

Also, in the 70's all the native English teachers at public institutions, legal residents but not nationals, were relieved of their jobs, at least in Valencia.

So.. as they say in Spain. we have what we deserve.

Spanish goverment and educational system has no interest in spaniards speaking a foreigh language as they are convinced thar Spanish is the language of the future and will be spoken by the majority of the world population.

Please do not comment on this statement. Or otherwise do it in spanish.

Funny, though, the high number of adults that swear they speak English...and when they have to prove it, it´s something like Indian English...so the real results of the poll may be even worse.

As a (former) English teacher, I have to agree that the pressure on learning other languages is just formal...people just find it too hard. And when kids spend their summers learning English abroad, they stay together all the time, speaking Spanish.

car, eso que dices no tiene mucho sentido...

"I think the problem here is these Spaniards over 18 have studied English for more than 10 years, most of them, and can still not speak."

Ditto here in Britain, I think. I studied French at school for 9 years, between the ages of 9 and 18, and I'd hesitate to claim I speak it. At least in those days, teaching was gearewd towards being able to read and write a language rather than being able to speak it well.

As for "I would dare say adults over 50 probably do not speak many languages" - I think that would depend on the country but I daresay may be true for over 50s in Spain. I am British and over 50 and would hazard a guess that more school pupils studied at least one language at school in my day than do today.

hetismij, surely more than 20& of the US population has a first language other than English ? Isn't Spanish supposed to become the most common language there in the not too distant future ?

Unless you are dropped off in a foreign land and forced to speak the new language, you will not learn it. If you live in spain your entire life and study english, but don't get to use it, of course you will never speak it. If you were forced to use it, then you would catch on quickly.
We visited relatives in Austria this summer and found everyone over 40 could only speak German. Everyone under 40 had a pretty good grasp of English, Italian, Croatian. Most could speak some English. The little children could only speak German.
In the US, I would say most adults only speak English. Spanish is more and more introduced because of all of our mexican immigrants. Since Spanish is being used more here, more people can learn it and apply it. My friend who is a nurse gets a lot of spanish speaking only immigrants into her maternity ward. She took spanish in school, but has learned the language through her daily work out of necessity.

"Everyone under 40 had a pretty good grasp of English, Italian, Croatian."

Simply cannot be true of Austrians. May be true of some families - but this is a classic example of why you shouldn't generalise from a few particulars

Personally I've never met an Austrian whose Italian went any further than being able to sing "Voi che sapete". And nary a one who spoke even a word of Croat.

Maybe it was just our family? We didn't talk much to people outside of the family, but some could speak croatian and some spoke italian. They all spoke english.(The under 40s that is).

I live in the USA.

I had 3 years of Spanish in grade school while living in Costa Rica. Left the country at the age of 10 and never have used it again--I don't remember any of it beyond some individual words.

I had 4 years of German in middle school, high school, and college, and lived in Germany for 2 years. But I haven't had any reason to use it in the past 35 years and can't remember more than a few scattered words and phrases.

I had 2 years of Japanese 30 years ago and lived in the country for 18 months, and, yes, I have never had a reason to use it ever since I left the country, and didn't even have to use it much while there--besides simple greetings and numbers, I remember almost nothing.

I guess all the time and money spent on languages might be worth it for some people, but it's pretty much a waste for most. Keep in mind, I'm referring to actually learning a language, not learning a few important words and phrases for a vacation to help out on the trip and to show respect for the country and people--I think everyone should do that much.

I think the time I spent in school learning languages would have been much better spent on other subjects.

It's almost impossible to predict which students in a country like the USA would benefit from a foreign language, let alone which language would benefit any particular student. Spanish would be the most likely language to be helpful for a citizen of the USA, but the vast majority of most American citizens will never actually need it. Over my lifetime French, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and Spanish have all been presented as "must have" languages for the future--so far none of them have turned out to be so, at least for Americans.

I would like to see our schools spend more time on the history and cultures and geography of the rest of the world as opposed to learning a language that most of them will never use.

<<Unless you are dropped off in a foreign land and forced to speak the new language, you will not learn it.>>

Disagree totally. I was "dropped" off in France after studying the language for 10 years and felt completely comfortable with it. Same with being "dropped off" in Germany and Italy after years of study of those languages. Obviously, I improved with exposure to everyday speaking, hearing, and reading the languages, but good teachers can prepare you very well for the actual experience of using the language. My Arabic teachers were uniformly horrible and did nothing to prepare me for on-the-ground experience on the other hand - though not entirely their fault as regional differences in the spoken language are enormous.

When my daughter lived in Spain a few years ago her host family spoke no English. The sons were 14 and had been taking English in school for years. They could not speak or understand any English at all.

Caroline - a good point. It is a useless fact I read somewhere this last week. Now I think about it it really is useless. It was in a newspaper I think, which has since gone for recycling, so I can't check it - maybe I remembered it wrong?

Anyway I can't see it is an enormous problem not to be able to speak another language. I bet a fair number of those Spaniards will never leave Spain or meet a non Spanish speaker anyway.
And we Brits are useless at languages. I did French to O level but can barely remember it. I never did English grammar, and only learnt Dutch by being totally immersed in it. I started learning Spanish but my poor brain just struggled so much with the Spanish lessons in Dutch that I gave up. I'll just have to move to Spain to learn it.
I wish I'd had better teachers to be honest to have helped me learn French better.
The Dutch like to think they are good at languages but they are not as good as everyone thinks. I know plenty of Dutch people with little or no English and ome think they are good at English but mangle the language terribly.
My sons started English lessons at primary school (not that they needed them of course) and added French and German at secondary school. The older two dropped both French and German as soon as they could, the younger one kept French but dropped German.
My eldest son hated German at school, and the irony is that he now spends most of his working life speaking German, is married to a German and is considering moving to Germany.

My eldest cosuin in Spain is in her 80's and she cannot read or write any language.

Her children who are in the 50's and 60's speak only Spanish.

Their children speak a smattering of different languages, but not well.

You need teachers who are proficient in another language to teach that language correctly. Thus the cycle is improving but will still take time.

53% adults speaking a foreign language seems incredibly high to me - i know in France it is not nearly that high - we are talking about speaking (not reading) a foreign tongue - out of dozens of French i have met thru in-laws, etc very very few speak anything but French.

In Britain the % speaking a foreign language must include the several million immigrant stock who brought their own language with them, not learnt it in schools.

America's % of those speaking foreign language is mainly due to immigrants too as well as second-generation immigrants who retain tongues spoken at home - like my Mom who spoke Czech - but that group is dying out so the % may actually decline

listen, down in andalucia barely 47% of the population speak castellano...be thankful for small mercies

Americans do not speak Spanish as a second language due to Mexican immigrants -- this statement assumes the high number of Latinos in the US are just Mexican emigres. The Northeast of the US has far more immigrants from Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the various Central American nations than Mexican immigrants. Florida has one of the highest concentrations of Latinos in the country but the state's Latino population is from Cuba, the DR, Puerto Rico, not primarily from Mexico.

But in the Southwest, Mexican-Americans are the part of the cultural, political and social fabric of the various states.

"And we Brits are useless at languages."

Speak for yourself.

flanneruk, you are one of the tiny minority...most of our compatriots can't get beyond 'two beers por favor'

To point the obvious, book knowledge of a foreign language is rather different than the ability to converse in it.
I can read (and order a meal ) in five languages..but carry on a meaningful discussion in all five - not way.
I agree that "living" in the language , even from time to time, makes all the difference.

An American driving through rural Russia stopped to ask for directions. Two Russians only looked at each other when he tried to ask them in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian.

After that American left, one Russian said to the other: "let's make an effort to learn at least one foreign language."

"What for," replied the other, "that American knows so many languages, and what, did it do him any good?"

:)

I wonder how many countries that joke is set in.

I don't think being able to read and write but not speak a foreign language is completely useless. Obviously it's easier to do the former and the latter requires immersion and contact with native speakers.

And let's be clear, learning any foreign language isn't the same as learning a foreign language that makes you more marketable in the job market. Right now, that language is English. Maybe by the end of the century, it will be Mandarin.

It's obvious though that more ambitious Europeans try to learn English, either take courses from native speakers or travel to the UK. Wealthy families can probably send their children abroad or to a multilingual school.

"And we Brits are useless at languages."

Speak for yourself.>

well on Coronation Street only a few of dozens of characters speak anything but English - Dev the South Asian and daughter obviously speak Paki or Hindu or some skrit and maybe - a big maybe Ken Barlowe

The rest are pretty much like Americans it seem and are unlikely to speak any other language - heck the vast majority of Brits i'd think never go to university - how and why would they ever learn a foreign tongue?

Yes the elite class as always is worldly wise and speak say French because they had to learn it in their posh public schools or at University but these IME are far from typical Brits, who often seem to struggle with even English.

"And we Brits are useless at languages."

Speak for yourself.>

Flanner - he is really speaking for himself and the overwhelming number of Brits: Only 38% can speak a foreign language and i surmise that many of these are of recent immigrant stock, such as the zillions from South Asia - so Britain is really even much much lower than Spain! Well that should settle that argument.

<Do very many Britons know a foreign language or are most
Britons at bottom of table for learning a foreign language ...
Feb 23, 2006 ... Almost two in three Britons are unable to speak a language other than ... only 38 per cent of Britons spoke at least one foreign language, ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/.../bri...ge-467456.html

Do any of these examples showing percentages define what they're asking? I can speak a few words of both Spanish and German, but nobody would be silly enough to call me fluent. Are they counting the percentage of people who can speak a few words, read the language a bit, are they counting those who can communicate on an elementary scale, or are they only counting those who are actually fluent?

The number of people who have a tiny bit of a second (or more) language is one thing, the number of people who are fluent is another thing altogether.

The number of people who have a tiny bit of a second (or more) language is one thing, the number of people who are fluent is another thing altogether.>

Yup - that's why in France though zillions of kids are forced to take a second language for years on end that IME nearly none of them are anywhere near fluent in the languages they studied - now i'm talking about the average French, not the elite or business classes - i'm talking about dozens of kids my son grew up with who i've heard struggle to say anything in English even though they had taken it several years in school. In a poll they may show up as having knowledge of a second language.

The fact that a proportion of the Spanish population don't have grasp of a foreign language isn't the sad fact here - it's that fact that the far more travelled Brits - many of whom grow up taking many holidays in Europe during the summer months - still be the age of 50 still haven't progressed past "dos cerveza".

I don't know the stats but I would bet that a far greater proportion of young Brits travel compared with kids in Spain.

I don't know the stats but I would bet that a far greater proportion of young Brits travel compared with kids in Spain.>

and if you changed the weather in Spain for that in the U.K. then you'd have Spanish youths flying to places like Blackpool perhaps - yup the British young folk i saw in Benidorm just came for the weather and to get pissed it seemed - not to soak up any local culture or language that's for sure.