Cunning linguists

[cloggypop]

Yes. It was in the bit you quoted. It's a link in there. Try it out.

 

[Frogfish]

You're right in a way, but not in the way you think. In my experience most British people actually persist in telling themselves it's really difficult, and that's the biggest obstacle of all. In places where speaking more than one language is an everyday thing (the example best known to me is Malta, where almost everybody speaks English and Italian as well as the native lingo) it's not a problem at all for the great majority of people.

That's different JJ. and (although I've never been to Malta) I'd still surmise that the majority of Brits living there finding they can get by in English, would never learn fluent Italian. Living, & being brought up in, a bi-lingual country is not the same thing at all.

Personally I've found that induction is really the best way ; French when I lived in Perpignan and there was no other English speakers around, German when I owned a business and lived in Austria and had no other option, Chinese because of my wife and living in China. People are naturally lazy though and if they can get by in their native tongue they generally will.

 

[Frogfish]

It's also fairly pointless. I would feel rude as fuck and semi literate if I hadn't bothered though.

I tried, I really did ! However whenever I started in Dutch they would immediately come back .. "oh you're English" and prattle off near perfect English. Made me feel totally inadequate 🙁

 

[cloggypop]

I tried, I really did ! However whenever I started in Dutch they would immediately come back .. "oh you're English" and prattle off near perfect English. Made me feel totally inadequate 🙁

So true.

 

[cloggypop]

I said he would have been exposed to it at School.

Now, seeing as the area Lucas is from is 75km from Paraguay then I think it's a safe bet to assume Lucas was around Spanish to some extent as a kid years before he ever even knew where Liverpool was:

"The city has a close relationship with Paraguay its next door neighbor, which is 120 km (75 mi) away. This is a strong factor in the ethnic and cultural union between the city and the neighboring country. This explains why 30% of the inhabitants of Dourados have some Paraguayan family link."

But please, keep doing what you've been doing all afternoon by trying to find some tenous link or explanation to claim otherwise.

Looks dangerously like research that.

 

[FMSPWR]

Looks dangerously like research that.

Brazil is quite big. If you were in the middle then it is quite far to a Spanish speaking country. It seems that English is the most common second language there with Spanish third.

http://www.lexiophiles.com/english/why-learn-spanish-a-brazilian’s-point-of-view

Alzheimers.

 

[cloggypop]

Alzheimers.

There you go mate.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer's_disease

 

[Red Astaire]

People are naturally lazy though and if they can get by in their native tongue they generally will.

Hmmmm that's a good point - A shame though. Out of about 20 new teachers I worked with when I moved to Japan nearly all had Japanese lessons and by the end of our 3 years stay all us of had stuck with it and were very pleased we did so. I really love learning a new language and I try to get the basics to one every year as part of a NY resolution thing - I'm very fortunate in that I have the time do it. This year was German. I'm pretty good at French as well and Japanese (although I'm shockingly rusty!) 2016 is going to be Spanish I think. Rosetta Stone make a fair bit of bunce out of me.

My wifes family being Vietnamese/Chinese speak Teohew which is a southern Chinese dialect that is a little rare. Not dissimilar to Cantonese but enough to need to learn it on it's own. I can count to ten and ask 'What is that?" but it's an absolute bitch compared with Japanese. The wife speaks it to my lad so I need to learn it in case they think they're clever and speak in code! 😉

 

[Judge Jules]

Tink dey're clever, don't dey, dem Teohew. Dey do dough, don't dey dough? 😉

 

[Red Astaire]

Tink dey're clever, don't dey, dem Teohew. Dey do dough, don't dey dough? 😉

Little buggers are conspiring against me JJ. Little do they know of my secret Teohew practice! I'm quite looking forward to being slagged off by my father-in-law only to retort in kind in his native tongue. Juvenile? Sure - Funny? Yes!!!. 😎

 

[cloggypop]

I generally don't speak any Dutch to people until I know them for a couple of weeks. Funny seeing them trying to remember how rude they have been in front of me. It's a great way of seeing what people are really like.

 

[Red Astaire]

I generally don't speak any Dutch to people until I know them for a couple of weeks. Funny seeing them trying to remember how rude they have been in front of me.

Haha! - That was ace in Japan as well. By the time I'd left I was pretty good. Enough to know when I was being talked about. The Japanese are generally very cool (especially the ones my age) but occasionally you'd hear the odd snippet of gaijin slagging from some elderly J dude. Usually when they were drunk in an izakaya or something. It was great going up to them and asking for a light for my ciggy in perfect Japanese. The look of horror on their face was well funny. Come to think of it I've bloody forgotten that? @juniormember help a tomodachi out. What is 'Excuse me do you have a light' in Japanese again?

 

[Frogfish]

My wifes family being Vietnamese/Chinese speak Teohew which is a southern Chinese dialect that is a little rare. Not dissimilar to Cantonese but enough to need to learn it on it's own. I can count to ten and ask 'What is that?" but it's an absolute bitch compared with Japanese. The wife speaks it to my lad so I need to learn it in case they think they're clever and speak in code! 😉

Yeah all Chinese and most S.E. Asian languages area real bitch because of the tones. Try the Chinese 'shi' ; with the tones there's at least 10 different meanings for that one damn word !
At least with Japanese that's not an issue at all ! Actually it's fun going to Japan because so many of their characters originated from the Chinese it's not too difficult to figure signposts etc. out (at least for my wife - I still struggle most of the time) 😀

 

[Athens]

So Red Astaire is a tamagotchi. Explains everything.

 

[cloggypop]

So Red Astaire is a tamagotchi. Explains everything.

Gotta catch 'em all!

 

[Red Astaire]

So Red Astaire is a tamagotchi. Explains everything.

そんなことを言うなんて、なんて失礼なんだ。

 

[cloggypop]

No need for that like.

Reported.

 

[Red Astaire]

Haha! 😳 Apologies...

 

[Athens]

そんなことを言うなんて、なんて失礼なんだ。

Τη λες μαλακά;

 

[cloggypop]

Athens is also reported.

 

[Red Astaire]

I'm shocked! Wash your mouth out lad!

 

[Athens]

Athens is also reported.

Tout.

 

[cloggypop]

Tout.

Lul.

 

[Dreambeliever]

What an absolutely moronic comment.

Languages are mandatory for a period of time in the UK and then optional to continue after that. That includes French which is spoken in two of the Countries you listed.

I really have no idea why you decided to question my quote. All I said was it was safe to say that the Brazilian Lucas was probably exposed to Spanish during his school years. After all, Brazil shares a border with many Spanish speaking Countries. In case you hadn't noticed, the English Channel separates the UK from the European Countries/Languages.

Plus I don't think you understand how typical dressing rooms work. After all it was the French speaking Evra that told the FA that he spoke Spanish "every day in training"

If you are well off growing up in Brazil you learn English, simple as that really.

 

[Dreambeliever]

Most brazilians dont give a shit about spanish speaking countries surrounding them but from my experience most of them understand(and speak) spanish which is not the case the other way round.
I know loads of brits and american expats here and some of them have been here for a decade and still cant speak french which pisses me off a bit but i can understand to an extent. They work in english and their friends are other expats, still lazy imo.
And well footballers you cant expect too much from them really..

When I was in Brazil I found the complete opposite to be true