# Monolingualism: the US v. Britain. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537 "2010-06-25T21:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/41 "2010-06-27T01:45:46Z")
For fun, [Here’s a European Commission survey of multilingualism in Europe](http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc137_en.htm): > [@](#): > > Only six Member States had a majority of mono-linguists in 2006: Ireland (66 percent of people not knowing any other language than their mother tongue), the United Kingdom (62 percent), Italy (59 percent), Hungary (58 percent), Portugal (58 percent) and Spain (56 percent). And: > [@](#): > > In 2001, 53 percent of respondents said that they could speak a language in addition to their mother tongue. In 2006, this had risen to 56 percent. The most multilingual EU citizens are the Luxemburgers, where 99 percent of people know at least one other foreign language, followed by Slovaks (97 percent) and Latvians (95 percent). I’m actually a bit surprised by the Slovak number. I wonder if they’re including Czech as foreign language in that. Otherwise, at least going by my experience across the continent, the numbers seem about right. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/42 "2010-06-27T01:58:05Z")
That’s an interesting link. I’d like to see the methodology. In my experience in Bulgaria, the only language that a lot of people legitimately spoke other than Bulgarian was Turkish. This did seem to be covered by the survey (which notes that 11% of Bulgarians speak a non-EU language as their mother tongue; I’m going to assume that this is Turkish for virtually all of this 11% **eta:** or Romski). Most people have studied Russian, but I don’t know how many of them really speak it. The idea that a majority of Bulgarians are multilingual is definitely startling to me. But at the same time, my experience is largely confined to rural areas. It’s a very different situation in the cities. I often did encounter people who spoke decent English (or asked me if I spoke German) when visiting cities. So I’m probably biased. Still, I’d like to know how the study was carried out. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/43 "2010-06-27T02:36:39Z")
American, speak only English. Sadly, my years of French study didn’t pay off. My father is a third-generation American who grew up hearing only Italian at home. He claims not to speak the language, though he seemed to do just fine when we were in Italy. He decided not to teach my sisters and me any Italian, because he’s a purist and didn’t want to teach us whatever dialect he speaks. My mother is second-generation on her father’s side. My grandfather came to the U.S. at age 13 and is fluent in Italian, but chose not to teach his daughters to speak the language because he wanted them to be American. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/44 "2010-06-27T03:54:57Z")
United States = 9.6 million square kilometers EU = 4.2 million square kilometers (43.75% of the size) United States = 1 primary language, 1 major minority language (Spanish) EU = 23 official languages So…ok, it makes a lot more sense for the average European to know several languages than it makes for the average American to do so. This isn’t a sign of a lack of culture, but a lack of NEED. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/45 "2010-06-27T04:39:56Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’m Canadian; my native tongue is English; I can read road signs and cereal boxes in French; I speak fairly fluent Esperanto; and I’m really interested in Japanese. I’m American, but I speak some Canadian, eh? ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/46 "2010-06-27T05:54:26Z")
I’m American, and started learning Japanese in college. I work as a conference interpreter, simultaneously interpreting between both English and Japanese. So I have achieved fluency, but will never achieve native fluency–and that’s the case for nearly every single J/E interpreter I’ve met. We all have our A language and our B language. I dunno. Maybe because those people who are truly native-fluent in both languages find they have better things to do than interpret? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/47 "2010-06-27T14:08:59Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > United States = 9.6 million square kilometers > EU = 4.2 million square kilometers (43.75% of the size) > > United States = 1 primary language, 1 major minority language (Spanish) > EU = 23 official languages > > So…ok, it makes a lot more sense for the average European to know several languages than it makes for the average American to do so. This isn’t a sign of a lack of culture, but a lack of NEED. The question wasn’t about the EU, but about Britain. It’s really daft to treat the EU as if it were one country, especially when it comes to language. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/48 "2010-06-27T15:15:44Z")
True enough, but it’s not like you can avoid it given the size of your country, it’s location and it’s participation in the EU. If Minnesota was a nation and ethnic group, most of us would also be learning to speak Wisconsin and Illinoisian just as a matter of need. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/49 "2010-06-27T17:23:23Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > That’s an interesting link. I’d like to see the methodology. In my experience in Bulgaria, the only language that a lot of people legitimately spoke other than Bulgarian was Turkish. This did seem to be covered by the survey (which notes that 11% of Bulgarians speak a non-EU language as their mother tongue; I’m going to assume that this is Turkish for virtually all of this 11% **eta:** or Romski). Most people have studied Russian, but I don’t know how many of them really speak it. The idea that a majority of Bulgarians are multilingual is definitely startling to me. > > But at the same time, my experience is largely confined to rural areas. It’s a very different situation in the cities. I often did encounter people who spoke decent English (or asked me if I spoke German) when visiting cities. So I’m probably biased. Still, I’d like to know how the study was carried out. I’ve been trying to hunt down what definition of multilingualism they’re using. The best I could find is [this](http://www.europa-eu-un.org/articles/en/article_7766_en.htm): > [@](#): > > In fact, according to our latest survey, only 28 % of Europeans - though I don’t think it applies to today’s gathering! - believe they can carry out a reasonable conversation in two languages in addition to their own; 44 % declare themselves to be monolingual. The most widely spoken second language is, not surprisingly, English. Only 14 % of Europeans have learned French or German. The situation is slightly better among younger people, but far from satisfactory when it comes to wanting to learn other languages apart from English. And even the level of English is very mixed. Note that the speaker is disappointed that only 28% of Europeans think can reasonably converse in _two_ languages in addition to their own. From my experience, the linguistic capabilities of Continental Europeans is much higher than in English speaking countries, but that should be expected, both out of necessity and geography. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/50 "2010-06-27T19:51:07Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > True enough, but it’s not like you can avoid it given the size of your country, it’s location and it’s participation in the EU. If Minnesota was a nation and ethnic group, most of us would also be learning to speak Wisconsin and Illinoisian just as a matter of need. Nope - not if the language you speak is English. See, I agree that it’s necessity that is one of the main reasons for multilingualism, which is one of the reasons for very high levels of multilingualism in teeny-tiny countries like Lichtenstein. However, English is very widespread in the rest of Europe, so we have the same issue as you guys in the US - Britain and Ireland have very low levels of second languages (even taking Welsh and Irish into account). Basically, yeah, we can avoid it, and we do. And Wisconsin and Illinosian wouldn’t be different languages just because they’d become different countries! Anyway, again, it would be pointless asking on _this_ board if the board members from other parts of Europe speak a second language, because they self-evidently do. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/51 "2010-06-27T20:28:30Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > And Wisconsin and Illinosian wouldn’t be different languages just because they’d become different countries! That’s how things work in the Balkans! ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/52 "2010-06-27T21:00:57Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > That’s how things work in the Balkans! Yeah, sometimes it does, for political reasons - like pulykamell said, I bet such an artificial divide is the only reason that Slovakia has such a high level of ‘foreign language’ use. OTOH, the US, Ireland, Britain, Australia, etc, are all different countries that speak different dialects of the same language. Anyway, one of the main differences in the Balkans is that Serbian and Croatian use different alphabets, and Slovenian genuinely is pretty different to both of those - Macedonian is different enough that I think it was always classified as its own language. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/53 "2010-06-27T21:07:32Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Anyway, one of the main differences in the Balkans is that Serbian and Croatian use different alphabets, and Slovenian genuinely is pretty different to both of those - Macedonian is different enough that I think it was always classified as its own language. Macedonian really is different from Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, but that’s because it’s essentially a dialect of Bulgarian. (There is a slight accent difference, but it doesn’t match up with the border - there are people in Bulgaria who speak “Macedonian”. They also use a “ja” instead of Я. Also, the further east you go in Macedonia, the closer the language gets to Serbian. I can communicate with people in Skopje with no problem. In Ohrid, it was a bit more difficult. I just heard a thing on the radio about how Montenegro is now insisting they have a unique language. Okay then. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/54 "2010-06-27T21:29:11Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Macedonian really is different from Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, but that’s because it’s essentially a dialect of Bulgarian. (There is a slight accent difference, but it doesn’t match up with the border - there are people in Bulgaria who speak “Macedonian”. They also use a “ja” instead of Я. Also, the further east you go in Macedonia, the closer the language gets to Serbian. I can communicate with people in Skopje with no problem. In Ohrid, it was a bit more difficult. > > I just heard a thing on the radio about how Montenegro is now insisting they have a unique language. Okay then. It is daft. Of course, it’s difficult to draw a line that a dialect has to run across before it qualifies as a language, but, all the same, sometimes it’s bloody obvious. Anyway, even though it does sometimes happen that new countries decide that they have separate languages, it doesn’t always happen, and a New Yorker learning Oregonian wouldn’t really count as learning a second language in any meaningful sense. The main point is that neither the UK or Ireland have high reasons of second language use for (mostly) the exact same reasons that the US doesn’t - nor Australia and NZ; we speak English and so, it often seems, does everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/55 "2010-06-27T21:36:33Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Yeah, sometimes it does, for political reasons - like pulykamell said, I bet such an artificial divide is the only reason that Slovakia has such a high level of ‘foreign language’ use. There are some difference between Czech and Slovak, but they are considered mutually intelligible languages, so far as I know. The odd thing is, as a Polish speaker, I have an easier time understanding Slovak than Czech. Slovakia will also have a significant Hungarian minority that are presumably bilingual, but I can’t see it being 97% on account of just that and various English/German/Russian speakers. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/56 "2010-06-27T21:41:51Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There are some difference between Czech and Slovak, but they are considered mutually intelligible languages, so far as I know. The odd thing is, as a Polish speaker, I have an easier time understanding Slovak than Czech. Slovakia will also have a significant Hungarian minority that are presumably bilingual, but I can’t see it being 97% on account of just that and various English/German/Russian speakers. I spent some time living in Slovakia many years ago, and the dearth of Slovak language resources meant that I prepared by learning Czech before I went - there were a few resources for that, including a friend I did a language exchange with. The differences were definitely not enough to make it a separate language. When I was in Poland I could usually get simple meaning across by using my Czeck/Slovak, and my Croatian BF could sometimes understand stuff in Czech and Slovak too, but that was very simple words in context, not full conversations; Czech and Slovak, OTOH, were mutually comprehensible up to the most detailed level. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/57 "2010-06-27T21:52:11Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > I spent some time living in Slovakia many years ago, and the dearth of Slovak language resources meant that I prepared by learning Czech before I went - there were a few resources for that, including a friend I did a language exchange with. The differences were definitely not enough to make it a separate language. > > When I was in Poland I could usually get simple meaning across by using my Czeck/Slovak, and my Croatian BF could sometimes understand stuff in Czech and Slovak too, but that was very simple words in context, not full conversations; Czech and Slovak, OTOH, were mutually comprehensible up to the most detailed level. That’s my understanding, too. I just find it interesting that as a Polish speaker, I find Slovak easier for some reason. Perhaps it’s the accent. I’m not exactly sure. But, yes, the Slavic languages in general have a descent amount of mutual intelligibility. First time I visited Slovenia, I realized I could pick out topics of conversation and basic ideas just based on my Polish. And (Serbo-)Croatian was even easier. Three months in Croatia and I probably learned nearly as much of that language as in the five years I had in Hungary picking up Hungarian. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/58 "2010-06-27T22:42:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That’s my understanding, too. I just find it interesting that as a Polish speaker, I find Slovak easier for some reason. Perhaps it’s the accent. I’m not exactly sure. > > But, yes, the Slavic languages in general have a descent amount of mutual intelligibility. First time I visited Slovenia, I realized I could pick out topics of conversation and basic ideas just based on my Polish. And (Serbo-)Croatian was even easier. Three months in Croatia and I probably learned nearly as much of that language as in the five years I had in Hungary picking up Hungarian. That’s partly because Hungarian is a language imported to Earth by insane aliens with forked tongues. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/59 "2010-06-27T23:54:33Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > That’s partly because Hungarian is a language imported to Earth by insane aliens with forked tongues. 😃 But the women are hot, so we have to put up with it. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537/60 "2010-06-28T00:31:51Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Anyway, again, it would be pointless asking on _this_ board if the board members from other parts of Europe speak a second language, because they self-evidently do. 😃 Speaking of which, I am always amazed when foreign Dopers post, and rarely if ever can you tell English is not their first language! Kudos! While I speak German fluently (and voted accordingly), if I had to write all of my posts in German, well - it wouldn’t be pretty. Germans would understand me, but there would be some huge grammatical errors flying all over the place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monolingualism-the-us-v-britain/544537.md?page=4)