| Kommentar | Two more cents, based solely on my observations in this forum for a couple of years. It depends a lot on the person's education and interests.
People with a strong background in the humanities, including other foreign languages, usually do quite well in English. So do people who just enjoy language for its own sake -- for example, those who enjoy reading fiction or journalism in a foreign language, just because it's fun and challenging. They may be more critical of their own minor mistakes, but when they do venture a few sentences in English, they're less likely to make glaring errors. They need to write more, speak more, not sabotage themselves by over-critical thinking.
People who have learned English primarily for practical reasons such as school, business, or academic writing tend to have larger gaps in their knowledge. They're more likely to be overconfident, jumping in with bad guesses instead of waiting for someone who really knows the answer. They need to read more, think more, not sabotage themselves by over-hasty writing.
Of course, people who started learning English at a young age do much better. And the other essential factor is experience. Unsurprisingly, people who have spent a year or more in an English-speaking country, or who live with an English-speaking spouse or partner, simply know the language better. Failing that, a pen pal willing to take time for corrections can be quite helpful (so they say -- I haven't found any yet myself).
But in all these areas, German-speaking countries are obviously way ahead of us. We start our first foreign language, if we're lucky, at age 14 or so; many of them start at 9, and add other foreign languages as they get older. For us, a foreign language is a luxury, an entertainment item; for them, at least in white-collar jobs, it's a practical necessity. A few of us study overseas for a semester or two at most; comparatively many of them seek out overseas internships or academic degrees. We may plan and save until retirement age for a once-in-a-lifetime two or three weeks' vacation in Europe, and then spend it mostly on a tour bus with a guide; they can indulge not only in the odd weekend getaway to the UK, but also in three or four weeks more of annual vacation every year -- US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, you name it.
Given all that, it seems petty to prod German speakers to be more like Scandinavians, when basically *all* European countries are so many light years ahead of English-speaking countries when it comes to foreign languages. If anyone needs to hear more movies, radio, and TV in other languages, it's not German speakers -- it's us. |
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