Speak Good English Campaign

[sundaymorningstaple]

Further to that, there are more English speakers in China than there are in the US. And probably a lot easier understood!

[JR8]

What is the world's most commonly spoken FIRST language?
Nope, not English. Nope, not Spanish either. One more try?

Public schools in the UK are also teaching Mandarin with or instead of French and German when I was there (and no 'age' jokes about Latin thank you very much!).

Yes I had heard this. (Plus I learned latin at school, which still serves me well to this day!)


In my line of work I am meeting more Chinese whose second language is German and they hardly know a word of English if any.

Wherever I go these days I see more Chinese tourists. I mean for example 10 years ago you wouldn't have thought most Chinese would even know where Latvia is, well now you'll encounter tour-groups there. But what you say about them learning German over English surprises me...
- German is a bitch to learn
- It's use is limited to Germany
- Er, its not what they speak in most of the rest of the world.
- Any German who is anything is fluent in English (I imagine for a reason)

p.s. Circular trivia time. To do a PhD in Germany, you need to be able to speak latin.

[sundaymorningstaple]

To give my age away, when I was in school, we only had a choice of two foreign languages, French & Latin. I took French, used broken French with the elder Vietnamese during 67-68, and never used it again. Today I know nothing of the language at all.

[beppi]

p.s. Circular trivia time. To do a PhD in Germany, you need to be able to speak latin.

Nobody anywhere (outside of Catholic Theology) is required to SPEAK Latin - that was abolished 1200 years ago!
Only for History and Medicine studies, a course in written Latin is required!

You don't even need to speak German to get a Ph.D. in Germany. More and more theses are written in English nowadays.

[JR8]

p.s. Circular trivia time. To do a PhD in Germany, you need to be able to speak latin.

Complete nonsense (except probably in History and Medicine)!
You don't even need to speak German any more. Most theses (at least in Technology) are written in English nowadays.

[Beppi style] Uninformed rubbish! [/i]

Maybe you would like to opine why an American acquaintance of mine has had to study latin, to pass a Latin exam, to enroll in his engineering PhD in Germany? I did not say that he has to study in latin, I said he has to know and pass an exam in Latin in order to enroll.

[nakatago]

p.s. Circular trivia time. To do a PhD in Germany, you need to be able to speak latin.

WTF?!? I gotta ask people who got their PhD about this...

[JR8]

p.s. Circular trivia time. To do a PhD in Germany, you need to be able to speak latin.

WTF?!? I gotta ask people who got their PhD about this...

Well if you think an American guy is going to sit in a back-of-beach dive shack in Tioman studying and sweating every day over his Latin for months, and explains to me that he has to pass an exam in it to enroll in his PhD in Germany. And he's somehow making that up ... do let me know!

I can tell you that he wasn't doing it for fun!

[nakatago]

p.s. Circular trivia time. To do a PhD in Germany, you need to be able to speak latin.

WTF?!? I gotta ask people who got their PhD about this...

Well if you think an American guy is going to sit in a back-of-beach dive shack in Tioman studying and sweating every day over his Latin for months, and explains to me that he has to pass an exam in it to enroll in his PhD in Germany. And he's somehow making that up ... do let me know!

I can tell you that he wasn't doing it for fun!

More importantly, PhD in what anyway? I just recalled some New Yorker mentioning a roomie who's doing a PhD (some humanities field) and also studying Latin.

[JR8]

WTF?!? I gotta ask people who got their PhD about this...

Well if you think an American guy is going to sit in a back-of-beach dive shack in Tioman studying and sweating every day over his Latin for months, and explains to me that he has to pass an exam in it to enroll in his PhD in Germany. And he's somehow making that up ... do let me know!

I can tell you that he wasn't doing it for fun!

More importantly, PhD in what anyway? I just recalled some New Yorker mentioning a roomie who's doing a PhD (some humanities field) and also studying Latin.

Pay attention Nak , I already said engineering. This was not some ''Top-skool I tell you!' wet behind the ear Master' this guy is like 'Woah ok' in the academic stakes. He'd already worked for several years for McLaren F1 in aerodynamics.

He was giving up no-limit free diving and bumming about to study Latin each day, which he detested. Draw your own conclusions.


Victoria ut sapiens!

[nakatago]

Well if you think an American guy is going to sit in a back-of-beach dive shack in Tioman studying and sweating every day over his Latin for months, and explains to me that he has to pass an exam in it to enroll in his PhD in Germany. And he's somehow making that up ... do let me know!

I can tell you that he wasn't doing it for fun!

More importantly, PhD in what anyway? I just recalled some New Yorker mentioning a roomie who's doing a PhD (some humanities field) and also studying Latin.

Pay attention Nak , I already said engineering. This was not some ''Top-skool I tell you!' wet behind the ear Master' this guy is like 'Woah ok' in the academic stakes. He'd already worked for several years for McLaren F1 in aerodynamics.

He was giving up no-limit free diving and bumming about to study Latin each day, which he detested. Draw your own conclusions.


Victoria ut sapiens!

My bad...multitasking.

But still...Latin for engineering. I don't see how it is needed. Maybe it's one of those schools with 'different' origins?

It'll take a while before the people I asked would respond

[beppi]

Latin is not required for engineering studies in any school in Germany.
Furthermore, Ph.D.s in Germany are almost always by reserach, with no coursework at all required. Basically, you get your title when your supervisor (professor) is satisfied with your results.
Please tell me which school and I'll check this - I'm very confident the uninformed rubbish is on your side, not mine.

[JR8]

But still...Latin for engineering. I don't see how it is needed. Maybe it's one of those schools with 'different' origins?

It'll take a while before the people I asked would respond

Yep alright fair point, maybe it was peculiar to where he was going and for conversational effect he broadened it out to 'All German universities'.

We will all be richer and wiser from this discussion one way or another (now how do you say again in Latin? )

p.s. Made to sound clever by saying something modern that no one understands, but instead completely f$$$ing thick like the rest of 'em.

[JR8]

Please tell me which school and I'll check this - I'm very confident the uninformed rubbish is on your side, not mine.

Er, actually I really can't be bothered! [shock]

[JR8]

To give my age away, when I was in school, we only had a choice of two foreign languages, French & Latin. I took French, used broken French with the elder Vietnamese during 67-68, and never used it again. Today I know nothing of the language at all.

It must have felt novel speaking a second language, to people in their second language.

Of course both the US and Vietnam were former glove-puppet states of the French.

There are certain points in history that if given a chance I would be fascinated to experience first hand. Georgian England at it's ostentatious and completely OTT zenith of art and culture c. 1830, and... curiously Saigon 1968 and Woodstock the year later.

SMS, did you perchance visit London in the 1830's?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Oddly, I have never been to Europe in any Century.